1Cor 12:2, Gal 4:8 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 2. Ye know , etc. This verse is regarded by many as a parenthesis. But it is not necessary to suppose that it is so, or that it does not cohere with that which follows. The design seems to be to remind them of their former miserable condition as idolaters, in order to make them more sensible of their advantages as Christians, and that they might be led more highly to appreciate their present condition. Paul often refers Christians to their former condition, to excite in them gratitude for the mercies that God has conferred on them in the gospel. . Comp. ; . That ye were Gentiles . Heathen; worshippers of idols. The idea is, that they were pagans; that they had no Knowledge of the true God, but were sunk in miserable superstition and idolatry. Carried away . Led along; that is, deluded by your passions, deluded by your priests, deluded by your vain and splendid rites of worship. The whole system made an appeal to the senses, and bore along its rotaries as if by a foreign and irresistible impulse. The word which is used (απαγομενοι) conveys, properly, the idea of being carried into bondage, or being led to punishment; and refers here, doubtless, to the strong means which had been used by crafty politicians and priests in their former state to delude and deceive them. Unto these dumb idols . These idols which could not speak--an attribute which is often given to them, to show the folly of worshipping them, . The ancient priests and politicians deluded the people with the notion that oracles were uttered by the idols whom they worshipped, and thus they maintained the belief in their divinity. The idea of Paul here seems to be, (1.) that their idols never could have uttered the oracles which were ascribed to them, and consequently that they had been deluded. (2.) That these idols could never have endowed them with such spiritual privileges as they now had, and consequently that their present state was far preferable to their former condition. Even as ye were led . Were led by the priests in the temples of the idols. They were under strong delusions, and the arts of cunning and unprincipled men. The idea is, that they had been under a strong infatuation, and were entirely at the control of their spiritual leaders--a description remarkably applicable now to all forms of imposture in the world. No System of paganism consults the freedom and independence of the mind of man; but it is everywhere characterized as a system of power , and not of thought ; and all its arrangements are made to secure that power without an intelligent assent of the understanding and the heart. (a) "dumb idols"

1 Corinthians 12:2

Verse 2.

Ye know, etc. This verse is regarded by many as a parenthesis. But it is not necessary to suppose that it is so, or that it does not cohere with that which follows. The design seems to be to remind them of their former miserable condition as idolaters, in order to make them more sensible of their advantages as Christians, and that they might be led more highly to appreciate their present condition. Paul often refers Christians to their former condition, to excite in them gratitude for the mercies that God has conferred on them in the gospel. 1Cor 6:11. Comp. Rom 6:17, Eph 2:11,12; Tit 3:3.

That ye were Gentiles. Heathen; worshippers of idols. The idea is, that they were pagans; that they had no Knowledge of the true God, but were sunk in miserable superstition and idolatry.

Carried away. Led along; that is, deluded by your passions, deluded by your priests, deluded by your vain and splendid rites of worship. The whole system made an appeal to the senses, and bore along its rotaries as if by a foreign and irresistible impulse. The word which is used (απαγομενοι) conveys, properly, the idea of being carried into bondage, or being led to punishment; and refers here, doubtless, to the strong means which had been used by crafty politicians and priests in their former state to delude and deceive them.

Unto these dumb idols. These idols which could not speak--an attribute which is often given to them, to show the folly of worshipping them, Ps 115:5, 135:15, Hab 2:18,19. The ancient priests and politicians deluded the people with the notion that oracles were uttered by the idols whom they worshipped, and thus they maintained the belief in their divinity. The idea of Paul here seems to be,

(1.) that their idols never could have uttered the oracles which were ascribed to them, and consequently that they had been deluded.

(2.) That these idols could never have endowed them with such spiritual privileges as they now had, and consequently that their present state was far preferable to their former condition.

Even as ye were led. Were led by the priests in the temples of the idols. They were under strong delusions, and the arts of cunning and unprincipled men. The idea is, that they had been under a strong infatuation, and were entirely at the control of their spiritual leaders--a description remarkably applicable now to all forms of imposture in the world. No System of paganism consults the freedom and independence of the mind of man; but it is everywhere characterized as a system of power, and not of thought; and all its arrangements are made to secure that power without an intelligent assent of the understanding and the heart.

(a) "dumb idols" 1Thes 1:9

Galatians 4:8

Verse 8. Howbeit. But, αλλα. The address in this verse and the following is evidently to the portion of the Galatians who had been heathen. This is probably indicated by the particle αλλα, but, denoting a transition. In the previous verses Paul had evidently had the Jewish converts more particularly in his eye, and had described their former condition as one of servitude to the Mosaic rites and customs, and had shown the inconveniences of that condition, com- pared with the freedom imparted by the gospel. To complete the description, he refers also to the Gentiles, as a condition of worse servitude still, and shows Gal 4:9 the absurdity of their turning back to a state of bondage of any kind after the glorious deliverance which they had obtained from the degrading servitude of pagan rites. The sense is, "If the Jews were in such a state of servitude, how much more galling and severe was that of those who had been heathens. Yet from that servitude the gospel had delivered them, and made them freemen. How absurd now to go back to a state of vassalage, and to become servants under the oppressive rites of the Jewish law!"

When ye knew not God. In your state of heathenism, what you had no knowledge of the true God and of his service. The object, is not to apologize for what they did, because they did not know God; it is to state the fact that they were in a state of gross and galling servitude.

Ye did service. This does not express the force of the original. The meaning is, "Ye were slaves to εδουλευσατε you were in a condition of servitude, as opposed to the freedom of the gospel." Compare Gal 4:3, where the same word is used to describe the state of the Jews. The drift of the apostle is, to show that the Jews and Gentiles, before their conversion to Christianity, were in a state of vassalage or servitude, and that it was absurd in the highest degree to return to that condition again.

Unto them which by nature are no gods. Idols, or false gods. The expression "by nature," φυσει, according to Grotius, means, in fact, re ipsa. The sense is, that they really had no pretensions to divinity. Many of them were imaginary beings; many were the objects of creation, as the sun, and winds, and streams; and many were departed heroes that had been exalted to be objects of worship. Yet the servitude was real. It fettered their faculties; controlled their powers; bound their imagination; and commanded their time and property, and made them slaves. Idolatry is always slavery; and the servitude of sinners to their passions and appetites, to lust, and gold, and ambition, is not less galling and severe than was the servitude to the pagan gods or the Jewish rites, or than is the servitude of the African now to a harsh and cruel master. Of all Christians it may be said that before their conversion they "did service," or were slaves to harsh and cruel masters; and nothing but the gospel has made them free. It may be added, that the chains of idolatry all over the world are as fast riveted and as galling as they were in Galatia; and that nothing but the same gospel which Paul preached there can break those chains, and restore man to freedom.

(+) "Howbeit then" "However at that time" (*) "them" "Ye saved those"