Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 4:9
But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
9. now, after that ye have known are known ] The word rendered ‘known’ is different in the original from that so rendered in Gal 4:8. It here denotes more than the acknowledgment of God’s existence a discern ment of His character and recognition of His authority, on the part of man; approval on the part of God. The same English word is used in 1Co 13:12 to render a still stronger verb in the Greek of which the margin of R.V. gives ‘fully know’ as the equivalent.
or rather ] God knows man before man knows God an humbling thought.
weak and beggarly elements ] See note on Gal 4:3. They are ‘weak’, powerless to give life (Heb 7:18); ‘beggarly’ (rather, ‘poor’) as contrasted with ‘the unsearchable riches of Christ’, the riches of that grace which came by Jesus Christ.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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 means to bring into view the idea that it was a favor and privilege to be known by God, and that therefore it was the more absurd to turn back to the weak and beggarly elements.
How turn ye again – Margin, Back. How is it that you are returning to such a bondage? The question implies surprise and indignation that they should do it.
To the weak and beggarly elements – To the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish law, imposing a servitude really not less severe than the customs of paganism. On the word elements, see the note at Gal 4:3. They are called weak because they had no power to save the soul; no power to justify the sinner before God. They are called beggarly (Greek ptocha, poor), because they could not impart spiritual riches. They really could confer few benefits on man. Or it may be, as Locke supposes, because the Law kept people in the poor estate of pupils from the full enjoyment of the inheritance; Gal 4:1-3.
Whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage – As if you had a wish to be under servitude. The absurdity is as great as it would be for a man who had been freed from slavery to desire his chains again. They had been freed by the gospel from the galling servitude of paganism, and they now again had sunk into the Jewish observances, as if they preferred slavery to freedom, and were willing to go from one form of it to another. The main idea is, that it is absurd for people who have been made free by the gospel to go back again into any kind of servitude or bondage. We may apply it to Christians now. Many sink into a kind of servitude not less galling than was that to sin before their conversion. Some become the slaves of mere ceremonies and forms in religion. Some are slaves to fashion, and the world still rules them with the hand of a tyrant. They have escaped, it may be, from the galling chains of ambition, and degrading vice, and low sensuality; but they became slaves to the love of money, or of dress, or of the fashions of the world, as if they loved slavery and chains; and they seem no more able to break loose than the slave is to break the bonds which bind him. And some are slaves to some expensive and foolish habit. Professed Christians, and Christian ministers too, become slaves to the disgusting and loathsome habit of using tobacco, bound by a servitude as galling and as firm as that which ever shackled the limbs of an African. I grieve to add also that many professed Christians are slaves to the habit of sitting long at the wine and indulging in it freely. O that such knew the liberty of Christian freedom, and would break away from all such shackles, and show how the gospel frees people from all foolish and absurd customs!
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gal 4:9
But now, after that ye have known God.
Knowledge of God
That is not the best and truest knowledge of God which is wrought out by the labour and sweat of brain, but that which is kindled within us by a heavenly warmth in our hearts. As, in the natural body, it is the heart that sends up good blood and warm spirits into the head, whereby it is best enabled to perform its several functions; so that which enables us to know and understand aright in the things of God, must be a living principle of holiness within us. (John Smith.)
Gods knowledge of us
I. Its basis.
1. His omniscience.
2. His intimate connection with us through all the st.ages of our life.
(1) Physically.
(2) Spiritually: as our Maker, Preserver, Redeemer, Sanctifier.
II. Its wide embrace.
1. God knows every one of us
2. Our innermost thoughts.
3. Our secret wants.
4. Under all disguises:
5. In all circumstances.
Conclusion:
1. A warning to the sinner;
2. An encouragement to the believer.
However doubtful may be our estimate of ourselves or that of others, there is no doubt as to Gods estimate of us being the right one (T. T. Lynch.)
Weak and beggarly elements
I. Weak, because they have no power to rescue man from condemnation.
II. Beggarly, for they bring no rich endowments of spiritual treasures. A passionate and striking ritualism, expressing itself in bodily mortifications of the most terrible kind had been supplanted by the simple spiritual teaching of the gospel. For a time the pure morality and lofty sanctions of the new faith appealed not in vain to their higher instincts, but they soon began to yearn after a creed which suited their material cravings better, and was more allied to the systems they had abandoned. This end they attained by overlaying the simplicity of the gospel with Judaic observances. This new phase is ascribed to the temper which their old heathen education had fostered It was a return to the weak and beggarly elements which they had outgrown, a renewed subjection to the yoke of bondage which they had thrown off in Christ. They had escaped from one ritualistic system, only to bow before another. The innate failings of a race whom Caesar (Bell. Gall. 6:16) describes as excessive in its devotion to external observances was here reasserting itself. (Bishop Lightfoot.)
The use and abuse of ordinances
Ordinances may be considered three ways.
I. With Christ.
1. As types and figures of Christ to come.
2. As signs of grace of Divine institution.
II. Without Christ. As mere customs whether before or after Him.
III. Against Christ. As meritorious causes of salvation. (W. Perkins.)
The difficulty of not believing
I have been thinking how difficult it would be for us not to be Christians. It is hard, we say, to have faith; but do we realize what a task a man imposes upon himself if he attempts to live without faith? Is not some faith one of the first vital necessities of the human reason and heart? I wish, then, this morning, to invert a very common way of reasoning about religion among men. Instead of treating a religious faith as though it were a good thing to be added to a mans moral capital in life, I would raise the question rather, whether a man will have capital enough for life left if he lets a Christian faith go from him?
I. In order not to have faith, one must vacate a considerable portion of his own mental experience.
1. There is a large part of every mans self-conciousness which is bound up with faith in realities beyond this present world of sights and sounds. It would be almost an impossible task for us to disentangle all faith in things Divine and eternal from the elements of our self-consciousness. Our reasons have their roots in the Divine. If these primal beliefs in God and immortality were simply results of argument, we might reason ourselves out of them: but they are elements, rather, of our rational and conscious life, so that we cannot separate them wholly from ourselves. Atheists, after all, can only make believe not to believe.
2. There is another tremendously present thing which would have to be put away from us in order that we might be able to live without faith, and that is the Divine imperative of conscience. Something higher and better than we lays hold of us in conscience. There are several other vital elements which must be sacrificed in the vain effort to live without faith.
