GalatiansChapter 4

Tap any verse to comment or suggest a better wording.

¹Here is what I mean. As long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave. That is true even though he owns everything. ²He must obey guardians and those who manage his things. This lasts until the time his father has set. ³It was the same with us. When we were children, we were slaves to the basic rules of this world. ⁴But when the right time fully came, God sent his Son. His Son was born of a woman. He was born under the law. ⁵God sent him to redeem those under the law. He did this so we could be adopted as God's children. ⁶And because you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. The Spirit cries out, "Abba, Father!"a ⁷So you are no longer a slave. You are God's child. And since you are his child, God has also made you his heir. ⁸In the past, you did not know God. Back then you were slaves to things that are not really gods at all. ⁹But now you know God. Even better, God knows you. So how can you turn back to those weak and worthless rules? Do you want to be their slaves all over again? ¹⁰You are keeping special days and months and seasons and years! ¹¹I am afraid for you. I fear that all my hard work for you may have been for nothing. ¹²Brothers and sisters, I beg you to become like me. After all, I became like you. You never did anything wrong to me. ¹³You know that I first preached the good news to you because I was sick. ¹⁴My sickness was hard for you. But you did not look down on me or turn me away. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God. You welcomed me as if I were Christ Jesus himself. ¹⁵So what has happened to your blessing? I can tell you this for sure. If you could have, you would have torn out your own eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶Have I now become your enemy because I tell you the truth? ¹⁷Those people are eager to win you over, but not for a good reason. They want to cut you off from us, so that you will be eager for them. ¹⁸Still, it is good to be eager if it is for a good reason. That is true at all times, not just when I am with you. ¹⁹My dear children, I am in pain for you again, like a mother giving birth. I will be in pain until Christ is formed in you. ²⁰How I wish I could be with you now and speak to you in a different tone! I do not know what to think about you. ²¹Tell me, you who want to live under the law, don't you understand what the law says? ²²It is written that Abraham had two sons. One son was by the slave woman. The other son was by the free woman. ²³His son by the slave woman was born in the normal human way. But his son by the free woman was born because of God's promise. ²⁴These things are word pictures. The two women stand for two covenants. One covenant comes from Mount Sinai. Its children are born into slavery. This is Hagar. ²⁵Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia. She is like the city of Jerusalem today, because she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But the Jerusalem above is free. She is our mother. ²⁷It is written:
"Be glad, you woman who could not have children,
you who never gave birth!
Shout and cry out with joy,
you who never felt the pains of birth!
The woman who was left alone will have more children
than the woman who has a husband." ²⁸Now you, brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. ²⁹Back then, the son born in the normal human way attacked the son born by the Spirit. It is the same way now. ³⁰But what does the Scripture say? "Send away the slave woman and her son. For the slave woman's son will never share what the father leaves with the free woman's son." ³¹So, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman. We are children of the free woman.