4:26

In this verse, Paul continued the contrast between slave and free that he introduced in 4:21. In 4:25 he said that the slave woman and her offspring represent the covenant of the law. Here he contrasted them with the free woman and her offspring who represent the covenant of promise and grace. All those who believe in Christ as the means of justification are free and under the covenant of grace. They are not slaves. The “Jerusalem above” and Sarah, the free woman, represent the believers in the same way that “the present-day Jerusalem” and Hagar represented those who followed the law.

4:26a

But: There is a contrast between 4:25 and 4:26. The contrast is between the present Jerusalem (slavery) and the Jerusalem above (freedom). The Berean Standard Bible indicates this contrast with the conjunction But.

the Jerusalem above is free: This clause refers to the heavenly Jerusalem. The free woman (Sarah) corresponds to this Jerusalem. This Jerusalem represents those who believe in Jesus Christ as the means of being made right with God. It is contrasted with “the present-day Jerusalem” and with Hagar, which represent those who obey the law to be justified. Those who trust in Jesus for their salvation are free. They are not slaves.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

the Jerusalem in heaven represents freedom.
-or-
the heavenly Jerusalem is free.
-or-
the Jerusalem above is not a slave.
-or-
the free ?woman? represents the Jerusalem that is above

4:26b

and she is our mother: This clause is also personification (like the clause “she is in slavery with her children” in 4:25c). In this personification, Paul spoke of the heavenly Jerusalem as the mother of the people who are free.

In this allegory, the heavenly Jerusalem represents salvation by faith. The people who believe in Christ to make them right with God are the children of this Jerusalem. These people are free from the law. Just as Sarah was a free woman, so the people who believe in Christ are free.

Some ways to translate this clause are:

• Keep the personification. For example:

this city is our mother
-or-
our mother is the city of Jerusalem (Contemporary English Version)

• Translate this as a simile. For example:

and this city is ?like? our mother

• Translate the meaning without the personification. For example:

we are people of this city

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