1 B ut I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is 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 guardians and stewards until the day appointed by 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 S o we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental principles 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 fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law,

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

5 t hat he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children.

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 you are children, God sent out 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 S o you are no longer a bondservant, 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 owever at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods.

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

9 B ut now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, why do you turn back again to the weak and miserable elemental principles, to which you desire to be in bondage all over again?

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 ou observe days, months, seasons, and years.

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

11 I am afraid for you, that I might have wasted my labor for you.

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

12 I beg you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong,

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 b ut you know that because of weakness of the flesh I preached the Good News to you the first time.

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

14 T hat which was a temptation to you in my flesh, you didn’t despise nor reject; but you 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 hat was the blessing you enjoyed? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and 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 S o then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?

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

17 T hey zealously seek you in no good way. No, they desire to alienate you, that you may seek 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 always good to be zealous in a good cause, 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 am again in travail until Christ is 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 b ut I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about 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, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to 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, one by the servant, and one by the free woman.

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 H owever, the son by the servant was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through 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 T hese things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar.

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 Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she 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 the Jerusalem that 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, you barren who don’t bear. Break out and shout, you that don’t travail. For more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a 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, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise.

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

29 B ut as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also 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 H owever what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman.”

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, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.

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