SONS OF HAGAR

This paragraph from a letter, written by a sister in west Texas, will serve as a point of departure for a few observations that may prove helpful. Since we are not interested in making this personal, we will omit the names of the parties involved.

__________ was holding a meeting where we worship here. He took 2 Tim. 2:16‑17 and compared you and Carl (Ketcherside) to the two fellows in that scripture who had erred from the truth. We could not believe that he would actually call your names like that! Then, as an added insult, brother __________ (the resident minister) amened him in a loud voice. Well, I'm afraid 1 did not pray as you did for the Father to forgive them, as when the brother from Tennessee called you a false teacher. After the service I told them they were guilty of slander and had caused many innocent people to be afraid to read your wonderful articles. They said they hoped so! We didn't know that our so‑called sound brethren would be so hard and cold toward us.

While this sort of thing is understandably upsetting to such a sincere person as this sister, she must realize that all this is the result of recognized laws of behavior that God Himself revealed to us. It is not going too far to say that we have no grounds for supposing it could be otherwise. The Hindus call it the law of karma or the law of sowing and reaping, and the principle is most dramatically set forth in scripture. When the carnal man is in control, his works cannot be other than of the flesh. He may give lip service to spiritual values, but he is only using them to his own selfish ends. Paul takes this principle even further in Gal. 4 when he relates it to persecution.

"As at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now," says the apostle in Gal. 4:29. The sons of Hagar will maltreat the sons of Sarah because Hagar's children are of the flesh and Sarah's of the Spirit. By its very nature the carnal seeks to destroy the spiritual, and we cannot expect it to be otherwise. We can only work and pray for the transformation of the carnal mind. But carnality itself will not change its character, and wherever it manifests itself it will bear such works as Paul outlines in Gal. 5:19‑2 I , one of which is partyism. Since the party mind cannot bear the presence of one who is free in Jesus, he must do whatever he can to discredit and destroy.

One would suppose that in a situation such as the sister describes the two preachers could be forbearing, thankful that someone else is having influence in people's lives that may well prove to be a blessing, and thus leave the likes of Ketcherside and Garrett to whatever end their teaching will lead. Ordinary human dignity and courtesy would so dictate. The drill sergeant down at the armory would show that kind of manners to such folk. But this they cannot do. The answer is simple: the flesh. Rudeness is the work of the carnal mind. And this applies to us all, whenever we allow ourselves to be dictated to by carnality. One in whom God's Spirit dwells may behave in such a carnal way, but in doing so the Spirit's influence is wrested and he is now walking according to the flesh.

In the case of Hagar's children the situation gets more serious, for her spiritual offspring cannot simply be indifferent, or show common courtesy if not brotherly love, as the drill sergeant might do. Hagar's children are in the family of God, and they have such resentment for their brothers and sisters who choose to be free in Sarah, that they cannot even be as courteous as people of the world. No one is as vicious as the child of God who chooses to be the spiritual heir of Hagar. One is much safer in the hands of the Mafia! Place me at the mercy of a hardboiled school superintendent who knows the way of the world rather than in the hands of an elder or preacher who is an offspring of her who "bears children for slavery."

Hagar is Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai is the law. The law in turn is enslaving, for its purpose is to remind man of his sin "until Shiloh come." It is not the old Jerusalem, Paul tells us in the allegory, that is our mother, but the Jerusalem that is above, and it is she that sets us free. That is why we are to rejoice. Jesus frees us from law‑keeping, whether Mosaic law‑keeping or Church of Christ law‑keeping. "We, brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise," he says, not brothers‑in‑law! If this much of the allegory is clear, the next verse should be: "But as at that time he (Ishmael) who was born according to the flesh persecuted him (Isaac) who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now." Both sets of children are in the church but only one set is free. The Hagars among us are always going to be persecuting the Isaacs among us. Some of us have at one time or another been heirs of both women, having once persecuted the very ones we cherish as brothers and sisters in Christ.

This must be what Paul means in the conclusion of his allegory: "Cast out the slave and her son; for the son of the slave shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." That is to say, don't be a slave to any system or party but free in Jesus. This is a demon that we can all cast out of ourselves, the demon of legalism, sectarianism, and self‑righteousness, by an appeal to the liberty that we have in Jesus. This is how we become children of promise, children of the Jerusalem that is above. So how do we behave in the church? It all depends on who our mother is! Thank God that we can switch mothers!

When I was a student preacher some of my teachers were, I fear, sons of Hagar, and I was a long time overcoming this influence of the flesh not to say that I am completely liberated even now. I was taught that premillennialists in the church were not OK; they had evil designs upon the church. R. H. Boll was the recognized leader among them, and I recall distinctly the first time I saw him. I did not love him, though I would have professed such no doubt. Being a child of Hagar, that is how I acted. I called his name, branding and castigating him ‑ all in the name of the sound doctrine I had learned at the Church of Christ college ‑ and in all probability comparing him to Hymenaeus and Philetus, as our brothers in west Texas did with Carl and me.

How sorry I am that I ever behaved in such a way to one who was so obviously a dear brother with a deep commitment to the Lord. I have since learned that he had very grievous personal problems that were beyond his control that caused him to despair of life itself. And yet most of his brothers were cruel to him because of a doctrinal difference. I was actually taught to make fun of the brother for the way he prayed ‑ getting caught on his knees with the door ajar! God, have mercy on us for such insensitivity!

I am thankful that I was able to be with brother Boll again, years later. Something had happened to me in the meantime. I still was not a premill, but that was beside the point. I could claim him as my brother and show my love for him. I wish I had had the maturity to apologize forthrightly as I would now if he were still with us. But that wasn't necessary. As a son of the free woman he understood, and he loved me when I was in the dry as much as when I was in the green.

And so it is with our brothers referred to in the letter. While they are not mere boys and should be farther along than they are, I love them just the same, and I understand. There is no problem, except the one they have. They have the wrong mother. That is what happened to me in the way I treated brother Boll (and a lot of others!) I cast out the bond woman. I changed mothers and now I'm free of all that stuff that causes good men to act little. —the Editor