The weak and beggarly elements ...

[Paidiske]

I know I'm replying to a 6 year old post, but I don't understand why you all are writing this as, "those who by nature are not gods." Shouldn't it be "those who by nature are not God's"? Which conveys a very different meaning.

The word in Greek is theois, which is the dative plural of theos, God. (Indicating that they were enslaved to "those who are not gods"). If it were "God's," it would be theou, in the genitive (possessive) singular.

 

[Rachel Rachel]

The word in Greek is theois, which is the dative plural of theos, God. (Indicating that they were enslaved to "those who are not gods"). If it were "God's," it would be theou, in the genitive (possessive) singular.

Thank you for the information.

 

[gadar perets]

And how do you have Torah as your schoolmaster, if you have never been taught Torah?

From Galatians 2:15 to at least Galatians 3:25 where Paul says we are not under a schoolmaster, he is addressing Jewish converts and his primary concern throughout that section was justification by faith rather than by Torah. The "Law" spoken of throughout that section is Torah. Paul is not against Torah, but against the misuse of Torah as a means of justification.

 

[Danoh]

But -

Galatians 4: Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you know God—or rather are known by God —how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces[d]? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.

??

This is one reason I find it bewildering - since the language suggests that these Gentiles were "being enslaved" to the Law "all over again" - if it is, in fact, the law that is being referred to.

Part of these kinds of confusion is due to the fact that this forum does not allow input from the very people Paul wrote his letters to, to begin with, as the Apostle of THE GENTILES.

The result being that you are left to having to somehow sort such things out from within your own perspective, alone, along with all kinds of conjecture about Paul and his writings.

James would disagree with you...

Acts 21:18 And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present. 21:19 And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. 21:20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:

21:25 As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.

So be it - you bring it on yourselves.

Rom. 5:6-8.

 

[tampasteve]

Part of these kinds of confusion is due to the fact that this forum does not allow input from the very people Paul wrote his letters to, to begin with, as the Apostle of THE GENTILES.
.

This is not correct. Both Jews and Gentiles are welcome in this forum, one simply needs to identify as Messianic, of which there are MANY gentiles that do and agree with the forum's SOP. As Messianics however, the understanding of much of what Paul writes can take a quite different angle than other Christians.

From the SOP for this forum:

• Messianic Jews and Messianic Gentiles are equal in Messiah on this forum and are permitted to observe Torah without condemnation.

However, as all of the community forums do, debate between Messianic and non-Messianic is not allowed. Faith Community forums only allow debate between members of that faith identity.

 

[Paidiske]

There is perhaps a point that the phrase being discussed here - ta stoicheia tou kosmou - has its origins in classical Greek, rather than Hebrew/Jewish thought. And so in order to understand what Paul means by it, one might need to refer to classical Pagan sources.

 

[Hoshiyya]

There is perhaps a point that the phrase being discussed here - ta stoicheia tou kosmou - has its origins in classical Greek, rather than Hebrew/Jewish thought. And so in order to understand what Paul means by it, one might need to refer to classical Pagan sources.

The same really applies to most of the Greek NT.

For example: Greek authors, including the very first to use the word (possibly the inventor of the word as far as we know) use the word "aion" to refer to the lifespan of a crow, and the translators of the septuagint use it in Jonah to refer to the three days in the belly of the whale, yet nevertheless later translators render this word as "eternity".

"It is preposterous to say that the Seventy would render the Hebrew olam by the Greek aion and give to the latter (1) a different meaning from that of the former, or (2) a different meaning from aion in the current Greek literature. It is self-evident, then, that Aion in the Old Testament means exactly what Olam means, and also what Aion means in the Greek classics."
(John Wesley Hanson)

But people don't really care much about history, they are more concerned with what they can make things mean.