Galatians 4:9

δουλεῦσαι אB. δουλεύειν Text. Rec. with ACD etc.

9. νῦν δὲ. Since your conversion; answering to τότε μέν.

γνόντες θεόν. For the contrast with εἰδέναι see 2 Corinthians 5:16. Having learned, having come to know by personal acquaintance. Compare the quotation on προέκοπτον, Galatians 1:14. St Paul does not state the means of their knowledge, but he at once proceeds to prevent their taking any credit for it.

μᾶλλον δὲ (Romans 8:34) γνωσθέντες ὑπὸ θεοῦ. The initiative was not theirs, neither was their knowledge complete. Observe further that knowledge of them by God implies His recognition of them as His (Exodus 33:12; Exodus 33:17), cf. 1 Corinthians 8:3. Probably there is also a distinct reference to His “knowledge” of them by adopting them as sons, Galatians 4:5. “To know God as God, is to be in vital fellowship with Him, to love Him, to fulfil that relation towards Him for which we are born. And conversely to be known by God, to be the object of His knowledge, is to be in harmony with Him” (Westcott on 1 John 2:3).

πῶς ἐπιστρέφετε (contrast 1 Thessalonians 1:9) πάλιν (Galatians 5:1) ἐπὶ τὰ� καὶ πτωχὰ στοιχεῖα (Galatians 4:3 note). He does not say or mean τοὺς φύσει μὴ ὄντας θεούς (cf. Galatians 4:8), but, as always, when apparently about to repeat himself, introduces a fresh point. Thus here στοιχεῖα does not = gods, but what they represent, the mere rudiments of religion. The epithets show their lack of spiritual power and of spiritual wealth.

Observe that St Paul here regards Judaism and the heathen religions as so far alike that they both represent Law in contrast to Grace, rudiments in contrast to advanced knowledge, weakness in contrast to strength, poverty in contrast to wealth. He is not concerned with the nobler and more spiritual side of the O.T. religion, but with that which it had in common, whether by origin or only in character, with heathenism. This includes not only the ceremonial but also the moral law in so far as this is regarded apart from Christ.
Luther is essentially right in saying “Doth Paul take it to be all one thing, to fall from the promise to the law, from faith to works, and to do service unto gods which by nature are no gods? I answer: whosoever is fallen from the article of Justification, is ignorant of God, and an idolator.… The reason is, because God will or can be known no otherwise than by Christ.… There is no mean between man’s working and the knowledge of Christ. If this knowledge be darkened or defaced, it is all one whether thou be a Monk, a Turk, a Jew etc.” (on Galatians 4:8-9).

οἶς πάλιν ἄνωθεν. Wis 19:6[122] ὅλη γὰρ ἡ κτίσις ἐν ἰδίῳ γένει πάλιν ἄνωθεν διετυποῦτο (“was fashioned again anew,” R.V.). Otherwise Josephus seems to be the first writer who uses it, though it is found in inscriptions of the second and first centuries B.C. See reff. in Nägeli, Der Wortschatz des Apostels Paulus, 1905, p. 39. The combination means that they purpose relapsing to the bondage of the στοιχεῖα and practising them all over again from the very beginning, cf. Barn. § 16. 8 ἐγενόμεθα καινοί, πάλιν ἐξ�.

[122] Is affixed it means that all the passages are mentioned where the word occurs in the Greek Bible.

δουλεῦσαι. The text seems to express “to enter into bondage to.” The marginal δουλεύειν rather expresses continuance in bondage.

θέλετε (Galatians 4:21).