Corpus-Paul

["moon-ryul jung" <moon AT saint.soongsil.ac.kr>]

Thank you, Jim that you brought this question up.
You said:
> No need to review the discussions about the meaning and importance of the
> phrase "stoicheia tou kosmou" in 4:3, and the disparaging reference to the
> stoicheia in 4:9.  My problem is that I am not convinced that we must
> understand the word to refer to "elements that constitute the world's
> foundation", to use Martyn's phrase. The immediate context of the expression
> in 4:3 has to do with cultural and social conditions that apply to a minor,
> not to philosophical ideas. While "stoicheia" can refer to supernatural
> powers, it can also refer to basic principles and natural substances and in
> rhetoric can refer to the principles or elements of argumentation. At least
> in 4:3, the "principles of the world" might refer to cultural and social
> constraints, or even culturally imposed spiritual constraints, experienced
> by believers. And, in 4:9, the inadequacy of these constraints and the
> arguments used to support them might be the reference.

I am also inclined to take stoicheia kosmou to refer to the
cultural/social/
religious constraints/barrier under which people are enslaved. But it
seems
because that I has adopted the "New Perspective", moreover, the one
proposed
by Mark Nanos. 

Although Mark summarized his view many times in the list, let me quote
some of what I wrote on the list while I was arguing with him.

In the lette of Galatians, Paul was arguing that the Gentile believers can
be
the people of God, the children of Abraham by believing in Christ,
WITHOUT becoming Jews by getting circumcised (or without through
proselyte conversion). This theme is well summarized in 3:28, 
"There is neither Jews nor Greek, slave nore free, male nore female,
 for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, 
then you are ABRAHAM's SEED."
 
To make this point, Paul argued (3:19) that the  Law had a temporary role
as the boundary marker for the people of God,
the children of Abraham. But now in Christ, the Law is no longer the
boundary marker for the people of God, the children of Abraham, but
Christ. [This does not say that the Law can the boundary marker for the
Jews as a subgroup of the people of God.]


In the process of arguing for the temporary role of the Law, Paul made
many negative remarks on the Law. It was like a family fight where
the members of the family often use strong words. The negative remarks
were made because the Jews believed that the Gentiles should become Jews
(by getting circumcised), the people of the Law, to be included in the
people of God, the children of Abraham. The Law was a barrier between the
Jews and the Gentiles. The barrier was even commanded by God.

The negative remarks Paul made on the Law include:
"Before this faith came, we [the Jews] were held prisoners by the
Law, locked up until faith should be revealed" ((3:23) "Now that the faith
has come, we [the Jews] are no longer under the Law, [but under the bigger
scheme of the faith, i.e. Christ, so that we do not need to discriminate
the Gentiles based on the Law]" (3:25) "When we [the Jews]were children,
we were enslaved under the stoicheia of the world" "(4:3)

NOTE: I take "we" to refer to the Jews, the people of the Law. Those who 
were under the Law were none other than the Jews. The Gentiles were not 
under the Law at all.  

Now let us go back to stoicheia kosmou in 4:3. The phrase "hUPO TA
STOICHEIA TOU KOSMOU HMEIQA DEDOULWMENOI" (4:3) is very similar to 
the phrase of 4:9 "EPI TA ASQENH KAI PTWXA STOICHEIA hOIS PALIN ANWQEN
DOULEUEIN QELETE". The association between stoicheia and enslavement is
highlighted in both places. Because the phrases are so similar, I thought
both should refer to the same thing or phenomenon. Because 4:3
refer to the state under the Law, specifically circumcision,
I thought 4:9 had do to with the state under the Law, specifically
circumcision. But through a long and fierce (?) discussion with Mark
in a long thread, I finally came to conclude that it is quite reasonable
to take 4:9 to refer to the Galatians' attempt to return to pagan
practices,
to avoid pressure/persecution from the pagan society.

They were pressed between the two options which they believed was wrong:
getting circumcised/becoming proselytes or participating in pagan
worhship.
In that situation, it is quite reasonable for some to choose the latter
compromise.

Now, if the stoicheia in 4:9 refers to the cultrual/social/religious
practices/constraints of the pagan society, then the stoicheia tou kosmou
is a similar phenomenon particular to the Jewish people. That was not 
GOD-ly but WORLD-ly, hence the stoicheia to KOSMOU. In the context of 
the letter, that seems to refer to the Jewish belief/constraint/barrier
 that anybody should become a Jew in order to be included in the people of
God,
the children of Abraham. Paul's point is: The Jews were under the Law 
in that they worshiped God via the Law, and their life and religion were
shaped by the Law. However, most importantly for the present discussion, 
they were under the Law in the sense that they demanded that anyone
be circumcised, i.e. to become a Jew, in order to share the blessing of
God.
This constraint was not wrong in itself, but from the viewpoint of tne new
age that has dawned, it could be considered the stoicheia tou kosmou,
which corresponds to the weak and poor stoicheia that had enslaved the
Gentiles before the new age. 

In summary, your proposal fits well with the approach to understand
Paul's arguments on the Law in social terms, that is, in terms of 
Jewish-Gentile relation, rather than in psychological or means of 
salvation terms. 

Regards,
Moon

Moon-Ryul Jung
Associate Professor
Dept of Digital Media
Sogang University,
Seoul, Korea