Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
"Paul tells the Galatians that they are not acting like heirs of God!" (Ryrie)
you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods - "—i.e., idols. 'Nature,' plusis, is the emphatic word here, and in this statement the apostle includes demons, 1 Corinthians 10:20, and deified men, as well as idols; for these are gods, not in themselves, but as they have been made such by men, and hence are gods in name only. The negative used here, me, does not merely deny the fact that these aforetime objects of their worship were gods, it denies the possibility that they could be gods; see 2 Chronicles 13:9." (Vine)
you have come to know God - "—ginosko. This knowledge had been attained not by their own intellectual activities, neither as a result of progress toward moral excellence, but through the operation of the Spirit consequent on their acceptance of Christ." (Vine)
or rather to be known by God - "—here ginosko includes the idea of approval, and hence bears the meaning 'to be acknowledge.' In this sense God is said to know those who put their truth in Him, Nahum 1:7, and those who love Him, 1 Corinthian 8:3, and those who belong to Him, 2 Timothy 2:19; with this last cp. John 10:14, 27. These words are added apparently to emphasize the fact that the salvation they had experienced was due to God, not to themselves in any way. For an interesting parallel to the double statement of the apostle here, see John 1:43, where the Lord finds Philip, and v. 45 where Philip says 'we have found Him.'" (Vine)
to the weak - "—asthenes, i.e., powerless to produce results; an epithet elsewhere applied to the law and in the same sense, Romans 8:3; Hebrews 7:18. Neither the Divinely appointed moral code and symbolic ritual of the Jew, nor the idolatry of the Gentile (the product of human reason and imagination at its best, Is. 44:9-20, the inspiration of demons at its worst, 1 Cor. 10:20) could deliver man from condemnation, justify him, or make him live. To the accomplishment of such ends as these, no religious system has any power at all, and yet these are the profoundest needs of mankind. With this poverty contrast the riches of God 'in glory,' Romans 9:23, 'in grace,' Ephesians 1:7, 'in wisdom and knowledge,' Romans 11:33, all which, with much more beside, are 'the unsearchable riches of Christ,' Ephesians 3:8.'" (Vine)
and worthless - "—ptochos, (translated 'poor' at 2:10, i.e., powerless) to enrich. Without spiritual wealth, without an inheritance, present or prospective, without any gift of life or of the Spirit, these religions of childhood, v. 1, and of bondage, were 'poverty-stricken' indeed and could give nothing, for they had nothing to give." (Vine)
"Up to this point, Paul has spoken with respect to the education given to the world by the social habits, institutions, and laws of the Greco-Roman world. Through this education, civilized man learnt much in the sphere of morals and natural religion which would bear comparison with the progress of Israel under the ethics of the Mosaic law. But when he compares the mechanical routine of formal religious ceremonies which were found in the pagan religions and among so-called religious Jews, with the spiritual teaching and dynamics of the gospel, he does not hesitate to call them weak and beggarly." (Wuest)
elementary principles of the world - "This is the word [elementary] which served to sum up the religion of the Jews, and which serves now to sum up the religion of the Gentiles. Different as these were in their origin and in their characteristics, they had this in common, an incurable inefficiency and incompetence for meeting the needs of men and for bridging the gulf that yawned between men and God." (Vine)
observe days and months and seasons and years - "Influenced by the Judaizers, some Galatians had begun to observe the festivals of the Jewish calendar." (Ryrie)
observe - "—paratereo, a strengthened form of the verb tereo, 'to keep' (see comment on 2 Thessalonians 5:23) is used, = 'to observe carefully,' cp. Psalm 130:3, where LXX has the same word; the middle voice suggests that this punctilious respect for days, etc., was with a view to their own profit and not from any disinterested motive. What the apostle now says is equally applicable to Jews and Gentiles, but the days, etc., are Jewish festival; the apostle does not suggest that the Galatians were in danger of returning to idolatry, he is furnishing proof of the suggestion conveyed in his question, 'how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments?'" (Vine)
days - "—i.e., the weekly Sabbath; see Romans 14:5; Colossians 2:16." (Vine)
and months - "—i.e., the new moons; see 1 Chronicles 23:31." (Vine)
and seasons - "—i.e., the three annual feasts of the Jews, see 2 Chronicles 8:13 where, in LXX, 'times' is kairos, the word used here." (Vine)
and years - "—i.e., Sabbatic years, and years of jubilee; see Leviticus 25:1-8. While it is probable that these were the occasions in the mind of the apostle when he wrote, still they must not be taken in a too literal sense, as though, e.g., the Galatians had actually been observing a year of jubilee. If they observed the least of them they acknowledge the principle, it was as though they observed all. Heretofore the apostle had mentioned circumcision only as indicative of the declension of these believers, but of course they could not draw the line at that; once they put themselves under the law, they became debtors to do all the law enjoined. Moreover, the religious observance of days is inconsistent with the spirit of the gospel; to keep a day is a tacit admission that that day is, in some sense, holier than other days, whereas, to the Christian, every day is holy." (Vine)
