1 L et 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.

Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all,

2 W hile 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.

but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.

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

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.

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

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

5 T his 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.

to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

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

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

7 S o 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.

Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Fears for the Church

8 D uring the time when you did not know God, you worshiped false gods.

But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.

9 B ut 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?

But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?

10 Y ou do special things on certain days and months and years and times of the year.

You observe days and months and seasons and years.

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

I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

12 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.

Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.

13 Y ou know I preached the Good News to you the first time because of my sickness.

You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.

14 E ven 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.

And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

15 W hat 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.

What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.

16 D o you hate me because I have told you the truth?

Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

17 T hose 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.

They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.

18 I t 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.

But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.

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

My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,

20 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.

I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you. Two Covenants

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

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?

22 T he 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.

For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.

23 T he 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.

But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise,

24 T hink 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!

which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—

25 H agar 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.

for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—

26 B ut the Jerusalem of heaven is the free woman, and she is our mother.

but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.

27 T he 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.”

For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren, You who do not bear! Break forth and shout, You who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children Than she who has a husband.”

28 C hristian brothers, we are like Isaac. We are the children God promised.

Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.

29 A t 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.

But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.

30 B ut 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.”

Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.”

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

So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.