Galatians 4:7-10

4:7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are ¹  a son, then you are also an heir through God. ² 

Heirs of Promise Are Not to Return to Law

4:8 Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods at all. ³  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 ⁴  basic forces? ⁵  Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? ⁶  4:10 You are observing religious ⁷  days and months and seasons and years.

Galatians 5:4-8

5:4 You who are trying to be declared righteous ⁸  by the law have been alienated ⁹  from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness. 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith working through love. ¹⁰ 

5:7 You were running well; who prevented you from obeying ¹¹  the truth? 5:8 This persuasion ¹²  does not come from the one who calls you!

Galatians 6:12-14

6:12 Those who want to make a good showing in external matters ¹³  are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do so ¹⁴  only to avoid being persecuted ¹⁵  for the cross of Christ. 6:13 For those who are circumcised do not obey the law themselves, but they want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your flesh. ¹⁶  6:14 But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which ¹⁷  the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Hebrews 7:16-19

7:16 who has become a priest not by a legal regulation about physical descent ¹⁸  but by the power of an indestructible life. 7:17 For here is the testimony about him: ¹⁹  “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” ²⁰  7:18 On the one hand a former command is set aside ²¹  because it is weak and useless, ²²  7:19 for the law made nothing perfect. On the other hand a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

Hebrews 9:2

9:2 For a tent was prepared, the outer one, ²³  which contained ²⁴  the lampstand, the table, and the presentation of the loaves; this ²⁵  is called the holy place.

Hebrews 9:9-10

9:9 This was a symbol for the time then present, when gifts and sacrifices were offered that could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper. 9:10 They served only for matters of food and drink ²⁶  and various washings; they are external regulations ²⁷  imposed until the new order came. ²⁸ 

¹ tn Grk “and if a son, then also an heir.” The words “you are” have been supplied twice to clarify the statement.

² tc The unusual expression διὰ θεοῦ (dia qeou, “through God”) certainly prompted scribes to alter it to more customary or theologically acceptable ones such as διὰ θεόν (dia qeon, “because of God”; F G 1881 pc), διὰ Χριστοῦ (dia Cristou, “through Christ”; 81 630 pc sa), διὰ ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (dia Ihsou Cristou, “through Jesus Christ”; 1739^c), θεοῦ διὰ Χριστοῦ (“[an heir] of God through Christ”; א² C³ D [P] 0278 [6 326 1505] Ï ar sy), or κληρονόμος μὲν θεοῦ, συγκληρονόμος δὲ Χριστοῦ (klhronomo" men qeou, sugklhronomo" de Cristou, “an heir of God, and fellow-heir with Christ”; Ψ pc [cf. Rom 8:17]). Although it is unusual for Paul to speak of God as an intermediate agent, it is not unprecedented (cf. Gal 1:1; 1 Cor 1:9). Nevertheless, Gal 4:7 is the most direct statement to this effect. Further testimony on behalf of διὰ θεοῦ is to be found in external evidence: The witnesses with this phrase are among the most important in the NT (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B C* 33 1739*^vid lat bo Cl).

³ tn Grk “those that by nature…” with the word “beings” implied. BDAG 1070 s.v. φύσις 2 sees this as referring to pagan worship: “Polytheists worship…beings that are by nature no gods at all Gal 4:8.”

⁴ tn Or “useless.” See L&N 65.16.

⁵ tn See the note on the phrase “basic forces” in 4:3.

⁶ 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.

⁷ tn The adjective “religious” has been supplied in the translation to make clear that the problem concerns observing certain days, etc. in a religious sense (cf. NIV, NRSV “special days”). In light of the polemic in this letter against the Judaizers (those who tried to force observance of the Mosaic law on Gentile converts to Christianity) this may well be a reference to the observance of Jewish Sabbaths, feasts, and other religious days.

⁸ tn Or “trying to be justified.” The verb δικαιοῦσθε (dikaiousqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534).

⁹ tn Or “estranged”; BDAG 526 s.v. καταργέω 4 states, “Of those who aspire to righteousness through the law κ. ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ be estranged from Christ Gal 5:4.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “but faith working through love.”

¹¹ tn Or “following.” BDAG 792 s.v. πείθω 3.b states, “obey, follow w. dat. of the pers. or thing…Gal 3:1 v.l.; 5:7.”

¹² tn Grk “The persuasion,” referring to their being led away from the truth (v. 7). There is a play on words here that is not easily reproducible in the English translation: The words translated “obey” (πείθεσθαι, peiqesqai) in v. 7 and “persuasion” (πεισμονή, peismonh) in v. 8 come from the same root in Greek.

¹³ tn Grk “in the flesh.” L&N 88.236 translates the phrase “those who force you to be circumcised are those who wish to make a good showing in external matters.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “to be circumcised, only.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started with the words “They do so,” which were supplied to make a complete English sentence.

¹⁵ tc ‡ Grk “so that they will not be persecuted.” The indicative after ἵνα μή (Jina mh) is unusual (though not unexampled elsewhere in the NT), making it the harder reading. The evidence is fairly evenly split between the indicative διώκονται (diwkontai; Ì⁴⁶ A C F G K L P 0278 6 81 104 326 629 1175 1505 pm) and the subjunctive διώκωνται (diwkwntai; א B D Ψ 33 365 1739 pm), with a slight preference for the subjunctive. However, since scribes would tend to change the indicative to a subjunctive due to syntactical requirements, the internal evidence is decidedly on the side of the indicative, suggesting that it is original.

¹⁶ tn Or “boast about you in external matters,” “in the outward rite” (cf. v. 12).

¹⁷ tn Or perhaps, “through whom,” referring to the Lord Jesus Christ rather than the cross.

¹⁸ tn Grk “a law of a fleshly command.”

¹⁹ tn Grk “for he/it is witnessed that.”

²⁰ sn A quotation from Ps 110:4 (see Heb 5:6 and 6:20).

²¹ tn Grk “the setting aside of a former command comes to pass.”

²² tn Grk “because of its weakness and uselessness.”

²³ tn Grk “the first,” in order of approach in the ritual.

²⁴ tn Grk “in which [were].”

²⁵ tn Grk “which,” describing the outer tent.

²⁶ tn Grk “only for foods and drinks.”

²⁷ tc Most witnesses (D¹ Ï) have “various washings, and external regulations” (βαπτισμοῖς καὶ δικαιώμασιν, baptismoi" kai dikaiwmasin), with both nouns in the dative. The translation “washings; they are… regulations” renders βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα (baptismoi", dikaiwmata; found in such important mss as Ì⁴⁶ א* A I P 0278 33 1739 1881 al sa) in which case δικαιώματα is taken as the nominative subject of the participle ἐπικείμενα (epikeimena). It seems far more likely that scribes would conform δικαιώματα to the immediately preceding datives and join it to them by καί than they would to the following nominative participle. Both on external and internal evidence the text is thus secure as reading βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα.

²⁸ tn Grk “until the time of setting things right.”