7Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child.[1] And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.
Translation notes (1)
- 4:7 Greek son; also in 4:7b.
Have you noticed how we human beings tend to define ourselves by our careers, personalities, relationships, etc.? Sometimes, we even define ourselves by our past mistakes or current struggles. While not all of the definitions we attribute to ourselves are necessarily bad, although some of them certainly are, none of these things define us. As I heard it said recently, God, as our Creator, is the only one who gets to define us. As a result, we should look to Him and Him alone to tell us who we are, especially as we seek to live in the freedom from sin that is available in Christ when we place our faith in Him.
The apostle Paul reminds us who we are in Christ in Galatians 4. In this passage of Scripture, He explained that followers of Christ are free and get to walk in that freedom. He wrote in this passage of Scripture, “But when the right time came, God sent His Son…to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as His very own children” (verses 4-5). What Paul shares in this passage of Scripture is that when we place our faith in Christ, our identities change completely. We move from being slaves to sin to being sons and daughters of God. This truth changes everything. Paul continued writing, “Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are His child, God has made you His heir” (verse 7). Make no mistake, being children of God, the King of all kings, makes all the difference. Because we are children of God, we are heirs. Our inheritance is eternal life with Him forever. This is who we are in Christ. No longer are we slaves to sin, lost and hopeless. We are God’s children who have the hope of eternity with Him one day.
My friend, if you have placed your faith in Christ, you are no longer a slave to sin. You are a son or daughter of the most-high King. You are not a slave to sin anymore. You are a child of God, and you have an inheritance of eternal life with God forever to look forward to. This is who you are. Will you believe what God says about you?
Moving toward action
As you read the verses in the Going Deeper section below, make a list of what God says about you. Place this list somewhere you will see it often. Let it be a reminder to you of who you are in Christ, especially as you seek to live in the freedom from sin that Christ offers.
Prayer Prompt: Use this prompt to guide you as you pray
“God, as I seek to live in Your freedom, guide me to…”
Going deeper
1Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. 2They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. 3And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles[1] of this world.
4But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.[2] 6And because we[3] are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”[4] 7Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child.[5] And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.
Paul’s Concern for the Galatians
8Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. 9So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? 10You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. 11I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing. 12Dear brothers and sisters,[6] I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles—free from those laws.
You did not mistreat me when I first preached to you. 13Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News. 14But even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you did not despise me or turn me away. No, you took me in and cared for me as though I were an angel from God or even Christ Jesus himself. 15Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then? I am sure you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me if it had been possible. 16Have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth?
17Those false teachers are so eager to win your favor, but their intentions are not good. They are trying to shut you off from me so that you will pay attention only to them. 18If someone is eager to do good things for you, that’s all right; but let them do it all the time, not just when I’m with you.
19Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. 20I wish I were with you right now so I could change my tone. But at this distance I don’t know how else to help you.
Abraham’s Two Children
21Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says? 22The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife.[7] 23The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.
24These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. 25And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia,[8] because she and her children live in slavery to the law. 26But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother. 27As Isaiah said,
“Rejoice, O childless woman,
you who have never given birth!
Break into a joyful shout,
you who have never been in labor!
For the desolate woman now has more children
than the woman who lives with her husband!”[9]
28And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. 29But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit.
30But what do the Scriptures say about that? “Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”[10] 31So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.
Translation notes (10)
- 4:3 Or powers; also in 4:9.
- 4:5 Greek sons; also in 4:6.
- 4:6a Greek you.
- 4:6b Abba is an Aramaic term for “father.”
- 4:7 Greek son; also in 4:7b.
- 4:12 Greek brothers; also in 4:28, 31.
- 4:22 See Gen 16:15; 21:2-3.
- 4:25 Greek And Hagar, which is Mount Sinai in Arabia, is now like Jerusalem; other manuscripts read And Mount Sinai in Arabia is now like Jerusalem.
- 4:27 Isa 54:1.
- 4:30 Gen 21:10.
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