Bible Strands
Galatians 4:3
So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Galatian churches, extending his legal analogy of a minor heir under guardians and trustees to describe the collective condition of believers before Christ.
The words — νήπιοι (nēpioi) literally denotes "children" or infants, and ὑπὸ (hupo) means "under," establishing a positional relationship of subjection.
The thread — The same concept of worldly subjugation appears in Colossians 2:8 and Colossians 2:20 regarding deceptive traditions, and resurfaces in Galatians 4:9 where Paul questions a return to those same principles.
Why it lands — It requires acknowledging that pre-redemption existence is defined by external control, and it commands believers to cease reverting to those former constraints now that the appointed time has arrived.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Cross-references
- Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.
- Colossians 2:20 If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations:
- Galatians 4:9 But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
- Galatians 2:4 This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.
- Galatians 4:31 Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
- Acts 15:10 Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?
- Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption to sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
- John 8:31 So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples.
- Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
- Galatians 3:19 Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator.