4:3
“elemental spiritual forces”. This phrase is problematic. It can be interpreted, as in the main text of many translations, as “elemental spiritual forces” (or something similar), or it can be interpreted, as in the margin of most translations, as “basic principles of the world”. Within the immediate context there are many ways in which “basic principles” makes more sense. The Judaisers were living as the world lives. Not in the sense of sinning away, but in the sense of how we deal with our sinfulness. The world’s way is to make rules and seek to live by them. From the world’s perspective this is sensible enough, and has some restraining value, but never deals with the core problem (our hearts). If we take the “elemental spiritual forces” line then it is saying that we were subject to spiritual forces, in slavery to sin.
4:4
The basic error of the Jews, and what was influencing the Judaisers, was to think that the Law was it. Now the Law was far from irrelevant, and is far from irrelevant. At the set time God sent His Son. Jesus coming was no minor event, the Son of God was here! Remember that the Jews considered it blasphemous for Jesus to claim to be the Son of God. They appreciated the enormity of His claim. God was acting decisively in Christ. Then we get two fundamental facts about Christ. One, He was born of a woman. He was fully human. Then He was born under the Law.
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