"The observing of days and months and times and years must not be confused with what we might call celebrations. The apostle found no fault with any glad and legitimate celebration. In fact he gave a glad celebration—the Lord's Supper. He certainly found no fault with our going to Church on Sundays, regularly meeting with God's people, singing hymns together, and joining our hearts in prayer ... The times and days and months and years which the Galatian believers were observing had to be observed for acceptance with God under the Mosaic law. It was legalism and bondage. Once these things had been in order, and had been the rule of the day. But grace had appeared, and the antitype of all the types had come—the Lord Jesus Christ." (Stam)
"Should Christians observe lent? Lent is a forty-day period of fasting, self-examination, and penitence observed by vast numbers of religious people prior to and in preparation for Easter. Denominational and other facts determine what foods and pleasure the observers of Lent may and may not enjoy during this period, but in general it is a time of abstinence from such things as may gratify and please. Under the law God set aside one annual holy day when, above all other days, the children of Israel were to contemplate the sins they had committed during the past year and were to 'afflict their souls' in penitence before. This was the great Day of Atonement, observed annually on October 10th. On that day, after the offering of certain sacrifices, the tabernacle was cleared of all personnel except the high priestly garments of 'glory' and 'beauty,' entered—'not without blood'—into the Holy of holies before God to make atonement for himself and for the people of Israel (Lev. 16:14-17). In addition, both he and they afflicted their souls, i.e, condemned and reproached themselves for sins committed during the past year (Lev. 16:29,31); 23:27,29,32). The observance of this time of self-reproach and sorry for sin was not optional; it was required of every man who would not be 'cut off from among his people' (Lev. 23:29). Referring specifically to this annual Day of Atonement, the Apostle Paul later declared by divine inspiration: '...the law...can never...with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect,' for had they availed to take away sins, he argues, repeated sacrifices would no longer have been necessary, since 'the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins' (Heb. 10:2). 'But,' he adds: 'in those sacrifices' there was actually 'a REMEMBRANCE again made of sins every year' (Heb. 10:3). Thus, the apostle of grace demonstrates the insufficiency of the sacrifices of the law as compared with the all-sufficiency of the redemptive work of Christ. The blood of Christ purges the believer's conscience (Heb. 9:14); while we are still conscious of our sins, we have 'no more conscience of sins,' i.e., we are no longer plagued with a guilty conscience before God. We now have 'boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus...our heart [having been] sprinkled [cleansed] from an evil conscience' (Heb. 10:19-22). It is on this basis that believers are not now to give themselves over to periods of introspection and self-reproach but, leaving the past with God, are to go forward with His help (Phil 3:12-14; Heb 12:1-2) ... There is no indication in the Scriptures that any of the apostles or disciples ever observed, much less instructed to observe, Lent, or any comparable period of fasting and penitence, after the dispensation of grace was ushered in. Indeed, the Apostle Paul severely condemns this lack of appreciation of Christ's all-sufficient redemptive work, whether by the observance of 'holy' days or by religious acts of self-denial (Gal 4:9-11, 20); Col 2:16-22) ... We do not for a moment mean that believers should not recognize their sins and seek divine grace to overcome them, but this should always be done in the light of Calvary. It is at the cross that we find deliverance, not only from the penalty of sins, but also from sin's power in our lives. It is not the believer's willpower, but the cross of Christ that ultimately stands between him and his sins, his sin, and his sinning (Col 1:21-22; Rom 5:12; 2 Cor 5:21; Rom 6, 11-14)." (Stam)
I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. - "Martin Luther said of this verse, 'These words of Paul breathe tears.' The construction in the Greek does not give the impression that the apostle has fears about the future of the Galatians which may not be realized. It is clear that he suspects that what he fears has already happened. Paul was not apprehensive with respect to his own interests or his fruitless labors, but with respect to the spiritual welfare of his Galatian converts. They were the objects of his anxiety. The word labour is from kopiao which means 'to labor to the point of exhaustion.' It is in the perfect tense, indicating the finished, thorough piece of work Paul had done in the evangelization of the Galatians." (Wuest)
"The Gentiles believers wanted to go back under the law that had held sway in a previous dispensation. They wanted to go back under a legal system that had never been given to Gentiles. No wonder the apostle was concerned about them." (Stam)
