1 A nd I say, so long time as the heir is a babe, he differeth nothing from a servant -- being 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 stewards till 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 s o also we, when we were babes, under the elements of the world were in servitude,

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

4 a nd when the fulness of time did come, God sent forth His Son, come of a woman, come under law,

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

5 t hat those under law he may redeem, that the adoption of sons we may receive;

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 did send 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 s o that thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, also 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 B ut then, indeed, not having known God, ye were in servitude to those not by nature gods,

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

9 a nd now, having known God -- and rather being known by God -- how turn ye again unto the weak and poor elements to which anew ye desire to be in servitude?

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 d ays ye observe, 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 in vain I did labour toward you.

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

12 B ecome as I -- because I also as ye brethren, I beseech you; to me ye did no hurt,

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 a nd ye have known that through infirmity of the flesh I did proclaim good news to you at the first,

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

14 a nd my trial that in my flesh ye did not despise nor reject, but as a messenger of God ye did receive me -- 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 then was your happiness? for I testify to you, that if possible, your eyes having plucked out, ye would have given 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 that your enemy have I become, being true to you?

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

17 t hey are zealous for you -- not well, but they wish to shut us out, that for them ye may be zealous;

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 a nd good to be zealously regarded, in what is good, at all times, and not only in my being 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 again I travail in birth, till Christ may 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 a nd I was wishing to be present with you now, and to change my voice, because I am in doubt 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, ye who are willing to be under law, the law do ye not hear?

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

22 f or it hath been written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the maid-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 b ut he who of the maid-servant, according to flesh hath been, and he who of the free-woman, through the 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 allegorized, for these are the two covenants: one, indeed, from mount Sinai, to servitude bringing forth, 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 doth correspond to the Jerusalem that now, and is in servitude 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 a nd the Jerusalem above is the free-woman, which is mother of us all,

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

27 f or it hath been written, `Rejoice, O barren, who art not bearing; break forth and cry, thou who art not travailing, because many the children of the desolate -- more than of her having the 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 A nd we, brethren, as Isaac, 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 did persecute him according to the spirit, so also 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 b ut what saith the Writing? `Cast forth the maid-servant and her son, for the son of the maid-servant may not be heir 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 t hen, brethren, we are not a maid-servant's children, but the free-woman's.

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