⁸ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants.

¹³ who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.^(A)

¹¹ He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith^[a] while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe^[b] without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them,^{(A) 12} and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.

God’s Promise Realized through Faith

¹³ For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.^{(B) 14} For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵ For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.^(C)

¹⁶ For this reason the promise depends on faith, in order that it may rest on grace, so that it may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (who is the father of all of us,^(D)

²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.^{(A) 27} As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.^{(B) 28} There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.^{(C) 29} And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring,^[a] heirs according to the promise.^(D)

¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.^(A)

²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by an enslaved woman and the other by a free woman.^{(A) 23} One, the child of the enslaved woman, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise.^{(B) 24} Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. ²⁵ Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia^[a] and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶ But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother.^{(C) 27} For it is written,

²⁸ Now you,^[b] my brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, like Isaac. ²⁹ But just as at that time the child who was born according to the flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.^{(E) 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.”^{(F) 31} So then, brothers and sisters, we are children, not of an enslaved woman but of the free woman.

3 ¹ See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he^[a] is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.^(A)