Some see Paul’s reference to “days and months and seasons and years” as pointing to the Sabbath, and annual holy day observances commanded in the Old Testament (Leviticus 23, 25). They view these God-given observances as the “weak and miserable principles” (NIV) to which the Galatians were “turn[ing] again” and becoming “in bondage” (Galatians 4:9). Since the Sabbath is not mentioned in these verses, there is an obvious problem with viewing these verses as being critical of the Sabbath. In fact,the term “Sabbath,” “Sabbaths” or any related words do not appear anywhere in the epistle to the Galatians.
Some assume the “years” referred to in Galatians 4:10 are the sabbatical and jubilee years mentioned in Leviticus 25. The sabbatical year, observed every seventh year and the jubilee year, observed every fiftieth year, involved the release of Hebrew slaves and debt. However, the jubilee year was not being observed in Paul’s day, and the sabbatical year, was not being observed in areas outside Palestine (Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 14, p. 582, and Jewish Encyclopedia, p. 666, “Sabbatical Year and Jubilee”). The fact that Galatia was in pagan Asia Minor, far outside the land of Israel, makes it illogical to imagine Paul could have been referring to the sabbatical and jubilee years.
The Greek words Paul used for “days and months and seasons and years” are used throughout the New Testament in describing normal, civil periods of time. They are totally different from the precise terms Paul used in Colossians 2:16 specifying the Sabbaths and festivals of God. He used exact terminology for biblical observances in Colossians, but used very different Greek words in Galatians—a clear indication that he was discussing different subjects. This is made even clearer by the immediate context. In Galatians 4:8, Paul said, “When you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.” By this Paul referred “clearly to the idols of paganism, which, in typical Jewish idiom, Paul termed ‘not gods'” (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 1976, Vol. 10, p. 475).
The word translated “elements” in Galatians 4:9 to which Paul says the Galatians were returning to is the Greek word stoicheia. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary explains: “It would seem that in Paul’s time… stoicheia… referred to the sun, moon, stars, and planets—all of them associated with gods or goddesses and, because they regulated the progression of the calendar, also associated with the great pagan festivals honoring the gods. In Paul’s view these gods were demons. Hence, he would be thinking of a demonic bondage in which the Galatians had indeed been held prior to the proclamation of the gospel (p. 472).
“In the verses that follow, Paul goes on to speak of these three crucial subjects in quick succession: (1) ‘those who by nature are not gods,’ presumably false gods or demons; (2) ‘those weak and miserable principles,’ again stoicheia; and (3) ‘days and months and seasons and years’ (vv. 9, 10). This is the context in which at least some of the Galatians were observing special “days and months and seasons and years.” The word translated here as “observe” or “observing” is the Greek word paratereo, meaning “to watch closely, [or] observe narrowly” (W.E. Vine, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1985, “Observation, Observe”).
Paul was trying to prevent the Galatians from becoming once again entangled in their former pagan practices. He was attacking their misguided efforts to attain salvation through unnecessary superstitious and pagan observances, and told them, “I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain” (Galatians 4:11).
