Galatians 4:9

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...

9._But now, _(67) _after that ye have known God_. No language can express the base ingratitude of departing from God, when he has once been known. What is it but to forsake, of our own accord, the light, the life, the fountain of all benefits, — “to forsake,” as Jeremiah complains, “the fountain of living waters, and hew out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water!” (Jeremiah 2:13.) Still farther to heighten the blame, he corrects his language, and says, _or rather have been, known by God_; for the greater the grace of God is towards us, our guilt in despising it must be the heavier. Paul reminds the Galatians whence they had derived the knowledge of God. He affirms that they did not obtain it by their own exertions, by the acuteness or industry of their own minds,

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 9. _NOW, AFTER THAT YE HAVE KNOWN GOD_] After having been brought to the knowledge of God as your Saviour. _OR RATHER ARE KNOWN OF GOD_] Are _approved_ of him, having received the adoption of sons. _TO THE WEAK AND BEGGARLY ELEMENTS_] After receiving all this, _will ye turn again_ to the ineffectual rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law-_rites_ too _weak_ to counteract your sinful habits, and too _poor_ to _purchase pardon_ and _eternal life_ for you? If the Galatians were _turning again_ to them, it is evident that they had been _once_ addicted to them. And this they might have been, allowing that they had become _converts_ from _heathenism_ to _Judaism,_ and from Judaism to Christianity. This makes the sense consistent between the 8th and 9th verses. Gal

BUT NOW ... - The sense is, that since they had been made free from their ignoble servitude in the worship of false gods, and had been admitted to the freedom found in the worship of the true God, it was absurd that they should return again to that which was truly slavery or bondage, the observance of the rites of the Jewish law. THAT YE HAVE KNOWN GOD - The true God, and the ease and freedom of his service in the gospel. OR RATHER ARE KNOWN OF GOD - The sense is, “Or, to speak more accurately or precisely, are known by God.” The object of this correction is to avoid the impression which might be derived from the former phrase that their acquaintance with God was owing to themselves. He therefore states, that it was rather that they were known of God; that it was all owing to him that they had been brought to an acquaintance with himself. Perhaps, also, he mea

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;...

BUT NOW, AFTER THAT YE HAVE KNOWN GOD, c,] God in Christ, as their covenant God and Father, through the preaching of the Gospel, and in the light of divine grace God having caused light to shine in their dark hearts; and having given them the light of the knowledge of himself in the face of Christ, and having sent down into their hearts the Spirit of his Son, crying "Abba", Father. OR RATHER ARE KNOWN OF GOD; for it is but little that the best of these, that have the greatest share of knowledge, know of him; and what knowledge they have, they have it first, originally, and wholly from him: that knowledge which he has of them is particular, distinct, and complete; and is to be understood, not of his omniscience in general, so all men are known by him; but of his special knowledge, joined with affection, approbation, and care: and the meaning is, that they were loved by him with an everla...

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