The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 247

Ver. 8.-An appeal to the Gentile Galaeians. "Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods." The apostle here seems to turn to the Gentile portion of the Chnrch, and impresses upon them the folly of placing themselves nnder the yoke of Mosaic Law. I. CONSIDER THEIR FORMER IGNORANCE OF GoD. " When ye knew not God." The apostle gives no hint here of that self-satisfied agnosticism of our day, which says either we cannot or we do not know anything of God, bat simply asserts the fa.et that they did not as Gentiles know God. God is not unknowable. The apostle explains, in the first chapter of Romans, how the knowledge of God died out of the minds of men. It occurred through a deliberate perversion of the moral powers of man. They knew not God, and were thus in a terrible sense "without God in the world." Yet they were not without religion. Religion is a necessity of man's nature, and hence its universality. It may be dimmed by superstition and ignorance and sin; it may be left to rust by disuse, till it has all but disappeared ; yet it is never wholly lost. II. CONSIDER THE SUPERSTITION THAT WAS BUILT UPON THIS IGNORANCE. "Ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods." 1. The objects of their supe1·- stitiou,s u:orship were no gods. He says elsewhere they were demons : the gods had no real existence. They were either evil spirits or dead men, or tbe lights of heaven deified by human ignorance and folly. It is fearful to think of the widespread delusions of the heathen. 2. Their worship was a degrading bondage. It was full of labour and fear and suffering. "The bondage of the Jews was pedagogic; the bondage of the Gentiles was more wretched, for they did not know God at all." The Gentile bondage was terrible with its sacrifices, its mutilations, its orgies, its cruelties. It degraded the mind, fettered the imagination, cramped the heart, of its votaries. Ver. 9.-A protest against relapse. "But now, arter having known God, or rather were being known of God, how are you turning again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" I. MARK THEIR NEW POSITION OF KNOWLEDGE AND PRIVIl.EGE. The Galatians had come to know God through the preaching of the gospel. 1. This was their high privilege. "This is life eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." 2. It was a sign of Divine fellowship. "I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." 3. It came through Ghrist. "No man knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever he will reveal him." But there is another side to this truth. They were "rather known of God," as if to obviate any possible inference that the reconciliation implied in this knowledge may have bee11 the effect of man's action. It was an affectionate and interested knowledge on God's part which made knowledge of God possible on their part. "In thy light shall wo see light." God knew them ere they knew him. II. THE INCONSISTENCY OF A RETURN TO WEAK AND BEGGARLY ELEMENTS. They had been slaves to the "elements" under the forms of heathen idolatry ; they were now going back into bondage to elements under the form of Judaism. 1. This threatened ,·elapse implied that they had no true understanding or appreciation of the simple gospel of salvation. 'l'he soeds of defection and apostasy lie in almost every heart. 2. The apostle's surprise at their inconsistency : arising partly from his know ledge of their full and cordial reception of the gospel at the beginning, and partly out of the character of the religion for which they were parting with "the truth of the gospel"-- " weak and beggarly elements." This language of contempt applies to the legal rites of the ceremonial Law, which were, of course, of Divine appointment, and as such to be regarded with due honour. But the elements became "weak and beggarly " by their misapplication in the hands of Pharisaic men. 'l'hey were " weak," because they had no power to justify or promote salvation (Rom. viii. 3); "beggarly," because they could invest no sinner with "the unsearchable riches of Christ." The worshippers, after all their drndgery, found themselves none the better. The apostle might well express his surprise to find Christians going back upon mere elements which the gospel had for ever superseded. Ver. 10.-The observance of days. The apostle now gives a specimen of this bondage. " Days yo are observing, a.nd months, a.ad seasons, and years." The days  214 'rHE EPISTLE: TO TllE GAL'A'rJKNS.