Galatians 4:2

ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ ἐπιτρόπους ἐστὶ, Matthew 20:8; Luke 8:3[114]. See Appendix, note C. ἐπ. = any person to whom authority is committed, whether a Procurator, e.g. Cumanus in Joseph. Ant. xx. 6. 2 (§ 132), or only a bailiff over labourers, Matthew 20:8. In Luke 8:3 Chuza may have been Herod’s “agent “or “factor” generally, or may have had special charge of the royal children. So Lysias was the ἐπίτροπος of Antiochus Epiphanes, 2Ma 11:1; 2Ma 13:2; 2Ma 14:2. In our verse it is to be translated “guardians” (R.V.) or “tutors” (in the old sense of the word with no reference to teaching) according as the father is thought of as dead or as alive.

[114] Is affixed to a word it means that all the passages are mentioned where that word occurs in the New Testament.

The plural both here and in οἰκονὸμους is purposely vague. It marks the father’s freedom to appoint as many as he would, either contemporaneously or successively. The singular would have meant that the heir had but one ἐπίτροπος and one οἰκονόμος.

καὶ οἰκονόμους. Luke 12:42; Luke 16:1; Luke 16:3; Luke 16:8; Romans 16:23; 1 Corinthians 4:1-2; Titus 1:7; 1 Peter 4:10[115]. In all these passages the οἰκονόμος administers property, whether material or spiritual. So here the οἰκονόμοι are those who administer the property of the heir. But whether the father is regarded as dead or only absent is not clear. Bengel concisely differentiates the two words: ἐπιτρόπους tutores heredis, οἰκονόμους curatores bonorum.

[115] Is affixed to a word it means that all the passages are mentioned where that word occurs in the New Testament.

ἄχρι τῆς προθεσμίας[116] τοῦ πατρός. Symmachus thrice translates qêtz “end” or “limit” by προθεσμία, Job 28:3; Daniel 9:26 bis (cf. his use of ἐμπροθεσμός in Ezekiel 21:25 (30) and with Aq. and Theod. in Ezekiel 35:5).

[116] Is affixed it means that all the passages are mentioned where the word occurs in the Greek Bible.

If the father is regarded as alive there is no difficulty; if as dead there is. For ordinarily under Roman law a minor came of age at twenty-five, being under a tutor till 14 and a curator till 25 (Ramsay, Gal., p. 392). But it seems that in certain cases the father was allowed some discretion in this. See Dawson Walker, The Gift of Tongues etc., pp. 118, 119, 168. Compare our own law, according to which a minor generally comes into his property at twenty-one, but not always, if the father makes special provision to the contrary. See further Appendix, note C.