Texts in Conversation
In Galatians, Paul describes humanity being influenced by the elements of the world, using obscure language that is difficult to interpret. The Wisdom of Solomon uses similar language to describe knowledge of the elements, stars, and seasons.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Wisdom of Solomon 7:17
Deuterocanon
15 But may God grant that I may speak with discernment, and to conceive thoughts worthy of what has been given me; because he is one who guides even wisdom and who corrects the wise. 16 For both we and our words are in his hand, with all understanding and skill in various crafts. 17 For he himself gave me an unerring knowledge of the things that are, to know the structure of the universe and the operation of the elements; 18 the beginning, end, and middle of times; the alternations of the solstices and the changes of seasons; 19 the circuits of years and the positions of stars; 20 the natures of living creatures and the raging of wild beasts; the violence of winds and the thoughts of men; the diversities of plants and the virtues of roots.
Date: 50 BCE – 50 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Galatians 4:3
New Testament
1 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. 2 But he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 So also we, when we were minors, were enslaved under the basic forces of the world. 4 But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. 6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God.
Date: 54–55 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The beginning of verse 3 makes clear Paul is drawing an analogy - so also we, he says. Paul says that when we Jews were children we were under the 'stoicheia tou cosmon'. The meaning of this last phrase is certainly one of the most debated issues in all of Pauline studies. Part of the problem is that outside the Pauline corpus, we do not find this precise phrase, and it is not clear that the term stoicheia simpliciter has the same sense as this whole phrase ... we have no clear evidence or meaning 'demons, gods, spirits, angels) before the third or fourth century A.D. This contrasts with the meaning 'elements of the universe' for which there is plentiful evidence before and during New Testament times (compare Wisdom of Solomon 7.17; 19.18; 2 Peter 3.10, 12; 4 Maccabees 12.13) ..."
Ben Witherington, Grace in Galatia: A Commentary on St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1998), 284–287.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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