3. One will have to leave out some of the most marked experiences of his life. The simple fact is, that the invisible powers are constantly laying hold of the life of man in the world. It would be an impossible task for us to account wholly for our own lives simply and solely upon natural causes. Super-sensible influences do mingle and blend with the sensible; providences are realities of human experience.
4. There is another side of our experience, which I will just mention, from which one must cut himself loose, if he would have any success in not belonging to a Christian world; he must break off his fellowship with the truest and best life of humanity. The history of man is not merely, nor chiefly, political; it is religious. The history of the kingdom of redemption is the paramount part of human history. Other history, what we call profane history, is the form and shaping of events only; the substance of history is its spiritual progress; the issue of it, and the main thing in it all along, is redemption. If, then, one wants not to be a Christian believer, a citizen of a world becoming Christian, he will have to begin by denying himself a goodly fellowship.
II. Let us consider further how much one will have to believe in order not to be a christian, in relation to some particulars of the Christian life.
1. One vital element of the Christian life is trust in the goodness of the heavenly Father. We do not conceal from ourselves, we cannot, that this is a trust written often across the face of events in our lives which seem to contradict it. As Christians we believe in the sunny side, that is, in the Divine side, of everything. We say it is only our present position in the shadow, or under some cloud, which prevents our seeing the bright and eternal side of it. Wait, and we shall see the goodness of the Lord. We were sailing one afternoon with the broken coast of Maine in the distance projecting upon our horizon. A black thundercloud gathered in shore over the hill-tops. We could see the play of the lightnings, and the waters breaking from the cloud. That was all that the villagers and the fishermen along the shore could have seen. But we, at our distance, beheld also the untroubled sun in the clear sky above; its beams struck the edges of that heavy mass of vapours, and above the darkness and the lightnings we could see the upper side of the cloud turn to gold; and, even while it was blackness and fear to those below, its pinnacles and towers were shining before our eyes like the city of God descending from heaven. Thus Christian faith beholds also the heavenly side of this worlds storm and darkness.
2. Take as another instance the Christian belief in our personal sinfulness and need of forgiveness. How many thoughts of the heart must one forget not to believe that? I pass to two other examples.
3. Men say it is hard to believe in an atonement. Perhaps it may be in some of our human philosophies of Gods method of reconciling the world; but not to believe in Jesus word that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sin, would require us to believe some things about God which it would be very hard for us to hold of the Creator of our hearts. Even a human government would be incomplete unless, in some hand, there should be lodged some power of pardon. Not to believe in the authority of God Himself over the execution of His own law is to believe that Gods government is not so perfect as mans. Or, to take the subject up to a higher plane, where I much prefer to study it, our human love can sometimes find for itself a way of forgiveness which it will follow without dimming its own purity, or losing its own self-respect, though it be for it a way of tears. To believe, then, that the God of love can find no way of atonement for sin, though it be the way of the Cross, is to believe that mans heart is diviner than Gods.
4. The other remaining point which I will mention is the Christian belief in the last judgment. Surely everything in this world would be left at loose ends, and all our instincts of justice, righteousness, and love thrown into confusion, if we should attempt to wrench the substance of this Christian faith in the judgment to come from our experience of this present life. Not to believe in it requires a great task of reason and conscience; for then one must believe that there is no moral order, as there is plainly a natural order of things; one must then believe that the one constant undertone of justice in mans consciousness is a false note of life; that the first laws of things are but principles of eternal discord; that mans whole moral life and history, in short, is meaningless and worthless. You say it is a terrible thing to believe in the judgment to come; yes, but it is a more fearful thing not to believe in it. (Newman Smyth, D. D.)
How a faithful minister seeks to recover the erring
He appeals–
I. To the conscience–reminding them of the gracious change God had effected in them (Gal 4:8-9).
II. To the understanding–remanding the reason of their instability–exhibiting its folly (Gal 4:9-11).
III. To the heart–by affectionate entreaty–tender and happy reminiscences (Gal 4:12-15).
IV. To their regard for the truth–which he faithfully preaches–others have perverted–should be zealously maintained (Gal 4:16-18).
V. To his own sincerity–he is anxious for their happiness–to have the assurance of it. (J. Lyth.)
The folly of returning to the world
I. It is to act in opposition to knowledge.
II. To abuse the grace of God.
III. To seek happiness in that we have already proved unsatisfactory.
IV. To subject ourselves to a new bondage. (J. Lyth.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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. Ga 4:8-9.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
After that ye have known God; after that you are come to a true and saving knowledge of God in Christ, and know God as he is.
Or rather are known of God; or rather after you are received of God, approved of him, made through Christ acceptable to him, which is much more than a true comprehension of God in your notion and understanding.
How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? How turn you back again to the legal services of the ceremonial law? Which he calleth elements, or rudiments, because they were Gods first instructions given to his church for his worship, to which he intended afterward a more perfect way of worship. He calls them
weak, because they brought nothing to perfection; and the observance of them was impotent as to the justification of a soul, as all the law is. He calls them
beggarly, in comparison of the more rational, spiritual way of worship under the gospel. He saith that they desired
to be in bondage unto these, because they would not see and make use of the liberty from them which Christ had purchased.
Objection. It may be objected, that the Galatians were not educated in Judaism; how then doth the apostle charge them with turning back to them?
Answer. This hath made some think, that, by
the weak and beggarly elements, mentioned in this verse, the apostle meaneth their Gentile superstitions and idolatries; but this is not probable, the apostle, all along the Epistle, charging them with no such apostacy. Others think, that he in this verse chiefly reflecteth on the believing Jews, who afterwards returned again to the use of the law. But why may not we rather say, that he calleth their fact a turning back, not so much with reference to their personal practice, as to the state of the church; which was once under those elements, but by the coming of Christ was brought into a more perfect state. So that for them who were called into the church in the time of this its more perfect state, for them to return to the bondage of the law, that was truly to turn back; if not to any practice of their own, which they had cast off, yet to a state of the church which the church of God had now outgrown.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. known God or rather are known ofGodThey did not first know and love God, but Godfirst, in His electing love, knew and loved them as His, andtherefore attracted them to the saving knowledge of Him (Mat 7:23;1Co 8:3; 2Ti 2:19;compare Exo 33:12; Exo 33:17;Joh 15:16; Phi 3:12).God’s great grace in this made their fall from it the more heinous.
