So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Parallel translations
- KJV Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
- BSB So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.
- NKJV Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
- NASB Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
- NLT Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.
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
You are no longer a slave but a son, and therefore an heir of God through Christ. Paul drives home the staggering privilege of the gospel: full inheritance in God Himself.
Overview
Paul concludes the adoption argument by addressing the reader directly and personally ('you'). The movement from slavery to sonship to heirship traces the believer's transformed standing. To be an 'heir of God through Christ' means sharing in all the riches of salvation, a status entirely received by grace and never to be exchanged for the bondage of law-keeping.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Rom 8:16–17The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;
- Gal 3:29If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
- Gal 3:26For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.
- 1 Cor 3:21–23Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,
- Gal 4:5–6that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children.
- Gal 4:31So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.
- Ps 73:26My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- 2 Cor 6:16–18What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
- Lam 3:24“Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”
- Rev 21:7He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.
- Gen 17:7–8I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you.
- Jer 10:16The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is his name.
- Gen 15:1After these things Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
- Ps 16:5Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure.
- Jer 31:33“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:
- Jer 32:38–41and they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 4:7 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.