³ So also we [whether Jews or Gentiles], when we were children (spiritually immature), were kept like slaves under the elementary [man-made religious or philosophical] teachings of the world. ⁴ But when [in God’s plan] the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the [regulations of the] Law,

³ For we too once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various sinful desires and pleasures, spending and wasting our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. ⁴ But when the goodness and kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared [in human form as the Man, Jesus Christ], ⁵ He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we have done, but because of His own compassion and mercy, by the cleansing of the new birth (spiritual transformation, regeneration) and renewing by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom He poured out richly upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that we would be justified [made free of the guilt of sin] by His [compassionate, undeserved] grace, and that we would be [acknowledged as acceptable to Him and] made heirs of eternal life [actually experiencing it] according to our hope (His guarantee).

²¹ For since the world through all its [earthly] wisdom failed to recognize God, God in His wisdom was well-pleased through the ^[a]foolishness of the message preached [regarding salvation] to save those who believe [in Christ and welcome Him as Savior].