ACC ~ Galatians 4 v23b

MADE HEIR THROUGH A TESTAMENT. JEROME: From God’s own Scripture it is evident that the birth of Ishmael also was according to promise. But the answer is that a promise is truly fulfilled in the giving of a covenant. It is one thing to bless, increase and multiply greatly, as is written in Ishmael’s case, but another to make an heir through a covenant. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.4.22-23.

THE UNIQUENESS OF ISAAC’S BIRTH ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE. AUGUSTINE: Now the fact that Isaac was born of a free wife is not enough to make him signify the people who inherit the New Covenant. What is more important is that he was born according to the promise. For he could have been born according to nature’s norms from a slave and in the same way from a free woman, just as Abraham received from Katurah, whom he subsequently married, sons not according to a promise but according to nature. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 40 [1B.4.21-31].

Gal