Stoicheia

Elements, basic principles, elemental spirits. In Hebrews it plainly means rudiments, and in Galatians it stands in parallel with beings that by nature are not gods, so the word does different jobs in the same canon. Colossians 2's two occurrences (2:8,20) sit among statements about spiritual beings, which is the strongest case for Arnold's hostile-powers reading, and the angels tied to the Law in Galatians 3:19-20 are the argument for carrying it into Galatians 4. DDD (L. J. Alderink) sets out the word's technical sense in Greek philosophy before Paul: Empedocles, Plato, and Aristotle used stoicheia for the four physical elements (earth, water, air, fire), the basic constituents of every object, and the Stoics built a cosmology on them in which the soul itself passes through the elements at death. On Galatians 4:3,9 DDD prefers the philosophical sense, since nothing in Paul's wording requires angels or demons, and it still lets the elements act as powers, the way Empedocles wrote of their power and Philo called them forces. On Colossians 2:8,20 it leaves the question open. Hebrews 5:12 it never reaches, and there the sense is plainly elementary teaching.