King James Bible
"Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar."
Paul explicitly states he is interpreting the Sarah-Hagar narrative symbolically rather than merely historically. This allegorical reading was a common Jewish interpretive method that extracted deeper spiritual meanings from scriptural accounts. The two women represent two distinct divine agreements: the old covenant of law and the new covenant of grace. Paul uses this comparison to illustrate the fundamental difference between attempting to earn righteousness through law-keeping versus receiving it through faith. The Mosaic law given at Sinai, while holy, ultimately produces spiritual slavery because it reveals sin without providing the power to overcome it. Paul argues that those who rely on law-keeping for justification remain trapped in a cycle of failure and condemnation. Hagar, Abraham's slave woman, symbolizes this covenant of bondage—her children were born into slavery by natural means. This connects to Paul's larger argument that the Galatians should not return to law-based religion after experiencing freedom in Christ.