Galatians 4

1Here is what I mean. As long as an heir is a child, that heir is no different from a servant, even though the heir owns everything.

2The heir is under guardians and managers until the time the father has set.

3It is the same with us. When we were children, we were slaves to the basic rules of the world.

4But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

5to set free those who were under the law, so that 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 who cries out: Abba, Father.

7So you are no longer a slave, but a child. And since you are his child, God has made you an heir.

8In the past, when you did not know God, you were slaves to things that are not really gods at all.

9But now you know God — or rather, God knows you. So how can you turn back again to those weak and useless 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 am afraid that my hard work for you may have been wasted.

12Brothers and sisters, I beg you, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong.

13You remember that it was because I was sick that I first preached the good news to you.

14My illness was hard for you, but you did not look down on me or turn away from me. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.

15You were so happy then. What happened to that joy? I can say this about you: if it had been possible, you would have torn out your own eyes and given them to me.

16So have I now become your enemy just because I tell you the truth?

17Those other people are eager to win you over, but not for good reasons. They want to shut you out, so that you will be eager for them.

18It is good to be eager, as long as the reason is good — and not only when I am there with you.

19My dear children, I am again in pain for you, like a mother giving birth, until Christ is formed in you.

20How I wish I could be with you now and speak to you in a gentler way, because I do not know what to do about you.

21Tell me, you who want to be under the law: do you not hear what the law says?

22The Scripture says that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman.

23The son of the slave woman was born in the ordinary way, but the son of the free woman was born because of God's promise.

24These things are a picture of something more. The two women stand for two agreements. One agreement comes from Mount Sinai, and it gives birth to children who are slaves. This is Hagar.

25Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia, and she is like the Jerusalem of today, which is a slave together with her children.

26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.

27For the Scripture says: Be glad, you woman who could not have children. Shout for joy, you who never gave birth. For the lonely woman has more children than the woman who has a husband.

28Now you, brothers and sisters, are children of God's promise, just like Isaac.

29Long ago, the son born in the ordinary way treated the son born by the Spirit badly. It is the same now.

30But what does the Scripture say? Send the slave woman and her son away! For the slave woman's son will never share what belongs to the free woman's son.

31So then, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.