⁶ He made us able to be servants of a new agreement from himself to his people. It is not an agreement of written laws, but it is of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

An Agreement With Greater Glory

⁷ The old agreement^[a] that brought death, written with words on stone, came with God’s glory. In fact, the face of Moses was so bright with glory (a glory that was ending) that the people of Israel could not continue looking at his face. ⁸ So surely the new agreement that comes from the life-giving Spirit has even more glory. ⁹ This is what I mean: That old agreement judged people guilty of sin, but it had glory. So surely the new agreement that makes people right with God has much greater glory. ¹⁰ That old agreement had glory. But it really loses its glory when it is compared to the much greater glory of the new agreement. ¹¹ If the agreement that was brought to an end came with glory, then the agreement that never ends has much greater glory.

¹² We are so sure of this hope that we can speak very openly. ¹³ We are not like Moses, who put a covering over his face. He covered his face so that the people of Israel would not see it. The glory was disappearing, and Moses did not want them to see it end. ¹⁴ But their minds were closed. And even today, when those people read the writings of the old agreement,^[b] that same covering hides the meaning. That covering has not been removed for them. It is taken away only through Christ. ¹⁵ Yes, even today, when they read the Law of Moses, there is a covering over their minds. ¹⁶ But when someone changes and follows the Lord, that covering is taken away. ¹⁷ The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ And our faces are not covered. We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings more and more glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

²³ Before this faith came, the law held us as prisoners. We had no freedom until God showed us the way of faith that was coming. ²⁴ I mean the law was the guardian in charge of us until Christ came. After he came, we could be made right with God through faith. ²⁵ Now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law to be our guardian.

4 This is what I am saying: When young children inherit all that their father owned, they are still no different from his slaves. It doesn’t matter that they own everything. ² While they are children, they must obey those who are chosen to care for them. But when they reach the age the father set, they are free. ³ It is the same for us. We were once like children, slaves to the useless rules^[a] of this world. ⁴ But when the right time came, God sent his Son, who was born from a woman and lived under the law. ⁵ God did this so that he could buy the freedom of those who were under the law. God’s purpose was to make us his children.

⁶ Since you are now God’s children, he has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts. The Spirit cries out, “ Abba,^[b] Father.” ⁷ Now you are not slaves like before. You are God’s children, and you will receive everything he promised his children.

Paul’s Love for the Galatian Believers

⁸ In the past you did not know God. You were slaves to gods that were not real. ⁹ But now you know the true God. Really, though, it is God who knows you. So why do you turn back to the same kind of weak and useless rules you followed before? Do you want to be slaves to those things again?

The Example of Hagar and Sarah

²¹ Some of you people want to be under the law. Tell me, do you know what the law says? ²² The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons. The mother of one son was a slave woman, and the mother of the other son was a free woman. ²³ Abraham’s son from the slave woman was born in the normal human way. But the son from the free woman was born because of the promise God made to Abraham.

²⁴ This true story makes a picture for us. The two women are like the two agreements between God and his people. One agreement is the law that God made on Mount Sinai. The people who are under this agreement are like slaves. The mother named Hagar is like that agreement. ²⁵ So Hagar is like Mount Sinai in Arabia. She is a picture of the earthly Jewish city of Jerusalem. This city is a slave, and all its people are slaves to the law. ²⁶ But the heavenly Jerusalem that is above is like the free woman, who is our mother. ²⁷ The Scriptures say,

²⁸ My brothers and sisters, you are children who were born because of God’s promise, just as Isaac was. ²⁹ But the other son of Abraham, who was born in the normal way, caused trouble for the one who was born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same today. ³⁰ But what do the Scriptures say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son! The son of the free woman will receive everything his father has, but the son of the slave woman will receive nothing.”^{[b] 31} So, my brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman. We are children of the free woman.