Galatians 4 is the fourth chapter of the

Epistle to the Galatians The Epistle to the Galatians is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number of Early Christian communities in Galatia. Scholars have suggested that this is either the Roman province of Galatia in sou ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

of the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. It is authored by

Paul the Apostle Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

for the churches in

Galatia Galatia (; grc, Γαλατία, ''Galatía'', "Gaul") was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir, in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (c ...

, written between 49 and 58 CE. This chapter contains one of Paul's richest statements in

Christology In Christianity, Christology (from the Ancient Greek, Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, wiktionary:-λογία, -λογία, wiktionary:-logia, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Chr ...

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is divided into 31 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: *

Papyrus 46 Papyrus 46 (''P. Chester Beatty II''), designated by siglum (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), is an early Greek New Testament manuscript written on papyrus, and is one of the manuscripts comprising the Chester Beatty Papyri. Manuscripts among ...

(~AD 200) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(325–50) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts) ...

(330–60) *

Papyrus 99 Papyrus 99 (Gregory-Aland), designated by 𝔓99, is an early papyrus manuscript with quotations from the Pauline epistles of the New Testament in Greek-Latin. Four leaves have survived. K. Aland, M. Welte, B. Köster, K. Junack''Kurzgefasste Lis ...

(~400) *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(400–40) *

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) designated by the siglum C or 04 {in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 3 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a ma ...

(~450; complete) *

Codex Freerianus Codex Freerianus, designated by I or 016 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1041 ( von Soden), also called the ''Washington Manuscript of the Pauline Epistles'', is a 5th-century manuscript in an uncial hand on vellum in Greek. It is named afte ...

(~450; extant verses 8–10, 20–23) *

Codex Claromontanus Codex Claromontanus, symbolized by Dp, D2 or 06 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1026 ( von Soden), is a Greek-Latin diglot uncial manuscript of the New Testament, written in an uncial hand on vellum. The Greek and Latin texts are on facing p ...

(~550)

Old Testament references

* Galatians 4:27: * :

The Sending the Son (4:1–7)

In this part, Paul uses the illustration that an heir is in a better position than a slave to inherit an estate one day. God sent

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

as his heir to "redeem those under the law", so "all who are in Christ Jesus might receive adoption."

Verse 3

:''It is the same for us. We were once like children, slaves to the useless rules of this world.''

Verse 4

:''But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,'' *"The fullness of the time": Paul believed and affirmed that the sending of Jesus Christ is at "the nodal point of salvation-history". *"Born under the law" means "born as a Jew."

Verse 5

:''to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.'' *"To redeem those who were under the law": means "to redeem from the 'curse of the law"' ( Galatians 3:13), which is achieved by Christ's death "on which a curse was pronounced".

Verse 6

: ''And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"'' *"And because you are sons": Some copies have "...sons of God"; the Ethiopian version reads "inasmuch as ye are his sons". God set up Christ, his Son, as the pattern for these sons to conform, by virtue of his act of grace they were considered as the children of God through Christ when he "partook of their flesh and blood", and died to gather them together who were scattered (cf. ; ). The sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty become the siblings of the Son of God, because through the redemption of Christ they receive the adoption as children, not as servants. *"God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"": The Syriac and Arabic versions read, "our Father". All the three divine persons: God and his Son and the Spirit of his Son appear here. The same Spirit of God that moved upon the face of the waters at the creation of the world, has moved holy men of God to write the Scriptures, formed and filled the human nature of Christ, and descended on him as a

dove Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

(see

Baptism of Jesus The baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist is a major event in the life of Jesus which is described in the three synoptic Gospels of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark and Luke). It is considered to have taken place at Al-Maghtas (also called Bethan ...

), and by whom Christ and his apostles performed their miracles; it is called in Judaism "the Spirit of the King Messiah".John Gill, ''Exposition of the Entire Bible''
Galatians 4:6

Want to Be Enslaved Again? (4:8–11)

This part exposes Paul's fear that the Galatians, who before becoming Christians were enslaved to idols, now after being believers of Christ would want to be enslaved again, by meticulously observing the Jewish calendar rituals.

Paul's Perplexity (4:12–20)

The verses 12–20 display Paul's "passionate concern" for the spiritual condition of the Galatians, whom he addressed as 'friends' or 'brethren' (verse 12) and 'my little children' (verse 19), and his wish to be personally present in their midst.

The Hagar and Sarah Allegory (4:21–5:1)

This part is considered as "Paul's striking final argument" to contrast the children born of 'a slave woman' (

Hagar Hagar, of uncertain origin; ar, هَاجَر, Hājar; grc, Ἁγάρ, Hagár; la, Agar is a biblical woman. According to the Book of Genesis, she was an Egyptian slave, a handmaiden of Sarah (then known as ''Sarai''), whom Sarah gave to he ...

), that is "to be subject to the law", with the children born of 'a free woman' (

Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...

) 'through the promise' and 'according to the Spirit'; a contrast between "law" and "grace".

Verse 25

: ''for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—'' *"

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

": NRSV gives the second rendering in its note, "For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia".

Verse 27

: ''For it is written:'' ::''"Rejoice, O barren,'' ::''You who do not bear!'' ::''Break forth and shout,'' ::''You who are not in labor!'' ::''For the desolate has many more children'' ::''Than she who has a husband."'' Citation from Isaiah 54:1Note on Galatians 4:27 in

MEV In physics, an electronvolt (symbol eV, also written electron-volt and electron volt) is the measure of an amount of kinetic energy gained by a single electron accelerating from rest through an Voltage, electric potential difference of one volt i ...

References

Sources

* *

External links

* King James Bible, Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible''
Gospel Hall (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Epistle to the Galatians 04