AN EXPOSITION
OF
THIE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE
TO
THE GALATIANS.
BY JOHN BROWN, D.D.,
PROFESSOR OF EXEGETICAL THEOLOGY TO THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCI,
AND SENIOR PASTOR OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION,
BROUGHTON PLACE, EDINBURGH.'OTv / Fi   -;IOACC, As. 1So^5C' Xa4 u; ibXD.-'Er. at. Kog B. I i.
notuoC-;.olOCAv -SY OCTa4 ml';  O6r, VV, sY O7 iorTiS, aUvOaVonr  rozo. —'Er. rfI. B. r. is'. TI.
NEW YORK:
ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS,
285, BROADWAY.
MDCCCLIII.




MURRAY AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.




TO TIIE
MINISTERS, PREACHERS, AND STUDENTS,
WHO HAVE STUDIED EXEGETICAL THEOLOGY UNDER THE AUTHOR'S CARE,
THIS EXPOSITION
IS INSCRIBED,
AS A TOKEN OF KIND REMEMBRANCE, AND OF ARDENT DESIRE
FOR THEIR USEFULNESS AND HAPPINESS.




"Whatever brings the apostle Paul, in his writings, into notice, will ultimately
bring him into triumph. All the malignity and the sophistry of his enemies will not
only assail him in vain, but will lead in the end to the perfecting of his glory, and the
extension of his gospel. They may scourge him uncondemned, like the Roman
magistrates at Philippi;-they may inflict on him the lashes of calumnious censure,
but they cannot silence him;-they may thrust him, as it were, into a dungeon, and
fetter him with their strained interpretations, but his voice will be raised even at the
midnight of antichristian darkness, and will be heard effectually; his prison-doors
will burst open, as with an earthquake, and the fetters will fall from his hands; and
even strangers to gospel-truth will fall down at the feet of him, even Paul, to make
that momentous inquiry,' What shall I do to be saved?"'-WHATELY.




PREFACE.
"THE times which are passing over us," after making
every fair allowance for the tendency to exaggerate what
is present, may be safely reckoned among the remarkable
periods of human history. The "signs" of our times
stand out in such bold relief that the most careless must
observe them, though, with regard to the import of some
of them, the most considerate find it difficult to form a
decided judgment. Many of them are obviously of the
nature of portents or omens, and inevitably lead the mind
to think of "the things that are coming upon the earth:"
and not a few of them seem to wear a lowering aspect
on the near futurities both of churches and of nations.
There are, however, others of them bright with promise; and among these perhaps none is more fitted to
excite hope in the Christian mind, than the increasing
attention which the Bible is drawing to itself. This is
manifested in the more thorough study and sifting of its
substance and its evidence —in the more searching investigation into the meaning of the sacred books generally,
and especially of the writings of the. Apostle Paul, and
in the more unequivocal and general avowal, among
Christians of almost all denominations, of the principle,
that, on matters of religious faith and duty, the first




V1                  PREFACE.
application, as well as the last appeal, should be made
to ""the oracles of God." These characters, which belong to our age even still more remarkably than they did
to the era of the Reformation, shine like a light in a dark
place.
The happy change in the state of the church and the
world, on which the desires of good men are so intensely
fixed, is to be accomplished by Divine truth, accompanied by Divine influence. Such a pure theology as
will prove the suitable instrument of heavenly influence
in transforming individuals, and churches, and nations,
must be based on a well-understood Bible, and especially
on a well-understood New Testament: for we run into
no vicious circle when we say, we must learn to read the
Old Testament in the light of the New, in order to our
deriving illustration to the New Testament from the Old.
As the New Testament is the complement of the Old
Testament, so the Pauline epistles are a concentration of
the common doctrine of both respecting the method of
human salvation. That wondrous economy in its fundamental principles, and practical applications, is, in no
portion of the inspired volumes, so compendiously, yet
so fully, unfolded, as in these remarkable writings.
They are, indeed, remarkable writings. " His letters are
weighty and powerful," was the reluctant acknowledgment of some of the Apostle's contemporaries, who, disbelieving his doctrine, and disliking his spirit, endeavoured
to undermine his authority; and all judges, in all ages,
possessed of the adequate intellect and information,
however prejudiced against the system of doctrine
taught in these wonderful compositions, have been constrained to admnit, that, apart altogether from the ques



PREFACE.                    Vii
tion of their inspiration, they must have proceeded from
a mind rich in the highest endowments and acquisitions
of which the human spirit is capable.
There is an inextinguishable vitality, an innate vigour,
an indestructible symmetry, an ineffaceable beauty, in the
saving truth —the glorious gospel of the grace of God as
stated in these epistles. It has been successively, as it
were, laid on the Procrustean beds of the Oriental, the
Neo-Platonic, the Aristotelian, and the Scholastic Philosophies; but it has outlived all the rackings and amputations which were requisite to fit it to enter into these
artificial forms, and it needs only to be "loosed and let
go," to start up " whole, as it was," and to resume its
interrupted march through the world, to scatter light
and life, liberty and blessedness, among men of "every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." Thus to
loose the truth, which has been unhappily so long fettered, is the great end of a true exegesis.
Much was done towards the attainment of this end by
the expositors of the age of the Reformation, numbering
among them some of the greatest men of an age singularly fruitful in great men; Erasmus, Luther, Calvin,
Melancthon, Zuingle, Ecolampade, and Martyr, and
others of scarcely inferior ability, learning, and piety.
In the age that followed, the fetters which had been
shattered were strangely repaired by many of the second
and third series of Protestant expositors; and, with some
noble exceptions, humanly constructed theories for harmonising the varied statements of Divine Revelation,
under the plausible name of "The Analogy of Faith," were
by them not only used as a direct means of interpreting the
Scriptures, but so elevated above all other means as to




Viii                  PREFACE.
control, and, indeed, in a great degree, to supersede
them.
A better course has been entered on. The true nature
and design of Exegesis appear to be more clearly apprehended.  Christian Expositors seem now generally of
opinion that, however true may be their "systems of
divinity," and however manifold and important their uses
(and, for my own part, I would find it difficult to overstate my sense of the value of that system of divinity held,
in common with all evangelical churches, by that religious denomination to which it is my privilege to belong),
it is wiser and safer to make the Bible the basis and the
test of the system, than to make the system the principal,
and in effect sole, means of the interpretation of the
Bible; and that if, in any case, the system, fairly interpreted, should forbid the reception of a doctrine, which
the well-established principles of interpretation, fairly
and cautiously applied, bring out of a passage of Scripture, there must be no hesitation as to whether it would
be better to modify the system, or to misinterpret the
Bible.
To aid, in however small a measure, the removal of
these bandages and entanglements which have surrounded inspired truth, so that it may walk at liberty,
and perform those high and holy functions which are
its exclusive prerogative —in reforming the -church, and
converting the wprld, —has been the main object of my
public life, and especially of those exegetical works,
which I have-perhaps in too great number —of late
years sent from the press.
The present publication has the same object, and
substantially the same  character, as its precursors.




PREFACE.                  ix
Like most of them, though published at an advanced age,
it is the result of the inquiries and studies of youth and
manhood. This statement deprives the Exposition and its
Author of some claims, which they otherwise might have
had, on the indulgence of the readers. But it is right
that the truth should be told. The Horatian period for
retaining in the Author's repositories forthcoming publications, has been considerably more than trebled since the
first sketch of this Exposition was produced; and during
the period which has since elapsed, the manuscript has
often been reviewed, corrected, curtailed, and added to.
In its substance, it has been delivered to a Christian
congregation; and, with its philological appendages,
repeatedly read in the Class of Exegetical Theology,
over which I have presided for nearly twenty years
In examining some old papers, I found an application
made to me, nearly thirty years ago, by a numerous
class of Students in Theology, of various Christian denominations, who at that time were accustomed to spend
an hour with me weekly in critically reading the New
Testament in the original Greek, requesting me to
publish the Notes on the Epistle to the Galatians, which
I had read to them. I was gratified with the expressed
approbation of my young friends, but do not regret that
I declined complying with their request. The Notes
are now a somewhat less inadequate exposition of this
important Epistle than they then were.
Many of these Students are honourably occupying
important stations in different sections of Christ's
church, in distant quarters of God's world. It is in the
indulgence of a better feeling than vanity that I mention
two of their names (and I am sure none of their fellow



x                    PREFACE.
students will find fault with the selection), the one from
among those " who have fallen asleep," and the other
from among those " who continue to this day."  The
first-the dead,-my near kinsman and dear friend,
JOHN BROWN PATTERSON, the gifted and saintly minister
of Falkirk; the second-the living,-and long may he
live in honour and usefulness, WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM,
D.D., Principal and Professor Qf Ecclesiastical History
in the New College in this city.
I have endeavoured, though, I am afraid, with doubtful
success, to make this Exposition at once a readable book
for intelligent Christians, though unacquainted with the
Sacred Languages, and a satisfactory statement of the
facts and principles on which the Exegesis is based, to
critical Students of the New Testament. It would have
been easier-perhaps more advantageous-to  have
sought these ends in separate publications.
Such works as the present, to serve their purpose,
must, to a great extent, be compilations. The principal
merit of their authors is in making themselves acquainted, as far as possible, with all that has been done
for the elucidation of the subject of exposition, and presenting the substance of all that, in the exercise of their
best judgment, they think has been well done-supplementing this, as they are able, by the results of their
own independent research. This is what I have attempted to do. I have appended to this Preface a list
of the authors whom I have consulted in preparing this
work. Where my obligations have been of a kind that
admitted it, they have been noticed in the text or in
the margin; but he who shall go over the field I have
traversed, will find that I have been materially helped




PREFACE.                   xi
by hints and suggestions of so indirect and remote a
kind, as precluded the possibility of. being intelligibly
acknowledged.
It is a remark of ANDREW MARVELL, that " whosoever
he be that comes in print, whereas he might have sat
at home in quiet, does either make a treat, or send a
challenge to all readers: in the first of which cases, it
concerns him to have no scarcity of provisions, and in
the other to be completely armed; for if anything be
amiss on either part, men are subject to scorn the weakness of the attack, or laugh at the meanness of the
entertainment. This is the common condition to which
every man that will write a book must be content with
patience to submit."
The condition appears to me perfectly reasonable.
Had I not thought the provision I bring forward wholesome and nourishing, and, moreover, somewhat rare and
savoury withal, it would not have been presented. Had
I not thought the positions taken tenable, I should
never have occupied them. Nevertheless, it will be a
satisfaction to me to see a table more abundantly covered
with viands from the same exhaustless repository-more
rich, more varied, and more skilfully prepared; and in
surrendering when fairly conquered, I will feel gratitude
rather than shame; for, to allude to the fine figure of
JORTIN, next to attending and gracing the triumphs of
truth, as her successful soldier, the object of my most
fervent wish is to be " a captive tied to her chariot
wheels, if I have undesignedly committed any offence
against her."
I cannot conclude without expressing how deeply I
feel the favour shown the Author, and the benefit done




X11ii                PREFACE.
to his work, by the careful revision which the sheets
have received in passing through the press, from the
Rev. WILLIAM VEITCH of this city, and from my kinsman,
the Rev. J. B. JOHNSTON of Kirkcaldy. The former of
these gentlemen, so extensively and so favourably known
to scholars by his edition of the "Iliad," and his elaborate and accurate work on the " Irregular Greek Verbs,"
kindly undertook the charge of the Greek quotations;
and by his careful attention to these, as well as by his
ingenious and learned suggestions on various points of
Greek criticism, he has rendered the work less faulty
than it would otherwise have been.
JOHN BROWN.
ARTHUR'S LODGE, NEWINGTON,
May 1853.




LIST OF AUTHORS CONSULTED DURING THE
PREPARATION OF THIS EXPOSITION.
ALBERTI Observationes Philologica in Sacros. N. F. Libros. 8vo. Lugd.
Bat. 1725.
A LAPIDE (Corn.) Commentarii in omnes S. Pauli Epistolas. Folio. Paris,
1638.
AMYRAUT, Paraphrase sur L'Epistre de L'Apostre Paul aux Galates. 8vo.
Saumur, 1645.
ANSELMI Enarrationes in Ep. ad Galatas. Omnia opuscula. Folio. Paris,
1544.
ASSEMBLY'S Annotations. Vol. ii. Folio. 1651.
BARNES' Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Epistle to the Galatians.
12mo. New York, 1840.
BAUERI Rhetorica Paullina. 2 vols. 8vo. Halse, 1782.
--  Philologia Thucideo-Paullina vel notatio figurarum dictionis Paullinae. 12mo. Halse, 1773.
BEAUSOBRE ET LENFANT sur le Nouveau Testament. Tom. ii. 4to. Amst.
1718.
-----   Remarques Historiques, Critiques et Philosophiques, sur N. T.
Tom. i. 4to. La Haye. 1742.
BELSHAM'S Epistles of Paul the Apostle translated, with an Exposition and
Notes. Vol. ii. 4to. Lond. 1822.
BENGELII Gnomon N. T. 4to. Ulmve. 1763.
BEZIE Annotationes in N. T. Fol. Cantab. 1642.
BLOOMFIELD'S Greek Testament, with English Notes. Vol. ii. 8vo. Lond.
1839.
BONITZ Commentatio Historico-Exegetica de loco Pauli Gal. iv. 20. 8vo.
Leips. 1800.
BORGER Interpretatio Ep. Pauli ad Gal. 8vo. Lugd. 1806.
BULKLEY'S Notes on the Bible. Vol. iii. 8vo. Lond. 1802.
Bos Exercitationes Philologicae. 8vo. Fran. 1713.
BOSEN Unicum J. C. Evang. a Pauli Apostolo defensumr Anathema. Thes.
Theol. Philol. Tom. ii. Folio. Amst. 1702.
BOSTON'S Paraphrase upon the Epistle to the Galatians. Works. Folio.
Edin. 1767.




Xiv              LIST OF AUTHORS CONSULT'ED.
BOWYER'S Critical Conjectures and Observations on the New Testament.
4to. Lond. 1812.
CALVINI Commentarii in Epistolas Pauli Apostoli. Folio. Gen. 1579.
CAMERARII Commentarius in Novum Foedus. Folio. Cantab. 1642.
CAMERONIS Myrothecium Evangelicum. Fol. Gen, 1632.
CAPPELLI Jac. Observatt. in N. T. 4to. Amnst. 1657.
Lud. Spicilegium. 4to. Amst. 1657.
CASTALIONIS Notse. Crit. Sac. Tom. viii.
CHANDLER'S Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St Paul to the Galatians, Ephesians, and Thessalonians. 4to. Lond. 1777.
CHRYSOSTOM on the Epistle to the Galatians. 8vo. Oxford, 1845.
CLARKE'S (Ad.) Commentary on the New Testament. Vol. iii. 4to. Lond.
1817.
CLARII Notre. Crit. Sac. Tom. viii.
CRELLII Commentarius in Ep. Paul ad Gal. Bib. Frat. Pol. Vol. viii.
Amst. 1656.
CONYBEARE and HowsoN's Life and Epistles of St Paul. 2 vols. 4to.
Lond. 1853.
CRITICI SACRI. Tom. viii. Folio. Amst. 1698.
DAVIDSOR'S Introduction to the New Testament. Vol. ii. 8vo. Lond.
1849.
DAY'S New Translation of the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians. 12mo.
Edin. 1823.
DE DIEu Animadversiones in D. Pauli Apostoli Epistolam ad Romanos, etc.
4to. Lugd. 1646.
DICKSON'S Exposition of all Paul's Epistles. Folio. Lond. 1659.
DODDRIDGE'S Family Expositor. Vol. v. 4to. Lond. 1761.
D'OYLY and MANT'S Commentary on the Holy Scriptures. Vol. ii. Part ii.
Lond. 1817.
DRUSII Scholia. Crit. Sac. Tom. viii.
ELSNERI Observatt. Sacc. in N. T. Libros, Tom. ii. 8vo. Frag. ad Rhen.
1728.
ERASMI Paraphrasis in Omnes Epistolas Apostolicas. 12mo. Bas. 1539.
Notoe Crit. Sac. Tom. viii.
ESTII Commentarii in Epistolas N. T. Vol. i. Folio. Colon. 1631.
FELL'S Paraphrase and Annotations upon all St Paul's Epistles.  8vo.
Lond. 1703.
FERGUSON'S Brief Exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians. 12mo. Lond.
1659,
GILPIN'S Exposition of the New Testament. 4to. Lond. 1790.
GOADBY'S Illustrations of the Old and New Testaments. Vol. iii. Folio.
London, 1759.




LIST OF AUTHORS CONSULTED.                   XV
GROTII Annotatt. in N. T. Vol. ii. Part ii. 4to. Erlang. 1756.
GUALTPERII Notae Crit. Sac. Tom. viii.
GUYSE'S Practical Exposition of the New Testament. Vol. iii. 4to. Lond.
1752.
HALDANE'S (J. A.) Exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians. 12mo.
Edin. 1848.
HEINSII Sacrse Exercitationes in N. T. 4to. Cantab. 1640.
HENRY'S Exposition of the Old and New Testaments. Vol. v. Fol. Lond.
1737.
HEWLETT'S Commentaries and Annotations on the Holy Scriptures. Vol.
iv. 8vo. Lond. 1816.
HOMBERGK Parerga Sacra. 4to. Traj. ad Rhen. 1712.
HUG'S Introduction to the Writings of the New Testament. Vol. ii. 8vo.
Lond. 1.827.
JASPIS Versio Latina Epp. N. T. Vol. ii. 8vo. Leips. 1797.
KEUCHENII Annotata in Omnes Libros N. T. 8vo. Lugd. 1755.
KNATCHBULL'S Animadversiones in Libros N. T. Paradoxse Orthodoxre. 8vo.
Lond. 1709.
KREBSII Observationes in N. T. et Flav. Jos. 8vo. Leips. 1755.
KOPPE Novum Testamentum Perpetua Annotatione Illustratum. Vol. vi.
Gott. 1791.
KUTTNERI Hypomnemata in N. T. 8vo. Leips. 1780.
KYPKE, Observationes Sacrte in N. T. Libros. Tom. ii. 8vo. Wratislavice,
1755.
LAUNAY Paraphrase et Exposition sur les Epitres de Saint Paul. Vol. i.
4to. Charenton. 1650.
LE CLERC Novum Testamentum cum Paraph. Hammondi et Notis Ed. Fol.
Amst. 1699.
LEIGHII in Universum N. T. Annotationes Philol. et Theol. 8vo. Leips.
1732.
LOCKE'S Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of Paul. Works. Vol. iii.
Folio. Lond. 1740.
LOESNERI Observatt. ad N. T. e Philone Alexandrino. 8vo. Leips. 1777.
LUTHERI in Epistolam Pauli ad Galatas Commentarius. 12mo. Wittemberg, 1523.
LUTHER'S Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians. 8vo. Paisley, 1786.
MACKNIGHT'S Translation of, and Commentary on, the Apostolicail Epistles.
Vol. ii. 4to. Edin. 1795.
MARLORATI NOV. Test. Catholica Expositio Ecclesiastica. Fol. S. L. 1620.
MICHAELIS' Introduction to the N. T. by Marsh. Vol. iv. 8vo. Lound.
1828.
MORI (A.) in Novum Fcedus Notre. 12mo. Hamb. 1712.




XVi             LIST OF AUTHORS CONSULTED.
MonI (S. F.) Acroases in Epp. Paull ad Gal. et Epp. 8vo. Leips. 1795.
OLSHAUSEN'S Biblical Commentary on the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Thessalonians. 8vo. Ed. 1851.
OTTII Spicelegium ex. Flav. Jos. ad N. T. Illustrationem. 8vo. Lugd.
1741.
PALAIRET Observatt. Philologico-Critica in Sac. N. F. libb. 8vo. Lugd. 1752.
PALEY'S Horae Paulinte. Works. Vol. ii. 8vo. Lond. 1825.
PAREI in div. ad Gal. S. Pauli Apost. Epist. Comment. 4to. Heidelberg,
1621.
PEIRCE'S Dissertation on Gal. iv. 21, etc.  Paraph. and Notes on the
Epistles of Paul. 4to. Lond. 1733.
PENN'S (Granville) Annotations on the Book of the New Covenant. 8vo.
Lond. 1837-41.
PERKINS' Commentary upon the Epistle to the Galatians. Works. Vol.
ii. Fol. Camb. 1609.
POLI Synopsis Criticorum. Vol. iv. Part ii. Fol. Lond. 1676.
POOLE'S Annotations on the Holy Scripture. Vol. ii. Fol. Lond. 1699.
PRIESTLEY'S Notes on all the Books of Scriptures. Vol. iv. 8vo. Northumb.
U. S. 1804.
PRIPZCovII Cogitationes Sacroe ad Omnes Epistolas Apostolicas. Folio.
Amst. 1692.
RAPHELII Annotationes Philologicme in Novum Testamentum. Vol. ii. 8vo.
Lugd. Bat. 1747.
RICCALTOUN'S Notes and Observations on the Epistle to the Galatians.
Works. Vol. iii. 8vo. Edin. 1772.
ROSENMUiLLERI Scholia in N. T. Tom. iv. 8vo. Novemberg, 1806.
SA Notationes in Totam Scripturam Sacram. Folio. Lugd. 1601.
SCHOTT, Epp. Paul. ad Thess. et Galat. cum. com. perpet. 8vo. Leips.
1834.
SCHMIDII ERASM. Versio et Declaratio N. T. Folio. Nuremberg, 1658.
ScoTT's Commentary on the Holy Bible. Vol. vi. 4to. Lond. 1827.
SEMLERI Paraph. Epist. ad Gal. 12mo. Hale, 1779.
STEPHANI Notre Crit. Sac. Tom. viii.
STORRII Opuscula Academica. 3 v. Tub. 1796.
Commentatio de Consensu Epistolarum Pauli ad Hebrfeos et Galatas.
4to. Tubing. 1792.
SUICERI Thesaurus Ecclesiasticus. 2 v. Amst. 1735.
THEOPHYLACTI Comm. in D. Pauli Epp. Folio. Lond. 1636.
VALL2E Scholia in Crit. Sac. Tom. viii.
VAN ALPHEN Specimina Analytica in Epp. Paul. quinque. Tom. i. 4to.
Traject, 1742.




LIST OPF AUTHORS CONSULTED.                  Xvii
WALLS' Critical Notes. Vol. iii. 8vo. Lond. 1730.
WARD'S Dissertations upon several Passages of the Sacred Scriptures.  8vo.
Lond. 1761.
WEINGART Comment. Perpetuus in x. Epp. Pauli quas vulgo dicunt minores.
8vo. Gothie, 1816.
WELLS' Specimen of an Help for the more easy understanding of the Holy
Scriptures, being St Paul's two Epistles to the Thessalonians, and
his Epistle to the Galatians explained. 4to. Oxford, 1709.
WESELII Corn. Analytico-Exegetica in Ep. Paul ad Gal.  4to. Ludg. 1756.
WETSTENII N. T. Groecum cum lection. varr. et Commentario Pleniore.
Vol. ii. Fol. Amst. 1751.
WHITBY'S Paraphrase, with Annotations, on the N. T. Vol. ii. 4to. Lond.
1822.
WINER in Ep. ad Gal. 8vo. Leips. 1829.
WOLFII Curoe Philol. et Critic. Tom. iii. 4to. Hamb. 1737.
ZEGERI Notre Crit. Sac. Tom. viii.








CONTENTS.
I.-ANALYSIS.
PROLEGOMENA.
Page
SECT. I.-Of the Persons to whom the Epistle is addressed,.      1
II.-Of the Occasion of the Epistle,....      3
III.-Of the Subject of the Epistle,....      3
IV. —Of the Date of the Epistle, and the place from which it was
Written,......      5
V.-Of the Genuineness of the Epistle,...      6
VI. —Of the General Character of the Epistle,..     10
VII. —Of the Division of the Epistle,....     11
VIII.-Of the Interpreters of the Epistle,...     12
PART I.
INSCRIPTION OF THE EPISTLE.
GAL. I. 1-5.
SECT. I.-The Author,......     17
1. His Name,......      17
2. His Office,.                                         18
3. His Associates,....     22
II -The Persons addressed-the Churches of Galatia,.    23
III. —The Greeting,......     24
1. A Prayer,......     24
2. A Statement,.....     25
3. A Doxology,.....     33




xx                         CONTENTS.
Page
PART II.
INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE.
GAL. I. 6-10.
SECT. I.-Introductory Remarks,.....    36
II.-The Change which had taken place among the Galatians,    38
1. The fact,......     38
2. The Apostle's feelings in reference to the fact,.    42
3. The cause of the fact,....    43
III.-The manner in which Corrupters of the Gospel ought to be
regarded,......    44
IV.-The Apostle's Defence of himself against the Charge of being
a Man-pleaser,.....    48
PART III.
THE APOSTLE'S HISTORICAL DEFENCE OF HIMSELF AND OF
HIS OFFICE.
GAL. I. 11-II. 21.
SECT. I.-Introductory Remarks,.....     53
II.-The Thesis to be proved, " that he was a Divinely-taught,
Divinely-authorised Apostle,"...    55
III.-Historical Proof of the Thesis,....    59
1. His character as a Jew,....    59
2. His conversion and call,....    61
3. His conduct in consequence of his conversion,.    63
(1.) He " conferred not with flesh and blood,".   63
(2.) He did not go immediately to Jerusalem,.    63
(3.) He went into Arabia,.                         64
(4.) He returned to Damascus,...    64
4. Three years after, he went to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Peter; remained only three days, and
saw only two of the Apostles,...    64
5. He went then into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, being
personally unknown to the Churches of Judea,.    66
6. He visited Jerusalem again after an interval of fourteen
years,......    69
(1.) He went up by revelation,...    70
(2.) He communicated to the Apostles his mode of
preaching the Gospel among the Gentiles,.     71
(3.) He received from the Apostles the most unequivocal
acknowledgment of his qualifications, call, and authority, as an Apostle,....     76
7. His reproof of Peter for dissembling at Antioch, and his
assertion of the true Gospel,...    81




CONTENTS.                           xxi
Page
PART IV.
THE APOSTLE'S DEFENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE.
GAL. III. 1-IV. 1-7.
SECT. I.-Introductory Remarks,.....   102
II.-The Apostle's Astonishment, Displeasure, and Sorrow, at the
Change in the Sentiments of the Galatians,.   104
III.-Argument from their own Experience,...   109
IV.-Argument from the History of the Justification of Abraham, 114
V.-Argument from the Promise to Abraham,..   120
VI. —Justification by the Law in the nature of things impossible,  123
VII. —Justification by Law inconsistent with Scripture,.   125
VIII.-Redemption from the Curse of the Law necessary for Justification both to Jews and Gentiles,...   128
IX.-Free Justification by believing secured in a ratified Divine
Arrangement which cannot be disannulled by the Lawa subsequent Divine Arrangement,..   140
1. The Thesis stated and proved,...   140
2. Design and Mode of giving of the Law,..   148
3. The Law not contrary, but subservient, to the Promise, 162
4. State of the Church under the Law,..   170
5. State of the Church after " faith has come,".   176
6. Figurative illustration of these two states,..   182
(1.) The figure,.....   184
(2.) The application of the figure,...   187
(a.) The Church's minor state,.   187
(b.) The state of viot9erla, or "Mature Sonship,"
into which the Church has been introduced,   191
(c.) The means by which this favourable change
was effected,....   193
(d.) Consequence and proof of this favourable
change of condition,..          198
PART V.
THE APOSTLE'S EXPOSTULATIONS WITH AND W~ARNING OF
THE GALATIANS.
GAL. IV. 8-v. 12.
SIcT. I. —Introductory Remarks,..... 204
II.-The Apostle shows the Galatians that they were in danger of
subjecting themselves to a bondage similar to that from
which they had been delivered,...  206




xxii                        CONTENTS.
Page
SECT. III.-The Apostle reminds them of the circumstances of their
Conversion, and shows them that nothing had occurred
that should have changed their sentiments towards
either him or his teaching,.                      210
IV.-The Apostle exposes the unworthy acts of the Judaising
Teachers,......   218
V.-The Apostle expresses his deep anxiety for them, and his
wish to be present with them,...   225
VI.-Allegorical Illustration,....   228
1. Introduction,.....   229
2. The Allegory,....   230
3. The Allegory explained,....   230
4. The Allegory extended and explained,..   238
5. The Allegory practically improved,..   248
VII. —The Course the Galatians were following-an implicit Renunciation of Christianity and its blessings,.   256
VIII.-Additional considerations fitted to rouse the Galatians to
serious consideration,....   270
1. They had been arrested in the course they had well
begun —Why....   270
2. The "persuasion" which had induced them to change
had not come from Christ,...   272
3. The evil was likely to increase,...   272
4. The Apostle still hoped well of them,..   273
5. Their troublers would be punished,..   275
6. The obvious falsehood of the suggestion, that the Apostle
had become a preacher of circumcision,..   276
7. The Apostle's wish that they who troubled the Galatian
converts might be " cut off,"...   279
PART VI.
PRACTICAL INJUNCTIONS.
GAL. V. 13-VI. 10.
SECT. I.-Caution against the Abuse of Liberty,...   283
II.-An Exhortation to "Serve one another in Love," supported
by Motives,.....   286
1. Love is the fulfilment of the Law,...   287
2. Evil consequences of an opposite temper and conduct,  289
III.-A General Exhortation to " Walk in the Spirit" as the best
means of obtaining Dominion over the Lusts of the Flesh, 291
IV.-Particular Exhortations to certain varieties of "Walking in
the Spirit,"....   313
1. Caution against vain-glorying,...   313
2. Duty of " the Spiritual" to those " overtaken in a fault," 315
3. Exhortation to bear one another's burdens,         323




CONTENTS.                          xxiii
Page
SECT. V.-Caution against Over Self-Estimation,...   326
VI.-The Duty of the Galatians to support their Teachers,.   331
VII. —Caution against mistake in reference to the connection between present Character and Conduct, and future Punishment or Reward,.....   335
VIII.-Exhortation to Well-doing, and Caution against becoming
weary in it,.....   342
PART VII.
POSTSCRIPT.
GAL. VI. 11-18.
SECT. I.-Introductory Remarks,.....   351
II.-The Apostle's remark that his Letter was Autograph,.   354
III.-Unprincipled Conduct of the Judaising Teachers,.   356
IV.-The Apostle's determination to glory only in the Cross of
Christ,......   363
V.-The Crucifixion of the World to the Apostle, and of the
Apostle to the World, by the Cross of Christ,.   370
VI.-The Essence of Christianity again stated,..   376
VII. —The Apostle's Prayer for all who possess the Essential Element of Christianity, and act on it,...   381
VIII.-An injunction to cease to harass the Apostle, as he had been
harassed by the Judaisers and their followers,.   383
IX.-Concluding Benediction,.....   385
Remarks on the Subscription,.....   387
APPENDIX.
NOTE A. —Calvin's Exposition of Gal. iv. 1-7,...   389
B.-Period of the Appearance of the Messiah,..   393
C. —Elements of Christianity,....   398
D.-Remarks on the principle of the Support of the Christian
Ministry, stated Gal. vi. 6,.                     400
E. —Opposition of the Natural Mind to the peculiar doctrines of
Christianity, especially the doctrine of the Cross,.   404
F.-Practical Power of Christian Truth,...   407
G.-Tendency of Man to rest in a mere External Religion,.   410
H.-Paul's Mode of considering Judaism and Christianity in their
various relations.-WINER,...   412




xxiv                            CONTENTS.
Page
ADDENDA.
Prolegomena, ~ 1,.......    416
~... ~ 8, p. 14,                                                   416
Galatians i. 1,......    417...    i.6,......             419...    i. 17,......    419...    i. 18,                                                        420...   i. 23,......    421...    ii.,.......    421...   ii. 4,.......    426.. ii.  8,.......    426...     ii.     16,......    426..     ii. 1, 16,......    426...    iii. 1, v  v,......    427... iii. 10.....    42...   iii. 15,./.,...                427
iv. iii.24,.......    429
iv. 13,.......    429
iv. 26,.......    430.... 5,.....    430...    v. 6,....                430...    v. 12,.......    430...    v. 16,........    431..       1 v. v 8. 1..                        431
v. 19-23,......    431...    vi. 7,8,.....    432...    vi. II,...        433
INDEX.
1. Principal Matters,......    435
2. Hebrew Words or Phrases explained,                                    439
3. Greek Words or Phrases explained,....    439
4. Authors quoted or referred to,.....    442
5. Passages of Scripture quoted or remarked on,..        445
II.-TABLE FOR FINDING OUT THE EXPOSITION OF
ANY VERSE OR CLAUSE OF THE EPISTLE.
CHAPTER I.
Ver.
1  Paul, 17, 417; an apostle, 18; not of men, neither by man, 19; but by
Jesus Christ, and God the Father, 21; who raised him from the dead, 22;




CONTENTS.                          XXV
Ver.
2 and all the brethren which are with me, 22; unto the churches of
3 Galatia, 1, 23: Grace be to you, and peace, from God the Father, and
4 front our Lord Jesus Christ, 24; who gave himself for our sins, 25;
that he might deliver us from this present evil world, 26; according to
5  the will of God and our Father, 31: to whom be glory for ever and
6  ever. Amen, 33. I marvel, 42; that ye are so soon, 418; removed
from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, 38:
7  which is not another, 41; but there be some that trouble you, and
8  would pervert the gospel of Christ, 43. But though we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, 46; than that which we
9  have preached unto you, let him be accursed, 46.  As we have said
before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto
10 you than that ye have received, let him be accursed, 48. For do I now
persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? 49; for if I yet
11  pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ, 50. But I certify
you, brethren, 56; that the gospel which was preached of me is not
12  after man, 56. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught
13  it, 57; but by the revelation of Jesus Christ, 57. For ye have heard of
my conversation, 59; in time past in the Jews' religion, 59; how that
beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it, 60;
14  and profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own
nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers,
15  60. But when it pleased God, 61; who separated me from my mother's
16  womb, 61; and called me by his grace, 61; to reveal his Son in me, 61;
that I might preach him among the heathen, 62; immediately I con17  ferred, 63; not with flesh and blood, 63: neither went I up to Jerusalem
to them which were apostles before me, 63; but I went into Arabia, 64,
18  418; and returned again unto Damascus, 64.  Then, after three years,
I went up to Jerusalem, 64; to see Peter, 65, 419; and abode with him
19  fifteen days, 65. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the
20  Lord's brother, 65. Now the things which I write unto you, behold,
21  before God, I lie not, 66. Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria
22  and Cilicia, 66; and was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea, 66;
23  which were in Christ: but they had heard only, that he which persecuted us in times past, now preacheth the faith, 67, 420; which once he
24  destroyed. And they glorified God in me, 68.
CHAPTER II.
1  Then fourteen years after, 420; I went up again to Jerusalem, 69; with
2  Barnabas, and took Titus with me also, 70. And I went up by revelation, 70; and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach
among the Gentiles, 71; but privately to them which were of reputa3  tion, 72; lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain, 72. But
neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be
4  circumcised, 73: and that because of false brethren, 74, 425; brought




xxvi                        CONTENTS.
Ver.
in unawares, 75; who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we
5  have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage, 75: to
whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth
6  of the gospel might continue with you, 75. But of those who seemed
to be somewhat, 76; whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me;
God accepteth no man's person, 77; for they who seemed to be some7  what in conference added nothing to me, 77: but contrariwise, when
they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me,
8  as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter, 78; (for He that
wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the
9  same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles), 78, 425: and when James,
Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that
was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of
fellowship, 79; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the
10 circumcision. Only they would that we should remember the poor; the
11  same which I also was forward to do, 80. But when Peter was come to
Antioch, 81; I withstood him to the face, 82; because he was to be
12 blamed, 83, 425. For before that certain came from James, 85; he
did eat with the Gentiles, 84: but when they were come, he withdrew,
and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision, 85,
1 3 425. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that
14 Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation, 86. But when
I saw that they walked not uprightly, 87; according to the truth of the
gospel, 87; I said unto Peter before them all, 88; If thou, being a Jew,
livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why com15 pellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? 89. We who are Jews
16 by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 90; knowing that a man is
not justified by the works of the law, 91; but by the faith of Jesus
Christ, 92; even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be
justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law, 93:
17  for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified, 93, 425. But if,
while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found
18 sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid, 94. For
if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a trans19 gressor, 95. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might
20 live unto God, 95. I am crucified with Christ, 96: nevertheless I live,
96; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, 97: and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, 97; who loved
21 me, and gave himself for me, 97. I do not frustrate the grace of God:
for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain, 98.
CHAPTER III.
1  O foolish Galatians, 107; who, 108; hath bewitched you, 107; that ye
should not obey the truth, 106; before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath
2  been evidently, 105; set forth, crucified among you? 104, 426. This




CONTENTS.                         xxvii
Ver.
only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the
3  law, 109; or by the hearing of faith? 110  Are ye so foolish? 110
having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 111.
4  Have ye suffered so many things in vain? 111; if it be yet in vain, 112.
5  He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles
among you, 113; doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing
6  of faith? 114. Even as Abraham believed God, 116; and it was ac7  counted to him for righteousness, 117. Know ye therefore, that they
which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham, 115, 119.
8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through
faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall
9  all nations be blessed, 120. So then they which be of faith are blessed
10  with faithful Abraham, 122. For as many as are of the works of the
law, 123; are under the curse, 123, 426: for it is written, Cursed is
every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
11  of the law to do them, 124. But that no man is justified by the law in
the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith, 125.
12  And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live
13  in them, 127. Christ hath redeemed us, 131; from the curse of the
law, 130; being made a curse for us, 131: for it is written, Cursed is
14  every one that hangeth on a tree, 132: that the blessing of Abraham, 125;
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, 133; that we might
15  receive the promise of the Spirit through faith, 136. Brethren, I speak
after the manner of men, 140; though it be but, 426; a man's covenant, 141; yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth there16  to, 141. Now to, 142; Abraham and his seed were the promises made,
142. He saith not, And to seeids, as of many; but as of one, And to
17  thy seed, which is Christ, 143. And this I say, that the covenant, that
was confirmed before of God in Christ, 145; the law, which was four
hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, 146; that it should
18  make the promise of none effect, 145. For if the inheritance, 147; be of
the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by
19  promise, 147. Wherefore then serveth the law? 148. It was added
because of transgressions, 149; till the seed should come to whom the
promise was made, 151; and it was ordained by angels, 152; in the
20  hand of a mediator, 153. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, 155;
21  but God is one, 160. Is the law then against the promises of God?
God forbid, 162: for if there had been a law given which could have
22  given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law, 163. But
the scripture hath concluded all under sin, 165; that the promise by
23  faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe, 166. But
before faith came, 170; we were kept under the law, shut up, 171;
24  unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed, 172. Wherefore
the law was our schoolmaster, 173; to bring us unto Christ, 174, 428;
25  that we might be justified by faith, 175. But after that faith is come,
26  176; we are no longer under a schoolmaster, 176. For ye are all the
27  children of God, 177; by faith in Christ Jesus, 178.' For as many of




xxviii                      CONTENTS.
Ver.
you as have been baptised into Christ, 178; have put on Christ, 180.
28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there
is neither male nor female, 181: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus,
29  181. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, 181; and heirs
according to the promise, 182.
CHAPTER IV.
1  Now I say, 185; That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing
2  from a servant, though he be lord of all, 185; but is under tutors and
3 governors, until the time appointed of the father, 186. Even so, 187;
we, when we were children, 187; were in bondage, 189; under the
4  elements of the world, 188: But when the fulness of the time, 191;
was come, God sent forth his Son, 193; made of a woman, 194; made
5  under the law, 195; to redeem them that were under the law, that we
6  might receive the adoption of sons, 191, 389-398. And because ye are
sons, 198; God hath sent forth, 199; the Spirit of his Son, 199; into
7  your hearts, 199; crying, Abba Father, 199, 398. Wherefore, 201;
thou art no more a servant, but a son, 201; and if a son, then an heir
8  of God through Christ, 201. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God,
9  206; ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods, 207. But
now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, 207;
how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye
10  desire again to be in bondage? 208. Ye observe days, and months, and
11  times, and years, 208. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon
12  you labour in vain, 209. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am: for I
13  am as ye are, 210: ye have not injured me at all, 212. Ye know how,
through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel unto you at the
14  first, 213. And my temptation which was in my flesh, 428; ye despised
not, nor rejected, 214; but received me as an angel of God, even as
15  Christ Jesus, 215. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I
bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out
16  your own eyes, and have given them to me, 215.  Am I therefore
17  become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? 216. They zealously
affect you, 221; but not well, 222; yea, they would exclude you, that
18  ye might affect them, 223.  But it is good to be zealously affected
always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you, 224.
19  My little children, 225; of whom I travail in birth again until Christ
20  be formed in you, 226; I desire to be present with you now, and to
21  change my voice, 227; for I stand in doubt of you, 227.  Tell me, ye
22  that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 229. For it is
written, 230; that Abraham had two sons; the one by a bond maid,
23  the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bond woman was
born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise, 230.
24  Which things are an allegory, 231: for these are the two covenants,
233; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage,




CONTENTS.                          XXix
Ver.
25  which is Agar, 234. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, 234;
and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her
26  children, 235. But Jerusalem which is above, 226, 429; is free, which
27  is the mother of us all, 238. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that
bearest not; break forth and cry thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which bath an husband, 232.
28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise, 239.
29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was
30  born after the Spirit, even so it is now, 240. Nevertheless, what saith
the Scripture? Cast out the bond woman and her son: for the son of
the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman, 243.
31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the
free, 254.
CHAPTER V.
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,
2 and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage, 251. Behold,
I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you
3 nothing, 258. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised,
4 that he is a debtor to do the whole law, 260. Christ is become of no
effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen
5 from grace, 262. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of
6 righteousness by faith, 266, 429. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh
7 by love, 268, 429. Ye did run well; who did hinder you, that ye
8 should not obey the truth? 270. This persuasion cometh not of him
9  that calleth you, 272. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, 273.
10  I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded, 274: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment,
11  whosoever he be, 275. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision,
why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased,
12  277. I would they were even cut off, 429; which trouble you, 279.
13  For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for
14  an occasion to the flesh, 283; but by love serve one another, 287. For
all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy
15  neighbour as thyself, 287. But if ye bite and devour one another, take
16  heed that ye be not consumed one of another, 289.  This I say then,
292; Walk in the Spirit, 292; and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the
17  flesh, 294. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other, 294; so
18  that ye cannot do, 430; the things that ye would, 296. But if ye be
19  led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law, 298. Now the works of
the flesh are manifest, 299; which are these; Adultery, 300; fornication,
20  300; uncleanness, 300; lasciviousness, 300; idolatry, 300; witchcraft,
300, 301; hatred, 300; variance, 300; emulations, 300; wrath, 300;




xxx                         CONTENTS.
Ver.
21  strife, 301; seditions, 301; heresies, 301; envyings, 301; murders, 301;
drunkenness, 301; revellings, 301; and such like, 302: of the which I
tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do
22  such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God, 302, 430. But the
fruit of the Spirit, 305; is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
23  goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, 304: against such there is no
24  law, 307. And they that are Christ's, 308; have crucified the flesh,
25  with the affections and lusts, 309.  If we live in the Spirit, 311; let us
26  also walk in the Spirit, 311. Let us not be desirous of vain-glory, 313;
provoking one another, envying one another, 314.
CHAPTER VI.
1  Brethren, if a man, 316; be overtaken in a fault, 316; ye which are
spiritual, 318; restore such an one, 317, 320, 321; in the spirit of meek2 ness, 318; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted, 319. Bear ye
3 one another's burdens, 323; and so fulfil the law of Christ, 325. For if
a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth
4 himself, 327. But let every man prove his own work, 329; and then
5 shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another, 330. For
6 every man shall bear his own burden, 331. Let him that is taught
in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things, 334,
7 400. Be not deceived, 335; God is not mocked, 337: for whatsoever a
8 man soweth, that shall he also reap, 337. For he that soweth to his
flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption, 338; but he that soweth to
9 the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting, 340, 431. And let
us not be weary in well-doing, 342: for in due season we shall reap, if
10  we faint not, 344. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good
unto all men, 346; especially unto them who are of the household of
11  faith, 347. Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with
12  mine own hand, 354. As many as desire to make a fair show in the
flesh, 357; they constrain you to be circumcised, 358; only lest they
13  should suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ, 359. For neither
they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have
14  you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh, 360. But God
forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
363; by whom the world is crucified unto me, 370; and I unto the
15  world, 373. For in Christ Jesus, 377; neither circumcision availeth,
16  378; any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, 379. And
as many as walk according to this rule, 381; peace be on them, and
17  mercy, and upon the Israel of God, 382. From henceforth let no man
trouble me, 383: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,
18  384. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Amen, 385.
~T Unto the Galatians, written from Rome, 384.




AN EXPOSITION
OF THE
EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.




" Commentarii quid operis habent?  Alterius dicta edisserunt; que obscure
scripta sunt plano sermone manifestant; multorum sententias replicant; et dicunt,
hunc locum quidam sic edisserunt, alii sic interpretantur; illi sensum  suum et
intelligentiam his testimoniis et hac nituntur ratione formare; ut prudens lector cum
diversas explanationes legerit, et multorum vel probanda vel improbanda didicerit,
judicet quid verum sit." —HIERONYMUS, Apol. adv. Ruff Lib. I.




AN EXPOSITION
OF TTIE
EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLE PAUL
TO THEl
GALAT IAN S.
PROLE G OMEN A.
SECT. I.-THE PERSONS TO WHOM THE EPISTLE IS ADDRESSED.
GALAT1A, or Gallo-Graecia, to the Christian inhabitants of which
this epistle was addressed, is a large district in Asia-Minor,
situated between Bithynia and Cappadocia, forming a portion of
the region now known under the name of Anatolia. It derived
its ancient name from being inhabited principally by the descendants of a horde of Gauls, consisting of three tribes, the Tr6cmi,'
the Tolistob6gii,2 and the Tectosages,3 who, finding their own
country too small for its population, emigrated soon after the
death of Alexander the Great-about 300 years before the
birth of Christ (278) —and proceeding eastward, secured for
themselves a settlement in the Asiatic regions.4  In the course
of time, they intermingled with the Greek inhabitants, and thus
got the name Gallo-Graeci, just as the Germans settled in England were called Anglo-Saxons, though (according to Jerome)
1 TpO'KIOL.        2 ToXtcrro.3oiytot.     O TEKTOaroES.
4 Wernsdorff, de Republica Gallorum. Pelloutier, Histoire des Celtes, et
particulierement des Gaulois.
A




2                EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.               [PROL.
still retaining, even so late as the fifth century, much of the
dialect and manners of their Celticl ancestors: at the same time,
like the other inhabitants of Asia-Minor, they generally spoke
the Greek language; so that the apostle's epistle would be
sufficiently intelligible to them.2 During the reign of Augustus,
Galatia was converted into a Roman province, and placed under
the government of a proprator. The inhabitants of this region
were generally idolaters, worshipping the Grecian divinities,
though it is likely that their religious observances were modified
by the traditionary superstitions which the original settlers
brought along with them from the west of Europe. In this
district, as indeed throughout Asia-Minor, there seem to have
been many Jews, and not a few proselytes to Judaism.3
Such was the state of Galatia when the Apostle Paul appeared
in it, preaching to its inhabitants the " glad tidings of salvation
through Jesus Christ." That it was through the instrumentality
of Paul that Christianity was introduced into this province,
and a number of Christian churches founded, is abundantly
apparent from chap. iv. 13-19; but it is not quite so easy to say
at what particular time these events took place.  It is certain
that the apostle was at least twice in Galatia.4  Some have
supposed that the Galatians were converted by him soon after
his first visit to Jerusalem,5 when he went to his native country
Cilicia, which was at no great distance from Galatia; and as he
spent a considerable number of years in those regions before
Barnabas came and brought him to Antioch, this account of the
matter is by no means improbable. Others suppose that the
churches of Galatia were planted by Paul and Barnabas in their
first journey, after they had been solemnly set apart to the work of
the gospel among the Gentiles.6 Galatia is not indeed expressly
mentioned in the history of that missionary tour; but they are
1 Their original name, KeXrot, KE;TaL, appears somewhat disguised under
their later appellation raXatrat.
2 c" Galatas, excepto sermone Greco quo omnis Oriens loquitur propriam
linguam eandem prope habere quam Treviros." Hieronym. Prol. in Ep. ad
Gal. The subject of the language of the Galatians is discussed in Jablonski's, dissertation " De Lingua Lycaonica."
3 For a fuller account of these matters may be consulted, - Hoffmann's
dissertation " De Antiqua Galatia," and his " Introductio TheologicoCritica ad Lectionem Epp. Pauli ad Gal. et Coloss."
Acts xvi. 6; xviii. 23.   5 Acts ix. 26. Gal. i. 18.   6 Acts xiii, 1-3.




