Galatia 3:3

3:3 Are you so foolish? Although you began ¹  with ²  the Spirit, are you now trying to finish ³  by human effort? ⁴ 

Galatia 4:10

4:10 You are observing religious ⁵  days and months and seasons and years.

[3:3]  ¹ tn Grk “Having begun”; the participle ἐναρξάμενοι (enarxamenoi) has been translated concessively.

[3:3]  ² tn Or “by the Spirit.”

[3:3]  ³ tn The verb ἐπιτελεῖσθε (epiteleisqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534). This is something the Galatians were attempting to do, but could not accomplish successfully.

[3:3]  ⁴ tn Grk “in/by [the] flesh.”

[4:10]  ⁵ tn The adjective “religious” has been supplied in the translation to make clear that the problem concerns observing certain days, etc. in a religious sense (cf. NIV, NRSV “special days”). In light of the polemic in this letter against the Judaizers (those who tried to force observance of the Mosaic law on Gentile converts to Christianity) this may well be a reference to the observance of Jewish Sabbaths, feasts, and other religious days.