Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. New Living Translation Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. English Standard Version Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. Berean Standard Bible Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. Berean Literal Bible But at that time indeed, not knowing God, you were enslaved to those by nature not being gods. King James Bible Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. New King James Version But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. New American Standard Bible However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are not gods. NASB 1995 However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. NASB 1977 However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. Legacy Standard Bible However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. Amplified Bible But at that time, when you did not know [the true] God and were unacquainted with Him, you [Gentiles] were slaves to those [pagan] things which by [their very] nature were not and could not be gods at all. Christian Standard Bible But in the past, since you didn’t know God, you were enslaved to things that by nature are not gods. Holman Christian Standard Bible But in the past, when you didn’t know God, you were enslaved to things that by nature are not gods. American Standard Version Howbeit at that time, not knowing God, ye were in bondage to them that by nature are no gods: Contemporary English Version Before you knew God, you were slaves of gods that are not real. English Revised Version Howbeit at that time, not knowing God, ye were in bondage to them which by nature are no gods: GOD'S WORD® Translation When you didn't know God, you were slaves to things which are really not gods at all. Good News Translation In the past you did not know God, and so you were slaves of beings who are not gods. International Standard Version However, in the past, when you did not know God, you were slaves to things that are not really gods at all. Majority Standard Bible Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. NET Bible Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all. New Heart English Bible However at that time, not knowing God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. Webster's Bible Translation However then, when ye knew not God, ye did service to them which by nature are no gods. Weymouth New Testament But at one time, you Gentiles, having no knowledge of God, were slaves to gods which in reality do not exist. World English Bible However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods. Literal Translations Literal Standard VersionBut then, indeed, having not known God, you were in servitude to those [that are] not by nature gods, Berean Literal Bible But at that time indeed, not knowing God, you were enslaved to those by nature not being gods. Young's Literal Translation But then, indeed, not having known God, ye were in servitude to those not by nature gods, Smith's Literal Translation But then truly, not having known God, ye were in a servile condition to them not being gods by nature. Catholic Translations Douay-Rheims BibleBut then indeed, not knowing God, you served them, who, by nature, are not gods. Catholic Public Domain Version But then, certainly, while ignorant of God, you served those who, by nature, are not gods. New American Bible At a time when you did not know God, you became slaves to things that by nature are not gods; New Revised Standard Version Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods. Translations from Aramaic Lamsa BibleHowbeit then, when you did not know God, you served those things which from their nature were not gods. Aramaic Bible in Plain English For then when you had not known God, you served those which by their nature were not gods. NT Translations Anderson New TestamentBut, then, because you knew not God, you were enslaved to those who, by nature, are not gods: Godbey New Testament But you indeed, not knowing God, at that time served those who by nature are not gods: Haweis New Testament But at that time when ye knew not God, ye served those who by nature are not gods. Mace New Testament When you did not know God, you did service to those, who in reality are no Gods; but now that you know God, Weymouth New Testament But at one time, you Gentiles, having no knowledge of God, were slaves to gods which in reality do not exist. Worrell New Testament But then, indeed, when ye knew not God, ye served those which by nature are no gods; Worsley New Testament But then indeed, when ye knew not God, ye served those which in reality are no gods. Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context Paul's Fears for the Galatians7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God. 8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?… Cross References Romans 1:21-23 For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. / Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, / and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 1 Corinthians 12:2 You know that when you were pagans, you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Acts 17:22-23 Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. / For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you. 1 Thessalonians 1:9 For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God Ephesians 2:11-12 Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)— / remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. Colossians 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds. 1 Peter 4:3 For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. 1 John 5:20-21 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. / Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Acts 14:15 “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one. / For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords), / yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist. Isaiah 44:9-20 All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame. / Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing? / Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; they will all be brought to terror and shame. ... Jeremiah 10:1-5 Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. / This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by the signs in the heavens, though the nations themselves are terrified by them. / For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman. ... Deuteronomy 32:17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear. Psalm 115:4-8 Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. / They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; / they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell; ... Psalm 135:15-18 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. / They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; / they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths. ... Treasury