SECT. III.]    THE SUBJECT OF THE EPISTLE.               3
said' to have preached the gospel "in the region that lies round
about Lycaonia," and there is no doubt that Galatia may be
included in this general description. In the Acts of the Apostles,
chap. xvi. 6, and chap. xviii. 23, we read of the apostle being in
Galatia; but it seems plain enough that on both these occasions
he found churches already established. At whatever period the
apostle first came to the Galatians, his labours were remarkably
successful.  Though apparently suffering severely from some
bodily disease, they received him as an angel of God, and his
message with a readiness and affection altogether remarkable.2
SECT. II.-THE OCCASION OF THE EPISTLE.
It appearis that not very long after their conversion to Christianity,' the Galatian churches were visited by some false teachers
who professed to be Christians, but who insisted that, on the part
even of the converted Gentiles, submission to circumcision and
an observance of the Mosaic ritual were necessary in order to
salvation.  As this doctrine was in direct opposition to the
gospel as it had been taught by the apostle and confirmed by
miracles, these false teachers left no means untried to shake the
attachment of the Galatian churches to their spiritual father,
intimating that he was no apostle, in the proper sense of the
word, but merely a preacher sent out by the churches at
Jerusalem or Antioch; that he was not consistent in his teaching
respecting circumcision; that he had abandoned the opinion he
had once held, and now taught the necessity of submission to the
law of Moses, even on the part of believing Gentiles. These unprincipled exertions seem to have been attended with but too
much success. To stop the progress of this defection, and to
bring back to the simplicity of the faith of Christ as to the ground
of acceptance with God, those who had been seduced; and, in
subordination to this object, to vindicate his own character from
the aspersions cast on it, the apostle wrote this epistle.
SECT. III.-THE SUBJECT OF THE EPISTLE.
The subject of this epistle is materially the same with that of
the Epistle to the Romans —the ground of a sinner's acceptance
with God-the Divine method of justification; but it is of im1 Acts xiv. 6.        2 Gal. iv. 15.        3 Gal. i. 6, 7.




4                EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.               [PROL.
portance to remark, that it is not viewed exactly in the same aspect,
nor treated in the same way, as in that epistle. " Agit apostolus,"
says Erasmus, " in hac epistola, quod nusquam non agit, ut a legis
Mosaicae servitute invitet ad evangelii gratiam. Quod idem agit
in epistola ad Romanos: namn utrisque idem error acciderat sed
diversa ratione." The diversity of these two epistles, which have
so much in common, arises from the circumstance, that the apostle
has to do in each of them with a different set of adversaries.1
In the Epistle to the Romans, in opposition both to Gentiles,
who expected to be rewarded on account of the merit of their good
works, and to unbelieving Jews, who expectedjustification through
obedience to their law, and who maintained that the Gentiles
could not be saved except by submitting to it, he shows that
men are restored to the Divine favour not by obedience to any
law, but by believing the truth as it is in Jesus,'"who was
delivered for men's offences and raised again for their justification;" and that whosoever does this, whether Jew  or Gentile,
shall certainly be saved.
In the Epistle to the Galatians, he contends not with Jews
rejecting Christianity, but with Jews professing to embrace it;
yet teaching that the observance of the law of Moses, as well as
the acknowledgment of Jesus as the Messiah, was necessary to
the salvation even of the Gentiles. In opposition to this dogma
he teaches, that the Mosaic institution in all its extent never was
capable of justifying any person-that it was never intended for
this purpose-that it was now entirely abrogated-and that for
men to observe its requisitions with the intention of securing to
themselves God's favour, was not only lost labour, but was a
material renunciation of the grand characteristic doctrine of
Christianity, to wit, that men are restored to the Divine favour
entirely on the ground of Christ's merits, and entirely by means
of faith in him. The doctrine is substantially the same in both
1 "Sciatis eandem esse materiara Epistolhe Pauli ad Galatas, et quse ad
Romanos scripta est: sed hoc differre inter utramque, quod in illa, altiore
sensu et profundioribus usus est argumentis: hic quasi ad eos scribens de
quibus in consequentibus ait 0 insensati Galathe et sic insipientes estis? tali
sermone moderatus est quod increparet potius quam doceret et quem possent
stulti intelligere, ut communes sententias communi oratione vestiret: et quae
ratio suadere non poterat, revocaret auctoritas."-HIERONYM. ad Paul. et
Eustoch.




SECT. IV.]   DATE AND PLACE OF THE EPISTLE.               5
epistles. But in the Epistle to the Romans it is laid down in its
most general form; in the Epistle to the Galatians it is laid down
with a peculiar reference to the false doctrine taught by the
Jewish teachers. At the same time it is worthy of remark, that
as, in the general doctrine of the Epistle to the Romans,' that
justification is not by law,' the particular doctrine of the Epistle
to the Galatians,'that justification is not by the Mosaic law,' is
necessarily included; so from the principles on which the apostle
in this epistle shows that justification is not by the Mosaic law,
the general doctrine, that it is not by law at all, necessarily
follows.
It also deserves to be noticed, to rescue the apostle from the
charge of inconsistency which has sometimes been brought
against him, that the opinions respecting the Mosaic law which,
in the xiv. and xv. chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, he
represents as, though mistakes, yet proper subjects of forbearance
on the part of the better informed Christians, and those which in
this epistle he represents as utterly subversive of the gospel of
Christ, are materially different. The persons mentioned in the
Epistle to the Romans were sincere Christians, who looked to
Christ, and Christ alone, for salvation, but who, not being satisfied
in their minds as to the abolition of the Mosaic institute, still continued to observe its requisitions, not as means of justification,
but merely as religious duties-observances divinely enjoined,
and never formally repealed. The persons referred to in this
epistle were men who professed Christianity without understanding it, —men who, for secular ends, had become teachers, and
who insisted that circumcision and the keeping of the law were
as necessary as faith in Christ in order to justification and
salvation. It is no way wonderful, that though the apostle
could bear with the former as well-intentioned though misinformed Christians, he would "give place to the others, no, not
for an hour;" regarding them as the most dangerous enemies of
Christianity-traitors to the Saviour's authority and murderers
of the souls of men.
SECT. IV.-THE DATE OF THE EPISTLE, AND THE PLACE
FROM WHICH IT WAS WRITTEN.
Some have supposed this to be the first epistle written by
Paul. This is the opinion of Tertullian and Epiphanius. Others




6                EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.                [PROL.
consider it as probably one of the last he wrote. This is the
opinion of Theodoret. Chrysostom says it was written previously to the Epistle to the Romans. The only internal indication of date is in chap. i. 6; but it is impossible to say whether
" so soon "1 refers to a short period intervening, between their
receiving the gospel from the apostle and their apostasy, or
between the arrival of the false teachers among them and the
success of their machinations. As to the time, therefore, when
this epistle was written, it seems impossible to arrive at certainty.
It could scarcely, however, be written earlier than A.D. 49, or
later than 58.
A similar uncertainty rests on the place from whence it was
written. It was probably from some place in Greece-Proper or
in Macedonia. It is all but certain that the account given in the
note at the end of the epistle is not the true one. Wherever it
was written, it seems pretty evident that it could not be written
from Rome, to which the apostle did not come sooner than A.D.
60.2
SECT. V.-GENUINENESS OF THE EPISTLE.
With regard to the genuineness of this epistle, the evidence,
both external and internal, is abundant, and of the most conclusive and satisfactory kind.  Indeed, so far as I know, it has
never been seriously questioned.   It is quoted by the apostolic
fathers, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp. Irenaeus
gives evidence in its favour. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian,
Origen, and all subsequent Christian writers, refer to it as of
undoubted authority. It was known, too, to the ancient heretics,
and by them ascribed to its true author. The evidence is to be
found at large in Lardner's " Credibility of the Gospel History,"
Part ii., chaps. ii., iii., iv., v., vi., xvii., xxii., xxvii., xxxviii.,
lxxii.
OVWh) TaXeco.
2 Dr Davidson has examined the question respecting the date of the
epistle, and the place from which it was written, with great care and candour.
He supposes it most likely that it was written from Ephesus about A.D. 55.
-Introduction, vol. ii. p. 292, et seq.
3 It does not belong to Eusebius' class of dvrtXEyOd'.aZ ypat ai, but to
that of the,evlaOlKoL Kal 6ooyo/otervaL ypar/al, what he elsewhere calls
at Ka7ta rT)V EKKXt)CLao(TLK'V 7rapaiOctL (JX]JeS Kal crXaCTrolt Kal cIvw/AoXoyLzEVLat
ypaoal.




SECT. V.]      GENUINENESS OF THE EPISTLE.                7
The internal evidence of'the genuineness of the epistle has
been placed in a very striking point of view by Dr Paley, in his
"Horm Paulin:"" The argument of this epistle in some measure proves its
antiquity. It will hardly be doubted but that it was written
whilst the dispute concerning the circumcision of gentile converts was fresh in men's minds; for, even supposing it to have
been a forgery, the only credible motive that can be assigned for
the forgery was to bring the name and authority of the apostle
into this controversy. No design could be so insipid, or so unlikely to enter into the thoughts of any man, as to produce an
epistle written earnestly and pointedly upon one side of a controversy, when the controversy itself was dead, and the question
no longer interesting to any description of readers whatever.
Now, the controversy concerning the circumcision of the gentile
Christians was of such a nature that, if it arose at all, it must
have arisen in the beginning of Christianity. As Judea was the
scene of the Christian history; as the Author and preachers of
Christianity were Jews; as the religion itself acknowledged and
was founded upon the Jewish religion, in contradistinction to
every other religion then professed amongst mankind; it was
not to be wondered at that some of its teachers should carry it
out in the world rather as a sect and modification of Judaism,
than as a separate original revelation; or that they should invite
their proselytes to those observances in which they lived themselves. This was likely to happen; but if it did not happen at
first, —if, whilst the religion was in the hands of Jewish teachers,
no such claim was advanced, no such condition was attempted
to be imposed, it is not probable that the doctrine would be
started, much less that it should prevail, in any future period.
I likewise think that those pretensions of Judaism were much
more likely to be insisted upon whilst the Jews continued a
nation, than after their fall and dispersion; whilst Jerusalem
and the temple stood, than after the destruction brought upon
them by the Roman arms, the fatal cessation of the sacrifice and
the priesthood, the humiliating loss of their country, and with it,
of the great rites and symbols of their institution. It should
seem, therefore, from the nature of the subject, and the situation
of the parties, that this controversy was carried on in the interval
between the preaching of Christianity to the Gentiles, and the




8              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.           [PROL.
invasion of Titus; and that our present epistle, which was undoubtedly intended to bear a part in this controversy, must be
referred to the same period.
" But, again, the epistle supposes that certain designing adherents of the Jewish law had crept into the churches of
Galatia, and had been endeavouring, and. but too successfully,
to persuade the Galatic converts that they had been taught the
new religion imperfectly and at second hand; that the founder
of their church himself possessed only an inferior and deputed
commission, the seat of truth and authority being in the apostles
and elders of Jerusalem: moreover, that whatever he might
profess amongst them, he had himself at other times, and in
other places, given way to the doctrine of circumcision. The
epistle is unintelligible without supposing all this. Referring
therefore to this, as to what had actually passed, we find St Paul
treating so unjust an attempt to undermine his credit, and to
introduce amongst his converts a doctrine which he had uniformly reprobated, in terms of great asperity and indignation.
And in order to refute the suspicions which had been raised
concerning the fidelity of his teaching, as well as to assert the
independency and divine original of his mission, we find him
appealing to the history of his conversion, to his conduct after
it, to the manner in which he had conferred with the apostles
when he met with them at Jerusalem, —alleging, that so far was
his doctrine from being derived from them, or they from exercising any superiority over him, that they had simply assented
to what he had already preached amongst the Gentiles, and
which preaching was communicated, not by them to him, but by
himself to them; that he had maintained the liberty of the
gentile church, by opposing, upon one occasion, an apostle to
the face, when the timidity of his behaviour seemed to endanger
it; that from the first, that all along, that to that hour, he had
constantly resisted the claims of Judaism; and that the persecutions which he daily underwent at the hands or by the instigation of the Jews, and of which he bore in his person the marks
and scars, might have been avoided by him, if he had consented
to employ his labours in bringing, through the medium of Christianity, converts over to the Jewish institution, for then' would
the offence of the cross have ceased.' Now, an impostor who
had forged the epistle for the purpose of producing St Paul's




SECT. V.]        GENUINENESS OF THE EPISTLE.                      9
authority in the dispute, which, as hath been observed, is the
only credible motive that can be assigned for the forgery, might
have made the apostle deliver his opinion upon the subject in
strong and decisive terms, or might have put his name to a train
of reasoning and argumentation upon that side of the question
which the imposture was intended to recommend. I can allow
the possibility of such a scheme as that. But for a writer, with
this purpose in view, to feign a series of transactions supposed
to have passed amongst the Christians of Galatia, and then to
counterfeit expressions of anger and resentment excited by these
transactions; to make the apostle travel back into his own history, and into a recital of various passages of his life, some indeed directly, but others obliquely, and others even obscurely
bearing upon the point in question; in a word, to substitute
narrative for argument, expostulation and complaint for dogmatic
positions and controversial reasoning, in a writing properly controversial, and of which the aim and design was to support one
side of a much agitated question, is a method so intricate, and
so unlike the methods pursued by all other impostors, as to require very flagrant proofs of imposition to induce us to believe
it to be one." 
The argument for the genuineness of the epistle, from the
obviously undesigned coincidences between it and the Acts of
the Apostles, is also very clearly stated by the same most judicious writer. The general principles on which that argument
rests are brought out in Nos. II. and III. of the chapter in
"Horae Pauline " already referred to.  The particular instances
in which it applies will be referred to in the course of the Exposition.2
1 Hor. Paul. chap. v. No. I.
2 The following Table, taken from Dr Davidson, is valuable, both as furnishing evidence of the epistle's authenticity, and materials for its right interpretation:Parallels between the Epistle to the Galatians and that to the Romans.
Gal. ii. 16.    Rom. iii. 30.      Gal. v. 14.    Rom. xiii. 8-10.... ii. 19.....  vii. 4.... v. 17.... vii. 13-24.
iii. 6....... iv. 3.... v. 19-21,... i. 28-31.... iii. 7.         iv. 12; ix. 6, 7.... vi. 1, 2.  xv. 1-3... iii. 13........   iii.... 6; iv. 1-7.  1ii. 17-29....  iv. 4.......   viii. 3....  iv. 21-31..   iii. 9, etc.... iv. 5, 6... viii. 14-17.     v. 1-6.          v. 21....  iv. 28....   ix. 7.




10              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.             [PROL.
SECT. VI. —GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE EPISTLE.
The character of the epistle is, upon the whole, a divine
vehemence mingled with affectionate tenderness. Erasmus goes
too far when he says that in it the apostle " reprehendit magis
quam docet." He reproves, but he teaches even more than he
reproves; and his very reproof is teaching. He is nearer the
truth when he describes it as " vehemens et acris oratio" breathing " salubris austeritas et clemens saevitia." Theophylact's remark is just  " noXXo~ 7-T rrpoo4,Lo 7/EL VLOUO Kalt rraqa OXEaoV?7
trTroX7u' roT yap aEcl erEtEKEvecTOa  T0oat Lros taTala ErrtrtrOEeoe &Eot.iVOLt, o
M8&aKAgXov."  Jerome's description of the apostle's eloquence, as
displayed in this and his other epistles, is very graphic: " Paulum
apostolum quotiescunque lego, videor mihi non verba, sed audire
tonitrua.  Legito epistolas ejus et maxime ad Romanos, ad
Galatas, ad Ephesios, in quibus totus in certamine positus est:
et videbis eum in testimoniis qua sumit de Veteri Testamento,
quam  artifex, quam prudens, quam  dissimulator sit ejus quod
agrit: videntur quidem  verba simnplicia, et quasi innocentis
hominis, et rusticani et qui nec facere, nec declinare noverit insidias sed quocunque respexeris fulmina sunt."l
Not less striking is the master-sketch of a living writer,"4 The mind of Paul is rapid as the lightning, and yet strikes,
by its zigzag impetuosity, every projecting point that approaches
its path; and, still undelayed by these deflexions, attains instantaneously the goal."2
The careful student of his writings generally, and especially of
this epistle, will probably concur with the learned and judicious
Beza in a eulogium which, to a superficial reader, may appear
exaggerated.  " Quum orationes ipsius totam indolem et xapaKipa propius considero, nullam ego in ipso Platone similem grandiloquentiam, quoties illi libuit Dei mysteria detonare; nullam
in Demosthene parem  e6v7orTra comperisse me fateor, quoties
animos metu divini judicii perterrefacere, vel commonefacere,
vel ad contemplandam  divinam  comitatem  attrahere vel ad
pietatis ac misericordime officia constituit adhortari; nullam
1 Hieronym. ad Pammachium
2 Douglas's'Structure of Prophecy, I)p. 99.




SECT. VII.]    THE DIVISION OF THE EPISTLE.              11
-denique vel in ipso Aristotele et Galeno, proestantissimis alioquin
artificibus magis exactam docendi methodum invenio." " Quanta
subtilitate," to borrow the classic words of the accomplished
Winer respecting this epistle, "quam singulari solertia, quam
egregio ordine in hac disputatione usus est apostolus, quamque
accommodate ad Judaeorum ingenia, i. e. quam efficaciter exposita sunt omnia! Nihil facile addiderit quisquam, quod argumentorum incredibilem vim augeat, nihil demserit quod absonum
aut debile, nihil trajecerit quod alieno loco positum videatur.
Bene omnia composita absolutaque sunt, aequabiliter fluunt, et
his, qui legant assensum prene extorquent." It is justly remarked
by Dr Davidson, " A fiery energy pervades the epistle; an impetuous tone marks it. Yet the matter is well arranged. The
order is clear. Idea after idea, and proof after proof, are consecutively disposed."-" The character of the apostle is strikingly
impressed on it.  Strong emotion, manly earnestness, a tone
emphatic and sharp, alternating by easy transitions with mild,
affectionate sympathy, bespeak the energetic Paul."'
SECT. VII.-THE DIVISION OF THE EPISTLE.
It is justly remarked by Riccaltoun, that " those who know any
thing of epistolary writing will not expect the methodical exactness of an accurate treatise, much less the-formality of a scholastic
disputant. The writer who understands his business will never,
indeed, lose sight of the point he has in view, nor omit anything
that is necessary or proper for attaining his purpose; but at the
same time he will lay the materials together in such an easy
natural way, that every new thought shall appear to be suggested
by what went before, until the whole plan is finished; each part
throwing light upon another, and all of them making one consistent piece.  The epistle before us will be found to be an
absolute masterpiece in this way of writing." The following
seem to be the divisions into which the epistle naturally resolves
itself:-I. The Inscription, chap. i. 1-5. II. The Introduction,
chap. i. 6-10. III. The Apostle's Historical Defence of Himself
and of his Office, chap. i. 11-ii. 21.  IV. His Defence of
his Doctrine, chap. iii. 1-iv. 8.' V. His Expostulations with,
1 Introd., vol. ii. p. 316,




12               EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.               [PROL.
and Warnings of, the Galatians, chap. iv. 9-v. 12.  VI. Practical Injunctions, chap. v. 13-vi. 10. VII. Postscript,' chap.
vi. 11-18.
SECT. VIII. —TIE INTERPRETERS OF THE EPISTLE.
It may be proper to say a few words in reference to the best
interpreters of this interesting portion of inspired scripture-one
of the " weightiest" of the letters of the great apostle of the
Gentiles. Chrysostom is, beyond all doubt, the best expositor
of this epistle among the Greek fathers.  To use the words of
Winer, " Omnibus quotquot in ecclesia Grmeca deinceps secuti
sunt, interpretibus facem quasi praetulit, et a multis transcriptus,
a nemine superatus est." Few interpreters of any age have more
carefully and successfully employed the great instruments of right
interpretation, the usus loquendi-history-and the scope of the
writer.  Theodoret, CEcumenius, and Theophylact, are valuable
chiefly from their having borrowed very largely from Chrysostom.
Jerome among the Latin fathers, though too much a follower of
Origen in mystic interpretation, gives in many instances just
views of the meaning of words and phrases, and the force of statements and arguments.  Augustine and Ambrose are dogmatic
rather than grammatical expositors, and betray gross ignorance
of the Greek language.2  The remark of Castellanus is severe,
but we are afraid just, "Augustinumn in exponenda scriptura
somniasse." In expounding Scripture, Augustine dreams rather
than interprets.
Among the Roman Catholics, Cornelius a Lapide deserves to
be consulted for his liberal quotations from the fathers; and Estius
is, upon the whole, a judicious interpreter.
Among the Reformers, Luther is the most celebrated commentator on this epistle. His work, however, is more remarkable
1 Non vereor, ne opus sit monere, hanc epistolhe distributionem non ita esse
interpretandum, quasi vero concinnam quandam ac rhetoricam partium descriptionem hic venandam esse existimaremus; quod videlicet artificium a
Paulino scribendi genere alienissirnum esse, ut quisque est liberalis N. F.
interpres, ita libenter fatetur."-BoRGER.
2"Augustine's'Expositio Epistolae ad Galatas' is still, with regard to
the principal contents, namely, its communications as to the connection between the law and the gospel, uncommonly instructive and suggestive."OLSHAUSEN.




SECT. VIII.]   TIlE INTERPRETERS OF THE EPISTLE.                 13
for the light it throws on some of the most important points of
Christian theology and religious experience, than for accurate
exegesis. Luther's commentary should be read in the original
Latin. There is much truth in Dr Rodolph Cudworth's remark,
(Ep. Ded. to Perkins's Corn. on Gal.), " that it has lost much of
its strength and taken wind by changing from language to language, as wine from one vessel to another," —an observation but
too generally applicable to translations.
Luther's commentary on the Galatians is a very remarkable
book. It was a favourite with himself, and he used to call the
epistle, after the name of his much-loved wife, his Catherine
de Bora. In the later editions it is so much altered and enlarged
as to be quite a different work from the earlier editions. It contains some doubtful doctrine, and much unguarded language;
yet it is very valuable as an illustration of its author's character,
as well as of some of the great binding-together principles of the
Christian system. It is justly remarked by Archdeacon Hare,
" that they who look into it expecting to find a learned critical
commentary, will be disappointed. It is not such, nor was ever' To prevent equally the notion that this remark was uncalled for, and that
it means more than it was intended to do, it is best to give a short specimen of
what is referred to. " All the prophets did foresee in spirit that Christ should
become the greatest transgressor, murderer, adulterer, thief, rebel, and blasphemer, that ever was or could be in all the world. For he, being made a
sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, is not now an innocent person, and
without sin-is not now the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary-but a
sinner, who carrieth the sin of Paul, who was a blasphemer, an oppressor, a
persecutor; of Peter, who denied Christ; of David, who was an adulterer, a
murderer, and caused the Gentiles to blaspheme the name of the Lord; and,
briefly, who hath and beareth all the sins of all men in his body; not that
he himself hath committed them, but for that he received them, being committed or done of us, and laid them upon his own body, that he might make
satisfaction for them with his own blood. Therefore, this general sentence
of Moses, Deut. xxi. 23, comprehendeth him also (although in his own person he was innocent), because it found him among sinners and transgressors;
and when it found him among thieves, condemned and killed him as a thief."
-Com. on Gal., iii. 13.  Now, the great German meant no harm.  He
merely intended to give a strong statement of the vicariolus nature of our
Lord's sufferings; but assuredly here, and on the subject of the Christian's
relation to the law, he does not use " words that become sound doctrine"1" sound speech that cannot be condemned." Such statements provoke ridicule
on the part of the enemies of evangelical truth, and excite deep regret in all
its enlightened friends.




14               EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.               [PROL.
intended to be such.  At times, the author's strong will makes
passages bend somewhat reluctantly to his interpretation; but,
upon the whole, it is marvellous how he enters into Paul's mind,
and draws forth his thoughts and expands them."  It is a high
encomium, especially considering whence it comes, pronounced
by John Bunyan on this book.  "I prefer this book of Martin
Luther's (excepting the Bible) before all the books that I have
ever seen, as most fit for a wounded conscience." l Calvin's commentarv, though shorter, is much more valuable as an exposition.2
It is made accessible to the English reader by Mr Pringle's excellent translation.
Brentius on this epistle is, as usual, judicious. Hyperius,
"interpres eximius," as Borger justly calls him, maintains his
character in his comment on this epistle. Pareus is here, as
elsewhere, a judicious dogmatical expositor, with many valuable
exegetical remarks.
In the age that immediately followed, Grotius, though his
views of justification lead him to misinterpret some passages,3
occupies the first place.  Since that period, among the continental divines, Bengel,4 Wessel (Witsius' successor); Launay
~ accutissimus in  paucis interpres,"  as Borger truly styles
him; Semler, Rosenmiller, Koppe, Morus, Borger, Winer,
Schott, and Olshausen, deserve to be consulted;5 and among
British expositors, exclusive of the commentators on the whole
Bible or New Testament, Perkins, Locke, and Chandler, hold
the first place, though it must be admitted that the two last
take very low and limited views of the apostle's object in the
1 "c Lutherus in Epistolam ad Galatas Commentarios scripsit satis amplos,
eruditionis atque ingenii testes locupletissimos quanquam satis constat eum in
rebus magis illustrandis quam in explicandis vocabulis versari." —WINER.
2 "c Calvinus in bane epistolam commentatus est, miramque in pervidenda
Apostoli mente subtilitatem, in exponenda perspicuitatem  probavit."WINE R.
3 "Grotio magnne in literis sacris explicandis diligentice, mirificie artis,
varie denique eruditionis laudes deberi, nunc quidem sciunt atque profitentur omnes qui aliquid sapiunt."-WINER.
4," Bengelius magnam sagacitatem, in rimandis ac presse explicandis Ap.
sententiis verborum etiam minimorum significatibus, consumsit."-WINER.
6 There is a commentary on this epistle by Vitringa in Dutch, mentioned
by Wolfius. It would be worth while to have it examined, and, if at all of
like merit with the commentary on Isaiah, to have it translated.




SECT. VIII.]   THE INTERPRETERS OF THE EPISTLE.          15
epistle. Barnes's notes are creditable to the diligence, acuteness,
and piety of their author; and Ferguson's, Boston's, and Haldane's
brief expositions are orthodox and practical; but a satisfactory
exposition of the epistle in the English language will readily
be admitted to be still a desideratum.




PART I.
INSCRIPTION OF THE EPISTLE.
GALATIANS I. 1-5. —" Paul, an apostle (not of men, neither by man, but
by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead), and
all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: Grace
be to you, and peace, from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present
evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: to whom be glory
for ever and ever. Amen."
ACCORDING to the custom of the age, the apostle begins with a
short description of himself and his correspondents, connected
with a wish for their happiness.
Paul was above the affectation of singularity. In the form of
his epistles, he follows the ordinary custom of his country and
age; and he thus teaches us that a Christian ought not to be
unnecessarily singular.  By readily complying with innocent
customs, we are the more likely, when we conscientiously abstain
from what we account sinful customs, to impress the minds of
those around us that we have some other and better reason for
our conduct than whim or humour. Yet the apostle contrives
to give, even to the inscription of his letter, a decidedly Christian
character; and shows us that, though we should not make an
ostentatious display of our Christianity, yet, if we are truly
religious, our religion will give a colour to the whole of our
conduct: even what may seem most remote from direct religious
employment will be tinged by it. The manner in which the
apostle manages the inscription of this and his other letters, is a
fine illustration of his own injunction, A" Whatsoever ye do in
word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving




P. I. ~ 1.]            THE AUTHOR.                      17
thanks to God and the Father by him."' He shows his Christianity even in the mode of addressing his letters.
SECT. I. —THE AUTHOR.
l. His Name.
But let us look a little more closely into the terms of this
inscription. "Paul."  It is probable that the apostle, from his
infancy, had two names: "Saul," a Jewish, and "Paul," a
Roman name.
It was common among Roman citizens to give their children
what was called a cognomen, in addition to the nomen answering
to our family name, and the prwenomen answering to our Christian
name; and this cognomen often referred to something in the appearance, or to some remarkable event in the history, of the individual. It is not unlikely that our apostle received " Paul" as
his cognomen from his " weak bodily appearance."2 Ecclesiastical
tradition represents him as a person of diminutive size.3
It was no uncommon thing among the Jews to have two
names. In ancient times, Solomon and Jedidiah, Azariah and
Uzziah. Under the Chaldeans and Persians we find Jews with
two names,-one Jewish, the other Chaldean or Persian: Daniel,
Belteshazzar; Hananiah, Shadrach; Mishael, Meshach; Azariah,
Abednego; Nehemiah, Attirshatha. A similar custom prevailed
under the Greek successors of Alexander: Joshua, Jason; Onias,
Menelaus.4  Under the Romans, Latin surnames seem to have
been common among the Jews. In the royal family of the
Herods, we find Agrippa and Drusilla. The custom seems to
have extended to the common people also. John, sister's son to
Barnabas, besides his Hebrew name, had the Roman name
Marcus. Paul's companion, Silas, is also denominated Silvanus.
Paul seems to have used his Roman name exclusively after
his solemn separation to the ministry of the Gentiles.5 His
object, probably, was to show, that he had divested himself of
all Jewish prejudices, and to secure to himself that respect and
attention, which Gentiles were more likely to show to one
1 Col. iii. 17.                          22 Cor. x. 10.
s Paulus is used to signify very small or little by Terence.'Jos. Antiq. ix. 6.                      5 Acts xiii. 2, 9.
B




18              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.   [CHAP. I. 1-5.
who bore a name which seemed to imply that he who bore it
was a Roman citizen, than to one whose very name told them
he belonged to the obnoxious nation, hating, and hated by, all
the world. If this is the true account of the matter, we have
here a display of Paul's prudence, and knowledge of human
nature; his attention to the most minute circumstances which
might affect his usefulness; his care not to increase the difficulties
in the way of men's conversion by awakening their prejudices;in one word, to use his own language, his " becoming all things
to all men, that by all means he might save some." It was not,
however, to his dignity, as a descendant of Abraham, or a citizen
of Rome, that the apostle wished to draw the attention of his
Galatian correspondents. It was to the office which he held in
the Christian church. The style and appellation by which he
was anxious to be known, was neither a Hebrew of the Hebrews,
nor a Denizen of the Imperial City, but a Christian Apostle.
2. His Ofice.
Paul describes himself as " an apostle."  The word " apostle"
is precisely of equivalent meaning with the term " messenger." 1
It indicates a person employed by another to execute some commission. Thus, the persons appointed by the churches of iMacedonia to carry, along with Paul, their contributions to the poor
saints at Jerusalem, are termed "the messengers," or apostles,
"of the churches." 2 And Epaphroditus is termed the " messenger," or apostle, of the Philippians.3 It is ordinarily employed
in the New Testament as the appropriate appellation of the
highest order of the Christian ministry. The twelve disciples
chosen by our Lord himself; as distinguished from evangelists,
prophets, and ordinary pastors,-Matthias, who was chosen to
occupy the place of Judas, the traitor,-Paul, and Barnabas,are the only individuals who, in this sense, receive this honourable name. The distinguishing marks of an apostle seem to have
been, direct instruction by, and commission from, Jesus Christ;
the power of communicating the Holy Ghost by the laying on
of their hands; and authority to superintend and guide the
catholic Christian church.4
1 John xiii. 16. —" Missus," "legatus."    2 2 Cor. viii. 23.
3 Phil. ii. 25.   4 Vide article " Apostle," Kitto's " Cyclopaedia."




P. I. ~ 1.]              THE AUTHOR.                         19
As there were false apostles,' and as Paul's apostleship had
been called in question, and represented as of a secondary and
inferior kind-as if he had been an apostle of the apostles, or an
apostle of the church of Jerusalem, rather than an apostle of
Christ, —he is not contented with merely calling himself an
apostle, but goes on to describe what kind of an apostle he was.
Christians, and especially Christian ministers, ought not to be
ambitious of distinctions, nor very forward in claiming, in every
case, the respect which properly belongs to them; but when
their usefulness is endangered by men endeavouring to rob
them of the authority which belongs to their office or character,
it is a false modesty which would keep them back from asserting
their rights. Paul was a modest man; but he would not silently
allow any man to deny or extenuate the official authority with
which Jesus Christ had invested him.
He was "an apostle, not of 2 men, neither by2 man."  The
full expression is,'not constituted or commissioned by men.' 3
Some have supposed, that all that the apostle meant by these
words, was merely to assert that his commission was not of
human but of Divine origin.4 "This imports something, not
only greatly more than a Divine permission, or even what is
brought about in the course of ordinary providence,-it is the
same thing as the express appointment and authoritative order
of that God whose apostle he was." 5 The apostolic office was
not what Peter says civil government is, an " ordinance of man." 6
I cannot help thinking each of the phrases has its own peculiar
meaning. Of those who have been of this opinion, some think
that the emphasis is to be laid on the different numbers, plural
and singular, men and man; thus,'I received my commission
neither from any body of men, nor from any individual man.''I am not an apostle of the church at Jerusalem, nor am  I an
1 #Evaa1aTo-TroXoL.
2 "d 7r denotes the source, the origin, of the call; Aat the intermediate
agent through which it is bestowed on the person chosen." —OLsHAUsEN.
"It is peculiar to Paul to use different prepositions in reference to one
object, so that connected they shall define the idea in all its aspects; as,
Gal. i. 1, in no respect an apostle of man: not from men, as the ultimate
authority; not by a man, as mediator." —WINER, ~ 54, 6.
3 OvK acr'vyOpCrOwOV Ka'TaorTaaEig, or afrocrlTEXXO'/Evos, etc.: institutus, vocatus,
4 &a a tar'PaT-o eOov. Col. i. i. Eph. i. 1. 1 Cor. i. 1. 2 Cor. i. 1.
s Riccaltoun.                   d di0pwi7rivr  KTELSV.-.-1 Pet. ii. 13.




20               EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.    [CHAP. I. 1-5.
apostle of Peter, or of James or John, or any of those who are
" accounted pillars" in the church.' We rather think that the
sense of the apostle is to be brought out by laying the emphasis
on the particles of and by. Paul was not an apostle of 1 men,
i. e., he did not derive his commission or authority from men.
He was employed on no human errand. No man had told him
what he was to say-he had received credentials from no man.
Neither was he an apostle by2 man: A man may have a divine
communication made to him, and a divine authority and command
to impart this to others, and yet he may have obtained both the
one and the other through the instrumentality of man. That is the
case with every rightly called gospel minister. That was the case
with Timothy. His message and authoritywere both divine. But
he received the one from Paul's instructions, and the other from
the laying on of his hands and of those of the presbytery. But
the apostle was divinely appointed to his office, and furnished with
his commission from Jesus Christ, without human intervention.3
This is no way inconsistent with the history recorded in the
thirteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.
I may be allowed to remark by the way, that though there
is a most material difference between the Apostle Paul and
ordinary Christian ministers, yet there is a sense in which it
may be said even of them, if they are what they ought to be,
that they are not " of men," neither " by man."  There are too
many who are ministers of men, who have no authority but
what men gave them, and no message to deliver but what men
have taught them. These men may be ministers of the Roman
church, or of the Greek church, or of the English church, or of
1 adro for vro'6, as 1 Cor. i. 30; iv. 5.             2 Ala.
3 Tertullian's proof of Paul's apostleship (adv. Marcion., Lib. v. ~ 1) is so
curious a specimen of patristic exposition and logic, that it is worth quoting.
" Inter illas figuras et propheticas super filios suos benedictiones, Jacob cum
ad Beniamin dixisset,'Beniamin,' inquit,'lupus rapax ad matutinum
comedet adhuc, et ad vesperam dabit escam.' Ex tribu enim Beniamin
oriturum Paulum providebat lupum rapacem, ad matutinurn comedentem;
id est prima retate vastaturum pecora Domini, ut persecutorem ecclesiarum,
dehinc ad vesperam escam daturum, id est, devergente jam eotate oves Christi
educaturum ut doctorem nationum. Nam et Saulis primo asperitas insectationis erga David dehinc poenitentia et satisfactio, bona pro malis recipientis non aliud portendebat quam Paulum in Saule secundum tribus et Jesurm
in David secundum virginis censum." This is one of what the African fathers
calls, " figurarum sacramenta."




P. I. ~ 1.]              THE AUTHOR.                           21
the Scottish church, but they are not ministers of Christ. There
are others who though not ministers of men are yet ministers by
men. In one sense, in ordinary cases, all ministers must be by
men, as it is by the call of the faithful and the laying on of the
hands of the presbytery, that they are regularly invested with
their office. But many good ministers are ministers by men in
another sense. Their views of divine truth are scriptural in
their substance, and that they are so, is the ground of their
belief of them; but still they have gained their views chiefly
through the medium of human writings, and it is in this form
only that they can bring them forward to others. How much
better is it when a minister has drawn directly from the
Word of God what he makes known to his people; and, freed
from the trammels of human system, can clearly state to others
what he has clearly seen for himself in the Holy Scriptures!
There is a similar distinction to be observed among private
professors of Christianity.'
In opposition to his being an apostle of men, or by man, Paul
states that he was an apostle " by Jesus Christ," the Messiahwho, in his estimation, was not a mere man,2 but " God manifest in flesh,"3-" and God the Father, who raised him  from
the dead." It is a just remark of the acute Leslie, that " if
Christ were not more than man, and considered as such in this
passage, the apostle's words cannot be made consonant." I can
scarcely help thinking that the apostle meant to contrast the two
members of this last clause with the two members of the former
clause,-' An apostle, not of men, but of God the Father; an
apostle, not by men, but by Jesus Christ.'4 He was " an apostle
1 Jerome says there are four kinds of apostles or messengers to be found
in the church. " Primum genus quod neque ab hominibus neque per hominem, sed per Jesum Christum et Deum Patrem mittitur. Alterum genus a Deo
quidem est sed per hominem; ita Josua fuit a Deo, sed per hominem Mosem
dux populi designatus. Tertium genus ab hominibus non a Deo. Hoc
genus est eorum, qui hominum favore et studio ordinantur: Quartum genus
quod neque a Deo neque per hominem, neque ab homine sed a semetipso est."
2 af'vpcoro~  kXho.                   8 OEOS aavp8epoe ev ea' pKi.
This is the opinion of the younger Crellius, under the assumed name of
Artemonius, and of Le Clerc. "Subintelligendum," says the latter, " aut
forte etiam exprimendum a7ro eEoD, ut fit plena oppositio."  " Ut P. h. 1.
3&A de Christo et Deo pariter collocaret, fecit brevitatis studio ductus.
Eum enim aut sic scribere oporteret: HIavXov drdo'aro)os ovK dir' dvOpnr7ov,
aXX' ro5 io0 rrarp6o, ov   t a' dvOpcorov dhXa 8ta'Ib`roi XpLrro; aut saltena




22              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.   [CHAP. I. 1-5.
of God the Father." God the Father is uniformly represented
in the New Testament as, in the economy of grace, the fountain
of authority-" the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Our Father, because his Father; our God, because his God.
It is of Him that " the whole family in heaven and in earth is
named." Whatever Jesus Christ does, he does in the Father's
name.  From Him came the apostle's commission; and it came
to him, not through the medium of any man, but through Christ
Jesus. He was made an apostle by God, through Christ Jesus.
Jesus directly called him; and directly, too, instructed him.
What Paul declared, was not what he had learned of men, but
what he " received of the Lord."' The apostle takes notice, by the
way, of the important fact-the radical principle of Christianitythat God the Father had raised Christ from the dead. This
was a truth ever present to the apostle's mind in its pre-eminent
importance; and consequently he was always ready to give it
utterance.  It is not unlikely that, in mentioning it here, he
meant to suggest the idea,-that as an apostle called by the
Saviour raised from the dead by the power of the Father, he
was certainly not inferior to those who had been called by him
when in his suffering state. For it does seem to have been one
of the circumstances of which the false teachers in different
churches availed themselves, in endeavouring to lessen Paul's
authority, that he had not, like the other apostles, been the
companion of Jesus Christ while on earth.
3. His Associates.
In the kind wish which he is about to express for the Galatian
churches, he connects with himself (verse 2) " the brethren " who
were with him. It is common in the New Testament to call all
Christians "the brethren."2  But it seems probable that here
the word is used to designate the evangelists who accompanied
Paul, such as Sosthenes, Apollos, Timothy, Titus, Silvanus,'
ita II. a. o. a a. o. a. a. atXXa La'I Iqov XptLo-(ro a7rT eFo 7raTpo, orationem
quo videmus modo contraxit: Ila;Xhos do'7'orooXos  oViK -- d-XXL La a'IJ,7ro
XpLO-T-o Kal Oo0 r'arpds. Manifestum est nt& mente addendum est ante
EEoo'a'rpo's ita accipiendam voculam esse ut ab vn7r sensu non differat."FRITSCHE in Rorn. vol. i. p. 15.
1 Cor. xi. 23; xv. 3.                        2 ol daexdoi.
1 Cor. i. 1; xvi. 12. 2 Cor. i. 1. Tit. ii. 12. 1 Pet. v. 12.




P. I. ~ 2.]       THE PERSONS ADDRESSED.                    23
Tychicus,' Epaphroditus,2 Onesimus,3 or the pastors of the
church of the city where he was when he wrote this epistle.
This mode of explaining the term is supported by a parallel
passage in Phil. iv. 21, 22-" The brethren which are with me,
salute you —all the saints salute you "-where " brethren,"
as distinguished from  "saints," obviously points out ministers
as distinguished from the body of the faithful. It has been supposed that the use of " all," proves that " brethren" here refers
not to official brethren, but to Christian brethren generally;4
but there is no force in the remark. It would be quite a natural
thing for a minister in this country, writing to another, when
two or three of his brethren were with him at the dispensation of
the Lord's Supper, to say,-" all the brethren with me beg to be
remembered to you." The phrase seems to mean here, as in the
case referred to, not brother Christians, but brother ministers.
All true ministers of Christ, though in the present disjointed state
of the church they belong to different denominations, should consider one another as brethren, and act accordingly. Paul does
not join the brethren along with him to intimate that they had
any hand in the composition of the epistle, or that his declarations as an apostle required any support from them; but he
mentions them as a token of his affection for them, and of their
affection for the Galatians, and also likely to show the Galatians
that his sentiments respecting the points discussed in the epistle
were by no means peculiar to himself.
SECT. II.-THE PERSONS ADDRESSED.
The epistle is addressed (verse 2) " to the churches of Galatia." 5
It has often been asserted, but I do not think it has yet been proved,
that the word " church," as used in reference to Christians, is
never used but in two senses, to denote either a particular congregation of Christians who are accustomed to meet together for
1 Eph. vi. 23.   2 Phil. ii. 25.  3 Col. iv. 9.   4 oi 7VXOVTEr, plebeii.
5'Opa TrV dv/1tiV Kai Tr1) O8Vlv' o0 -ya' p ElrE T0oS atya7r7TOlS TOl EytaoEVOWL OV rataS SKKXqolatsL roT 0ey  akX' aX7rX X r TaE EKKXcTaLE  T  raXarTaa. —
THEOPHYLACT.  "Non addit hic'sanctio' quia cceperant ab evangelio
declinare." — GROTIUS.  " Non addit epitheta uti ad Rom., Cor., etc.
etc."-BENGEL. " The omission of all laudatory epithets is to be ascribed
to the displeasure the apostle felt in reference to the Galatian community."OLSHAUSEN.




24             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.   [CHAP. I. 1-5.
Christian worship, or the whole body of Christians. In the New
Testament, it does seem sometimes to be used to signify a number
of congregations united together by a common government. In
Jerusalem, in Antioch, and in many other places, there were far
more Christians than could meet in one place; and we ought
to remember, that from the iniquity of the times, they had
generally to meet in private houses; yet we read not of the
churches of Jersualem or of Antioch, but of the church. Here
the word is used in the plural number; and the reason seems
obvious. Galatia was a large district of country containing
many cities.  The congregations scattered over the country
could not have such frequent and intimate intercourse as those
residing in the same city, and therefore they are called not the
church, but the churches of Galatia; and it is not improbable
that the one expression may have been chosen rather than the
other, because, though many of the churches of Galatia had embraced the false doctrines of the Judaising teachers, there might
still be some who retained the simplicity of the truth.
SECT. III-THE GREETING.
The salutation of the apostle and his fellow-labourers in the
gospel to the churches of Galatia, contained in verse 3, includes
a prayer, a statement of doctrine, and a doxology.
1. A Prayer.
" Grace be unto you and peace from God the Father and
from' the Lord Jesus Christ." " Grace" signifies favour, kindness; and " Grace be to you from God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ," is just equivalent to, —' May you be the objects of
the kind regard of God the Father and of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and may you receive from them abundant tokens of
their kindness in all heavenly and spiritual blessings.' " Peace "
is a general word for happiness. The ancient Jewish salutation,
still common among the Orientals, " Peace be with you," is just
equivalent to,'May you be happy.' "Peace be to you from
God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ," then, signifies,1 Olshausen supposes AtaL omitted here, like /&a in verse 1; and that the
right rendering is'through the Lord Jesus Christ.'




P. I. ~ 3.]             THE GREETING.                       25'May you receive from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, all that is necessary to your happiness both here and
hereafter.'  These benedictions are indeed prayers, and they
show us that the apostle looked for happiness both to himself and
others from  "God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ;"
that he considered the Father and the Son as equally the object
of Divine worship, and that he reckoned prayer to them the
appointed way of obtaining saving blessings. One of the best
ways in which Christian ministers can manifest their love to
their people, is by praying for them. " The ministry of the
word" and " prayer" should be conjoined.
2. A Statement.
Having been led to mention our Lord Jesus Christ in the
benediction, the apostle does not finish the sentence, but,
according to a very common practice with him, introduces, as it
were by-the-bye, a statement of one of the most important truths
of the gospel,l " who gave himself for our sins, that he might
deliver us from this present evil world."2 The meaning of the
phrase, " he gave himself for our sins," is,'he voluntarily by his
sufferings and death made atonement for our sins'-' he offered
himself a sacrifice for our sins.' This is, if I mistake not, implied
in the very words before us;3 and that this is the apostle's
meaning is very plain from parallel passages where he uses similar language,-1 Tim. ii. 6, " he gave himself a ransom;" Tit.
ii. 14, " he gave himself for us that he might redeem us;" Eph.
v. 2, "he gave himself for us a sacrifice and an offering." He
here states the doctrine which pervades the whole volume of
revelation, and is the very corner-stone of the gospel,' that Jesus
Christ, God's incarnate Son, voluntarily took the place of guilty
men, did what they were bound to do, suffered what they deserved
to suffer, and thus rendered their pardon and deliverance consistent with, and illustrative of, all the perfections of the Divine
character, his holiness and righteousness as well as his mercy,' Gal. i. 4.
2 i7rp is the textus receptus.  Mill, Griesbach, Knapp, Matthaei, Lachmann, prefer, on apparently good grounds, 7repl. The phrase rTepl AiapiTlas
is common in the New Testament, Rom. viii. 3; 1 Pet. iii. 18; 1 John iv. 10;
Heb. x. 26; xiii. 11. vrf'p is the word more ordinarily used by the Apostle
Paul.                                          3 7rEpi calaprtov.




26             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.   [CHAP. I. 1-5.
and all the rights and interests of his moral administration. In
the language of the Old Testament, "he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement
of our peace was on him;" and in that of the New, " he became
a curse for us"-" he was made sin in our room"-" he died for
us" —" died for our sins"-" he bare our sins on his body to the
tree"-he "bore away the sins of the world."  The phrase
"gave himself' brings out strongly the complete voluntariness of
our Lord's expiatory sufferings; and the fact that the procuring
cause of salvation, is the entire acting and suffering, the whole
course of complete conformity in thought, feeling, and conduct, to
the Divine law in its precept and sanction, of the God-man Jesus
Christ. He became poor-he made himself of no reputationhe emptied himself-humbled himself. " No man took his life
from him-he laid it down of himself. He made his soul an offering for sin, pouring it out unto death."  His sacrifice was the
sacrifice of himself-his whole self.
The design of our Lord's propitiatory sacrifice is pointed out
by the apostle in the following clause: —" He gave himself for our
sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world." Some
render it' from the evil of this present world;'" but had this been
the apostle's meaning, the phraseology would have been different.
The word " world" has, I believe, been rmost commonly considered
as equivalent to'men of the world'-wicked men, andthe word" delivered" as equivalent to'separated from-taken out from among;'
and the whole phrase as equivalent to' that he might separate us
from the great body of mankind, who are sunk in ignorance, vice,
and wretchedness, and make us his peculiar people.' In this case
the passage would be nearly synonymous with Tit. ii. 14, " who
gave himself for us, that he might redeem to himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works." This affords a very good meaning,
but I doubt if it exactly conveys the apostle's idea. There can
be no doubt that in our English New Testament the word
" world" is often equivalent to worldly men-men entirely occupied with present and secular things, who have always formed
by far the greater part of the inhabitants of the world. Thus,
4 therefore the world knoweth not us, even as it knew not him." 2
1 L'Enfant and Beausobre — de la mechancete de ce present siecle."
2 1 John iii. 1.




P. I. ~ 3.]           THE GREETING.                      27
-" If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but
because ye are not of the world, the world hateth you."'l But in
every case where the world certainly signifies worldly men, it is
the translation of a different word in the original.  I have not
been able to find any passage in the New Testament where the
word here used certainly signifies worldly men. From the undoubted facts that the apostle uses here the word,' by which the
different states of mankind before and after our Lord's coming in
the flesh are denoted, and that " the world to come" is used by the
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (though the word employed
by him is a different one)4 to denote the New Testament order of
things, some have concluded that the apostle had here the Jewish
state under the Mosaic law in his eye; and that he means to tell
those who wished so much to be under that dispensation, that
when Christ gave himself for our sins, there was an end put to
that dispensation, and that it was his design to take his people
out of that stateAd "to redeem them from the law,"-to take them
out of the world which had been, and to bring them into a new
world which, in the times of the law, had been called " the world
to come." That such was the design and consequence of our
Lord's expiatory death there can be no doubt; yet, as Riccaltoun
well observes, " the state under the law neither was, nor is ever
in Scripture called, evil in itself; and even had it been otherwise,
the great body of those to whom the apostle was writing were
never in that world, and could not with any propriety be represented as taken out of it." Besides, that economy was abolished, and
could not, therefore, with propriety be termed the "present world."
By " the world," then, I apprehend is to be understood here'the present state of things,' including the external frame of nature, and the opinions, dispositions, and habits of mankind. I
do not think it is called the present age or world to mark the
precise state of the world when Paul wrote, but to distinguish it
both from the original state of things and the final state of things
-from the primitive world and the celestial world.5 It is termed
1 John xv. 19.    2 KOdO'los not alsv.  3 aZ 4POv. LKOVIEV7.
5 CO aicop fKTraXaL, 2 Pet. iii. 5, 6, and 5 aiowv /tzIEXcov.'EVEarn  has been
supposed by some to indicate, by itself, the Paulo-post future; but there
can be no doubt that here, and in Rom. viii. 38, it is rightly rendered present.




