Galatians 4:8

Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. HOWBEIT - contrast of their former with their present state. Appeal not to turn back from their privileges as free sons to legal bondage again. THEN - when ye were pagans before your adoption (Galatians 4:7). YE KNEW NOT GOD - not opposed to Romans 1:21. The pagan originally knew God, but did not choose to retain God in their knowledge, and so corrupted the original truth. They might still have known Him, in a measure, from His works; but as a fact they knew him not, so far as His eternity, power as Creator, and holiness, are concerned. YE DID SERVICE, [ edouleusat...

8._But when ye as yet knew not God. _This is not intended as an additional argument; and indeed he had already proved his point so fully, that no doubt remained, and the rebuke which was now to be administered could not be evaded. His object is to make their fall appear more criminal, by comparing it with past events. It is not wonderful, he says, that formerly _ye did service to them which by nature are no gods_; for, wherever ignorance of God exists, there must be dreadful blindness. You were then wandering in darkness, but how disgraceful is it that in the midst of light you should fall into such gross errors! The main inference is, that the Galatians were less excusable for corrupting the gospel than they had formerly been for idolatry. But here it ought to be observed, that, till we have been enlightened in the true knowledge of one God, we always serve idols, whatever pretext we ma...

8-11 The happy change whereby the Galatians were turned from idols to the living God, and through Christ had received the adoption of sons, was the effect of his free and rich grace; they were laid under the greater obligation to keep to the liberty wherewith he had made them free. All our knowledge of God begins on his part; we know him because we are known of him. Though our religion forbids idolatry, yet many practise spiritual idolatry in their hearts. For what a man loves most, and cares most for, that is his god: some have their riches for their god, some their pleasures, and some their lusts. And many ignorantly worship a god of their own making; a god made all of mercy and no justice. For they persuade themselves that there is mercy for them with God, though they repent not, but go on in their sins. It is possible for those who have made great professions of religion, to be afte...

Verse 8. _WHEN YE KNEW NOT GOD_] Though it is evident, from the complexion of the whole of this epistle, that the great body of the Christians in the Churches of Galatia were converts from among the _Jews_ or _proselytes_ to Judaism; yet from this verse it appears that there were some who had been converted from _heathenism_; unless we suppose that the apostle here particularly addresses those who had been proselytes to Judaism and thence converted to Christianity; which appears to be most likely from the following verses....

HOWBEIT - But, ἀλλὰ alla. The address in this verse and the following is evidently to the portion of the Galatians who had been pagan. This is probably indicated by the particle ἀλλὰ alla, but denoting a transition. In the previous verses Paul had evidently had the Jewish converts more particularly in his eye, and had described their former condition as one of servitude to the Mosaic rites and customs, and had shown the inconveniences of that condition, compared with the freedom imparted by the gospel. To complete the description, he refers also to the Gentiles, as a condition of worse servitude still, and shows Galatians 4:9 the absurdity of their turning back to a state of bondage of any kind, after the glorious deliverance which they had obtained

EXPOSITION GALATIANS 4:1 NOW I SAY (λέγω δέ). A form of expression usual with the apostle when introducing a new statement designed either to explain or elucidate something before said (of. Galatians 3:17; Galatians 5:16; Romans 15:8, according to the Received Text; 1 Corinthians 1:12. So τοῦτο δέ φημι, 1 Corinthians 7:29;...

HOWBEIT THEN, WHEN YE KNOW NOT GOD,.... Whilst in Gentilism, and in a state of unregeneracy, they had no true knowledge of God; though they might know by the light of nature, and works of creation, that there was a God, yet they did not know who he was, but called either mortal men, or some one or other of the creatures, or stocks, and stones, and images of men's device, by this name; they knew not the God of Israel; they did not know God in Christ, and are therefore said to be without him; and a common description of them it is, that they knew not God: and whilst this was their case, what follows was true of them, YE DID SERVICE UNTO THEM WHICH BY NATURE ARE NO GODS; only by name, and in the opinion of men, but have no divinity in them, are only called gods, mere nominal, fictitious deities, who have nothing of the nature and essence of God in them; for there is but one God by nature a...

Galatians 4:1. _Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons._ Like little children, the Jewish believers were under the law. They observed this ceremony and that, just as children, even though they may be heirs to vast estates, yet, while they are in their minority, are under tutors and governors. But now in Christ we have come of age, and we have done with those school-books and that tutorship, and we have received the adoption of sons. Now, we have joy and peace in belie

CHAPTER 4 _ 1. Under the law in the state of minority. (Galatians 4:1)_ 2. The Son revealed to redeem. (Galatians 4:4) 3. Because ye are Sons; the Spirit of Sonship. (Galatians 4:6) 4. The backsliding Galatians. (Galatians 4:8) 5. The sons of the bondwoman and of the free woman. (Galatians 4:21) Jewish believers were, before Christ had died, the children of God, and as such they did not differ from servants. They were in a state of minority, as children who do not know the father's thoughts, nor cou

The state of the Galatians, while heathen, was similar but worse. They had not been heirs in a state of temporary slavery, but frankly slaves to the mere element-spirits, those undivine gods they worshipped. If they now Judaize, they return to _the_ same slavery. To make the imperfect OT Law an ultimate religious authority is to prefer nature-worship to Christ. Subordinate spirits, however over-ruled by God, instituted the Law. Here Paul comes nearer his great Gnostic follower Marcion than anywhere else; but, while Marcion hated the OT, Paul rejects only the Law, and rejects it only if it becomes a rival to the Gospel. His thought is delicately balanced on a knife-edge. In Rom., emphasis on the ceremonial (not _part_ but _aspect_ of the) Law disappears; it is viewed on its moral side as the law of God. In a later epistle, Col., the ceremonial again predominates. Galatians 4:9