"Paul tells the Galatians that they are not acting like heirs of God!" (Ryrie)
you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods - "—i.e., idols. 'Nature,' plusis, is the emphatic word here, and in this statement the apostle includes demons, 1 Corinthians 10:20, and deified men, as well as idols; for these are gods, not in themselves, but as they have been made such by men, and hence are gods in name only. The negative used here, me, does not merely deny the fact that these aforetime objects of their worship were gods, it denies the possibility that they could be gods; see 2 Chronicles 13:9." (Vine)
you have come to know God - "—ginosko. This knowledge had been attained not by their own intellectual activities, neither as a result of progress toward moral excellence, but through the operation of the Spirit consequent on their acceptance of Christ." (Vine)
or rather to be known by God - "—here ginosko includes the idea of approval, and hence bears the meaning 'to be acknowledge.' In this sense God is said to know those who put their truth in Him, Nahum 1:7, and those who love Him, 1 Corinthian 8:3, and those who belong to Him, 2 Timothy 2:19; with this last cp. John 10:14, 27. These words are added apparently to emphasize the fact that the salvation they had experienced was due to God, not to themselves in any way. For an interesting parallel to the double statement of the apostle here, see John 1:43, where the Lord finds Philip, and v. 45 where Philip says 'we have found Him.'" (Vine)
to the weak - "—asthenes, i.e., powerless to produce results; an epithet elsewhere applied to the law and in the same sense, Romans 8:3; Hebrews 7:18. Neither the Divinely appointed moral code and symbolic ritual of the Jew, nor the idolatry of the Gentile (the product of human reason and imagination at its best, Is. 44:9-20, the inspiration of demons at its worst, 1 Cor. 10:20) could deliver man from condemnation, justify him, or make him live. To the accomplishment of such ends as these, no religious system has any power at all, and yet these are the profoundest needs of mankind. With this poverty contrast the riches of God 'in glory,' Romans 9:23, 'in grace,' Ephesians 1:7, 'in wisdom and knowledge,' Romans 11:33, all which, with much more beside, are 'the unsearchable riches of Christ,' Ephesians 3:8.'" (Vine)
and worthless - "—ptochos, (translated 'poor' at 2:10, i.e., powerless) to enrich. Without spiritual wealth, without an inheritance, present or prospective, without any gift of life or of the Spirit, these religions of childhood, v. 1, and of bondage, were 'poverty-stricken' indeed and could give nothing, for they had nothing to give." (Vine)
"Up to this point, Paul has spoken with respect to the education given to the world by the social habits, institutions, and laws of the Greco-Roman world. Through this education, civilized man learnt much in the sphere of morals and natural religion which would bear comparison with the progress of Israel under the ethics of the Mosaic law. But when he compares the mechanical routine of formal religious ceremonies which were found in the pagan religions and among so-called religious Jews, with the spiritual teaching and dynamics of the gospel, he does not hesitate to call them weak and beggarly." (Wuest)
elementary principles of the world - "This is the word [elementary] which served to sum up the religion of the Jews, and which serves now to sum up the religion of the Gentiles. Different as these were in their origin and in their characteristics, they had this in common, an incurable inefficiency and incompetence for meeting the needs of men and for bridging the gulf that yawned between men and God." (Vine)
observe days and months and seasons and years - "Influenced by the Judaizers, some Galatians had begun to observe the festivals of the Jewish calendar." (Ryrie)
observe - "—paratereo, a strengthened form of the verb tereo, 'to keep' (see comment on 2 Thessalonians 5:23) is used, = 'to observe carefully,' cp. Psalm 130:3, where LXX has the same word; the middle voice suggests that this punctilious respect for days, etc., was with a view to their own profit and not from any disinterested motive. What the apostle now says is equally applicable to Jews and Gentiles, but the days, etc., are Jewish festival; the apostle does not suggest that the Galatians were in danger of returning to idolatry, he is furnishing proof of the suggestion conveyed in his question, 'how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments?'" (Vine)
days - "—i.e., the weekly Sabbath; see Romans 14:5; Colossians 2:16." (Vine)
and months - "—i.e., the new moons; see 1 Chronicles 23:31." (Vine)
and seasons - "—i.e., the three annual feasts of the Jews, see 2 Chronicles 8:13 where, in LXX, 'times' is kairos, the word used here." (Vine)
and years - "—i.e., Sabbatic years, and years of jubilee; see Leviticus 25:1-8. While it is probable that these were the occasions in the mind of the apostle when he wrote, still they must not be taken in a too literal sense, as though, e.g., the Galatians had actually been observing a year of jubilee. If they observed the least of them they acknowledge the principle, it was as though they observed all. Heretofore the apostle had mentioned circumcision only as indicative of the declension of these believers, but of course they could not draw the line at that; once they put themselves under the law, they became debtors to do all the law enjoined. Moreover, the religious observance of days is inconsistent with the spirit of the gospel; to keep a day is a tacit admission that that day is, in some sense, holier than other days, whereas, to the Christian, every day is holy." (Vine)
