Please enlighten me?

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seremina

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No matter how simple of a Bible I read for Galatians 4:1-20, something isn’t clicking for me. I can tell there’s great wisdom in this medium passage. There’s something wonderful Paul is trying to tell us, but I can’t get the lightbulb in my head to turn on.

None of the other Bibles I have has a commentary in it, and I don’t trust the NAB’s commentary. Would you kindly enlighten me?
 
seremina said:
No matter how simple of a Bible I read for Galatians 4:1-20, something isn’t clicking for me. I can tell there’s great wisdom in this medium passage. There’s something wonderful Paul is trying to tell us, but I can’t get the lightbulb in my head to turn on.

None of the other Bibles I have has a commentary in it, and I don’t trust the NAB’s commentary. Would you kindly enlighten me?
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That’s a pretty long passage there, and covers a few different topics. Is there any particular verse or verses that you’re not sure of?
 
I didn’t realise it was talking about different topics. The part that confuses me, is the part where Paul says we are enslaved to elementarl powers but the other Bibles use a different term for elemental powers. I don’t know what an elemental power is, much less what the other terms used for it are supposed to mean.

I tried to guess it meant *circumstances *but I’m not sure if that fits. Do you have a better understanding of this?
 
seremina said:
I didn’t realise it was talking about different topics. The part that confuses me, is the part where Paul says we are enslaved to elementarl powers but the other Bibles use a different term for elemental powers. I don’t know what an elemental power is, much less what the other terms used for it are supposed to mean.

I tried to guess it meant *circumstances *but I’m not sure if that fits. Do you have a better understanding of this?
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You mean 4:9? My translation has ‘weak elements’. I take it to mean powers that are not of God or inferior to him - those things to which people who don’t know God are enslaved. So the powers of sin perhaps.
 
St. Paul was speaking to a formerly pagan audience (for the most part), who were nature worshippers. The “elemental powers” are a reference to the false deities the Galatians once worshipped. This is evident in the context of verses 8 - 11.

Blessings,
Marduk
 
Lily, thank you for trying to help me figure out the meaning of the various terms used for whatever Paul was saying the people were enslaved to.

Marduk, thank you very much! It sounds like you looked it up in a commentary for me. I think your translation of the various terms being used makes a lot of sense. Paul did preach to a lot of pagan peoples.

This was very much appreciated. Do either of you know of a good online and offline commentary for the various Catholic Bibles? Lacking a commentary is making it frustrating for me to understand the context and some terms.
 
seremina said:
Lily, thank you for trying to help me figure out the meaning of the various terms used for whatever Paul was saying the people were enslaved to.

Marduk, thank you very much! It sounds like you looked it up in a commentary for me. I think your translation of the various terms being used makes a lot of sense. Paul did preach to a lot of pagan peoples.

This was very much appreciated. Do either of you know of a good online and offline commentary for the various Catholic Bibles? Lacking a commentary is making it frustrating for me to understand the context and some terms.
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Here is a Douay Rheims Bible (Catholic) online, it usually singles out “tough spots” and comments on them:

Gal 4:3 has a footnote drbo.org/chapter/55004.htm

drbo.org/

Also you should check out the early Church Fathers, especially St John Chrysostom who has a commentary for each of St Paul’s Epistles:
newadvent.org/fathers/
 
Catholic Dude, the Douay-Rheims commentary is one of the nicest commentaries I’ve gotten to glance at.

It explained that the elemental powers/whatever term is referring to the people being “stuck up” on Judaism. Is my reading of that correct?

And it even explains the days, months, years reference. It meant holidays that have no real importance behind them, i.e. lucky days and unlucky days.

St. John Chrysostom’s commentary… I can’t understand it. :banghead: Is there a simpler commentary? I’m bookmarking everything I’m given, so nothing is in vain here.
 
seremina said:
Marduk, thank you very much! It sounds like you looked it up in a commentary for me. I think your translation of the various terms being used makes a lot of sense. Paul did preach to a lot of pagan peoples.
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Dear Seremina,

Not a biblical commentary exactly. I helped my best friend two years ago in his fresh translation of St. Augustine’s Commentary on Galatians (originally in Latin). We did a lot of research on the topic, including the influences from his contemporaries and predecessors.

When Augustine speaks of being enslaved to the elements, he is very generally referring to the unregenerated part of human nature, which is the same underlying commonality between the carnal Jew and the nature-worshipping pagan.

To gain a better understanding of the verses in question, you may also want to refer to Romans 1:18-32.

Blessings,
Marduk
 
Marduk, I didn’t understand what you said, but I looked at the cross-reference you offered. Now the Galatians’ reference makes sense. Makes me wonder why confusing Bible portions don’t contain a cross-reference for clarification. Thank you. My lightbulb has been turned on. 👍
 
You may find the Haydock’s Catholic Bible commentary on these verses helpful, here.
 
