Joh 15:16, Gal 4:9 | JFB | STEP | 12-16. That ye love one another, &c.-- (See on , ).

‏ John 15:16

12-16. That ye love one another, &c.--(See on Joh 13:34, 35).

‏ Galatians 4:9

8-11. Appeal to them not to turn back from their privileges as free sons, to legal bondage again.

then--when ye were "servants" (Ga 4:7).

ye knew not God--not opposed to Ro 1:21. The heathen originally knew God, as Ro 1:21 states, but did not choose to retain God in their knowledge, and so corrupted the original truth. They might still have known Him, in a measure, from His works, but as a matter of fact they knew Him not, so far as His eternity, His power as the Creator, and His holiness, are concerned.

are no gods--that is, have no existence, such as their worshippers attribute to them, in the nature of things, but only in the corrupt imaginations of their worshippers (see on 1Co 8:4; 1Co 10:19, 20; 2Ch 13:9). Your "service" was a different bondage from that of the Jews, which was a true service. Yet theirs, like yours, was a burdensome yoke; how then is it ye wish to resume the yoke after that God has transferred both Jews and Gentiles to a free service?