28              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.   [CHAP. I. 1-5.
an " evil,"' i. e., according to the primitive meaning of the term,
a corrupted, a diseased, a disordered, "world."  When the world
was made by God, it was pronounced by the unerring Judge
very good; every thing was as it ought to be; and when it is remade, if I may use the expression, it shall again be very good;
and "Jehovah shall'again' rejoice in all his works." In the
" new heaven and in the new earth" there is to be nothing but
righteousness; but the present world, as opposed both to the past
and the future, is an " evil world," full of physical because full of
moral evil, full of misery because full of sin.
Now, what is meant by being " delivered2 from this present
evil world"?  It does not mean solely nor principally the being
taken out of this evil world by death; it signifies the being delivered from all the evils of whatever kind that men are involved
in from their living in, and forming a part of, " this present evil
world."
The "present evil world" is under the malediction of God.
The same God who blessed the world at its creation, laid it under
a curse after the sin of man. " Cursed is the ground for thy
sake,"3 said Jehovah.  "The whole creation was made subject
to vanity."4 This province of the universe of God was laid as it
were under the ban of the Divine empire. The intelligent portion
of it particularly lies under an awful curse. " Cursed is every
one who continueth not in all things written in the book of the
law to do them."'" They are " cursed in their basket and store,
when they go out and when they come in;" cursed for time and
for eternity. Their very blessings are cursed. To use the sublime
language of the prophets, there is a curse "gone forth over the
face of the whole earth," 6 and this curse is " devouring the earth,
and making desolate those that dwell therein." Now, to be
"delivered from  this evil world" certainly implies the being
removed from this state of condemnation —the having our happiness rendered consistent with the purity of the Divine character,
the righteousness of the Divine law, and the faithfulness of the
Divine declarations.
1 7rovr)pos.
2 The force of'alpelaOaL will appear by consulting Acts vii. 10-34, xii. 11,
xxiii. 27, xxvi. 17; rescue, " ex impendenti periculo et calamitate magna vi
eripere."
3 Gen. iii. 17.  4 Rom. viii. 20.  5 Gal. iii. 10.   6 Zech. v. 3.




P. I. ~ 3.]           THE GREETING.                      29
But this is not all. The present world, so far as it is intelligent, is, in a religious point of view, wholly evil, except so far as
it is under the influence of another world. All that is good in
it comes from above; and all its influences on the minds of its
inhabitants in their natural state, are of an irreligious and demoralising tendency. A man of this world, exposed only to
worldly influences-to influences arising from present sensible
things-from " all that is in the world, the lust of the eye, the
lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, which are of the world
and not of God,"'-may become worse, but he will never become better. In the world, as God made it, all intelligent
beings were good, and all the influences of surrounding objects
were of a kind calculated to make them  better.  But it is
otherwise now. To be " of the world" is just another way of
expressing what is ungodly, what is " not of the Father."  He
who is " in the world " is " without God."2  Now, to be " delivered from the present evil world" implies in it the being
delivered from this demoralising influence of the present world
-the being formed to a character entirely different from that
which is the result of any combination of mere worldly influences. And this is done by bringing to bear on the mind the
influences of the Divine Spirit —by subjecting it to " the powers
of the world which is to come."
Still further, "this present evil world" shall certainly ultimately be visited with that destruction to which it is doomed.' The world and the lusts thereof must pass away.".3 —" The
heavens and the earth which are now are kept in store reserved
unto fire."4 These heavens must " pass away with a great noise,
the elements must melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the
works which are therein must be burnt up;" —" all these things
must be dissolved;" 5 and in this destruction those men who are
identified with the present system of things, " the men of the
world," shall be involved. That day of doom to the present evil
disordered world, is " the day" also "of judgment and perdition
of ungodly men," when they shall be " punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of
his power."6 Now, to be delivered from this present evil world
1 John ii. 16.    2 XOpls Xptw-roia3-dcot E'v TZ KdayO, Eph. ii. 12.
1 John ii. 17.   4 2 Pet. iii. 7.    6 2 Pet. iii. 10, 11.
6 2 Thess. i. 9.




30             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.   [CHAP. I. 1-5.
is to be secured from this destruction, which is the merited portion of every human being; it is to be secured of a species of
happiness not liable to change or dissolution —" an inheritance
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away"'-an
interest in the " new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness." 2 It is to have for our chief good something which
is entirely independent of " the present evil world," and to the
full enjoyment of which the dissolution of "the present evil
world" is absolutely necessary. This is to be "delivered from
the present evil world "-from the curse which lies on it-from
the immoral character it forms and cherishes-and from the
dreadful destruction to which it is doomed. It thus appears that
deliverance or redemption from "this present evil world" is a
comprehensive expression, including every part of the Christian
salvation-the " redemption that is in Christ through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins"- the " redemption from all iniquity," which makes its subjects " a peculiar people, zealous of
good works"-and the "deliverance" or redemption " from the
wrath that is to come"-in one word, " the salvation that is in
Christ, with eternal glory."
Thus to deliver us from  " the present evil world" was the
grand design of our Lord's voluntary, vicarious sacrifice. He
" gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this
present evil world." And the sacrifice was well fitted to serve
the purpose.
He " redeemed us from the curse, by becoming a curse for
us." By his sufferings and death in our room, he rendered our
salvation consistent with the honour of God, and the stability of
his government.
By the same means he removed out of the way the obstacles
which prevented the communication of that divine influence,
which alone can counteract the depraving influences of " the
present evil world." He did more: he secured the communication of those influences to those given him by the Father; and
the plain, well-attested record of his giving himself for us is the
grand instrument, in the hand of the Spirit, fbr transforming
the character by the renewing of the mind.
The doctrine of the cross, understood and believed, is the
1 1 Pet. i. 4.                  2 2 Pet. iii. 13.




P. I. ~ 3.]             THE GREETING.                         31
wondrous talisman which breaks all the spells of that most
powerful of all enchantresses, " the present evil world "-making
what appeared real and important vanish into empty air, and
what was unseen and unfelt assume a distinct visibility and a
palpable reality; making God and eternity burst on the mind in
a resistless but delightful effulgence, which overpowers the false
lights of present and sensible things, and opens up a new, and
wider, and happier region, in which the mind may exert all its
faculties, and the heart find enough to fill all its capacities of hope,
and love, and enjoyment, though continually enlarging for ever.
Finally, it was by thus giving himself for our sins that he
secured to us deliverance from " the wrath that is to come," and
purchased for himself those powers, in the exercise of which he
shall save his people amid the horrors of the dissolution of " this
present evil world," and make them for ever happy in the world
which is to come.  God hath given him  " power over all flesh,"
"because he has laid down his life for the sheep."
To be' delivered from the present evil world' is a phrase, in
some of its bearings, nearly synonymous with " having the world
crucified to a person by the cross of Christ,"  and with having
4 our old man crucified with Christ," 2 —with our being " dead,"
while " our life is hid with Christ in God."3  But it is more
comprehensive than any of these expressions. It is equivalent
to Christ's having expiated our sins by the sacrifice of himself,
that we might be made new creatures, and brought into a new
world,4 or system of things,-a state of things directly opposed
to " this present evil world," —an orderly, holy, happy, permanent
state, the perfection of which is heaven.
The apostle adds that Christ " gave himself for our sins, that
he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the
will "-the benignant good pleasure —" of God and our Father." 5
An English reader would readily suppose that " God and our
Father" are two different persons. The original text suggests
no such idea.6  The meaning is,   our God and Father.'  God
1 Gal. vi. 14.                      2 Rom. vi. 6.
3 Col. iii. 3.                      4 KaV) KrTLt,V 2 Cor v. 17.
5 Eph. i. 5, 11; iii. 11, eY3oKla ToO OebXya7ros at'roO. Psal. xxx. 6, LXX.
for  e, Co'v  ri OEcXart ai'roi. See also verse 8. OVK ELt7r Kar'e 6'7rrayv
ToV IIarpoS dXXa KaTa TO5 Etrqla, TOVTET& Tr eV E(VOKlaV.-THEOPHYLACT.
6 The particle Kat "and," is here hermeneutic; as Crellius says, it is equivalent to " id est," or " qui est;" or rather, it does not connect different




32             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.   [CHAP. I. 1-5.
is the God of believers. He treats them as his people; they
regard Him as their God-the object of their supreme esteem
and love, obedience and submission. He is their Father-the
Author of their new and better being. Having begotten them
again-having brought them into the relation, and formed them to
the character, of children,- He regards them with complacency,
and treats them with kindness. This clause is to be viewed as
connected with both the preceding. It is equivalent to a declaration that it was the will of God that men should be delivered from "this present evil world," and that this should
be done by Jesus Christ giving himself for our sins. To this
gracious determination of God is to be attributed our salvation,
and the means of our salvation. The best commentary on this
passage is to be found in the following quotations from the
Epistles to the Ephesians and Hebrews: —" Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as
He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein He hath made us
accepted in the Beloved: in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his
grace; wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and
prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which He hath purposed in himself: that, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven, and which are on earth, even in him: in whom also we
have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to
the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of
his own will; that we should be to the praise of his glory, who
first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom
also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the repersons, but different descriptions of the same person: 1 Cor. ii. 2; Eph. i.
3; iv. 6; 1 Thess. i. 3; iii. 11; 1 Pet. i. 2.'H/av belongs equally to both
nouns, ecoo and IaTrpos.




P. 1. ~ 3.]            THE GREETING.                       33
demption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his
glory." " Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith,
Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou
prepared me: in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast
had no pleasure: Then said 1, Lo, I come (in the volume of
the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God. Above,
when he said, Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt-offerings, and
offering for sin, Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure
therein; (which are offered by the law;) then said he, Lo, I
come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He
may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified,
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."'
We are never to think of God the Father as indisposed to save
man till prevailed on to do it by the labours, and sufferings, and
prayers of his incarnate Son. The whole scheme originated in
the will of the one God; and the mediatorial economy is nothing
more than the means adopted by infinite wisdom to execute the
purpose of infinite mercy, in consistency with the claims of infinite justice.
3. A Doxology.
This concise but complete account of the Christian salvation,
in its procuring cause, its constituent elements, and its primary
source, is concluded by an ascription of praise to its gracious
Author,-" To whom be glory for ever and ever.  Amen."2  It
is difficult to say whether the apostle meant this ascription of
praise to be understood as addressed to the Father or to the Son.
There is no doubt " God the Father " is the nearest antecedent;
but there is as little doubt that " Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us," is the principal subject of the preceding proposition.
It matters very little how it is understood. We know, from
many other passages of Scripture, that Jesus Christ, as well as
the Father, is the object of religious worship, and that to the
Father and the Son is due the ascription of equal praise for the
work of our salvation.  Whoever understands, in any good
measure, that plan of salvation-which well deserves to be called
1Eph. i. 3-14. Heb. x. 5-10.
2 Gal. i. 5, 7  8qda. Wakefield supposes the force of the article to be
"the glory of this deliverance."  d5oa is, however, one of those nouns which,
in its most abstract signification, takes the article.-MIDD. chap. v. ~1.,




34             EPISTLE TO TEIE GALATIANS.   [CHAP. I. 1-5.
" the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose
which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord," — will readily
agree with the apostle that glory should be ascribed to both for
ever; that the power and the wisdom, and the righteousness and
kindness, displayed in the formation and execution of this plan,
deserve to draw forth the highest sentiments of adoring esteem
and affectionate love, and the most fervent expression of these
from men and angels for ever and ever.
It is delightful to think that the apostle's wish shall assuredly
be gloriously realised. It is pleasing to think that what, owing
to the fascinations of " the present evil world," attracts so little
attention in time-on earth,-shall be the grand subject of thought
-the grand centre of feeling-the grand theme of acknowledgment and praise in heaven, throughout eternity. There they
sing a song which will be ever new-" Salvation to our God who
sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb."  "Thou art worthy
to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast
slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every
kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us
unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the
earth."  "I beheld," says the rapt John the divine, "and I
heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the
beasts, and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying
with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and
glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven,
and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the
sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and
honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon
the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. And the
four beasts said, Amen. And the four-and-twenty elders fell
down and worshipped Him that liveth for ever and ever."2 Oh,
who that has even in the smallest degree experienced the efficacy
of the Saviour's sacrifice, in a deliverance from " the present
evil world," can refrain from wishing, even here, to join the song
of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, and say,
"To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his
7ro0v'roLKLXo o2ocla. Eph. iii. 10, 11.  2 Rev. vii. 10; v. 9-14.




P. I. ~ 3.]           THE GREETING.                      35
own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and
his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Amen." 1
" Amen" is a particle expressive of approbation-it is right
that it should be so; of faith-it shall be so; of desire2 —oh, that
it were so! So ought it to be-so let it be-so shall it be.
1 Rev. i. 5, 6.
2 Deut. xxvii. 15; 1 Cor. xiv. 16; Numb. v. 22. The LXX. render it
y;voltO.




PART II.
INTRODUCTION TO THE EPISTLE.
GALATIANS I. 6-10. —" I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him
that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not
another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any
other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For
do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet
pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
SECT. I.-INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
THAT man, as a religious and moral being, is radically and totally
depraved,-that the bias of his nature is decidedly towards what
is false in sentiment, and towards what is wrong in feeling and
action, —is a principle which is not only frequently stated, in the
plainest terms, in the Holy Scriptures, but the admission of which
is forced on us by our experience of what takes place within us,
and our observation of what takes place around us. Notwithstanding the completeness of that system of moral means for
making men wise and good, for giving a right direction to their
religious and moral views and dispositions, contained in the Bible
-a plain and well-attested revelation of the Divine will,-how
comparatively rare are the instances in which its application is
found effectual for the purpose it is obviously intended, and
as obviously calculated, to serve-the favourable, and the permanently favourable, transformation of the human character!
Though the statements of divine revelation are most perspicuous,
though its evidence is most satisfactory, though the arguments it
employs are most conclusive, and the motives it urges altogether




P. II. ~ 1.]    INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.                   37
overwhelming, —yet what a very small proportion of those to
whom this revelation is presented, and even of those with regard
to whom the most powerful human means are employed to fix
their attention on it, ever really understand and believe its doctrines, or experience its renovating, guiding, controlling influence,
over the active principles of their nature! Indeed, in no case
does this take place but as the result of a peculiar divine
energy.  No man is "born again" till he is "born of the
Spirit." And I know no fact which, well understood, places in
a stronger point of light the religious and moral depravity of
man than this, that no man ever does really understand, and
believe, and live under the influence of the remarkably simple,
perfectly rational, most clearly attested principles of the Christian
revelation, till he become the subject of the supernatural operation
of the Holy Ghost.
And even after a man has thus become the subject of divine
influence, how much ignorance, misapprehension, and error,how much imperfection and impropriety,-still remain, just because he is not completely subject to that influence! And suppose
that influence intermitted, the natural bias to error and to sin manifests itself,-truths the most firmly believed become in his view
doubtful,-and sinful dispositions, apparently mastered, begin to
assume their former energy; and could that influence be entirely
withdrawn, the renewed man would soon be entirely divested of
his peculiar character, and " the latter end would be worse than
his beginning." The partial apostasies of genuine Christians are
fearful demonstrations of the power of natural depravity,-clear
evidences that, but for the constant operation of the good Spirit,
every good man would soon become a bad man; and everything
like right religious thinking, and feeling, and acting, would be
banished from the earth.
Of the strong tendency of the human mind, even after having
been in a good measure enlightened in the knowledge of the
truth, to revert to former, or to fall into new, errors, we have a
striking exemplification in the history of the Galatian churches.
They had been instructed in the principles of Christian truth by
the Apostle Paul. No man better understood these principles,
and no man could more distinctly and clearly exhibit them.
Most distinctly had he taught the Galatians that Christ crucified was the only and the all-sufficient Saviour; and that faith




.38             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.  [CHAP. I. 6-10.
in the truth respecting him, was the only way in which men
could be interested in the blessings of his salvation. And most
satisfactorily had he proved the truth of all his declarations by
working miracles. The Galatians, under the influence of the
Holy Spirit, believed the gospel, as preached and confirmed by
the apostle; and were so delighted with the message, that they
received the messenger 1" as an angel of God," and, if it had
been possible, would have " plucked out their own eyes, and have
given them to him." I Yet, in the course of at most a few years,
many of those converts were induced, by the artful discourses of
false teachers, who gave no satisfactory evidence of the divinity
of their mission or the truth of their doctrines, materially to
renounce the principles which they had learned of the apostle,
and adopt a system utterly irreconcilable with them, and entirely subversive of them. This sad and sudden change excited
in the mind of their spiritual father mingled sentiments of astonishment, and sorrow, and indignation, at that inconstancy which
the Grecian orator terms " the greatest of all reproaches." 2 These
emotions are very powerfully expressed in that introductory paragraph of the epistle which now lies before us for explication.
SECT. II.-THE CHANGE THAT HAD TAKEN PLACE AMONG THE
GALATIANS, THE CAUSE OF IT, AND THE APOSTLE'S FEELINGS
IN REFERENCE TO IT.
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not
another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert
the gospel of Christ." 3
1. The fact.
The- apostle represents the Galatian churches as "removed
from him that called them."4  What are we to understand by the
" calling" of the Galatians? and whom are we to understand by
"' him who called them"?  The word " call" is very frequently
used in the New Testament in reference to Christians; and it
is obvious, that to be called, and to be a Christian, are, if not
1 Gal. iv. 14, 15.       2 AE'yLfT0V OVELUOV.-DEMOSTH.' Gal'. i. 6, 7.         pLerTaTlrgee abriO rot KaXoavzros piias.




P. II. ~ 2.]   CHANGE AMONG THE GALATIANS.                  39
equivalent terms, two descriptions of the same class of individuals.
The phrase seems, like most of the distinctive appellations of
Christians in the New Testament, borrowed from the Old Testament, and to have originated in the manner in which Abraham
was set apart to be the father of the peculiar people of God. He
was called by the voice of God when in his native country, and
induced to comply with that call,-to come out from among his
idolatrous relations, and go to a distant land, and become the
founder of a family which was, through many succeeding ages,
to be the repository of the true religion.1 To be called, in the
New Testament sense,2 is, by means of the invitations of the
gospel accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be
induced to believe the truth, and make a profession of this faith.
The Galatians were " called," when, through the preaching of
the apostle Paul, they were invited, and induced to accept of
the invitation, to participate in the blessings of the Christian
salvation.3
But whom are we to understand by A" him that called"4 them?
Some interpreters have been of opinion, that by " him that called"
them, the apostle means himself. This is, however, entirely inconsistent with the uniform usage of the phrase,' calling men.'
It is always, without an exception so far as I know, referred to
God the Father, or to our Lord Jesus Christ; and, indeed,
calling, in the sense in which we have explained it, is a work
to which human agency is altogether inadequate. Calling is
ascribed to God the Father, Rom. viii. 30; ix. 24; 1 Cor. i. 9;
vii. 15, 17; 1 Thess. ii. 12; v. 24; 2 Thess. ii. 14; 2 Tim. i. 9;
1 Pet. i. 15; ii. 9; v. 10; 2 Pet. i. 3. It may be understood as
ascribed to Christ, Rom. i. 6; perhaps John x. 16. Nor need we
wonder at calling being ascribed to both, when we recollect that
"what things soever the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son
likewise;" 5 and that "' all power in heaven and in earth is given
1 Gen. xii. 1-4. Isa. xlviii. 12.
2 Matth. ix. 13. Luke v. 32. Rom. viii. 30; ix. 24, 25. 1 Cor. i. 9, 26.
Gal. v. 13. Eph. iv. 1. Col. iii. 15. 1 Thess. iv. 7. 2 Thess. ii. 14.
i Tim. vi. 12. Heb. ix. 15.
5 The origin and meaning of the terms, Ka\XEv, and KX,(rn, as applied to
Christians, are discussed by Pott, in his second Excursus in his Commentary
on the Epistles of Peter; and by Tittmann, in his " Opuscula Theologica,"
p. 285.
t rov KaXE'ravTa.                             5 John v. 19.




40               EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.  [CHAP. I. 6-10.
unto him." 1  In the whole process of bringing sinners of mankind into his kingdom, the Father does nothing but by the Son.2
It is plain our translators understood the appellation of God the
Father; but I cannot help thinking, with the Syriac and Arabic
translators, that the apostle meant the phrase to be understood
of Jesus Christ. This is also Jerome's opinion; and has been
adopted in later times by Erasmus, Calvin, Cornelius a Lapide, Junius, Hyperius, Grotius and Vitringa. The words, literally rendered, are, " Him who called you in grace, Christ;" 3 or,
more in our idiom,'Christ, who hath graciously called you.'
This gives the natural meaning to' in grace.' 4  It is harsh to
render it as if it were'through grace';' 5 and still harsher to
render it as if it were' into the grace,' 6 as our translators have
done.7 Christ, by the instrumentality of Paul's preaching, and
by the effectual operation of the Holy Ghost, had converted
many of the Galatians from idolatry and from Judaism to Christianity,-had led them to " believe with the heart," and to " confess with the mouth," the truth as it is in Jesus. And this he
had done "in grace," or graciously.  It was a most important
favour he bestowed on them; and it was a blessing equally undeserved and unsolicited, entirely the result of sovereign kindness.
The next phrase that comes to be considered is, "Ye are
removed from him that called you." What is meant by the
Galatians being removed from Christ?  The expression is, literally, " Ye have removed yourselves." 8  To remove themselves
from Christ, who had called them, is plainly to abandon the
principles which he had taught them,-to give up the peculiarities of his religion,-to leave him  for another teacher,to deny his Gospel,-and to adopt another creed. This appears
plainly to be its meaning from what follows:'Ye are removed
from Christ, who graciously called you, " unto another gospel."'
The apostle uses the word " gospel," 9 here, plainly not in its
1 Matth. xxviii. 18.                            2 John v. 22.
3 70  KaXEcavro vpas &, Xapr6t-Xpto —rovEv Xaprt.. ala XcpLrov.        6 El XaplV.
7 It is not unlikely that Xpt'rToi was not in the text originally, but is a
gloss.-Vide Griesbach and Koppe's Note. Semler says, "Haud dubie
antiquissima lectio fuit, sine addito nomine alio." Tertullian, in two passages, Cyprian, Lucifer Calaritanus, read it in this way. Origen and Theodoret add eeoo, obviously as a gloss.
8,uEaTiOEcE.                                    eV nayyX/tov.




P. II. ~ 2.]  CHIANGE AMONG THE GALATIANS.                 41
original appropriate meaning of' good news,' but just as equivalent to a religious system taking the name and laying claim to the
character of Christianity.' Ye have abandoned the religion of
Christ for another religion, which has nothing in common with
it but the name-a name of which it is utterly unworthy.'
And it is to show this distinctly that he immediately adds,"which is not another."1
These words are, by Tyndale and others, connected with
what follows. Understanding "which" not as referring to the
word " gospel," but to the whole subject of the apostasy of the
Galatians, they render the clause,-" which is nothing else but
this; there be some that trouble you," etc.; q. d.,' this is the
true account of the matter.'  In this case, however, the apostle
would probably have adopted a phraseology2 which admitted of but
one rendering and reference. It seems far more natural to connect
the clause with what goes before, considering it as a parenthesis.
It deserves notice that the words employed by the apostle in the
6th and 7th verses are not the same.3 Perhaps the force of the
original expression might be thus given to an English ear, —' Ye
are removed from Christ, who graciously called you, into a
different gospel, which yet is not another gospel.' It is as if he
had said,-' The doctrine you have embraced is a very different
doctrine from the doctrine of Christ. It may be called-it is
called —gospel, but it is misnamed.  There is no gospel but one,
and that ye have abandoned. What you have embraced is not
gospel in any proper sense of the word. It is not Christ's
doctrine; and it is not good news for sinful men.' Just contrast
the two doctrines, —" Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved." " All who believe shall be justified from all
things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses."
This is Christ's doctrine — this is'good news.' Now for the
other doctrine,-" Unless a man be circumcised after the manner
of Moses, and keep his law, he cannot be saved." This is not
Christ's doctrine-this is not' good news.'
1   oK ecTLV a XXo. Some have questioned the genuineness of aXXo,-conjecturing that some one first introduced aMXa into the margin as an interpretation of (l ud, and then some other person changed it into a'XXo, per
incuriam, and introduced it into the text. This is ingenious; but, like all
conjectural criticism on the New Testament, is of no value.
0 OJK {ET0l *XXO 4 OT Tver, Ki. T. A.     erEpov —aAo.




42              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.   [CHAP. 1. 6-10.
The apostle refers to their having very generally, as it would
appear, embraced the notion,-that in order to their salvation,
submission to the Mosaic law was necessary as well as faith in
Christ. It is not at all probable that the Galatians had made a
formal renunciation of Christianity. It is all but certain that a
proposal of this kind would have been received by them with
abhorrence. It is likely that many of them did not see how the
doctrines of their new teachers were subversive of those of their
old. But they were so; and the apostle very distinctly shows in
the sequel that they were so. And he here, without mincing the
matter, states the truth, dreadful as it was,-that the reception
of the new doctrines was in reality a renunciation of the old;
and that in going over to the Judaisers, they were not only
deserting him, but denying his Master.
They had " soon"' removed themselves-in the course of a
very few years at most.  " Soon" may refer to the time that
had elapsed, not since their conversion, but since the appearance
of the Judaising teachers among them to their change of mind.2
2. The Apostle's Feelings in reference to the Fact.
At this change which had taken place, the apostle expresses a
high degree of astonishment.  " I marvel that ye should so soon
have removed yourself from Christ who graciously called you to
another gospel: which is not another." And well might he
marvel. There were many grounds of astonishment; and almost
every word in the sentence is big with significance. That any
Christian church —any Christian man-should change the pure
principles of Christianity for any humanly devised system, is
strange. But there were many peculiarities in the case of the
Galatians rendering such a change peculiarly wonderful.  That
they who had been so well instructed, and who had received the
instructions given them with so much avidity, should, unmindful of their obligations to Jesus Christ, who, when they were
utterly undeserving of his kindness, " called them out of dark1TaXEon. Locke thinks that Paul's second visit to Galatia, Acts xviii.
21-23, took place A.D. 54. Then he found them steadfast. The epistle was
probably written from Ephesus, not more than two years afterwards.
OVTr Taxeco.-ovTco) EVKO oS.
3 /avuaco: a word used often to signify wonder, mixed with displeasure. —
Mark vi. 6. John v. 28. John vii. 21, comp. verse 23.




P. II. ~ 2.1   CHANGE AMONG THE GALATIANS.                   43
ness into his glorious light," throw off his easy yoke, and put
on the burdensome yoke of Mosaic ceremony, imposed on them
by persons who had no right to do it, —that they should exchange
liberty for bondage-that they should do this not in consequence
of the application of external force, but voluntarily-that they
should not have been driven but U"removed themselves" from
Him who called them-and that they should do this, not after a
long course of years, but while the instructions given them by
the apostle and the miracles wrought among them could
scarcely fail to be fresh in their recollection, —was indeed
marvellous.
3. Tlhe Cause of the Fact.
While the apostle expresses his astonishment at the conduct
of the Galatian churches, he intimates also that he was not unacquainted with its cause.  "But there be some that trouble
you, and would1 pervert the gospel of Christ." 2 The apostle here
plainly refers to the Judaising teachers, who are described in the
act of the council of Jerusalem  as " troubling the Gentile
churches with words subverting their souls.3 They harassed the
minds of the disciples individually by filling them with doubts
and alarms as to the safety of their state while they remained
uncircumcised and unsubjected to the Mosaic law; and they
troubled them as a body, laying the foundations of schism and
divisions.  And they wished to " pervert4 the gospel of Christ."
It was their wish, their determination, to have the gospel so
modified, as to secure themselves and their followers from the
persecution of the unbelieving Jews, and in doing so they
absolutely changed the very nature of the gospel. As Luther
says,-" they made good works, which are the effect of justifica1 0EOVrEE. "' Reipsa non poterant: volebant tamen obnixe."-BENGEL.
2 The construction here is difficult. Schott would make the last clause
hang by the first —q. d.' I would wonder,' etc.-were it not El #Q~. This
would have required OavaoLutoqt. El /,' seems used in a rather unusual
way, as equivalent to AXXa', as the similar compound particle, Earv E, -chap.
ii. 16. El,un seems equivalent to adXXd, Matth. xii. 4; Mark xiii. 32; Luke
iv. 26; 1 Cor. vii. 17; Rom. xiv. 14; Rev. ix. 4.  In the word rTVE5,
Semler thinks the apostle means to mark his contempt of the Judaising
teachers, or to intimate their obscurity and insignificance: adcwvvYtot, nameless
persons.
3 aVaOKEvaovTE. —Acts xv. 24.           4 hXOvIrev uEra7rpEa/L.




44             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.  [CHAP. I. 6-10.
tion, its cause."  This was to "pervert;" and by thus perverting the gospel, they " subverted the souls of the disciples."2
They might suppose that they were not materially altering the
gospel,-they were -only adding to it the observance of the Mosaic
law. But this addition was in reality a most important alteration,
-indeed, a complete perversion. The gospel as taught by Paul
was a system of pure grace-this was converting it into a variety
of the law of works. In Paul's system good works were represented as the necessary fruit of justification; whereas in this
system, they, along with faith in the Messiah, were represented
as the procuring cause.
It is a most hazardous thing to tamper with the gospel of
Christ. It must neither be abridged nor enlarged. It cannot
admit of either without injury. An apparently very simple
addition may completely "pervert" it. It seems to many no
great harm to substitute, in the room of the plain scriptural
statement of the gospel, a system which makes our faith and
repentance, in connection with Christ's sacrifice, the ground of
pardon; but we find the apostle pronouncing a similar system a
perversion of the gospel of Christ-a turning of things upside
down-a making Christ of none effect. No greater curse can
befall a Christian church than to have teachers who, by their
confused and erroneous statements, trouble the minds of believers,
and attempt to pervert the gospel of Christ.
" But "3 is an elliptical expression; it intimates, that though
the apostle was astonished, his astonishment was not that of
ignorance; he well enough knew the cause of the strange change.
It implies something like an apology for, or at any rate an extenuation of, the conduct of the Galatians.'I know the arts
which have been practised on you. I blame you; but I blame
them still more. Your folly fills me with wonder and pity:
their wickedness excites my disapprobation and horror.'
SECT. III.-THE MANNER IN WHICH CORRUPTERS OF THE
GOSPEL OUGHT TO BE REGARDED.
What the apostle Paul thought of these men is abundantly
plain from what he says of them in the 8th verse. "But though
1,'EacrTpEEoClV.
2 avarKEv'ovrF, Acts xv. 24.              El.
avaO'KI~~~~~~~~~~~Ela k~.




P. II. ~ 3.]   WAY OF TREATING FALSE TEACHERS.              45
we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to
you"-preach as the gospel any thing different from,' opposite to
— " that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."
The apostle obviously means to state, not only that his gospel
was true, but complete-nothing needed to be added to it. The
Jewish teachers might have said,-We do not contradict, we only
modify, add to, and so improve the gospel as preached by Paul.
The grand subject of the gospel of Christ is the way in which a
sinner may be restored to the Divine favour, and obtain the pardon
of his sin and the salvation of his soul. It is because the gospel of
Christ contains the only true account of the only way of justification, and that a way exactly suited to our wretched circumstances,
that it receives its name of gospel-" glad tidings of great joy."
"Another gospel" means, then, a system of doctrine teaching a
way of obtaining the Divine favour different from that laid down
in Christ's gospel. The leading principles of Christ's gospel are
two,-'.that men are restored to the Divine favour entirely on
account of the doings and sufferings of Jesus Christ,' and' that
men are interested in these doings and sufferings entirely by believing.' Now, every plan of restoring men to God's favour,
which does not embrace these two principles, or which embraces
what is inconsistent with either of them, is another gospel.
Every plan, for example, which, like that of the Judaising
teachers, leads men to depend on their own obedience to any
law to any extent, in any degree, either as the ground of their
justification or the means of their justification, is another gospel.
It is a most momentous- consideration, that "the avowed deist
does not more effectually reject the record of God concerning
his Son, than  the  nominal Christian  who  believes something else than this under the name of a gospel, and trusts
1 7rap' o, it has been said, is here not so much prceter id, as contra id.MoRus; as in Rom. xvi. 17; Acts xviii. 13; Rom. i. 26; iv. 18; xi. 24.
This is doubtful-vide Whitby's Note-or rather, it is certainly wrong. We
are not to depart from the ordinary sense of the term without good reason:
prceter,'besides,' in such a case, includes contra,'against.' "Non sane
Paulus temere dixit —rap' o Evl7yy7EXwc'eOa,  nam et quidquid evangelio
repugnat est procter ipsum; et quidquid est prcter, id si diligenter consideremus, contra esse et illi repugnare reperietur.  Nam in religione, etiam
illa noxia sunt, et ad ejus corruptelam pertinent quse primo aspectu simpliciter
inutilia esse videntur."-AMYRAUT, Prcef. in Psalm.




46             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.  [CHAP. I. 6-10.
in some other Christ than this Christ under the name of a
saviour." 1
If such a system should be preached to the Galatians by an
angel from heaven, or by the apostle himself, what were they to
do? Were they to receive it? No; they could not receive it
without renouncing the true gospel-that gospel which they had
already received on the best foundation. Instead of receiving it,
says the apostle, " let him" who proclaims it " be accursed." It is
not probable that the apostle conceived it possible that either he
or an angel could preach another gospel. But he puts the thing
in the strongest way to impress on the minds of the Galatians
the danger of receiving it, and the extreme folly of their conduct
in receiving such a gospel, though preached neither by angels nor
apostles, but by unauthorised, self-constituted teachers. The original words2 are obviously to be translated, not' a messenger from
heaven,' but, as in our version, "an angel from heaven;" q. d.,'even if one of the holy angels should dare to corrupt the gospel,
let him be accursed.' And good reason why even his gospel should
be rejected; for, as Richard Baxter says, " the gospel hath fuller
evidence than if an angel spake from heaven, and is to be
believed before, and against, any such  angel,"  Tertullian
strangely supposes that the reference is to a fallen angel-an
angel once in heaven,3 but now out of heaven.4 This is one of
-" the African schoolmaster's" many crochets; and I do not
know if he has had any followers in this opinion. Luther's,observation is characteristic,-" He casteth out very flames of
fire, and his zeal is so fervent that he beginneth almost to curse
the angels."
But what are we to understand by those words of the apostle
in reference to the preacher of another gospel? " Let him be
accursed."  Some consider them as a denunciation of vengeance
on the corrupters of the gospel of Christ. I have no doubt that
corrupters of the gospel of Christ, and especially such corrupters
as the apostle speaks of, are in extreme danger of aggravated
condemnation-of deepest perdition; and this seems implied in the
words; but I apprehend that the apostle's object is to point out
the manner in which the Galatian Christians ought to consider
and treat such persons They ought not to receive them. They
John Walker.   2 ayyEXos F obpavov.   S;e oipavm.'4  o tpavo;.




P. II. ~ 3.]   WAY OF TREATING FALSE TEACHERS.          47
ought not to listen to their doctrines, nor to follow their - advice.
They ought to consider them as a devoted thing.' They should
treat them in the way in which the Israelites were to treat the
accursed or devoted thing.2  I apprehend it is nearly equivalent
to the injunction of the apostle John,-" If there come any unto
you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house,
neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed
is partaker of his evil deeds."' " I have never conceived," says
a very acute expositor of Scripture, " the words,' let him be
accursed,' as denoting a prayer that the curse of God should
ultimately fall upon him (though we must be sure that it shall, if
he obtain not repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth),
but as a direction that he should be regarded as an accursed
thing-as one (however specious and esteemed) upon whom the
wrath of God lies. He that will not heartily join with the
apostle in the solemn words, must be animated by some spirit
very different from that of the truth."4  At first sight, there
may appear a discrepancy between the sentiment expressed here
and that contained in 2 Cor. xi. 4; but the apparent contradiction is very easily removed.
How those Christians, who receive as ministers men whom
they are ready enough to say preach another gospel, satisfy their
own consciences, I cannot tell. To acknowledge such men as
ministers, and receive Christian ordinances at their hand, is
certainly not to treat them as a devoted thing. We should be
very cautious how we charge men with preaching another gospel; but whenever we are conscientiously persuaded that they
do so, the line of conduct to be followed by us is very plain.
We must not acknowledge them  as teachers; we must not
listen to their instructions. They must be to us " anathema." I
wonder what amount of worldly good could have induced the
Apostle Paul to have acknowledged such men as ministers, and
to have treated them as brethren. Never was there a man more
disposed to bear with weak brethren; but never was there a
man more determined to oppose, and to expose, false brethren;
and I believe it will be always found that, when the love of the
1 Alva',a. va= s.', —"   Cum eo nihil vobis sit commercii non magis quam
cum iis quos synagoga aut ecclesia penitus abscidit."-GROTIUS. "daradFua
— = ayarTEE/IaTTOrlVEoV, cf. Chap. iii. 13, Ka-apa = KaTapaTros."-FRITSCHE.
2 Josh. vi. 18.     3 2 John 10, 11.' John Walker.




48              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.  [CHAP. 1. 6-10.
truth renders men kind and forbearing to others who really
love the truth, it renders them just in the same degree intolerant (so far as church-fellowship is concerned) in reference
to those who are the enemies of the truth. It was plainly a
feature in Paul's character, as well as in that of the church of
Ephesus, that he " could not bear them who were evil."  " It
is a false charity which represents it as of no essential consequence what we believe under the name of gospel. It is, indeed, but another form of human ungodliness, holding it of little
consequence what God we acknowledge." 1  The sentiment was
an important one, and the apostle repeats it to show the Galatians that this was no excessive, exaggerated statement, into
which passion had hurried him, but his calmly formed and unalterable opinion. " As we said before,2 so say I now again, If
any manz (man is a supplement-being, man or angel) preach" as
gospel any other doctrine "unto you than that ye have received,
let him be accursed."  These words, " as we said before," may
refer to the words immediately preceding; but we think it more
likely that the apostle alludes to what he had again and again
said to the Galatians when he was among them. There is a
similar expression, 2 Cor. vii. 7, where the reference is to what
is said in the same epistle, but in another place. Important
truth, especially if it happens to be unpalatable truth, needs
often to be repeated. For ministers to speak the same things
to their people, ought not to be grievous to themselves; and to
their people it is not only safe but necessary.
SECT. IV.-THE APOSTLE'S DEFENCE OF HIMSELF AGAINST
THE CHARGE OF BEING A MAN-PLEASER.
In the 10th verse, I apprehend the apostle states the reason
why he found himself under the necessity of using such strong
1 John Walker.
2 7rpoELpKa/Ev is read in some of the Codd. as two words, 7rpo ELp7KaE v.
This, however, is against prose usage. The text. rec. is right.  In consequence of the oldest MSS. having been written without any points or
disjunctions of words, in some of the later MSS. there are to be found both
false junctions and false disjunctions.-John iii. 2; ix. 31; Rom. viii. 14;
Phil. i. 1; 1 Cor. iv. 13; 1 Pet. i. 7; iii. 20.  The wonder is not that such
mistakes occur, but that they are not more numerous.




P. II. ~ 4.]   THE APOSTLE NO MAN-PLEASER.                  49
language. There is an abruptness in the transition here. What
follows is either an apology for the preceding language, or an
appeal to the Galatians whether the imputation of being a timeserver was not in his case a gross calumny. It was a conviction of duty which dictated his words.  His great object was to
please God; and this object he must prosecute, however much
men might be displeased.  Perhaps the train of thought which
connected the 9th with the 10th verse in the apostle's mind may
be thus expressed,-' I am aware this language will not be very
agreeable either to the Judaising teachers or to those who have
been deluded by them, but I cannot on this account desist from
it. My leading object is to please God, and this can only be
done by plainly stating and strongly defending the truth.' And
it is not unlikely that it was intended to suggest this idea,-' A
man who thus plainly asserts the most unpalatable truths is
not very likely to be such a selfish time-server and man-pleaser
as the Judaising teachers had represented the apostle.'
But let us look at the verse a little more closely.
"For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please
men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of
Christ." In the first clause of this verse we have a proof that a
version may be too literal. The translation is so literal as to be
unintelligible.  It is easy to understand what is meant by " persuading men," though it is not so easy to see what connection
such an idea has with what goes before, or what comes after;
but what meaning can be attached to the phrase, " persuading
God"?  The ordinary sense of the original word translated
"persuade,"' with an accusative, is to prevail on another, by
argument or persuasion, to credit a statement or do an action.
This is plainly inappropriate to God. Luther, Erasmus, Vatablus, Cramer, and Michaelis, render the clause,-' Are human or
Divine things the subject of my argument? Do I preach man's
doctrine or God's?'  Calixtus and Piscator,-' Do I persuade
you to believe men or God?'  Calvin supposes an ellipsis,21 7TEL'o.
2 Of Kama. Bos seems to have been of the same opinion. "Cave," he
says, "ne cum Grotio et aliis reddas placare." In a later edition of his
valuable work on Ellipses, these words are omitted. He seems to have
changed his opinion. " Et jure mutavit," says Schoeffer, " verissime enim
Elsnerus illam ellipsin mirificam et insolentem dicit."
D




50              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.  [CHAP. I. 6-10.'Do I respect men or God in my persuasions?' All these expositions are unsatisfactory. If you keep strictly to the primitive
meaning of the word, the only sense the clause will bear, is
that given by our translators; but then it is obviously inappropriate
to the subject.  The truth, however, is, that though'persuade'
is by far the most ordinary meaning of the word which occurs
here, it is not its only meaning. It means also to' conciliate,'
to' court favour."' In this sense it occurs in Matth. xxviii. 14;
Acts xii. 20: " Having made Blastus the king's chamberlain
their friend;"2 2 Mac. iv. 45.  When Menelaus, the Jewish
high priest, found himself convicted of his crimes, he promised
Ptolemy a large sum of money to " pacify "-to propitiate-" the
king."3 The word seems employed with a similar meaning, 1
John iii. 19,-We " shall assure4 our hearts before Him."  Le
Clerc seems to think that in all such cases there is an ellipsis.
That this is its meaning here there can scarcely be a doubt.'For do I seek the approbation or favour of men or of God?
or do I seek to please men?' These interrogations are plainly
equivalent to a strong denial.' I seek God's approbation, not
man's. I am no time-server, no man-pleaser, as I have been
represented.'
The apostle appeals to his conduct as a proof that the desire
of pleasing men was not his regulating principle, —" If I yet
pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."  These
words have very commonly been understood as expressing the
following sentiment':'The man whose master-principle is a wish
to please men, cannot be a consistent servant of Christ.' It has
been considered as a particular application of our Lord's general
maxim, " No man can serve two masters."5  In this way the
words, which viewed by themselves are well fitted to convey
this sentiment, express a truth of the last importance, to be seriously weighed by all, especially by those who are ministers of
religion. The man, whom fear of human resentment or desire
of human favour can induce to keep back any part of the truth,
or pervert any part of the truth, is altogether unworthy of the
name of a minister of Christ. There are truths which ought to
1' rTELOELV is here = dapeKeL', which follows."-OLsHAUSEN.  2 WrEoavrUE.
3 7rETat rov j3aotXea. Jos. Antiq. iv. 6, 5; vi. 5, 6; viii. 10, 3.
4 rHETO/LEV T U Kapalaq Vtxv,                5 Matth. vi. 24.




P. II. ~ 4.]    THE APOSTLE NO MAN-PLEASER.                     51
be told, and which cannot be told without displeasing some men;
but then they cannot be concealed without displeasing Christ;
and certainly he is not a faithful servant of Christ who, in a case
of this kind, can be silent. But this does not seem to be the
apostle's idea here. It would not serve his purpose. His adversaries would have said, I We have no objection to that conclusion; that is just what we say-you are not a servant of
Christ.' Besides, in this way of explaining the phrase, the word
"yet"' loses its force.  The meaning seems to be this-' If I
were now a man-pleaser, as I once was, I would not be a servant
of Christ.' Paul was once very ambitious to secure the favour
of his countrymen; and, to obtain it, he took his place in the
foremost ranks of the persecutors of Christianity. His exertions
to obtain human favour were successful, and he stood high in
the estimation of his countrymen.' Now,' says the apostle,'were worldly ambition now my leading principle, as it once
was, I should not be a servant of Jesus Christ. The course I
have chosen is not the path to worldly honour. Whatever I may
be seeking, it is obvious I am  not seeking to please men.'2  It
is a happy circumstance if a Christian minister, when slanderously reported of, can fearlessly appeal to the tenor of his life,
and leave the decision with those who know him best.
fLo.
2 " El yap Tobro VToovlaaov (apfoKeLv avdpCVOiots) OvK as diE'o-nv nZY'IovsatKv Kal 7rpooiiXMov T- XpLOro, OVK anyv Ka7-TEpov7coa avyyevciv, fIXov,
a3Or'$  rocav'rT)sV KaL ElXO#/ITV 8tCy/LOVS  Kal Klv8VOVs Kal aTdLlata."-THEOPHYLACT. " Non defecissem ab ceconomia Mosaica, non renuntiassem omnibus
commodis externis, non me dedissem tot tantisque periculis in propaganda
Christiana religione, mitiorem pretulissem sortem ac conditionem."-JAsPIS.




PART III.
THE APOSTLE'S HISTORICAL DEFENCE OF HIMSELF
AND OF HIS OFFICE.
GALATIANS I. 11 —II. 21.-" But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel
which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For ye
have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that
beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it; and profited
in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more
exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and
returned again unto Damascus. Then, after three years, I went up to
Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the
apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. Now the things which
I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. Afterwards I came into the
regions of Syria and Cilicia; and was unknown by face unto the churches
of Judea which were in Christ: but they had heard only, that he which persecuted us in times past, now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
And they glorified God in me. Then, fourteen years after, I went up again
to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. And I went up
by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach
among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by
any means I should run, or had run, in vain.  But neither Titus, who was
with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: and that because
of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our
liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the
truth of the gospel might continue with you. But of those who seemed to
be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person; for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me: but contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel
of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; (for He that wrought effectually in Peter to the




P. III. ~ 1.]      INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.                         53
apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the
Gentiles:) and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars,
perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas
the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and
they unto the circumcision. Only they would that we should remember the
poor; the same which I also was forward to do. But when Peter was come
to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For
before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but
when they were come, he withdrew, and separated himself, fearing them
which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise
with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly, according to
the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a
Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by
nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and
not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh
be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves
also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a
transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live
unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, wlho loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not
frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain."
SECT. I.-INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
EGOTISM, or a disposition to bring forward a person's self, is a
characteristic of a weak mind and a contracted heart. It is not
an agreeable feature in any man's character; but it is peculiarly
disagreeable when it is a leading trait in the character of a man
who, from the office he fills, should be distinguished by the wide
comprehension of his views, and the generous liberality of his
affections. Such a man is a minister of the gospel; and there
is something incongruous and disgusting in one whose mind ought
to be habitually employed about the glory of the Divine character-the order and stability of the Divine government-the
restoration of a ruined world to purity and happiness-the incarnation and sacrifice of the Son of God —the transforming and
consoling influence of the Holy Ghost —the joys and the sorrows




54            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
of eternity —and whose grand business it ought to be to bring
these things, in all their reality and importance, before the minds
of his fellow-men-it is incongruous and disgusting in such a man
to appear primarily anxious to draw men's attention to himselfseizing every opportunity to bring himself into notice-exhibiting the truths of the gospel chiefly for the purpose of displaying
his own talents-calling men's attention to them more as his
opinions than as God's truth, and less ambitious of honouring
the Saviour, and saving those who hear him, than of obtaining
for himself the reputation of piety, or learning, or acuteness, or
eloquence. This is truly pitiable; and if angels could weep, it
would be at folly like this.
A minister of the gospel can scarcely, in ordinary circumstances, keep himself too much in the background. He should
try to forget himself, and to make his hearers forget him, in
his subject. His ambition should be to be a voice proclaiming,' Behold Him! behold Him!' attracting no notice itself, but
fixing the mind directly and entirely on the subject of the message.
But it is obvious that ministers of the gospel may be placed
in circumstances in which duty absolutely requires them to speak
a great deal more of themselves than they are disposed to do.
The success of a minister's labours depends, in a great degree, on
the confidence which those to whom he ministers have in the accuracy of his information and the integrity of his character. Aware
of this, no art has been more frequently employed by the enemies
of Christianity, whether secret or open, to arrest its progress, than
an attempt to blast the reputation of its teachers. In such cases,
it becomes an imperious duty, not so much to themselves as to
their Master and to his cause, to come forward and defend themselves, to expose the falsehood and malignity of their calumniators,
and to turn aside the blows which, though directed immediately
at them, are ultimately aimed at Christianity and Christ.
This is far from being the most agreeable part of a Christian
minister's duty; but it is a necessary and important part of it,
from which, when called to it, he ought not to shrink; and it
may console him to think, when such engagements withdraw his
thoughts from more pleasant employment, that his case is not a
singular one-that it has been so from the beginning-and that
that apostle who, if left to his own choice, would never have done
anything but preach "Christ, and him crucified,"-" the power




P. III. ~ 2.]   THE THESIS TO BE PROVED.               55
and the wisdom of God for salvation " to a lost world, was not
unfrequently obliged to defend himself against charges which
avowed enemies, and, what he felt more keenly, false brethren,
brought against him, and which, if uncontradicted, would have
gone far to frustrate the great object of his evangelical labours.
In this necessary though unpleasant work, we find the apostle
engaged in that portion of the Epistle to the Galatians which
now comes before us for explication. Soon after the apostle had
left the churches which he had planted in Galatia, false teachers
came among them, insisting that submission to circumcision and
observance of the Mosaic law were necessary to salvation, as well
as faith in Jesus as the Messiah; and as these sentiments were
directly opposed to the doctrines taught by the apostle, they endeavoured to pave the way for their reception by shaking the
confidence of the Galatian converts in his authority or integrity.
They insinuated that the apostle's doctrine was not consistent
with the doctrine of the other apostles-that he was not uniform
in his doctrine, but taught sometimes one thing, sometimes another, as it suited his convenience; that, at any rate, he was but
a secondary teacher, not belonging to the class of original apostles,
and that, if he had any authority, it must be derived from them.
It is in rebutting the last of these charges that he is engaged in
the verses which now lie before us as the subject of exposition.
He asserts the fact of his having derived both his information
and his authority as a Christian apostle directly from Christ
Jesus, and, by appealing to many of the leading events in his
history, evinces the falsehood of those statements by means of
which the Judaising teachers had endeavoured to undermine his
influence on the minds of the Galatians, and seduce them from
the simplicity of the truth as it is in Jesus.
SECT. II.-THE THESIS TO BE PROVED, "'THAT HE WAS A
DIVINELY-TAUGHT, DIVINELY-AUTHORISED APOSTLE."
"But I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was
preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ."'
The phraseology adopted here by the apostle, 1" I certify you,"
1 Gal. i. II11, 12.




