Galatians
Chapter 4
1 I tell you, an heir is no different from a servant while he is still a child, even if he owns everything.
2 But is under teachers and managers until the time set by the father.
3 Just like that, when we were young, we were trapped under the world’s basic rules.
4 When the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.
5 To free those who were under the law, so that we might be accepted as God’s children.
6 Because you are children, God has sent the spirit of his Son into your hearts, calling out, “Daddy, Father.”
7 So you are not a servant any longer, but a son; and if a son, then God’s heir through Christ.
8 But back then, when you didn’t know God, you worshiped things that are not really gods.
9 But now, knowing God, or actually being known by God, why do you go back to the weak and poor basic things you want to be slaves to again?
10 You keep track of days, months, seasons, and years.
11 I am worried about you, in case my hard work for you was for nothing.
12 Friends, I urge you, be like me, because I am like you: you have done me no wrong.
13 You know that despite my physical weakness, I first shared the good news with you.
14 You did not look down on or turn away from my physical illness. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, just like Jesus Christ.
15 Where is the happiness you talked about? I know that if you could, you would have given me your own eyes.
16 Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?
17 They are eagerly trying to influence you, but not in a good way; indeed, they want to shut you out so that you will try to win their approval.
18 It is good to always be energetically supportive of a good cause, not just when I am with you.
19 My dear children, I am working hard for you again, like a mother giving birth, until you truly become like Christ.
20 I want to be with you now and change how I speak because I’m unsure about you.
21 Ask yourselves, you who want to follow the law, don’t you listen to what the law says?
22 It is written that Abraham had two sons, one with a slave woman and the other with a free woman.
23 The child of the slave woman was born in the ordinary way, but the child of the free woman was born because of God’s promise.
24 These things represent two agreements; one from Mount Sinai, leading to slavery, which is Hagar.
25 This Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the current Jerusalem, for she and her children live in slavery.
26 Jerusalem above is free and is our mother.
27 It is written, “Celebrate, you who cannot have children; shout out loud, you who do not go through labor pain, because the woman who is alone will have many more children than the woman with a husband.”
28 We, brothers and sisters, are like Isaac, children of God’s promise.
29 But like before, the person born in a normal human way made life hard for the person born with God’s Spirit, and it’s still like that now.
30 What does the scripture say? Send away the slave woman and her child, because the slave woman’s child will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s child.
31 So, friends, we are not the children of a slave woman, but of the free woman.