Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
Parallel translations
- WEB So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.
- KJV So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
- NKJV So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
- NASB So then, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave woman, but of the free woman.
- NLT So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul concludes that believers are children not of the slave woman but of the free woman. Our identity in Christ is one of freedom, not bondage.
Overview
Summing up the allegory, Paul affirms the Galatians' true status: they belong to Sarah, the free woman, and therefore to the covenant of grace. This freedom is the foundation for the exhortation that follows in chapter 5. The verse closes the argument with a confident declaration of the believer's liberty in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Gal 5:13For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.
- Gal 5:1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
- John 8:36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
- John 1:12–13But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—
- 1 Jn 3:1–2Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
- Heb 2:14–15Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil,
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Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 4:31 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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