56             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
does not at all imply that he now, for the first time, stated to the
Galatians the fact he was about to assert. It is the same word
he uses when he gives a summary of the gospel to the Corinthians, which he at the same time states that he had before preached
to them, 1 Cor. xv., " I declare."' It intimates his wish that they
should remember it, and hold it fast in opposition to the assertions
of the false teachers, and also perhaps refers to the confirmation
he was about to give of it by a statement of some of the leading
circumstances in his history.
The truth which he was so anxious that they should remember
and hold fast was, that " the gospel which was preached of him
was not after man."2 The gospel preached by Paul signifies the
doctrine which he taught respecting the way of salvation through
Christ Jesus. The sum and substance of that doctrine was, that
what Christ Jesus had done and suffered was the sole ground of
human hope, and that belief in the truth respecting what Christ
had done and suffered was the sole mode of obtaining a personal
interest in his salvation.
This doctrine, the apostle asserts, was not "after3 man."
Although the preposition rendered "after" with the accusative of a
person does not properly denote the author of a thing, but that
it is done according to his will, law, or example: yet here it is
obviously equivalent to'was not human but divine.'4  It was
something "1 which eye had not seen, nor ear heard," nor had it
entered, nor could it enter, "' into the heart of man to conceive
it." 5 It was not human either in its substance or in its form.
What he taught was not a cunninglydevised fable, nor a curiously
constructed theory. It was a true account of the Divine method of
saving men. It was an accurate statement of a divine revelation.
But this was not all.  This may be said of every gospel sermon.
It may be said of Apollos' preaching as well as of Paul's, nay, it
may be said of every man who declares " the truth as it is in
Jesus." Paul's gospel was not only divine in its substance, but
1 yvopl'o. —Prov. xxii. 19; Ezek. xliv. 23; 1 Cor. xii. 3. There is a
peculiarity of construction, intended to give peculiar prominence to EdayyE'XLov.
In strict grammatical propriety, oTgr should have preceded eVayyEXLov.
2 EVayy/Xtov E1VayyEXLcrO0Ev VTr'?oi, opposed to eVOayEXLov irepor,-v. 6.
He calls it e'a-yYALot'V yov, Rom. xiv. 25.
3 KarT. "KaTh complectitur vim praepositionum  wro'&, &aa et 7rapa, ver. 1,
12."- BENGEL.
4 Theophylact: " OK;iOporov EXoV,a-cTKaXov."    1 Cor. ii. 9.




P. III. ~ 2.]     THE THESIS TO BE PROVED.                     57
in its form.  It was not divine truth clothed in such language as
human wisdom  suggested-it was divine truth clothed   in the
words which the Holy Ghost teacheth." The gospel, as taught
by the apostle, was a direct revelation from heaven. He had not
framed it himself-he had not borrowed it from those who framed
it —he had not even been taught by those who themselves had
received it from above. It was in none of these points of view
" after man;" for, adds he, "I neither received it of man, neither
was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."
The pronoun I1 here is emphatic:-" I, though not one of
those who associated with Jesus Christ while on earth2 2    was
not a man-taught apostle.'  The phrases, "I did not receive it"
-" I was not taught it," 3 may seem at first view synonymous; but,
as tautology is not one of Paul's characteristics as a writer, I rather
think they are intended to suggest different ideas.  When Paul
says,'I did not receive my gospel from men,' he seems to refer to
the authority with which he was invested to preach the gospel.
Timothy received the gospel in this way from him. IIe put it
into his hands and authorised him to communicate it to others.
But Paul received his gospel directly from Jesus Christ. HE
made him a minister. HE directly and immediately invested
him with apostolic authority. And as he did not in this way
receive his gospel 1" from man," so neither was he taught it "' by
man."  It is easy to conceive that a man might be miraculously
pointed out as a person destined to bp a preacher of Christianity,
and yet left to be instructed in the message he was to deliver by
inspired men. But this was not Paul's case; he was not taught
his gospel, r"but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."4   By a
direct revelation similar to that by which God made known his
will to the prophets of old, Paul was made acquainted with that'Eycb.
2 According to Theophylact, this was one of the allegations of the Judaisers,
that the apostle was not avr;jKoo; ro7  XpUrroZ.
3 " Accipit qui incipit, discit qui proficit, in Evangelii notitia: vel non
accepi ab alio neque a memetipso proprio studio didici."'-LUTHERUS.
" rapEXaf3ov et E'8tbaX0r? non sunt synonyma hoc in loco sed illud ad apostolatus onus Paulo impositum, istud ad doctrinae quam preedicaturus erat
perceptionem refertur."-BEZA. The reformed divine is the better exegete.
4'ArOKadXV#LS'o'q0Co XPLUTOO, genitive both auctoris and objecti.'A2TOKaXv+Ls, —Scientia ea quoe non naturali quadam ingenii humani vi sed diviniore
quodam modo homini contingere existimatur.-Roml. xvi. 25; 1 Cor. xiv. 6,




58            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
gospel which he was to preach among the Gentiles. He was
not sent to the apostles to be instructed. In the history of his
conversion, nothing is said of his receiving instruction from
Ananias or the disciples at Antioch.l Jesus Christ took him
under his own immediate tuition, and made known to him, not
only what may be called the abstract part of Christianity, but its
leading facts. He received of the Lord an account of the institution of the Lord's Supper.2  He received of the Lord the
gospel he preached to the Corinthians, "that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."3
This statement does not by any means necessarily infer that Paul
knew nothing about Christ Jesus but what he learned by revelation. This is certainly in the highest degree improbable. It
means that his deep, thorough knowledge of " the truth as it is
in Jesus" was of supernatural origin.  "As regards the purely
spiritual part of the gospel, there is no difficulty in conceiving
how Paul could have made this his own without any instrumentality from man. For the Holy Ghost, who was imparted to
him, filled his inner man as an all-pervading light, and made
plain to him, through his belief in Jesus as the Messiah, the
whole of the Old Testament, in which all the germs of the New
were already laid down. In the Spirit, who is absolute truth1 John v. 6-was given the assured conviction of the truth of
the gospel, and insight ipto its meaning in details.  With
regard, however, to the historical side of Christianity, the case
appears to be different; and yet there are points connected
apparently altogether with this (as, for example, the institution
of the Lord's Supper, 1 Cor. xi. 23, etc.), of which the apostle
insists that he received them immediately from the Lord. Now,
we should undoubtedly be running into an erroneous extreme if
we were to assume that all historical particulars in the life of our
Lord were imparted to him by revelation. The general outlines
of Christ's outward life, the history of his miracles, of his journeys, and what belongs to them, were no doubt related to him
by Ananias or other Christians. But whatever in that life was
necessarily connected with the peculiar doctrines of the gospel,
26; 2 Cor. xii. 1, 7; Eplh. iii. 3. Paul had many revelations,-Acts xvi. 9;
xxii. 17; 1 Cor. ii. 10; 2 Cor. v. 13; xii. 1; Gal. ii. 2.
1 Acts ix. 19.       2 1 Cor. xi. 23.       3 1 Cor. xv. 3.




P. III. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THIE THESIS.            59
as, for instance, the institution of the sacraments, the resurrection,
and similar points, came no doubt to the apostle in an extraordinary manner, by immediate revelation of the Lord; so as to
accredit him as an independent witness, not only before the world,
but also to believers. No one could come forward and say, that
what Paul knew of the gospel had been received from him. For
it was from no man, but from  the highest Teacher himself, that
he had received, as well the commission to preach, as also the
essential facts of the gospel, and the Holy Spirit who gives light
and life to these facts." 1 This statement the apostle confirms by
referring to his past history.
It would be high presumption in any Christian minister to use
those words of the apostle, which we have been illustrating, in the
sense in which he used them. Yet there is a sense, and an important one, in which every Christian minister should be able to say,
" the gospel which I preached unto you is not after man." No
man should enter the Christian ministry, for no man is fit for its
functions, unless he has been- " taught of God." 2
SECT. III.-HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.
1. His Character as a Jew.
"For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the
Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church
of God, and wasted it; and profited in the Jews' religion above
many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly
zealous of the traditions of my fathers."3
The word conversation in modern English is confined in its
signification to mutual talk —colloquial intercourse. Here, however, and in many other passages of the New Testament, it is
used as equivalent to behaviour, general conduct, and is the
translation of a word of which this is a common meaning.4 A" Ye
have heard of my conversation in the Jewish religion"5 is just
equivalent to' You have heard of my behaviour when I was a
1 Olshausen, " General Introd. to the Ep. of Paul," ~ 1.
2 He must be OEo8'l8aKTro. Isa. liv. 13. Jer. xxxi. 33, 34.
3 Gal. i. 13, 14.
4 avaorpofri,-Eph. iv. 22; 1 Pet. i. 18; Jam. iii. 13. I3L'oaLs, —Acts
xxvi. 4.
e5 v Ta'Iov8(li'fo-,-' when I was attached to Judaism as my religion.'




60              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
Jew, that I had a peculiar hatred at Christianity and Christians,
and I had a peculiar zeal for Judaism.'
When he was a Jew, Paul " persecuted the church of God,
and wasted it beyond measure."' The best illustration of these
words is to be found in the sacred history. "As for Saul, he
made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling
men and women, committed them to prison." —" Then Ananias
answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much
evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem." —" I verily thought
with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name
of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and
many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death,
I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every
synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and, being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange
cities."2  And as he was an inveterate opponent of Christianity,
so he highly admired, diligently studied, carefully practised Judaism. He " profited in the Jews' religion above many of his
equals,"3 i. e., his contemporaries, men of the same age among
his countrymen —" being more exceedingly zealous of the, traditions of my fathers." By these " traditions" we are to understand
the doctrine of the Old Testament as understood by the Jewish
teachers, and the additional dogmas which had no foundation
there, but had been handed down by unwritten tradition.4 He
was not only a J ew, but, after the " most straitest sect of that religion, he lived a Pharisee." There is a very striking similarity between the 13th and 14th verses, and Acts xxvi. 4, 5.5 The apostle
1 KaO' 7rep3oXlj, a favourite phrase of the apostle for o'a-4pa,-Rom. vii.
13; 1 Cor. vii. 31; 2 Cor. i. 8; iv. 17. —EKKXlt'av  Oeo, a dignified title, to
heighten the view of his wickedness in persecuting it.-E'ro'povv,-Acts
viii. 3. —EXvpaL'vero. E. "made havock."  The " perfervidum ingeniumu" of
the apostle, when brought under a divine influence, fitted him for that eminent
usefulness to which he attained. It is finely remarked by Augustine, Cont.
Faust. xxii. 70, " Animpe virtutis capaces et fertiles prwemittunt soepe vitia,
quibus hoc ipsum indicent, cui virtuti sint potissimum accommodatae si fuerint
proeceptis exculte. Pauli saevitia curn secundum memulationem paternarum
traditionum persequebatur ecclesiam putans officium Deo se facere tanquam
silvestre erat vitium sed magnee fertilitatis indicium."
2 Acts viii. 3; ix. 13; xxvi. 9-11.             3 rVV?~XLKtobTrS.
4 ", Neither the one set nor the other alone."-OLIAvsUSEN.
57rTarptKo, = 7arpo-rrapdSorov. —1 Pet. i, 18.




P. III. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.             61
seems to notice these things, in order to impress on the minds of
the Galatians this truth, that the gospel he taught them was not
the natural result of his education. In the succeeding verses he
shows how he came to entertain his present views.
2. His Conversion and Call.
"But when it pleased God, who separated me from my
mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal 1 his Son
in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately
I conferred not with flesh and blood." 2
It is obvious that the apostle did not learn his gospel of men
before his conversion; and it is as plain that he did not learn it
of them afterwards. The apostle's short account of his conversion
deserves notice.  He describes it as the work of God.  God
"s called him by his grace." God " revealed his Son in him."
In the new creation, "all things are of God;" 3 and it is as
true of every man that is converted, as of Paulf that his conversion is the work of God. He speaks of God as " separating
him from his mother's womb, and calling him by his grace."
The first of these expressions has been explained by a reference to Psal. xxii. 9, 10; but it seems rather parallel to Jer.
i. 5. It is equivalent to-' Who destined me from my birth,
and indeed from all eternity, to the office I now fill.' The
second of them, " Who called me by his grace," is equivalent to-' Who graciously,' i. e., kindly, mercifully,'at the
appointed period, by a voice from heaven, accompanied by the
power of his Spirit, made me at once a Christian and a Christian
apostle.'
It pleased this God "to reveal his Son" in Paul, "that he
might preach him 4 among the heathen."  The expression, " to
reveal his Son in me," is singular. It is a very literal translation,
-so literal as to be obscure.5  The words may either signify, to
1 "Verbum quoque ipsum dcroKaXlJecovs revelationis proprie Scripturarum
est, a nullo sapientium seculi apud Groecos usurpatum."-HIERoN., Com.
in loc.
2 Gal. i. 15, 16.                             3 2 Cor. v. 18.
"4 " Christ himself, not merely the doctrine concerning him, is the object of
genuine preaching." —OLSHAUsEN.
5 The original phrase receives illustration from Matth. x. 32, —MuoXoyqrret
(v wLOL-EV aVu-.




62             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-1I. 21.'reveal his Son to me,' or, to' reveal his Son by me.' As, in the
latter case, the phrase would be nearly synonymous with the succeeding clause, we apprehend the former is its meaning. God
"revealed his Son" to Paul.  But there is more in the phrase
than to reveal to, in the ordinary sense of these words.' It refers
to an inward revelation, in contrast to the outward revelations
made to Paul.2 The declaration is quite parallel to that in the
Second Epistle to the Corinthians: " God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, shined3 in his heart," 4 for the
purpose of its being diffused.5  He made a miraculous revelation
of the truth respecting his Son to Paul's mind, for this purpose,
"that he might preach him among the heathen."  This was the
result of his good pleasure: It " pleased" Him. It was in the
exercise of the sovereign benignity of his nature.
And here I cannot but call the attention of all aspirants to the
sacred office to the fact, that when God intended to make Paul
a public teacher of Christianity, He "revealed Christ in him."
They have no reason to expect such an internal revelation as he
received; but unless, in a very important sense, God " reveals
his Son" in them, they cannot be fitted for the office to which
they are looking forward. The words of Perkins are weighty:
"Ministers of the gospel must learn Christ as Paul learned him.
They may not content themselves with that learning which they
find in schools; but they must proceed further to a real learning
of Christ. They that must convert others, it is meet that they
should be effectually converted. John must eat the book, and
then prophesy; and they who would be fit ministers of the
gospel, must first themselves eat the book of God. And this
book is indeed eaten, when they are not only in their minds
enlightened, but in their hearts are mortified, and brought in
subjection to the word of Christ. Unless Christ be thus learned
1 Beza very justly says,'" v'Log, i. e., mihi; sed tamen videtur quiddam
etiam amplius significare."
2 "C Rectius omnino faciunt interpretes qui post Chrysostomum hac cv 4/woL
sic explicant, ut excludat externum omnem magistrum sicut,-1 Cor. ii. 10;
Eph. iii. 3."-SEMLER. " Multis ostendit Deus filium sed non revelat; quia
in multis non est, non habitat non vivit; a multis non cognoscitur, nec
creditur, nec amatur."-CoccEIus. 1 John iv. 9,-'EqavcepWO   a ya'7y&r 7 ov
Oeoz &v  71,tlV. "To have the love of God revealed' in us,' is something more
than to have it revealed to us."-WINER, ~ 31, 5.
s   7v lc Kapt&a:     4 2 Cor. iv. 6.       s rp6o hoolU6,vY.




P. III. ~ 4.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.             63
spiritually and really, divines shall speak of the word of God as
men speak of'riddles, and as priests in former times said their
matins, when they hardly knew what they said."
3. ttis Conduct in consequence of his Conversion.
(1.) Ile " conferred not with flesh and blood."
Now when God had thus " revealed his Son" in Paul, "immediately," 1 says he (verse 16), " I conferred2 not with flesh and
blood."  The word translated c" conferred," properly signifies' to
impose a new burden.' In the classics, the middle voice is used
in the sense,-' I allow a burden to be imposed on myself-I
undertake some difficult affair.'  It is sometimes used by the
later writers with the dative of a person, to signify' to take counsel
or advice of a person,' as he who asks advice lays a burden on the
person consulted. This is its meaning here. " Flesh and blood" 3
are here equivalent to' human nature' in himself or in others.-'I neither consulted my own reason or inclination, nor did I seek
instruction from others: I committed myself entirely to Divine
guidance and teaching. I did not consult with any man. I did
not seek instruction from any man. I did not inquire at other
Christians if the views of Christianity which had been conveyed
into my mind were correct or not. I asked at no man what I
was to preach, or where I was to preach. I gave myself up to
the guidance of the Divine impulse; and immediately commenced
speaking the things of the Spirit, not in words which man's
wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.' 4
(2.) He did not go up to Jerusalem.
"Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles
before me;* but I went into Arabia, and returned again to
Damascus."6 On his conversion, Paul immediately began to
1 eOwosv connects with drrXOov.             2 2rpooravarLOevaL.
3'Cap6 Kal aluta.: *.
4 "Paul means to say,' Obedient to God alone, I excluded all human
deliberation, as being subject to error.' "-OLSHAUSEN.
5,rpO wLoi, inserted to intimate that he was then an apostle as well as
they; the only difference being in the priority of the date of their apostleship.
6 Gal. i. 17.




64              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
teach in Damascus; and when, in consequence of the persecutions of his countrymen, he found it necessary to leave Damascus,
he did not go up' to Jerusalem to be better instructed in Christianity, or to have his mission confirmed.
(3.) He went into Arabia.
Instead of going to Jerusalem, he went into Arabia,2 for the
purpose, it may be, of yielding himself up in its solitudes to solemn
meditation and communion with his divine Master.  No proof
can be derived from these words that Paul preached in Arabia.
There is no trace of that in the Acts of the Apostles.
(4.) He returned to Damascus.
After continuing in Arabia for some time, he returned to
Damascus, which at that time was under the government of
Aretas, the king of Arabia.3 During all this time he had never
met with one of the apostles, nor does it appear that he had intercourse with any individual of note among the Christians. Alnd
when, after three years, he did at length go up to Jerusalem,
he received neither instruction nor authority from the apostles.
4. Threeyears after, he went to Jerusalem  to become acquainted
with Peter; remained only three days, and saw only two of
the apostles.
"Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see
Peter, and abode with him fifteen4 days. But other of the
apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother."' It is impossible to say certainly whether these three years are to be
dated from Paul's departure from Jerusalem to Damascus, or
1If dvrXOov be the true reading, then probably the true rendering is,' I
returned not;' Jerusalem having been the place of his previous abode.
acrriXOov, however, seems to be considered by the best judges as the preferable
reading:' I went not to Jerusalem, but into Arabia.'
2 It will scarcely be believed by those unversed in patristic interpretation,
that Jerome expounds these words allegoricd, thus: " Veni in Arabiam, i. e.,
ad legem et prophetas, ad Veteris Testamenti jam in occiduo positi sacramenta conversus, ut quvesiverim in eis Christum. Et iterum reversus sum
Damascumn, h.e., ad sanguinem et passionem Christi. Et deinde lectione
prophetica firmatus pergit Hierosolyma, locum visionis et pacis."
3 2 Cor. xi. 32.
4 Jerome finds a mystery in these fifteen days.-Ep. ciii. 5 Gal. i. 18, 19.




P. III. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.             65
from his return from Arabia to that city.l This is probably the
visit of which we have an account, Acts ix. 26, 27. His object was
to " see Peter." 2 He gained his object, and was Peter's guest for
a fortnight.' It was natural that Paul should wish to make the
acquaintance of such a man as the apostle Peter: the man who
made the noble declaration, Matth. xvi. 16; the man to whom
had been given the keys of the kingdom of heaven; the man
who had preached the sermon at Pentecost, which made three
thousand converts.4 The only other apostle seen by Paul on this
occasion was " James the Lord's brother." This was probably
James the son of Alpheus, who was our Lord's cousin —the word
rendered " brother," 5 like the corresponding Hebrew term; being
used for a near relative. Some6 have supposed, but without
sufficient reason, that it was another James, a brother-german
of our Lord.  If such an individual existed, which is not improbable, he was not an apostle. On this visit Paul met with
only two of the apostles, and he remained with them only fifteen
days; so that it is plain there was no time for him to learn his
Christianity from them.  Dr Paley well observes, " The shortness of St Paul's stay at Jerusalem is what I desire the reader
to remark. The direct account of the same journey in the Acts,7
determines nothing concerning the time of his continuance there:'And he was with them (the apostles) coming in and going out
at Jerusalem. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord
Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to
slay him. Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down
to Coesarea.' Or rather this account, taken by itself, would lead
a reader to suppose that St Paul's abode at Jerusalem had been
longer than fifteen days. But turn to the twenty-second chapter
of the Acts, and you will find a reference to this visit to Jeru1 Olshausen says, "The &E6'Lra can be reckoned only from the principal
event, i. e., from Paul's conversion."
2 atoropev, verbum alra} XEyoIpevov, in the New Testament. He does not
say 183tv, but lacropEiv. This is a word used in reference to visiting what is
accounted peculiarly worthy of being seen. Chrysostom and Theophylact
say it is the word employed in reference to great and celebrated cities.
"l oOpElt non est quomodocunque videre, sed quomodo spectare aut invisere
solemus res aut personas in quibus ob excellentiam multa digna sunt cognitu."
— ESTIUS.
3 "4 Magnus hospes magni hospitis."-GROTIVUs.  4 Acts ii. 14-41.
acBFXQbO.     6 Simon, Michaelis, Storr.    7 Acts ix. 28-30.
E




66             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
salem, which plainly indicates that Paul's continuance in that
city had been of short duration:'And it came to pass, that,
when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in
the temple, I was in a trance; and saw Him saying unto me,
Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they
will not receive thy testimony concerning me.' Here we have
the general terms of one text so explained by a distant text in
the same book, as to bring an indeterminate expression into a
close conformity with a specification delivered in another book;
a species of consistency not, I think, usually found in fabulous
relations."' It seems likely that it was Paul's intention to remain for some time in Jerusalem; but his Master ordered it
otherwise.2 It was not the apostles, but their Master, who determined where Paul was to labour.
In the 20th verse, the apostle makes a strong declaration of
the truth of his relation: " Now the things which I write unto
you, behold, before God, I lie not."  This is a plain intimation
that oaths, on proper occasions, are not unlawful. We have
similar declarations equivalent to oaths, Rom. i. 9; 2 Cor. i. 23;
Rom. ix. 1; 2 Cor. xi. 31; 1 Thess. ii. 5.
5. He went then into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, being
personally unknown to the churches of Judea.
In the following verses the history is continued: " Afterwards
I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; and was unknown
by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ: but
they had heard only, that he which persecuted us in times past,
now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. And they
glorified God in me."3 After the apostle's departure from Jerusalem, he went " into the regions4 of Syria and Cilicia." The
parallel passage in Acts is chap. ix. 30. How long Paul remained in these regions, we have no means of ascertaining.
"The churches of Judea" is a phrase descriptive of'the
churches out of the capital.' To the members of these churches
Saul was personally unknown. All they knew of him was by
Horae Paul. c. v. No. 8.          2 Acts ix. 29; xxii. 17, etc.
3 Gal. i. 21-24.
4 Keiha, properly the inclination of the earth from the equator to the pole
and the consequent diversity of temperature, transferred to a particular
region distinguished by a particular position and temperature.




P. III. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.             67
report. "They had heard "' both what he had been-a destroyer
of the faith, —and what he had become —a preacher of that
faith.2 " The term by which the apostle expresses the subject
of his preaching, " the faith," 3 has occasioned no small contention
among the learned part of the Christian world. He calls it the
faith; and it seems that was the term then commonly used. As
it is allowed by all that it (faith) is the same with belief, the
meanest day-labourer knows as well as the most learned divine
that it is commonly used to express what they believe, and the
actual believing of it; or, as the schools speak, the act of believing, and its object; and can easily distinguish when the one or
the other is to be understood by that word. And one cannot
help saying, that the learned labours of those who have made it
their business to explain it, have contributed more to darken a
plain subject, and perplex common understandings, than to clear
the important subject, which every man knows better than the
most learned can define it. No man can believe, or not believe,
what and when he pleases.  He must perceive the thing to be
true, either by his own observation or the testimony of others.
Never was there any testimony which deserved half so much
regard as that does which God has given us in the record we
have in our hands. The facts recorded there are of two kinds:
what God has done, and what He has promised to do. By the
first,' his eternal power and Godhead' are set before us in the
only way we can come to the knowledge of Him; that is, by
such works and ways with his creatures, as we can form some
notion of. By the second, we learn what we have to expect
from Him; and, from both taken together, we may be enabled
to form such apprehensions of the Divine character, as may show
us what measures of regard and duty we owe Him. This is the
Christian faith, and the belief of these facts is what makes a
Christian; and believed they cannot be, without producing such
1 aKovooVrE, referring to KKX77o-LtJV, in strict grammatical propriety should
have been dKolvovowat: but similar modes of expression are common both in
profane and sacred writers. Grammarians call such constructions, Kara ro
cr!LatvoLtevov.-Matth. iv. 23; Acts viii. 5; 2 Cor. ii. 12, 13. —yiisv where
we would expect ai'rovs: the oblique form of expression passing into the
direct. Similar transitions are found, Mark vi. 9; xi. 32; Acts i. 4.
2 7rLrtv, here, is not believing, but the truth which is believed, or the religion
grounded on the faith. "7 rlOrts vox quee et id quo creditur, et id quod
creditur significat."-BEzA.                    5  7rt`TL.




68             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
measures of love to Him, and confidence in Him, as answer to
the measures of our faith: and'love is the fulfilling of the
whole law;' the whole of our obedience to his lawA being only
the native effect and actings of love."'
This intelligence produced its proper effect on the minds of
these Christians: " They glorified God," says the apostle, " in
me."2  Well they might;-and so may-so ought —we.  Divine
grace never had a more glorious trophy, Christianity never
made, in one individual, so important an acquisition. " We may
still glorify and praise God for the grace manifested in the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. What does not the world owe to
him! What do we not owe to him! No man did so much in
establishing the Christian religion as he did; no one among the
apostles was the means of converting and saving so many souls;
no one has left so many and so valuable writings for the edification of the church. To him we owe the invaluable epistles-so
full of truth, and eloquence, and promises, and cdnsolations-on
one of which we are commenting; and to him the church owes,
under GQd, some of its most elevated and ennobling views of the
nature of Christian doctrine and duty. After the lapse, therefore, of eighteen hundred years, we should not cease to glorify
God for the conversion of this wonderful man, and should feel
that we have cause of thankfulness that He changed the infuriated persecutor to a holy and devoted apostle."3  " Here we see
what is the right way of honouring the saints, and that is to
glorify God in them and for them. As for religious worship of
adoration and invocation, it is proper to God, and the saints desire it not." 4
It appears, then, from these statements, that Paul was engaged for three years in preaching the gospel before he had any
intercourse with a Christian apostle; that, when he did see
them, he saw only two of them; that he went, not to learn from
them as a scholar, but to visit them as an equal; that he was'Riccaltoun's Works, vol. iii. 71, 72.
2 Vy O io4'on my account,'-' on account of what He had done to me, and
was doing by me.' " OVK EZrEV E7r.Jvovv 7' E68da~ov yLe, adXX T7v OEO'v.'i)-tlv,
(eo4., odXov yap to KaT ea;t, e rpl;), T77  XaPLtro  7v To0 eov.?"1 —CUMENIUS.
" MVavOavovrey, rtL 6 XVKOS Tra frOLtEVcOV pyda'eraL, Ts Edl rTOv eEov vyIv8las
ra KatG'  7rp6oaCLv e;a/c3avov."-THEoDoRET. ": pro'."-BEZA.
3 Barnes.                            4 Rev. xxii. 9. Perkins.




P. III. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.               69
only fifteen days in Jerusalem upon that occasion; that he then
went into Svria and Cilicia, where there were no apostles, and
where he exercised all the powers of an apostle —planting
churches; and that the churches of Judea, though he stood in
no peculiar relation to them, and was not even personally
known to them, glorified God on account of his being converted
from one of the most furious persecutors, into one of the most
devoted supporters, of the faith of Christ, and of course considered him as having a title to the name and place he occupied
in the church: all which particulars were obviously fitted to
answer the apostle's object-the assertion of his dignity as an
apostle, and of his integrity as a man.'
6. He visited Jerusalem again after an interval of fourteen
years.
The apostle proceeds with his apologetical narration in the
passage which follows. There should obviously have been no
new chapter here.
" Then, fourteen years after,2 I went up3 again to Jerusalem
with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. And I went up
by revelation,4 and communicated unto them  that gospel which
I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were
of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in
vain."5 It is uncertain from what period the apostle dates these
fourteen years,6 whether from the time of his conversion-a
period which must have been always present to his mind,-or
from the time of his first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion;
and it matters very little how this question be determined.7 In1 Paley, " Horae Paulinae."   2 There is an ellipsis of 8eX0ov1(rov.
3 Xdv0ov,;" went up."  Jerusalem was situated high in reference to the
surrounding country, particularly Damascus; or, perhaps, as it is common
(the illustration is Perkins') to say, to' go up to London,' from all parts of
the island, because it is the metropolis.
4 Mr Granville Penn is, so far as I know, alone, and likely to continue so,
in considering KaT' adroKaXvtv    as contrasted with Kar' i8iav, and meaning'openly.'                                         5 Gal. ii. 1, 2.
6," Paul now places fourteen years of free, self-dependent labours, in opposition to thefourteen days of his stay with Peter, chap. i. 18."-OLSHAUSEN.
7 " It is a matter of mere chronological nicety, as it concerns very little,
when we are sure of the facts, to know the precise time when they happened."
-RICCALTOUN. Cappellus, in his Hist. Ap., conjectures that t8 had been




70. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
terpreters also differ as to what particular visit to Jerusalem the
apostle here refers: some supposing that he refers to the visit he
and Barnabas made to Jerusalem as the bearers of the alms of
the church of Antioch, mentioned Acts xi. 27-30; others, that
he refers to the visit occasioned by the dispute respecting the
obligation of the Mosaic law, of which we have an account, Acts
xv.; and others, that it refers to a visit not mentioned in the
Acts of the Apostles. The second of these opinions appears to
me the more probable one.
On this journey Paul was accompanied by Barnabas and
Titus; and, as appears from the narrative in the Acts of the
Apostles, by others of the church of Antioch.l
(1.) He " went up by revelation."
On this occasion Paul was not summoned by the apostles to
give an account of his conduct.  He " went up by revelation." 2
These words are strangely interpreted by the learned Hermann
as equivalent to,' for the sake of explanation;' but their obvious
force is,'in consequence of a direct communication from his
only Lord and Master, Christ Jesus.'
Of the nature of this revelation we are not particularly informed. It is plain that revelations were common occurrences
with the! apostle. According to his own account, 2 Cor. xii.
7, he was favoured with " abundance of revelations;" and
these revelations were made to him in various ways: sometimes
directly to himself; sometimes to other inspired men respecting
him; sometimes in one way, sometimes in another. The following passages contain accounts of revelations made to Paul,
or about Paul: —Acts ix. 6; xxii. 17; xiii. 2; xvi. 6; xviii.
9; xxi. 10; xxiii. 11; xxvii. 23. In some such way was Paul
instructed that it was the will of his Master that he should go to
Jerusalem. This is no way inconsistent with the history in the
Acts of the Apostles, where it is stated that " it was determined"
written by some transcriber very early for a., and that four, instead of
fourteen, years are mentioned. Grotius is favourable to the suggestion;
but Pearson, in his Annall. Paull., very satisfactorily vindicates the ordinary reading. See Schott., Proleg. Isagog. ~ 4; and Bengelii Ordo temportsm.
Acts xv. 2.    2 KaT' aTroKaX+LW.   8 V7rEp0Xo a7roKaXV'1EC0.




P. III. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.                 71
that Paul should go to Jerusalem.' That determination was
probably the result of the revelation.
(2.) He communicated to the Apostles his mode of preaching the
Gospel among the Gentiles.
On his going to Jerusalem on this occasion, he communicated2
not to the church there as a body, but " privately3 to them who
were of reputation "4-i. e., to the apostles, or perhaps to the
more distinguished of the  apostles —" the gospel which he
preached5 among the Gentiles."
By " the gospel which he preached among the Gentiles,"
some understand the doctrine of the freedom of the converted
Gentiles from the yoke of the Mosaic law. But this does not
seem likely, as certainly, on this occasion, Paul did publicly
declare his opinion on this question. Others suppose that the
phrase denotes the doctrine that the Mosaic law was not obligatory even on the Jewish converts, though they were not prohibited from observing it. I rather think the phrase denotes
generally Paul's mode of stating the grand fundamental doctrines of Christianity.   The apostles all preached the same
gospel, but each of them had probably his own way of preaching it. In Paul's way of preaching it, the non-obligation of the
Mosaic law on Christians, and the extreme hazard of connecting
anything with the merits of Christ as the ground of hope, or with
faith in him as the instrument of justification, were made pecu1Acts xv. 2. " Luke says nothing of a revelation; but, of course, of such
inner occurrences Paul himself could alone be accurately informed."-OLsHAUSEN.
2 Jerome's note on dvetE4rlv is good: " Aliud est conferre dvaaOrgoeat,
aliud discere. Inter conferentes eequalitas est, ut pari consilio aliquid vel
probetur vel improbetur. Inter docentem et discentem minor est ille qui
discit."
3 KTr' l1av, sup. Xcopav,-i. e. not publicly, ZfErpoorOev 7racrEov, ii. 14.
Olshausen says, " In the KaT''8gav there is no occasion for anything local to
be understood; it answers perfectly to our phrase,' especially, preferably."'
4 TS0 80KOVla,-the full phrase, verse 6, 8oKova l r,' those who were accounted persons of eminence.'-Acts v. 36; 1 Cor. iii. 7; Gal. vi. 3. Porphyry contrasts ra 7rXXrI6 with ol aOKOZY7TE. Theodoret interprets the phrase
by iZcyqpot,' men of mark.'
5 KrpVOac, the present time, to denote that he still preached the same
gospel-that his teaching had been uniform, not val and ov.




72             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CIIAP. I. 11-II. 21.
liarly prominent, far more so than in Peter's, or James's, or John's
mode of preaching it.l
Now, Paul stated to his apostolic brethren the way in which
he was accustomed to preach the gospel among the Gentiles.
He made this statement not publicly, because it is quite possible
that many of the weak Christians at Jerusalem, overrun with
Jewish prejudices, and accustomed only to James's, or Peter's, or
John's way of preaching the gospel, might be disposed to think
Paul's gospel, though substantially the same with theirs, another
gospel.
And he made this statement to the apostles, " lest by any means
he should run, or had run, in vain," i. e., that his past labours might
not become, and that his future labours might not be, fruitless.
The apostle seems to have been fond of agonistic metaphors
drawn from the stadium and arena, 1 Cor. ix. 24-26; Phil. ii. 16;
2 Tim. iv. 7. We have the same idea in plain words, 1 Thess.
iii. 5.2 It would have been a great obstacle in the way of Paul's
success, if the apostles had been ignorant of his peculiar mode of
teaching Christianity. In this case, when inquired at respecting
Paul's doctrine by those who were stumbled at it, they could
only have said,' We do not know what Paul teaches;' but when
Paul had stated his doctrine to them, and when they had approved
it as substantially the same gospel which they themselves preached,
no danger was to be feared from that quarter.3
That the apostles were not dissatisfied with that part of Paul's
doctrine which was peculiarly obnoxious to theJudaising teachers,'that gentile converts were not bound to be circumcised or submit to the Mosaic law,' was made very evident by their conduct
in reference to Titus. "But neither Titus, who was with me,
being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: and that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily
l Neander's view of the peculiarities of Paul's, Peter's, and John's distinctive modes of stating Christian doctrine, in his " Planting of Christianity," deserves to be carefully studied.
2   Sr (O SELS KEVOV yEvt77aL 6 KOr'TOS op,, C" lest our labour be in vain."
3 Some connect 7~rcvjs, etc., with 0oKo6O-t,'to those who thought,' i. e.,'were in doubt whether I had run,' etc.; but the common mode of connecting
the clauses is greatly preferable. Fritsche proposed to take this sentence
by itself, and as a question: "Num frustra operam meam in evangelium
insumo aut insumsi?" But, as Olshausen says, "this interpretation has no
recommendation at all, and was afterwards retracted by the proposer himself."




P. ILL. ~ 3.1   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.               73
to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they
might bring us into bondage: to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might
continue with you."' The construction of this paragraph is a
little involved.2  Some, following a different reading from  our
translation, have in rendering it left out " no, not"3 in the 5th
verse. They suppose that Titus was circumcised, and that the
apostle is explaining the circumstance. Titus was not compelled
to be circumcised, but he (Paul) acted on principles similar to
those on which he took and circumcised Timothy. It is a very
important remark of Dr Paley, that " whenever Paul's compliance
with the Jewish law is mentioned in the history of the Acts of
the Apostles, it is mentioned in connection with circumstances
which point out the motives from which it proceeded, and this
motive seems always exoteric, namely, a love of order and tranquillity, or an unwillingness to give unnecessary offence." Acts
xvi. 3; xxi. 26.  The apostle's conduct in such cases was in no
degree inconsistent with his doctrine.  He yielded for a time to
the prejudices of others to gain a good purpose. There are,
however, many objections to this way of interpretation. There
is no evidence of Titus having been circumcised. The various
reading on which this interpretation rests is not so well supported
as that adopted in the textus receptus, which is, as usual, followed
by our translators; besides, the reason given at the conclusion
of the 5th verse is a very good reason for Paul's opposing Titus's
circumcision, but it is difficult to see how it could be a reason
for his consenting to it.
By supposing the language elliptical — not more so than is
common in letters, not more so, at any rate, than is common in
Paul's letters-the whole passage may be made plain enough.4
1 Gal. ii. 3-5.
2 "i The parenthesis inserted in verse 4 occasions an (hvaKo'Xoviov. The
apostle could either write,' On account of false brethren, I would not permit
Titus to be circumcised;' or,' I wished not by any means to indulge the false
brethren in this respect.' He has mingled both constructions." —WINER,
~ 64, ii.                                               " ovWe.
4 Some render a TL' 6o    u-ov /evaE3&')ovs,' with regard to the false brethren.'
Ma& governing the acc., according to Schleusner, signifies'quod attinet ad.'
-Rom. iii. 26; viii. 10. Some place a full point at the end of verse 3, and
supply from the previous context, either avif3yv or advE01E'rv,-in which case
they consider the 3d verse as parenthetical. It seems better to place a
comma at the end of verse 3, and to read the three verses as one sentence.



74             EPISTLE. TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
It is as if he had said,' Nothing can be a more satisfactory proof
that the apostles did not object to my doctrine respecting the
non-obligation of the Mosaic law on gentile converts than this,
that Titus my companion, though known to be a native Gentile,
was not required to submit to circumcision. There was, indeed,
an attempt to enforce something of this kind by a certain class of
men, but I resisted it, and successfully resisted it, from the regard
I had to the interests of the gentile Christians.' The idea of an
attempt having been made to enforce the obligation of the Mosaic
law, is probably implied in the phrase " was not compelled."' That
such an attempt was made, is plain enough from the history as
recorded in the xv. chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, verse 5,
which refers, I apprehend, not to what had taken place at Antioch,
but to what took place at Jerusalem. At the same time, it is
obvious that what took place at Jerusalem was the consequence
of what had taken place at Antioch. The question was stirred
by these false brethren, and it is to them and their introduction
into the church at Antioch that the apostle seems to refer here.
The persons who made the attempt are described by the
apostle as "false brethren unawares brought in, who came in
privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus,
that they might bring us into bondage."2  Here, as in so many
other places of the epistles, we want the light of contemporary
history to make the meaning of these words perfectly plain. It
has been supposed by some, that the apostle alludes to unbelieving
Jews, who, on profession of a pretended faith, had sought and
found admission into the Christian society, for the purpose of acquiring a more accurate knowledge of the principles and manners
of the new sect, that they might the better be able to hold them
up to the hatred of their countrymen as violators and despisers
of the law of Moses. But the apostle seems to have had a totally
different class of persons in his eye-persons who admitted the
Messiahship of Jesus Christ, but did not understand his religion
Vide Storr, iii. It is justly remarked by Storr, " Hebraseorum aures facile
ferebant orationem, que quantumvis licet interrupta esset parenthesibus,
tamen ad illud unde divertisset, non ita rediret, ut partes dissipate apertius
connecterentur."-Gen. i. 29, 30; 1 Chron. xviii. 10; 2 Chron. xxxii. 9;
Rom. i. 1-7; Gal. ii. 6-10. The whole of Storr's note, Diss. Exeg. in Epp.
Paul. Min. pp. 3-9, deserves to be read and studied.
I ov'&'va'yKcio'7.                              2 Gal. ii. 4.




P. III. ~ 3.]  HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.           75
-who carried into their new religion all their old prejudices, or
rather who merely had added to their old creed this new article,'that Jesus was the Messiah.' These persons were brethren,
i. e. Christians in name; but they were "false brethren,"' Jews
in reality.
They had been "brought in unawares;" 2 for whatever may
have been the practice in later times, in the apostolic ages no man
was admitted to the communion of the Christian church except
under the impression that he really was a Christian. They
4 came in privily."3 Had they avowed the opinion, that circumcision was necessary in order to salvation in the same way as faith
in Christ, they would never have been acknowledged Christians
at all. I think it most likely, however, that the apostle is not here
speaking so much of admission into the Christian church as of
admission into the church of Antioch; and that he refers to those
men mentioned in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts, who, first at
Antioch and then at Jerusalem, opposed the doctrine of the apostle
respecting the freedom of gentile converts from the yoke of the
Mosaic law. These men "privily crept into the church of Antioch" to spy out the Christian liberty which the gentile Christians
there enjoyed: and they did this for the purpose of bringing
them into bondage, by subjecting them to the requisitions of the
ceremonial law. The phrase, " which we have in Christ Jesus," 4
is equivalent to,'which we enjoy by Christ,' or rather to,'which we in Christ Jesus-we Christians-enjoy:.
But to those persons Paul " would not give place, no, not for
an hour."5 He opposed them at Antioch-he opposed them at
Jerusalem; and the reason why he thus opposed them was, c" that
the truth of the gospel might continue with the Gentiles," i. e.
that "'the true gospel" might continue with them —the glad
tidings, that " whosoever believeth in Christ Jesus should not
perish, but have everlasting life." Had the apostle yielded, the
conclusion to be drawn would have been, that something besides
Christ's merits was necessary as the ground, and something besides faith in him necessary as the means, of justification; and
the admission of both or of either of these principles. was materi1 +eEvas8E'Xcovs,-a word of the same kind as kEfv8.opo'c]7ratL, Ev3arro''cTOXO~.
2 7rapElcaKTovl.  TapEuXOOV.    i V EiXOLEV El' XPLOT{'5Irol'.
5 Gal. ii, 5.




76              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
ally a denial of the truth of the gospel. " Let us learn this kind
of stubbornness from  the apostle," as Luther says.  "We will
suffer our goods to be taken away, our name, our life, and all
that we have; but the gospel, our faith, Jesus Christ, we will
never suffer to be wrested from us: and cursed be that humility
which here abaseth and submitteth itself; nay, rather let every
Christian be proud and spare not, except he will deny Christ.
Wherefore, God assisting me, my forehead shall be harder than
all men's foreheads. Here I take for my motto,'Cedo nulli.' I
will give place to none. I am, and ever will be, stout and stern,
and will not one inch give place to any creature. Charity giveth
place,'for it suffereth all things, believeth all things, endureth
all things;' but faith giveth no place."
While the apostle thus asserts that his doctrines were sanctioned by the approbation of the other apostles, he as unequivocally declares that he derived neither instruction nor authority
from them, but was treated by them as a person who stood in no
need of their sanction, but was invested with equal authority with
themselves.
(3.) He received from  the Apostles the most unequivocal acknowledgment of his Qualifications, Call, and Authority, as an
Apostle.
"But of those who seemed to be somewhat, whatsoever they
were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's
person: for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference
added nothing to me."'
" To be somewhat"2 is an idiomatical expression for dignity
of rank or station.  " They who seemed to be somewhat"3 is no
1 Gal. ii. 6. The construction is dvaKod'ovOov, but the meaning plain.
2 etvaL l
3 The force of ol 8OKOVvrTE is very well illustrated by a verse in Euripides,
Hecuba, v. 290:-" Ao'yos yap EK T a ooOvTev IWV
KUK 7O)V 80KOV'ov avr  ro',v oV ravTo'J (OIEL:ve"
rendered by Ennius,
" Nam opulenti quum loquuntur pariter atque ignobiles,
Eadem dicta eademque, oratio aequa non teque valet."
It has been imitated by Dyer thus:"The same discourse obtains not equal praise,
Advanc'd by non-cons and right reverend priests."




P. III. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.             77
disparaging expression. It is equivalent to the expression in
a succeeding verse, " they who seemed" —were accounted, justly
accounted-" to be pillars," and probably refers to the same
persons, " the chief apostles."'
"Whatsoever they were, it maketh no difference to me."2'Whatever advantages in some points of view they may seem
to have had over me, it matters not.'  " God regardeth no
man's person,"3 a Hebraistic expression, Deut. x. 17, i. e.,'He is
sovereign in the dispensation of his gifts. In the bestowal of his
favours, He is not regulated by external appearances or relations.'
It does not follow that, because James was Christ's kinsman, or
Peter and John his personal friends, that therefore they should
have higher authority in his church than one who had, perhaps,
never seen Jesus Christ till after his resurrection.4 These chief
apostles " added nothing" 5 to Paul.  The word may mean either' they communicated to him no new information-no additional
authority,' or'they found no fault with his way of preaching the
gospel.' They could not in any way improve him who had been
taught of their common Master. They never tried it: they were
under the influence of a very different spirit. They rejoiced in
the grace that had been given to him in common with themselves,
and gladly acknowledged him a brother-apostle.
" But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the
uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the
circumcision was unto Peter; (for He that wrought effectually in
Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was
mighty in me toward the Gentiles): and when James, Cephas,
and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that
was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right
hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and
they unto the circumcision. Only they would that we should
o1 v7orepXtav aT7r'TroXoL.-2 Cor. xi. 5; xii. 11.
2 ovgY /iot &LatePFt. This seems nearly equivalent to Xlyov /LoL liLEFL,
or to the Latin " mea non interest."
s 7Trpoc0rorv adVOpc6rov o' XalpL3avet.
4 Some connect the words, o86Mv ioc atae';pEL, with rro 8E 7TV a OKOVYro)V
ftVal tn and interpret,'There is no difference between me and those who
were reckoned the most eminent." —yp. K. T. X. The usus loquendi is opposed to this exegesis.
5 The word is plainly used in reference to that employed in v. 2. Paul
ad;veOro to them; they oa('v rpoo-av;8OVro to him.




