Weak Elements, Weak Flesh

In Weak Elements, Weak Flesh, Ernest Clark reinvigorates an ancient interpretation overlooked since the fourth century. Clark argues that when Paul writes “we too were enslaved under the elements of the world,” he means that the elements that compose the cosmos also compose and compromise the flesh, allowing sin to enslave human persons through their bodies (Gal 4.3). This book demonstrates that early Jews introduced the phrase στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου to refer to the material elements: earth, water,