Galatians 4

1 I will tell you a picture story. There was an old man with a young son, and that old man was sick and going to die. He knew that after he dies that little kid will get everything he owns, but the kid will not know how to look after it. So the old man got some people to be the bosses, and they agreed to look after his things until the boy grows up. He told them how old the boy has to be before he can take over and control those things. After they agreed to that, the old man died. Then that kid owned everything that his father left, but that kid couldn’t do anything with it. He was no different from his father’s workers. 2 He had to do what his teachers and the other bosses told him to do, until he grew up. He had to wait for the right time to come, the time that his father told them before he died. 3 Now I’ll tell you what that picture story is all about. We were like that little kid. We had bosses too. The bad spirits that are the bosses over this world, they were our bosses. 4 And just like that little kid, we had to wait for the right time to come. Then, when the right time came, God sent his own son from heaven to the earth. He was born from a normal woman into the Jewish nation, and he did what the Jewish law said. 5 And then he took the payback for all of us, the payback for the bad things we did, and he set us free. So God took us into his family to be his proper kids, and we don’t have to follow that law any more. 6 And when we became God’s kids, he sent his son’s spirit to live right inside us. His spirit in us gets us to call out to God, “My Dad, you are my father.”[~1~] 7 So those bad spirits are not your bosses any more, but you are one of God’s kids, and you will get everything that God gives to his kids.

Don’t let the bad spirits be your bosses

8 At first you didn’t know God. Those other bad spirits were your bosses. Those spirits are not gods at all, but you couldn’t get free from them. 9 But then you heard about Jesus, and now you do know God, or really, God knows you. So don’t turn back now to those weak and useless spirits that are the bosses over this world. Don’t let them be your bosses again. 10 You think you make God happy if you follow the Jewish ceremonies for special days, or months, or times, or years. But you are wrong. 11 I’m worried about you. I worked really hard to help you, and now I think, “Maybe I wasted my time.” 12 Look, my Christian friends, I ask you to free yourselves from that law, just like I did. You see, I used to think I had to follow that law, but now I’m free, just like you.

People in Galatia believed the wrong story, and that hurt Paul

Remember the first time I came to you mob in Galatia. You didn’t do anything wrong to me at that time, 13 even though I was sick. And I told you the good news about Jesus. 14 Yes, I had a problem in my body, and it made me look bad to you. But you didn’t turn your back to me or say bad things to me. No, instead of that you were good to me, and you said, “Thank you for coming here.” You were really happy with me, like I was one of God’s angel messengers, or like I was Jesus Christ himself.

15 But now you are not happy with me any more. What went wrong? Back then you loved me so much that you did everything for me, no matter how hard it was for you. 16 But now something is wrong. I’m telling you what is true, and you don’t like it. It looks like you turned around, and now you are calling me your enemy.

17 Some people want you to follow the Jewish law, and they are trying hard to get you to join them. But that will not be good for you. They just want to pull you away from me. They want you to listen only to them, nobody else. 18 They don’t teach you good things, so don’t listen to them. But there are other people that teach you good things, and it is good to listen to them. Yes, it is good to listen to those good teachers all the time, not just when I’m there with you. 19 Listen, I got you to believe in Jesus, so you are like my own kids to me. But now you are hurting me a lot. You know, when a woman has a baby, that baby gives her a lot of pain. Well, just like that, you are giving me a lot of pain. And I will keep on feeling this pain until you properly change to be like Jesus Christ. 20 You see, I really worry about you. I wish I could go there and be with you now, to talk with you the right way, and help you.

An old story means something new

21 Listen, you mob that want to follow the Jewish law, you don’t really know what that law says. 22 You see, God says in his book that Abraham had 2 sons. The mother of one son was Hagar. She was a worker. She was like a prisoner, and she had to work all the time for Sarah, Abraham’s wife, and she got no pay. But Sarah was the mother of the other son. She was always a free woman.[~2~]

23 The 1st son was born after Abraham and Sarah talked about it, and then Abraham and the worker got together, and after that she had a son. But it was not God’s idea. That 1st son came from the woman that was like a prisoner. But the 2nd son came after God promised to give Sarah a son. That 2nd son came from the free woman.

24 That old story teaches us something else too. Those 2 women are like pictures of the 2 agreements that God made with his people. Hagar is like the agreement that God made on the big hill called Sinai, where he gave the Jews their law. That agreement makes people like prisoners. They are not free. They have to work all the time to follow that law. 25 Hagar is a picture of the big hill called Sinai in Arabia country, and she is like the city here on earth called Jerusalem, where people have to follow that Jewish law. That city and its people are like prisoners that have to work all the time. They are not free.

26 But there is another city called Jerusalem up in heaven. That city’s people are free. And we belong to that city, so we are free. 27 There will be a lot of people with us in that city. You see, this is what God says in his book,

“Be happy, you woman that hasn’t got any kids.

You didn’t have to feel all that pain from having a kid.

You can be really happy, and you can shout out loud.

You used to be sad and lonely, but now you will have a lot more kids than the woman that has a husband.”[~3~]

28 You see, my Christian friends, you are like Sarah’s son. His name was Isaac. God promised to give that son to Abraham and Sarah. Well, just like that, God promises to make you his kids too. 29 And think a bit more about that story. Remember Ishmael, the 1st son. He was born because of things people did by themselves. But Isaac, the 2nd son, he was born by the power of the Holy Spirit. And you know, at that time, long ago, Ishmael gave Isaac a lot of trouble. And it is like that now too. The people that reckon we have to follow the law, they give the free people a lot of trouble.[~4~] 30 But God’s book says this about Hagar and Ishmael,

“Chuck out the working woman and her son. That working woman’s son will never get what God promised to the free woman’s son.”[~5~]

31 So I’m telling you, my friends, we are like the free woman’s kids. We are not like kids of the woman that had to work all the time like a prisoner.

<- Galatians 3 Galatians 5 ->