Galatians 4:3 - The Ever-popular "Elements Cocktail"

"Thus also we, while we were minors, under the elements of the world we were having been enslaved.’

-Paul compares the ones in their pre-Christian state to those minor children who were basically slaves to their guardians and house-stewards.  Not at liberty in the least to enjoy the freedom to choose their own way in the world.  In this case, however, the enslavement is to the 'elements of the world’.  The elements of the world are mentioned also in Colossians 2.8 and 2.20, and there are various interpretations as to what exactly Paul is referring.  It could mean basic elements of religion (works), or basic elements of nature (the celestial bodies and ceremonial days/months/times as regulated by them), or basic spiritual entities (as in spirits - aka angels, typically of the fallen variety).  It could be any of these three, or perhaps a combination thereof, an "elements cocktail".  Think about the natural default religious posture which prevails among the nations - it is most certainly a combination, entirely a concoction of slavish devotion to appeasing spirits, of working one’s way towards earning favor with the deity(ies) and towards some ultimate religious goal, and a strict observance of various religious festivals and days.  Days have times, weeks have days, months and years have weeks and months, and so on and so forth.  Paganism, Animism, Hinduism, Buddhism, even the great forms of monotheism besides Christianity are chock full of these.  This is without a doubt the way of the world.  What Paul is saying is that devotion to demons and days and any form of works-based religion is tantamount to religious slavery and is ultimately childish.  It's religious child's play, an immature approach to religion and no way at all to approach the God Who made us.  The bad news is that this bondage is universal - the nations are caught up in endless systems of works and days and spirits and they are tragically ignorant that there is a better way, a way to be free at last, free at last...  Thank God almighty, there is good news - He made a way to be free at last...!