Might be interesting to read about the Galatians, also.
From memory, they were a celtic tribe, pushed out by the wars in western europe 300 years BC, when the Cetic dominance in europe waned. They settled in the near east. The celts being pagan brought their own version of paganism with them and still kept their own celtic language, even in St. Pauls, and St. Jeromes time. When St. Paul speaks to them it is that particular race of people, with their own particular traits, that he is addressing - hampered slightly by rival missionaries who offered something which appealed to the mind of that race of Celts.
 
Todd, thank you. I enjoyed checking it there, though its still not simple enough for me to understand. I’m too simple-minded. [sigh] Maybe I should google for Catholic commentaries. Maybe I’ll find something. Even a child’s commentary would be nice.

Leatherman, whoa! I had no idea that the word “Galatians” was referring to a people. I had no idea the Celts were around that early in time. That’s awesome. I have a lot of Scottish in me, so it looks like my roots are going farther than I thought.
 
Here we are dealing with multiple problems that not all our piety or wit can make go away.

First, it is probably inadvisable to seek out “simpler” translations. The simplest so-called translations are paraphrases and are worse than useless–they are evil.

Second, even if one goes with mainstream translations, the translation of certain Greek phrases is very problematic. Modern translators (meaning since the time of the Douay or King James versions) don’t even know if the ancients knew what was meant by the original Greek, let alone how to translate it.It is entirely possible that the recipients of Paul’s letters were already scratching their heads a bit.

Third, it is probably inadvisable to “sweat” very particular difficult passages of scripture. To take another example, many commentators note that it is difficult to figure out what Jesus meant by the “salt of the earth” metaphor. In fact, the more liberal text-critical commentators tend to state (I am not defending this) that it must be a true saying precisely because no one could figure out what he meant, so for once they had to report it literally. Phrase slavery to scripture is a characteristic of some Protestantism and need not hinder a Catholic from the true faith.
 
How can a Catholic commentary that’s been made simple and easy to understand, be “evil”?

Without a simple commentary, I’d feel pretty left out. The Church is the interpreter of Scripture since she is the one that compiled it. Well…I’d like the interpretation and I’m not getting it from my Bibles. I’m not going to stoop to the Protestant commentary in the NAB.
 
seremina said:
How can a Catholic commentary that’s been made simple and easy to understand, be “evil”?

Without a simple commentary, I’d feel pretty left out. The Church is the interpreter of Scripture since she is the one that compiled it. Well…I’d like the interpretation and I’m not getting it from my Bibles. I’m not going to stoop to the Protestant commentary in the NAB.
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I’m not within reach of my reference materials right now, but have you looked at the Navarre or Ignatius Study Bible Commentary on this yet? They are both extremely easy reading and may address this.

My own understanding is that “elemental powers” refers to the belief by pagans (of which the Galatians previously were) that each of the elements --traditionally earth, wind, and fire – were controlled by powerful spirits, and these spirits (who were probably demons who encouraged these sort of things) were often the object of worship. Paul is saying that even though the Galatians were slaves to these spirits, now that they know the True God and are truly made free in worshipping Him alone.
 
I heard the Navarre’s study Bible can only be bought book by book, rather than the whole Bible at once; and that it has notoriously small print.

The Ignatius Study Bible. Is that the new one that just came out? I’m pleased to hear its commentary is easy reading. I haven’t gotten to glance at it, nor check its print size. Thank you for telling me about this one. I may very well consider one.

My NAB is Giant Print, my Good News Bible–Catholic edition is medium print, and the rest are normal print and require a magnifying glass.
 

Galatians 4:3​

NASB: So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. (NASB ©1995)​

GWT: It was the same way with us. When we were children, we were slaves to the **principles **of this world. (GOD’S WORD®)​

KJV: Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the **elements **of the world:​

ASV: So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the **rudiments **of the world:​

BBE: So we, when we were young, were kept under the first rules of the world;​

DBY: So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the principles of the world;​

WEY: So we also, when spiritually we were children, were subject to the world’s rudimentary notions, and were enslaved.​

WBS: Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:​

WEB: So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the **elemental principles **of the world.​

YLT: so also we, when we were babes, under the elements of the world were in servitude
 
Daniel, thank you for the table of comparison. Unfortunately, I don’t understand any of them. Their key flaw is the “elements” term. Why can’t they say something in plain English? I don’t get it! :banghead:
 
The Ignatius Study Bible [which I think includes the commentary] is sold book by book too! This is a little disheartening. If I actually bother with Ignatius or the Navarre *, then I’d have a full shelf in my bookcase to fill for them. :eek:

I’m still on my google search. With the way this is going, I might have to write a “Catholic Bible Commentary for Dummies” book. :confused: I am hoping there’s maybe a commentary that’s meant for children somewhere…
*
 
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