加拉太書4:1-3

4:1我說那承受產業的，雖然是全業的主人，但為孩童的時候卻與奴僕毫無分別，

4:2乃在師傅和管家的手下，直等他父親預定的時候來到。

4:3我們為孩童的時候，受管於世俗小學之下，也是如此。

Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.

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    這段話是延伸說明：人在基督未來以前，需要律法如同啟蒙師傅一樣照管。而在那樣的照管之下人如同奴隸一般。也因此，人要受世界的一般法則來約束，因為這樣並不違背基督信仰要求。只是基督來了，要以基督的法則生活。