Galatians 3:16

3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. ¹  Scripture ²  does not say, “and to the descendants,” ³  referring to many, but “and to your descendant,” ⁴  referring to one, who is Christ.

Galatians 3:25

3:25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. ⁵ 

Galatians 4:1-4

4:1 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, ⁶  is no different from a slave, though he is the owner ⁷  of everything. 4:2 But he is under guardians ⁸  and managers until the date set by his ⁹  father. 4:3 So also we, when we were minors, ¹⁰  were enslaved under the basic forces ¹¹  of the world. 4:4 But when the appropriate time ¹²  had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

[3:16]  ¹ tn Grk “his seed,” a figurative extension of the meaning of σπέρμα (sperma) to refer to descendants (L&N 10.29).

[3:16]  ² tn Grk “It”; the referent (the scripture) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The understood subject of the verb λέγει (legei) could also be “He” (referring to God) as the one who spoke the promise to Abraham.

[3:16]  ³ tn Grk “to seeds.” See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse. Here the term is plural; the use of the singular in the OT text cited later in this verse is crucial to Paul’s argument.

[3:16]  ⁴ tn See the note on “descendant” earlier in this verse.

[3:25]  ⁵ tn See the note on the word “guardian” in v. 24. The punctuation of vv. 25, 26, and 27 is difficult to represent because of the causal connections between each verse. English style would normally require a comma either at the end of v. 25 or v. 26, but in so doing the translation would then link v. 26 almost exclusively with either v. 25 or v. 27; this would be problematic as scholars debate which two verses are to be linked. Because of this, the translation instead places a period at the end of each verse. This preserves some of the ambiguity inherent in the Greek and does not exclude any particular causal connection.

[4:1]  ⁶ tn Grk “a small child.” The Greek term νήπιος (nhpios) refers to a young child, no longer a helpless infant but probably not more than three or four years old (L&N 9.43). The point in context, though, is that this child is too young to take any responsibility for the management of his assets.

[4:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “master” or “lord” (κύριος, kurios).

[4:2]  ⁸ tn The Greek term translated “guardians” here is ἐπίτροπος (epitropo"), whose semantic domain overlaps with that of παιδαγωγός (paidagwgo") according to L&N 36.5.

[4:2]  ⁹ tn Grk “the,” but the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[4:3]  ¹⁰ tn See the note on the word “minor” in 4:1.

[4:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “basic principles,” “elemental things,” or “elemental spirits.” Some interpreters take this as a reference to supernatural powers who controlled nature and/or human fate.

[4:4]  ¹² tn Grk “the fullness of time” (an idiom for the totality of a period of time, with the implication of proper completion; see L&N 67.69).