Gálatas 4
1 Permítanme explicarles lo que estoy diciendo. Un heredero que es menor de edad no es distinto a un esclavo, aunque el heredero sea el propietario de todo.
Now, I [will further] discuss [children and heirs]: [An heir is a person who will later] control all that his father has. But as long as that heir is a child, others [control] him, with the result that he is just like a slave [MET].
2 Pues un heredero está sujeto a los guardias y administradores hasta que llegue el tiempo establecido por su padre.
Until the [day that] his father [previously] determined, [other] persons supervise him and manage his father’s property.
3 Lo mismo sucede con nosotros. Cuando éramos niños, éramos esclavos sujetos a las reglas básicas de la ley.
Likewise, when we [(inc)] (OR, we [(exc) Jews]) were [like] young children [MET], we were controlled by the spiritual powers of this world. They controlled us like [masters control their slaves] [MET].
4 Pero en el momento apropiado Dios envió a su hijo, nacido de una mujer, nacido bajo el gobierno de la ley,
But exactly at the time [MTY] [that God had previously determined], he sent [Jesus], who is (his Son/the man who is also God), into the world. Jesus was born to a [human] mother. He had to obey the laws [that God gave to Moses].
5 para poder rescatar a los que fueron cautivos bajo el dominio de la ley, a fin de que pudiéramos recibir la heredad de hijos adoptivos.
God sent Jesus in order that he might redeem us who had to obey [God’s] laws. God wanted us all to receive from [God] the status of being his children [MET].
6 Para demostrar que ustedes son sus hijos, Dios envió al Espíritu de su Hijo a nuestros corazones, haciéndonos clamar: “Abba”, que quiere decir “Padre”.
Furthermore, we know that we are God’s children because God sent the Spirit, who is intimately related to Jesus, to live in our (inner beings/hearts). [The Spirit enables us to] pray fervently, “Daddy, Father!” [This shows that we are God’s children].
7 Puesto que ya no eres un esclavo, sino un hijo, y si eres su hijo, entonces Dios te ha convertido en su heredero.
So, [because of what God has done], no longer is [each of] you [like] a slave. Instead, [each of you is] a child [of God]. Furthermore, since [each of you is God’s] child, God has also made you his heir, [one who will receive all that he has promised].
8 Cuando ustedes no conocían a Dios, estaban esclavizados por los supuestos “dioses” de este mundo.
When you did not have a relationship with God [MET], you served gods that really did not exist [MET]. You were their slaves.
9 Pero ahora han llegado a conocer a Dios, o mejor aún, han llegado a ser conocidos por Dios. ¿Cómo pueden volver, entonces, a esas reglas inútiles y sin valor? ¿Quieren ser esclavos de esas reglas nuevamente?
But now you have come to know God. Perhaps [it would be better to say that] now God knows you. [So now you are acting foolishly]! (You are again believing [that by obeying] rules and rites [you will benefit spiritually]! [RHQ] [Those rules are] ineffective and inadequate! You are wanting to [obey them] again [MET] like slaves obey their masters. [RHQ]
10 Ustedes observan días especiales y meses, temporadas y años.
You [non-Jews] are carefully practicing [Jewish rules and rituals about what you should do] (on [Sabbaths/on Jewish days of rest]) and [on the first day of each] month and on [special] seasons and years.
11 Y me preocupa que todo lo que hice por ustedes haya sido tiempo perdido.
I (worry/am concerned) about your [mistaken ideas. I do not want] to have [so] strenuously served you in vain.
12 Les ruego, mis amigos: sean como yo, porque yo me volví como ustedes. Ustedes nunca me trataron mal.
My fellow believers, I strongly urge you that you do as I do. [Stop thinking that you have to obey (Jewish rules and rituals/ceremonial laws]). [When I was with you], I [did not obey all the Jewish rules and rituals], just like you [did not obey them]. [At that time] you treated me entirely as you should have [LIT].
13 Recuerden que compartí la buena noticia con ustedes porque estaba enfermo durante mi primera visita.
You know that the first time I preached to you, [I went to your area to regain my health, because I was physically weak].
14 Y aunque mi enfermedad fue muy incómoda para ustedes, no me rechazaron ni me despreciaron, sino que de hecho, me trataron como a un ángel de Dios, como a Jesucristo mismo.
[Although] you might have [despised me because] I was physically weak, you did not despise me or act contemptuously/disrespectfully toward me. Instead, you welcomed me like [you would welcome] an angel from God. [You welcomed me] like [you would welcome] Christ Jesus!
15 ¿Entonces qué ha pasado con su gratitud? ¡Déjenme decirles que en ese tiempo, si ustedes hubieran podido sacarse los ojos para dármelos a mí, de seguro lo habrían hecho!
(I am disappointed that you have forgotten [that then] you [declared that you were] pleased with [me]./Have you forgotten [that then] you [declared that you were] pleased with [me]?) [RHQ] I can testify that you [would have done anything to help me]. You would have gouged out your eyes [and] given them to me, [if that would have helped me]!
16 ¿Qué es lo que ha ocurrido, entonces? ¿Me he convertido en enemigo de ustedes por decir la verdad?
So I am very disappointed that you [now] act as though [RHQ] I have become hostile to you [because I have kept] speaking the true [message about Christ] to you.
17 Estas personas anhelan tener el apoyo de ustedes, pero no es con buenas intenciones. Por el contrario, quieren alejarlos de nosotros a fin de que ustedes se entusiasmen para apoyarlos.
Those [who are insisting on obeying Jewish rules] are eagerly [showing interest in] you, but [what they are doing is] not good. They even want you not to associate with [me and other true] believers, because they want you to eagerly show [interest in] them, [not in us].
