Though Jews living under the law are primarily in view,1 Paul also includes Gentiles in this statement. Before the coming of Jesus Christ, all people, both Jew and Gentile (Galatians 4:9), were enslaved to the spiritual forces and powers of this world.2 Enslaved to sin, subject to the law’s curse and judgment, the Mosaic law did not and could not bring freedom from judgment (Galatians 3:21–25).
3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.