4:1 Now a minor heir is no better off than a slave even though they will inherit the whole estate,

4:2 since they are under guardians and household administrators until the time set by the father.

4:3 So it is also with us: when we were minors we were enslaved by the elemental spirits of the world.

4:4 But when the time set by God arrived, he sent out his Son to be born from a woman and under Law,

4:5 so that he could redeem those under the Law and adopt them as children.

4:6 So since you are children, God sends out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, so that we can call out, “Daddy, Father!”

4:7 meaning you are no longer a slave but a child— and if a child, then an heir through God.

4:8 But before, of course, you had no concept of God and were a slave to what were not really gods at all.

4:9 Yet now that you know God— or rather are known by God— how can you turn back again to those weakling elemental spirits and enslave yourselves to them again?

4:10 You are observing sacred months and times and years!

4:11 I fear for you, that somehow I labored for nothing on your behalf.

4:12 Become like me, sisters and brothers, because I was once like you. I plead with you because you did me no wrong.

4:13 You know that when I brought the Gospel to you before, I was physically ill.

4:14 Yet you were not put off by my physical condition and did not “spit me out,” but you accepted me as though I were a Messenger of God or even as Anointed Jesus.

4:15 So where is your happiness? I vouch for you that if you could, you would have gouged out your own eyes and given them to me!

4:16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

4:17 Those people are trying to sway you to their side, and not out of pure motives. They want to cut you off from me so you will admire them.

4:18 Now admiring someone is fine, and not just when I’m around.

4:19 But my little children, I am writhing in the pains of childbirth with you until you become like the Anointed!

4:20 I want so much to be there with you in person right now so I could change my tone. I am exasperated with you!

4:21 Tell me, you who want to go back under the Law, do you not listen to it?

4:22 For it has been written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman.

4:23 But the one by the slave woman came purely by means of the flesh, while the one by the free woman came through a promise.

4:24 This is an allegory, for these women represent two legal contracts. One was from Mt. Sinai in Arabia and gave birth into slavery— that is Hagar.

4:25 She represents Mt. Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to Jerusalem today, since she and her children are still in slavery.

4:26 Yet the Jerusalem from above is free— it is she who is our mother.

4:27 For it has been written, “Be glad, childless one who is not giving birth! Break your silence and shout, you who are not in labor pains! For the children of the single woman outnumber those of the one with a husband!”

4:28 Now brothers and sisters, you are children of promise, corresponding to Isaac.

4:29 But the child of the flesh persecuted the child of the Spirit; it’s the same now as it was then.

4:30 But what does the scripture say? “Send the slave woman and her son away, for he will not share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”

4:31 So then, sisters and brothers, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.