78             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to
do.?1l
On hearing Paul state "the gospel which he preached among
the Gentiles," the apostles, instead of finding fault with it, saw
clearly " that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed2
to Paul, as the gospel of the circumcision to Peter."  "Uncircumcision" here means the Gentiles, and "circumcision" the
Jews,3 Rom. ii. 26, etc.; Eph. ii. 11; Col. iii. 11.  "The gospel
of the uncircumcision," or of the Gentiles, has generally been
understood as meaning the ministry of the gospel among the
Gentiles; and " the gospel of the circumcision," or of the Jews,
the ministry of the gospel among the Jews; and the meaning of
the whole phrase,'when they saw that it was the will of God
that I should labour among the Gentiles, and that Peter should
labour among the Jews.' I rather think that ".the gospel of
the uncircumcision" means that way of preaching the gospel
which was peculiarly fitted for the Gentiles; and C" the gospel of
the circumcision" that way of preaching the gospel which was
peculiarly fitted for the Jews. On hearing Paul, they distinctly
saw that the Holy Spirit had taught him to preach the gospel
in a way peculiarly calculated for the conversion of the Gentiles,
just as He had taught Peter to preach the gospel in a way peculiarly fitted for the conversion of the Jews.
"For,"4 says the apostle by the way, " He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same
was mighty in me toward the Gentiles." These words are ordinarily referred to the success of the apostles' preaching, but I
apprehend they refer rather to their qualifications for preaching.
Christ by his Spirit " wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision," i. e., Christ by his Spirit gave to Peter
those qualifications which peculiarly fitted him to do the duties
of an apostle among the Jews; and Christ, by the same Spirit,
who has a diversity of gifts and operations, gave to Paul those
1 Gal. ii. 7-10.
2 7ETfLtCTEVLaL, K. T. X. = 7rE7rlTeVTaL' HLO To' ev'ayy. OK-i. e. TO evayyeX iETO~at ev TOLD EVetL. Of this somewhat rare construction of this verb,
we have instances, Rom. iii. 2; 1 Cor. ix. 17. It is equivalent to E7rL(rTcEVCt
LOt Oe6S' TO' EVayeYtov.
s aKpofvarTia for dKpot/3vTrot, and Treptro/L1 for wEPptlpT!09VTES'.
4 Gal. ii. 8.




P. III. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.             79
qualifications which peculiarly fitted him to do the duties of an
apostle among the Gentiles.
The apostles, James, Peter, and John, who perhaps were all
that then were at Jerusalem, were reckoned " pillars,"  the ornaments and support-decora et tutamina-of the Christian church.
It is common for Paul to compare the church to an edifice or
temple, 1 Cor. iii. 16; Eph. ii. 21; 1 Tim. iii. 15. The order
in which the apostles are mentioned deserves notice, when we
recollect the insolent pretensions of the men who assume that they
are the successors of Peter. James, not Peter, has the first
place. James, too, presided in the council of Jerusalem. Peter,
so far from usurping the title of universal bishop, confines his
charge to the circumcision, and resigns the rest of the world to
Paul. Peter opened the gate to the Gentiles, but Paul gathered
them in. A universal bishop could make out a better claim by
proving his succession to Paul than to Peter. The apostles
James, Peter, and John, "perceived the grace "-' the tokens of
the peculiar favour and love of Christ Jesus'-conferred on Paul
and his companion.  "The grace" here signifies the favour bestowed on Paul, in authorising and qualifying him to preach the
gospel among the Gentiles. The best commentary on this passage is to be found in his own words, "Unto me, who am less than
the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."2  Perceiving this, they readily acknowledged Paul and Barnabas as
brethren: they gave them  the right hand of fellowship,3 as a
token of agreement in sentiment, an acknowledgment of their
possessing the same authority as themselves, and a pledge that.they would mutually assist one another in the great work in
which they were engaged; and at the same time it was agreed,
that while James, Peter, and John continued to labour chiefly
1 Gal. ii. 9,-o-r7TXot. The Rabbins call Abraham:,v7:Y,' the pillar
of the world.' The apostles and prophets are represented by Paul (Eph.
ii. 20), as rOElv LE0;XLOv of the Christian church; and ol OE/w.EXLOL of the
heavenly Jerusalem are said by John (Rev. xxi. 12) to bear on them the
names of " the twelve apostles of the Lamb."
2 Eph. iii. 8.
3 What Chrysostom calls davavrippr77-ov 7IrI83EL8Lt o'-vftc)vtav. This seems a
natural symbol of agreement. "K Kvrov yE, Kai ri)v XEipa Ads TV E' av.d-."
ARISTOPrH.NUb. 81. "Pars mihi pacis erit dextram tetigisse tyranni."-VIRG.
AEn. vii. 266. Lev. vi. 2, —C hr~t:. Jer. i. 15.




80            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
among the Jews, Paul and Barnabas should continue to labour
chiefly among the Gentiles. Not that either party was scrupulously to confine their labours within these bounds; but that,
generally speaking, they should respectively occupy those fields
of labour for which the Holy Spirit had peculiarly qualified
them. This was not, however, an appointment laid upon Paul
as by superiors. It was a mutual agreement of equals,1 arising
out of their clearly perceiving the will of their common Master.
Accordingly they gave Paul and Barnabas no instructions.
They knew that he needed none. The only subject on which
they gave anything like advice, was one of a practical, not of a
doctrinal, kind; and even then it was a friendly hint, not a
magisterial command.  " Only they would2 that we should
remember the poor." They requested them to keep in mind the
distressed condition of many of the believers in Judea, who, for the
gospel's sake, had suffered the loss of all things, and recommend
their situation to the sympathy of their gentile brethren who
might be able to help them. The Jewish poor found a considerable resource in the sacrifices of the temple, on which they greatly
depended. Such of them as became Christians were probably
deprived of this advantage, and were rendered more necessitous
than the poor in other places. "d Which thing," says the apostle,
" I was forward to do."' How the apostle remembered the poor
appears from Acts xi. 29-30; xxiv. 17; Rom. xv. 17; 1 Cor.
xvi. 1; 2 Cor. viii. He was fqrward to do this for more reasons
than one. He was a benevolent man; he was a patriotic man;
and he was persuaded that few things had a greater tendency to
break down the walls of prejudice between Jewish and Gentile
believers, than this fellowship of love-this communion in giving
and receiving.
How many jealousies and strifes might be prevented in the
church, if the conduct of Paul and his apostolic brethren were
generally followed! "If there was, on the one hand, the same
readiness for a full and frank explanation, and if, on the other,
the same freedom from envy at remarkable success, how many
strifes that have disgraced the church might be avoided! The
true way to avoid strife, is just that which is here proposed.
1'Ya?/tEl 7rTopEvc-TzeEOa —aVTroL opEvqowvrat.
2 There is an ellipsis here of ai-rooat, or 7rapaKaXovorl, or O'Xovot.
3   ncrrovacra, i. e. oryv arov8,s 1rolt7oa,-diligenter feci.




P. III. ~ 3.]  HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.          81
Let there be on both sides perfect frankness-let there be a
willingness to explain and state things just as they are-and let
there be a disposition to rejoice in the talents, and zeal, and
success of others, though it should far outstrip our own, —and
contention in the church would cease; and every devoted and
successful minister of the gospel would receive the right hand of
fellowship from all, however venerable by age or authority, who
love the cause of true religion."'
7. His Reproof of Peter for dissembling at Antioch, and his
Assertion of the True Gospel.
In the succeeding paragraph (verses 11-21) Paul shows from
an incident that took place at Antioch, both how consistently he
had all along asserted the freedom of gentile believers, and of
Christians generally, from the obligation of the Mosaic law; and
how far he was from being only a secondary apostle. He had not
hesitated to differ from, aye, and to reprove, Peter, one of " the
chiefest of the apostles," when his conduct was not according to
the truth of the gospel.
" But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to
the face, because he was to be blamed."2' Cephas' is considered
the preferable reading by Mill and Lachmann; and some interpreters, both ancient and modern, have supposed, in opposition to the plainest evidence, that not Peter the apostle, but
some other Cephas is intended. Hardouin, the whimsical but
learned Jesuit, is, as might be expected, a supporter of this
opinion. Antioch was a celebrated, wealthy, magnificent, populous city, the capital of Syria, the most illustrious city in Asia,
as Alexandria was in Africa, and Rome in Europe, situated on
the river Orontes, the seat of one of the most flourishing of the
primitive Christian churches, remarkable as the place where the
disciples of Jesus received the name by which they have ever
since been universally known.3
The exact period of this visit of the apostle Peter cannot be
fixed. Semler's notion, that it was previous to the visit of Paul
to Jerusalem, mentioned in the beginning of the chapter, is in
the highest degree improbable.  We know  that after the
apostles and elders at Jerusalem had, by their decree, sanctioned
1 Barnes.      2 Gal. ii. 11.     3 Xplurrtavol. Acts xi. 26.
F




82              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-11. 21.
the doctrine of the non-obligation of the Mosaic law on the gentile converts, and enjoined on them abstinence " from fornication,
and from things offered in sacrifice to idols, and things strangled,
and blood," Paul and Barnabas, along with Judas, Silas, and
others, returned  to  Antioch,' and  continued  there for some
time, after which they went to visit the churches which they had
formerly planted.  It seems highly probable that it was during
the interval which elapsed between the return from Jerusalem
and Paul's setting out on this itinerant mission, that Peter visited
Antioch. He came probably to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing so
numerous and flourishing a gentile church, and to give the weight
of his personal sanction to the decree of the apostles and elders.
This visit seems for a considerable time to have been agreeable
and useful to all parties; but towards the close of it, Paul found
it necessary to reprove Peter on account of conduct which appeared to him  calculated to injure the Christian cause.  "I
withstood him "2-is equivalent to,'I opposed him'-" to the
face."' Some of the fathers, as Chrysostom and Jerome, have
represented this disagreement between the two apostles as merely
apparent, and the whole affair got up by mutual agreement to
serve a purpose.4  There is nothing in the narrative which gives
the least countenance to such a notion. Such management
would have savoured too much of the "craftiness,"5 and "the
hidden things of dishonesty,"6 which both the apostles had
renounced, and indeed would not have been consistent with in1 "The Antioch where this event took place is not that in Pisidia,-Acts
xiii. 14; xiv. 19,-but the famous one in Ccelo-Syria, on the Orontes, which
in the beginning (until Rome became more so) was the central point of
gentile Christian life." —OLSHAUSEN.
2 dvr TlV'
8 Karna rp6ooo7rov,-proesens proesenti. " Non possum quorundam Patrum
expositionem probare qui verba Kar' 7rpd0ow7rov secundum speciem reddi, et
tantum oKLaaaXiav quandam intelligi volunt. Repugnat hbec interpretatio
loquendi rationi."-KREBs. Acts iii. 13; xxv. 16.
4 The correspondence between Augustine and Jerome on this subject is
worth reading, as illustrative of Patristic morality and exegesis. Jerome
defends his theory of Peter's "hypocrisis observandte legis," being cured
by Paul's "hypocrisis correptionis," by the suffrage of Origen, Didymus,
Eusebius Emissenus, Theodorus Heracleotes, and Chrysostom.  "Patere
me," says he, " errare cum talibus."  See Whitby's " Dissertatio de Scripturarum interpretatione secundum Patrum commentaries."
5 Travovpyia.                Tal Kpv7rTa r74s alo(rXvv7. —2 Cor. iv. 2.




.I. II~ 3.    HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.                 83
tegrity. Such a hypothesis would never have been thought of, but
to defend the infallibility of Peter.  It is, however, an odd way to
defend one apostle from a mistake in judgment, by representing two
apostles as guilty of something approaching at least to deliberate
falsehood.l But even in Jerome's and Chrysostom's time, the
maxim that the end sanctifies the means, had gained extensive
currency  among Christians; and they readily attributed to
apostles motives and modes of action with which they themselves
were but too familiar. It is of great importance, especially in
these days, to be impressed with the conviction that primitive
Christianity and ancient Christianity, apostolical Christianity
and patristic Christianity, are two very different-in many respects two directly opposite-things.
Paul did not keep silent as if he had been afraid of Peter as a
superior; he was not awed by the example of so great an
apostle into the silent sanction of what he thought wrong; and
he did not oppose Peter by secret insinuation-by speaking evil
of him when he was absent,- he avowed to himself his dissatisfaction with his conduct.
And he did this " because he was to be blamed."2  Some interpreters suppose that the apostle's meaning is,' because he was
blamed,'-every person, except the Jews who came down from
James, blamed his conduct as inconsistent, unchristian, and unmanly. We apprehend, however, that our translators have
given the true meaning.3 That other people were blaming
Peter, would have been no reason with Paul for blaming him.
It would have operated rather in the opposite way.  The reason
that he withstood him was, that he was conscientiously persuaded he was wrong, and that a public statement of this con1 cc Omnis autem simulatio etiam in rebus humanis est vitiosa, quia est
species mendacii: cum autem omnium rerum simulatio est vitiosa (tollit
enim judicium veri, idque adulterat) tum amicitive repugnat maxime, ut inquit
Cicero in Laelio. Quanto igitur magis in divinis?"-PAREUS. "In amicitia
autem nihil fictum nihil simulatum."-Cic. de Am. viii.
2 TL KaTey7VCO'tEVO. EV.
S Winer, a high authority, denies that the participle has the force of being
worthy of blame, and maintains that it merely signifies,' had incurred blame;'
but Valcknaer, an equally adequate judge in such a question, holds the opposite opinion. If the usus loquendi admits of our translators' exegesis, the context strongly supports it. A learned friend, worthy of being named along with
Winer and Valcknaer, says, "strictly speaking,'worthy' is an inference.' Judgment had gone against his conduct' is the fact expressed."




84            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-11. 21.
viction was necessary to serve the purpose of general edification.
Of the manner in which Peter received this correction, we have
no account. We know it produced no lasting alienation. It
was long after this that Peter styled his reprover, " our beloved
brother Paul."' It has been supposed, but we are very unwilling to entertain the thought, that the occurrences here recorded
had their effect in predisposing Barnabas' mind to that irritation
which made a comparatively very slight difference of opinion the
occasion of breaking up that close companionship with his illustrious friend which had been so full of holy delight to both
parties, and so advantageous to the churches.
Let us learn from Paul's conduct, not to allow the authority
or example of any man, however great or good, to interfere with
the convictions of our own minds respecting truth and duty. Let
us be certain that a man is to be blamed before we withstand
him; and when we do so, let it be to his face.
The apostle goes on to give a more particular account of this unpleasant affair. " For before that certain came from James, he did
eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew, and
separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch
that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation."2
For some time after his arrival, Peter mingled familiarly in
social intercourse with the gentile converts who had not been
circumcised, and who did not observe the law of Moses. This is
the meaning of his " eating with them." It does not refer to
eating the Lord's Supper or religious communion; for we have
no reason to think that even after the Jewish brethren came,
either he or they refused to have this sort of intercourse with their
gentile brethren. The Gentiles were accustomed to eat a variety
of articles prohibited by the Mosaic law; and it would appear
that Peter, without scruple, sat down with them at table, and,
it may be, without scruple partook of what was placed before
him,-acting on the principle which he had been miraculously
taught, that " what God had cleansed, he ought not to account
common or unclean."3  Such conduct on the part of Peter was
certainly well fitted to confirm the Gentiles in their attachment
to their new faith, to show that there was no design to proselyte
1 6 dyaarr/7To pIv adEXp o's, naIXo. —2 Pet. iii. 15.
2 Gal. ii. 12, 13.   a        Acts x. 15.




P. 1II. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.                 85
them to Judaism; and that the observance or non-observance of
Mosaic ceremonies was no way essentially connected with the
grand leading doctrines and duties of Christianity.
But this agreeable state of things was soon interrupted.
"Some came from James,"' i. e. from Jerusalem, over the church
of which James seems to have presided, who, like most of their
brethren, were "zealous for the law."  It does not seem  that
they directly attempted to impose the law on the Gentiles; but
they seem to have insisted that the converted Jews should keep
it, and, of course, should avoid unrestrained social intercourse
with their gentile brethren.
Peter " feared2 these men."3  The meaning of these words is
not very obvious. I am disposed to think that Peter was afraid
of their being so disgusted at seeing the unreserved intercourse
of Jews and Gentiles, a thing so abhorrent to their prejudices, as
to be tempted to renounce Christianity and revert to Judaism.
This is a sentiment much more likely to influence the conduct of
a man like Peter than a mean selfish fear of losing his popularity
among these prejudiced Jews. Under the influence of this fear
he "withdrew, and separated himself;"4 not at all, as I apprehend, from their religious meetings, but he became more reserved
and cautious in his intercourse with them, and carefully abstained
from anything that looked like a violation of the law of Moses.
This conduct the apostle calls " dissimulation."5  For Peter's
opinion remained unaltered. On the great question he and
Paul were completely at one.6 But Peter adopted a mode of
Mark v. 35,-ar ro oi pXL(rvvaTyoyov,  " from the ruler of the synagogue,"
-i. e.' from his house.'
2 O3OVpEVOS.
3 T0  EK rrEplTOIro, a phrase of the same kind as oE {K 7lcrTEos, of ~ epyov.
4 VTrIreXXe Kal dcfrapLEV   avro'v.      a5 VrOKpLcL.
8 Tertullian remarks, " Conversationis fuit vitium non proedicationis."De Prcescript. cxxiii. The observations of Witsius, in his "Meletemata
Leidensia," deserve quotation: " Non licet ex hac historiae sacree parte
concludere errorem in fide in alterutro apostolorum vel dissensum in doctrina
inter utrumque. Indubium enim est, quod doctrinam attinet, Petrum in
hoc negotio ejusdem sententime cum Paulo: fas scilicet Judaeo homini esse
familiaritatem colere cum Gentilibus fide Christiana preeditis.-Tota ergo
haec controversia fuit non de doctrina libertatis Christiange, sed de illius usu
hic et nunc: in qua re Paulus prudentihe regulas melius perspectas habuit
quam Petrus."-P. 65. Weissmann's dissertation, "De Usu et Abusu Censure Petri Paulina," deserves to be consulted. " These differences between




86              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
conduct which had a natural tendency to lead the Jews to think
that his opinion and that of Paul were different, and to lead the
Gentiles to think that he had altered his opinion. A man dissembles when, either by words, or actions, or silence, or inaction,
he gives others reason to think that his sentiments are different
from  what they really are.   The other Jewish  converts at
Antioch went along with Peter; and even the excellent Barnabas was "carried away,"' it is likely, partly by regard to Peter's
authority, and partly by the fear of offending the Judaising
brethren.
This passage teaches us the importance of consistency of conduct; the danger of worldly wisdom in the management of
ecclesiastical affairs; the great caution with which men distinguished for their office, talents, and influence should act; and
the extreme danger of making any man's opinion and conduct
the rule of ours.
Let us now attend to Paul's account of his own behaviour in
these difficult circumstances.   " But when  I saw  that they
walked not uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel, I
said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after
the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest
thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" 2
the apostles," says Dr Graves, " have sometimes been alleged as a decisive
objection against the Divine authority of the Christian scheme; but surely
without cause. The New Testament nowhere represents the apostles as
impeccable: it has drawn only one perfect character, that of their Divine
Lord. But Christianity derives more strength of evidence from the impartiality with which its historians relate their own and their brethren's occasional errors or faults, than it can suffer injury from any imputation which
their conduct may seem to justify. Another signal advantage from the
relation of these divisions, is, that it affords the strongest evidence that the
whole scheme was founded on truth, not imposture; for whenever impostors,
and these the very chief conductors of the imposition, fall into contention and
dispute, the fallacy is inevitably detected. Not so with the gospel: though
its teachers might, in some points, for some short time disagree, these disagreements impeded not in the least the completion of their sacred work;
for this was conducted by the hand of God." " Peter taught quite correctly;
he only acted weakly, when he suffered himself to be intimidated. His error,
therefore, was a purely personal one, by which his official character as an
apostle is not in the least compromised. But it is a remarkable point, that
he,' the rock,' should here be overcome with fear, as he was formerly in the
denial of his Lord."-OLSHAUSEN.
1 ovvarixO'.                                        2 Gal. ii. 14.




P. III. ~ 3.]  HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.         87
Paul saw that Peter, Barnabas, and the other Jewish converts
" did not walk uprightly,1 according to the truth of the gospel."
"To walk uprightly," in the English language, means to act
with integrity-to conduct a person's self according to his convictions of truth and duty. It does not necessarily imply that
the person's conduct is right: it merely intimates that it is
honest.  Paul " walked uprightly" when he persecuted the
church, as well as when he preached the gospel. It has been
very common to understand the phrase here in this way, and to
suppose that Paul charges Peter and the others with a want of
integrity. I see no ground for such a supposition. I apprehend
that Peter and Barnabas acted with perfect integrity,-i. e., they
acted according to their views of present duty, though these views
were mistaken ones. They did not think that their conduct
compromised any truth, and they conceived that it was necessary
to prevent " the offence " —in the Scripture sense of the term,
the " stumbling "-of their brethren from Jerusalem. And I am
quite sure that there never was a man less disposed than the
apostle Paul, to ascribe the conduct of his brethren to bad motives.
The original term,2 which occurs only in this place in the New
Testament, does not refer to motives at all. It literally signifies
to walk straightly, and refers to propriety of conduct, viewed
in reference to some rule. " When I saw that they walked not
straightly" means just'when I saw that their conduct was not
right.' Paul does not question their motives, but he condemns
their conduct.;" According to the truth of the gospel."3  These words are
generally understood as nearly synonymous with those which
precede them,-' according to that sincerity which the gospel
teaches.' I rather think their meaning is,'corresponding to
the true gospel.' The conduct of Peter and the rest seemed to
the apostle calculated to throw obscurity and doubt on the true
gospel,-that men are saved entirely " by faith," " through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus;" and accordingly you find,
in his address to them, not a reproof of insincerity, but a representation of the tendency which their conduct had to lead to
false views of the way of salvation, and a clear statement of
those principles which, in his apprehension, their behaviour was
1 OUK OpOoroo8OtrL.  2 3pOowo0OOot.  3 7rpOV TqIv dXkOetav rTo EuayEFXLoV.




88              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
calculated to obscure. When he saw that their conduct was not
right, and did not correspond with the truths of the gospel, he
" said to Peter before them all."'  The apostle observes the injunction he lays on Timothy, " Them that sin rebuke before all,
that others also may fear."2  If he had known that Peter really
thought differently from him on the general subject, and that the
apostles had given a judgment consistent with Peter's views, and
inconsistent with his own, Paul durst not have thus acted. In
the public assembly of the brethren Paul declared his dissatisfaction with the conduct of Peter, and those who had followed
his example.
His speech on this occasion is indeed an admirable one, and,
in our apprehension, reaches to the end of the chapter. On
this subject expositors are not of one opinion. Grotius, Semler,
and Koppe, consider the 14th verse as containing the whole of
Paul's address to Peter, and the part, from verse 15-21, as addressed to the Galatians.  Rosenmiiller, Tittmann, Knapp, and
Jaspis, consider the whole passage, to the end of the chapter, as
Paul's address. In this last view we concur. Everything in
the passage has a peculiar propriety, as addressed to Peter. Had
verse 15 been addressed to the Galatians, this would have been
marked in some way;' and, in the commencement of the third
chapter, the apostle names the Galatians, as again returning to
direct address.4
" If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles
to live as do the Jews?" Peter, though a Jew, " lived after
the manner of the Gentiles,5 and not as did the Jews," 6-i. e. he
1:rrpoo-OEv nrvr'0v.  2 1 Tim. v. 20.  s As /ELrS OvV adiEXOI, K. r. a.
"It has long been a question, whether the 15th and following verses are
to be regarded as a part of the address of Paul to Peter, or the words of
Paul as part of the Epistle to the Galatians. The following reasons seem
to me to prove that the first mode of interpretation is to be preferred: (1.) It
seems the most natural and obvious one, —the discourse proceeding as if it
were an address to Peter. (2.) There is a change at the beginning of the
third chapter, where the Galatians are expressly addressed. As to the
impropriety of Paul's addressing Peter at length on the subject of justification, we are to bear in mind that he did not address him alone. The reproof
was addressed to Peter in the presence of the people, who were in danger of
being misled by his conduct. Nothing was more proper than that, before
him and them, Paul should, for their benefit, state the doctrine of justification."?-B ARNES.             E 1OJCK6r.          6 Ot)K'Iovai'K&,r.




P. Ill. ~ 3.]  HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.           89
did not strictly conform to the requisitions of the Mosaic law.
He did not regulate himself by its prohibitions. This was plain,
for before these men from Jerusalem came he ate with the Gentiles.'Now,' says the apostle,' how inconsistent is it in you,
who, though a Jew, do not think yourself under obligation to
observe the Mosaic law, to act in a manner which is calculated
to lead the Gentiles to think that they ought to observe it!'
When Paul says, "thou compellest,"  etc., he refers not to what
Peter actually did, nor to his intention, but to the plain tendency
of his conduct. It is as if he had said,'Is not the natural tendency of your conduct to lead the Gentiles to think that surely
something more than faith in Christ is necessary to justification,
and to induce them to imitate you, and to subject themselves to
ceremonial restrictions in order to secure their salvation? Is
not your conduct calculated to sanction the false doctrines which
the apostles have condemned? and can anything be more inconsistent than such conduct on your part? Even though you had
been conscientiously of opinion that the law is obligatory on
Jews, you ought to have avoided everything that could lead to
the conclusion that it was obligatory on the Gentiles; but as
you believe, and have acted on the belief, that its obligation, even
on Jews, now no longer subsists, why do that which naturally
leads to the conclusion that its observance is a matter of importance, and that its non-observance ought to exclude even Gentiles
from free intercourse with those who do observe it?'
The apostle goes on to declare the truth of the gospel, which
he was afraid would be obscured by the conduct of Peter and
the rest. He declares that Christians among the Jews trusted
entirely to Christ for salvation, and that, when they acted in any
way which seemed to cast into the shade the necessity and completeness of his salvation, they acted both criminally and inconsistently; and that, for himself, he was, and was determined ever
to be, and to appear to be, a Christian, a thorough Christian,
and nothing but a Christian.
" We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the
1 aayKa'So, used here as in Matth. xiv. 22, 2 Cor. xii. 11, Acts xxviii. 19,
-' Thou exercisest, considering thy character and standing, a moral influence,
all but irresistible by persons placed in their circumstances. We find the
similar word 7rapa[3ta51oOar, Luke xxiv. 29, Acts xvi. 15.




90              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAPI. I. 11-I1. 21.
law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in
Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ,
and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law
shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified
by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ
the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things
which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through
the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am
crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself
for me.  I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."'
"' We who are Jews by nature "-native Jews, not proselytes,2 —" and not sinners of the Gentiles." These words may
either mean,' We who by birth are Jews' —worshippers of the
true God, according to the Mosaic law, —' and not idolatrous
Gentiles'-whom  the Jews were in the habit of calling' sinners,' by way of eminence; or,' We who are Jewish, and not
Gentile sinners.' 3 I am partial to this last view of the phrase. I
do not think that Paul, in the circumstances in which he was
placed, was likely to use language which, even by implication,
could be considered as a reflection on the Gentiles, when considered as in contrast with the Jews; and it was much to his
purpose to bring forward the fact, that Jews as well as Gentiles
were sinners; for it was neither as Jews nor as Gentiles, but as
sinners, they had to do with Christ and his salvation. The usus
loquendi seems in favour of the other view, which also brings out
a good sense:'We Jews have found it necessary to abandon
the law, and betake ourselves entirely to Christ for justification.
What absurdity, then, to require submission to the law from the
1 Gal. ii. 15-21.           2 SC Vo-EL-Ov  rTpOo-iX~.vot"-THEOPH.
a3?/EivE 4VWEL Ioviaibo Kal OVK  f E'&OVav aiapTroXot. This is the view
taken by Elsner, Eras. Schmid, Grotius, etc. Elsner says, very justly,
" Non enim peccatorum ratione opponere Judmeos Gentilibus, atque ab his
segregare illos, sed potius conjungere apostolus solet tanquam in eodem luto
hoerentes, et consimilibus vitiis contaminates, Rom. iii. 9, 22-24. Rectius
refertur atcaprcoXoi ad OVbEL'IoutaaoL quemadmodum Eph. ii. 3, Kal?F1eY
rTKva fcIvet opTyys Kalt O Xolro4, idque videtur scopo apostoli et nexui accommodatius."




P. III. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.                   91
Gentiles, as if that were necessary to their salvation, which we
have found to be utterly useless in our own case!'
"We Jews," sinners, " knowing" —i. e. being persuaded —
"that a man is not justified " —i. e. cannot obtain the Divine
1 As the term "justified" occurs here for the first time in the epistle, a
brief statement of the Christian doctrine of justification may be useful. It
cannot be better given than in the well-considered words of Barnes:
" I. Justification is properly a word applicable to courts of justice, but is
used in a similar sense in common conversation among men. An illustration
will show its nature. A man is charged, e. g., with an act of trespass on his
neighbour's property. Now there are two ways which he may take to justify
himself, or to meet the charge, so as to be regarded and treated as innocent.
He may (a) either deny that he performed the act charged on him, or he
may (b) admit that the deed was done, and set up, as a defence, that he had
a right to do it. In either case, if the point be made out, he will be just, or
innocent, in the sight of the law. The law will have nothing against him,
and he will be regarded and treated in the premises as an innocent man; or
he has justified himself in regard to the charge brought against him.
II. Charges of a very serious nature are brought against man by his Maker.
He is charged with violating the law of God; with a want of love to his
Maker; with a corrupt, proud, sensual heart; with being entirely alienated
from God by wicked works; in one word, with being entirely depraved. This
charge extends to all men, and to the entire life of every unrenewed man.
It is not a charge merely affecting the external conduct, nor merely affecting
the heart; it is a charge of entire alienation from God,-a charge, in short,
of total depravity.-See especially Rom. i., ii., iii. That this charge is a
very serious one, no one can doubt: that it deeply affects the human character
and standing, is as clear. It is a charge brought in the Bible; and God
appeals, in proof of it, to the history of the world, to every man's conscience,
and to the life of every one who has lived; and on these facts, and on his
own power in searching the hearts, and in knowing what is in man, He rests
the proofs of the charge. III. It is impossible for man to vindicate himself
from this charge. He can neither show that the things charged have not been
committed, nor that, having been committed, he had a right to do them. He
cannot prove that God is not right in all the charges which He has made
against him in his word; and he cannot prove that it was right for him to
do as he has done. The charges against him are facts which are undeniable,
and the facts are such as cannot be vindicated. But if he can do neither of
these things, then he cannot be justified by the law. The law will not acquit
him; it holds him guilty; it condemns him. No argument which he can
use will show that he is right, and that God is wrong. No works that he
can perform will be any compensation for what he has already done. No
denial of the existence of the facts charged will alter the case; and he must
stand condemned by the law of God. In the legal sense, he cannot be justified; and justification, if it ever exist at all, must be in a mode that is a
departure from the regular operation of law, and in a mode which the law
did not contemplate, for no law makes any provision for the pardon of those
who violate it. It must be by some system which is distinct from the law,




92               EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-11. 21.
favour —" by the works of the law, but byl the faith of Jesus
Christ." The apostle does not seem here to refer merely to
and in which man may be justified on different principles than those which
the law contemplates. IV. This other system of justification is that which
is revealed in the gospel by the faith of the Lord Jesus. It does NOT consist
in either of the following things: (1.) It is not a system or plan where the
Lord Jesus takes the part of the sinner against the law, or against God. He
did not come to show that the sinner was right, and that God was wrong. He
admitted most fully, and endeavoured constantly to show, that God was right,
and that the sinner was wrong; nor can an instance be referred to where the
Saviour took the part of the sinner against God, in any such sense that he
endeavoured to show that the sinner had not done the things charged on him,
or that he had a right to do them. (2.) It is not that we are either innocent,
or are declared to be innocent. God justifies the' ungodly,' Rom. iv. 5. We
are not innocent; we never have been; we never shall be; and it is not the
design of the scheme to declare any such untruth as that we are not personally
undeserving. It will be always true that the justified sinner has no claims
to the mercy and favour of God. (3.) It is not that we cease to be undeserving personally. He that is justified by faith, and that goes to heaven, will
go there admitting that he deserves eternal death, and that he is saved wholly
by favour, and not by desert.  (4.) It is not a declaration on the part of God
that we have wrought out salvation, or that we have any claim for what the
Lord Jesus has done. Such a declaration would not be true, and would not
be made. (5.) It is not that the righteousness of the Lord Jesus is trans-.ferred to his people. Moral character cannot be transferred. It adheres to
the moral agent as much as colour does to the rays of light which cause it.
It is not true that we died for sin, and it cannot be so reckoned or imputed.
It is not true that we have any merit, or any claim, and it cannot be so reckoned or imputed. All the imputations of God are according to truth; and
He will always reckon us to be personally undeserving and sinful. But if
justification be none of these things, it may be asked, What is it? I answer,
It is the declared purpose of God to regard and treat those sinners who believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ as if they had not sinned, on the ground of the merits
of the Saviour. It is not mere pardon. The main difference between pardon
and justification respects the sinner contemplated in regard to his past conduct,
and to God's future dealings with him. Pardon is a free forgiveness of past
offences. It has reference to those sins as forgiven and blotted out; it is an
act of remission on the part of God. Justification has respect to the law, and
to God's future dealings with the sinner. It is an act by which God determines to treat him hereafter as a righteous man, or as if he had not sinned.
The ground or reason of this is, the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ,-merit
such that we can plead it as if it were our own." On the signification of
8LKact and its cognate terms, the following works may be consulted with advantage:-Storr, Opuscula Academ. vol. i.; Koppe, Excurs. iv. Epist. ad
Gal.; Zimmermann, De vi atque sensu L8Katoo(rVvql OEoO: Van Voorst, Anotatt. in loc. sel. N. T. Spec. ii.; and Winzer, De Vocabulis, lIKalos, &Kator-v7,
et &8KaLogv, in Ep. ad Romo.
1 ev Bug is here equivalent to caXXd; so Ei t  Matth. xii. 4, et al.  The




P. III. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.                  93
obedience to the Mosaic law, but states the general truth, that
it is not by obedience to any law-not by works of righteousness
-that men are restored to the Divine favour, but by the faith
of Christ.  Some would understand " the faith of Christ" as
equivalent to'the gospel;' but, when viewed in contrast with
works of law, its plain meaning is,' the belief of the truth about
Christ.'' Well,' says the apostle,' we Jews, convinced that we
are sinners, and that it is not by obedience to law that sinners
are to be restored to the Divine favour, but by faith in the Messiah, by the belief of the truth respecting him and the way of
salvation through him,-under these convictions " we have believed in Jesus Christ;"'  we have credited the testimony of
God- concerning his Son, "that we might be justified "-i. e.
in the hope that we shall be restored into God's favour entirely'" through the faith of Christ," and not at all by any obedience
on our part to any law; " for by the deeds of the law shall no
flesh be justified."'2   The reason here stated is plainly a most
cogent one. Every Jew has broken the law under which he
is placed. Every man has broken the law under which he is
placed; and therefore law  may —must —condemn men, but it
cannot justify them. This is a gloriously clear statement of the
way of salvation, which, rightly understood, puts down at once
all attempts to join anything with Christ's righteousness as the
ground of justification, or with faith as the means of justification.
parallel passages, Rom. iv. 13, ix. 32, fix the meaning; or rather, as Fritsche
ingeniously remarks, E'hv p'; refers not to the whole of the preceding clause,
but only to its first part,-' A man is not justified by the works of the law,a man is not justified'hv p', but by the faith of Christ.'
1 Elr XpUtro'v'Ir1o'oiv. "Idem est Hebraeis credere Deo, credere in Deo,
et credere in Deum: sic idem est credere Christo, credere in Christo, et
credere in Christum, credere scilicet illum esse Christum, i. e., Messiam salvatorem et redemptorem mundi."-RIBERA.
2 These words are commonly supposed to be a quotation from memory of
Psal. cxliii. 2. In the psalm, however, it is not "flesh," but " living person."
With Koppe, it may be doubted whether the apostle meant any quotation,
as 8tKatLO'o7oera is the only word that occurs both here and in the passage in
the LXX. supposed to be referred -to. The particle o6 does not refer to
7rao-a, but to 8LKatloOo7eTat. It is not,' Not every man,' etc.; but,'Every
man shall not be justified.' It is not as, " Not every man that saith, Lord,
Lord," etc. It has often been said, that in such passages as Psal. cxlii. 2,
non omnis is put for nullus; but we prefer Drusius' mode of accounting for
this peculiarity,-" Negatio afficit verbum non particulam."




94              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CIIAPI. 1. 11-1T. 21.' This, then,' says the apostle,'is what we Jewish converts have
done —we have given up with everything but Christ as the
ground of our justification, and everything but faith  as the
means of it.'
" But," proceeds the apostle, " if, while we seek to be justified
by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ
the minister of sin? God forbid." These words, viewed by themselves, might signify, what I believe they are generally thought to
signify,' If, while men are professing to seek justification through
Christ, they are found living in the neglect of duty, and commission of sin, is Christ to blame?' i. e.' Christ is not to blame.'
They are abusers of the grace of God. " Sinners " is by some considered here, as in Rom.v. 8, as equivalent to' guilty,'' unjustified.'
They consider the apostle as saying,' If, while seeking justification by faith in Christ, we are yet found unjustified (which
seems to be the fair conclusion from seeking, in obedience to the
law, for some additional ground of justification), then Christ is
the author, not of justification, but of condemnation.'   This,
however, would require another inference,-such  as,'Then
Christ's expiation has been incomplete;' and it would not connect well with what follows. From its connection, it seems
obvious that neither of these can be its meaning. The true
sense seems to be this,-' If, in seeking justification solely by
Christ Jesus, without laying any stress on the works of the law,
we are to be accounted sinners-offenders-if we are to be viewed
as acting improperly, " then Christ is the author of the sin "'
he has led us into the error and fault; for this is the sum and
substance of his doctrine, and, in embracing it, we are but following him.'  " God forbid," says the apostle, starting back
from  the revolting thought,-i. e.' It is impossible that Christ
can be the author either of error or sin. In embracing the doctrine of justification by faith, through the redemption that is in
him, and in acting accordingly, we certainly follow him, and
therefore as certainly we cannot be wrong.2
1 apa XpLoTr'S cApaprlar LdKOCovos being understood, not as an interrogation,
but a conclusion; and d3pa used, as it sometimes is, ironically. —Vide VIGERUS.
2 Theodoret's exposition is excellent: "El 7rapa'3a cs   TOVTO o vevoLoT-aL,
rT 7ov voYLov Ka'aXLt7rrvTesE Ev Xptrc- Cj7-rovtev B&KaltcoOvat, y atTra EsI av'ov
Xpon'eV XcOP'CeL."




P. III. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.              95' But to embrace this doctrine of Christ, and yet to do what is
calculated to obscure it, to overthrow it, that is obviously self-inconsistency and impropriety,-that were to be sinners indeed.'
This is the sentiment contained in the 18th verse. "For if I build
again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor."  The reference here is plainly to the conduct of Peter; but
according to Paul's wisdom, he makes the statement in the way
least fitted to hurt or to offend.l To pull down with one hand
what we build up with the other, that is inconsistency; and this
is what Peter was doing, though not aware of it. He preached
the doctrine of fill and free salvation which he had defended in
the council of Jerusalem; but his present conduct was in its
tendency quite opposed to these exertions.
In conclusion, Paul declares that whatever others might be or
do, he was a thorough, and he was determined to be a consistent,
Christian. " For I through the law am dead to the law, that I
may live to God."2 The expressed personal pronoun is emphatic,
and its position strengthens the emphasis.3' Whatever may be
the case with others, this is MY experience.'  "I through the
law am dead to the law." Some rendering the words,' I through
law am  dead to law,' understand the assertion as equivalent to,' I through one law am dead to another law. I through the law
of faith am  completely released from  obligation to the law of
works;' in the same way as we say,'man serves man,' or' hand washes hand.' Others understand the word in both cases
in the same meaning, and in both cases consider it as referring
to the law to which Paul, as a Jew, was originally subject.4' I
through means of the law convincing me of sin, and showing me
the utter impossibility of justification by itself, have become
1 Jaspis very well remarks, " Petrum innuit sed mitigandi vituperii causa
prima persona loquitur."
2 Gal. ii. 19. " The false apostles taught this doctrine,' Except thou live
to the law, thou art dead to God;' but Paul saith quite the contrary,-' I
must die to the law, in order to live to God.' "-LUTHER.
3'Ey, " As for me."
4 Wakefield considers'Eycao at' vo'/ov as a phrase similar to r7-v 8La ypdaMaros. —Rom. ii. 27. In that case it would just be equivalent to-' I, who
was under the law, have become dead to it.' Bishop Middleton objects to
this exegesis the want of the article; but there are other and stronger objections.  Camerarius gives the meaning very concisely: " Ipsius legis
ministerio legi sum mortuus."




96              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 21.
dead to the law-have ceased to expect justification and salvation
by obedience to its requisitions-" that I might live to God;" 1 that,
consecrated to God more effectually than I could be by obedience
to the law, I might live a divine life-a life of reconciliation with
God-conformity to God-fellowship with God.'  This second
interpretation is preferable to the first; but still it is not satisfactory. It does not naturally introduce the thought that follows.
I am persuaded that the apostle expresses here the same sentiment with regard to himself as an individual which he states in
reference to Christians in general, when he says, " Ye are become
dead to the law by the body of Christ."2  And how that is
brought about, is described by him.3' By the law having had its
full course so as to be glorified in the obedience to death of
Him in whom I am, I am completely delivered from the law.
The law has no more to do with me, and I have no more to do
with it in the matter of justification. And this freedom from
law is at once necessary and effectual to my living a truly holy
life-a life devoted to God.' What follows is explanatory of this
thought, which was ever present to the mind of the apostle,-' I
consider myself as identified with the Lord Jesus Christ.'  "I
am crucified with Christ."4 I view myself as so connected with
Christ, as that when  he was crucified I was, as it were,
crucified; and I am as much interested in the effects of that
crucifixion as if I had undergone it myself.  He, in being
crucified, endured the curse, and I in him endured it; so that I
am redeemed from the law and its curse, he having become a
curse for me.  "Nevertheless I live."5  Christ died, and in him
1 To " live to God," is'the same thing as to live by Him and for Him, as
his servants and property, —no more their own, being redeemed by blood,
precious blood, the blood of Christ. " Phrasis Cjv'v T-WL denotat addictum
et deditum esse alicui rei.-Sic Demost. ad Philip. apud Liban. tom. iv.
p. 258, orv C  e'v -oeT IWrXowL: et Cic. ad Faim. ix. 26, Vivas, inquis, in
literis!-an possem vivere, nisi in literis viverem? "-BoRGER.
2 Rom. vii. 4.                                 3 Rom. vi. 1-11.
4 Gal. ii. 20. " IN Christo totus sum. Hlec summa et medulla Christianismi."-BENGEL. " Paul speaketh not here of crucifying by imitation; but
he speaketh of that high crucifying, whereby sin, the devil, and death are
crucified in Christ, and not in me. Christ Jesus doth all himself alone; but
I, believing in Christ, am by faith crucified also with Christ."-LuTIIEn.
5 "' Paul hath his peculiar phrase or kind of speech, which is not after the
manner of men, but divine and heavenly; nor used of the evangelists or of




P. III. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.               97
I died; Christ revived, and in him I revived. I am a dead man
with regard to the law, but I am a living man in regard to
Christ. The law has killed me, and by doing so, it has set me free
from itself. I have no more to do with the law. The life I
have now, is not the life of a man under the law, but the life of
a man delivered from the law; having died and risen again with
Christ Jesus, Christ's righteousness justifies me, Christ's Spirit
animates me.  My relations to God are his relations.  The influences under which I live are the influences under which he
lives. Christ's views are my views; Christ's feelings my feelings.  He is the soul of my soul, the life of my life.  My state,
my sentiments, my feelings, my conduct, are all Christian.
4 And the life which I now live' in the flesh2 I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
"' The life I live in the flesh " is the life I live in this mortal bbdy,
this embodied state. The belief of the truth is the regulating
principle of my conduct.  It is as it were the soul of the
new creature. I no longer think, or feel, or act like a Jew —or
like a man born merely after the flesh. All my opinions, sentiments, and habits, are subject to the truth about him  "who
loved me and gave himself for me;" and I live devoted to him
who died devoted for me.'
The force of these last words plainly is,-' It is but right that
it should be so.3 It is but right that I should be entirely devoted to him who devoted himself entirely for me.' It seems
also to intimate, —' It is the faith of this truth, that Jesus Christ
so loved me as to give himself for me, that makes it impossible
for me to build again the things I have destroyed. The faith of
the rest of the apostles, saving only of John, who is also wont sometimes so
to speak. And if Paul had not used this phrase, and set forth the same unto
us in plain words, the very saints themselves durst not have used it. For it
seemeth a very strange and monstrous manner of speaking thus to say,' I
live, I live not;'' I am dead, I am not dead;'' I am a sinner, I am not a
sinner;''I have the law, I have not the law;' which phrase is sweet and
comfortable to all those that believe in Christ. For in that they behold
themselves, they have both the law and sin; but in that they look into
Christ, they are dead to the law, and have no sin." —LUTHER.
1    v &i vv C&, equivalent to KaO' O 8 vev (h.
2 E crapK' is to be interpreted, not by Rom. viii. 8, but by Phil. i. 22.
s3, Christus se totum dedit mihi, ego me totum do, imo reddo Christo."C. A LAPIDE.
G




98              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-I1. 21.
the truth keeps me from seeking justification anywhere but in
him, and from doing anything which could lead others to seek
for justification anywhere but from him.' 1
" I do not frustrate the grace of God."2  "The grace of God"
is plainly the grand manifestation of the free sovereign love of
God in the way of salvation through the sacrifice of Christ and
the faith of the gospel. To frustrate that, is to act in such a way
as to lead to the inference, that this display was either unnecessary or insufficient for its avowed purpose. They who give their
support in any way to the doctrine of justification by works, do
thus frustrate the grace of God. "We despise grace when we
observe the law with the expectation to be justified by it. The
law is good, holy, and profitable; but it justifieth not. He, then,
that keepeth the law in order to be justified thereby, rejecteth
grace, denieth Christ, despiseth His sacrifice, and will not be
saved by this inestimable price, but will satisfy for his own sins
through the righteousness of the law, or deserve grace by his
own righteousness. This man blasphemeth and despiseth the
grace of God."3
The last clause depends on an elliptical clause.  "But whosoever wills to be justified by the law, he frustrates the grace of
God."4  Paul did not thus " frustrate the grace of God."  To do
this is, indeed, to frustrate, or represent as useless, this grace of
God, "for if righteousness come by the law, then is Christ dead in
vain."  " Righteousness "5 is here obviously equivalent to,'justi1 Theophylact's note is excellent: "XpL(trot'  artr 7rdva 7ro1CoV EV VMLV KaL
Kparv~V KaL 867TrdCWOV: Ka'L T' Rev?tLEepov  OXrqHa veKpV eo'var. T5V aE KELVOV
K7 Kal KV3EPVi rnv Ccon)v /1faiV.
2 Gal. ii. 21.   3 Luther.  I4 aOeeL E,'E7T o tC  Voyov  OFeXL &LKatLOvoOat.
5 StKaLourvqV). Even Archbishop Whately, who insists so strongly that
LKaLoflr) V is properly descriptive of disposition rather than relation-of character rather than state, is constrained to admit that it here " appears to be used
in the sense of &Kalowls." —Essays on the Dangers to Christian Faith, ~ 4.
If &LKa&oc-tvq be equivalent to &tKal'OXtL here, it will be difficult to give a
satisfactory reason why it should not be so interpreted when it occurs in the
apostle's writings, as it very often does, in the same connection. This is indeed,
if I *do not greatly mistake, the ordinary meaning of the word with the
apostle; and I know no one circumstance so well fitted to diffuse light over
portions of his writings, otherwise obscure, than the judicious application of
this remark. Let the reader make the experiment with the following passages:-Rom. i. 17; iii. 21, 22, 25-26; v. 17; ix. 30, 31; x. 3-10; 1 Cor.
i. 30; 2 Cor. iii. 9; v. 21; Phil. iii. 9. The argument drawn by the Arch



P. III. ~ 3.]   HISTORICAL PROOF OF THE THESIS.                99
fication.' If men's works are sufficient for their justification,
Christ's death was entirely needless.l If men's works are in any
respect necessary for this purpose, Christ's death was so far insufficient for the purpose for which it was intended. In either
case " Christ has died in vain." 2
" This interesting paragraph is one among many proofs," to use
the words of the learned and ingenious Hallett,3 " that we
Gentiles are indebted inconceivably more to the Apostle Paul
than we are to any man that ever lived in the world. He was
the apostle of the Gentiles, and gloried in that character. While
Peter went too far toward betraying our privileges, our Apostle
Paul stood up with a courage and zeal becoming himself. For
us in particular, as for the Gentiles in general, our invaluable
friend laboured more abundantly than all the apostles. For us
he suffered. He was persecuted for this very reason, because he
laboured to turn us from darkness to light, and to give to us
the knowledge of salvation upon our repentance towards God,
and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. How dear, then, should his
memory ever be to us! While it would be intolerably weak,"
as well as inexcusably wrong, A" in us to worship him, we should
always think and speak of him with the highest veneration and
respect,-remembering the strong reason, the elevated understanding, the accurate discernment, the consummate knowledge,
the fine address, the affectionate zeal, the unshaken fidelity, the
undaunted courage, the firmest patience, the incomparable writings, the unwearied labours, and the uncommon sufferings of
this truly Christian hero; whose character, after he became a
Christian, is the most uniform and finished, the most unspotted
and amiable, of all the characters of mere man that ever adorned
the world." But we shall make it evident that we have very
bishop, in common with Alexander Knox, from the ordinary force of nouns
in oo(vvq, will not have much force in opposition to what even they admit-that
this is a rule which, at least in one instance, the apostle disregards.
1 According to the younger Tittmann, a ripe scholar and acute interpreter,
this is the only proper meaning of acpeav. "oppea'v adrEOave non est frustra,
temere, sine effectu, sed sine justa causa. Nam si aa T-oy yvO'ov &8aKaLOt0vYq)
nulla erat causa moriendi." —De Synonym. p. 161.
2 " &opEda. Non tantum sine effectu sed sine causa." —E. SCHMID. "El
yap da7rOavev 6 Xpto'ros, Ev'8r1Xov OTt ala To /. Lo'XVeLV rTO VOdOV, /ELas &lKaLOvz'
el 3 0 vo/.OS &LKaLtoL, reptrrpT    rod  Xpt-roo davaToO."-CHRYSOSTOM.
3 Notes and Observations, vol. i. p. 382.




