Galatians:4
Seeker Overlay ON
*
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 ,
*
but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father .
*
Even so we ,
when we were children ,
were enslaved under the elements of the world .
*
But when the fullness of the time had come ,
God sent forth His Son ,
brought forth out of a woman ,
brought forth under the Law ,
*
to redeem those who were under the Law ,
that we might receive the adoption of sons .
*
And because you are sons ,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts ,
crying out ,
Abba ,
Father !
*
Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son ,
and if a son ,
then an heir of God through Christ .
*
However ,
indeed ,
when you did not know God ,
you served those which by nature are not gods .
*
But now ,
knowing God ,
or rather being known by God ,
how is it that you turn again to the feeble and worthless principles ,
to which you desire again to be in bondage ?
*
You observe days and months and seasons and years .
*
I am afraid for you ,
lest I have labored among you in vain .
*
Brethren ,
I beseech you to be as I am ,
for I am as you are .
You have not wronged me at all .
*
You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first .
*
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 .
*
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 .
*
Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth ?
*
They zealously pursue you ,
but not well ;
yes ,
they want to exclude you ,
that you may be zealous for them .
*
But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always ,
and not only when I am present with you .
*
My little children ,
for whom I travail again until Christ is formed in you ,
*
I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone ;
for I have doubts about you .
*
Tell me ,
you who desire to be under the Law ,
do you not hear the Law ?
*
For it is written that Abraham had two sons :
the one by a bondwoman ,
the other by a freewoman .
*
But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh ,
and he of the freewoman through promise ,
*
which things are symbolic .
For these are the two covenants :
the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage ,
which is Hagar ;
*
for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia ,
and corresponds to the present Jerusalem ,
and is in bondage with her children ;
*
but the Jerusalem from above is free ,
which is the mother of us all .
*
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 .
*
Now we ,
brethren ,
as Isaac was ,
are children of promise .
*
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 .
*
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 .
*
So then ,
brethren ,
we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free .