Galatians 4:21

Some of you desire to obey all the laws that God gave Moses. I say that you should consider [RHQ] the implications of what Moses wrote in the Scriptures.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

In Context

20But I do wish that I could be with you now and that I might talk more gently with you, because I do not know what to do about you while we are apart.

22He wrote that Abraham became the father of two sons. His female slave, Hagar, bore one son, and his wife Sarah, who was not a slave, bore the other.

Read all of Galatians 4

Cross References

Matthew 22:29Jesus replied to them, “You are certainly wrong in what you are thinking. You do not know what is written in the Scriptures. You also do not know that God has the power to make people alive again.

John 5:46Moses wrote about me, so if you had believed what he wrote, you would have believed what I said

John 12:34Someone in the crowd answered him, “We understand from the Scriptures that the Messiah will live forever. So why do you say that the one who came from heaven, who is the Messiah, will be lifted up {that men will lift up the one who came from heaven, who is the Messiah,} on a cross? What kind of man who came from heaven are you talking about? (OR, That’s not the kind of Messiah we are expecting!)”

Romans 3:19Furthermore, we know that it is to Jewish people, who are required to obey God’s laws, that Moses wrote those laws [PRS]. We can infer from this that there are no Jews or non-Jews [SYN] who are able to say anything in reply to God’s saying that he will punish them for having sinned. God has declared everyone in the world [MTY] guilty!

Romans 7:5When our self-directed nature controlled us, desires that led us to sin were acting in our bodies. Those desires were increased because of our knowing God’s laws [PRS]. As a result we did evil things [IDM] that caused us to be separated from God.

Romans 10:3They did not ◄submit themselves to/accept► the way that God erases the record of people’s sins. They did not want to recognize that way because they wanted him to do it their own way.

Matthew Henry on Galatians 4:20-21

Affectionate Remonstrance. ( a. d. 56.) 19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, 20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. That the apostle might the better dispose these Christians to bear with him in the reproofs which he was obliged to give them, he here expresses his great affection to them, and the very tender concern he had for their welfare: he was not like them—one thing when among them and another when absent… Read the whole commentary →

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