“Come to me all you people that are tired and have heavy burdens. I will give you rest.
Galatians 4:3 - Easy To Read Version It is the same for us. We were once like children. We were slaves to the useless rules of this world. Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: Amplified Bible - Classic Edition So we [Jewish Christians] also, when we were minors, were kept like slaves under [the rules of the Hebrew ritual and subject to] the elementary teachings of a system of external observations and regulations. American Standard Version (1901) So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world: Common English Bible In the same way, when we were minors, we were also enslaved by this world’s system. Catholic Public Domain Version So also we, when we were children, were subservient to the influences of the world. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version So we also, when we were children, were serving under the elements of the world. |
“Come to me all you people that are tired and have heavy burdens. I will give you rest.
So Jesus said to the Jews that believed in him, “If you continue to obey my teaching, then you are truly my followers.
So now, why are you putting a heavy burden {\cf2\super [307]} around the necks of the non-Jewish brothers? Are you trying to make God angry? We and our fathers {\cf2\super [308]} were not able to carry that burden!
We know that the law {\cf2\super [57]} is spiritual. But I am not spiritual. Sin rules me like I am its slave.
The Spirit {\cf2\super [65]} that we received is not a spirit that makes us slaves again and causes us to fear. The Spirit that we have makes us God’s chosen children. And with that Spirit we say, “Abba, {\cf2\super [66]} Father.”
\{I know you will be patient,\} because you are even patient with a person who forces you to do things and uses you! You are patient with people that trick you, or think they are better than you, or hit you in the face!
So what was the law {\cf2\super [39]} for? The law was given to show the wrong things people do. The law would continue until the special Descendant of Abraham came. This is the Descendant mentioned in the promise. \{The promise came directly from God.\} But the law was given through angels. The angels used \{Moses for\} a mediator {\cf2\super [40]} to give the law to people.
Because while he is a child, he must obey the people who are chosen to care for him. But when the child reaches the age his father set, he is free.
This true story makes a picture for us. The two women are like the two agreements (covenants) between God and his people. One agreement is \{the law that God made\} on Mount Sinai. {\cf2\super [55]} The people who are under this agreement are like slaves. The mother named Hagar is like that agreement.
So Hagar is like Mount Sinai in Arabia. She is a picture of the earthly \{Jewish\} city of Jerusalem. This city is a slave, and all its people (the Jews) are slaves \{to the law\}.
So, my brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman. We are children of the free woman.
In the past you did not know God. You were slaves to gods that were not real.
But now you know the true God. Really, it is God who knows you. So why do you turn back to those weak and useless rules you followed before? Do you want to be slaves to those things again?
You died with Christ and were made free from the worthless rules of the world. So why do you act like you still belong to this world? I mean, why do you follow rules like these:
Be sure that no person leads you away with false ideas and words that mean nothing. Those ideas come from people, not Christ. Those ideas are the worthless ideas of people in the world.
He was made a priest not by any law or rules about his human family. He became a priest through the power of his life which continues forever.