Galatas 4
1 Dico autem: quanto tempore hæres parvulus est, nihil differt a servo, cum sit dominus omnium:
My point is this – as long as the heir is under age, there is no difference between him and a slave, though he is master of the whole estate.
2 sed sub tutoribus et actoribus est usque ad præfinitum tempus a patre:
He is subject to the control of guardians and stewards, during the period for which his father has power to appoint them.
3 ita et nos cum essemus parvuli, sub elementis mundi eramus servientes.
And so is it with us; when we were under age, as it were, we were slaves to the puerile teaching of this world;
4 At ubi venit plenitudo temporis, misit Deus Filium suum factum ex muliere, factum sub lege,
but, when the full time came, God sent his Son – born a woman’s child, born subject to Law –
5 ut eos, qui sub lege erant, redimeret, ut adoptionem filiorum reciperemus.
to ransom those who were subject to Law, so that we might take our position as sons.
6 Quoniam autem estis filii, misit Deus Spiritum Filii sui in corda vestra, clamantem: Abba, Pater.
And it is because you are sons that God sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son, with the cry – “Abba, our Father.”
7 Itaque jam non est servus, sed filius: quod si filius, et hæres per Deum.
You, therefore, are no longer a slave, but a son; and, if a son, then an heir also, by God’s appointment.
8 Sed tunc quidem ignorantes Deum, iis, qui natura non sunt dii, serviebatis.
Yet formerly, in your ignorance of God, you became slaves to “gods” which were no gods.
9 Nunc autem cum cognoveritis Deum, immo cogniti sitis a Deo: quomodo convertimini iterum ad infirma et egena elementa, quibus denuo servire vultis?
But now that you have found God – or, rather, have been found by him – how is it that you are turning back to that poor and feeble puerile teaching, to which yet once again you are wanting to become slaves?
10 Dies observatis, et menses, et tempora, et annos.
You are scrupulous in keeping days and months and seasons and years!
11 Timeo vos, ne forte sine causa laboraverim in vobis.
You make me fear that the labour which I have spent on you may have been wasted.
12 Estote sicut ego, quia et ego sicut vos: fratres, obsecro vos. Nihil me læsistis.
I entreat you, friends, to become like me, as I became like you. You have never done me any wrong.
13 Scitis autem quia per infirmitatem carnis evangelizavi vobis jampridem: et tentationem vestram in carne mea
You remember that it was owing to bodily infirmity that on the first occasion I told you the good news.
14 non sprevistis, neque respuistis: sed sicut angelum Dei excepistis me, sicut Christum Jesum.
And as for what must have tried you in my condition, it did not inspire you with scorn or disgust, but you welcomed me as if I had been an angel of God – or Christ Jesus himself!
15 Ubi est ergo beatitudo vestra? testimonium enim perhibeo vobis, quia, si fieri posset, oculos vestros eruissetis, et dedissetis mihi.
What has become then, of your blessings? For I can bear witness that, had it been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me!
16 Ergo inimicus vobis factus sum, verum dicens vobis?
Am I to think, then, that I have become your enemy by telling you the truth?
17 Æmulantur vos non bene: sed excludere vos volunt, ut illos æmulemini.
Certain people are seeking your favour, but with no honourable object. No, indeed, they want to isolate you, so that you will have to seek their favour.
18 Bonum autem æmulamini in bono semper: et non tantum cum præsens sum apud vos.
It is always honourable to have your favour sought in an honourable cause, and not only when I am with you, my dear children –
19 Filioli mei, quos iterum parturio, donec formetur Christus in vobis:
you for whom I am again enduring a mother’s pains, until a likeness to Christ will have been formed in you.
20 vellem autem esse apud vos modo, et mutare vocem meam: quoniam confundor in vobis.
But I could wish to be with you now and speak in a different tone, for I am perplexed about you.
21 Dicite mihi qui sub lege vultis esse: legem non legistis?
Tell me, you who want to be still subject to Law – Why don’t you listen to the Law?
22 Scriptum est enim: Quoniam Abraham duos filios habuit: unum de ancilla, et unum de libera.
Scripture says that Abraham had two sons, one the child of the slave-woman and the other the child of the free woman.
23 Sed qui de ancilla, secundum carnem natus est: qui autem de libera, per repromissionem:
But the child of the slave-woman was born in the course of nature, while the child of the free woman was born in fulfilment of a promise.
24 quæ sunt per allegoriam dicta. Hæc enim sunt duo testamenta. Unum quidem in monte Sina, in servitutem generans, quæ est Agar:
This story may be taken as an allegory. The women stand for two covenants. One covenant, given from Mount Sinai, produces a race of slaves and is represented by Hagar.
25 Sina enim mons est in Arabia, qui conjunctus est ei quæ nunc est Jerusalem, et servit cum filiis suis.
Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia, and represents the Jerusalem of today, for she and her children are in slavery.
26 Illa autem, quæ sursum est Jerusalem, libera est, quæ est mater nostra.
But the Jerusalem above is free, and she it is who is our mother.
27 Scriptum est enim: [Lætare, sterilis, quæ non paris; erumpe et clama, quæ non parturis: quia multi filii desertæ, magis quam ejus quæ habet virum.]
For scripture says – “Rejoice, you barren one, who have never given birth, break into shouts, you who are never in labour, for many are the children of her who is desolate – yes, more than of her who has a husband.”
28 Nos autem, fratres, secundum Isaac promissionis filii sumus.
As for ourselves, friends, we, like Isaac, are children born in fulfilment of a promise.
29 Sed quomodo tunc is, qui secundum carnem natus fuerat, persequebatur eum qui secundum spiritum: ita et nunc.
Yet at that time the child born in the course of nature persecuted the child born by the power of the Spirit; and it is the same now.
30 Sed quid dicit Scriptura? Ejice ancillam, et filium ejus: non enim hæres erit filius ancillæ cum filio liberæ.
But what does the passage of scripture say? “Send away the slave-woman and her son; for the slave’s son will not be coheir with the son of the free woman.”
31 Itaque, fratres, non sumus ancillæ filii, sed liberæ: qua libertate Christus nos liberavit.
And so, friends, we are not children of a slave, but of her who is free.
