Charles Ellicott Commentary Galatians 4

Now I say.—This phrase introduces a further and fuller explanation of what is involved in the state of minority, as compared with that of adult freedom.

A child—that is, an infant, a minor; though the term is not technically chosen.

Differeth nothing from a servant.—Both the child and the slave were incapable of any valid act in a legal sense; the guardian was as entirely the representative of the one as the master of the other. Both the child and the slave were subject to the same restraint, discipline, correction.

Though he be lord of all.—Strictly speaking, the inference from this would be that the father was dead.

This, however, is a point that does not really enter into the Apostle’s thoughts. The illustration does not hold good in all particulars, but in the chief particulars—namely, the state of constraint and subordination in which the minor is placed as long as he is a minor.

On verses 1-7:

A further description, continued from the last chapter, concerns the state of guardianship, with its restraints and servitude, as compared with Christian freedom—the freedom of sons.

The Galatians had been admitted to this freedom through their adoption into the Messianic family by their commitment to Christ.

It may be observed that the allusions to the condition of minors are not in strict accordance with either Jewish or Roman law. It has been suggested that they have reference to a special code prevailing in Galatia. It is, however, far more probable that the Apostle is referring exclusively to neither, but has in his mind a sort of abstraction of the law of minority, such as would present itself to one who had not himself had a legal education.

Under tutors and governors.—The distinction between these two terms is that between guardians of the person and stewards of the property. It would be better to translate, guardians and stewards.

Until the time appointed of the father.—From this it would appear that the length of the minority was determined by the father. This, however, was not the case in either Greek or Roman law; and the suggestion that the father may have had larger powers in Galatia than elsewhere, though supported by some remote indications, seems to be one of those subtleties in which learning sometimes overreaches itself, as it is unlikely that the Apostle's short sojourn in Galatia would have been enough to familiarize him with the technicalities of the Galatian code. It is more probable that the application of the analogy has, in this instance, served to modify the statement of the analogy itself. The minority of the human race is fixed by the heavenly Father, though the earthly father, in making provisions for his children, has to conform to a law other than his own will.

We.—That is, primarily, and especially, the Jews; but the Gentiles are also included. The Apostle is speaking from the point of view of Christians: “all who are now Christians, whatever their backgrounds.” 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 to a lesser extent to the law of conscience and of nature.

Elements of the world.—The word translated “elements” is distinctive. The simpler word from which it is derived means “a row.” Therefore, the derivative is applied to the letters of the alphabet, because they were arranged in rows. Thus, it came to mean the “elements” or “rudiments” of learning, and then “elements” of any kind.

The older commentators on this passage, generally, understood it in the specific sense of “the elements of nature,” “the heavenly bodies,” either as the objects of Gentile worship or as marking the times of the Jewish festivals. There is, however, little doubt that the other sense is best: “the elements (or rudiments, as in the margin) of religious teaching.” These are called “the elements of the world” because they were mundane and material; they included no clear recognition of spiritual things. The earlier forms of Gentile and even of Jewish religion were much bound up with the senses; the most important element in them was that of ritual. The same phrase, in the same sense, occurs twice in the Epistle to the Colossians (Colossians 2:8; Colossians 2:20).

The fulness of the time.—This refers to what was predetermined in the counsels of God as the right and proper time when the whole course of previous preparation for both Jew and Gentile was complete. Here we have a very clear expression of the concept of religion as progressive, divided into periods, and finding its culmination in Christianity. The phrase the fulness of the time corresponds to the time appointed of the father in Galatians 4:2.

Sent forth—that is, from Himself; from that station which is described in John 1:1: The Word was with God. The pre-existence of the Son is distinctly recognised by St. Paul.

Made of a woman.—Perhaps better translated, born of a woman. There is no allusion here to the miraculous conception. The phrase born of a woman was of common use. Compare to Matthew 11:11: Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. So here the expression is intended to bring out, not the divinity, but the true humanity of Christ.

Made under the law.—Born under law—that is, born into a state of things where the whole world was subject to law—born under the legal dispensation, though Himself destined to put an end to that dispensation.

To redeem them that were under the law.—To redeem, or ransom, at the price of His death, both Jew and Gentile at once from the condemnation under which the law, to which they were individually subject, placed them, and also from the bondage and constraint which its severe discipline involved.

That we might receive the adoption of sons.—Redemption is followed by adoption. The admission of the believer into the Messianic kingdom, with its immunities from sin and from law, implies an admission into the Messianic family, of which God is the Father and Christ the Eldest Son, first born amongst many brethren.