Who Can Read Abraham's Story? Allegory and Interpretive Power in Galatians

Abstract

This article develops some arguments found in Richard Hays's Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul in regard to Galatians 3-4. First, it argues that Paul's strategy in interpreting the Abraham story for the Galatians is allegorical throughout and not simply in 4.21-31. Further, this allegorical reading is based on and judged by Paul's account of the Galatians' experience of the Spirit. Secondly, Paul's allegorical reading is an exercise of interpretive power. This exercise of power is in large measure underwritten by the account of his character which Paul gives in the first two chapters of Galatians.