1But listen, as long as the heir of the host is a child, he has no advantage over the slaves, although he is the master of them all. 2He is subject to those who care for him and who are entrusted with his affairs until the time set by his father comes. 3In the same way we as children were first subjected to the created forces that govern the world. 4But when the fullness of time came, God sent his Son. He came born of woman and subject to the Law, 5in order to redeem the subjects of the Law, that we might receive adoption as children of God. 6And because you are children, God has sent into your hearts the Spirit of his Son which cries out: Abba! that is, Father!
7You yourself are no longer a slave but a son or daughter, and yours is the inheritance by God’s grace.
8When you did not know God, you served those who are not gods. 9But now that you have known God – or rather he has known you – how can you turn back to weak and impoverished created things? Do you want to be enslaved again? 10Will you again observe this and that day, and the new moon, and this period and that year…? 11I fear I may have wasted my time with you.
I still suffer for you
12 ① I implore you, dearly beloved, do as I do, just as I became like you. You have not offended me in anything. 13Remember that it was an illness that first gave me the opportunity to announce the Gospel to you. 14Although my illness was a trial to you, you did not despise or reject me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.
15Where is this bliss? For I can testify that you would have even plucked out your eyes to give them to me. 16But now, have I become your enemy for telling you the truth?
17Those who show consideration to you are not sincere; they want to separate you from me, so that you may show interest in them. 18Would that you were surrounded with sincere care at all times, and not only from me when I am with you!
19My children! I still suffer the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. 20How I wish I could be there with you at this moment and find the right way of talking to you.
The comparison of Sarah and Hagar
21 ② Tell me, you who desire to submit yourselves to the Law, did you listen to it? 22It says that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman, the other by the free woman, his wife. 23The son of the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but the son of the free woman was born in fulfillment of God’s promise.
24Here we have an allegory and the figures of two covenants. The first is the one from Mount Sinai, represented through Hagar: her children have slavery for their lot. 25We know that Hagar was from Mount Sinai in Arabia: she stands for the present city of Jerusalem which is in slavery with her children.
26But the Jerusalem above, who is our mother, is free. 27And Scripture says of her: Rejoice, barren woman without children, break forth in shouts of joy, you who do not know the pains of childbirth, for many shall be the children of the forsaken mother, more than of the married woman.
28You, dearly beloved, are children of the promise, like Isaac. 29But as at that time the child born according to the flesh persecuted Isaac, who was born according to the spirit, so is it now. 30And what does Scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave cannot share the inheritance with the son of the free woman.
31Brethren, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
- Gal 4,12 Here, a few more personal lines. These Galatians loved Paul, and Paul loved them, but some aspect of faith escaped them. That is why they felt more at ease with others than with Paul, those who had a sense of religion and did not fail to profit from it. Gal 4,21 In the history of his ancestor Abraham, Paul discovers an image of conflict opposing the true believer to the Judaizers - those who say one is saved by religiously observing practices. At the start of sacred history is Abraham's faith and the promise God made to him. It should be noted that this promise was not to be inherited in the same way as family goods, which had to be distributed among all the children. The promise will not come to Ismael born like any other. (Paul says: born according to the flesh.) Rather, what God promised was only destined for the son of promise, Isaac: the one who was born through a miraculous and free intervention of God. Thus, from the very beginning of the Bible, we see that we do not come to faith and to God's inheritance because we have a right to them, but through grace. By clinging to their religious observances, the Jews were forgetting that they were, above all, the people of the promise. Chosen by God in preference to other people, their mission was to announce that there are promises of God for all nations. They were wrong in thinking thus: since we are chosen by God, let everyone do what we do and observe our practices. Instead they should have shared their hopes with others; they should have taught others to believe in God's promise and not put their trust in particular religious practices. Hagar, the slave woman who gave birth to Ishmael, ancestor of the Arabs, becomes the image of the people of the first covenant, people who received the Law on Mount Sinai in Arabia: they did not achieve true freedom and held the earthly Jerusalem as their capital. While Sarah, the free woman, with her son Isaac, born according to the divine promise, represents God's new covenant with those who believe in his promises. These are the free people, the Christians who wait for the heavenly Jerusalem. Ishmael persecuted Isaac and Abraham sent him away. This means: the inadequately converted Jews are disturbing the Galatians; the Church, then, has to send them away.
- Gal 4,12 Here, a few more personal lines. These Galatians loved Paul, and Paul loved them, but some aspect of faith escaped them. That is why they felt more at ease with others than with Paul, those who had a sense of religion and did not fail to profit from it. Gal 4,21 In the history of his ancestor Abraham, Paul discovers an image of conflict opposing the true believer to the Judaizers - those who say one is saved by religiously observing practices. At the start of sacred history is Abraham's faith and the promise God made to him. It should be noted that this promise was not to be inherited in the same way as family goods, which had to be distributed among all the children. The promise will not come to Ismael born like any other. (Paul says: born according to the flesh.) Rather, what God promised was only destined for the son of promise, Isaac: the one who was born through a miraculous and free intervention of God. Thus, from the very beginning of the Bible, we see that we do not come to faith and to God's inheritance because we have a right to them, but through grace. By clinging to their religious observances, the Jews were forgetting that they were, above all, the people of the promise. Chosen by God in preference to other people, their mission was to announce that there are promises of God for all nations. They were wrong in thinking thus: since we are chosen by God, let everyone do what we do and observe our practices. Instead they should have shared their hopes with others; they should have taught others to believe in God's promise and not put their trust in particular religious practices. Hagar, the slave woman who gave birth to Ishmael, ancestor of the Arabs, becomes the image of the people of the first covenant, people who received the Law on Mount Sinai in Arabia: they did not achieve true freedom and held the earthly Jerusalem as their capital. While Sarah, the free woman, with her son Isaac, born according to the divine promise, represents God's new covenant with those who believe in his promises. These are the free people, the Christians who wait for the heavenly Jerusalem. Ishmael persecuted Isaac and Abraham sent him away. This means: the inadequately converted Jews are disturbing the Galatians; the Church, then, has to send them away.
