Scriptures

New Living Translation (NLT)

Galatians 4
² They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set.
³ And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.
⁴ But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.
⁵ God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.
⁶ And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”
⁷ Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.
⁸ Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist.
⁹ So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?
¹⁰ You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years.
¹¹ I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing.
¹² Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles—free from those laws. You did not mistreat me when I first preached to you.