"The observing of days and months and times and years must not be confused with what we might call celebrations. The apostle found no fault with any glad and legitimate celebration. In fact he gave a glad celebration—the Lord's Supper. He certainly found no fault with our going to Church on Sundays, regularly meeting with God's people, singing hymns together, and joining our hearts in prayer ... The times and days and months and years which the Galatian believers were observing had to be observed for acceptance with God under the Mosaic law. It was legalism and bondage. Once these things had been in order, and had been the rule of the day. But grace had appeared, and the antitype of all the types had come—the Lord Jesus Christ." (Stam)
"Should Christians observe lent? Lent is a forty-day period of fasting, self-examination, and penitence observed by vast numbers of religious people prior to and in preparation for Easter. Denominational and other facts determine what foods and pleasure the observers of Lent may and may not enjoy during this period, but in general it is a time of abstinence from such things as may gratify and please. Under the law God set aside one annual holy day when, above all other days, the children of Israel were to contemplate the sins they had committed during the past year and were to 'afflict their souls' in penitence before. This was the great Day of Atonement, observed annually on October 10th. On that day, after the offering of certain sacrifices, the tabernacle was cleared of all personnel except the high priestly garments of 'glory' and 'beauty,' entered—'not without blood'—into the Holy of holies before God to make atonement for himself and for the people of Israel (Lev. 16:14-17). In addition, both he and they afflicted their souls, i.e, condemned and reproached themselves for sins committed during the past year (Lev. 16:29,31); 23:27,29,32). The observance of this time of self-reproach and sorry for sin was not optional; it was required of every man who would not be 'cut off from among his people' (Lev. 23:29). Referring specifically to this annual Day of Atonement, the Apostle Paul later declared by divine inspiration: '...the law...can never...with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect,' for had they availed to take away sins, he argues, repeated sacrifices would no longer have been necessary, since 'the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins' (Heb. 10:2). 'But,' he adds: 'in those sacrifices' there was actually 'a REMEMBRANCE again made of sins every year' (Heb. 10:3). Thus, the apostle of grace demonstrates the insufficiency of the sacrifices of the law as compared with the all-sufficiency of the redemptive work of Christ. The blood of Christ purges the believer's conscience (Heb. 9:14); while we are still conscious of our sins, we have 'no more conscience of sins,' i.e., we are no longer plagued with a guilty conscience before God. We now have 'boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus...our heart [having been] sprinkled [cleansed] from an evil conscience' (Heb. 10:19-22). It is on this basis that believers are not now to give themselves over to periods of introspection and self-reproach but, leaving the past with God, are to go forward with His help (Phil 3:12-14; Heb 12:1-2) ... There is no indication in the Scriptures that any of the apostles or disciples ever observed, much less instructed to observe, Lent, or any comparable period of fasting and penitence, after the dispensation of grace was ushered in. Indeed, the Apostle Paul severely condemns this lack of appreciation of Christ's all-sufficient redemptive work, whether by the observance of 'holy' days or by religious acts of self-denial (Gal 4:9-11, 20); Col 2:16-22) ... We do not for a moment mean that believers should not recognize their sins and seek divine grace to overcome them, but this should always be done in the light of Calvary. It is at the cross that we find deliverance, not only from the penalty of sins, but also from sin's power in our lives. It is not the believer's willpower, but the cross of Christ that ultimately stands between him and his sins, his sin, and his sinning (Col 1:21-22; Rom 5:12; 2 Cor 5:21; Rom 6, 11-14)." (Stam)
I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. - "Martin Luther said of this verse, 'These words of Paul breathe tears.' The construction in the Greek does not give the impression that the apostle has fears about the future of the Galatians which may not be realized. It is clear that he suspects that what he fears has already happened. Paul was not apprehensive with respect to his own interests or his fruitless labors, but with respect to the spiritual welfare of his Galatian converts. They were the objects of his anxiety. The word labour is from kopiao which means 'to labor to the point of exhaustion.' It is in the perfect tense, indicating the finished, thorough piece of work Paul had done in the evangelization of the Galatians." (Wuest)
"The Gentiles believers wanted to go back under the law that had held sway in a previous dispensation. They wanted to go back under a legal system that had never been given to Gentiles. No wonder the apostle was concerned about them." (Stam)
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