howexpressingindignant wonder at such a thing being possible, and even actuallyoccurring (Ga 1:6). “How isit that ye turn back again?”
weakpowerless tojustify: in contrast to the justifying power of faith (Ga3:24; compare Heb 7:18).
beggarlycontrastedwith the riches of the inheritance of believers in Christ (Eph1:18). The state of the “child” (Ga4:1) is weak, as not having attained manhood; “beggarly,”as not having attained the inheritance.
elements“rudiments.”It is as if a schoolmaster should go back to learning the A, B, C’S[BENGEL].
againThere are twoGreek words in the original. “Ye desire again, beginningafresh, to be in bondage.” Though the Galatians, asGentiles, had never been under the Mosaic yoke, yet they had beenunder “the elements of the world” (Ga4:3): the common designation for the Jewish and Gentile systemsalike, in contrast to the Gospel (however superior the Jewish was tothe Gentile). Both systems consisted in outward worship and cleavedto sensible forms. Both were in bondage to the elements of sense,as though these could give the justification and sanctification whichthe inner and spiritual power of God alone could bestow.
ye desireor “will.”Will-worship is not acceptable to God (Col 2:18;Col 2:23).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 everlasting love, which had been manifested in their conversion, in the drawing of them to himself, and to his Son; that he approved of them, delighted in them, had an exact knowledge, and took special care of them: but, oh, folly and ingratitude!
how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto you desire again to be in bondage? meaning the ordinances of the ceremonial law, he before calls “the elements of the world”, and here “weak”, because they could not give life, righteousness, peace, joy, comfort, and salvation; and, since the coming of Christ, were become impotent to all the uses they before served; and beggarly, because they lay in the observation of mean things, as meats, drinks, c. and which were only shadows of those good things, the riches of grace and glory, which come by Christ. The Galatians are said to turn again to these not that they were before in the observation of them, except the Jews, but because there was some likeness between these, and the ceremonies with which they carried on the service of their idols; and by showing an inclination to them, they discovered a good will to come into a like state of bondage they were in before; than which nothing could be more stupid and ungrateful in a people that had been blessed with so much grace, and with such clear Gospel light and knowledge.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Now that ye have come to know God ( ). Fine example of the ingressive second aorist active participle of , come to know by experience through faith in Christ.
Rather to be known of God ( ). First aorist passive participle of the same verb. He quickly turns it round to the standpoint of God’s elective grace reaching them (verse 6).
How (). “A question full of wonder” (Bengel). See 1:6.
Turn ye back again? ( ?). Present active indicative, “Are ye turning again?” See in 1:6.
The weak and beggarly rudiments ( ). The same in verse 3 from which they had been delivered, “weak and beggarly,” still in their utter impotence from the Pharisaic legalism and the philosophical and religious legalism and the philosophical and religious quests of the heathen as shown by Angus’s The Religious Quests of the Graeco-Roman World. These were eagerly pursued by many, but they were shadows when caught. It is pitiful today to see some men and women leave Christ for will o’ the wisps of false philosophy.
Over again ( ). Old word, from above () as in Mt 27:51, from the first (Lu 1:3), then “over again” as here, back to where they were before (in slavery to rites and rules).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Rather are known of God. Rather corrects the first statement, have known God, which might seem to attach too much to human agency in attaining the knowledge of God. The divine side of the process is thrown into the foreground by are known, etc. Known does not mean approved or acknowledged, but simply recognized. Saving knowledge is doubtless implied, but is not expressed in the word. The relation of knowledge between God and his sons proceeds from God. The Galatians had not arrived at the knowledge of God by intuition nor by any process of reasoning. “God knew them ere they knew him, and his knowing them was the cause of their knowing him” (Eadie). Comp. 1Co 13:12; 2Ti 2:19; Mt 7:23. Dean Stanley remarks that “our knowledge of God is more his act than ours.” If God knows a man, that fact implies an activity of God which passes over to the man, so that he, as the subject of God ‘s knowledge, comes into the knowledge of God. In N. T. ginwskein often implies a personal relation between the knower and the known, so that knowledge implies influence. See 1Co 2:8; Joh 1:10; Joh 2:24; Joh 17:3. For a parallel to this interchange between the active and the passive, see Phi 3:12.
How [] . “A question full of wonder” (Bengel). Comp. I marvel, chapter Gal 1:6.
Turn ye again [ ] . Better, the continuous present, are ye turning, as of a change still in progress. Comp. chapter Gal 1:6. Palin again, according to N. T. usage, and corresponding with palin anwqen in the following clause. Not back, which is the earlier sense and the usual classical meaning.
Weak and beggarly elements [ ] . For elements see on verse 3. For ptwca beggarly, see on Mt 5:3. The two adjectives express the utter impotence of these “elements” to do and to bestow what was done and given by God in sending his Son into the world. Comp. Rom 8:3; Heb 7:18.
Again [ ] . Anwqen [ ] adds to palin the idea of going back to the beginning. Its primary meaning is from above; thence, from the first, reckoning in a descending series. So Luk 1:3; Act 26:5. 71 Such combinations as this are not uncommon in N. T. and Class. See, for instance, Act 18:21; Mt 26:42; Act 10:15; Joh 21:16. But these additions to palin are not pleonastic. They often define and explain it. Thus, Joh 21:16, palin marks the repetition of Jesus ‘ question, deuteron the number of the repetition. He asked again, and this was the second time of asking.
Ye desire [] . It was more than a mere desire. They were bent on putting themselves again into bondage. See on Mt 1:19.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But now, after that ye have known God,” (nun de gnontes theon) ”Yet now and hereafter knowing or having recognized God”, Who He is and the true gospel of redemption from sin-slavery and law-bondage, Rom 1:16; 1Co 15:1-4. To know God after an academic order is not enough. It did not satisfy Nicodemus or Paul, Joh 3:1-7; Act 9:5-7.
2) “Or rather are known of God,” (mallon de gnosthentes hupo theou) “But rather being known or recognized by God,” after you are known as His own, with the seal and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Act 15:8; Rom 8:14; Rom 8:16; Eph 1:13; 1Co 8:3; 1Co 13:12; “The Lord knoweth them that are his,” progressively, 2Ti 2:19.
3) “How turn ye again,” (pos epistrephete palin) “How (can) you all turn again (turn back),” as if renouncing your freedom and liberty from the bondage of slavery when you served not God but demons; children of God may be, but should not let themselves be, servants of the devil, Rom 6:16-18; Col 2:20-23.
