1Now I say, That the
heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing
from a servant, though he be lord of all;
2But is under tutors and governors until the
time appointed of the father.
3Even so we, when we were children, were in
bondage under the elements of the world:
4But when the fulness of the time was come,
God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under
the law,
5To redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons.
6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father.
7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a
son; and if a son, then an heir of God through
Christ.
8Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did
service unto them which by nature are no gods.
9But now, after that ye have known God, or
rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the
weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire
again to be in bondage?
10Ye observe days, and months, and times, and
years.
11I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed
upon you labour in vain.
12Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am;
for I am as
ye are:
ye have not injured me at all.
13Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh
I preached the gospel unto you at the first.
14And my temptation which was in my flesh ye
despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an
angel of God, even as
Christ Jesus.
15Where is then the blessedness ye spake of?
for I bear you record, that, if it
had been possible, ye would have plucked out
your own eyes, and have given them to me.
16Am I therefore become your enemy, because I
tell you the truth?
17They zealously affect you, but not
well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might
affect them.
18But it
is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing,
and not only when I am present with you.
19My little children, of whom I travail in
birth again until Christ be formed in you,
20I desire to be present with you now, and to
change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.
21Tell me, ye that desire to be under the
law, do ye not hear the law?
22For it is written, that Abraham had two
sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a
freewoman.
23But he who
was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh;
but he of the freewoman was by
promise.
24Which things are an allegory: for these are
the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai,
which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
25For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and
answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in
bondage with her children.
26But Jerusalem which is above is free, which
is the mother of us all.
27For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren
that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that
travailest not: for the desolate hath many more
children than she which hath an husband.
28Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the
children of promise.
29But as then he that was born after the
flesh persecuted him that
was born after the Spirit, even so it
is now.
30Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast
out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the
bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the
freewoman.
31So then, brethren, we are not children of
the bondwoman, but of the free.
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