100          EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I. 11-II. 2I.
imperfectly imbibed his principles, if we rest in the admiration of
him as an individual, and do not clearly perceive and plainly
acknowledge that it was not he, but the grace of Christ in him,
that made him the great and good man he became; that by the
grace of God he was what he was; and imitating the churches
of Judea, " glorify God in him."  For "all things" in the new
creation " are of God; to whom, through Christ Jesus, be glory
for ever. Amen."




PART IV.
THE APOSTLE'S DEFENCE OF HIS DOCTRINE.
GALATIANS III. 1-Iv. 1-7.-" O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you,
that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been
evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you,
Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by
the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among
you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Even
as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Know ye therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the children of
Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee
shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with
faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is
justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live
by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall
live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a
tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; though it be but a man's
covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And
to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And
this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it
should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law,
it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the
seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by
angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one;
but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid-:




102             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all
under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them
that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up
unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefbre the law was
our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye
are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as
have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female:
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if ye be Christ's, then are ye
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Now I say, That the
heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be
lord of all; but is under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the
father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the
elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God
sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And
because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a
son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."
SECT. I.-INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
IN an epistolary composition, it is not reasonable to expect the
same strictness of method as in a regular treatise. Yet, even in
the letters of. a man of well-informed and well-disciplined mind,
the materials will be disposed in the order best fitted for gaining
the object he has in view. There will be much method, though
there may be little display of it.
This is precisely the character of the letters of the Apostle Paul;
and they equally mistake who represent them as regular logical
discussions of certain theological principles, and who view them
as a collection of cursory unconnected hints. In all his epistles
he has some one leading object in view, of which he never for a
moment loses sight. Whatever he brings forward has a tendency
more or less direct towards the attainment of this object; but in
making his particular statements and reasonings bearing on his
grand purpose, he adopts a method more analogous to the course
which thought naturally takes in a free, unreserved conversation,
than to the artificial form which it assumes in continuous spoken
or written discourse.
These general remarks are applicable to that particular epistle,
in the interpretation of which we are at present engaged. The




P. IV. ~ 1.]    INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.                 103
leading purpose of the apostle in this epistle is, to point out to
the Galatian Christians the falsehood and danger of the principle
which some Judaising teachers had been attempting, with but
too much success, to impose on them, "that the observance of
the Mosaic law was equally necessary with faith in Jesus as the
Messiah to secure for them the Divine favour and everlasting
happiness," and to recall them to, and establish them in, the great
fundamental truths of the gospel which he had taught thenm,'that Jesus Christ was the only and all-sufficient Saviour; that
his vicarious obedience, sufferings, and death, were the sole ground
of the sinner's justification; and that faith, or believing the
gospel, was the sole means of the sinner's justification.' Instead
of entering directly into the argument, he first vindicates his own
integrity as a man, and his authority as an apostle, both of which
had been questioned or denied by the Judaising teachers; and
after having most satisfactorily shown, in a narrative of some of
the leading incidents of his past life, that he was no time-server
-no man-pleaser-that his doctrine on the point in question
had always been uniform and consistent —and that his knowledge
of the principles of Christianity, and his authority to teach it, had
been derived from no human source, through no human medium,
but were obtained directly from God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ-that his character as an independent inspired
teacher of Christianity had been acknowledged by the most distinguished of the apostles-and that, in his conduct in reference
to one of the chief of them, he had at once shown the strength
and consistency of his attachment to those doctrines which the
Judaising teachers were endeavouring to overthrow, and asserted
his independent authority as an apostle of Christ —he proceeds,
in the passage which now lies before us for explication, to expose
the falsehood of the dogmas of the Judaising teachers, and to
confirm the doctrine which he had originally taught respecting
the true ground and means of a sinner's justification before
God.
The manner in which the apostle makes this transition is
beautifully natural.  In the course of his apologetical narration, he has occasion to recite the address which he made to
Peter at Antioch, when, by his conduct, that apostle seemed to
give countenance to the opinion that the observance of the
Mosaic law was, even under the Christian dispensation, a matter




104           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CIIAP. IIi. 1-iV. 7.
of importance, in which he places in a very strong point of view
the grand peculiarities of the gospel scheme, the fulness and the
freeness of the Christian salvation, the absolute completeness of
the Christian scheme, and the abundant provision which it makes at
once for the holiness and the happiness of all who sincerely embrace
it, while the undivided glory of the whole deliverance is secured
to the free sovereign benignity of the Divine Being, manifested in
a consistency with his righteousness through the mediation of
his Son; and expresses, in very glowing terms, his own thorough
satisfaction with, his unbounded admiration of, and exultation in,
Christ and Christianity. The contrast between this true gospel,
so simple, so complete, so full of glory to God and advantage to
mankind, and that system of inconsistency and error, those " beggarly elements," as he phrases it, which the Judaising teachers
were endeavouring, and endeavouring with but too much success,
to induce the Galatians to receive in its room, strongly struck his
mind; and, in the words that follow, he gives utterance to a
mingled feeling of astonishment, displeasure, and sorrow.
SECT. II. —THE APOSTLE'S ASTONISHMENT, DISPLEASURE, AND
SORROW, AT THE CHANGE IN THE SENTIMENTS OF THE
GALATIANS.
"0 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should
not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been
evidently set forth, crucified among you?"l These words are
obviously expressive of deep and powerful emotion, profound
sorrow, strongdispleasure; but the degree of feeling will not
appear excessive when we' have attended to the circumstances
which called it forth. The Galatians had enjoyed very peculiar
advantages in the clear and ample statements made to them, by
the apostle, of evangelical truth. " Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth before their eyes crucified among them." The
collocation of these words in our version obscures their meaning.
It becomes obvious by a very slight change.  "Jesus Christ
crucified had been evidently set forth before their eyes among
them."
" Christ crucified," and " the cross of Christ," are phrases which,
1 Gal. iii. 1.




P. IV. ~ 2.]      FEELINGS OF THE APOSTLE.                    105
in Paul's epistles, are expressive of the whole doctrine of the
gospel respecting the way of salvation through the sufferings and
death of Christ. This is plainly the meaning in such phrases as
"We preach Christ crucified." —" I am  determined to know
nothing among you, save Christ and him crucified."2-" God
forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus."3
When the apostle says, then, that A" Christ crucified had been set
forth among them," he means, that they had been taught that
Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, had submitted to die,
and to die on a cross, as the victim of human transgressions;
that he had been "delivered for our offences;"4 that he had
"offered himself"5 a sacrifice for our sins; that his sufferings
and death had completely answered their purpose; that'"his
blood cleanseth from all sin;"6 that no human being can be
saved but through the efficacy of that sacrifice which He offered;
and that every believing sinner, whether Jew or Gentile, shall,
through the power of this bloody atonement, assuredly escape
everlasting destruction, and obtain everlasting salvation; in one
word, that what He did and suffered is at once the sole and the
sufficient procuring cause of salvation to every one that believeth.
The apostle states, not merely that 1" Christ crucified had been
set forth among them,"7 but "set forth evidently before their
eyes."s  These words seem  to refer to the remarkable distinctness with which the doctrine of Christ crucified had been set
forth among them.?   It is not impossible that there may be
here an allusion to the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, in which
the death of Christ is " showed forth "-in which, by the
significant emblems of bread and wine —broken bread, and
1  Cor. i. 23.           21 Cor. ii. 2.14.
" Rom. iv. 25.          5 Heb. ix. 14.            6 1 John i. 7.
7 E Vtbv. There can be no reasonable doubt that ev is here " among."
It is a strange exposition given by Ambrose, Luther, Brentz, and, what is
remarkable, by Storr, generally so judicious: " Christ has been crucified in
you-is dead, and dwells no more in you."
8, 7rpoypacifEv, in the classic writers, means' to promulgate by writing,' as
an edict written and made plain on a tablet, so that' he who runs may read it.'
In later writers it is used of painters, equivalent to' portray.' Kar' 0jaXtaot'.V
is equivalent to 7rpO5 0OliaXlv."-ABRESCH. Notce in Aristarchum, 340.
9 " ro-ravpcopwvoS in fine positum est ut quod maximam sententiae vim contineat."-WIsER.




106            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. t.-IV. 7.
poured-out wine-broken bread eaten, and poured-out wine
drunk, are presented to the mind through the medium of the
senses, these truths,'that Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Son,
suffered and died in our nature, in our room, and for our salvation, and that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but
have everlasting life.' 
These doctrines, then, had been clearly stated to the Galatians,
and accompanied with the most satisfactory evidence. They had
professed to receive them, and to rest the interests of their eternity
on them-to repose with undivided and undoubting confidence
on the crucified Jesus as the only and the all-sufficient Saviour.
But in embracing the doctrines of the Judaising teachers, they
materially relinquished these doctrines, and showed that they did
not " obey the truth.":2
" The truth" is here obviously what the apostle elsewhere calls
"the truth as it is in Jesus,"-' the truth respecting the way of
salvation through his mediation."  "To obey the truth" has
often been considered as equivalent to faith. I rather think it
refers to that complete transformation of character which results
from the truth when it is allowed to exert its full influence over
the mind. To obey the truth is just to think, and to feel, and to
act, like a person who understands and believes the truth.
Now, the Galatians were not doing this. Had they obeyed
the truth they would have looked to Jesus, and to Jesus only, for
salvation; they would have seen that there was no necessity, and
no possibility, of adding anything to what he had finished on
the cross as the ground of acceptance. They would have seen
and felt that there is no need of conjoining anything with faith
in him as the means of obtaining an interest in the blessings of
his salvation. Trusting in him, and in him alone, for salvation,
they would have cheerfully devoted themselves to his service in
all the spiritual and rational duties of his religion, constrained by
his love to live to him who died for them. Instead of this, they
were seeking some other ground of confidence-some other
method of salvation. As if his atonement had been either unnecessary or insufficient, they were endeavouring, in their circum1 Vide " Hints on the Lord's Supper, and Thoughts for the Lord's Table."
2 The genuineness of the words, rn drl)Oel'a 9L3 rrE TEo-Oat, has been called
in question on strong grounds, and decided against, by all the great critical
editors. The gloss, however, merely brings out the apostle's idea.




P. iv. ~ 2.]'    FEELINGS OF THE APOSTLE.                    107
cision and legal observances, to find something else on which
they might rest their hopes of acceptance with God.
Now, to a person whose views of Christianity accord in any good
degree with those of the apostle Paul, it will not appear strange
that the apostle should pronounce the persons who acted such a
part emphatically "fools."1
The Galatians were proverbially stupid, as the Galileans were;2
but there is no reason to think that the apostle has any allusion
to this.3 The apostle, in astonishment, displeasure, and sorrow,
asks them, who had "bewitched" them  that they should have
acted so unreasonable a part? What could be more foolish
than to take up with a human invention instead of a Divine
appointment —to exchange the immoveable rock of the Redeemer's all-perfect atonement for the broken reed of imperfect,
uncommanded, human services-to part with that peace of God
which passeth all understanding, which arises from a belief
of the truth, for a false confidence constantly liable to be disturbed with doubts and fears, and certain ultimately to issue
in disappointment and ruin? This surely was to leave "the
fountain of living waters," and to take up with "cisterns which
can hold no water."4
Well might the apostle ask, " Who hath bewitched you?"
1'Avo'rot,'fools,'-stupid, infatuated, dementes.
2 Callimachus, Del 184, speaks of them as ahlpov OzXov.
3 Some interpreters have strangely supposed that the apostle here, and
chap. i. 6, meant a kind of vrapovotiaola  on the name Galatce;-some
tracing its etymology to the Hebrew word,ib,' to migrate-to remove from
one place to another;' and others to 7,' to roll;' and others to the Greek,
yadXa,'milk,' as if they were but sucklings. This is the absolute wantonness
of learned trifling. Luther's observation is amusing: "Quidam putant nos
Germanos oriundos esse ex Galatis; neque vana est forsan ea divinatio, non
enim valde dissimili ingenio sumus Germani et cogor etiam in NOSTRIS aliquid
requirere gravitatis et constantise. In omnibus enim rebus sub initia prima
valde calemus, ut ubi deflagravit is ardor primorum affectuum mox sumus
remissiores."
I Jer. ii. 13.
t5 Ja3KalvLv,' to enchant, to fascinate, to delude by magical charms,' —
rather an uncommon word, ara XFey. in the New Testament. It may amuse
to notice the f'rvlov of the word.  Some grammarians have strangely
thought it derived from ofEoat KaL'VeL,'to kill with the eyes.' Its true
etymology obviously is, 3&o, f3ac K o, laCK&oo, 3caafKalvw. (BdaOrKo) equivalent
to Ca(rKCo,'to say, to speak,' comes, in the form 3aacKalo, to signify
KanKoXoyEv,'to calumniate,' then'to deceive,' then' to deceive by magical




108            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
There is a peculiar beauty and appropriateness in the phrase.'Jesus Christ has been "' plainly set before you crucified." You
saw him, and said you were looking to him as "the Lamb of
God" —the only, the all-sufficient sacrifice- bearing —bearing
away the sin of the world.  How have ye lost sight of him?for ye must have lost sight of him, else you never could have
been expecting to be justified by the law of Moses. How have
you been fascinated?  How is it that ye have mistaken delusion
for truth-truth for delusion-shadows for realities-realities for
shadows.' The apostle refers here to the opinion generally entertained in his time of the power of charms or incantations in
leading persons into error and folly; but he is not to be considered
as sanctioning these opinions.' It is as if he had said,' Your conduct is so foolish that it looks like infatuation. You seem fascinated.
Surely it has not been argument, but something like enchantment
that has led you to adopt the views of your new teachers.'
There seems to be something emphatic in the question, " Who2
bath bewitched you?" It seems the apostle's wish to turn their
attention to the attainments and character of the men who had
seduced them.' Who are they who have had such an influence
over you?  Have they the gifts of apostles?  Are they distinguished for their wisdom, worth, and piety?'
The conduct of the Galatians is by no means singular. There
are multitudes who, like them, enjoy a clear dispensation of the
gospel, who " do not obey the truth;" who, though  "the
righteousness of God"-the Divine way of justification-is
plainly pointed out to them, go about to establish " their own
righteousness "-a way of justification of their own. Such conduct is extremely foolish, and, if persisted in, will be fatal.
The apostle's mode of expression shows that ministers are
warranted, in peculiar circumstances, to use very strong language-to express their amazement, their displeasure, and their
arts.' Hyperius thus explains it: "Fascinare proprie dicuntur, qui sic imponunt humanis sensibus et praecipue oculis, ut alia forma res appareant,
quam re vera se habeant." A thorough discussion as to the meaning of the
word is to be found in " Winkleri Animadversiones, Philol. et Critic." xxxii.
pp. 401-442.
1 " Usus sit," as Jerome very well says, " sermone trivio et ut in seeteris,
ita in hoc quoque loco verbum quotidianwe sermocinationis assumpserit. Ex
opinione vulgi sumptum putamus exemplum."                2 rs.




P. IV. ~ 3.1  ARGUMENT FROM THEIR OWN EXPERIENCE.  109
sorrow.  This is no way inconsistent with the' most tender
affection. It is the same apostle who says, " O foolish Galatians!" who says to the same individuals, " My little children,
for whom I travail again in birth till Christ be formed in you."
SECT. III.-ARGUMENT FROM THEIR OWN EXPERIENCE.
In illustrating the folly of the Galatians, the apostle brings
forward a very strong proof of the falsehood of the new principles
they had adopted, and the truth of the doctrines which the
apostle had taught them. "' This only would I learn of you,
Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"1 The force of these introductory words is,-' An
answer to this question will go far to settle the whole controversy.' The argument necessarily involved in the only answer
that could be given to it was, in the absence of all other arguments, sufficient to determine the point in question. By " receiving the Spirit" many understand exclusively the receiving
the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit-such as prophecy, speaking with tongues, the power of working miracles, etc. I have
no doubt these are included, for in all the primitive churches
which enjoyed the ministry of the apostles, these gifts seem in
some measure to have been bestowed. But I do not think that
we are so to confine the meaning of the phrase, as to exclude
the ordinary saving influences of the Holy Spirit-such as love,
peace, and joy.' Tell me,' as if the apostle had said,' what
was the origin of these miraculous gifts which many of you possess,-what the origin of that inward peace, that love of God,
and of one another,-that joyful expectation of immortal glory,
by which many of you were once distinguished?'
Did you receive this " by," or through, " the works of the
law "? 2-i. e.' Was it by means of obedience to the Mosaic institution that you obtained these blessings?' No; the most of
the Galatian believers were strangers to the Mosaic institution
till after they had obtained these blessings; and such of them
as were Jews previously to their becoming Christians knew very
well that, while they continued Jews, they continued unacquainted with them.  Or, did ye " receive the Spirit by the
1 Gal. iii. 2.                 2 n ~'pyo vo'Myov.




110             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
hearing of faith"?  " The hearing of faith " is a phrase which
admits of being variously interpreted.  The word rendered
" hearing "' may signify either the act of hearing, or the thing
heard; and the word "faith "2 may signify either the act of
believing, or the thing believed.  As "hearing" is obviously
contrasted with " working," and "faith" with the " law," I apprehend that " the hearing of faith" is just equivalent to the
reception of the gospel-hearing being often, in the New Testament, equivalent to attending to and believing;-as, " This is
my beloved Son, hear ye him."3  " To-day, if ye will hear his
voice."4 The question, then, is-' Did ye receive the Spirit on
your receiving the gospel?' and the answer must be in the affirmative. It was on the profession of faith that the miraculous
gifts were given; and all the saving fruits of the Spirit naturally
grew out of the belief of the truth.'If, by the belief of the
gospel, and not by obedience to the law, ye obtained such important privileges, is it not extremely foolish in you to give up
with the truth of the gospel for Mosaic observances? and is not
the Spirit, the seal of God, attached to those doctrines which
you are so strangely and causelessly abandoning?'
The apostle presses this consideration home in the next verse:
"Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now
made perfect5 by the flesh?" 6 The general force of the question
is this,-' Is there not gross incongruity and absurdity in your
conduct? To begin with what is imperfect, and to go forward
to what is perfect, is the natural and proper order of things; but
you are reversing it. You have begun,7 as Christians, " in the
Spirit;" you have adopted the pure, spiritual religion of Jesus
Christ-a religion to which the Holy Spirit has given, even in
your case, the most distinct evidences of his approbation,-and
" are ye now made perfect"- i. e. are you seeking to be made
1 aKO?,.     2 rrlo'rE.     3 Matth. xvii. 5.    4 Psal. xcv. 7.
ErrrLTEXETrO seems in med. voc. = "Are you now perfecting yourselves?"
or, " Are you now going to perfect yourselves?"
4 Gal. iii. 3. Among the Jews, l,'spirit,' was expressive of what was
powerful and excellent; ~w:,' flesh,' of what is weak and worthless. Middleton (Doct. of Gr. Art.) remarks, that vrvevLzart and 0oapKi are here used
adverbially, for'rvzevtzarLKs  and aoapKLKcOS. Ca'p$ and wrveOta are put together
in the same way that ypa4qta and ~rvdeDta are, Rom. ii. 29.
7 " vdapxerOat and 7rLTreXeiV are opposed to each other in the same way,
Phil. i. 6."-OLsHAvUSEN.




P. IV. ~ 3.]  ARGUMENT FROM TUEIR OWN EXPERIENCE.  1 1
perfect, by adopting what, in its very best state, was comparatively a carnal, material form of religion, and which, in present
circumstances, has no claim of any kind on your adoption? The
religion you at first adopted was a religion which, from its perfection, renders any addition utterly useless. You may-you
must-debase it, but you cannot possibly improve it, by any
supplement. Your progress is not improvement, it is degeneracy.
It is not the child becoming the man, but the man becoming the
child. To pass from Judaism to Christianity is-having begun
in the flesh-to be perfected by the Spirit. For the Jew to become a Christian, was for the child to become a man-a natural,
desirable course. For the Christian to become a Jew, is for the
man voluntarily to sink into a second childhood-a most unnatural and undesirable course. They, in receiving the gospel,
began with what was spiritual-knowledge, faith, holiness, hope,
joy; in submitting to the law, they end in " meats, and drinks,
and divers washings."'
The apostle still farther illustrates the folly of their conduct
in the 4th verse: " Have ye suffered so many things in vain?
if it be yet in vain."2  The ordinary mode of interpreting this
verse, which it is plain from their version our translators adopted,
goes on the supposition that the Galatians, on embracing the
gospel as taught them by Paul, had been exposed to severe persecution, and that that persecution had proceeded from the Jews
either directly or indirectly. We have no account of such persecutions, though it is by no means improbable they did take
place in Galatia, as we know they did in many other places; and
1 It is well paraphrased by Bauer (Rhetor. Paulina, vol. ii. p. 70), " Inceperitis Spiritu-mente, intelligentia, voluntate, judiciis et studiis, moribus
animi, efficientia Sancti Spirituis et evangelii,-persequi et absolvere vultis
carne, lege, ritibus externis? idque a vobis recte, vere, sapienter, decore, salubriter, apte, fieri creditis?" "Even had your outset been carnal, your advance
should have been spiritual; but now, after starting from things spiritual, ye
have ended your journey in carnal. To work miracles is spiritual, but circumcision is carnal; and ye have passed from miracles to circumcision, from
apprehension of truth ye have fallen back to types, from gazing on the sun
ye seek a candle, from strong meat ye run for milk."-CHRYSOSTOM. Consistency is a great matter. Horace's rule is of very extensive application:"Servetur ad imum
Qualis ab incepto processerit, et sibi constet."-De Art. Poet. v. 125, 126.
2 Gal. iii. 4.




112            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IIT. 1-IV. 7.
in no country or age can a consistent Christian profession be
made without sacrifice and suffering. What the apostle says,
chap. v. 11, and vi. 12, gives plausibility to this supposition. In
this case, the apostle's argument is this,-' For your attachment
to the truth of the gospel you willingly submitted to much persecution; an(l are you willing that all this suffering should be lost?
Are you ready to acknowledge yourselves fools in submitting to
it? For be assured it is all lost if you go into the dogmas of
these new teachers, which involve in them a virtual renunciation of the gospel.'
He adds, " If it be yet in vain."  He is unwilling to think
that, after all, they would abandon the truth. They had not yet
fairly shifted their ground.  He intimates to them that, if they
stood firm, their afflictions would be amply compensated. In
this case they would find that, " if they suffered with Christ,
they would also reign with him;" but if they renounced the
truth, their past suffering would serve no good purpose. " How
skilfully, how gently, yet how soundly, does he probe the dangerous wound!"
It deserves, however, and perhaps requires, to be remarked,
that the words admit another rendering. The word " suffered,"
in the original, is used generally of what a man experiences,
whether of a pleasant or painful kind.1 And the idea the apostle
meant to convey may be, —' Have ye experienced so many
things in vain? if it yet be in vain'-i. e.'Have ye seen so
many miracles-have you enjoyed, in such variety and abundance, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, all attesting the truth of the
gospel,-have you experienced all these in vain? and if you indeed adopt these opinions respecting the necessity of circumcision, and other Mosaic observances, ye have experienced them
in vain.' This view of the passage has the recommendation of
giving unity to the whole paragraph.
In the 5th verse, the apostle puts what is materially the same
argument in a somewhat different form: "He therefore that
1,, ra-XEv," says Kypke, " est vocabulum,uoaov et generatim notat re
aliqua adfici sive mala sive bona: imo hand raro significat beneficiis adfici
etiamsi voculme ev, fdyaOov, aut similes non adjiciantur." There is no instance
of this use of the word in the New Testament, but it is not uncommon in the
classics.-See Bos. Ellipses, p. 491, Glasg. 1813; and Hombergk Parerga,
in loc.




P. IV. ~ 3.]  ARGUMENT FROM THEIR OWN EXPERIENCE.  113
ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you,1
doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"
The language is elliptical. When the ellipsis is filled up it runs,-' He then that ministereth to you the Spirit, doth he minister it
by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? He that
worketh miracles among you, doth he work miracles by the
works of the law, or by the hearing of faith'  The point on
which the right interpretation of this verse hinges, is the ascertaining of the person whom the apostle here describes as i" he
that ministered to them the Spirit, and wrought miracles among
them."2  The appellation has very generally been referred to
God. In that case, the phrases, " by the works of the law," and
" by the hearing of faith," must be referred to the Galatians,
and the force of the interrogation be,' When God gave you the
Spirit, and wrought miracles among you —or in you, or by youwas it in consequence of your yielding obedience to the Mosaic
law, or in consequence of your receiving the gospel?' And the
meaning is precisely the same as in the 2d verse.
It not only prevents tautology, but seems to give a more
natural meaning to the words-to understand " him that ministereth the Spirit, and worketh miracles "-of the apostle. The
Holy Spirit, in his miraculous influences, was given by the
" laying on of Paul's hands;" and, in his saving influences, was
communicated through the instrumentality of Paul's preaching.
And no doubt, among them as well as among the Corinthians,
were " the signs of an apostle" 3 distinctly exhibited-" the seal
of apostleship "4 plainly affixed. The ministry of the gospel is
expressly termed " the ministration of the Spirit,"5 as well as the
" ministration of righteousness "-that is, of justification, —the
1 The appeals to those to whom the apostolic epistles were written as
to miracles of which they had been the witnesses and the subjects, are utterly
unaccountable but on the supposition that such miracles had indeed been
wrought. If it had been otherwise, such appeals would have been, as Baxter
says, " the likeliest way to turn them from Christianity with scorn,"-the
attempt to make that proof which was known by them to be false.
2 7rLXOp7yE!V, a scenic word, borrowed from the theatre,' to lead, instruct,
furnish out a chorus for a public entertainment;' and hence generally' to
furnish, give.' —2 Cor. ix. 10; XopnrYElv, 1 Pet. iv. 11;'7r&Xop77yla, Eph.
iv. 16.
sra oroiEa Tot) C7ro-ro'Xov.-2 Cor. xii. 12.
4 c-payl 7 r/r darocrroXrj. —1 Cor. ix. 2.      5 2 Cor. iii. 8.




114           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
ministry by which both justification and sanctification are conferred on believers. "d What a solemn thing is the work of the
ministry! The gospel is' the ministration of the Spirit;' and
the business of them who preach it is to minister or convey the
Spirit-the Spirit of God and his blessed Son. If this be not
done, nothing is done at all; and'who is sufficient for these
things?' "'
In this case the force of the apostle's question is,' Was the
person by whose instrumentality ye received the Holy Ghost,
and who confirmed his doctrine among you by miracles, an upholder of the Mosaic law? or was he a preacher of the simple
gospel?' and it is in some good degree a new argument.   Not
only was the Spirit conferred on you as believers not as workers,
but he who was the instrument in conveying this blessing to you
was no teacher of Judaism, but an explicit preacher of " the
truth as it is in Jesus."' Besides, the question naturally enough.suggested another, the answer to which was quite decisive on the
point.'Have any of those who are of " the works of the law"
and not of " the hearing of faith," have any of them " ministered
to you the Spirit, or wrought miracles among you?"'  A
very strong proof of the' reality of the miracles wrought in the
primitive ages arises from these fearless appeals to them in the
apostolic writings. It is a just and important remark of Mr
Baxter, that " it was a great display of Divine wisdom to suffer
such contentions to arise thus early in the church, as should
make it necessary for the apostle to appeal to the miracles
wrought before and upon those who were afterwards in some
degree alienated from them, that future ages might be convinced
by the certainty of these miracles as matters of fact beyond all
possibility of contradiction." 
SECT. IV. —ARGUMENT FROM THE HISTORY OF THE JUSTIFICATION OF ABRAHAM.
In the passage which follows, the apostle brings forward another argument, borrowed from  the history of Abraham, the
object of almost religious regard to his descendants. There could
be no doubt that Abraham was a justified person, the object of
Riccaltoun.        2 Baxter's Prac. Works, vol. ii. p. 118, fol.




P. IV. ~ 4.] ARGUMENT FROM ABRAHAM'S JUSTIFICATION. 115
the peculiar Divine regard, " the friend of God." 1  He surely
was in possession of all that is necessary to justification. Now,
if it appeared that Abraham was justified, not by his circumcision, but by his faith; if it was not Abraham the circumcised,
but Abraham the believer, that was justified —that single fact
would go far to settle the point that circumcision was not necessary, and that faith was sufficient for justification.  This is the
argument the apostle states in the 6th verse, and is, indeed, the
same which he urges with so much effect in the beginning of the
fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. The Judaising
teachers said,'Ye cannot be the children of Abraham, the heirs
of his blessings, except ye be circumcised.' The apostle says,'Ye are the children of Abraham, and the heirs of his blessings,
if ye be believers.'
"Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to
him for righteousness. KInow ye therefore that they which are
of faith, the same are the children of Abraham."2   These
verses may either be considered as forming one sentence or two
separate ones. In the first case, the construction is,'Since
Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, ye see that they who are of faith are the children of
Abraham.' In the second case, the 6th verse must be considered
as elliptical, and the ellipsis must be thus filled up,'Your receiving tokens of the Divine favour in consequence of your faith,
and not of your obedience to the law, is no departure from God's
ordinary mode of procedure. It was so from the beginning.
The scripture account of Abraham's justification exactly corresponds with your experience.  " Abraham  believed God, and it
was accounted to him for righteousness."'
This is a quotation from Genesis xv. 6,-"- And he believed in
the Lord; and he accounted it to him for righteousness." The
phrases, " Abraham believed God,"3 and " Abraham believed in
God,"4 are precisely synonymous, the latter being merely a
Hebraism.5 The common doctrine on this subject-that they
1 Isa. xli. 8.
2 Gal. iii. 6, 7. "'E8elKyvVE E KaUl Ort 7To VdfLov 7rpefo3vrepa 77 7rltrrt,
ErLyE lrp O TOV 011 TOv A a3pa.T7 avTI) E tKalocE."-THEOPHYLACT.
a3 er7toevare 7r&o Oe.                 M4 dr7TEVo'E EV 7T rO  &c.
5 Drusius has set this in a very satisfactory point of view: " Non assentior
iis qui volunt aliud esse Deo credere et in Deum, vel ob hoc quod Ebraei,




116              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
express different ideas, the former simple belief; the latter belief
and such emotions as accompany or rise out of it-seems to have
originated with Augustine, who certainly was not overburdened
with Hebrew  or Greek learning.  The declaration, "Abraham
believed God," is just equivalent to,'-Abraham counted true
what God said to him, because God said it.'"
quorum phrasis est, qupe alias migrat leges Latini sermonis hoc discrimen
non agnoscunt: dicunt enim credere Deo et in Deum indifferenter et pro
eodem.  Illud quoque vanum  est, quod tamen primi nominis Theologi
annotarunt, non recte dici credo in hominibus pro illo credo hominibus.
Etenim sacra scripta frequenter ita loquuntur, ut Exod. xiv. 31,' Crediderunt in Deum et in Mosen servum ejus;' et Job. xv. 15,' Ecce in sanctos
suos non credet;' et 1 Sam. xxvii. 12,' Et credidit Achis in David;' et
2 Par. xx. 20,' Credite in prophetas et feliciter agite.' In quatuor locis in
quibus utuntur praepositione cum tamen sermo sit de hominibus.  His addi
poterit ex Jer. xii. 6. Nolo credere in eos et qubd in translatione Graeca,
Micha vii. 5,' Nolite credere amicis' —v ltAXot. Ac ne illud quidem verum
est, aliud esse credere verbis Domini et in verba Domini, cum certum'sit
Davidem haec duo non distinguere.  Nam  Psalmo cvi. quod prius dixerat
crediderunt in verba ipsius, paulo post addit crediderunt verbis ipsius, ver. 12,
24.  Quid autem credere in ecclesiam, idemne est quod credere ecclesiam?
Non quidem idem est, sed in idem recidit; vel potius idem est. Nam Ebrsci
siepius ita loquuntur, Groeci etiam. Dicunt enim credere in vitam eternam,
credere in resurrectione mortuorum, pro illis credere vitam eterneam, credere
resurrectionemn mortuorum.  Hvec linguae Hebraicae intelligentibus et re non
nomine theologis probari capio: coeteri sive probant sive improbant ov 4povrlts'I7r7roKXEL877."-Drusii Observatt. Sacc. lib. iii. cap. i.
1 Joan xiv. 1. —" Si creditis in eum, creditis ei: non autem continuo qui
credit ei, credit in eum, nam et dsemones credebant ei, et non credebant in
eum. Rursus etiam in apostolis ipsis possumus dicere: Credimus Paulo et
non credimus in Paulum; credimus Petro, sed non credimus in Petrum.
Quid est ergo credere in eum? Credendo amare, credendo diligere, credendo
in eum ire et ejus membris incorporari."-AUGUSTIN.  "' It is probable that
somewhat of the obscurity which has attached to faith, or belief, has taken
its rise from introducing in the translation of the Scriptures a Hebrew
idiom, foreign to the language in which the translation has been made.
Many active verbs in Hebrew take a preposition before.their object, while
the corresponding verbs in Latin and English admit of no preposition.
Take the following examples: —Gen. xxxii. 1; Isa. xl. 12; 1. 10; Jer. xi.
4-7; vi. 30; iii. 16; viii. 5. A similar regimen is used with the Hebrew
verb translated to believe, which is often construed with the preposition
signifying in before its object, whether that object be a divine person, a
human person, or words spoken by any person.-Gen. xv. 6; Deut. i. 32;
Exod. xix. 9; Psal. cvi. 12; 2 Chron. xx. 20. Our English translators,
following the Hebrew idiom, as the LXX and the inspired writers of the
New Testament had done in some instances, wrote' to believe on,' or' to




P. IV. ~ 4.] ARGUMENT FROM ABRAHAM'S JUSTIFICATION.  117
The result of Abraham's faith is stated in the words that follow, "and it was counted to him  for righteousness."  These
words have received two very different interpretations.   One
class of interpreters, more distinguished for orthodox theology
than accurate exegesis, have held that what was imputed to
Abraham was not the act of faith-the fact that he believedbut the object of faith, which they say was either Christ himself
or the surety-righteousness of Christ, that was reckoned to his
account as his righteousness on believing; and thus he was justified. Now, we do not deny that this is substantially a just
account of the way in which Abraham was justified, though expressed in a very artificial and non-natural way. Nor do we
deny, that what is properly the name of a mental act is often
used to designate the object of that act. Faith is often equivalent
to'what is believed,' and hope equivalent to'what is hoped
for.' But we do deny that this is the true exegesis of these
words.  The object of Abraham's faith was the truth he bebelieve in,' when applied to any of the persons of the Holy Trinity, but -
dropped the preposition in all other cases. The use of this construction,
foreign to the English as well as to the [Greek and] Latin idiom, might
naturally give rise to an opinion, that such an unusual expression must have
been intended to convey a sense different from the simple meaning of the
word believe when used without a preposition. The foregoing quotations,
especially the last, may serve to show that such a distinction is not authorised by the original Scriptures, and that the translators used a freedom
hardly consistent with fidelity, if they intentionally retained the Hebrew
preposition in their translation of some passages, while they dropped it in
others."-This note is attached to an excellent essay on "Faith," in the
" Religious Monitor" for Jan. 1808, and in the " Missionary Magazine" for
March of the same year, with the signature A. S. D.; the initials, as I have
learned on undoubted authority, of Dr Alexander Stewart, then of Dingwall,
formerly of Moulin, and afterwards of the Canongate, Edinburgh. So highly
do I value these remarks, that some years ago I reprinted them with a few
observations on Christian hope, under the title of " Hints on Christian Faith
and Hope." " The Scripture notion of faith agrees with the common notion
of faith and belief among men-a persuasion of a thing upon testimony;
but that faith whereby we believe the gospel has been very much darkened
by the many things that have been said in the description of it, while that
which is most properly faith has been either shut up in a dark corner of
the description, or almost excluded from it as a thing presupposed to
faith, and not that very faith itself whereby we are justified and saved;
and some have so defined faith as to take into its own nature the
whole of gospel obedience."-JoHN GLAS, Test. of the King of Martyrs,
p. 209.




118            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
lieved, and surely that could not be reckoned to him  as his
righteousness.
Another class, much worse theologians and somewhat better
philologists, have insisted that the words express this sentiment,' Abraham's faith was reckoned to him instead of righteousnessor a full obedience to the law-and on account of it he was justified.' This is a doctrine altogether subversive of the apostle's
doctrine of justification, and the words, rightly interpreted, do not
give any support to it. There can be no reasonable doubt that
"his faith"' is the nominative to " was reckoned."2 But then,
what is the meaning of that phrase? In the Hebrew idiom, for
an action, quality, privilege, to be reckoned to a person, is just
equivalent to that person being reckoned to have done that action,
to possess that quality, or to enjoy that privilege.  For faith to
be reckoned or imputed to Abraham is, then, just equivalent to,'Abraham was reckoned (by God) a believer, and he was so
reckoned, because he was really a believer-God always reckoning men and things to be what they are.  The phrase, "for
righteousness," 3 hangs equally by the two clauses, "Abrahamr  believed God," and " his faith was reckoned to him." God reckoned
him a believer. "Righteousness"4 is used in the sense in which
the apostle ordinarily employs it, as equivalent to'justification.'
"For" rather " unto righteousness"' is equivalent to " unto
justification," or,' so that he was-so that he was thus justified.' The phrase is used in the same sense as in Rom. x. 10,
"with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;6 and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation."7  Abraham does
not obey —he does not submit to circumcision, he believes,
"unto justification;"8 and not obedience or circumcision, but
faith, is reckoned to him "d unto justification."9 He is not considered in this matter by God as an obedient, or a circumcised man, but as a believing man. Abraham believed God:
God reckoned Abraham a believer, and as a believer he was
justified by God. The exact place of faith in the Divine
method of justification, as not in any degree the ground, but
the sole means of restoration to the Divine favour, is not fixed
1 mnlrtv airoi.        2 hXoylroO1.        3 E8L &KaLOVoaVlv.
8 tlKaLocTVVr.         5 eLS  &KaLtoCov'ly.  E6 iS lKaLtoCvl7v.
7 iELV cror07-8piv.   s8 ELV   KaLto(V'rVV.  -" el &tKaltoo'v'V.




P. IV. ~ 4.] ARGUMENT FROM ABRAHAM'S JUSTIFICATION. 119
by this passage.  It merely shows, what the apostle's argument
required, that Abraham was justified, not by works, but by faith
-not by obeying the law, but believing the promise-not as a
worker, but as a believer.
The conclusion the apostle wishes the Galatians to draw fromn
this fact is, that believers not workers are the imitators of Abraham's conduct and the heirs of Abraham's privileges.  " Know
ye, therefore, that they who are of faith are the children of
Abraham."'   "They who are of faith"2 is just equivalent to'they who believe'3 in opposition to them who are " of the law,"
or "of the works of the law."  "Thev who are of faith" are
plainly those who are expecting justification by faith and not by
works; who are not working that they may obtain the favour of
God as a meritorious reward, but who are believing that " God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them;" 4 and that " the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord;"5 and consequently are
looking for it as a gratuitous benefit.  These persons, and these
persons alone, appear, from this account of Abraham's justification, to be entitled to the honourable appellation of "his children."
To be the children of a person in a figurative sense, is equivalent to,' to resemble him, and to be involved in his fate, good
or bad.' The idea is, similarity both in character and circumstances. To be 1" the children of God," is to be like God; and
also, as the apostle states it to be, "heirs of God."  To be "the
children of Abraham," is here to resemble Abraham, to imitate his conduct, and to share in his blessedness.6 It is as if the
apostle had said,'These Judaising teachers talk much of the
glory and advantage of being children of Abraham, and insist
that it is by circumcision that men attain to this dignity and
happiness.  But how far is this from  the truth?   Abraham's
highest distinction was, that he was a justified person, " a friend
of God;" and this distinction he attained not by circumcision,
but by faith. It follows, then, that they who believe like Abraham, and are like Abraham justified through believing, they —
1The scope of the passage shows that rlv6'OKere is not the indicative, but
the imperative. Paul does not presuppose that the Galatians acknowledged
this principle; he is exerting himself to convince them of it.
2 Ot EK rr7EOns.    Ol 71TUTfUOVTe..   2 Cor. v. 19.  D Rom. vi. 23.
6 John viii. 39. 1 John ii. 29; iii. 1, 8, 9.




120           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
they alone-are his true spiritual descendants. Though a man
should be " a Hebrew of the Hebrews, circumcised the eighth
day, and touching the righteousness that is in the law, blameless,"l if he is not a believer, he is not spiritually a child of
Abraham. And if a man be but a believer, be lie Jew or
Gentile, he is spiritually a child of Abraham. And this fact,
that all who believe, whether they were descendants of Abraham
or not, were to be made partakers of his blessedness, was distinctly enough taught in the ancient oracles given to Abraham.'
This is what the apostle states in the 8th verse.
SECT. V.-ARGUTMENT FROM THE PROMISE TO ABRAHAM.
"And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the
heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham,
saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." 2
The language is somewhat peculiar, but the meaning is not
obscure. That is ascribed to the Scripture which properly refers to God in that transaction which the passage of Scripture
quoted describes. Similar modes of expression are to be found
in other parts of the New Testament.3  The meaning plainly is,'God, who foresaw that in a future period many of the Gentiles
were to be received into his favour and treated like his children
on their believing the revelation of mercy through his Son, gave
an intimation of his design to Abraham in the promise which He
made to him.' The Syriac version reads,-" And God knowing
before hand." The phrase, "preached the gospel beforehand,"
in consequence of the very definite idea we generally attach to
the word " gospel," and the technical sense in which we use the
word "preach," does not, I am persuaded, convey distinctly the
apostle's idea to most English readers. It is just equivalent to,'made known these good tidings to Abraham long before the
period when they were to be realised.'4 Tyndale's version here,
as in many other passages, is better than the authorised translation,_-" showed beforehand glad tidings to Abraham." And
1 Phil. iii. 5, 6.                            2 Gal. iii. 8.
3 Mark xv. 28. John vii. 38, 42. Rom. iv. 3; ix. 17.
4 The word is used in the same general sense as when it is employed by
Philo-Judoeus, de Opif. Mund. 77 iu'v rrpola 7rpoevayysEXLEcraLl tAXovra'Xtov
vlrXeLv, —" The dawn intimates beforehand the coming of the rising sun."




P. IV. ~ 5.] ARGUMENT FROM THE PROMISE TO ABRAHAM. 121
this intimation was given in these words,-" In thee shall all
nations be blessed."'  The word translated "nations," is the
same as that rendered " the heathen " in the beginning of the
verse.  The same word should have been retained to mark more
clearly the point of the apostle's argument.
But it may be said, What intimation is there in these words of
God's purpose to "justify the Gentiles by faith"? This will
appear if we consider that the particle translated " in," signifies,
in connection with, along with, in the same manner as.2  The declaration of the oracle, in this way of viewing it, is that,'all the
nations,' i. e. that multitudes of all Gentile nations,'shall be
blessed  along with Abraham.'  " By' the nations' in this
promise we cannot understand all and every one in the nations;
nor can we consider them as such, political bodies of men in the
earth; but according to the New Testament explication, "it is
a great multitude of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
tongues."3  This will be evident if we consider that the blessedness spoken of in this promise, is spiritual and eternal, and must
be acknowledged so to be by those who take the New Testament
account of it.4  It is manifest no nation of this world can, in a
national capacity, be the subject of justification by faith, and of
the promise of the Spirit, which we receive through faith; and
it is as certain that every person in the nations of the world is
not to partake of this blessedness. What remains, therefore, but
that it should be those who are redeemed by Christ out of every
nation?  And thus we find out the intent of the writings of the
prophets about the nations. For these are enlargements upon
this promise to Abraham."5  The promise is fulfilled in God's
"visiting the Gentiles to take out of them  a people for his
1 Gen. xii. 3; xviii. 18; xxii. 18. See also Gen. xxvi. 4; xxviii. 14.
The words are not an exact quotation of any one of these passages,-E'vEvX.
ev ool, Gen. xii. 3, 7r. r. E. 5oL is not a part of the quotation; it marks the
words quoted, as 1 John iv. 20; Rom. viii. 36; Matth. ii. 23; v. 31; vii. 23,
etc.-See Buttmann, ~ 149. The Hebrew a: is used in the same way, Gen.
xxix. 33; Josh. ii. 24.
2 This is a common signification of the Hebrew part.:, of which E' is here
the translation.-Numb. xx. 20; 1 Kings x. 2; Jer. xi. 9; Psal. xcix. 6.Noldii. Concordant.:, p. 10.
3 Rev. vii. 9.                              4 Gal. iii. 8, 9, 14.
5 Glas's " Testimony of the King of Martyrs," chap. ii. sect. i. pp. 74-76,
12mo ed. 1777.




122            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
name." l  Thus, all nations shall be blessed along with Abraham,
in connection with Abraham, members of the same body, possessed of the same privileges, made happy in the same way as
he was made happy.
Now, how was he blessed?'To be blessed' and' to be justified,' seem to be here used as synonymous, and it is not wonderful they should; for, how can he be blessed who is condemned of
God? and how can he be otherwise than blessed who is the object
of God's favour? 2  In the declaration, then, that with him  all
nations should be blessed, God beforehand gave an intimation
to Abraham that it was his design to justify Gentiles by believing; in other words, to make them blessed in the same way in
which he had been made blessed.
The conclusion he states in the 9th verse is obviously a well
founded one.  "So then they which be of faith are blessed with
faithful Abraham."3'It is plain, then,' as if the apostle had
said,' that they who are justified by believing are justified in the
way Abraham was.'4  They that believe are blessed along with,
in the same way as, believing Abraham.  Abraham  believed
and was justified, and thus became blessed. They also believe
and are justified, and thus become blessed.  And they who
are seeking for justification by circumcision, or in any other
way than by faith, by believing, are seeking after it in a way
totally different from that in which Abraham obtained it, and
that in which God had foretold it was to be extended to the
Gentiles.
Having thus showed that justification is by faith, or through
believing, the apostle goes on to show that it is not-that it cannot be-by the works of the law; that to expect to secure the
Divine favour as a merited reward by obedience to the requisitions of the Mosaic law, was to indulge an expectation equally
unreasonable and unscriptural. The unreasonableness and absurdity of the expectation are illustrated in the 10th verse;
the unscripturalness of it is illustrated in the 11th and 12th
1 Acts xv. 14.                              2 Psal. xxxii. 1-5.
3 7rIo-ro, equivalent to rtLrEVCov. —John xx. 27; Col. i. 2.
o4av arT 7 rrU'A/3paact, —i. e. COOwrrp 6 Lrtcrs'A/3pacL. co-7rep, because
or-v. The leading idea is communion, and similarity as its result,-' blessed
along with him, on the same ground, in the same way, and therefore like
him.'-See Winer, ~ 52 (6).




P. IV. ~ 6.] JUSTIFICATION BY THE LAW IMPOSSIBLE.         123
verses.  Let us examine these illustrations somewhat more
minutely.
SECT. VI.-JUSTIFICATION BY THE LAW IN THE NATURE OF
THINGS IMPOSSIBLE.
"For as many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse;1 for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them." 2
This is a new paragraph containing a new argument. The
particle translated for8 here, and in many other places, does not
denote that what follows is a reason for what has been just
stated, but merely marks transition, and is equivalent to,-' Further, moreover.'  " They who are of the works of the law,"
is a phrase denoting, they who are seeking for justification, who
are expecting to obtain the Divine favour, by their obedience to
the law, who are " following after the law of righteousness not
by faith, but, as it were, by the works of the law,"4 just as "they
who are of faith," in the preceding verse, denotes them  who
"through the faith of the truth as it is in Jesus," are expecting
to be treated as objects of the Divine favour, "freely by God's
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus"-who
believe in Christ Jesus that they may be justified by the faith of
Christ, and not by the works of the law.'' Now,' says the apostle,' all persons of this description who
are expecting justification, are indulging a most unfounded expectation; for they are already under the curse of that law, by
obedience to which they are flattering themselves that they shall
obtain the Divine favour. They are already condemned by the
law; and surely the same law that condemns cannot justify.'
That all who were seeking justification by their obedience to
the law, were already condemned by that law, or, in other words,
were " under its curse," the apostle makes evident by quoting
the words in which the curse of the law is couched. It is
1 mhp, —Gen. xlvii. 12. rts. —Mal. ii. 2.   2 Gal. iii. 10.   3yap.
4           V(lKOYVTE I eS. 1d/y LO  lKaLO(TooVvc OVK (K lro'TSEO, aXX')s';E'pyov voy/ov.
-Rom. ix. 31, 32.
5 as XpL(Trov'IrloOv 67rltOreoaaalt, va &8KaLoa)cot EK 7Trlores)S XpLU7ro KaL
OVK E4 ~p-yIv vo1oV. —Gal. ii. 16.