4) “To the weak and beggarly elements,” (epi ta asthene kai ptoka stoicheia) “To or to rely upon the poor and sickly elements,” of the law or of earthly things, like heathens do, Rom 8:3; Heb 7:18-19.
5) “Whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage,” (ois palin anothen douleusai thelete;) “To which again you all strongly wish anew to be bond-slaves?” Why yield ye again to the carnal cravings, why surrender to the old, unprofitable natural desires of the flesh? In such, there is no gain; 1Co 3:1-3; Rom 6:12-13.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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!” (Jer 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, but because, when they were at the farthest possible remove from thinking of him, God visited them in his mercy. What is said of the Galatians may be extended to all; for in all are fulfilled the words of Isaiah,
“
I am sought by them that asked not for me: I am found by them that sought me not.” (Isa 65:1.)
The origin of our calling is the free election of God, which predestinates us to life before we are born. On this depends our calling, our faith, our whole salvation.
How turn ye again ? They could not turn again to ceremonies which they had never practiced. The expression is figurative, and merely denotes, that to fall again into wicked superstition, as if they had never received the truth of God, was the height of folly. When he calls the ceremonies beggarly elements, he views them as out of Christ, and, what is more, as opposed to Christ. To the fathers they were not only profitable exercises and aids to piety, but efficacious means of grace. But then their whole value lay in Christ, and in the appointment of God. The false apostles, on the other hand, neglecting the promises, endeavored to oppose the ceremonies to Christ, as if Christ alone were not sufficient. That they should be regarded by Paul as worthless trifles, cannot excite surprise; but of this I have already spoken. The word bondage conveys a reproof for submitting to be slaves. (68)
(67) Μᾶλλον δὲ “The Greek writers make use of these two particles for the purpose of correcting what they have already said, and, as if it had not been enough, of adding something more. Thus, Rom 8:34, and in Polybius. Χρήσιμον εἴη μᾶλλον δ ᾿ αηναγκαῖον. “It would be useful, it would even be necessary.” Καὶ γὰρ ἄτοπον μᾶλλον δ ᾿ ὡς εἰπεῖν ἀδύνατον, αδυνατον. “It would be absurd; it would even be impossible.” — Raphelius.
(68) “ Par ce mot de Servir, il reprend la necessity, a laquelle ils s’astraignoyent d’observer les ceremonies.” “By the word ‘bondage,’ he reproves them for the necessity to which they had reduced themselves to observe ceremonies.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) Known God.The word for known is different from that so translated in the verse above. It brings out more distinctly the process of obtaining knowledge, especially with reference to a state of previous ignorance. Having come to know God.
Or rather are known of God.In speaking of the Galatians as coming to know God, it might seem as if too much stress was laid on the human side of the process, and therefore, by way of correction, the Apostle presents also the divine side. Any true and saving knowledge of God has for its converse the being known of Godi.e., recognition by God and acceptance by Him, such as is involved in the admission of the believer into the Messianic kingdom.
Again.In the Greek a double phrase, for the sake of emphasis, over again from the very beginning, as a child might be said to go back to his alphabet.
Weak and beggarly elements.Elements is used here, in the same sense as in Gal. 4:3, of that elementary religious knowledge afforded in different degrees to Jew and Gentile before the coming of Christ. These are called weak because they were insufficient to enable man to work out his own salvation. (Comp. St. Pauls account of the inward struggle, and of the helpless condition to which man is reduced by it, in Rom. 7:7-24.) They are called beggarly, or poor, because, unlike the gospel, they were accompanied by no outpouring of spiritual gifts and graces. The legal system was barren and dry; the gospel dispensation was rich with all the abundance and profusion of the Messianic time (Joe. 2:19; Joe. 3:18; Amo. 9:13-14; Isa. 4:1; Isa. 65:21-25; Joh. 7:37-38, et al.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Consequent folly of their relapse from faith-justification into old legalism, Gal 4:9-20.
9. But now After your adult growth and knowledge.
Known God Not merely as a false Jupiter or a dim Jehovah, but as father through Christ.
Rather known of God No longer like children committed to governors and tutors, and overlooked by their father; but like children to whom the Father hath sent the Spirit of sonship, who hears them crying, and knows them as his sons.
How Imperative rebuke! How can so preposterous a turn be made.
Weak As childhood.
Beggarly Penniless as the minor state.
Elements The first letters, hieroglyphs, and child-pictures of pupilage. That is the circumcision, the holidays, and the rituals of either Judaism or paganism.
Weak Impotent to strengthen spiritually the soul in its full growth.
Beggarly Poor in any thing that can satisfy an immortal spirit.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gal 4:9. Are known of God, Or, are approved of God. The Apostle having said, ye have known God, he subjoins, or rather are known of him, in the Hebrew latitude of the word known; in which language it sometimes signifies, “knowing with choice and approbation.” See Amo 3:2. 1Co 8:3. The law is here Called weak, because it was not able to deliver a man from bondage and death into the glorious liberty of the sons of God; and it is called beggarly, or poor, because it kept men in the poor estate of pupils, from the full possession and enjoyment of the inheritance, Gal 4:1-3. The Apostle makes it matter of astonishment how they who had been in bondage to false gods, having been once set free, could endure the thoughts of parting with their liberty; of returning into anysort of bondage again; much more to a bondage under the weak and wretched external institutions of the Mosaical law, which was not able to make themsons, and instate them in the inheritance. For in Gal 4:7 he expressly opposes bondage to sonship.
The word , again, evidently refers here, not to elements which the Galatians had never been under hitherto, but to bondage, which he tells them, Gal 4:8 they had been in to false gods.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gal 4:9 . ] After ye have known God through the preaching of the gospel. Olshausen’s opinion, that denotes more the merely external knowledge that God is, while signifies the inward essential cognition, is shown to be an arbitrary fancy by passages such as Joh 7:37 ; Joh 8:55 ; 2Co 5:16 .
] imo vero , a corrective climax (Rom 8:34 ; Eph 5:11 ; Jacobs, ad Ach. Tat . II. p. 955; Khner, ad Xen. Mem . iii. 13. 6; Grimm, on Wis 8:19 ), in order to give more startling prominence to the following . . ., as indicating not a mere falling away from the knowledge of God, but rather a guilty opposition to Him.
