1 N ow I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

Let me say this another way. A young child who will get all the riches of his family is not different from a servant who is owned by the family. And yet the young child owns everything.

2 B ut is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

While he is young, he is cared for by men his father trusts. These men tell the child what he can and cannot do. The child cannot do what he wants to do until he has become a certain age.

3 E ven so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

We were as children also held by the Law. We obeyed the Law in our religious worship.

4 B ut when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

But at the right time, God sent His Son. A woman gave birth to Him under the Law.

5 T o redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

This all happened so He could buy with His blood and make free all those who were held by the Law. Then we might become the sons of God.

6 A nd because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Because you are the sons of God, He has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. The Spirit cries, “Father!”

7 W herefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

So now you are no longer a servant who is owned by someone. You are a son. If you are a son, then you will receive what God has promised through Christ.

8 H owbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

During the time when you did not know God, you worshiped false gods.

9 B ut now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

But now that you know God, or should I say that you are known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak old Law? Why do you want to do those religious acts of worship that will keep you from being free? Why do you want to be held under the power of the Law again?

10 Y e observe days, and months, and times, and years.

You do special things on certain days and months and years and times of the year.

11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

I am afraid my work with you was wasted. Living by the Law or Being Free

12 B rethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.

I ask you, Christian brothers, stay free from the Law as I am. Even if I am a Jew, I became free from the Law, just as you who are not Jews. You did no wrong to me.

13 Y e know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.

You know I preached the Good News to you the first time because of my sickness.

14 A nd my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

Even though I was hard to look at because of my sickness, you did not turn away from me. You took me in as an angel from God. You took me in as you would have taken in Christ Jesus Himself.

15 W here is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.

What has become of the happiness you once had? You would have taken out your own eyes if you could have and given them to me.

16 A m I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

Do you hate me because I have told you the truth?

17 T hey zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.

Those false teachers are trying to turn your eyes toward them. They do not want you to follow my teaching. What they are doing is not good.

18 B ut it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.

It is good when people help you if they do not hope to get something from it. They should help you all the time, not only when I am with you.

19 M y little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

My children, I am suffering birth pain for you again. I will suffer until Christ’s life is in your life.

20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.

I wish I could be with you now. I wish I could speak to you in a more gentle voice, but I am troubled about you.

21 T ell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

Listen! If you want to be under the Law, why do you not listen to what it says?

22 F or it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.

The Holy Writings say that Abraham had two sons. One was born from a woman servant (Hagar) who was owned by someone. She had to do what she was told. The other son was born from a woman (Sarah) who was free to work and live as she desired.

23 B ut he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.

The son born from the woman servant who was owned by someone was like any other birth. The son born from the free woman was different. That son had been promised by God.

24 W hich things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

Think of it like this: These two women show God’s two ways of working with His people. The children born from Hagar are under the Law given on Mount Sinai. They will be servants who are owned by someone and will always be told what to do!

25 F or this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

Hagar is known as Mount Sinai in the country of Arabia. She is as Jerusalem is today, because she and her children are not free to do what they want to do.

26 B ut Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

But the Jerusalem of heaven is the free woman, and she is our mother.

27 F or it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

The Holy Writings say, “Woman, be happy, you who have had no children. Cry for joy, you who have never had the pains of having a child, for you will have many children. Yes, you will have more children than the one who has a husband.”

28 N ow we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

Christian brothers, we are like Isaac. We are the children God promised.

29 B ut as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

At that time the son born as other children are born made it hard for the son born by the Holy Spirit. It is the same way now.

30 N evertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

But what do the Holy Writings say? They say, “Put the woman servant who is owned by someone and her son out of your home. The son of that woman servant will never get any of the riches of the family. It will all be given to the son of the free woman.”

31 S o then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Christian brothers, we are not children of the woman servant who was owned by someone (Hagar). We are children of the free woman (Sarah).