Galatia 4:9

4:9 But now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless ¹  basic forces? ²  Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? ³ 

Galatia 1:6

Occasion of the Letter

1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one ⁴  who called you by the grace of Christ ⁵  and are following ⁶  a different ⁷  gospel –

Galatia 4:17

4:17 They court you eagerly, ⁸  but for no good purpose; ⁹  they want to exclude you, so that you would seek them eagerly. ¹⁰ 

Galatia 5:20

5:20 idolatry, sorcery, ¹¹  hostilities, ¹²  strife, ¹³  jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, ¹⁴  factions,

Galatia 1:14

1:14 I ¹⁵  was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my nation, ¹⁶  and was ¹⁷  extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. ¹⁸ 

[4:9]  ¹ tn Or “useless.” See L&N 65.16.

[4:9]  ² tn See the note on the phrase “basic forces” in 4:3.

[4:9]  ³ tn Grk “basic forces, to which you want to be enslaved…” Verse 9 is a single sentence in the Greek text, but has been divided into two in the translation because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence.

[1:6]  ⁴ sn The one who called you is a reference to God the Father (note the mention of Christ in the following prepositional phrase and the mention of God the Father in 1:1).

[1:6]  ⁵ tc Although the majority of witnesses, including some of the most important ones (Ì⁵¹ א A B F^c Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï f vg sy^p bo), read “by the grace of Christ” (χάριτι Χριστοῦ, cariti Cristou) here, this reading is not without variables. Besides alternate readings such as χάριτι ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (cariti Ihsou Cristou, “by the grace of Jesus Christ”; D 326 1241^s pc sy^h**) and χάριτι θεοῦ (cariti qeou, “by the grace of God”; 327 pc Thret^lem), a few mss (Ì^46vid F* G H^vid ar b Tert Cyp Ambst Pel) have simply χάριτι with no modifier. Internally, the reading that seems best to explain the rise of the others is the shortest reading, χάριτι. Indeed, the fact that three different adjuncts are found in the mss seems to be a natural expansion on the simple “grace.” At the same time, the witnesses for the shortest reading are not particularly impressive, being that they largely represent one textual strand (Western), and a less-than-reliable one at that. Further, nowhere else in the corpus Paulinum do we see the construction χάρις (cari", “grace”) followed by Χριστοῦ without some other name (such as κυρίου [kuriou, “Lord”] or ᾿Ιησοῦ). The construction χάρις θεοῦ is likewise frequent in Paul. Thus, upon closer inspection it seems that the original wording here was χάριτι Χριστοῦ (for it is difficult to explain how this particular reading could have arisen from the simple χάριτι, in light of Paul’s normal idioms), with the other readings intentionally or accidentally arising from it.

[1:6]  ⁶ tn Grk “deserting [turning away] to” a different gospel, implying the idea of “following.”

[1:6]  ⁷ tn Grk “another.”

[4:17]  ⁸ tn Or “They are zealous for you.”

[4:17]  ⁹ tn Or “but not commendably” (BDAG 505 s.v. καλῶς 2).

[4:17]  ¹⁰ tn Or “so that you would be zealous.”

[5:20]  ¹¹ tn Or “witchcraft.”

[5:20]  ¹² tn Or “enmities,” “[acts of] hatred.”

[5:20]  ¹³ tn Or “discord” (L&N 39.22).

[5:20]  ¹⁴ tn Or “discord(s)” (L&N 39.13).

[1:14]  ¹⁵ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:14]  ¹⁶ tn Or “among my race.”

[1:14]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “was advancing beyond…nation, being.” The participle ὑπάρχων (Juparcwn) was translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[1:14]  ¹⁸ sn The traditions of my ancestors refers to both Pharisaic and popular teachings of this time which eventually were codified in Jewish literature such as the Mishnah, Midrashim, and Targums.