] after ye have been known by God . This is the saving knowledge, of which on God’s part men become the objects, when He interests Himself on their behalf to deliver them. Into the experience of having been thus graciously known by God the Galatians were brought by means of the divine work which had taken place in them, anticipating their own volition and endeavour the work of their calling, enlightenment, and conversion; [188] so that they therefore, when they knew God, became in that very knowledge aware of their being known by God, the one being implied in the other through their divinely bestowed admission into the fellowship of Christ. [189] See on 1Co 8:3 ; 1Co 13:12 ; also Mat 7:23 . Hofmann desires the condition of the acceptance of grace to be mentally supplied; but this is arbitrary in itself, and is also incorrect, because those, who are the objects of God’s gracious knowledge, are already known to Him by means of His as the credituri and are ordained by Him to salvation (see on Rom 8:29 f.). But the literal sense cognoscere is not to be altered either into approbare, amare (Grotius and others), or into agnoscere suos (Wetstein, Vater, Winer, Rckert, Usteri, Schott, Baumgarten-Crusius, and others); nor is it to be understood in the sense of Hophal: brought to the knowledge (Beza, Er. Schmidt, Cornelius a Lapide, Wolf, Nsselt, Koppe, Flatt, and others); nor can we, with Olshausen, turn it into the being penetrated with the love wrought by God, which only follows upon the being known by God, 1Co 8:3 . Lastly, there has been introduced, in a way entirely un-Pauline, the idea of the self-recognition of the Divine Spirit in us (Matthies), or of the consciousness of the identity of the human and the divine knowing (Hilgenfeld). On the deliberate change from the active to the passive, , , comp. Phi 3:12 . Luther, moreover, appropriately remarks, “non ideo cognoscuntur quia cognoscunt, sed contra quia cogniti sunt, ideo cognoscunt.”
] “interrogatio admirabunda ” (Bengel), as in Gal 2:12 .
] does not mean backwards (Flatt, Hofmann), as in Homer (see Duncan, Lex . ed. Rost, p. 886; Ngelsbach z. Ilias , p. 34, Exo 3 ), a rendering opposed to the usage of the N.T. generally, and here in particular to the which follows; it means iterum , and refers to the fact that the readers had previously been already in bondage to the , namely, most of them as heathen . Now they turn indeed ( , present tense , as in i. 6) to the Jewish ordinances; but the heathen and Jewish elements (on the latter, see Heb 7:18 f.) are both included in the category of the (see on Gal 4:3 ), so that Paul is logically correct in using the ; and the hypothesis of Nsselt ( Opusc . I. p. 293 ff.; comp. Mynster in his kl. theol. Schr . p. 76; Credner, Einl ., and Olshausen), that the greater part of the readers had been previously proselytes of the gate, is entirely superfluous, and indeed at variance with the description of the pre-Christian condition of the Galatians given in Gal 4:8 ; for according to Gal 4:8 , the great mass of them must have been purely heathen before their conversion, because there is no mention of any intermediate condition between and . According to Wieseler (comp. also Reithmayr), is intended to point back to their conversion to Christ , so that the turning to the is designated as a second renewed conversion ( ), namely, in pejus . This would yield an ironical contrast, but is rendered impossible by the words . . Wieseler is driven to adopt so artificial an explanation, because he understands the as referring to the law only; and this compels him afterwards to give an incorrect explanation of .
. ] because they cannot effect and bestow , what God by the sending of His Son has effected and bestowed (Gal 4:5 ). Comp. Rom 8:3 ; Rom 10:12 ; Heb 7:18 .
] for those reverting to Judaism desired to begin again from the commencement the slave-service of the , which they had abandoned; , Pind. Ol . x. 94. Comp. Wis 19:6 . Not a pleonasm, as (Mat 26:42 ), (Hom. Il . i. 59), or (Hom. Il . i. 513); but the repetition is represented as a new commencement of the matter, as (Plut. solert. anim . p. 959), and (Barnab. Ep . 16). It is just the same in the instances in Wetstein. The is, however, the simple dative as in Gal 4:8 and usually with ; it is not equivalent to (Wieseler), with . used absolutely.
] ye desire , ye have the wish and the longing for, this servitude! Comp. Gal 4:21 .
[188] Hence in point of fact Theophylact (following Chrysostom) rightly explains: . Because of God’s knowing them they have known God; consequently not, “proprio Marte vel acumine sui ingenii vel industria, sed quia Deus misericordia sua eos praevenerit , quum nihil minus quam de ipso cogitarent,” Calvin.
[189] Comp. Ignat. ad Magnes . Interpol. Galatians 1 : (through Christ) , . Similarly, in an opposite sense, ad Smyrn . Galatians 5 : ( abnegant ), ( abnegati sunt ) (by Christ).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Ver. 9. Or rather are known of God ] Whose gracious foreknowing and foreappointing of us to eternal life is the ground and foundation of our illumination and conversion, our love to him a reflex of his love to us.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9 .] “The distinction which Olsh. attempts to set up between as the mere outward, and as the inner knowledge, is mere arbitrary fiction: see Joh 7:26-27 ; Joh 8:55 ; 2Co 5:16 .” Meyer.
. . . ] See note on 1Co 8:3 . Here the propriety of the expression is even more strikingly manifest than there: the Galatians did not so much acquire the knowledge of God, as they were taken into knowledge, recognized, by Him, , Thl.: , , Chrys. And this made their fall from Him the more matter of indignant appeal, as being a resistance of His will respecting them. No change of the meaning of . must be resorted to, as ‘ approved ,’ ‘ loved ’ (Grot., al.: see others in De W. and Mey.): cf. Mat 25:12 ; 2Ti 2:19 . Cf. also Phi 3:12 .
] how is it that ? see reff.
. ] so the is called in Heb 7:18 , . . Want of power to justify is that to which the word points here.
. ] in contrast with the riches which are in Christ. Or both words may perhaps refer back to the state of childhood hinted at in Gal 4:6 , during which the heir is , as immature, and , as not yet in possession. But this would not strictly apply to the elements as the Gentiles were concerned with them: see below. On , see note, Gal 4:3 .
] These Galatians had never been Jews before: but they had been be fore under the , under which generic term both Jewish and Gentile cultus was comprised: so that they were turning back again to these elements.
] from the beginning, afresh ; not a repetition of : Mey. quotes , Barnab. Ep. 16, p. 773 Migne: and Wetstein gives, from Plautus, Cas. Prol. 33, ‘ rursum denuo .’
