TRV
Translation
King James Version
¶ Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Complete Jewish Bible
In the past, when you did not know God, you served as slaves beings which in reality are non-gods.
Berean Standard Bible
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who 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:
World English Bible Messianic
However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods.
Geneva Bible (1599)
But euen then, when ye knewe not God, yee did seruice vnto them, which by nature are not gods:
Young's Literal Translation
But then, indeed, not having known God, ye were in servitude to those not by nature gods,
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In the KJVVerse 29,140 of 31,102
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Commentary on Galatians 4 verses 8–11
8 ¶ Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
In these verses the apostle puts them in mind of what they were before their conversion to the faith of Christ, and what a blessed change their conversion had made upon them; and thence endeavours to convince them of their great weakness in hearkening to those who would bring them under the bondage of the law of Moses.
I. He reminds them of their past state and behaviour, and what they were before the gospel was preached to them. Then they knew not God; they were grossly ignorant of the true God, and the way wherein he is to be worshipped: and at that time they were under the worst of slaveries, for they did service to those which by nature were no gods, they were employed in a great number of superstitious and idolatrous services to those who, though they were accounted gods, were yet really no gods, but mere creatures, and perhaps of their own making, and therefore were utterly unable to hear and help them. Note, 1. Those who are ignorant of the true God cannot but be inclined to false gods. Those who forsook the God who made the world, rather than be without gods, worshipped such as they themselves made. 2. Religious worship is due to none but to him who is by nature God; for, when the apostle blames the doing service to such as by nature were no gods, he plainly shows that he only who is by nature God is the proper object of our religious worship.
II. He calls upon them to consider the happy change that was made in them by the preaching of the gospel among them. Now they had known God (they were brought to the knowledge of the true God and of his Son Jesus Christ, whereby they were recovered out of the ignorance and bondage under which they before lay) or rather were known of God; this happy change in their state, whereby they were turned from idols to the living God, and through Christ had received the adoption of sons, was not owing to themselves, but to him; it was the effect of his free and rich grace towards them, and as such they ought to account it; and therefore hereby they were laid under the greater obligation to adhere to the liberty wherewith he had made them free. Note, All our acquaintance with God begins with him; we know him, because we are known of him.
III. Hence he infers the unreasonableness and madness of their suffering themselves to be brought again into a state of bondage. He speaks of it with surprise and deep concern of mind that such as they should do so: How turn you again, etc., says he, Gal 4:9. "How is it that you, who have been taught to worship God in the gospel way, should not be persuaded to comply with the ceremonial way of worship? that you, who have been acquainted with a dispensation of light, liberty, and love, as that of the gospel is, should now submit to a dispensation of darkness, and bondage, and terror, as that of the law is?" This they had the less reason for, since they had never been under the law of Moses, as the Jews had been; and therefore on this account they were more inexcusable than the Jews themselves, who might be supposed to have some fondness for that which had been of such long standing among them. Besides, what they suffered themselves to be brought into bondage to were but weak and beggarly elements, such things as had no power in them to cleanse the soul, nor to afford any solid satisfaction to the mind, and which were only designed for that state of pupillage under which the church had been, but which had now come to a period; and therefore their weakness and folly were the more aggravated, in submitting to them, and in symbolizing with the Jews in observing their various festivals, here signified by days, and months, and times, and years. Here note, 1. It is possible for those who have made great professions of religion to be afterwards drawn into very great defections from the purity and simplicity of it, for this was the case of these Christians. And, 2. The more mercy God has shown to any, in bringing them into an acquaintance with the gospel, and the liberties and privileges of it, the greater are their sin and folly in suffering themselves to be deprived of them; for this the apostle lays a special stress upon, that after they had known God, or rather were known of him, they desired to be in bondage under the weak and beggarly elements of the law.
IV. Hereupon he expresses his fears concerning them, lest he had bestowed on them labour in vain. He had been at a great deal of pains about them, in preaching the gospel to them, and endeavouring to confirm them in the faith and liberty of it; but now they were giving up these, and thereby rendering his labour among them fruitless and ineffectual, and with the thoughts of this he could not but be deeply affected. Note, 1. A great deal of the labour of faithful ministers is labour in vain; and, when it is so, it cannot but be a great grief to those who desire the salvation of souls. Note, 2. The labour of ministers is in vain upon those who begin in the Spirit and end in the flesh, who, though they seem to set out well, yet afterwards turn aside from the way of the gospel. Note, 3. Those will have a great deal to answer for upon whom the faithful ministers of Jesus Christ bestow labour in vain.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 8–11. Public domain.
