Galatians 4

“Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts” (6). The Law was a temporary state in God’s plan (2). Once Christ came, we no longer needed the Law as our “custodian”, because we became fully adopted children of God (4-5). Paul urges believers not to return to their previous “enslaved” state (9). He uses the OT story of Hagar (Gen 21) as a metaphor for two trajectories, one a child of slavery and one as “children of promise” (28).

“So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child” (7). We may be tempted to replace our relationship with God with the false security of religious activity, but we are invited to something better: to become part of His family.