Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

If you're doing our New Testament plan, today we finished our sixth book, and if you're doing

the whole Bible, we finished our 45th book. This book in particular is the first of Paul's

letters. When we're talking about the books of the Bible that are letters, we call them epistles,

because that's the Greek word for letters. When we left off yesterday, Paul was telling us that we

are heirs according to the promise God made to the offspring of Abraham, which includes everyone

who has been adopted into God's family, regardless of race,

gender, or status. Today, he opens by telling us that as sons of God, we are fellow heirs

with Christ, and as co-ares, we inherit everything. That is bonkers. But even better than that,

we inherit the Spirit of the Son, or the Spirit of Jesus, which is just another way of saying God, God the Spirit or the Holy Spirit. He goes by lots of different names in Scripture, but you probably

have one way of addressing him that you're most comfortable or familiar with. The presence of the

spirit in us is what enables us to call God our Father. Those without the Spirit do not have God

as their Father. Paul says that when we have that status as a child

of God and dwelt by God, it's ridiculous to go back to being a slave. And that's what happens

when we try to rely on the law. It enslaves. He implores them not to turn back to their old ways.

But remember, these are Gentiles he's writing to. Their past doesn't include the law,

but it does include other things that enslave them. Specifically, Paul points out that they worship

things that aren't God. For many of them, this was the sun, moon, stars, and planets, and a culture of

astrology. That's how they sought guidance and insight into their lives. So when Paul makes a reference to the days, months, seasons, and years in 410,

some people think he's referring to taking counsel from astrology.

One reason for this is that he refers to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world.

This phrase is also translated as elemental things and elemental spirits elsewhere in scripture,

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