New Living Translation
Galatians 4:21
21Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says?
Galatians 4:21 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
- New International Version (NIV)Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says?
- English Standard Version (ESV)Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
Context of Galatians 4:21
19Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. 20I wish I were with you right now so I could change my tone. But at this distance I don’t know how else to help you. Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says? 22The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. 23The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise.
Read all of Galatians 4Galatians 4:21 word by word
Λέγετέ μοι, οἱ ὑπὸ νόμον θέλοντες εἶναι, τὸν νόμον οὐκ ἀκούετε;Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Galatians 4:21
- Galatians 4:9So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?
- Galatians 3:10But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”
- Romans 6:14Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.
- Romans 7:5When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.
- Romans 9:30What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place.
- Romans 10:3For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law.
- Matthew 21:42Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.’
- Matthew 22:29Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.
- John 5:46If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.
- John 10:34Jesus replied, “It is written in your own Scriptures that God said to certain leaders of the people, ‘I say, you are gods!’
- John 12:34The crowd responded, “We understood from Scripture that the Messiah would live forever. How can you say the Son of Man will die? Just who is this Son of Man, anyway?”
- John 15:25This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated me without cause.’
- Romans 3:19Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God.
Commentaries on Galatians 4:21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21Ye that desire to be under the law - Ye who desire to incorporate the Mosaic institutions with Christianity, and thus bring yourselves into bondage to circumcision, and a great variety of oppressive rites. Do ye not hear the law? - Do ye not understand what is written in the Pentateuch relative to Abraham and his children. It is evident that the word law is used in two senses in this verse. It first means the Mosaic institutions; secondly, the Pentateuch…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 21Tell me - In order to show fully the nature and the effect of the Law, Paul here introduces an illustration from an important fact in the Jewish history. This allegory has given great perplexity to expositors, and, in some respects, it is attended with real difficulty. An examination of the difficulties will be found in the larger commentaries. My object, without examining the expositions which have been proposed, will be to state, in as few words as…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 21-27Verses 21-27 The difference between believers who rested in Christ only, and those who trusted in the law, is explained by the histories of Isaac and Ishmael. These things are an allegory, wherein, beside the literal and historical sense of the words, the Spirit of God points out something further. Hagar and Sarah were apt emblems of the two different dispensations of the covenant. The heavenly Jerusalem, the true church from above, represented by Sarah…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 21Do you not understand what the law actually says?: The Galatians tried to achieve righteousness through the law, but they did not truly understand its meaning (see Luke 24:25–27; 1 Timothy 1:7).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2121. desire--of your own accord madly courting that which must condemn and ruin you. do ye not hear--do ye not consider the mystic sense of Moses' words? [Grotius]. The law itself sends you away from itself to Christ [Estius]. After having sufficiently maintained his point by argument, the apostle confirms and illustrates it by an inspired allegorical exposition of historical facts, containing in them general laws and types. Perhaps his reason for using…Read the comment
Topics related to Galatians 4:21
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Galatians 4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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