, as in E. V., ye desire : but if thus expressed here by our translators, why not also in Joh 5:40 , where it is still more emphatic?
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Gal 4:9 . . This correction is added, lest any should pride themselves on their knowledge of God, to warn them that it is not due to their own act, but to God who recognised them as His sons and repealed Himself to them. . Hitherto the Apostle has spoken with respect of the education given to the world before Christ (Gal 4:1-3 ), bearing in mind the progress of the Greek and Roman world in social habits, institutions and laws: they had in fact learnt much in the sphere of morals and natural religion that would bear comparison with the progress of Israel under the light of the revealed Law of God. But when he compares the mechanical routine of formal observances which formed the staple of religion for the heathen and for many so-called religious Jews with the spiritual teaching of the Gospel, he does not hesitate to denounce them as weak and beggarly.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
after, &c. = having come to know.
known. Greek. ginosko App-132.
of. Greek. hupo. App-104.
to. Greek. epi. App-104.
beggarly, Greek. ptochoe. App-127.
whereunto = to which.
desire. Greek. thelo. App-102.
again. Greek. palin anothen. This is emph. For anothen see Luk 1:3. The Revised Version reads “over again”.
be in bondage. Greek. donleuo, as Gal 4:8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
9.] The distinction which Olsh. attempts to set up between as the mere outward, and as the inner knowledge, is mere arbitrary fiction: see Joh 7:26-27; Joh 8:55; 2Co 5:16. Meyer.
. . .] See note on 1Co 8:3. Here the propriety of the expression is even more strikingly manifest than there: the Galatians did not so much acquire the knowledge of God, as they were taken into knowledge, recognized, by Him,- , Thl.: , , Chrys. And this made their fall from Him the more matter of indignant appeal, as being a resistance of His will respecting them. No change of the meaning of . must be resorted to, as approved, loved (Grot., al.: see others in De W. and Mey.): cf. Mat 25:12; 2Ti 2:19. Cf. also Php 3:12.
] how is it that ? see reff.
.] so the is called in Heb 7:18, . . Want of power to justify is that to which the word points here.
.] in contrast with the riches which are in Christ. Or both words may perhaps refer back to the state of childhood hinted at in Gal 4:6, during which the heir is , as immature, and , as not yet in possession. But this would not strictly apply to the elements as the Gentiles were concerned with them: see below. On , see note, Gal 4:3.
] These Galatians had never been Jews before: but they had been be fore under the , under which generic term both Jewish and Gentile cultus was comprised: so that they were turning back again to these elements.
] from the beginning,-afresh; not a repetition of : Mey. quotes , Barnab. Ep. 16, p. 773 Migne: and Wetstein gives, from Plautus, Cas. Prol. 33, rursum denuo.
, as in E. V., ye desire: but if thus expressed here by our translators, why not also in Joh 5:40, where it is still more emphatic?
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Gal 4:9. , knowing God) The true God, who is a Spirit. When you know Him, and yet follow eagerly after those elements, it is the same thing as if a master should wish to return to learn the alphabet [his A B C D childs book].-, rather) it is the gift of God. He acknowledged and declared you to be His sons; comp. Exo 33:12; Exo 33:17. What belongs to God, is of the chief consequence as concerns our salvation, rather than what belongs to ourselves; comp. Php 3:12.-, how?) An interrogation expressing much wonder; Gal 1:6, I marvel.-, again) as we have formerly been in bondage.- , weak and beggarly) Weakness opposed to filial boldness, beggarliness, to the abundance connected with the inheritance.-, to which) to elements, not to God.- (back) again afresh) You wish to be in bondage again: now to elements, as formerly to idols; and afresh, you are in bondage to the same elements anew, by which Israel had been formerly enslaved; comp. the word again, Rom 8:15, note.-, to be in bondage) in a manner unworthy of freemen.-, you wish) See Gal 4:21, and Mar 12:38, note. [It is not every kind of readiness in wishing or desiring, that is good, Col 2:18; Col 2:23.-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Gal 4:9
Gal 4:9
but now that ye have come to Know God, or rather to be known by God,-But having learned of the true God, or what is more important, God having owned them as his children by the gift of his Spirit.
how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments,-How could they, the apostle asks, turn from the rich spiritual services, promises, and rewards of eternal life to these weak and beggarly elements? To serve in them was a bondage of slavery, and how could they return to them?
whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again?-[Relapsing into bondage, to begin anew its rudiments in the form of Judaism, instead of the former heathenism. The Galatians had never been under the Mosaic yoke; yet they had been under the elements of the world-the common designation for Jewish and Gentile systems in contrast with the gospel. Both consisted in outward, sensuous worship, and were in bondage to the elements of sense as though these could give justification and sanctification, which the power of God through Jesus Christ alone could give.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
ye have: 1Ki 8:43, 1Ch 28:9, Psa 9:10, Pro 2:5, Jer 31:34, Hab 2:14, Mat 11:27, Joh 17:3, 1Co 15:34, 2Co 4:6, Eph 1:17, 2Pe 2:20, 1Jo 2:3, 1Jo 2:4, 1Jo 5:20
are known: Exo 33:17, Psa 1:6, Joh 10:14, Joh 10:27, Rom 8:29, 1Co 8:3, 1Co 13:12, 2Ti 2:19
how: Gal 3:3, Rom 8:3, Col 2:20-23, Heb 7:18
again: or, back, Heb 10:38, Heb 10:39
elements: or, rudiments, Gal 4:3
Reciprocal: Jdg 2:10 – knew not Psa 31:7 – known Psa 85:8 – but Psa 91:14 – known Psa 100:3 – Know Psa 101:3 – them Psa 119:176 – seek Isa 19:21 – Lord shall Isa 45:4 – though Jer 24:5 – I acknowledge Hos 8:4 – set Hos 13:5 – know Nah 1:7 – and he Mat 25:12 – I know Luk 5:38 – General Luk 13:27 – I tell Joh 8:19 – Ye neither Joh 17:25 – the world Act 15:10 – which Act 17:23 – To Rom 5:11 – but we Rom 14:5 – esteemeth 2Co 11:20 – if a man bring Gal 1:6 – so Gal 2:4 – bring Gal 2:18 – General Gal 3:1 – who Gal 4:21 – ye that Gal 5:1 – entangled Eph 2:11 – remember Col 2:8 – the rudiments 1Th 1:9 – ye Tit 1:14 – turn Heb 7:11 – perfection Heb 7:16 – the law Heb 9:10 – carnal 1Jo 4:7 – and knoweth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gal 4:9. , -But now having known God, or rather being known by God. The stands in contrast to the . There seems no true ground for making any distinction here between and , as is done by Olshausen, as if the former meant rather external knowledge-mehr blos ausserliche Wissen, and the second inner knowledge. There is more truth in Professor Lightfoot’s distinction, that the first refers to absolute and the second to relative knowledge-the difference between to know and to come to the knowledge of. 1Jn 2:29. At least the following verses do not warrant Olshausen’s distinction, for Joh 7:27 -especially Joh 8:55 -would seem to reverse it, where Jesus says of His Father: . In 2Co 5:16, the words do not certainly imply an inner or active knowledge. The Galatians had come to the knowledge of God-of God in Christ, the one living and true God-the only object of genuine worship and trust. And this knowledge had been carried to them by the gospel, and by the preaching of Christ. No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son shall reveal Him. The apostle, however, at once corrects himself, and adds-
-but rather were known of God. Compare for a similar change of voice, Php 3:12. In lies the notion of a climactic correction of the previous clause. Raphelius, in loc.; hic est corrigentis ut saepissime alibi, Stallbaum, Plato, Sym. 173, E; Bornemann, Xen. Cyrop. p. 354. Rom 8:34; Eph 5:11. The phrase has been variously understood.
