Wisdom of Solomon 7:17

Deuterocanon

15 May God grant me to speak with judgment, and to have thoughts worthy of what I have received; for he is the guide even of wisdom and the corrector of the wise. 16 For both we and our words are in his hand, as are all understanding and skill in crafts. 17 For it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists, to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements; 18 the beginning and end and middle of times, the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons, 19 the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars, 20 the natures of animals and the tempers of wild animals, the powers of spirits and the thoughts of human beings, the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots;

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.

 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) ..."

Witherington, Ben Grace in Galatia: A Commentary on St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (pp. 284-287) William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998

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