Galatia 3:19
Konteks3:19 Why then was the law given? 1 It was added 2 because of transgressions, 3 until the arrival of the descendant 4 to whom the promise had been made. It was administered 5 through angels by an intermediary. 6
Galatia 3:23
Konteks3:23 Now before faith 7 came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners 8 until the coming faith would be revealed.
Galatia 4:3-5
Konteks4:3 So also we, when we were minors, 9 were enslaved under the basic forces 10 of the world. 4:4 But when the appropriate time 11 had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 4:5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. 12
[3:19] 1 tn Grk “Why then the law?”
[3:19] 2 tc For προσετέθη (proseteqh) several Western
[3:19] 3 tc παραδόσεων (paradosewn; “traditions, commandments”) is read by D*, while the vast majority of witnesses read παραβάσεων (parabasewn, “transgressions”). D’s reading makes little sense in this context. πράξεων (praxewn, “of deeds”) replaces παραβάσεων in Ì46 F G it Irlat Ambst Spec. The wording is best taken as going with νόμος (nomo"; “Why then the law of deeds?”), as is evident by the consistent punctuation in the later witnesses. But such an expression is unpauline and superfluous; it was almost certainly added by some early scribe(s) to soften the blow of Paul’s statement.
[3:19] 4 tn Grk “the seed.” See the note on the first occurrence of the word “descendant” in 3:16.
[3:19] 5 tn Or “was ordered.” L&N 31.22 has “was put into effect” here.
[3:19] 6 tn Many modern translations (NASB, NIV, NRSV) render this word (μεσίτης, mesith"; here and in v. 20) as “mediator,” but this conveys a wrong impression in contemporary English. If this is referring to Moses, he certainly did not “mediate” between God and Israel but was an intermediary on God’s behalf. Moses was not a mediator, for example, who worked for compromise between opposing parties. He instead was God’s representative to his people who enabled them to have a relationship, but entirely on God’s terms.
[3:23] 7 tn Or “the faithfulness [of Christ] came.”
[3:23] 8 tc Instead of the present participle συγκλειόμενοι (sunkleiomenoi; found in Ì46 א A B D* F G P Ψ 33 1739 al), C D1 0176 0278 Ï have the perfect συγκεκλεισμένοι (sunkekleismenoi). The syntactical implication of the perfect is that the cause or the means of being held in custody was confinement (“we were held in custody [by/because of] being confined”). The present participle of course allows for such options, but also allows for contemporaneous time (“while being confined”) and result (“with the result that we were confined”). Externally, the perfect participle has little to commend it, being restricted for the most part to later and Byzantine witnesses.
[3:23] tn Grk “being confined.”
[4:3] 9 tn See the note on the word “minor” in 4:1.
[4:3] 10 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] 11 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).
[4:5] 12 tn The Greek term υἱοθεσία (Juioqesia) was originally a legal technical term for adoption as a son with full rights of inheritance. BDAG 1024 s.v. notes, “a legal t.t. of ‘adoption’ of children, in our lit., i.e. in Paul, only in a transferred sense of a transcendent filial relationship between God and humans (with the legal aspect, not gender specificity, as major semantic component).” Although some modern translations remove the filial sense completely and render the term merely “adoption” (cf. NAB), the retention of this component of meaning was accomplished in the present translation by the phrase “as sons.”