Galatians 4

http://www.esvbible.org/Galatians+4/

Paul uses another tactic to explain this principle. He tells the Galatians that when an inheritance is set forth in a will. The heir can't touch the money until a time the parent set forth. Instead, the heir is under the protection of guardians. Before God sent His Son into the world, the principles of the world were guardians over people. Without something to bridge the gap of sin between man and God, the only way man could hope to attain entrance into Heaven was through following all of the rules. When God sent Jesus, He had His own Son killed to free people who had been slaves to this law. Now, they have freedom to worship God and do right by their own accord. God has made those with faith His children and His heirs. We can now receive the inheritance promised to Abraham. Paul is so angry because before the Galatians knew God, they were slaves to rules or false gods. Now, God has given them freedom because of their faith, but they have turned back to their slavery to the way the world tells them to live. Paul begins to doubt the work he did there. Today, there are many Christians who dedicate themselves to working hard to provide for their families because that is what the world's teachings say. Earn enough money for your family to live comfortable, but you have been freed from that. God will provide for you if you have faith. Just listen to what the Holy Spirit says.

Paul tells the Galatians that he wishes they would become like him because he once became like them. Wherever he went, Paul acted like and took on the customs of the natives, unless it contradicted his faith. Then, he could show the people how much better his ways are. He didn't flat out reject their ways from the start. He took them on as his own, but God used that to show the people that their ways may work for a time but in the end, only God's ways will make you truly happy and save you. even though Paul was ill when he visited Galatia, the people opened their hearts to him as if he was God's messenger and helped him regain his strength. Now, they listen to people trying to turn them away from Paul. Sure, they also have the Galatians best interests in mind but for a bad reason. Paul says if he was dictating this to them, he would change his tone to puzzlement.

Paul recounts the story of Abraham's two sons. One was born of natural ways to a slave woman, but he was born a slave. The other was born by spiritual ways and he was born free. We are like the son who was born free when we put our faith in Jesus.