Bible Time

¹NOW this I say, That the heir as long as he is young cannot be distinguished from the servants, though he is the lord of them all. ²But he is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by his father. ³Even so we, when we were young, were subject to the principles of this world; ⁴But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son who, born of a woman, became subject to the law, ⁵To redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. ⁶And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying, Abba, Abon, oh Father, our Father. ⁷From now on you are not servants but sons; and if sons, then heirs of God through Jesus Messiah. ⁸Nevertheless, when you did not know God, you served those things which from their nature were not gods. ⁹But now after you have known God, and, above all, are known of God, you turn again to those weak and poor principles, and you wish again to come under their bondage. ¹⁰You still observe days and months and times and years. ¹¹I am afraid that perhaps I have labored among you in vain. ¹²My brothers, I beg you, put yourself in my place; just as I once put myself in your place. You have not offended me at all. ¹³You know that I was weak in flesh when I preached the gospel to you at first. ¹⁴Yet you did not despise me nor reject me on account of my weakness; but you received me as an angel of God, even as Jesus Messiah. ¹⁵Where is then the blessedness you had? For I can testify concerning you that, if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me. ¹⁶Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? ¹⁷These men do not envy you for good, but they would dominate you so that you might envy them. ¹⁸But it is good that you should always envy after good things, and not only when I am present with you.

¹⁹My little children, for whom I am in travail again until Messiah be a reality in you, ²⁰I wish I could be with you now and could change the tone of my voice, because I am deeply concerned about you. ²¹Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? ²²For it is written that Abraham had 2 sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. ²³But he who was born of the slave woman was born after the flesh; he who was born of the free woman was born by promise. ²⁴Now these things are a symbol of the 2 covenants, the one from mount Sinai giving birth to bondage, which is Hagar. ²⁵For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and surrenders to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. ²⁶But the Jerusalem which is above is free, and is the mother of us all. ²⁷For as it is written, Make merry, you barren who do not bear; rejoice and cry, you who do not travail; for the children of the one in disfavor are more numerous than the children of the one who is favored. ²⁸Now we, my brothers, are the children of promise, as was Isaac. ²⁹But as then, he who was born after the flesh persecuted him who was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. ³⁰Nevertheless, what does the scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son; for the son of the female servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman. ³¹So then, my brothers, we are not children of the female servant but children of the free woman.