HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1431
G AL ATIANS 4
page 1061
We were kept in protective custody, so to speak,
until the way of faith was revealed.
24 Let me put it another way. The law was our
guardian until Christ came; it protected us until
we could be made right with God through faith.
25 And now that the way of faith has come, we no
longer need the law as our guardian.
26 For you are all children* of God through
faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been
united with Christ in baptism have put on
Christ, like putting on new clothes.* 28 There is
no longer Jew or Gentile,* slave or free, male
and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the
true children* of Abraham. You are his heirs,
and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.
4
Think of it this way. If a father dies and
leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off
than slaves until they grow up, even though
they actually own everything their father had.
2 They have to obey their guardians until they
reach whatever age their father set. 3 And that’s
the way it was with us before Christ came. We
were like children; we were slaves to the basic
spiritual principles* of this world.
4 But when the right time came, God sent
his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.
5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were
slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as
his very own children.* 6 And because we* are
his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son
into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba,
Father.”* 7 Now you are no longer a slave but
God’s own child.* And since you are his child,
God has made you his heir.
Paul’s Concern for the Galatians
8 Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves
to so-called gods that do not even exist. 9 So now
that you know God (or should I say, now that
God knows you), why do you want to go back
again and become slaves once more to the weak
and useless spiritual principles of this world?
10 You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or
years. 11 I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work
with you was for nothing. 12 Dear brothers and
sisters,* I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like
you Gentiles—free from those laws.
You did not mistreat me when I first preached
to you. 13 Surely you remember that I was sick
when I first brought you the Good News. 14 But
3:26 Greek sons. 3:27 Greek have put on Christ. 3:28 Greek
Jew or Greek. 3:29 Greek seed. 4:3 Or powers; also in 4:9.
4:5 Greek sons; also in 4:6. 4:6a Greek you. 4:6b Abba is
an Aramaic term for “father.” 4:7 Greek son; also in 4:7b.
4:12 Greek brothers; also in 4:28, 31. 4:22 See Gen 16:15; 21:2-3.
4:25 Greek And Hagar, which is Mount Sinai in Arabia, is now
like Jerusalem; other manuscripts read And Mount Sinai in
Arabia is now like Jerusalem.
even though my condition tempted you to reject
me, you did not despise me or turn me away.
No, you took me in and cared for me as though
I were an angel from God or even Christ Jesus
himself. 15 Where is that joyful and grateful
spirit you felt then? I am sure you would have
taken out your own eyes and given them to me if
it had been possible. 16 Have I now become your
enemy because I am telling you the truth?
17 Those false teachers are so eager to win your
favor, but their intentions are not good. They are
trying to shut you off from me so that you will pay
attention only to them. 18 If someone is eager to do
good things for you, that’s all right; but let them
do it all the time, not just when I’m with you.
19 Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going
through labor pains for you again, and they will
continue until Christ is fully developed in your
lives. 20 I wish I were with you right now so I could
change my tone. But at this distance I don’t know
how else to help you.
Abraham’s Two Children
21 Tell me, you who want to live under the law,
do you know what the law actually says? 22 The
Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one
from his slave wife and one from his freeborn
wife.* 23 The son of the slave wife was born in a
human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of
God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife
was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.
24 These two women serve as an illustration of
God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar,
represents Mount Sinai where people received
the law that enslaved them. 25 And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia,* because
she and her children live in slavery to the law.
• Equality
G A LATI A N S 3:28
In this passage, Paul is addressing the
sharp divisions that existed in the culture of the Galatian church. Jewish and
Greek believers brought entirely different
worldviews to worship, prayer, study,
and community life. Free people, some
of them owning their own businesses,
were breaking bread with slaves, who
had virtually no control over their destiny.
Blatant differences separated men and
women. Into this confusion came the Holy
Spirit, who united all in the body of Christ.
In any culture, any church, we find divisions
just as challenging as those that Paul
names here. The love and power of Christ
is able to overcome these differences when
each person submits to God’s leadership.