4:1 NOW WHAT I mean is that as long as the inheritor (heir) is a child and under age, he does not differ from a slave, although he is the master of all the estate; |
4:2 But he is under guardians and administrators {or} trustees until the date fixed by his father. |
4:3 So we [Jewish Christians] also, when we were minors, were kept like slaves under [the rules of the Hebrew ritual and subject to] the elementary teachings of a system of external observations {and} regulations. |
4:4 But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to [the regulations of] the Law, |
4:5 To purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted {and} have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God's sons]. |
4:6 And because you [really] are [His] sons, God has sent the [Holy] Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba (Father)! Father! |
4:7 Therefore, you are no longer a slave (bond servant) but a son; and if a son, then [it follows that you are] an heir by the aid of God, {through Christ.} |
4:8 But at that previous time, when you had not come to be acquainted with {and} understand {and} know the true God, you [Gentiles] were in bondage to gods who by their very nature could not be gods at all [gods that really did not exist]. |
4:9 Now, however, that you have come to be acquainted with {and} understand {and} know [the true] God, or rather to be understood {and} known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly {and} worthless elementary things [of all religions before Christ came], whose slaves you once more want to become? |
4:10 You observe [particular] days and months and seasons and years! |
4:11 I am alarmed [about you], lest I have labored among {and} over you to no purpose {and} in vain. |
4:12 Brethren, I beg of you, become as I am [free from the bondage of Jewish ritualism and ordinances], for I also have become as you are [a Gentile]. You did me no wrong [in the days when I first came to you; do not do it now]. |
4:13 On the contrary, you know that it was on account of a bodily ailment that [I remained and] preached the Gospel to you the first time. |
4:14 And [yet] although my physical condition was [such] a trial to you, you did not regard it with contempt, or scorn {and} loathe {and} reject me; but you received me as an angel of God, [even] as Christ Jesus [Himself]! |
4:15 What has become of that blessed enjoyment {and} satisfaction {and} self-congratulation that once was yours [in what I taught you and in your regard for me]? For I bear you witness that you would have torn out your own eyes and have given them to me [to replace mine], if that were possible. |
4:16 Have I then become your enemy by telling the truth to you {and} dealing sincerely with you? |
4:17 These men [the Judaizing teachers] are zealously trying to dazzle you [paying court to you, making much of you], but their purpose is not honorable {or} worthy {or} for any good. What they want to do is to isolate you [from us who oppose them], so that they may win you over to their side {and} get you to court their favor. |
4:18 It is always a fine thing [of course] to be zealously sought after [as you are, provided that it is] for a good purpose {and} done by reason of purity of heart and life, and not just when I am present with you! |
4:19 My little children, for whom I am again suffering birth pangs until Christ is completely {and} permanently formed (molded) within you, |
4:20 Would that I were with you now and could coax you vocally, for I am fearful {and} perplexed about you! |
4:21 Tell me, you who are bent on being under the Law, will you listen to what the Law [really] says? |
4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondmaid and one by the free woman. |
4:23 But whereas the child of the slave woman was born according to the flesh {and} had an ordinary birth, the son of the free woman was born in fulfillment of the promise. |
4:24 Now all this is an allegory; these [two women] represent two covenants. One covenant originated from Mount Sinai [where the Law was given] and bears [children destined] for slavery; this is Hagar. |
4:25 Now Hagar is (stands for) Mount Sinai in Arabia and she corresponds to {and} belongs in the same category with the present Jerusalem, for she is in bondage together with her children. |
4:26 But the Jerusalem above (the Messianic kingdom of Christ) is free, and she is our mother. |
4:27 For it is written in the Scriptures, Rejoice, O barren woman, who has not given birth to children; break forth into a joyful shout, you who are not feeling birth pangs, for the desolate woman has many more children than she who has a husband. |
4:28 But we, brethren, are children [not by physical descent, as was Ishmael, but] like Isaac, born in virtue of promise. |
4:29 Yet [just] as at that time the child [of ordinary birth] born according to the flesh despised {and} persecuted him [who was born remarkably] according to [the promise and the working of] the [Holy] Spirit, so it is now also. |
4:30 But what does the Scripture say? Cast out {and} send away the slave woman and her son, for never shall the son of the slave woman be heir {and} share the inheritance with the son of the free woman. |
4:31 So, brethren, we [who are born again] are not children of a slave woman [the natural], but of the free [the supernatural]. |