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IrenaeusAD 202
Against Heresies Book III
And "those which are not gods".
And the Apostle Paul also, saying, "For though ye have served them which are no gods; ye now know God, or rather, are known of God"
TertullianAD 220
Against Marcion Book V
He did not therefore seek, by any depreciation of the mundane elements, to turn them away from their god, although, when he said just before, "Howbeit, then, ye serve them which by nature are no gods," he censured the error of that physical or natural superstition which holds the elements to be god; but at the God of those elements he aimed not in this censure.
TertullianAD 220
An Answer to the Jews
For the Jews say, that from the beginning God sanctified the seventh day, by resting on it from all His works which He made; and that thence it was, likewise, that Moses said to the People: "Remember the day of the sabbaths, to sanctify it: every servile work ye shall not do therein, except what pertaineth unto life." Whence we (Christians) understand that we still more ought to observe a sabbath from all "servile work" always, and not only every seventh day, but through all time.
Gaius Marius VictorinusAD 370
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.4.8
Not to know God is not to know Christ, for God is known through Christ. But now, since Christ has appeared, who has taught me and has revealed God through himself—both himself as God and the Father through himself—it is no longer permitted not to know God.
John ChrysostomAD 407
Homily on Galatians 4
Here turning to the Gentile believers he says that it is an idolatry, this rigid observance of days, and now incurs a severe punishment. To enforce this, and inspire them with a deeper anxiety, he calls the elements "not by nature Gods." And his meaning is,-Then indeed, as being benighted and bewildered, ye lay grovelling upon the earth, but now that ye have known God or rather are known of Him, how great and bitter will be the chastisement ye draw upon you, if, after such a treatment, ye relapse into the same disease. It was not by your own pains that ye found out God, but while ye continued in error, He drew you to Himself. He says "weak and beggarly rudiments," in that they avail nothing towards the good things held out to us.
JeromeAD 420
Commentary on Galatians
(Verse 8, 9) But at that time, not knowing God, you served those who by nature are not gods. But now, knowing God, or rather being known by God, how are you turning again to the weak and impoverished elemental forces, to which you desire to be enslaved again? He reproves the Galatians for having turned from the worship of idols to the true faith of God, and asks how they, after abandoning the idols which are not gods by nature, and knowing God, or rather being known by Him, and even receiving the Spirit of adoption, can return as it were to their earlier state of infancy, desiring to be under tutors and guardians, and enslaved again to weak and impoverished elemental forces, which were given to the weak and impoverished people in the desert because they could not bear greater things. However, the same elements that he now called weak and needy, he placed only above the elements of the world. And where the elements of the world are mentioned, there it is not added, weak and needy. Hence again, where they are called weak, world, as we said above, is a silent name. Therefore, I think as long as someone is little and has not fulfilled the appointed time by the father, so that he may be called a son and heir, he is under the elements of the world, namely the Law of Moses. But when he returned to the Law, which he owed to his son after his freedom, desiring to be circumcised and to follow the whole letter of Jewish superstition, then those things which had previously been the elements of the world for him are also called weak and needy beginnings. For they are so useless to their worshippers that they are not even able to provide them with what they had previously bestowed, Jerusalem, with the temple and altar destroyed. Let someone respond and say: If the laws and commandments written in the Law are weak and needy elements, and those who have come to know God, or rather, have been known by Him, should not observe the Law (so that they do not begin to worship not so much the God by whom they have been known, but rather those who are not gods by nature), then did Moses and the prophets observe the Law, and yet did not come to know God, nor were they known by Him? Or if they did come to know God, they certainly did not fulfill the commands of the Law. To say that both are dangerous: either they did not do what the Law commands, and thus they have come to know God, or they do not know God while they keep the weak and poor elements of the Law. And this can be resolved by saying that they, like Paul, became a Jew to the Jews in order to win Jews over (1 Corinthians 9), and according to a vow he had taken, he shaved his head in Cenchrea (Acts 18), and in Jerusalem he practiced barefoot and baldness in the temple to appease the jealousy of those who had been taught about him, because he was accused of acting against the Law of Moses and God's prophets. In this way, holy men also did the things that the Law required, but they followed the spirit of the Law more than the letter. Those who, like Abraham, desired to see the day of Christ and rejoiced when the veil was lifted, were made weak to make the weak people strong, so that they could separate them from the idols to which they had become accustomed in Egypt, as if they themselves were under the Law. For