But then, when you knew not God, you did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
All Commentaries on Galatians 4:8 Go To Galatians 4
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
When, however, he says, “you were in servitude to those who are by nature no gods,” he sufficiently proves that one true God is God by nature, by whose name the triune God is received in the most faithful and catholic bosom of the heart. “Those who are by nature no gods” are described by him as governors and overseers. There is no creature, whether it abides in truth by giving glory to God or fails to abide in truth by seeking its own glory—there is, I say, no creature that does not willynilly serve divine providence…. But, just as the magistrate under the imperial law does nothing but what is permitted to him, so the governors and overseers of this world do nothing but whatever God allows.