124             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
written, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them." The
quotation is made from Deut. xxvii. 26,1 where we have a command, that the Israelites, on their getting possession of the
promised land, were to inscribe the law on stone; and that, on
this being done, one set of priests should pronounce the blessings
which should descend on the obedient, and another the curses
which should fall on the disobedient. The words quoted are
the conclusion of the curses which were to be pronounced, and
contain, as it were, the sum and substance of them all. It is a
declaration, that whosoever violated any one of the precepts of
the Mosaic law exposed himself to the displeasure of God, and
to punishment, as the expression of this displeasure.  The
apostle's version, though slightly different from that given by
our translators, accurately exhibits the meaning of the original
words. They literally are,-" Cursed is he who maketh not to
stand the words of this law to do them." He who obeys the
precepts makes them to stand; he who disobeys them does what
lies in his power to overturn them.
This argument, like many others employed by the apostle, is
elliptical in its statement; but the ellipsis is easily supplied.
In its completed form it would run thus,-' None of those
who are seeking for justification by the law, uniformly and perfectly obey all its precepts; but it denounces a curse on all
who do not thus obey its precepts. It follows of course, then,
that they are " under its curse;" in other words, they are in a
state of condemnation-the objects of the judicial displeasure of
God. It is absurdity, it is madness, thus to seek for justification
from that which, to persons in their circumstances, is and must
be the source of condemnation. To expect to be warmed by the
keen northern blast, or to have our thirst quenched by a draught
of liquid fire, were not more, were not so, incongruous.  This
were merely to expect that a positive appointment of God should
1 ras et rio-rl non sunt in Helrpeo sed in Samaritano. The apostle's
words are neither an exact translation of the Hebrew text nor an exact quotation from the LXX. Jerome's remark is both just and important:-" Hoc
autem in omnibus prene testimoniis quT, de veteribus libris in N. T. assumpta
sunt, observare debemus quod memorise crediderint evangelistre vel apostoli
et tantum sensu explicate svepe ordinem commutaverint, nonnunquam vel
detraxerint verba vel addiderint."-Com. in loc.




P. IV. ~ 7.] JUSTIFICATION BY LAWS UNSCRIPTURAL.       125
be altered, which is not in the nature of things impossible —
which, in particular cases, has actually taken place. That were
to expect a revolution to take place in the moral nature of Him
" with whom there is no variableness or shadow of turning."'
The remark made by the apostle has a direct reference to
those who were expecting justification by obedience to the
Mosaic law; but it is equally applicable to all who, by their
own obedience to any law, are expecting to stand approved
before God. It is true of that law under which all intelligent
creatures are placed, as well as of the Mosaic law, that every
violation of it exposes to the Divine displeasure; and that- every
man, having violated this law, is a proper object of the Divine
judicial displeasure, and cannot obtain the Divine favour by
obedience to a law which already condemns him to punishment.
We find the argument stated in this general form in the Epistle
to the Romans, chap. iv. 15,-" Because"-or rather,' moreover'-" the law  worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is
no transgression." To complete the argument, you must supply
the implied cause,-' But where there is law, with a being like
fallen man there is transgression, and therefore " wrath," or
punishment.'
So much for the apostle's illustration of the unreasonableness
of the expectation of justification by the law: it is contrary to
the nature of things. Let us now examine his illustration of its
unscripturalness. This is contained in the two following verses.
SECT. VII.-JUSTIFICATION BY LAW INCONSISTENT WITH
SCRIPTURE.
"But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
it is evident: for,' The just shall live by faith.' And the law is
not of faith: but,'The man that doeth them shall live in them.' "1
That no man can be justified by the law, has already been
made evident from the nature of the thing. The proposition is
equally clearly proved by the declaration of God. He has stated
distinctly the way in which men become just in his sight, which
is by believing. To be justified by the law is, however, quite
another thing from being justified through believing; and, of
I Gal. iii. 11, 12.




126             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
course, it cannot be the way of justification. This is, I apprehend, the force of the argument couched in these words.
The apostle's reasoning appears disjointed and inconclusive
in our version, in consequence, I apprehend, of our translators
mistaking the meaning of the quotation on which the apostle
grounds his argument. The quotation is made from Habakkuk
ii. 4.1 It is an important principle, that the verbal adjective
is sometimes employed for the participle.2  It is but right
to state, that the Hebrew words in the prophet, and the Greek
words in the apostle, taken by themselves, admit of the rendering given them by our translators, and convey an important
truth-that it is by the continued belief of the truth that the
new life of the Christian is sustained; or, in other words, that he
continues good and happy, and grows better and happier. This
is the truth stated by the apostle above, in the end of the preceding chapter,-" The life which I now live in the flesh I live
by the faith of the Son of God." But we must also state, that
the words admit of another rendering, and that the object of the
prophet in primarily using them, and of the apostle in quoting
them, both here and elsewhere, requires that other rendering," The just by faith shall live."' The man who is the object of
God's favourable regard in consequence of his faith, that man
shall live, or be happy.' 3
In the Book of the Prophet Habakkuk, the prophet is required
to write a prophetic vision, and to " make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that readeth it." Jehovah declares that this
oracle would certainly in due time be fulfilled; and then it is
added, "Bellold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in
him."  He is obviously speaking of a promise, and he says,' Where there is a proud rising of mind, distrusting the fulfilment
of the Divine promises, there the mind is not right-not in the
state which is well-pleasing to God; but the person who is " just,"
or righteous, and of course well-pleasing to God "on account of
On this quotation, vide Storr, Opusc. vol. i. p. 222; Dathe, in loco;
Schnurrer, Diss. Philol. Crit. p. 169; Knapp, Script. Var. Arg.
2 6 &atcaos, equivalent to 6 8tKatlwocl. This usage is warranted by Rom.
ii. 13.
3 The purpose of the apostle in quoting this passage, both here and in
Rom. i. 17, is to prove, not that the justified mall shall live, but that it is
the believer who is the justified man,-to confirm, as Winer remarks, the
sentiment, 8LKato-Ivqi eE0Ov (K rTr0aroo, not' (XV EK &8aLKaLoffVE.




P. IV. ~ 7.] JUSTIFICATION BY LAW UNSCRIPTURAL.                 127
his faith" —his believing the promise, and trusting that, notwithstanding all contrary appearances, it shall be accomplished,that person shall live.'
The apostle quotes then the passage in the same general meaning that it has in the prophet, and draws from it this conclusion,that it is not the man righteous by law, but the man righteous
by faith, that lives, or is truly happy in the enjoyment of God's
favour and its consequent blessings.'
But are not justification by the law and justification by believing reconcileable? — may they not be co-incident?  How
does it appear evident that a man cannot be justified in the sight
of God by the law because Habakkuk says, " The just by faith
shall live"?   May not the just by works live too?  To this
question we have an answer in the 12th verse. " And the law
is not of faith." Here, as in some other cases, it is much easier
to perceive the apostle's general meaning than to give a clear
satisfactory exposition of the phraseology in which it is couched.2
" The law " is plainly equivalent to,'the way of justification
by the law;' this is, not " of faith," or,' by believing.'3  No; it
is entirely different.  Its statement is not,'The just by faith
shall live;' but, "the man that doeth them, he shall live in
them;" —it is,' the just by works shall live.' This is quoted from
Lev. xviii. 5. It seems to have passed into a proverb among
the Hebrews.4 The opposition between faith and works as the
means ofjustification, is strikingly stated elsewhere by the apostle.
i" For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law,
That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.  But
1 The Jews expound this passage much as the apostle does. " Faith,"
says a Talmudical writer, " is the cause of blessedness, as it is the cause of
eternal life, according to these words,-' The just shall live by his faith."'SEPHER IKARIM, lib. i. cap. 21. Andrew Melville, in his MS. Com. on the
Epistle to the Romans, interprets the clause, " Justus sua fide, seu fide illius,
i. e. Christi."
2 Theodoret gives the meaning: — "  vo'po oVr 7rl-Tlv 7qred, aXXa; rpa$Lv
a7raLtTE, Kat 7rois /vXaTrQovct 7TV 1 Cov eT7raVyEXXEOraL.
s  o VO'OS non agit fidei partes: non dicit crede, sed.fac."-BENGEL.  Calvin
considers the words as equivalent to —" The law has a method of justifying
a man wholly at variance with faith." Camerarius fills up the ellipsis after
acXX' thus: "Lex talis est, ejusmodi est, quemadmodum scriptum est, 5
rroio'as K. r. X. quasi sit aXX' (ErTv Ly 6 VolOs Kara 7to EypatL.LEvoV) 5 7roo?'-as
K. T. X.)
4 Neh. ix. 29. Ezek. xx. 21. Baruch iv. 1.




128           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
the righteousness which is of faith, speaketh on this wise, Say
not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to
bring Christ clown from above;) or, Who shall descend into the
deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead). But
what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in
thy heart: that is, the word of faith which we preach; that if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him
shall not be ashamed."1 The apostle's conclusion then is quite a
warranted one.'If God in his word has stated, that it is the
just by faith that shall live, it is evident that no man is justified
by the law before Him, for justification by faith and justification
by works are utterly incompatible.'
SECT. VIII.-REDEMPTION FROM  THE CURSE OF THE LAW
NECESSARY FOR JUSTIFICATION BOTH TO JEWS AND GENTILES.
It is customary with the apostle to meet objections likely to
rise in the mind of his readers without formally stating them.
We apprehend we have an instance of this in the passage to the
interpretation of which we are now to proceed. It seems a fair
conclusion from the apostle's statement, that not merely all who
are of the works of the law, i. e. who are seeking for justification
by obedience to its requisitions, but that all who are under it, are
condemned; and that, of course, the justification of Jews is an
impracticable thing. It was then a natural question on the part of
the Galatians,'If this be the true statement of the case, how are
Jews condemned by the law to obtain the Divine favour? Is
the thing possible? and if it be so, how is it brought about?' To
these questions the 13th and 14th verses contain a satisfactory
answer.
" Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that
hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on
1 Rom. x. 5-11.




P. IV. ~ 8.] REDEMPTION FROM THE LAW NECESSARY.           129
the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the
promise of the Spirit through faith." 1 The first question to be
resolved here is,'Of whom is the apostle speaking when he says,
" Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith "'? The pronoun " we" is used by the apostle with very considerable variety
of reference.  It is sometimes, we men; sometimes, we sinners;
sometimes, we Jews; sometimes, we believers, whether Jew or
Gentile; sometimes, we believing Jews; sometimes, we apostles;
and it is obvious that to the right understanding of any particular passage in which it occurs, it is absolutely necessary that we
should understand the reference in which it is employed; and,
in most cases, there is little difficulty of ascertaining this from
the context.
I believe the more ordinary method among orthodox interpreters has been to understand the statement in the text as
referring directly to all the saved-as a general statement of the
way of salvation, and equivalent to,' Christ has delivered us elect
sinners,' or,'us believers, from the punishment which the Divine
law denounces on us as sinners, by having sustained that punishment in our room.' This, no doubt, is a truth, a most important
truth; and a truth which the words contained in the first clause
of the verse, taken by themselves, not unnaturally convey.
But to a person who is familiar with the modes of thinking
and speaking of the primitive age, and who carefully attends to
the context, it will appear plain that this is not the apostle's
meaning.  It is obvious, that they who are "redeemed from the
curse of the law," are distinguished from  "the Gentiles," to
whom the blessing of Abraham  comes through means of their
redemption.2 The direct subject of discussion is the impossibility of being justified by obedience to the Mosaic law; and it
is the curse of the Mosaic law which is spoken of in the 10th
verse. The Gentile believers were, previously to their conversion, under sin3 and condemnation,4 as well as the Jewish believers; but not being subject to the Mosaic law, they could not
We would have expected the copulative particle N' after XPLTaro. A
similar hiatus is to be found, Col. iii. 4.
2 ", Quos redemit? &rdiji nos inquit de quibus dixerat cap. ii. 15,' Nos
natura Judaei.' " —PAREUS.
3  671t a4tappLav.            v 7rOd&KoL t rc Oa. —Rom. iii. 9, It).
I




130           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-ITV. 7.
be considered as exposed to its curse, and, of course, they could
not be represented as redeemed from a curse to which they were
never subject.
Every principle of rational interpretation, therefore, requires
us to consider the statement made in this verse as referring to
those Jews who had become Christians. They had been under
that law which the Judaising teachers were so anxious to impose
on the Gentile believers; but so far from being justified by that
law, they had incurred its curse, in consequence of their "not
continuing in all things written in its book to do them," and must
have taken the tremendous consequences had not " Christ redeemed them from the curse of the law, by becoming a curse for
them."
" The curse of the law " is expressive both of the denunciation
of punishment, and of the punishment denounced. The law of
God, as made known to the Jews, denounced a variety of
punishments of a temporal nature for different violations of it,
specially, an untimely violent death, and generally the displeasure
of God against all violations of it, to be manifested in the way
most illustrative of the Divine wisdom, holiness, and justice,
during the continuance of the offender's existence, or at least till
his guilt is expiated.  What the curse of the law is may be
learned by reading the latter part of the twenty-sixth chapter of
Leviticus and the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth chapters
of Deuteronomy. They are fitted to make the ears to tingle
of every one who reads them, and to induce the exclamation, " It is a fearfutl thing to fall into the hands of the living
God."
To this curse every Jew was exposed, and such of them as were
delivered from it, were delivered by Christ. "Christ has redeemed' 
us from the curse of the law." The meaning of that is not,' in
consequence of what Christ has done, the condemnatory sanction
of the law is repealed or mitigated.' " The law " in its sanction
as in its precepts, " is holy, just, and good,"2 and will for ever
continue to condemn every offender and every offence.  The
meaning is,' Christ hath delivered us from the punishment which
the law denounces against us on account of our sins;' or,' He
hath delivered us from the consequences of the natural operation
1 c,~yopaaev, equivalent to e;Xrpcoa-e.    i Rom. vii. 12.




P. IV. ~ 8.] REDEMPTION FROM THE LAW NECESSARY.               1 31
of the condemnatory sentence to which our sils have exposed
us.' If we are delivered from condemnation and misery, it is
entirely owing to Jesus Christ, and not at all to the law, which
could do nothing but condemn and curse us.
The phrase, " Christ hath redeemed us," has often been considered as just equivalent to,' He hath delivered us.' There can
be no doubt that the word "redeem" is often used in this
general sense; but there is as little doubt that its primary and
proper signification is to deliver in consequence of paying a
ransom or equivalent; and that it has this peculiar meaning in
the passage, is plain from the account of the way in which this
redemption was accomplished. It was not by a mere exertion of
power, nor by a mere display of mercy, that deliverance was
obtained,-it was by Christ's yielding to the law in its condemnatory sanction that satisfaction which sinners owed.
" Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us."'l "To be made a curse"2 is a strong
expression for becoming accursed;3 or, in other words, being
subjected, by the Divine appointment, to that suffering, the
infliction of which sin had rendered necessary for the honour
of the Divine character and government,-that suffering which
is the manifestation of the Divine displeasure at sin.4  Christ
was thus " made a curse" for or in the room  of those whom he
redeemed from the curse; and this substituted endurance of the
curse was the ransom-price5 by which he redeemed them. It
was that, in consideration of which they obtained deliverance
— pardon and salvation.
Eraismus has well expressed the sentiment: "Solus omnium Christus
execrationi non fuit obnoxius qui totus innocens legi nihil debebat. Nos
eramus obnoxii, et per hoc execrabiles, verum ille nos obnoxios execratione
liberavit, noxiam vertens in innocentiam et execrationem in benedictionem.
Nostris admissis debitum supplicium, ipse dependit innocens, et execrationem
quee nos tenebat obnoxios, in se transtulit ipse alioqui liber et benedictionis
particeps."
2 yEVOPEV0O Karapa.                                KarapaTov.
4 We have similar phraseology - aipaprcoXto  KaTeoCraf1Ocav, and  lFKatot
Karearra  -av,-Rom. v. 19; and still more, aipaprlav 7rolrrcE, and ytvodlEOa
8LKatoo-vYr, —2 Cor. v. 21. The word Kardapa is used much in the same way
as the Latin odium, in the phrase, " Odium Dei et hominum,"-' Hateful to
God and men;' or as the Hebrew phrase, " An abomination in the sight of
God,"-' Abominable in his estimation;' f3&Avyla for  8aEXvKrodv,-Luke
xvi. 15.                                                5 XVTpov.




132             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
The language of the text, and of the many other texts in
which Christ's sufferings and death are represented as undergone
in the room of his people, by no means necessarily implies that
Christ experienced precisely the same kind and degree of suffering that they must have done had he not interfered-a reflecting
mind will soon perceive that this is a statement which involves in
it many difficulties;-but it does teach us, that the sufferings
which Christ endured were sufferings on account of the sins of his
people; and sufferings which satisfied the law, or, in other words,
rendered it right, safe, and honourable in God to pardon sin, and
save those in whose room they were sustained-those who, in the
appointed way, were united to him who sustained them.'
The penal, expiatory nature of the sufferings of Christ was
intimated by the peculiar manner of his death, when taken in
connection with one of the usages prescribed by the Mosaic law.
This fact is noticed by the apostle in the close of the verse," Christ was made a curse for us: for it is written,' Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree."'  This passage is quoted
from Deut. xxi. 23.  The quotation seems made from  memory,
as it does not exactly correspond either with the Hebrew text
or with the version of the LXX, but clearly expresses the
meaning.2 There are considerable difficulties in explaining the
passage as it stands in Deuteronomy, but there are none of importance in its application to the subject before us. From this passage it is plain that, in all cases in which a person was put to death
as a punishment for violation of the law of God, the dead body
was to be exposed on a gibbet; and that the being thus exposed
on a gibbet was a public demonstration that this person had
been put to death on account of sin, as a condemned, an achursed
person. From the Talmudical writers, it appears that the dead
Schott's note is a good one: " Negari omnino non potest notionem mortis
qutam Christus subierit vicarice hoc loco facile adduci et ipso verbo JayopaE~iv,
quum pretium quo solvendo aliquis redimatur veluti in locum succedat
hominis liberandi, et serie totius effati siquidem homines de quibus liberandis
sermo est 7r, KaraTpa legis obnoxii fuisse dicuntur propter peccata, Christus
vero (qui peccati expers non potuit factis suis KaTapaTos fieri) vi7rep avr&v
ipse factus Kar-apa."
2 The apostle did not make so much of words and syllables as some soi
disant par excellence orthodox expositors do. " Neminem fugit," as Schott
remarks, "liberiorem locorum Veteris Testamenti laudationem haud alienam
fuisse a consuetudine Pauli."




P. IV. ~ 8.] REDEMPTION FROM THE LAW NECESSARY.               133
body was not hung by the neck, but by the hands; and that it
was hung, not on a tree, properly so called, but on a piece of
timber-a stake.'  Hanging by the neck was not one of the
modes of capital punishment sanctioned by the Jewish law.
These modes were four in number: stoning, burning, beheading,
and strangling the criminal as he stood on the ground.  He was
not suspended till after he was dead.
What the apostle says, then, is just this, —' Christ Jesus, in
redeeming us from the curse, was treated as accursed in our
room; and of this we have an indication in the very manner of
his death-in his being suspended on a cross, or hung on a tree,
-which, under the law, was the appointed way of intimating
that a person had died a victim to the claims of public justice.'2
The design or consequence of Christ's thus redeeming Jewish
believers from the curse of the law, by becoming a curse in their
room, is stated in the 14th verse, and it is twofold: (1) "( That
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ;" and (2) That " WE " —i. e. the Jewish believers
-" might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
The particle " that,"3 in the commencement of the 14th verse,
may either signify that the two events mentioned were the design or object, or that they were the consequence or result, of
Christ's redeeming the Jewish believers from the curse of the
law by becoming a curse in their room. In fact, they were both;
and it does not matter much in which way the particle is here
understood.
The first object or result of the redemption of the elect and
believing Jews from the curse of the law by Christ becoming a'Mischna, c. cvi.; Gemara Babyl. Sanhed. c. vi. fol. 45, col. 2, edit.
Amstel; Alschech, Torath Mosch, edit. Prag. in section Ci Zeze; Raymund,
Pugio Fidei, Lips. p. 856; Tayler, in vers.; Targ. Hieros. edit. Lond. p. 87.
The manner of hanging is thus described by one of these writers: —" They
fix a stake in the earth, and out of that stake comes a piece of timber; and
both the hands placed together are tied, and by them the executioner hangs
the body up."-THEOD. Dassovii Dissertatio de suspendio hominis lapidibus
obruti, ad Gal. iii. 13. Deut. xxi. 22.
2 The being hung on a tree was not the curse: it was the token, the proof,
that the individual had incurred the curse. " Non ideo maledictus quia
crucifixus, sed quia in talem incedit reatum, ut meruerit crucifigi." —HIERONYM. Vitringa's dissertation on this verse, in his Obs. Sac. lib. ii. chap. xii.
contains much important information, along with some doubtful typical applications.                                                  va.
8 ~Va.




134            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. I-IV. 7.
curse is, "that the blessing of Abraham  might come on the
Gentiles through Christ Jesus." From the preceding context, I
think that there can be no doubt that the "blessing' of Abraham" is the blessing wherewith Abraham was blessed, i. e.
justification through believing. It was then the design, and it
has been the result, of Christ's redeeming believing Jews from
the curse of the law by becoming a curse in their room, that the
blessing of justification through faith has been extended to the
Gentiles through Jesus Christ. But it may be asked, What connection is there here? What has Christ's enduring the curse of
the Mosaic law in the room of his people who were subject to it
to do with another class of persons altogether obtaining justification from the offences they had committed against God in
doing what they knew to be wrong and neglecting to do what
they knew  to be right?   There is a most intimate twofold
connection.
1st, Those sufferings and that death which, viewed as the
execution of the curse of the Mosaic law, were the price of the
redemption of all believers who were subject to that law —a law
that included the moral law to which all men are subject-and
who had incurred its curse, were also the effectual expiation of the
sins of such Gentiles as should believe.  For, as the apostle
John says, when Christ died, he was "the propitiation for our
sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole
world." 2 So that what laid a foundation for the deliverance of
believing Jews from the consequence of the Divine displeasure as
threatened in the law to which they were subject, laid also a
foundation for the deliverance of believing Gentiles from that
" wrath of God which was revealed from heaven against their
ungodliness and unrighteousness." The same satisfaction which
redeemed the believing Jews, laid a foundation for the justification of the believing Gentiles. But this is not all.
2d, Christ's endurance of the curse of the Mosaic law in the
room of such of his people as were subjected to it, was the
1 Xoyta properly signifies benediction, pronouncing a person blessed or
possessed of happiness. Hence it comes to signify'blessing, benefit, happiness.' In the case of God the two things cannot be separated: whom He
blesses, in the sense of benediction, He makes blessed: his word is powerful;
it conveys what it proclaims.
2 1 John ii. 2.




P. IV. ~ 8.] REDEMPTION FROM THE LAW NECESSARY.       135
honourable and appropriate termination of that economy which,
while it continued, presented insurmountable obstacles to " the
blessing of Abraham," or justification by believing, being generally extended to the Gentiles. Fully to illustrate this principle,
which is of the utmost importance to the right understanding of
the apostolic epistles, would require more time than we can here
devote to it. A few general hints must suffice. The Mosaic
institution may be considered in three points of view,-(1) As
an exhibition of the claims of God, as the righteous moral governor, on his intelligent creatures; (2) As an obscure intimation
both of the fact, that God was disposed to pardon the human
violators of his law, and of the way in which this pardon was to
be dispensed; and (3) As a means of preserving the Israelitish
people distinct from other nations, that this exhibition of the
character, and claims, and intentions of God might not be lost
in the prevailing moral darkness which covered the earth.
Under this order of things, it is plain that it was inconsistent
with one of its principal ends that the blessing of Abraham
should generally come on the Gentiles during its continuance.
The peculiar relation in which God stood to one nation as his
own people' must be dissolved in order to the formation of a
covenant relation with a peculiar people, which was to consist of
persons of all nations. The two constitutions on which these
relations rested, were incompatible; and "he taketh away the
first, that he may establish the second."2  It is equally plain,
that, under this order of things, God claimed no more than his
right; that right had been withheld from Him; and it would have
been inconsistent with the honour of the Divinity that this order
of things should pass away without his rights being fully vindicated. In reference to all believers, whether they lived before
or at the coming of the Messiah, His endurance of the curse in
their room fully compensated all the wrongs which their transgressions had done the Majesty of heaven; and in reference to all
the unbelieving and disobedient, the law would vindicate its
honour by inflicting on them personally the punishment they
deserved. The law, as an economy, thus not destroyed but fulfilled, ceased to exist; the Mediator of the new covenant having,
by means of death, expiated the transgressions under the first.1 ~n'-71pF&71TOiLo-t-peCUliwrf.           2 Heb. x. 9.




136           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. I1I. 1-IV. 7.
covenant.' That which was "a middle wall of partition,"2 was
removed, and justification through believing extended generally
to men of every kindred, and people, and nation. The close
connection between the death of Christ as making expiation for
the violations of the Mosaic law, and its terminating that peculiar
order of things, and throwing open the door of salvation to the
Gentiles, is often adverted to by the apostle, and illustrated at
some length in the concluding paragraph of the second chapter
of the Epistle to the Ephesians: " Wherefore remember, that
ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called
Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the
flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without
God in the world: but now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes
were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is
our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the
middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his
flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in
ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so
making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in
one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and
came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them
that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one
Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers
and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the
household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
corner-stone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together,
groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are
builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." 3
The second object of the redemption from the curse of the law
by Christ's becoming a curse, is, that the believing Jews " might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." 4 " The promis e' Heb. ix. 15.        2  Ea-oToLXOJ rov Opaypoi.-Eph. ii. 14.
3 Eph. ii. 11-22.
4 It is a strange instance of 7rapepxvEvfCla, on the part of a generally very
acute and accurate interpreter, Koppe, to say, " evXoyla Tov'Af3padil, e t
E7rayy'eLa rTO nlvEv'/arov, rem prorsus eandem exprimunt." Beza, with his
usual acuteness, saw, what his master Calvin does not seem to have seen,




P. IV. ~ 8.] REDEMPTION FROM THE LAW NECESSARY.              137
of the Spirit" is a Hebraism  for'the promised Spirit.'   To
" receive the promise," 2 is plainly' to receive the blessing promised.'  And " the promise of the Holy Ghost" 3 is obviously'the Holy Ghost promised.'  By "the promised Spirit," we
understand the enlightening and  enlivening, the sanctifying
and consoling, influence of the Holy Spirit vouchsafed to believers, not excluding the extraordinary influences which distinguished the primitive ages.   The Spirit is termed "the
promised Spirit," for the communication of his influences was
promised by the ancient prophets as one of the grand characteristics of the Messiah's reign.-" For I will pour water upon
him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will
pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." " And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you
to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do
them." 1" And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour
out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young
men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the
handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit." 4  The
Spirit had also been promised by our Lord.-" And I will pray
the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that he
may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom
the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you." " These things have I spoken unto you, being
yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach
you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."  "But when the Comforter is
come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
that the apostle specifies "duos redemptionis fines; unus benedictio seu
gratia justificationis; alter Spiritus promissus hoc est gratia sanctificationis
per Spiritum." The two phrases are obviously contrasted. They signify
two inseparable, but two perfectly distinct things,-as distinct as state and
character, relation and disposition, justification and sanctification.
1' JIveiCpa Er7l)yTEXpEvov.   *2 KO/Lieo'TraL TrYV ITrayyEXLav.I- eb. xi. 39.
3  E ~rayyE\a' ov IIHevLaT os aylov.-Acts ii. 33.
Isa. xliv. 3. Ezek. xxxvi. 27. Joel ii. 28, 29.




138           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. i-IV. 7.
of me."  "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient
for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto
you." 1
Now the communication of this Spirit to Jews, through their
believing, was one of the objects and results of this redemption
from the curse of the law by Christ's being made a curse in their
room. Divine influence is one of the most precious blessings
God can bestow; and He never bestows it on sinners but on
account of the expiatory sufferings of Jesus Christ. Pious men
under the law enjoyed the Spirit, though not in the same degree
as it is enjoyed under the gospel. But if they did so, it was
bestowed on them with a reference to the atonement to be
offered, and received by them  through faith in the obscure
revelation of that atonement. And Jews who lived after this
atonement was offered, could receive the Spirit in no way but
through this atonement, and faith in this atonement. Christ
did not redeem them from the curse of the law that they might
obtain the promised Spirit through obedience to its precepts, but
through believing the gospel.2
The sum, then, of what the apostle says in these two most
important verses is this:' We believing Jews owe our salvation
not to the law, but entirely to Christ, and obtain it entirely
through believing. We, by violating the law, to which we were
subject, had incurred its curse; but Christ has delivered us from
this curse by enduring it in our room. As his sufferings and
death are sufficient and intended to avail, not only as the propitiation for our sins, but also for those of the whole world.; and
as, by completely satisfying all the demands of the Mosaic law,
they have put an honourable termination to that order of things,
which, during its continuance, necessarily excluded the great
body of the Gentiles from the blessing of Abraham-an order
of things which, now that the Messiah is come, has completely
served its purpose,-the consequence is, that justification by
believing is extended to men of every nation; and we Jews
1 John xiv. 16, 17, 25, 26; xv. 26; xvi. 7.
2 The remark of Flacius is an important one: " Spiritus ab extra in nobis
excitat aliquam scintillam fidei, apprehendentem Christum et etiam ipsuni
Spiritum, ut intra nos habitet."




P. IV. ~ 8.] REDEMPTION FROM THE LAW NECESSARY.               139
obtain the promised Spirit through believing the gospel, and
not by obedience to the law.' 1
Behold, then, the plan of salvation in its grand characteristic
features!  An  all-perfect atoning sacrifice,-an  all-powerful
quickening, sanctifying Spirit,- and a plain well-accredited
revelation, laying a foundation for faith, which interests whosoever believes, at once and for ever, in this justifying righteousness and in this transforming Spirit, which secure, and prepare
for, perfect, unending, holy happiness, in heaven.
"Oh, how unlike the complex works of man
Heaven's easy, artless, unincumbered plan!
No meretricious graces to beguile;
No clustering ornaments to clog the pile.
From ostentation as from weakness free,
It stands, like the cerulean arch we see,
Majestic in its own simplicity.
Inscrib'd above the portal, from afar
Conspicuous as the brightness of a star,
Legible only by the light they give,
Stand the soul-quickening words-BELIEVE AND LIVE." 2
This is the " gate of God," the entrance into true peace, holy
joy, permanent happiness.  Let us all enter in by it.  It stands
wide open, and all are invited to enter. And having entered,
let us, in the enjoyment of these blessings, praise the name of the
Lord. Blessed be he who came in the name of the Lord to save
us; and blessed be He who sent him. Blessed be He who
spared not his Son; and blessed be he who loved not his own
life to the death for our salvation; and blessed, too, with equal
honours, be that good Spirit who, by his all-powerful, all-persuasive influence, puts us in possession of all the blissful results
of the love of the Father and the mediation of the Son.
1 It scarcely requires to be noticed, that it is through the channel of the
atonement that the Spirit comes to Gentiles as well as Jews: indeed the
second  celiE  may include both. This was Le Clerc's view. "Xd/ oEuv.
Videtur primo intuitu debuisse sequi Xa/c&oLt, sed prima usus est Paulus, quia
hmec teque ad Judoeos ac ad Gentiles spectant, quibus se et populares propter
ca conjungit."
2 Cowper.




140           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
SECT. IX.-FREE JUSTIFICATION BY BELIEVING SECURED IN A
RATIFIED DIVINE ARRANGEMENT WHICH CANNOT BE DISANNULLED BY THE LAW-A SUBSEQUENT DIVINE ARRANGEMENT.
In the paragraph that follows, the apostle shows that the
Mosaic law was not, and could not be, the means of justification,
from the fact, that the giving of the Mosaic law was long
posterior to the period when Abraham was justified, and when
it was declared that the Gentiles were to be justified in the same
way that he was justified; and that the plan of justification by
the law was not only different from, but altogether inconsistent
with, that plan of justification which was exemplified in the case
of Abraham, and which, in a Divine oracle, was declared to be
intended at some future period to be extended to the Gentiles.
1. The Thesis Stated and Proved.
" Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; though it be
but  a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the
promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but
as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that
the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if
the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God
gave it to Abraham by promise."2
The apostle often uses the phrase, " I speak as a man," or, "I
speak after the manner of men." He uses this phrase with some
variety of meaning; but it seems uniformly to imply this idea, —' I use language frequently adopted;' or,' I reason on principles
which are generally admitted among mankind.' In the present
case, it is obviously equivalent to,'I will illustrate this subject
by an example borrowed from the ordinary business of human
life.' The phrase is used in the same way, 1 Cor. ix. 8; Rom.
vi. 19.
The word here translated " covenant," 3 as well as the corres1 coS ut alibi 7rXh>, etsi tantum homo auctor sit ftederis."-SEMLER.
2 Gal. iii. 15-18.                            3 (aOKrl.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 141
ponding word in the Old Testament, of which it is a version,' is of
considerably more comprehensive signification than the term by
which it is rendered in our version. The English word covenant,
means' a bargain,' an agreement between certain parties on certain terms.  To this there is a corresponding term  in Greek,2
but that word never occurs in the New Testament, and rarely in
the LXX, or in the other Greek versions of the Old Testament.
The Hebrew  and Greek words rendered " covenant,"3 signify,'a disposition,''arrangement,' and are applicable not only to
covenants or bargains, properly so called, but to laws and promises. It is plain that it is necessary to the apostle's argument
that "the promise"4 spoken of (verse 16), should be considered
as a &aO&7, or rather the statement or record of a &8aOOKq.5 "( A
man's covenant," is just equivalent, then, to'a human arrangement or transaction involving the interests of others.
Now the apostle says, when such a transaction is " confirmed,
no man disannulleth or addeth to it." 6 To " confirm" is to sanction, ratify, make or declare valid. Such a transaction is confirmed when it is fully settled, and the appropriate evidence given
that it is settled.  The royal assent confirms or ratifies a law in
this country, after it has received the approbation of the other
two branches of the legislature. The signature or seal of the
individual appended to particular legal deeds ratifies or confirms
them. When any disposition is thus finally settled and ratified,
it is understood to be valid. After this, without the consent of
all parties concerned, the arrangement7 cannot be disturbed or
altered. It cannot be annulled; no addition can be made to it.3
And if, while this deed remains unrevoked, some other arrangement or disposition should take place which might seem inconsistent with it, if we have a perfect confidence in the wisdom and
integrity of the author of the two arrangements, the conclusion
to be come to is, the second arrangement does not really inter1 l,                                          2   VV(rvOK)K17.
C' alaOOcKi is every settlement or disposition."-OLsHAusEN.
atl ErayyeXaL.
5 The comprehensive sense of taOtaKr]  is illustrated by two passages in an
apocryphal writer, Ben Sirach.-Ecclus. xi. 20; xxxviii. 33.
6 KVOV.                                             &taO)K].
8 The force of otoff seems to be,' Although human faith is often found
infirm, and not to be compared to the fidelity of God manifested in his
covenants, yet even,' etc.




142             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
fere with the first, and their apparent discordance must arise
from our misconception of them. The application of this principle to the apostle's object is natural and easy. God had, in the
case of Abraham, showed that justification is by believing; He
had, in the revelation made to Abraham, declared materially
that justification by faith was to come upon the Gentiles. This
arrangement was confirmed or ratified, both by circumcision,
which the apostle tells us was "the seal of justification by
faith,"1 and by the solemn promise made to Abraham that, "in
him," along with him, in the same way as he was, " all nations
should be blessed."2  It follows, of course, that no succeeding
arrangement of God could contradict this arrangement; and that
if any succeeding Divine arrangement seemed to do so, the cause
of this was to be sought in our misapprehension of its true nature
and design, which, when clearly perceived, would distinctly show
the perfect harmony of the two apparently inconsistent arrangements. This is the line of argument which the apostle pursues
in the following verses.
" Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises3 made.
He saith not, And to seeds,4 as of many; but as of one, And to
thy seed, which is Christ."5
These words admit of two renderings: either'Now to Abraham
and his seed,' or'now  in, through, or in reference to Abraham
and his seed.' In either case they are expressive of a fact.
" To Abraham and his seed promises were made;" or, in other
words, blessings were promised. The following are examples of
such promises,-Gen. xii. 3; xvii. 4-8; xxii. 16, 17. This has
been generally understood to be the meaning of the apostle; and
it has been supposed that his argument is,-' Certain blessings
were by God freely promised to Abraham and his spiritual seed
1 ajpayLia 7Tr' aLKatloVvYr)s T  7r/ lrrTEoS.-Rom. iv. 11.
2 It is not unlikely that the apostle had also in view what is stated, Heb.
vi. 13, " When God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by
no greater, He sware by himself." " By myself have I sworn, saith the
Lord,"-" In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."-Gen.
xxii. 15-18. The design of God in this oath was to " show more abundantly
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel." Heb. vi. 17.
8 cc al ErayyEXLaL. Plurale. Promissio ssepe repetita: at lex semel data."
-BENGEL.
a nrEppa, like a'La, is not often used in the plural. Griesbach gives
aLafra as the true reading, Rev. xviii. 24.      5 Gal. iii. 16.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 143
long before the law was given, and therefore their communication
cannot be suspended on obedience to the requisitions of that law.'
The great objection to this mode of interpretation is, that it
obliges us to understand the word " Christ," not of the Messiah
personally, but of the collective body of those who are saved by
him.
We are rather disposed to consider the apostle as stating,'Now the promises were made through or in reference to Abraham
and his Seed.' Not only were blessings promised to Abraham
and his seed; but blessings were promised through Abraham and
his Seed to the nations.l  It is to one of these promises that the
apostle refers in the preceding context, verse 8. The blessing
promised through Abraham and his Seed was, he informs us,
the justification of the Gentiles by faith.  We consider the
apostle then as saying in the first clause of the verse,' Now the
promises of justification by faith were made to the Gentiles
through Abraham and through his Seed.'
The word " seed"2 is a word of ambiguous meaning.  It may
either signify descendants generally, or one class of descendants,
or a single descendant.3 The apostle in the concluding part of
the verse tells us how it is to be understood in the passage he
alludes to. " IHe saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of
one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ."
These words have very generally been understood as if they
embodied an argument,-as if the apostle reasoned from the word
"seed" being in the singular, inferring from that circumstance
either that the word referred to one class of descendants, and not
to descendants of all classes, or to one individual descendant,
and not to descendants generally. That this is not the apostle's
reasoning we apprehend is certain; for it is obviously inconclusive reasoning. The use of the plural term might have laid a
foundation for the inference that he spake of more than one;
but seed being a collective word, its use in the singular lays no
1 Gen. xii. 3; xxii. 18.                           2 0rep1.a.
3 ", Non de multis tantum, sed et de uno orcEp/Aa dici animadverterunt recte
LXX. interpretes Gen. iii. 15, ubi T- orlrErpla'i/ yvvatrKOd ad unam personam, nempe Messiam referentes verterunt aVr ro' CoV Tl7P7rCet Keq5aX?7v;
neutro genere in masculinum mutato, ut per 7rippla certain personam intelligi sciremus. Sic et cap. iv. 25, de persona Sethi quem loco Abelis
dederat Deus dicit Eva posuit mihi Deus semen aliud. Et cap. xxi. 13, de
Ismaele ad Abrahamuin os: 1s:m,-quia -semen tuum est."-DE DIEU.




144             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
foundation for an opposite inference.  Even supposing that his
Jewish readers might have been imposed on by such a sophism,
which is not at all probable, it would not only have been unworthy of his dignity as an apostle, but of his integrity as an
honest man, to have used it.
The truth is, there is no ground to suppose that it is the statement of an argument at all. It is just as Riccaltoun observes,
" a critical, explicatory remark." It is just as if he had said,'In the passage I refer to, the word seed is used of an individual,
just as when it is employed of Seth, Gen. iv. 25, where he is
called " another seed,"' and said to be given in the room of Abel,
whom Cain slew. In looking carefully at the promise recorded,
Gen. xxii. 16-18, the phrase " seed" seems used with a different
reference in the two parts of the promise-the first part of the
17th verse plainly referring to a class of descendants; the last
clause and the 18th verse to an individual, and that individual is
Christ.' There is no doubt that this is the fact-that in the
promise, "In thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed," the reference is not to the descendants of Abraham
generally, nor to his descendants by Isaac, nor to his spiritual
descendants, but to his great descendant, the Messiah.
The words will, indeed, admit of another meaning, q. d.-' The
sacred oracle does not refer to all the descendants of Abraham,
but to one particular class of them; not to his descendants by
Ishmael, nor to his descendants by the sons of Keturah, nor even
to all his descendants by Isaac, nor to his natural descendants,
but to his spiritual descendants.' But this obliges us to understand the word " Christ" in a very unusual, if not altogether
unwarranted, sense. Besides, if the apostle alludes, as is natural,
to the promise he had already quoted, there is no doubt that the
reference there is to the Messiah personally considered.2 We
ETrpov rwEp/a.
2 Storr assigns a very ingenious reason for applying the word afrre'p!a
personally to Christ, showing, as he often does, a most minute acquaintance
with the Pauline writings, and a most acute perception of how one part of
these writings is to be applied for the elucidation of another: " Ipsum
Christumn, unius illius orrcp1La7rov nomine significare putamus, non Christianam
societatem. Haec enim, quia partim ex Judaeis, partim ex ethnicis constabat,
plurali, h. e. cTcplUraov, nomine appellari potuisse videtur, si audialnus
Paulum ipsum, qui Rom. iv. 11-16, duas formas liberorum Abrahami constituit, sed utrasque Abrahami similes fidei, ideoque promisso potientcs.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 145.
therefore prefer the former mode of interpretation. The promise
of justification by faith to the Gentiles was made through Abraham  and his seed, meaning by his seed, the Messiah.   The
reason why this is so particularly noticed will appear in the course
of the discussion.
The apostle proceeds with his argument.  "And this I say,'
that the covenant,2 that was confirmed before of God in Christ,
the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot
disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect." 3
The only phrase which is obscure in this verse is the clause
rendered " in Christ." 4 Some would render it to Christ; others
till Christ, i.e. till Christ came, which is undoubtedly its meaning
at chapter v. 24.5 I apprehend the true rendering of the particle
is concerning, or in reference to-a meaning which the tern] by
no means uncommonly bears in the New  Testament.  I shall
give a few  examples,-Eph. v. 32; Acts ii. 25; Heb. vii. 14;
Unde Paulus admnodum  ambigue scripsisset si nostro loco, credentes tum
Judaeos, turn ethnicos sive Christianos universe, quos alibi ipse in duas partes
(duo orrptzara) tribuit, a Judleis sola origine cum Abrahamo conjunctis, illo
cbs E/' ZvOs discernere."  Ruckert, with equal rashness and insolence, charges
the apostle with false interpretation of the Old Testament.  Jerome considered the argument very weak, but says, " It is good enough for the
Galatians." Such an exegesis might well provoke Beza's indignant queries,
" Ubi gravitas apostolica?  Ubi Pauli 8etrvL0d'r?"  It is well remarked by
Olshausen, that " though the Jewish literati applied in a similar way passages
in the Old Testament, the difference between them and the apostles is this,their acumen often degenerated into puerile conceits, while the apostles,
guided by the Holy Ghost, always infallibly revealed the true meaning of the
inspiring Spirit.-2 Pet. i. 20, 21."  Riccaltoun's note is good: "A  plain
man reading the apostle's words, when he tells us that this one seed is Christ,
would very naturally think it was the same Christ who had redeemed his
people from the curse of the law, and in whom the blessing of Abraham
came upon the Gentiles."
1 Trovo 8E X;Eyo, —a formula of transition which the apostle often uses when
returning from a digression. 1 Cor. i. 12; vii. 10, 29, 35.
2 " Vocem 8LaOtlKq hic promissionem significare, ejus in hoc ipso commate
cum  e'raTyyela permutatio evidenter docet, tum  etiam  quod 5 ouv vdo'oS
KaTa Tov E7rayyeAtCov ver. 21, idem est quod 5 vo'Mos  oVK aKvpot r7iv 8taOK?7v.
Tiyv avvO1KVl,  TO7VTEtL TVY  TayyEXlav, taOKLaK  7v;0 6ELa KaXEl ypaqfn, 6a roT
fatlov Kal arrapda3arov aovvOjKatL i'v yap 7roXXKLKs avaTperovrat, 8taO?7KaL N
vo/zqLaL, ov3a/US."v —ISIDOR. PELUSIOT, lib. ii.         3 Gal. iii. 17.
4 el2' XptTo'v. Griesbach marks this clause as very probably spurious, but
not certainly so. I have therefore expounded it.
5 " The ElS Xpl-rrTv is to be taken as marking the terminus ad quem."OLSHA USEN.
K




14i0            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIIVNS. [CHAP. 11I. 1-IV. 7.
Luke xii. 21; Rom. iv. 20; xvi. 19; 2 Cor. ii. 9. The covenant
in reference to Christ is just the arrangement or settlement as to
justification by faith to be extended to the Gentiles through the
Messiah, which was made known in the Divine declaration to
Abraham. This Divine arrangement was " confirmed of God,"
ratified by God in the ordinance of circumcision which was given
to Abraham as a person justified in uncircumcision,l and made
known as a fixed appointment in the Divine declaration so often
referred to.  It was " confirmed before." 2  That is, it was a
finished, ratified deed, long previously to the law.' Now,' says the apostle,' this completed and ratified covenant
or arrangement about Christ, as to the justification of the Gentiles by believing, could not be disannulled by the giving of the
law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, so that the
promise should be of none effect.' There is some uncertainty as
to the period of four hundred and thirty years mentioned, some
chronologers insisting that it is the exact period from the time
the promise was given till the law was given,3 others that it refers
only to a part of that period, namely, to the time of the Israelites
sojourning in Egypt.4  In either case it is true that the law was
at least four hundred and thirty years after the promise in which
the covenant about Christ was exhibited as confirmed. The law
being a subsequent covenant or arrangement, could not make
of none effect the promise, which was a previously ratified and
unrepealed covenant. The person who thinks the promise thus
made void, must labour under some misapprehension with regard
to the nature and design of the law.
But it might be said, How does the making the observance of the
law the condition of justification disannul the covenant or make the
promise of none effect? The answer to that question is to be found
1 Rom. iv. 9-13.                              2 7rpoKEKVpw!Evv.
",' The first promise made to Abraham was made when he was seventy-five
years old, Gen. xii. 3, 4; from this date to that of Isaac's birth was twentyfive years, Gen. xxi. 5; Isaac was sixty years old when Jacob was born,
Gen. xxv. 26; Jacob went down to Egypt at a hundred and thirty, Gen.
xlvii. 9; and the Israelites, according to the LXX, sojourned there two
hundred and fifteen years, which completes the number. See Whitby and
Doddridge."-BELsHAM. It is very justly remarked by Semler, "Maxima
dKpl'Eta numerandi rei summoe nihil addere potest, aut demere."
i Josephus says the Israelites left Egypt -' FLera ~Er ptLaKOvTa Kal T7ErpaKto(ta
7' rOv 7rpoyovov rzoiv "Af3pazov EL'.Tv Xanvavalav i;0r,7."-Avtiq. ii. xv. 2.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 147
in the next verse. " For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no
more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise."'
" The inheritance "2 here is, I apprehend, the same thing as
the blessing of Abraham, which, we have seen, is justificationthe being treated by God as righteous; or, what is necessarily
connected with, indeed implied in, it-the heavenly and spiritual
blessings of which the possession of Canaan is the type.  The
" covenant,"3 "( the promise,"4 and " the inheritance,"3 all refer
to substantially the same thing; but it would be absurd to say
these three words have the same meaning.  The "covenant"
refers to the Divine arrangement as to conferring on men the
blessings of the Divine favour, "the promise " is the revelation
of this in the form of a promise, and " the inheritance " is this
as enjoyed by men. It is termed "the inheritance," because it
is as the spiritual descendants of Abraham, "the father of the
faithful," that we come to enjoy it. Now, if the enjoyment of
this inheritance be suspended on our obedience to the law of
Moses, " it is no more of promise," i. e. it is no more a free
donation in fulfilment of a free promise. But this is the character which belongs to the blessing as originally promised to
Abraham.  " God gave it to Abraham  by promise," i. e.'God
freely promised it to Abraham;' or,' God in promising it, acted
from free favour.' He meant to give a favour, a free favour;
not to make a bargain, however favourable. Abraham's justification was not suspended on his circumcision; and the justification
of the Gentiles was to be like Abraham's.6
This, then, is the sum of the apostle's argument,' A ratified,
unrepealed constitution cannot be set aside by a subsequent
constitution. The plan of justification by believing was a ratified and unrepealed constitution. The law was a constitution
posterior to this by a long term of years. If the observance of
the law were constituted the procuring cause or necessary means
of justification, such a constitution would necessarily annul the
covenant before ratified, and render the promise of none effect.
It follows, of course, that the law was appointed for no such
purpose. Whatever end it might serve, it could not serve this
end; it could never be appointed to serve this end.
1 Gal. iii. 18.         2 T KX7fpOvo/ia.         s   a7tjK7.'
4 7rayyEXLa.            KXpOrlpovoa.
6 This is, in substance, the same argument as that stated, Rom. iv. 13, 14.




