Galatia 3:23

Sons of God Are Heirs of Promise

3:23 Now before faith ¹  came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners ²  until the coming faith would be revealed.

Galatia 4:3

4:3 So also we, when we were minors, ³  were enslaved under the basic forces ⁴  of the world.

[3:23]  ¹ tn Or “the faithfulness [of Christ] came.”

[3:23]  ² tc Instead of the present participle συγκλειόμενοι (sunkleiomenoi; found in Ì⁴⁶ א A B D* F G P Ψ 33 1739 al), C D¹ 0176 0278 Ï have the perfect συγκεκλεισμένοι (sunkekleismenoi). The syntactical implication of the perfect is that the cause or the means of being held in custody was confinement (“we were held in custody [by/because of] being confined”). The present participle of course allows for such options, but also allows for contemporaneous time (“while being confined”) and result (“with the result that we were confined”). Externally, the perfect participle has little to commend it, being restricted for the most part to later and Byzantine witnesses.

[3:23]  tn Grk “being confined.”

[4:3]  ³ tn See the note on the word “minor” in 4:1.

[4:3]  ⁴ tn Or “basic principles,” “elemental things,” or “elemental spirits.” Some interpreters take this as a reference to supernatural powers who controlled nature and/or human fate.