Galatians 4:21-31

New Life Version

²¹ Listen! If you want to be under the Law, why do you not listen to what it says? ²² The Holy Writings say that Abraham had two sons. One was born from a woman servant (Hagar) who was owned by someone. She had to do what she was told. The other son was born from a woman (Sarah) who was free to work and live as she desired. ^{(A) 23} The son born from the woman servant who was owned by someone was like any other birth. The son born from the free woman was different. That son had been promised by God. ²⁴ Think of it like this: These two women show God’s two ways of working with His people. The children born from Hagar are under the Law given on Mount Sinai. They will be servants who are owned by someone and will always be told what to do! ²⁵ Hagar is known as Mount Sinai in the country of Arabia. She is as Jerusalem is today, because she and her children are not free to do what they want to do. ²⁶ But the Jerusalem of heaven is the free woman, and she is our mother. ²⁷ The Holy Writings say, “Woman, be happy, you who have had no children. Cry for joy, you who have never had the pains of having a child, for you will have many children. Yes, you will have more children than the one who has a husband.” ^{(B) 28} Christian brothers, we are like Isaac. We are the children God promised. ²⁹ At that time the son born as other children are born made it hard for the son born by the Holy Spirit. It is the same way now. ³⁰ But what do the Holy Writings say? They say, “Put the woman servant who is owned by someone and her son out of your home. The son of that woman servant will never get any of the riches of the family. It will all be given to the son of the free woman.” ^{(C) 31} Christian brothers, we are not children of the woman servant who was owned by someone (Hagar). We are children of the free woman (Sarah).