<p>4:7- see on Mt. 25:34.</p><p><i>So you are no longer a slave but a son</i>- Paul is slightly stretching the bounds of the analogy here. He began by saying that we are heirs, but an heir who is a child is no better than a slave (:1). Now Paul is saying that under the Law of Moses, people were slaves. They had not received the inheritance promised by the Abrahamic covenant, even though it had been promised to them.</p><p>An advantage of reading versions that use &ldquo;ye&rdquo; and &ldquo;thou&rdquo; is that one can discern at a glance when &lsquo;you&rsquo; plural and &lsquo;you&rsquo; singular is being used. Gal. 3:26-29 speaks in the plural: &ldquo;<i>Ye </i>are all the children of God by faith in Christ... and if <i>ye </i>be Christ&rsquo;s by baptism into Him, then are <i>ye </i>Abraham&rsquo;s seed and heirs&rdquo;. The very same ideas are then repeated a few verses later, but with the singular &lsquo;you&rsquo;: &ldquo;And because <i>ye</i> are sons... wherefore <i>thou </i>art no more a servant but a son; and if a son not &lsquo;sons&rsquo;, then an singular heir of God through Christ&rdquo; (Gal. 4:6,7); and just to press the point home, he reverts to speaking of &ldquo;you&rdquo; plural in the subsequent verses. It&rsquo;s as if Paul is talking generally, in the plural, of us all as a baptized community, heirs together of the promises, all in covenant relationship with God; but then he as it were swirls in upon us each individually; these promises really apply to us each one personally. And the outcome of this must be a deep seated joy and gratitude for God&rsquo;s grace. The focus of Scripture and the Lord Jesus is upon individuals, not upon the building of a faceless and person-less social structure. Notice how often Paul talks of &ldquo;you&rdquo; or &ldquo;ye&rdquo;, and then focuses down to &ldquo;thee&rdquo; or &ldquo;thou&rdquo;- from the you plural to the you singular. Take Gal. 4:6,7: &ldquo;Your plural hearts&hellip; thou singular art&hellip;&rdquo;; or &ldquo;Ye plural are all sons of God&hellip; thou art&hellip; a son&rdquo; (Gal. 3:26; 4:7 RV). It all comes down to us personally&hellip;</p><p><i>And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ</i>- We become legitimate heirs because the Lord Jesus was the &quot;heir of all&quot; (:1; Heb. 1:2), &quot;heir of the world&quot; (Rom. 4:13). Rom. 4:13,14 use the same language; it was the promise to Abraham which promised an inheritance. The Law of Moses didn't promise any inheritance. Another similarity with Romans is the idea of being an heir of God; He as our Father didn't die and thus pass us the inheritance; rather God decided to give us the inheritance after a period of preparing us, as we entered adulthood: &quot;The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit, that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs- heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him&quot;. Here in Galatians, the same point is made- the receipt of the Spirit proves that we are God's children. Because we are identified with Christ's death, then we are joint-heirs with Him. Or as Galatians here puts it, we are heirs of God on account of Christ.</p>