Galatians 4:1

1 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a minor he is no different from a slave, even though he is the legal owner of the estate;

Galatians 4:1 Meaning and Commentary

Galatians 4:1

Now I say
To illustrate what he had said of the law's being a schoolmaster to the Jews until the coming of Christ, and then ceasing as such, he proposes the case of an heir during his minority, till he come to the proper time of enjoying his estate.

that the heir, as long as he is a child;
anyone that is an heir to his father's estate, or another's, whilst under age, being reckoned as a child, as he is from his infancy to his manhood,

differeth nothing from a servant:
he is not his own man, nor at his own dispose; he cannot do as he pleases; he is under restraint; he is kept to school or to business, and is liable to correction and chastisement according as he behaves; nor can he have the free use of his father's estate,

though he be Lord of all,
of all the servants, according to the Arabic version; or of the whole estate his father left him, of which he is Lord in right, but not in possession; he is right heir to it, though as yet it is not in his hands, nor can he do with it as he will.

Galatians 4:1 In-Context

1 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a minor he is no different from a slave, even though he is the legal owner of the estate;

2 rather, he is subject to guardians and caretakers until the time previously set by his father.

3 So it is with us - when we were "children" we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe;

4 but when the appointed time arrived, God sent forth his Son. He was born from a woman, born into a culture in which legalistic perversion of the Torah was the norm,

5 so that he might redeem those in subjection to this legalism and thus enable us to be made God's sons.