Beginning
4 I want to tell you this: While the one who will inherit his father’s property is still a child, he is no different from a slave. It does not matter that the child owns everything. 2 While he is a child, he must obey those who are chosen to care for him. But when the child reaches the age set by his father, he is free. 3 It is the same for us. We were once like children. We were slaves to the useless rules of this world. 4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son. His Son was born of a woman and lived under the law. 5 God did this so that he could buy freedom for those who were under the law. His purpose was to make us his children.
6 And you are God’s children. That is why God sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts. The Spirit cries out, “Father, dear Father.”[a] 7 So now you are not a slave; you are God’s child, and God will give you what he promised, because you are his child.
Paul’s Love for the Christians
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, it is God who knows you. So why do you turn back to those weak and useless rules you followed before? Do you want to be slaves to those things again? 10 You still follow teachings about special days, months, seasons, and years. 11 I am afraid for you. I fear that my work for you has been wasted.
12 Brothers, I was like you; so I beg you to become like me. You were very good to me before. 13 You remember that I came to you the first time because I was sick. That was when I preached the Good News to you. 14 Though my sickness was a trouble for you, you did not hate me or make me leave. But you welcomed me as an angel from God, as if I were Jesus Christ himself! 15 You were very happy then. Where is that joy now? I remember that you would have taken out your eyes and given them to me if that were possible. 16 Now am I your enemy because I tell you the truth?
17 Those people[b] are working hard to persuade you. But this is not good for you. They want to persuade you to turn against us. They want you to follow only them. 18 It is good for people to show interest in you, but only if their purpose is good. This is always true. It is true when I am with you and when I am away. 19 My little children, again I feel pain for you as a mother feels when she gives birth. I will feel this until you truly become like Christ. 20 I wish I could be with you now. Then maybe I could change the way I am talking to you. Now I do not know what to do about you.
The Example of Hagar and Sarah
21 Some of you people still want to be under the law of Moses. 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. 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 makes a picture for us. The two women are like the two agreements between God and men. One agreement is the law that God made on Mount Sinai.[c] The people who are under this agreement are like slaves. The mother named Hagar is like that agreement. 25 She is like Mount Sinai in Arabia and 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 which is above is like the free woman. She is our mother. 27 It is written in the Scriptures:
“Be happy, Jerusalem.
You are like a woman who never gave birth to children.
Start singing and shout for joy.
You never felt the pain of giving birth to children.
But you will have more children
than the woman who has a husband.” Isaiah 54:1
28 My brothers, you are God’s children because of his promise, as Isaac was then. 29 The son who was born in the normal way treated the other son badly. It is the same today. 30 But what does the Scripture 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.”[d] 31 So, my brothers, we are not children of the slave woman. We are children of the free woman.
Keep Your Freedom
5 We have freedom now because Christ made us free. So stand strong. Do not change and go back into the slavery of the law. 2 Listen! I am Paul. I tell you that if you go back to the law by being circumcised, then Christ is no good for you. 3 Again, I warn every man: If you allow yourselves to be circumcised, then you must follow all the law. 4 If you try to be made right with God through the law, then your life with Christ is over—you have left God’s grace. 5 But we hope to be made right with God through faith, and we wait for this hope anxiously with the Spirit’s help. 6 When we are in Christ Jesus, it is not important if we are circumcised or not. The important thing is faith—the kind of faith that works through love.
7 You were running a good race. You were obeying the truth. Who stopped you from following the true way? 8 Whatever way he used did not come from the One who chose you. 9 Be careful! “Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” 10 But I trust in the Lord that you will not believe those different ideas. Someone is confusing you with such ideas. And he will be punished, whoever he is.
11 My brothers, I do not teach that a man must be circumcised. If I teach circumcision, then why am I still being treated badly? If I still taught circumcision, my preaching about the cross would not be a problem. 12 I wish the people who are bothering you would castrate[e] themselves!
13 My brothers, God called you to be free. But do not use your freedom as an excuse to do the things that please your sinful self. Serve each other with love. 14 The whole law is made complete in this one command: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”[f] 15 If you go on hurting each other and tearing each other apart, be careful! You will completely destroy each other.
The Spirit and Human Nature
16 So I tell you: Live by following the Spirit. Then you will not do what your sinful selves want. 17 Our sinful selves want what is against the Spirit. The Spirit wants what is against our sinful selves. The two are against each other. So you must not do just what you please. 18 But if you let the Spirit lead you, you are not under the law.
19 The result of sin’s control in our lives is clear. It includes sexual immorality, impurity and wild living, 20 worshiping false gods, doing witchcraft, hating, making trouble, being jealous, being angry, being selfish, making people angry with each other, causing divisions among people, 21 having envy, being drunk, having wild and wasteful parties, and doing other things like this. I warn you now as I warned you before: Those who do these things will not be in God’s kingdom. 22 But the Spirit gives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. There is no law that says these things are wrong. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their own sinful selves. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do. 25 We get our new life from the Spirit. So we should follow the Spirit. 26 We must not be proud. We must not make trouble with each other. And we must not be jealous of each other.
Help Each Other
6 Brothers, someone in your group might do something wrong. You who are spiritual should go to him and help make him right again. You should do this in a gentle way. But be careful! You might be tempted to sin, too. 2 Help each other with your troubles. When you do this, you truly obey the law of Christ. 3 If anyone thinks that he is important when he is really not important, he is only fooling himself. 4 He should not compare himself with others. Each person should judge his own actions. Then he can be proud for what he himself has done. 5 Each person must be responsible for himself.
6 Anyone who is learning the teaching of God should share all the good things he has with his teacher.
Life Is Like Planting a Field
7 Do not be fooled: You cannot cheat God. A person harvests only what he plants. 8 If he plants to satisfy his sinful self, his sinful self will bring him eternal death. But if he plants to please the Spirit, he will receive eternal life from the Spirit. 9 We must not become tired of doing good. We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time. We must not give up! 10 When we have the opportunity to help anyone, we should do it. But we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers.
Paul Ends His Letter
11 I am writing this myself. See what large letters I use. 12 Some men are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do these things so that the Jews will accept them. They are afraid that they will be treated badly if they follow only the cross of Christ.[g] 13 Those who are circumcised do not obey the law themselves, but they want you to be circumcised. Then they can brag about what they forced you to do. 14 I hope I will never brag about things like that. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is my only reason for bragging. Through the cross of Jesus my world was crucified and I died to the world. 15 It is not important if a man is circumcised or not circumcised. The important thing is being the new people God has made. 16 Peace and mercy to those who follow this rule—to all of God’s people.
17 So do not give me any more trouble. I have scars on my body. These show[h] I belong to Christ Jesus.
18 My brothers, I pray that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will be with your spirit. Amen.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.