Galatians 4:1

1 I want to tell you this: While those who will inherit their fathers' prop- erty are still children, they are no different from slaves. It does not matter that the children own everything.

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 I want to tell you this: While those who will inherit their fathers' prop- erty are still children, they are no different from slaves. It does not matter that the children own everything.

2 While they are children, they must obey those who are chosen to care for them. But when the children reach the age set by their fathers, they are free.

3 It is the same for us. We were once like children, slaves to the useless rules of this world.

4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son who was born of a woman and lived under the law.

5 God did this so he could buy freedom for those who were under the law and so we could become his children.