18 Por supuesto, es bueno hacer el bien. ¡Pero debería ser todo el tiempo, no solo cuando yo estoy aquí con ustedes!
But [just like] it always feels good to have others show that they appreciate you, [I would like you] always [to appreciate me], and not only when I am with you.
19 Mis queridos amigos, quiero trabajar a su lado hasta que el carácter de Cristo se haya duplicado en ustedes.
You [who are like] my children, [once] again I am very worried/concerned about you [MET], [and I will continue to] be worried/concerned until Christ’s [nature becomes developed] in you [completely and wholeheartedly] [MET] [as a child] becomes developed [in his mother’s womb].
20 Desearía poder acompañarlos ahora mismo y así podrían notar cómo cambio el tono de mi voz… Estoy muy preocupado por ustedes.
But I do wish that I could be with you now and that I might talk [more gently with you], because I do not know [what to do about] you [while we are apart].
21 Respóndanme esto, ustedes que quieren vivir bajo la ley: ¿No escuchan lo que la ley está diciendo?
Some of you desire [to obey all the laws] that God gave Moses. [I say that] you [should] consider [RHQ] [the implications of what Moses wrote in] the Scriptures.
22 Como dice la Escritura: Abraham tenía dos hijos, uno de la sierva y otro de la mujer libre.
[He] wrote that Abraham became the father of two sons. His female slave, [Hagar], bore one son, and his [wife Sarah], who was not a slave, bore the other.
23 Sin embargo, el hijo de la sierva nació por planes humanos, mientras el hijo de la mujer libre nació como resultado de la promesa.
Also, [the sons differed. Ishmael], the [son born by] the female slave, was conceived naturally. But [Isaac], the [son born by] his wife who was not a slave, was conceived [miraculously] as a result of what [God] had promised [Abraham].
24 Esto nos muestra una analogía: estas dos mujeres representan dos pactos. Un pacto es del Monte Sinaí—Agar—y ella da a luz hijos esclavos.
[I am telling you this] as an illustration. These [two women] symbolize two agreements. [God made] the first [agreement, which involved obeying the laws that God gave to Moses] at Sinai Mountain. [Because that agreement forces those who accept it to keep obeying all its rules] [MET], [it is like a slave mother who] gives birth to slaves. [So] Hagar, [the female slave, symbolizes] that [agreement].
25 Agar simboliza al Monte Sinaí en Arabia, y corresponde a la Jerusalén actual, porque ella está en esclavitud con sus hijos.
Also, the [word] ‘Hagar’ is [associated with] Sinai Mountain, [which is] in Arabia [land. Hagar, the female slave, also] represents Jerusalem as it is today. Jerusalem is [like] [MET] a slave [mother, and those who live there] [PRS] [are like] her slave children [MET] [because they all must obey the laws that God gave to Moses].
26 Pero la Jerusalén celestial es libre. Ella es nuestra madre.
But there will be a [new] Jerusalem in heaven [MTY], and we [who will go there] are free [from having to obey Jewish laws]. We [who belong to that city consider it to be] our mother [MET] [city because we are God’s true children].
27 Como dice la Escritura: “¡Regocíjense las que no tienen hijos y las que nunca han parido! ¡Griten de alegría, las que nunca han estado en labores de parto, porque la mujer abandonada tiene más hijos que la mujer que tiene esposo!”
[Our new city will have more people than those who live in Jerusalem now. It will be just like] Isaiah foretold about [the people whom he expected would come back to Jerusalem from exile. He expected that they would be more numerous than those who] were taken into exile. He wrote: [You who live in Jerusalem, you will] rejoice! Now you have no children, like a barren [woman] who does not give birth to [children! But some day you will] shout [joyfully], (without restraint/as loudly as you can), [even though now you are few in number, like a woman who] cannot give birth [to children, and you] feel deserted. [You will be very happy] because [you will have many children who will come to you. Those children will be] more than [the children] any woman with a husband [could have borne].
28 Ahora, amigos míos, nosotros somos hijos de la promesa tal como Isaac.
Now, [my] fellow believers, you have become children [of God as a result of believing God’s] promise to us, as Isaac [was born as a result of Abraham believing what God promised to him] [MET].
29 Sin embargo, así como el que nació por planes humanos persiguió al que nació por el Espíritu, del mismo modo ocurre hoy.
[Also, long ago Abraham’s son] Ishmael, the one who was conceived naturally, caused trouble for [Abraham’s son] Isaac, who [was conceived] supernaturally [MET]. Similarly, now [those who think that we must obey the laws that God gave Moses in order that God will save us are causing trouble for those who are trusting Abraham’s descendant, Christ].
30 Pero ¿qué dice la Escritura? “Despidan a la sierva y a su hijo, porque el hijo de la sierva no será heredero junto al hijo de la mujer libre”.
But these are [RHQ] the words in the Scriptures [PRS]: “The son of the [woman] who was not a slave will inherit [what his father has]. The female slave’s son will certainly not inherit those things. So send away from [this place] the female slave and her son [MET]!” [That means that you should certainly expel from your groups those who insist that we obey all the laws God gave Moses] [MET].
31 Por lo tanto, mis amigos, no somos hijos de la sierva, sino de la mujer libre.
[My] fellow believers, [Hagar symbolizes the laws that God gave to Moses. But we are not those who must obey all the laws that God gave to Moses] [MET]. [So] we are not [the] female slave [Hagar’s spiritual] descendants [MET]. But [Sarah’s descendants are those who were born as a result of believing what God promised to Abraham. So we are] the [spiritual] descendants of [Sarah, the woman] who was not a slave [MET].
