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Galatians 4:3 3<\/span><\/sup>Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. Truth to Learn Spiritually we have been kept in bondage by the ritualistic practices and observances from which Christ came to free us.<\/p>\n Behind the Words<\/span><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n The word translated \u201cchildren<\/span><\/em>\u201d is a form of \u201cn\u0113pios<\/span><\/em>\u201d as we saw in verse one. It refers to an infant, one who has not yet learned how to talk.<\/p>\n The word \u201cbondage<\/span><\/em>\u201d is translated from a form of \u201cdoulo\u014d,<\/span><\/em>\u201d which comes from the noun \u201cdoulos<\/span><\/em>\u201d meaning a slave.<\/em> This particular verb is in the perfect tense implying past action with a continuing effect. The significance of this perfect tense verb is that it is in the form of a participle which means that it is a repeating action. Finally, it is in the passive voice indicating action done to the subject. Putting this all together we see that this word means that we were repeatedly being put into a state of slavery from which we could not escape<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cElements<\/span><\/em>\u201d is translated from the Greek word \u201cstoicheia,<\/span><\/em>\u201d which refers to the basic things<\/em>, the rudimentary things<\/em>, or the elemental things<\/em>. With regard to language this would refer to letters which are the elementary things that must be mastered before the language can be learned.<\/p>\n Meaning Explained Paul has just talked about the fact that an infant who, in fact, may be the future master of a family does not yet have the legal right to inherit all that his father has for him. While he is still an infant, he has guardians and stewards to watch over him and to make important decisions for him until the time when his father believes he is ready to receive the inheritance.<\/p>\n Paul now tells us in a spiritual sense that\u2019s exactly how we have been. When we were spiritual infants we were constantly put in bondage by the elemental things of the world.<\/p>\n All we have to do now is understand what Paul meant by \u201cthe elemental things of the world.<\/span><\/em>\u201d There has been much debate over the centuries as to what Paul was referring to by this expression. Some have argued that Paul was referring to the elemental principles of the Jewish religion with its ceremonies and rituals. Others argue that he is referring the elemental principles of religion in general of which the Jewish religion shared many such as altars, offerings, sacrifices, temples, and prayers.<\/p>\n Whether it refers to specific elemental Jewish observances or of religious observances in general, it is clear that Paul is teaching us that these elemental pieces of religion did not free us, rather they kept us in bondage until the coming of the Messiah.<\/p>\n Application There are many churches today that require adherence to many of these elemental principles of religion by their membership. Within the Christian world both Catholic and Protestant churches alike insist that their members perform certain practices. But these practices do not free the members; they keep them in bondage according to Paul. True faith in Christ liberates us from the bondage of such rites and observances.<\/p>\n Have you been set free in Christ or are you still in bondage?<\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2007 <\/span>Will <\/span>Krause. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n <\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone (618) 614-3070 and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Galatians 4:3 3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. Truth to Learn Spiritually we have been kept in bondage by the ritualistic practices and observances from which Christ came to free us. Behind the Words The word translated \u201cchildren\u201d is a form of \u201cn\u0113pios\u201d as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-galatians-4"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-w","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"signature\"](\"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/signature.gif\")
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