4 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.
The RSV and NEB render the phrase 'elements of the world' as 'the elemental spirits of the universe' (cf 8, 'ye did service to them which by nature are no gods'). But how can this apply to the law? Are we to think of the law as a tool of Satan? To speak like this is to bring us into the thought of Paul's remarkable words in Romans 7. It is true that the law, in itself, is holy and just and good (how could it be other, since it was given by God?). But, if we interpret Paul aright in Romans 7, what he says is that the law becomes something which by nature it is not, viz. an instrument of the devil, who twists it to his own evil purposes, in order to enslave and destroy man. As J. Stott puts it, 'Just as during a child's minority his guardian may ill-treat and even tyrannize him in ways which his father never intended, so the devil has exploited God's good law, in order to tyrannize men in ways God never intended. God intended the law to reveal sin and to drive men to Christ; Satan uses it to reveal sin and drive men to despair. God meant the law as an interim step to man's justification; Satan uses it as the final step to his condemnation. God meant the law to be a stepping-stone to liberty; Satan uses it as a cul-de-sac, deceiving his dupes into supposing that from its fearful bondage there is no escape'. It is from this destroying power - the elemental spirits of the universe - that Christ sets us free in the gospel.