Galates 4:1

1 Or, je dis qu'aussi longtemps que l'héritier est enfant, il ne diffère en rien de l'esclave, quoiqu'il soit seigneur de tout;

Galates 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.

Galates 4:1 In-Context

1 Or, je dis qu'aussi longtemps que l'héritier est enfant, il ne diffère en rien de l'esclave, quoiqu'il soit seigneur de tout;
2 Mais il est sous des tuteurs et des curateurs jusqu'au temps marqué par le père.
3 Nous aussi de même, lorsque nous étions enfants, nous étions sous l'esclavage des rudiments du monde.
4 Mais, lorsque les temps ont été accomplis, Dieu a envoyé son Fils, né d'une femme, né sous la loi,
5 Afin qu'il rachetât ceux qui étaient sous la loi, afin que nous reçussions l'adoption.
The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.