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Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Galatians 4:1-7

(1-7) A further description, continued from the last chapter, of the state of wardship, with its restraints and servitude, compared with that Christian freedom—the freedom of sons—to which the Galatians had been admitted through their adoption into the Messianic family by adhesion to Christ.It may be observed that the allusions to the condition of minors are not in strict accordance either with Jewish or Roman law. It has been suggested that they have reference to a special code current in... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Galatians 4:3

(3) We.—That is, in the first instance, and specially, the Jews; but the Gentiles are also included. The Apostle is speaking from the point of view of the Christians: “all who are now Christians, whatever their antecedents.” Before the coming of Christ both Jews and Gentiles had been subject to law; and what the Apostle says of the law of Moses applies more faintly to the law of conscience and of nature.Elements of the world.—The word translated “elements” is peculiar. The simpler word from... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Galatians 4:1-31

The Incarnation Galatians 4:4 Of all births this Bethlehem birth was the most unique. A superhuman life demands a superhuman birth. Let us gaze reverently into the abyssmal depths of that manger-cradle in the Bethlehem-khan. I. The first question that presents itself to us is this: 'Was it necessary that God should more fully reveal Himself to man?' We reply in the affirmative. Man had quarrelled with God; and to a rebel sinner the dim light of Nature and Providence was wholly insufficient.... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Galatians 4:1-7

Chapter 16THE HEIR’S COMING OF AGE.Galatians 4:1-7THE main thesis of the Epistle is now established. Gentile Christians, Paul has shown, are in the true Abrahamic succession of faith. And this devolution of the Promise discloses the real intent of the Mosaic law, as an intermediate and disciplinary system. Christ was the heir of Abraham’s testament; He was therefore the end of Moses’ law. And those who are Christ’s inherit the blessings of the Promise, while they escape the curse and... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Galatians 4:1-31

CHAPTER 4 1. Under the law in the state of minority. (Galatians 4:1-3 ) 2. The Son revealed to redeem. (Galatians 4:4-5 ) 3. Because ye are Sons; the Spirit of Sonship. (Galatians 4:6-7 ) 4. The backsliding Galatians. (Galatians 4:8-20 ) 5. The sons of the bondwoman and of the free woman. (Galatians 4:21-31 ) 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... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Galatians 4:3

4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the {b} elements of the world:(b) The Law is called elements, because by the Law God instructed his Church as it were by elements, and afterward poured out his Holy Spirit most plentifully in the time of the Gospel. read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Galatians 4:1-31

HOW CHILDREN ARE ADOPTED AS SONS (vs.1-7) The first few verses of chapter 4 give us the distinctive Christian position in more detail. This position is the result of promise accomplished, as contrasted to the position under the Law, promise being then an object of indefinite hope, a prospect unfulfilled. Verses 1 Timothy 3:0 show the Jewish position under law, the position even of the believer then, for it is of believers he is speaking. Though the child is heir and lord of all, yet in... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Galatians 4:1-31

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH Having established his authority as an apostle, and his right to expound the Gospel he had received, Paul now enters upon the elucidation of the latter, or rather proceeds to the defense of its cardinal teaching. This is the doctrine that man is justified only by faith in Jesus Christ without the works of the law. The same doctrine was enlarged upon in Romans, only there he was expressing the Divine side of its truth while here he is showing the human side. There he... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Galatians 4:1-31

Amended Expressions Gal 4:9 In the course of his writing the Apostle said, "After that ye have known God, or rather ." That is the point. The subject is Amended Expressions, self-correction in the use of language. Sometimes we are too fluent, and we are halfway through a sentence before it occurs to us that we are on the wrong track. We start sentences from the wrong end. However skilful we may be in the use of words, sometimes we are halfway through a sentence before we see that the sentence... read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Galatians 4:1-3

(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; (2) But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. (3) Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: I pray the Reader, in the opening of this most blessed Chapter, to attend to the Apostle's beautiful description, of the right, and inheritance, of the Church; though, during the present time-state in which she is... read more

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