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Galatians 4:7

in Galatians 4

So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

KJV

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

This verse in Galatians 4

Commentary

18 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Galatians · Written before 420.

(Verse 7) So then, you are no longer a slave but a son. And if a son, then an heir through Christ. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession (Psalm 2:7-8).

This site's exposition

because you are sons

on Galatians 4:6-7

Paul follows adoption with its evidence: God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out Abba, Father. Abba is the Aramaic word of a child's own household, kept untranslated as Jesus used it in Gethsemane in Mark 14:36.

This site's exposition

So you are no longer a slave

The verse moves to the singular and addresses each believer. Sonship brings heirship, and the inheritance comes through God as His gift. The slave of verse 1 and the heir of verse 7 are the same person before and after the appointed time.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers5 voices

A commentator

Clement of Alexandria

The Instructor Book 1 · Written before 215.

proposed

"So also we, when we were children, were in bondage under the rudiments of the world: but when the fulness of the time was came, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" by Him. See how He has admitted those to be children who are under fear and sins; but has conferred manhood on those who are under faith, by calling them sons, in contradistinction from the children that are under the law: "For thou art no more a servant," he says, "but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God." What, then, is lacking to the son after inheritance?

A commentator

Oecumenius

Commentary on Galatians · Written before 550.

proposed

"For you are sons." And from where, he says, have we been deemed worthy of adoption as sons? From where? From the adoption by the Spirit who descended to prepare us and to teach (for this the One Crying indicates): to call God Father; which …

A commentator

Ambrosiaster

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 4.7 · Written before 384.

proposed

There is no doubt that one adopts a son in order to leave him an heir; but inheritance depends on the death of someone. How then can mortals be called the heirs of him who lives forever? The fact is that Scripture speaks in our …

A commentator

Jerome

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.4.7 · Written before 420.

proposed

What we say in this place we should also observe in others, that the whole human race is being treated under a single term. For all we who believe are one in Christ Jesus and members of his body.

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Galatians 4 · Written before 407.

proposed

Had not we been first made sons, we could not have called Him Father. If then grace hath made us freemen instead of slaves, men instead of children, heirs and sons instead of aliens, is it not utter absurdity and stupidity to desert this grace, and to turn away backwards?
10 more voices on this verse

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Galatians · Written before 1107.

proposed

Therefore, when we are children and heirs not of a simple inheritance, but of a divine one, and co-heirs with the Only-Begotten, why then do we again become slaves and, holding to the law, reject the faith that granted us adoption?

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Galatians · Written before 1274.

proposed

Then when he says, "Therefore, now he is not a servant, but a son," he mentions the fruit of this gift. First, as to removing all evil, from which we are freed through adoption by the Holy Spirit. This is freedom from bondage. With respect …

The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Israel was God's son, his first-born, Rom. ix. But now, under the gospel, particular believers receive the adoption; and, as an earnest and evidence of it, they have together therewith the Spirit of adoption, putting them upon the duty of prayer, and enabling them in prayer to eye God as a Father (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

proposed

Art no more a servant - Like those who are under the law. But a son - Of mature age. And if a son, then an heir of all the promises, and of the all- sufficient God himself.
Wherefore thou art no more a servant,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The great and invaluable advantages which Christians enjoy under the gospel; for, (1.) We receive the adoption of sons. Whence note, It is the great privilege which believers have through Christ that they are adopted children of the God of heaven. We who by nature are children of wrath and disobedience have become by grace children of love.

The Nineteenth Century4 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Thus the redeemed are heirs THROUGH the Triune GOD, not through the law, nor through fleshly descent [WINDISCHMANN in ALFORD]; (Ga 3:18 confirms this). heir--confirming Ga 3:29; compare Ro 8:17.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

It is not, as in earthly inheritances, the death of the father, but our Father's sovereign will simply that makes us heirs. child--Greek, "one under age." differeth nothing, &c.--that is, has no more freedom than a slave (so the Greek for "servant" means).

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Thou art no more a servant - Thou who hast believed in Christ art no longer a slave, either under the dominion of sin or under obligation to the Mosaic ritual; but a son of God, adopted into the heavenly family. And if a son, then an heir - Having a right to the inheritance, because one of the family, for none can inherit but the children; but this heirship is the most extraordinary of all: it is not an heirship of any tangible possession, either in heaven or earth; it is not to possess a part or even the whole of either, it is to possess Him who made all things; not God’s works, but God himself: heirs of God through Christ.
Wherefore - In consequence of this privilege of addressing God as your Father. Thou art no more - You who are Christians. A servant - In the servitude of sin; or treated as a servant by being bound under the oppressive rites and ceremonies of the Law; compare the note at Gal 4:3 But a son - A child of God, adopted into his family, and to be treated as a son.

The words behind it

13 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Galatians 3:26

    You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

    it leads to

    • Ephesians 1:5

      He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,

    • 2 Corinthians 6:18

      And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

    • John 1:12–13

      But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—

    • Galatians 4:5–6

      to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons.

    • 1 John 3:1–2

      Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is…

  • Through

    Galatians 3:29

    And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

    it leads to

    • Ephesians 3:6

      This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

    • Romans 9:7–8

      Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”

    • Galatians 3:7

      Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham.

Where this verse is studied

About Galatians

Conversion on the Way to Damascus, Caravaggio, about 1600 to 1601. Public domain.
Conversion on the Way to Damascus, Caravaggio, about 1600 to 1601. Public domain.
This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 4.7; Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 1; J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Galatians; Jerome, EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.4.7; John Chrysostom, Homily on Galatians 4; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on Galatians; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Galatians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Galatians.