Galatians 4:1–5:1

Sons and Heirs

4I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave,¹ though he is the owner of everything, ²but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. ³In the same way we also, when we were children, ^cwere enslaved to the elementary principles² of the world. ⁴But ^dwhen the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, ^eborn ^fof woman, born ^gunder the law, ^5hto redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive ⁱadoption as sons. ⁶And because you are sons, God has sent ^jthe Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then ^kan heir through God.

Paul’s Concern for the Galatians

⁸Formerly, when you ^ldid not know God, you ^mwere enslaved to those that by nature ⁿare not gods. ⁹But now that you have come to know God, or rather ^oto be known by God, ^phow can you turn back again to ^qthe weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? ^10rYou observe days and months and seasons and years! ¹¹I am afraid ^sI may have labored over you in vain.

¹²Brothers,^{3 t}I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. ^uYou did me no wrong. ¹³You know it was ^vbecause of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you ^wat first, ¹⁴and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me ^xas an angel of God, ^yas Christ Jesus. ¹⁵What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶Have I then become your enemy by ^ztelling you the truth?^{4 17}They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. ¹⁸It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and ^anot only when I am present with you, ^19bmy little children, ^cfor whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ ^dis formed in you! ²⁰I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

Example of Hagar and Sarah

²¹Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, ^eone by a slave woman and ^fone by a free woman. ²³But ^gthe son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while ^hthe son of the free woman was born through promise. ²⁴Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two ⁱcovenants. ^jOne is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. ²⁵Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia;⁵ she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But ^kthe Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷For it is written,

^l“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;

break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!

For the children of the desolate one will be more

than those of the one who has a husband.”

²⁸Now you,⁶ brothers, ^mlike Isaac, ⁿare children of promise. ²⁹But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh ^opersecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, ^pso also it is now. ³⁰But what does the Scripture say? ^q“Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” ³¹So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but ^rof the free woman.

Christ Has Set Us Free

5For ^sfreedom Christ has ^tset us free; ^ustand firm therefore, and do not submit again to ^va yoke of ^wslavery.