Galatians 3:23-4:7

New Testament for Everyone

The coming of faith

²³ Before this faithfulness arrived, we were kept under guard by the law, in close confinement until the coming faithfulness should be revealed. ²⁴ Thus the law was like a babysitter for us, looking after us until the coming of the Messiah, so that we might be given covenant membership on the basis of faithfulness.

²⁵ But now that faithfulness has come, we are no longer under the rule of the babysitter. ²⁶ For you are all children of God, through faith, in the Messiah, Jesus.

²⁷ You see, every one of you who has been baptized into the Messiah has put on the Messiah. ²⁸ There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no “male and female”; you are all one in the Messiah, Jesus.

²⁹ And, if you belong to the Messiah, you are Abraham’s family. You stand to inherit the promise.

The son and the spirit

4 Let me put it like this. As long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave—even if, in fact, he is master of everything! ² He is kept under guardians and stewards until the time set by his father.

³ Well, it’s like that with us. When we were children, we were kept in “slavery” under the “elements of the world.” ⁴ But when the fullness of time arrived, God sent out his son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ so that he might redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

⁶ And, because you are sons, God sent out the spirit of his son into our hearts, calling out “Abba, Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son! And, if you’re a son, you are an heir, through God.