Parallel
Galatians 4
Berean Standard Bible · Westminster Leningrad Codex
What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything.
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So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles (note: Or elemental forces; similarly in verse 9) of the world.
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And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
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So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.
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But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
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And although my illness was a trial to you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus Himself.
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What then has become of your blessing? For I can testify that, if it were possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.
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Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them.
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Nevertheless, it is good to be zealous if it serves a noble purpose—at any time, and not only when I am with you.
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For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman.
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His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise.
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These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar.
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Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.
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For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have never travailed; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband (note: Isaiah 54:1).”
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At that time, however, the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit. It is the same now.
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But what does the Scripture say? “Expel the slave woman and her son (note: Genesis 21:10), for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”
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