Galatians 4:1

4:1 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, ¹  is no different from a slave, though he is the owner ²  of everything.

Galatians 4:3-4

4:3 So also we, when we were minors, ³  were enslaved under the basic forces ⁴  of the world. 4:4 But when the appropriate time ⁵  had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

[4:1]  ¹ tn Grk “a small child.” The Greek term νήπιος (nhpios) refers to a young child, no longer a helpless infant but probably not more than three or four years old (L&N 9.43). The point in context, though, is that this child is too young to take any responsibility for the management of his assets.

[4:1]  ² tn Grk “master” or “lord” (κύριος, kurios).

[4:3]  ³ tn See the note on the word “minor” in 4:1.

[4:3]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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).