³⁵ The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever.^(A)

³¹ Then the father^[a] said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

¹⁰ So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.”^(A)

⁴ But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,^{(A) 5} in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.^{(B) 6} And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our^[a] hearts, crying, “Abba!^[b] Father!”^{(C) 7} So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir through God.^[c]

¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba!^[a] Father!”^{(A) 16} it is that very Spirit bearing witness^[b] with our spirit that we are children of God,^{(B) 17} and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.^(C)

³⁰ But what does the scripture say? “Drive out the enslaved woman and her child, for the child of the enslaved woman will not share the inheritance with the child of the free woman.”^{(A) 31} So then, brothers and sisters, we are children, not of an enslaved woman but of the free woman.

¹⁷ But if he makes a gift out of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall revert to the prince; only his sons may keep a gift from his inheritance.^(A)

² who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood:

May grace and peace be yours in abundance.^(A)

A Living Hope

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead^{(B) 4} and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.^(C)

⁵ Now Moses was faithful in all God’s^[a] house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken later.^{(A) 6} Christ, however, was faithful over God’s^[b] house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm^[c] the boldness and the pride inspired by hope.^(B)