| 章 |
| 4:1 |
And I say, so long time as the heir is a babe, he differeth nothing from a servant -- being lord of all,
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| 4:2 |
but is under tutors and stewards till the time appointed of the father,
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| 4:3 |
so also we, when we were babes, under the elements of the world were in servitude,
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| 4:4 |
and when the fulness of time did come, God sent forth His Son, come of a woman, come under law,
|
| 4:5 |
that those under law he may redeem, that the adoption of sons we may receive;
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| 4:6 |
and because ye are sons, God did send forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, `Abba, Father!'
|
| 4:7 |
so that thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, also an heir of God through Christ.
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| 4:8 |
But then, indeed, not having known God, ye were in servitude to those not by nature gods,
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| 4:9 |
and now, having known God -- and rather being known by God -- how turn ye again unto the weak and poor elements to which anew ye desire to be in servitude?
|
| 4:10 |
days ye observe, and months, and times, and years!
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| 4:11 |
I am afraid of you, lest in vain I did labour toward you.
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| 4:12 |
Become as I [am] -- because I also [am] as ye brethren, I beseech you; to me ye did no hurt,
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| 4:13 |
and ye have known that through infirmity of the flesh I did proclaim good news to you at the first,
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| 4:14 |
and my trial that [is] in my flesh ye did not despise nor reject, but as a messenger of God ye did receive me -- as Christ Jesus;
|
| 4:15 |
what then was your happiness? for I testify to you, that if possible, your eyes having plucked out, ye would have given to me;
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| 4:16 |
so that your enemy have I become, being true to you?
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| 4:17 |
they are zealous for you -- [yet] not well, but they wish to shut us out, that for them ye may be zealous;
|
| 4:18 |
and [it is] good to be zealously regarded, in what is good, at all times, and not only in my being present with you;
|
| 4:19 |
my little children, of whom again I travail in birth, till Christ may be formed in you,
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| 4:20 |
and I was wishing to be present with you now, and to change my voice, because I am in doubt about you.
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| 4:21 |
Tell me, ye who are willing to be under law, the law do ye not hear?
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| 4:22 |
for it hath been written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the maid-servant, and one by the free-woman,
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| 4:23 |
but he who [is] of the maid-servant, according to flesh hath been, and he who [is] of the free-woman, through the promise;
|
| 4:24 |
which things are allegorized, for these are the two covenants: one, indeed, from mount Sinai, to servitude bringing forth, which is Hagar;
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| 4:25 |
for this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and doth correspond to the Jerusalem that now [is], and is in servitude with her children,
|
| 4:26 |
and the Jerusalem above is the free-woman, which is mother of us all,
|
| 4:27 |
for it hath been written, `Rejoice, O barren, who art not bearing; break forth and cry, thou who art not travailing, because many [are] the children of the desolate -- more than of her having the husband.'
|
| 4:28 |
And we, brethren, as Isaac, are children of promise,
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| 4:29 |
but as then he who was born according to the flesh did persecute him according to the spirit, so also now;
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| 4:30 |
but what saith the Writing? `Cast forth the maid-servant and her son, for the son of the maid-servant may not be heir with the son of the free-woman;'
|
| 4:31 |
then, brethren, we are not a maid-servant's children, but the free-woman's.
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