1. The most improbable interpretation is that of Beza, a Lapide, Koppe, and others, who give the participle the sense of the Hophal conjugation in Hebrew-scire facti, being made to know. It is forced and unnecessary. Winer, 39, 3, n. 2.
2. Some, as Grotius, give the simple sense of approbati, which the usage does not warrant.
3. Others, as Borger, Winer, Rckert, Usteri, Schott, and virtually Trana and Ewald, attach the meaning anerkannt seid-acknowledged by. But this direct meaning does not seem proved by any distinct instance in the New Testament. Mat 25:12; Php 3:12; 2Ti 2:19. The sense, then, seems to be that of the Greek fathers, that they had not so much known God, as they had been taken into knowledge by God. 1Co 8:2; 1Co 13:12 – (Theophylact). It was not that by any intuition or argument they had arrived at the knowledge of God; but the apostle glorifies the divine agency in their enlightenment, and refers to their condition, rather than their actual knowledge. God knew them ere they knew Him, and His knowing them was the cause of their knowing Him. See many examples from the Old Testament in Webster and Wilkinson. Nostrum cognoscere est cognosci a Deo (Luther). Matthies understands the clause as referring to the Spirit of God knowing Himself again in them; but Kimmel justly calls this exegesis ein Hegel’scher dem Paulus fremder Sinn. Jowett’s statement is not unlike that of Matthies. Compare for another form of putting the same truth, 1Jn 4:10, Isa 65:1. Recognition, conversion, and other blessings are implied, though not expressed in the clause. That He did not know them before the gospel came among them argues no defect in His omniscience. The language is warranted by usage. But brought into His knowledge, they saw light in His light. The gospel, he who preached it, and the Spirit who accompanied it, were alike of Him, and given to them. Their privilege thus began with His gracious knowledge of them, not their apprehension of Him. The apostle feels that this is the truer way of stating the case-giving the grace of God the glory, and putting their apostasy in a yet more awful light, it being an ungrateful rebellion against God’s kindness, as well as a relapse into what was unsatisfying and obsolete.
And the startling question then comes-
;-how is it that ye are returning again to the weak and beggarly elements? In the question begun by that surprising inconsistency is rebuked. Their going back is something amazing-Who bewitched you? After your high privilege conferred on you, your emancipation from the servitude of idols, your pure theology, yea, and your being taken into the knowledge of God, how comes it that you, so preciously blessed, are turning, and that without any tempting bribe, or any plausible benefit-turning to the weak and beggarly elements? The adverb does not mean back-retro-as in Homer, but as usually in the New Testament, again-iterum. Damm. Lex. Homer. sub voce. Ellicott says that the notion of back is involved in the verb; but does not necessarily imply it, for and are often connected with it. Comp. also Act 14:15; Act 15:19, 1Th 1:9. The present tense shows the act to be going on-the apostasy to be proceeding. See under Gal 1:6.
For , see under Gal 4:3.
These elements are stigmatized as -weak, wholly inadequate to secure justification or provide spiritual deliverance (Rom 8:3); and -beggarly,-an epithet often used in its literal sense as applied to persons, and here signifying that they were endowed with no clusters of spiritual blessing, and were not fraught with the unsearchable riches of Christ. Heb 7:18.
