 1 Now I say: For as long a time as an heir is a child, there is no difference+ from a servant, even though that heir will be lord over all. 2 But a child is under tutors and guardians+ until the time appointed by the father. 3 And so when we were children, we were held in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, made from a woman and made under the law, Genesis 3:15 5 to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption. 6 But because you are children+ of God, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out: Abba Father. 7 Therefore you are no longer+ a servant, but a child+ of God. And as a child+ of God, also an heir of God through Christ. 8 However, when you did not know God, you were in bondage+ to those who are not by nature gods. 9 But now, having known God, or rather having been known by God, how can you turn again to the weak and contemptible+ elements, to which you seem to desire to be in bondage again? 10 You observe days and months and times and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest somehow I have labored for you in vain. 12 Family+, I urge you: Be as I am. For I am like you. You have not wronged+ me at all. 13 You know how, even through my weakness+ in the flesh, I proclaimed+ the Gospel to you from the first. 14 And you did not despise or reject me for my trials+ in my flesh, but you received me like an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 What then was the source of your blessedness? For I testify+ that, if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I become your enemy because I speak the truth to you? 17 Certain things zealously affect you, but not for good. But rather they desire+ that you be zealous+ for them to draw+ you away. 18 It is good to be zealous in good things always, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My little children for whom I labor+ again until Christ be formed in you, 20 I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice. For I stand in doubt about you. 21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law: Do you not hear the law? 22 For it is written: Abraham had two sons. One by a servant+ woman. The other by a free woman. Genesis 21:10 23 But one was born of the servant+ woman by the flesh. And one of the free woman through the promise. 24 This is an allegory. For these are representative of the two covenants~: One from Mount Sinai that brings forth+ bondage is Hagar. 25 Hagar is representative of Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds+ to Jerusalem now, and she is in bondage with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free and this is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written: Rejoice, you barren who do not bear. Break forth and cry out, you who do not labor+ in childbirth. For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. Isaiah 54:1 28 Now we, family+, are children of the promise just as Isaac was. 29 But just as one born by the flesh persecuted one born by the Spirit, so also is it now. 30 Nevertheless, what does the Scripture say? Cast out the servant+ woman and her son. For the son of the servant+ woman will not be the heir with the son of the free woman. Genesis 21:10 John 8:35 31 So then, family+, we are not children of the servant+ woman, but of the free.
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