|
[1]But I say, that the heir, so long as he is a child, differeth not from a servant, although he is lord of all;
[2]but he is under supervisors and stewards, until the time established by his father.
[3]So also we, while we were children, were in subordination under the elements of the world.
[4]But when the consummation of the time arrived, God sent forth his Son; and he was from a woman, and was under the law;
[5]that he might redeem them that were under the law; and that we might receive the adoption of sons.
[6]And, because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, who crieth, Father, our Father.
[7]Wherefore, ye are no longer servants, but sons; and if sons, then heirs of God; through Jesus the Messiah.
[8]For then, when ye knew not God, ye served them who in their nature are not gods.
[9]But now, since ye have known God, or rather, have been known by God, ye turn yourselves again to the weak and beggarly elements, and wish again to be under them !
[10]Ye observe days and moons, and set times, and years!
[11]I am afraid, lest I have labored among you in vain.
[12]Be ye like me; because I have been like you.
[13]For ye know, that under the infirmity of my flesh, I at first announced the gospel to you;
[14]and the trial in my flesh, ye did not despise nor nauseate: but ye received me as an angel of God, and as Jesus the Messiah.
[15]Where then is your blessedness? For I testify of you, that if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your eyes, and have given them to me.
[16]Have I become an enemy to you, by preaching to you the truth?
[17]They are zealous towards you, yet not for good; but they wish to shut you up, that ye may be zealous towards them.
[18]And it is a good thing to be zealous at all times in good things; and not merely when I am present with you.
[19][Ye are] my children, of whom I travail in birth again, till the Messiah be formed in you.
[20]And I could wish to be now with you, and to change the tone of my voice; because I am astonished at you.
[21]Tell me, ye who desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
[22]For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondmaid, and one by the free woman.
[23]But he that was by the bond maid, was born after the flesh; and he that was by the free woman, was by the promise.
[24]And these are allegorical of the two covenants; the one from mount Sinai, which bringeth forth for bondage, is Hagar.
[25]For Hagar is the mount Sinai in Arabia, and correspondeth with the present Jerusalem, and is serving in bondage, she and her children.
[26]But the Jerusalem above, is the free woman, who is the mother of us.
[27]For it is written, Be joyful, thou barren, who bearest not: exult and shout, thou who hast not travailed: for more numerous are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman.
[28]Now we, my brethren, like Isaac, are the children of the promise.
[29]And as then, he that was born after the flesh, persecuted him [who was born] of the Spirit; so also [is it] now.
[30]But what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondmaid, and her son; because the son of the bondmaid shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.
[31]So then, my brethren, we are not sons of the bond-woman, but sons of the free woman.
|