Double Rejection

Christians have been brought up to understand that Sarah is not only the matriarch of our faith tradition, but is also an example of human (womanly, in particular)virtue. Hopefully, by the time readers have made it to chapter 3 they have a broader and deeper understanding of the story of Hagar and Sarah.
Letty continues to broaden and deepen our understanding of the story of Sarah and Hagar by looking in depth at what Paul does with the story. Besides pointing out the 'Twists and Turns in Paul's Allegory,' Letty's expositions of the texts also give us occasion to contemplate the ways allegory in moral and ethical arguments can lead us astray.
Focusing on the texts in Galatians, Letty shows the ways in which Paul's writings in one letter contradict each other. In the familiar text in chapter 3, Paul writes, "for there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, for all are one in Christ." (vs28) Then in chapter 4 vs. 21-31, Paul contradicts himself by affirming the oppression of Hagar by Sarah because Hagar was a foreigner and Sarah's slave. Paul even goes so far as to say that 'Hagar's child was born according to the flesh while Sarah child was born through promise'. So much for neither slave nor free as a basis of worth and acceptance in God's realm!
Paul further complicates the relationship and meaning of the women's lives by ‘representing the women as opposing covenants of law and promise.” Hagar is no longer simply a slave, a foreigner and a threat to Sarah she is now also a “…Jewish Christian opponent, a slave to the Jewish law and a threat to freedom in Christ.” (p.72) Paul wants her, or what he has made her stand for, driven out of the church. Hagar is doubly condemned. And so Christians receive the message, in contradiction to the freedom proclamation of Paul in chapter 3, that Hagar’s story is a story of bad behavior, bad social status, and even worse, bad belief.
What strikes me in this is how this twisted allegory has become the shadow by which we interpret the Hebrew Scripture story of Hagar and Sarah. It is my contention that Christians cannot read the story in Genesis without being influenced by the allegory of Paul. What do you think?