of Scripture However, then, when you knew not God, you did service to them which by nature are no gods. when. Exodus 5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go. Jeremiah 10:25 Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate. John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. ye did. Joshua 24:2,15 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods… Psalm 115:4-8 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands… Psalm 135:15-18 The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands… Jump to Previous Beings Bondage Exist Formerly Gentiles Gods Howbeit However Indeed Nature Reality Right Servants Service Servitude Slaves TimeJump to Next Beings Bondage Exist Formerly Gentiles Gods Howbeit However Indeed Nature Reality Right Servants Service Servitude Slaves TimeGalatians 4 1. We were under the law till Christ came, as the heir is under the guardian till he be of age.5. But Christ freed us from the law; 7. therefore we are servants no longer to it. 14. Paul remembers the Galatians' good will to him, and his to them; 22. and shows that we are the sons of Abraham by the freewoman. Formerly This word indicates a past condition or state, suggesting a significant transformation has occurred. In the context of the Galatians, it refers to their previous life before knowing Christ. Historically, this points to a time when the Galatians were entrenched in pagan practices and beliefs, living under the influence of false deities and cultural norms that were contrary to the teachings of the Gospel. when you did not know God you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods (8) Them which by nature are no gods.--The gods of the heathen are called by St. Paul "devils." (See 1Corinthians 10:20 : "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils, and not to God.")Verse 8. - Howbeit (ἀλλά); a strongly adversative conjunction, belonging to the whole sentence comprised in this and the next verse, which are closely welded together by the particles μὲν and δέ. In contravention of God's work of grace just described, they were renouncing their sonship and making themselves slaves afresh. Then (τότε μέν). The μέν, with its balancing δέ, here, as often is the case, unites together sentences not in their main substance strictly adverse to each other, but only in subordinate details contrasted, of which we have an exemplary instance in Romans 8:17, Κληρονόμους μὲν Θεοῦ συγκληρονόμους δὲ Ξριστοῦ. In such cases we have often no resource in English but to leave the μὲν untranslated, as our Authorized Version commonly does; "indeed" or "truly," for example, would be more or less misleading. The truth is, the apostle in these two verses is heaping reproach upon the Galatian Judaizers; first, in this verse, for their former (guilty) ignorance of God and their idolatries, and then, in the next verse, for their slighting that blessed friendship with God which they owed only to his preventing grace. In dealing with Gentile Christians the apostle repeatedly is found referring to their former heathenism, for the purpose of enforcing humility or abashing presumption, as for example in Romans 11:17-25; Romans 15:8, 9; 1 Corinthians 12:2; Ephesians 2:11-13, 17. In the case of the Galatians his indignation prompts him to use a degree of outspoken severity which he was generally disposed to forbear employing. The "then" is not defined, as English readers might perhaps misconstrue the Authorized Version as intending, by the following clause, "not knowing God," which in that version is "when ye knew not God" - a construction of the words which the use of the participle would hardly warrant; rather the time referred to by the adverb is the time of which he has before been speaking, when God's people were under the pedagogy of the Law. This, though when compared with Christ's liberty a state of bondage, was, however (the apostle feels), a position of high advancement as compared with that of heathen idolaters. These last were "far off," while the Israelites were "nigh" (compare the passages just now referred to). During that time of legal pedagogy the Galatians and their forefathers, all in the apostle's view forming one class, were wallowing in the mire of heathenism. When ye knew not God (ou)k ei)do/te Qeo/n); ye knew not God and, etc. "Knowing not God" describes the condition of heathens also in 1 Thessalonians 4:5," Not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles which know not (τὰ μὴ εἰδότα) God;" 2 Thessalonians 1:8, "Rendering vengeance to them that know not (τοῖς μὴ εἰδόσιν) God." Both of these passages favour the view that the apostle does not in the least intend in the present clause to excuse the idolatries which he goes on to speak of, but rather to describe a condition of godlessness which, as being positive rather than merely negative, inferred utter pravity and guiltiness. He uses οὐκ with the participle here, in place of the μὴ in the two passages cited from the Thessalonians, as intending to state an historical fact viewed absolutely - a sense which is made clear in English by substituting an indicative verb for the participle. Ye did service unto (ἐδουλεύσατε); served; devoted yourselves to. The verb is, perhaps, used here in that milder sense in which it frequently occurs; as in Matthew 6:24; Luke 15:29; Luke 16:13; Acts 20:19; Romans 7:6, 25; Romans 14:18; 1 Thessalonians 1:9. The Revised Version, however, gives "were in bondage to" in the present instance, but "serve" in the passages now cited. The aorist, instead of an imperfect, describes the form of religious life which they then led as a whole. Them which by nature are no gods (toi = fu/sei mh\ ou = si θεοῖς). The Textus Receptus has τοῖς μὴ φύσει οϋσι θεοῖς, which would apparently mean "which arc not gods by nature, but only in your imagination;" like "There be that are called gods," in 1 Corinthians 8:5 - Zeus, Apollo, Here, etc., mere figments of imagination (comp. 1 Corinthians 8:4). The more approved reading suggests rather the idea that the objects they worshipped might not be non-existent, but were certainly not of a Divine nature; "by nature," that is, in the kind of being to which they belong (Ephesians 2:3; Wisd. 13:1, μάταιοι φύσει). The question may be asked - If they were not gods, what then were they? The apostle would probably have answered, "Demons;" for thus he writes to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 10:20): "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils (δαιμονίοις), and not to God." Alford renders, "to gods which by nature exist not," etc.; but the more obvious sense of οϋσιν is that of a copula merely (comp. 2 Chronicles 13:9, Septuagint, "He became a priest (τῷ μὴ ὄντι θεῷ)"). |
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