Galatians 4

¹Now I say this: for as long as the heir is a minor, he is no different from a slave, even though he is the legal owner of the whole estate. ²Instead, he is under the authority of guardians and trustees until the date set in advance by his father. ³It was the same with us; when we were minors, we were enslaved under the basic elements of the world-system. ⁴But when the era had reached its completion, God dispatched his Son, born of a woman, born under the jurisdiction of the Law, ⁵so that he might ransom those under the Law, in order that we might receive our full standing as sons. ⁶And because you are sons, God dispatched the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba! Father!” ⁷So you are no longer a slave but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God’s action.

⁸Back then, however, because you did not know God, you were enslaved to things that by their very nature are not gods. ⁹But now that you have come to know God—or rather, have been known by God—how can you turn back again to those weak and impoverished basic elements? Do you really wish to be enslaved to them all over again? ¹⁰You are meticulously observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years! ¹¹I am afraid for you—that perhaps I have labored over you for nothing.

¹²I beg of you, brothers: become as I am, because I also became as you are. You did me no wrong. ¹³You know that it was because of a physical illness that I first announced the good news to you. ¹⁴And even though my physical condition was a trial for you, you did not treat me with contempt or spit me out in disgust. Instead, you welcomed me as a messenger of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. ¹⁵Where is that sense of blessing you had then? For I can testify on your behalf that, if it had been possible, you would have torn out your own eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?

¹⁷These people are courting you intensely, but not for any good reason. They want to shut you out from us so that you will court them instead. ¹⁸Now, it is always good to be courted for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you. ¹⁹My children, I am again in the pains of childbirth for you until Christ is fully formed within you! ²⁰I wish I could be present with you right now and change my tone, because I am at my wits' end regarding you.

²¹Tell me, you who want to be under the Law, do you not listen to what the Law actually says? ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave girl and one by the free woman. ²³But the son of the slave girl was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through the promise. ²⁴These things are being spoken allegorically, for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar. ²⁵Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children; break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband.”

²⁸Now you, brothers, are children of promise just like Isaac. ²⁹But just as back then the one born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so it is now. ³⁰But what does the Scripture say? “Drive out the slave girl and her son, for the son of the slave girl shall never share the inheritance with the son of the free woman.”

³¹Therefore, brothers, we are not children of a slave girl, but of the free woman.