-to which ye are desiring again afresh to be in bondage. Wis 19:6. The English version, the Syriac, and Vulgate omit the translation of one of the two adverbs, probably regarding them as synonymous-an opinion adopted by Borger. The emphasis lies on -once in bondage, and again anew placing themselves under it, as if the first slavery had been forgotten. Ye desire to be in it again, and are anew beginning to place yourselves beneath it. Strange to say, of their own accord they were wishing to be in this servitude afresh. As their condition struck him-their divine deliverance, their spiritual freedom, and their willing relapse into servitude-he naturally asks , is it possible? One difficulty lies in , if the as in Gal 4:3 be restricted to the Mosaic ritual. Were the Gentiles under previously as well as the Jews? There is no sure historical ground for alleging that the persons so addressed had been proselytes (Olshausen, Credner), though in all probability many of the class existed in the churches of Galatia and in all the early churches, as if the meaning were-ye are going again into bondage to the Mosaic ritual, since in some sense they had been in it, and afresh they were recurring to its . This notion cannot be sustained, and therefore it is probable that the heathen cultus receives by implication the same name from the apostle as do the Jewish ordinances. While there was not identity, there was such similarity between them that they may be both comprehended under the same epithet, though such a comparison as that of Grotius between castratio and circumcisio is simply absurd. The system into which they were relapsing was of a like character to that under which they had been originally enslaved. For it was ritualistic in a high degree, with its orgies and mutilations. Such a ceremonial institute, hedging in a man with its rigid minutiae, and binding him to the punctilious observance of them, was an intolerable yoke like Judaism. Besides, even in paganism, with all its follies and falsehoods, there were rudiments of truth. The worship of many gods proved the felt need of some god, the altar with its victims implied convictions of sin, and the lustrations betokened the conscious want of purity. Thus under such systems, and not wholly overlaid by them, were some elements of religious verities, in harmony with irrepressible spiritual instincts and yearnings, educated by such discipline into an intensity which must in many instances have prepared for the reception of that gospel which meets all wants and satisfies all awakened longings-verifying what Tertullian calls testimonium animae naturaliter christianae. Augustine also gives another aspect of the same opinion. He had said in his treatise De Vera Religione, written by him when a young man (A.D. 390), that Christianity belonged to later times-nostris temporibus; but in his Retractationes, composed towards the close of his life, he explains the assertion, and distinguishes between the res and the nomen, the latter having originated at Antioch; but of the former he uses the following words: nam res ipsa, quae nunc christiana religio nuncupatur, erat apud antiquos, nec defuit ab initio generis humani, quousque ipse Christus veniret in carne, unde vera religio quae jam erat, caepit appellari christiana. Compare Act 10:34-35. The Retractationes and the De Vera Religione are in the first volume of Augustine’s Opera, pp. 20, 1202, Gaume, Paris. Other fathers had similar views. Clement and Origen speak of the dark night of paganism as having had its stars which called to the morning star which stood over Bethlehem; Justin Martyr describes a ray of divine light shining in the soul, and turning toward the divine light as a plant to the sun. Obey your philosophers, says Theodoret to the heathen, for they fore-announced our doctrines. Graecarum affectionum Curatio, p. 483, vol. iv. Opera, ed. Sirmondi, Lutetiae 1642. Clement also asserts of the Greek philosophy that it led to Christ- . . . . Strom. 1.5, 28. The apostle himself on Mars’ hill, penetrating to the instinctive feeling which underlies idolatry, and recognising that inner necessity under which man must worship, uttered a kindred statement when he virtually identified the God who had the altar wanting a name with the object of his preaching: What therefore, not knowing it, ye worship, that proclaim I unto you. Not that the unknown God was really Jehovah, but the inscription implied that He was not found in their lists, and was beyond the circuit of their recognition; and taking up this idea of a divinity above and beyond their pantheon, he expanded and applied it. Act 17:23. See also Pressens’s Religions before Christ: Clark, Edinburgh; Max Mller’s Chips from a German Workshop, Preface, and Essays in first volume, London 1867. It may be said, too, the apostle argues that the abrogation of the Mosaic law in the death of Christ was essential to the adoption of the Gentiles-to their becoming the seed of Abraham, or free children; so that the Mosaic institute-this thing of weak and beggarly elements-prior to Christ’s death really held Gentiles in bondage, and why should they now relapse into servitude under it? They differed nothing from servants, as truly as the Jews while the Jewish law was in force; how was it, then, that they were desiring to go back to that law, and be in subjection to it over again?
The apostle now adduces a specimen of the bondage into which they were so willing to fall-the ritualistic observance of certain portions of the Jewish sacred kalendar-
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Verse 9. God made himself known to the Galatians, who for the greater part were Gentiles and idolaters, by having the Gospel taken to them. They had never been under the bondage of the law, but under the service to false gods, and the Gospel had delivered them from that bondage. But after their escape from that bondage and introduction to the liberty that belongs to Christians, they were invaded by Juda-izers who were leading them in a backward direction toward the ordinances of the Jewish law. The word again is rendered “back” in the margin which is correct, since these Gentiles had never been under the law of Moses and therefore could not be taken back to it again. In other words, they had been led out of their bondage of idolatry, and were now being turned into another bondage (that of Judaism) that was equally displeasing to God. Beggarly literally means to be poverty-stricken, and is here used of something that is not able to bestow any spiritual wealth on one. Elements is from the same word that is used in verse 3, and the comments on that place should be read again. The Galatian brethren were acting as if they desired to be in bondage again, only it was the bondage of Judaism.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Gal 4:9. But now tuning come to know (or, to discern, to recognize) God, or rather being known of God, recognized and adopted as His own, as His children; comp. 1Co 8:2. Formerly the Galatians were left to themselves and, as it were, ignored by God. Then their knowledge of God was not their own merit, but a free gift of God, who condescended to dwell in them and to enlighten their minds and hearts. Mans knowledge of God is very imperfect and has no value except as far as it flows from Gods perfect knowledge and recognition of man.
How is it that ye are turning back again to the weak and beggarly elements. The term elements, or rudiments embraces here both the heathen and the Jewish religion. Even Judaism is merely a poor elementary school and a system of slavery, as compared with the riches and freedom of the gospel. If we deprive Judaism of its Messianic features and divest the ritual law of its typical reference to Christ, it sinks virtually to the same level with the false religions. The relapse of the Galatians to such an unspiritual Judaism was therefore at the same time a relapse to their original heathenism. Hence the words again and once more.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
but now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again?
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
“turn ye back” is used of the person converting to Christianity, it has the idea of turning around to something else.
“weak” relates to the weakness of being sick, that puny dragged out feeling.
“beggarly” is just as it sounds, to beg.
“rudiments” or elements, this is the same word we discussed in verse three, the “elements of the world” which had the thought of the abcs or very elemental things.
How can you turn from God and go back to the puny, sickly, beggarly elemental stuff that is worthless when you have the God of creation right in front of you might be the thought of what Paul is trying to say.
Think back to the description of the idols – the same thing applies, how can you serve the leftovers of a branch when you have the creator of the branch sitting – waiting – desiring to communicate with you and assist you, and be your strength.
Not only have we accepted God, but WE ARE KNOWN BY HIM – let that seep down into the cracks of your brain – He knows you, He knows about you, He knows all there is to know about you and you are turning away from Him – HOW DUMB IS THAT? Yet, the Galatians did it and we Christians tend to do the same thing.
Why is it when we talk to God we give Him such great detail of who we are, of who we want to be, what we want Him to do. He knows us. We don’t have to explain who we are and what relationship we have with Him, he designed that relationship, He drew us to Himself because He knew us, He knows our very being!
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and {k} beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire {l} again to be in bondage?
(k) They are called impotent and beggarly ceremonies, being considered apart by themselves without Christ: and again, by that means they gave good testimony that they were beggars in Christ, for when men fall back from Christ to ceremonies, it is nothing else but to cast away riches and to follow beggary.
(l) By going backward.