it is absurd to think that Moses and the other speakers of God were in such a condition that we should not believe them, and that the appointed time came from the Father, and that they were redeemed from legal bondage, and obtained the adoption of sons, and inherited with Christ. For whatever wisdom God bestowed on the entire human race like a beloved Son, He has also generously bestowed the same wisdom to each of the saints in their own order and dispensation. Heretics find an opportunity to criticize the Creator by calling the Law of Moses weak and inadequate, because He created the world and established the Law. To them, we will respond with what we have already said, that those who return to those weak and inadequate elements after the grace of the Gospel are truly weak and inadequate themselves. But before the appointed time came from the Father, the elements were called not so much weak and needy as the world. Finally, before the Gospel of Christ spread throughout the whole world, they had their own brightness with the commands of the Law. But after the greater light of the grace of the Gospel shone forth, and the sun of justice revealed itself to the whole world, the light of the stars was hidden and their rays grew dim, so that the Apostle says elsewhere: For that which was glorified had no glory in this part, by reason of the excellent glory (2 Corinthians 3). What he is now saying in other words, in order to say that the Law of Moses, which was rich, wealthy, and glorious before the Gospel, became weak, poor, diminished, and destroyed after the advent of Christ, who was greater than Solomon, the temple, and Jonah. For what is written, 'He must increase, but I must decrease' (John 3:30): I believe this is said not so much by John as by the representative of the Law, because the lesser always yield to the greater, and the perfect is always preferred to the beginnings. But indeed, we will confirm the weak and meager elements, the traditions of the Jews, and the letter of low intelligence, which are not good justifications and not good precepts. For truly, the strong and rich understanding of the Law is spiritual, so that it should not be called a mere element, or rather, it should be compared to the future age and the life in Christ Jesus, in which the angels and heavenly powers now live. But in comparison to the Jewish mind, it is called not so much the beginning as the fulfillment. And when he says, 'Now that you know God, or rather are known by Him,' he shows that after the worship of idols, the Galatians understood God, or rather were considered worthy of knowing Him. Not because God, the Creator of all things, is ignorant of anything; but because it is said that they alone know who have changed error for piety. The Lord knows those who are His (II Tim. II, 19). And the Savior in the Gospel: I am the good shepherd, and I know mine, and mine know me (John X, 14). On the other hand, to the wicked: I do not know you, depart from me, workers of iniquity (Luke XIII, 27). And to the foolish virgins: I do not know you, (Matth. XXV, 12).
Augustine of HippoAD 430
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 32 [1B.4.7-8]
When, however, he says, “you were in servitude to those who are by nature no gods,” he sufficiently proves that one true God is God by nature, by whose name the triune God is received in the most faithful and catholic bosom of the heart. “Those who are by nature no gods” are described by him as governors and overseers. There is no creature, whether it abides in truth by giving glory to God or fails to abide in truth by seeking its own glory—there is, I say, no creature that does not willy-nilly serve divine providence.… But, just as the magistrate under the imperial law does nothing but what is permitted to him, so the governors and overseers of this world do nothing but whatever God allows.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Galatians 4:8 serves as a profound recollection by the Apostle Paul, reminding the Galatian believers of their former spiritual state before embracing the Gospel. He vividly contrasts their past ignorance of the one true God with their former servitude to entities that, by their very nature, possessed no divine essence or power. This stark comparison lays the groundwork for Paul's impassioned argument against their potential reversion to a legalistic system, which, despite its religious guise, would similarly lead them back into a form of spiritual bondage, away from the liberating truth of Christ.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Paul employs several powerful literary devices in Galatians 4:8 to underscore his message. The most prominent is Contrast, as he sharply juxtaposes the Galatians' former state of spiritual ignorance and servitude to "no gods" with their newfound knowledge of God and freedom in Christ. This contrast highlights the profound transformation wrought by the Gospel and makes their potential return to legalism seem all the more illogical. There is also an element of Rhetorical Question implied throughout this section of Galatians, where Paul's arguments implicitly challenge the Galatians' reasoning for considering a return to bondage. Furthermore, the use of Metaphor is evident in the concept of "service" (douleúō), which functions as a metaphor for spiritual slavery or bondage, emphasizing the oppressive nature of false worship and legalism alike. Paul's direct address to the Galatians also constitutes an Apostrophe, drawing them intimately into his impassioned appeal and forcing them to confront their past and present choices.