Galatians 4:7-9
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.(A)
Do Not Throw This Freedom Away.[a] 8 (B)At a time when you did not know God, you became slaves to things that by nature are not gods;[b] 9 but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and destitute elemental powers? Do you want to be slaves to them all over again?(C)
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- 4:8–11 On the basis of the arguments advanced from Gal 3:1 through Gal 4:7, Paul now launches his appeal to the Galatians with the question, how can you turn back to the slavery of the law (Gal 4:9)? The question is posed with reference to bondage to the elemental powers (see note on Gal 4:3) because the Galatians had originally been converted to Christianity from paganism, not Judaism (Gal 4:8). The use of the direct question is like Gal 3:3–5.
- 4:8 Things that by nature are not gods: or “gods that by nature do not exist.”
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