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Galatians 4:8 is a foundational statement on the nature of God, humanity's fallen state, and the transformative power of the Gospel. Theologically, it asserts the absolute uniqueness and sovereignty of the one true God, contrasting Him with all false deities, which are inherently "no gods." This aligns with the biblical emphasis on monotheism and the folly of idolatry. The verse also highlights humanity's natural spiritual blindness ("knew not God") and propensity to worship created things rather than the Creator, leading to a state of spiritual bondage. Theologically, Paul is setting the stage to explain that just as their pagan past was a form of slavery to non-existent powers, so too would a return to legalism be a form of slavery to a system that, apart from Christ, cannot grant true freedom or righteousness. The Gospel, therefore, is the sole means by which humanity can come to know the true God and be liberated from all forms of spiritual servitude.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Galatians 4:8, while addressing the specific historical context of the Galatian believers' pagan past, carries profound contemporary relevance for believers today. While literal idol worship of carved images may be less common in many modern societies, the principle of serving "no gods" remains acutely pertinent. We are constantly tempted to place our ultimate devotion, trust, and allegiance in things that are not God—whether it be wealth, career success, social status, personal comfort, entertainment, political ideologies, or even self-righteousness and moralism. Anything that takes the place of God in our hearts, demanding our ultimate loyalty and shaping our identity more than Christ does, effectively becomes a "god by nature no god." This verse calls us to a radical self-examination, prompting us to discern what truly holds our deepest affections and to appreciate anew the profound freedom, purpose, and peace found only in truly knowing and serving the one true God, who delivers us from all forms of spiritual bondage and empty philosophies. It reminds us that true liberty is found not in self-reliance or adherence to human systems, but in surrender to the divine.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does Paul mean by "no gods" in Galatians 4:8?
Answer: When Paul states that the Galatians "did service unto them which by nature are no gods," he is making a definitive theological assertion about the inherent emptiness and powerlessness of the pagan deities they once worshipped. He is not denying that spiritual forces (demonic entities) may lie behind idolatry, but rather emphasizing that these objects of worship—whether literal idols, mythological figures, or philosophical concepts—do not possess true divine essence, power, or sovereignty. Unlike the one true God, who is God by His very nature (phýsis), these entities are fundamentally non-divine. They cannot create, redeem, or ultimately satisfy. This statement underscores the profound futility and spiritual bondage inherent in any form of worship directed away from the Creator. Paul's point is that the Galatians were serving non-entities, a form of slavery that offered no genuine life or freedom, and he warns them against embracing a new form of bondage, even under the guise of religious law.
How does this verse relate to the Galatians' current struggle with legalism?
Answer: Galatians 4:8 serves as a crucial rhetorical bridge in Paul's argument against the Judaizers who were pressuring the Galatians to adopt Jewish ceremonial law (like circumcision) for salvation. Paul uses their pagan past to highlight the absurdity and danger of their current temptation. He argues that if they, having been freed from the overt bondage of worshipping "no gods," now submit to the Law as a means of righteousness or salvation, they are essentially returning to another form of spiritual slavery. While paganism was a clear form of bondage to false deities, legalism, too, becomes a form of bondage when it replaces faith in Christ's finished work. Both systems, in Paul's view, deny the sufficiency of Christ and lead away from true freedom and sonship in God. Just as their former service to "no gods" was futile, so too would be their service to the Law if it were viewed as a path to justification, rather than a guide for those already justified by grace through faith in Christ (see Galatians 3:1-3).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Galatians 4:8, though describing a pre-Christian state of ignorance and idolatry, finds its ultimate fulfillment and resolution in Jesus Christ. He is the very revelation of the true God whom the Galatians "knew not." As the image of the invisible God and the radiance of God's glory, Christ perfectly embodies and makes known the divine nature that the pagan "gods" utterly lacked. Through His incarnation, life, death, and resurrection, Christ not only reveals the Father (as no one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him) but also decisively breaks the power of all "gods" that are "by nature no gods," including the spiritual forces behind idolatry. His sacrifice liberates humanity from the bondage of sin, the curse of the Law, and the futile service of false deities, ushering believers into genuine sonship and freedom. Thus, Christ is the answer to humanity's spiritual ignorance and the deliverer from all forms of servitude, fulfilling the promise of true knowledge and liberation that the Galatians, and indeed all people, desperately needed. If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!.