148             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHIIAP. 11. 1-IV. 7.
2. Design, and Mode of Giving of the Law.
This naturally introduces the inquiry, What then was its
design?  This is the question which, in the next paragraph, the
apostle considers; and in its discussion he makes it evident, that
the Mosaic law, so far from being opposed to the covenant or
arrangement revealed to Abraham, was a necessary means of
securing the accomplishment of its provisions. Let us look at
the passage with that closeness of attention which it at once requires and deserves.
d "Wherefore then serveth the law?' It was added because of
transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was
made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator." 2
There can be no reasonable doubt as to the meaning of the
term  "the law "3 here.  It is obviously the Mosaic institution
viewed as a whole.  It is neither what has been termed the
moral law, nor the ceremonial law, nor the judicial law, which
theologians have been accustomed to treat of as three distinct
codes; but it is the whole arrangement or covenant under which
the people of Israel were placed at Sinai.
The apostle has showed that that law could not be the means
of justification, and that it was never intended for this purpose.
Now, if it cannot serve this purpose, what purpose does it serve?4
I do not think we are to consider the question as an inquiry
into the designs and uses of the Mosaic law generally, but as to
its design and use in reference to the arrangement that justification was to be by faith through the Messiah; and especially,
that justification by faith through the Messiah was to be extended to the Gentiles. If this is not kept in view, the apostle's
1 Some interpreters put the interrogative point before 6 Vod'o —'/ Ov-L; —
o6 VotOS' K. T. X.
2 Gal. iii. 19.                                    63  v lOtOS.
4 TI = 8ta 7i; or Edt 7T; " Not only the foolish and ignorant people, but
they also who seem in their own conceits to be very wise, do argue after this
sort, —' If the law do not justify, then it is vain.' Yet it is not therefore
true. This consequence is nothing worth,-' Money doth not justify, therefore it is unprofitable;''the eyes do not justify, therefore they may be
plucked out;'' the hands cannot justify, therefore they may be cut off.'
Neither is this,' The law doth not justify, therefore it is unprofitable.'""Let the law mind its own work, and leave justification to grace, the promise,
and faith." -LTHER.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICAlTION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 149
account may appear defective, while in reality it is complete, so
far as his object required.
The answer is, "It was added because of transgressions."
The law was added or appended.' It was a separate subordinate institution, not an alteration of or addition to the original
arrangement.  Now, in what way was it added?  The question
is easily answered. The revelation of justification by believing,2
which was substantially the same revelation that was made to our
first parents after the fall, was given to Abraham, and was to
be preserved by his descendants.  This was a sacred deposit
which they were to preserve pure and entire, till the great Deliverer, to whom it referred, should make his appearance. To
this revelation, termed " the promise," committed to the Israelites,
" the law " was added or appended. God, who gave the promise
to Abraham, thought fit, at least four hundred and thirty years
after, to impose the law on his posterity.
For what reason was it imposed?  It was, "' because of transgressions." 3  This passage has very generally been considered as
parallel with the declaration of the apostle,-" Moreover, the law
entered that the offence might abound,"4 and has been very
variously interpreted. The ordinary interpretation is very well
given by Barnes. " The meaning is, that the law was given to
show the true nature of transgressions, or to show what was sin.
It was not to reveal a way of justification, but it was to disclose
the true nature of sin; to deter men from committing it; to declare its penalty; to convince men of it, and thus to be' ancillary' to, and preparatory to, the work of redemption through the
Redeemer. This is the true account of the law of God as given
to apostate man, and this use of the law still exists."5 It is
strange that so acute an interpreter did not see that the clause,
"till the seed should come," is quite inconsistentwith this exegesis.
1 7rpotEreOr7, not 8teraXOl.                      77 E7rayyEXla.
s xapLv, from the full phrase Eis XdpLv —rapado3avcov, = aap&rlSv —itzap7?rlarcoWv. This statement puts us in mind of the words of the Greek poet.
"t     7r OrVpovpbv E(Tlv daOpcdo7rov cauLtS
To o6voXov, o0  yap ayv 7ror E3 eOrI? vod4ov."
4 Rom. v. 20.
a Barnes, in loc. Pareus, in the manner of his age, says that the law was
given  XapLw Trapa3Q-'ecov, "'(1) ad transgressiones manifestandas; (2) ad
transgressiones cohibendas; (3) ad transgressiones puniendas; (4) ad transgressiones augendas et irritandas."




150           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
If " the law," referred to could do all this, " why," as Riccaltoun
shrewdly remarks, " why was it limited to the time that the Seed
should come who had the promised blessing to bestow, as the
apostle plainly says it was?" Without noticing any more of the
different ways in which these words have been explained, I shall
state as clearly and briefly as I can what appears to me to be the
apostle's meaning.
" The transgressions," on account of which the law was added
refer, I apprehend, to the criminal conduct of the Israelites,
which rendered the introduction of such a system as the law
necessary in order to the attainment of the great object of the
covenant about Christ, and justification by faith through him.
This arrangement was first made known in the first promise, but
from the prevalence of human depravity, it seems to have been
in the course of ages almost entirely forgotten. "All flesh corrupted its way on the earth."' The deluge swept away the
whole inhabitants of the ancient world, with the exception of
one family, among whom the true religion was preserved. In
the course of no very long period, the great body of their descendants, the inhabitants of the new world, became idolaters. To
prevent the utter extinction from among mankind of the knowledge of God and the way of obtaining his favour, Abraham was
called, and a plainer revelation made to him of the Divine purposes of mercy, and his descendants by Isaac and Jacob chosen
as the depositaries of this revelation, till He should come to whom
the revelation chiefly referred. In consequence of the descendants of Jacob coming down into Egypt, they gradually contracted a fondness for Egyptian superstitions, and were fast
relapsing into a state of idolatry, which must soon have terminated in their being lost among the nations, and the revelation
with which they were entrusted being first corrupted and then
forgotten, when God raised up Moses as their deliverer, brought
them out of Egypt, and placed them under that very peculiar
order of things, which we commonly term the Mosaic law —an
order of things admirably adapted to preserve them a distinct
and peculiar people-and by doing so, to preserve the revelation
of mercy through the Messiah, of which they were the depositaries, and to prepare abundant and satisfactory stores of
1 Gen. vi. 12.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 151
evidence and illustration when the great Deliverer appearedevidence that he was indeed the person to whom the hopes of
mankind had from the beginning been directed, and illustration
rendering in some measure level to human apprehension what
otherwise would have been unintelligible.'
Everyv person acquainted with the principles of depraved
human nature, and with the history of the Jews at and subsequent to their deliverance from Egypt, will see that their
" transgressions " rendered some such arrangement as the Mosaic
law absolutely necessary, on the supposition that the Messiah
was not to appear for a course of ages, and that the revelation
of salvation through him was to be preserved in the world by
means of the Jewish people. We are not so much, if at all, to
consider the Mosaic law as a punishment for the transgressions of
the descendants of Abraham. We are rather to consider it as
the means which their transgressions rendered necessary in order
to secure the object of their being chosen to be God's peculiar
people. To be preserved from being involved in the ignorance,
and idolatry, and vice in which the surrounding nations were
sunk, was a blessing, at whatever expense it might be gained.
At the same time, had it not been for the transgressions of the
Israelites, the more spiritual and less burdensome order of things
under which Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob were placed, might
have been continued, and the law as a distinct order of things
never have existed because never needed.
The law was for this reason added, " till the seed should come
to whom the promise was made."2  I have already stated my
reasons for understanding "the seed" here of the Messiah, and
of course rendering the words " till the seed should come, in
reference to whom the promise was made."  The promise referred to is, " in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed"-a promise made not to the Messiah, but in reference to
the Messiah.3 This view of the law being rendered, by the transgressions of the Israelites, necessary to preserve them a separate
people, and to gain the ends connected with this till the coming
of the Messiah, when the necessity of this order of things should
1 Theophylact has given the meaning very well: "c va dv71 XaXwvo Etl7
TOlS'Iov~atoL'V KCoX.ov  rapafatvev TvtaS' yoiv t rv'z70oX)v, Et l  Kal 7rd'cas."
2aXpLOv o), -= C7e' alVELV  a'XPL.
Storr very well renders it, " Ad quem promissio spectabat."




152            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
cease, exactly corresponds with what the apostle afterwards says
of the Israelitish people, as " kept" imprisoned, confined, " shut
up" 1 by the law." 2
The apostle adds that this law  was " ordained 3 by angels."
The word translated " ordain," means to arrange, to appoint, to
establish. The law was ordained or established by Jehovah
himself as its author. All its particular injunctions are introduced with, "And the Lord spoke to Moses."  But while it was
ordained by God as its author, it was ordained through  the
instrumentality of angels. Michaelis4 supposes the reference to
be to winds and flashes of lightning, which he, following a mistaken exegesis, considers as termed " angels" in Psalm civ. 4.
There can be no reasonable doubt that the reference there and here
is to angels in the ordinary sense of the term. Some have been
disposed to understand the words as meaning,'it was established in
the presence of angels.'  The particle here translated by 5 has certainly this meaning in 2 Tim. ii. 2, "before manywitnesses." 6 WTe
are rather disposed to understand it in its ordinary meaning of instrumentality —" through means of." That angels were somehow
or other employed in the giving of the law, there seems no reason
to doubt.7   There is, indeed, nothing said about them  in the
nineteenth chapter of Exodus; but in the thirty-third chapter of
Deuteronomy, verse 2, Jehovah is said to have come with " ten
thousand of his holy ones."  In the sixty-eighth Psalm, verse 17,
we have these words, " The chariots of God are twenty thousand,
even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in
the holy place." Stephen in his speech before the Sanhecdim says
that the Israelites received the law by " the disposition of angels; "8
and the apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews, calls the law "the
1 EpopVpo/eEO8a o.vyKrKXELoK7EVOL.  2 Gal. iii. 23.  3 8&arayl.
4 Introd. v. iv. p. 223.         5 8ad.
86 t& 7roXX6ov yLaprvpcov. Philo uses the word in the same sense: " KXaELv
&a iLaprvpooY," —' to weep before witnesses.'
7 The Rabbins, who are much in the way of " intruding into things which
they have not seen," tell us that Moses was so frightened by these " angelos
timoris, et angelos sudoris, et angelos tremoris, et angelos trepidationis," that
after being taught the law for forty days by God, coming down among these
angels, he entirely forgot it; and God called to him Jefifia, the angel of the
law, who delivered it in good order to Moses, and all the rest of the angels
became good friends with him.-Pesichta, R. f. 35, 4; Talkat Rubeni, f. 107,
3; abpuud Wetstein.                        s ELs 8tarayav dlyy'Xwov.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 153
word spoken by angels."'  It seems doubtful for what purpose the
apostle brings forward this fact. It appears to me probable that he
introduces it as characteristic of the law, which was not a method
of reconciliation, but a transaction showing that God was displeased
with Israel for their transgression.2  The supplement and it was is
an unhappy one. It is not needed to bring out the sense; it rather
obscures it, breaking the close connection with the statement in
the first clause. Perhaps there is a tacit contrast as to the manner in which the promise was given, " not by the ministry of
angels," not "by the hands of a mediator," in the same sense as
the law was. God conversed with Abraham as with a friend;
and if an angel spoke the promise after the intended sacrifice of
Isaac, it was the angel of Jehovah's presence-the angel in whom
Jehovah's name was, the angel of Jehovah.  It is obviously the
apostle's design to exalt the promise viewed alongside of the law.
The promise is first, the law second in order.  The promise is
the principal transaction, the law is secondary and subservient.
The promise speaks of nothing but blessing.  The law is " added
because of transgressions," and curses transgressors. The promise
is for ever; the law only "till the seed should come." The
promise was made directly by God; the law "given by angels."
The promise was given directly to Abraham-God speaks to him
as a man with his friend; the law to Israel by the hand of a mediator, the people not being able to bear the things which were
spoken. He comes to them not as to Abraham, as a man comes
to converse with his friend, but in awful majesty as an offended,
though still merciful and placable sovereign. If it be admitted, as
has been supposed with considerable appearance of probability,
that angels were the agents of the Divinity in the production of
those terrific phenomena with which the giving of the law was
attended, this view of the matter acquires increased plausibility.
The law was not only ordained by angels, but also "in the
hand of a mediator." 3  "In the hand " is just a Hebraism 4 for
I XaX?7rlO L' dylyeXaov. Heb. ii. 2.
2 This reference is more obvious if the words (  XpLr oi gXOy r5 aHrrgpa c9
E7rrireXTat) be included in a parenthesis.-" It was added because of transgressions, 8arTayelv 8&' ayyE)Xav Ev XELPL /LEOrLTOV.  3 E XELpl ILELTrOV.
4 Luther seems not to have been aware of this when he wrote the following
not judicious note:-" Lex non fuit posita in imanu nostra, ut nos eamrn impleamus, sed in futuri Christi eai:. impleturi."




154            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
through, or by means of.' Though some learned men have
been of opinion that the mediator here mentioned is the Son
of God, yet I think no reasonable doubt can be entertained
as to its denoting Moses. Strictly speaking, Aaron, or rather
ttie priesthood, was the mediator of the old covenant.  It
answers to the Great High Priest,2 Mediator,' and Surety4
of the new covenant.  But the reference seems here to the
giving of the law; that was, by Moses. " The law was given
by Moses." 5  AWe know that the law, with the exception of one
proclamation of the decalogue, was given through the medium
of Moses.6 God speaks to Moses, and Moses to the people;
and this arrangement was entered into by the express request
of the people themselves.  The following is the inspired account of this circumstance, " And all the people saw the
thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet,
and the mountain smoking: and, when the people saw it, they
removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak
thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with
us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not:
for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before
your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off: and
Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was."7
Moses himself says, " I stood between the Lord and you at that
time." 8
This statement seems plainly introduced as characteristic of
the economy.  The existence of a mediator is certainly no
proof that a dispensation is not a dispensation of mercy, for
the new covenant has a mediator.  But the facts connected
with the law being given by the hand of Moses as a mediator,
plainly show that the law was not, in its literal meaning and
direct object, a revelation of the way of obtaining the Divine
favour.
1 Al. Hag. i. 1. Hos. xii. 11. Exod. ix. 35; xxxv. 29. Acts v. 12;
vii. 35; xv. 23.
d apXEpEuv-s.             3eLT?.                   4 EfYVOS.
5 John i. 17.             6:Z:,Zl 7-I~_ 1: - hr -::'=. Deut. v. 5.
7 Exod. xx. 18-21.
8 Deut. v. 5. Exod. xx. 19. Barnes leans to the opinion that the mediator
here is Christ. He gives four reasons for this leaning, but they do not appear
satisfactory; his note, however, is well worth reading. Philo, Vit. Mos., calls
Noses LESrIOL7T.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY' RATIFIED. 155
Hitherto all is comparatively plain and easy. The law was
never intended as a means of justification. It was a means,
rendered necessary by the sins of the Israelitish people, of gaining the accomplishment of the promise; and the circumstances
of its revelation, so different from all the revelations of the
scheme of mercy, mark its character.
But while there is little difficulty in apprehending either the
meaning of the terms or their bearing on the apostle's object
in the verse we have considered, there is extreme difficulty of
both kinds in reference to the short verse which immediately
follows, one of the most perplexing passages in the whole " Book
of God."
" Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one."'
Perhaps no passage in Scripture has received so many interpretations as this.  Winer says they were about 250 when he
wrote some twenty years ago, and the number has since been
considerably increased. Who does not see in this an illustration
of the honour done to the Word of God? On what other book
would the same amount of time, and mental labour, and literary
attainment, have been expended for the illustration of an occasional remark? 2
The causes of the diversity of sentiment are various. Some
suppose the apostle to speak in his own person; others consider
either the whole verse, or at any rate the first part of it, as the
words of an objector. Some by the mediator understand any
mediator; others Moses; others Christ.  Some understand
"d one"3 as a substantive; others as an adjective which requires a
substantive to be supplied to bring out the sense, and that sub1 Gal. iii. 20.
2 Schott's remarks are very judicious: " Sermonem apostoli hoc loco obscuritate quadam premi, ex ipsa potissimum brevitate elocutionis oriunda,
nemo facile infitias est iturus, quam post diversissima explicandi tentamina,
quorum numerus ducentas et quinquaginta interpretationes excedit, nondum
licuerit ejusmodi sententiam stabilire quam vel omnes, vel plurimi certe interpretes satis habent exploratum. Quanquam haec sententiarum diversitas
nequaquam ad ejusmodi molem excrevisset interpreti admodum molestam,
nisi inter eos, qui in loco vexato tractando vires ingenii tentarent haud pauci
exstitissent, qui magis pruritu quodam in medium proferendi qume speciem
proe se ferrent novitatis quam studio veritatis ex usu loquendi, ex universa
sermonis serie, ex indole doctrine Paulinte aliunde cognita sincere explorandae ducerentur."                                       3 ivoS.




156            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-1V. 7.
stantive they have supplied very variously; some of one party;'
others of one seed;" others of one law; 3 others of one race; 4 others
of one thing,5 etc.  Some understand the assertion "is not of
one" 6 of the person; others of the condition; others of the design
and business of the mediator.7 Some consider the last member
of the sentence, " God is one,"8 as philosophical or dogmatic;
others as historical, looking to the times of Abraham, or of the
giving of the law at Sinai.  Luther's notion is quite singular," God offendeth no man, and therefore needeth no mediator;
but we offend God, and therefore we need a mediator." The
mode of connecting the passage has also given origin to diversity
of view respecting its meaning.
Before inquiring particularly into the meaning of these words,
there are two remarks which we must make and carry along
with us, and which may probably be of some use in the subsequent discussions, if not in enabling us to discover the truth, at
least in preserving us from falling into error. The first refers to
the words themselves, and the second to the principle on which
they must be interpreted.  The repetition of the word " a mediator" is not in the original. It is marked as a supplement by our
translators.  The original text literally runs —"Now  a'"-or
the-" mediator is not of one." 9
The second observation to which I solicit attention is that the
words must contain in them some statement which lays a foundation for the conclusion which the apostle deduces from them in
the next verse, to wit,'that the law is not against the promises
of God.' However plausible in other respects an interpretation
may be, it cannot be the just one if it does not bring out a sense
which justifies the apostle's inference.
The almost innumerable opinions of interpreters as to the
meaning of these words may be all reduced to two classes,those in which the words " Now a mediator is not of one," are
understood as a general proposition, true of all mediators, and
applied by the apostle in the course of his reasoning to the subject before him; and those in which they are considered as a
particular statement, referring exclusively and directly to the
Ylipovs.     rorE;pLarov. svtov.      4yEVovs.
Xpryiparo'.  6              7v oSK et.   7 a l. 7  ce8 o   eL. C Y(Tlr.
& XPqtasT 7  EVO&T   OViK EL:TTVLJJ     




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 1 57
mediator spoken of in the close of the 19th verse, by whose
hands the law was given.
Those who are agreed in opinion that the words are a general
proposition, differ widely in the way in which they understand
it, and in which they make it bear on the apostle's argument.
One class consider the words as equivalent to-' Now a mediator
does not belong to a state of unity or agreement. The use of a
mediator seems to intimate that the parties between whom he
mediates are not at one.' This mode of interpretation labours
under great difficulties. For, first, it is not true that the use
of a mediator necessarily supposes disagreement. There are
causes of the use of a mediator besides this.  God continues to
deal with those with whom He is reconciled through a mediator.
And secondly, it breaks the connection between the two clauses
of the verse, which obviously is very intimate.
Another class consider the words as equivalent to-' a mediator does not belong exclusively to one party; a mediator belongs
to both parties;' and they consider the apostle as arguing thus:'No man can be a mediator who is not appointed by both parties.
There were two parties in the original agreement-God and the
spiritual seed of Abraham.  Moses was indeed appointed by
God; but God was but one of the parties, so that whatever such
a mediator could do could not affect the interests of the other
party.'  This, though supported by such  names as Pareus,
Capillus, Locke, Whitby, Chandler, is anything but satisfactory,
because in the appointment of the Great Mediator of the better
covenant, God alone was concerned.'
1 Storr, who considers 6 pLEOlTr as equivalent to' every mediator,' applies
this principle, in a way peculiar to himself, to the interpretation of the passage. In support of his view of 6 11eo'Tl, he appeals to 56 [Lto-coo'., John
x. 12, which proves that, so far as the word is concerned, he may be right.
" A mediator is not of one." In any transaction in which there is a mediator,
there are two employed, —the author of the transaction, and the mediator he
employs. But God, in giving the promise, was one, alone; He had no one
to come between Him and Abraham; He spoke to him as a man speaks to
his friend. Compare Gen. xv. and Exod. xix., and see the different characters of the promise and the law. He refers to Josh. xxii. 20 and 1 Chron.
xxix. 1 as proof that r-s is used in this way; and to Mark ii. 7 as proof that
EL5 is used in this sense,-Mark's EJU being equivalent to Luke's /o'vov, chap.
v. 21. He considers it as the conclusion of the apostle's account of the
character and design of the law, the object of which was to deepen the conviction that it was not a method of justification. It was added to serve a




158            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
A third class consider the words as equivalent to-' a mediator
is not peculiar to this one dispensation. There have been various
mediators, but there is but one God. The mediator may be
changed, but God continues the same.'
If obliged to choose a meaning from this class of interpretations,
I should prefer this, which is that adopted by Cameron and
Koppe. It is not peculiar to the law to have a mediator; other
Divine dispensations have mediators also; but while there may
be different mediators, God is one, and therefore his dispensations
must be all like himself-consistent.  Judaism had its mediator;
Christianity has its mediator; God is one. The same God appointed both economies and their mediators; therefore they cannot
be opposed to each other. But even this is not satisfactory.
The objection to this meaning is a strong one-that the words
do not naturally convey it. But I apprehend that an insuperable objection lies against all the views of the passage which
regard it as the announcement of a general proposition.  The
words of the original seem to me to oblige us to understand
the mediator in the 20th verse as the mediator mentioned in
the 19th.  They literally are now the mediator, i.e. the mediator just mentioned, this mediator is not of one.'  We have
thus narrowed the field of discussion to that class of interpretations in which the words are considered as a statement in
reference to the mediator mentioned.  But the field is still very
extensive.
Some consider the mediator by whose hands the law was
given as Jesus Christ. Of those who take this view of the subject, some regard the verse before us, not as consisting of two
distinct yet connected propositions referring to different subjects,
the one to the mediator, and the other to God, but as a continued description of the mediator. They consider the apostle
temporary purpose, and that a purpose of severity and restraint; it was
given amid terrific appearances produced'by angels, and a mediator had to
be employed to still the alarm of the people. But there was no mediator in
the giving of the promise: Jehovah was alone with Abraham, his friend.
It is impossible to deny to this exegesis the praise of learned ingenuity; but,
for reasons stated in the text, we cannot consider it as satisfactory.
1 Had  EoLT?7S first occurred here, the article might only have expressed
that the person referred to was a mediator; but there can be no reasonable
doubt that grammar requires us to understand the o6 1alFr)T in the 20th
verse, of the e/foTrr in the 19th.




P. IV'. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 1] 59
as saying,'the law was given by a mediator-Jesus Christand this mediator is no inferior being, is not the subject or property of Him who is one, but he is the one God himself.' To
state this exegesis, though it has been held by learned men,' is
to refute it.
It is a much more plausible view of the subject which those
give who consider the apostle as saying,'The law was given by
the hand of the mediator —of Jesus Christ, the great mediator.
Now he is not the mediator of this one dispensation only; he is
the mediator also of the better covenant, and God is one. It is
the same God who gave the promise and who established the law;
and it is the same mediator whom He employed in both cases.
Can the law then be against the promise?' This is an argument
which hangs very well together; but unhappily it is one which
cannot be brought out of the words of the apostle. Christ is
nowhere in Scripture called the mediator of the law. " The
word" may be considered rather as the giver of the law than the
mediator through whom it was given; and if the reference had
been to Christ, the language in the 19th verse would not have
been a mediator, but the mediator, if not the apostle's expression
elsewhere, A the one mediator between God and men."2  This
renders it unnecessary to examine more particularly the following view, which otherwise might appear plausible-' Now  the
mediator, Jesus Christ, does not belong exclusively to one part
of the human race-he is the mediator of man, of both the great
divisions of mankind; even as God is the one God, the God
equally of Gentiles and Jews.'
We have thus still further narrowed the field of discussion.
We have now only-taking for granted that the mediator is
Moses-to seek for a meaning which the words of the apostle
will bear, and which will support his conclusion, that 1" the law
is not"-cannot be-" against the promises of God."  One of the
most judicious of the ancient interpreters3 thus comments on the
text,-" But Moses was not the mediator of one, for he mediated
between God and the people; but God is one. He gave the
promise to Abraham; He appointed the law; and He has shown
to us the fulfilment of the promise. It is not one God who did
one of these things, and another another. It is the same God
1e.g. Wesselius.       2 1 Tim. ii. 5.      3 Theodoret.




160            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
who is the author of all these dispensations." This is, upon the
whole, excellent sense; it gives substantially the meaning of the
second clause; but it throws no light on the bearing of the two
clauses on each other, or on the words, " Now the mediator is
not of one," or on the apostle's object.
Some learned and judicious men have considered the apostle
as saying,' Now this Moses was not the mediator of the one seed
mentioned in the preceding context.' But this is to, interpret
the expression the " one seed" in a way which we have showed
the apostle's argument will not warrant; for the one seed is
Christ personally,l and besides breaks the connection between
the two clauses of the verse.  It is impossible to make sense of
the words'that mediator did not belong to the one seed, Jesus
Christ.'
The following view of the passage, though by no means clear
of objections, seems to me, upon the whole, the most probable
that has been given.   If the first part of the verse be read
interrogatively, and if the word one be understood, not numerically, but morally, as signifying, uniform  and unchangeable,
always self-consistent, a plain meaning may be deduced from the
words-the two clauses will be found naturally to follow each
other-and a broad and solid foundation to be laid for the conclusion which the apostle draws in the first clause of the 21st
verse,'The law was given by the hands of Moses as a mediator.
But was he not the mediator of Him who is one and the same
for ever?  Now God, who appointed Moses mediator, is one and
the same-unchanged, unchangeable. Can, then, the law be
against the promises of' God? 2 Moses was not the author of the
law, he was but the mediator.  The law  was God's law, and
1 If this difficulty could be got over, the interpretation has much to recommend it. It dovetails into the succeeding clause, and lays a foundation for
the apostle's inference.' The mediator of the law, Moses, was the mediator
of the Jews, not of the one seed consisting of the Jews and Gentiles. But
God is one God: He stands in a common relation both to Jews and Gentiles
if they but believe. The law, then, being a limited dispensation, does not
interfere with the promise, which is unrestricted.' This exposition has full
justice done to it by N6SSELT.
2 0 8E seems to stand for oTros &6, as it frequently does in the gospels.
The word Els is taken not numerically, but morally-one and the same, selfconsistent, immutable. This is the interiprectation given by S. F. N. Morus
in his Acroases, p, 67,




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 161
Moses was God's mediator: the one was enjoined, the other
appointed, by Him. The promise is his promise. He cannot by
his law contradict his promise. He is one and the same; always
like himself. The two divine institutions, the law and the promise, cannot be inconsistent, coming, as they do, from the immutable God.' The apostle had already shown in another way
that the promise was not made void by the law; now he proves
the same thing by the immutability of God, their common
author.
This mode of interpretation has the advantage, that the sense
it attaches to the words is true in itself, and exactly suits the purpose of the apostle's argument. The interrogative form given to
the words is not foreign from the apostle's usage. The word one
is explained in the same sense in both clauses of the verse, and
the connection of the clauses is kept up. The principal difficulties
arise from the present tense being used where we would have
looked for the imperfect,2 and from  the meaning, certainly unusual, given to the word one. That the meaning, though unusual,
is not unexampled, will appear from  the following passages,Gen. xli. 25; Lev. xxiv. 22; 1 Cor. xii. 11.'
I cannot say with confidence that this is the meaning of the
inspired writer;4 but it appears to me the most probable sense
which has yet been given to his words.5 To suppose with
Michaelis, in direct opposition to all critical evidence, that the
1 "'A3paa/ No voV io: oXevv, Eva EK 7rataLTKrs, Kal eava E4 eXevOepas' avrat
g E1,oL 80o &amOaKat. cac  rep ovv EKEl 8&aCOpOL!Lmv at yVV/aLKE,  Ets e  6 davbp,
ovTrO Kati  vravOa &)o ILEv at 8&aOKaL,   aEs  0  voo9E'r." -.-CHRYSOST. in
Matth. Horn. xvi.
2 6 a MEiTTrqS &vOs OVK ErrTv —instead of 6 N8 LEr1s7 Ev0s OVK OvK
S It is a just observation of Schott, that though elks does not properly signify
immutable, yet the idea of constancy and self-consistency is naturally enough,
in certain cases, connected with its proper signification. Rom. iii. 30; Phil.
i. 27.
4 With Pareus I would say, " Licet hic &FrXEtv."  Assuredly this is one of
the passages to which Jerome's remark is applicable:- " Licere aliquando
etiam optimis Catholicae regulpe interpretibus et defensoribus salva fidei compage in latitudine charitatis dissentire ab invicem." —Contra Pelag. cap. ii.
5 Upon the whole, I am obliged to adopt the words of Borger: " Neque
ullus extat in universo Novo Testamento locus qui tantum  exereuit
virorum doctorum ingenia quantum hic versiculus, neque nos quid de loci
cujusdam sit statuendum sensu tam dubios hverere meminimus quam quidem
de hoc loco."
L




162             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
passage is spurious, is a very unjustifiable mode of cutting the
knot.l What is so difficult to us might be, probably was, perfectly plain to the Galatians, calling up a train of thought
which the apostle, by his discourses when with them, had made
familiar to their minds.2
3. The lawnot contrary, but subservient, to the promise.
The conclusion which the apostle draws from these statements,
with regard to the design and circumstances of the giving of the
Mosaic law, is contained in the first clause of the next verse, and
is couched in the form  of an interrogation,-" Is the law then
against the promises of God? 3 God forbid;"4 or rather, "Let it
not be, by no means."
To those at all acquainted with the apostle's mode of writing,
it is needless to remark that these words are just equivalent to a
very strong negation.'The law is not opposed to the promise.'5
On the contrary, he has showed that the law is subservient to
the promise: that it was added to secure the fulfilment of the
promise; and that it proceeds from  the same author as the promise, who is one and the same-" Jehovah, who changes not:"
"the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."
What a sad aptitude is there in our depraved nature to misapprehend the design of the gifts and works of God, and to per1" I1; is to be observed (what is a rarity in the case of important and
difficult passages) that not one various reading occurs in all the MSS. and
critical authorities. This is a proof that the copyists were very careful in
transcribing the passage; and, on account of its dogmatical unimportance,
they had no interest to make any alteration."-OLsHAvsEN. Berthold's
interpretation is very extraordinary. He understands c" of one" as referring
to Abraham, who, Isa. li. 2, is called -tn.. Moses was not Abraham's
mediator!!
2 Schott, Comm. in Ep. ad Galat. ad loc. 452-467. Koppe, Nov. Test.
vol. vi. Exc. vii. pp. 129-136. Borger, 219-235. Winer, Exe. iii. pp. 110118. Bloomfield, N. T. vol. ii. 274-276. N6sselt, Excercitt. p. 145. Bonitz,
Commentatio Historico-Exegetica, qua plurimorum de loco Pauli, Gal. iii.
20; sententiae examinatce novaque ejus interpretatio tentata. Weigand, Observatt. ad loc. Pauli nobiliss. Ep. ad Gal. Anton. Disp. locus Ep. ad
Gal. iii. 20; critice, historice, et exegetice tractatus. Keilii Commentatio de
hoc loco, tres partes.
s So as Karapyeiv, —   make them of none effect.' evaCia Kara rLvo —adversari.-Matth. xii. 30; Gal. v. 23; Rom. viii. 31.
pq?/yevoLro. Gal. iii. 21.
5 "Distulit Deus promissum, non abstulit." —GROTIUs.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 163
vert that to our destruction which was meant for our salvation,
rendering such an exuberance of illustration necessary to prevent
fatal mistake as to the purpose of "the law!"
The apostle proceeds to show that as the law was not, could
not be, against the promise, so it was altogether unfit to serve
the purpose of the promise. If the law had been so constituted
as that through it guilty men might have obtained life or happiness, there might have been some plausibility in supposing that
it should have taken the place of the promise. But since the
very reverse of this is the case, its great use is not to take
the place of the promise, but to evince the necessity of the
promise.
"For if there had been a law given which could have given
life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the
Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith
of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."1
It is plain that the apostle's object is to show from the design
of the law, that it is not inconsistent with the promise; and his
argument in the passage just read seems to me to be this,-' If
a law had been given which furnished all the means necessary
for making men really and permanently happy, then in that
case, justification by law-legal justification-restoration to the
Divine favour, on the ground of something done by the sinner,
would have been a possible thing. In this case there would have
been a practicable legal way of justification by working-different from, and opposed to, the gratuitous method of justification
by believing, made known in the promise. But no such law has
been given. Neither the law of nature nor the law of Moses is
such a law; for the Scriptures represent all men as violators of
the law under which they are placed-of course not justified but
condemned; and thus it appears that the promised blessing can
be obtained in no other way than as a free gift to be received by
believing.' Let us endeavour to make it evident that this important and conclusive argument is indeed expressed by the
apostle in the words under consideration.
The connective particle "for"2 may either be understood, as it
often must, as a mere connective equivalent to, indeed, farther,
moreover; or, as intimating that the words which follow contain
1 Gal. iii. 21, 22.                    2 tap




164            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. II. 1-IV. 7.
in them a corroboration of the sentiment just stated, that the law
is not against the promises of God.
A law that could give lifel is, in scripture language, a law
which could secure happiness-true permanent happiness.2 To
understand the apostle, we must recollect that he is speaking of
mankind in their present guilty and depraved state. To secure
the happiness of innocent creatures, a law distinctly pointing
out to them what to do and what to avoid, is quite sufficient.
Such a law was imposed on the angels; such a law was imposed
on man at his creation.  It has been found sufficient for its
purpose in the case of the angels; and but for man's fault,
it would have been'found sufficient in his case too. But a law
which is capable of giving life to mankind in their fallen state, of
making them truly and eternally happy, must, while it is quite
practicable on his part to yield obedience to it, make provision
for rendering his happiness consistent with the perfections of the
Divine character and the principles of the Divine government,
and for effecting such a change in his character as shall make
him susceptible of happiness in the only form, that of holiness, in
which it becomes God to bestow it on his intelligent creatures.
" If such a law was given, verily," says the apostle, " righteousness would have been by the law," or rather, "by law."3
"Righteousness" 4 here, as in most other parts of the epistle, is
justification. If such a law had been given, then justification by
law, a legal justification in opposition to gratuitous justification,
would have been a possible thing. A law, by obedience to which
the sinner could have made atonement for his past offences and
secured those Divine influences which are necessary to make him
holy, and thus obtained for himself true and permanent happiness,
-a law of this kind would certainly have furnished the means of
justification; and they who were justified in this way would have
had no need of that gratuitous justification by believing made
1 8VVdov Coo7roo'LaL,.
2 The Hebrew e,,m often signifies happiness, in all the extent of that word.
-Psal. xxxiv. 13; Prov. iv. 22. Zco) is often, especially by John and Paul,
used in the same extensive signification, of the happy condition of those who
are the objects of the Divine favour, both on earth and in heaven.-John
v. 24; 1 John iii. 14; Gal. vi. 8; Rom. vi. 23; John vi. 53; Rom. vii. 10;
viii. 2, 6.
EK VOdlOV.                                     4 8tLKCLOoV?7.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 165
known in the promise. Such a law would have been against the
promises of God. It would have frustrated the grace of God.l
But no such law has been given.2 No such law could have
been given. This sentiment, though not expressed in so many
words, is obviously implied in the apostle's statement. " If there
had been," etc.  Neither the law of nature nor the law of Moses
was such a law. They make no provision for efficacious atonement for past offences, or for that change of character which is
necessary to prevent new offences. They show us what is right
and what is wrong; and tell us that obedience, if it is perfect in
every point of view, will secure reward, and that disobedience
will incur punishment.  But they do not, they cannot, give life;
they do not, they cannot, justify.
So far from  that, "the Scripture hath concluded 3 all under
sin."  " Sin "4 is here, as in many other parts of the apostle's
writings, equivalent to'guilt,' exposure to punishment on account of sin.  To be "' under sin,"s is just, in other words, to be
guilty, or, condemned. The apostle says, " the Scripture," i. e.
the old Testament Scriptures, "hath concluded," or shut up,6
" all," both Jews and Gentiles, "under sin."  Guilt is here considered as a mighty tyrant, under whose power "all"7 men are
1 c" The law would be opposed to the promises if it had the power of justifying; for there would be two opposite methods of justifying a man-two
separate roads towards the attainment of righteousness. But Paul refuses
to the law such a power, so that the contradiction is removed.'I would
admit,' says he,'that righteousness is obtained by the law, if salvation were
found in it.' But where is such a law?"- CALVIN.
2 As Bengel says, " Lex vellet, sed non potest." To justify, to sanctify, is
To avvaaTov TOy vOov —an impossibility to the law; for daoEJvEi &la T&jr
crapKods-" it is weak through the flesh." Rom. viii. 3.
3 ", Aliquid dicitur fieri vel agere quando.factum esse vel actumrn aliquid
declarat. 2 Cor. iii. 6; Rom. iv. 15."-GLASSIUS.
a/!ap7.la.,                            v)' au/aprTav.
6 o-VTKELEltV,'to shut up together,' or' to shut up on all sides.' It is applied to cities whose gates are closed and walls guarded, or surrounded by a
besieging army, Josh. vi. 1; Is. xlv. 1. It is used of things collected together,
and laid up for a particular purpose, Luke v. 6; Ecclus. xxix. 12. It is also
employed to denote those who are bound or kept in chains, Job viii. 8.
Hence it comes to signify,' to deliver up to the power of,''to make entirely
dependent on,' followed by EfL Ttn or vi7ro'd. Psal. xxxi. 8; lxxviii. 50.
7 7 T ravra, emphatically, for 7ravYra ivOpcYTrovS. Theodoret thus expounds
it: ", 8tkXEye yap 7 VElOa ypaf:lj Kal TobV 7rpo VdO/OV, Kal TroV Es VodwL,   TroE
ev Tov rT7y' vfo-e   rov Ev  7-eov MCoo'ai'KoV 7CapaefIE/3?KOdTa."  Rom. xi. 32, a
parallel passage.




166            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
confined, shut up.' To shut up,' is equivalent here to,' to show,
to prove, to be shut up.'l The Scriptures distinctly state, that
all men, both Jews and Gentiles, are imprisoned, as it were,
under guilt-are condemned criminals.2 The law under which
either Jews or Gentiles have been placed, so far from giving
them life, delivers them over to death; so far from justifying,
condemns them. The best illustration of the apostle's declaration, that all men are shut up under sin, and that the Scripture says
so, is to be found in the concluding part of the first chapter of
the Epistle to the Romans, the whole of the second chapter, and
the first part of the third chapter; the substance of which is,' It
is obviously the uniform doctrine of Scripture, that the whole
world is become guilty before God.' It is plain that the law of
Moses cannot —that no law that had been given, that can be given
to a being like fallen man can-come in competition with the
way of justification indicated in the promise made known in
the gospel. Law in every form, so far from being fitted to take
the place of the promise or the gospel, only proves the necessity
of some such plan of salvation as they reveal, if man is to be
saved at all.
This is what the apostle states in the close of the 22d verse,
" that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ may be given to
them that believe." "' The promise," is plainly the blessing
promised; the same thing as the blessing of Abraham, justification-restoration to the Divine favour.3  This promised blessing
is by believing. It is obtained not by working, but by believing
on Him who justifies the ungodly.  It was bestowed on believing
Abraham, and it is promised to all believers who are his spiritual
children.
The particle " that" 4 either states the design of the Scriptures
concluding all men under sin, or the consequence of its doing so.
The Scriptures declare all men condemned on account of sin,
that it might be, or so that it is, evident that if men are justified at
all, that blessing originally promised to believers must be bestowed as a free gift on men, not purchasing it for themselves by
A1 s Glassius says, " Verbum activum declarative capiendum est."
2 We have the same idea, Rom. xi. 32, avvE'KXELav 6 0eS6 TOVS 7IavraS elf
arEleOlav, Lva TOVS rTavrTaSv EXE7r.
S The phrase, 7 E7raayyEX/la EK 7rloTeow, is equivalent to j EZr. 7 aCTTl EK r.
7' 7rav &L 7rloTr(ws XptTrro  &KatooV'vqv." —Phil. iii. 9.' tva.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 167
their services, but in the belief of the truth humbly and gratefully receiving it. This is the true design of the law, whether
that under which all men are placed, or that under which the
Jewish nation was placed, to demonstrate the absolute necessity,
if man is to be saved at all, of such a method of salvation as was
dimly made known in the promise to Abraham, and which is now
made manifest, being " witnessed by the law and the prophets."
The statement contained in these words has lost none of its
truth or of its importance in the lapse of ages, and is just as
closely connected with our duties and interests as with those of
the Galatians to whom it was originally made. We are indeed
in no danger of reposing our hope of an interest in the Divine
favour on our enjoyment of the privileges, or our performing the
ritual observances, of the Mosaic economy. But we all are in
imminent danger of building our expectations of final happiness
on a foundation equally insecure. Are there not thousands and
tens of thousands among us who are flattering themselves that
they are Christians, merely because they were born in a Christian
land and baptised in the name of Jesus? Are th'ere not countless multitudes who, without any reference whatever to the
Saviour's atonement, on the ground of their comparative innocence or excellence, or of their repentance and reformation, or
of their alms and their prayers, are expecting to obtain a share
in the felicities of heaven? And are there not countless multitudes more who, while they profess to depend on what the
Saviour has done and suffered, look on his merits merely as an
ample store out of which is to be supplied the deficiency in
their own deserts-relying a little on the Saviour, but principally on themselves?  Indeed, are not by far the greater
part of those who name the name of Jesus obviously ignorant
and unbelieving respecting the very elementary principle of his
religion, that;" eternal life is the gift of God," and that men are
"justified freely by God's grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus"? Are not the great majority even of those who
appear to be religious, going about to establish their own method
of justification, and obstinately refusing to submit to this Divine
method of justification. They will do anything and everything
rather than credit God's testimony concerning his Son, rely entirely on his finished work, and humbly and heartily accept of a
full and free salvation.




168           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
To such persons we proclaim with the apostle, "If there had
been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law." But no such law has been given.
No such law could be given. You may indeed imagine remedial
and reduced laws, and you may depend on your obedience to
these laws, and cherish lively hopes of thus obtaining the Divine
favour and everlasting happiness. But remember, God will acknowledge no law as his but that which He himself has promulgated, and He will gratify no hopes but those which He himself
has awakened.
May I be allowed to speak a PARABLE on this subject? A
ship's crew mutinied against their commander, who was the king's
son; and not only refused to obey him, but threw him overboard
with the intention of depriving him of life. Feeling their situation desperate, they commenced pirates, and while disorder and
every evil work prevailed among themselves, they carried terror
and misery over the ocean and into all the surrounding coasts.
The prince, contrary to all probability, reached the shore in
safety, and on arriving at his father's palace, instead of urging
the punishment of those who meant to murder him, employed all
his influence, and with success, to induce his justly offended parent
to lay aside all thoughts of vengeance, and even to despatch immediately heralds of mercy offering a free pardon to them if they
would but acknowledge the prince as their saviour and ruler, and
submit to be guided by him in all their future proceedings; but
reminding them that if they did not accede to this overture of
mercy, sooner or later they must fall into the hands of some of
his war-vessels, and must count on being dealt with according to
the rigour of the law. On the messengers of mercy approaching
the vessel, some of the most determined villains were for treating
them as they had done their commander, but this proposal being
overruled, they were taken aboard, and their sovereign's proclamation was made in the hearing of the piratical rebels. Some
mocked at it; others said it was a stratagem to get them into the
king's power; and even the most sober thinking among them,
though they were tired of this scene of discord and ravage, both
in the vessel and when they were on the shore, said that really
they could not give the king credit for such extraordinary kindness, nor bring their mind to acknowledge the authority of the
prince, but that they would endeavour to behave better as




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 169
individuals, to establish better order in the ship, and to restrain
their companions from those excesses of cruelty and rapine in which
they had formerly indulged, so that if the king's cruisers should lay
hold of them, as they feared might be the case, the king might be induced to pardon them, perhaps reward-them for theirgood conduct.
The time dreaded by them all at last arrived. Their vessel is
boarded by the king's servants in irresistible force, and the whole
crew are safely lodged in prison, and in due time brought before
the king for judgment. With a calmness of inflexible determination, more appalling than the most furious passion, the
sovereign pronounces their sentence.'You niost causelessly
violated your allegiance; you transgressed the law; you, in
intention, murdered my son; yet, on his intercession, I proffered
you forgiveness-free, full forgiveness. You refused to give me
credit for the generosity I manifested, and dishonoured me by
supposing me false and malignant like yourselves. You persisted in contemning my authority and opposing my will. And
even such of you as have not run to the same enormity of
licentiousness and cruelty, have formed laws to yourselves
which ye have observed; but my laws ye have not regarded.
And you have trampled on my grace as well as my authority.
You have spurned mercy on the only terms consistent with my
honour to offer it; and you have had the insufferable arrogance
of attempting to dictate to me in what way I should bestow my
favour. You have had your choice, and you must abide by it.
As for those men who would not that I should reign over them,
bring them forth and slay them before me.' 1
Let the self-righteous sinner see, in a figure, the doom which
awaits him if mercy prevent not. The law by which he must be
judged is none of the laws of human device, but the law of God.
By that law, "no flesh living can be justified."  Let him be
thankful that the promised blessing is still held forth as the
gift of God to the believer in Jesus. The Scripture has shut
us all up under sin, but it is that the promise may be given
to us believing. This is the way-this is the certain, the only
way-to justification and peace, to holiness and heaven. The
oath which has secured that the believer shall enter, and that the
unbeliever shall not enter, into God's rest, is unrepealed and unl1 This illustration was suggested by a passage in Fuller's Miscellaneous
Works, which, however, I cannot find, on searching for it to make a reference.




170           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. II1. 1-IV. 7.
repealable. God grant that we all may seek and find this good
old way, and walk in it, and find rest to our souls.
The greater part of the apostle's answer to the question,
" wherefore serveth the law," has hitherto been negative, except
the statement, "it was added because of transgressions, till the
Seed should come." The sum of what he has said is this,'The
law cannot, it never could, justify. It was never intended to
serve this purpose.' In the words which follow, and which we
consider to be just an expansion of the statement contained in
the clause, " the law was added because of transgressions, until
the Seed should come" in reference " to whom the promise was
made," etc. the apostle states the purpose which the law was intended to serve, and which, in fact, it did serve; and in making
that statement he makes it evident, that to be under the law,
though a great blessing to those who lived before the coming of
the Messiah, was by no means a state to be envied by those who
lived under his reign; and that indeed the two states were quite
incongruous.
4. State of the Chlurch under the Law.
"But before faith1 came, we were kept under the law, shut up
unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore
the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we
might be justified by faith." 2
The first thing to be inquired into here is the meaning of the
phrase, " the coming of faith."3  Some interpreters understand
by "faith" Jesus Christ, whom they represent as the object of
faith, and consider the phrase, " before faith came," as synonymous
with, " till the Seed should come." In strict propriety of language,
it is not Jesus Christ personally considered, but the truth about
Jesus Christ, which is the object of faith; and though we have
no doubt that the coming of the Seed, in reference to whom the
promise was made, and the coming of faith, refer to the same
period, yet it does not follow that the expressions are synonymous. The Son of God and the Messiah are descriptive denominations of the same individual, but they are by no means
synonymous terms; just as the prince of Wales, and the eldest
1 " Cave ne sic contextum ordines,' Conclusi in eam fidem,' quasi in fide
velut in carcere."-LUTIWER, 1524.
2 Gal. iii. 23, 24.                   TO EXOELv 7e?JLtTLV.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 171
son of the monarch of Great Britain, and the heir-apparent to
the British throne, may all be descriptive appellations of the
same individual, though each appellation has its own distinct
signification. The departure of the sceptre from Judah and the
coming of the Messiah, are descriptions of the same period; but
it would be absurd to say the two phrases mean the same thing.
In the same manner, the coming of the Seed and the coming of
faith refer to the same period, but it does not follow that the
phrases are synonymous.
By " faith " others understand the system or order of things in
which faith is the grand means of justification. But this mode of
interpretation is obviously inadmissible. For in this sense " faith "
came immediately after the fall, or in the revelation of the first
promise. There has been but one way of justifying sinners all
along. Adam, if he was justified, as we have reason to hope he
was, was justified by believing. Abraham was justified by believing. It was true under the Old, as well as under the New
Testament dispensation, that it was the person justified by faith
that lived-enjoyed true happiness in the possession of the
Divine favour, which is life.
By faith, I apprehend we are to understand, not the act of
believing, but the revelation believed, just as in our language we
call the article which a man believes his creed, his belief, his
faith. The expression literally rendered is,' the faith, and looks
back to the phrase, faith of Christ, in the preceding verse. " Before the faith of Christ came," is just equivalent to,' before the
Christian revelation was given.'
Now, what was the state of the Jewish church previously to.
this period?  "We," says the apostle, " were kept under the
law shut up." The apostle in using the pronoun "' we," plainly
speaks of himself as belonging to the Jewish church previously
T1  7r TTLrv.   " rTar. must be understood of the faith to be revealed as
an object, not of the subjective state of faith."-OLSHAUSEN. " Jesus Christ
and the apostles often speak offaith, or thefaith, and the truth indifferently.
John i. 17,' Truth came by Jesus Christ;' Gal. iii. 23,' Beforefaith came;'
verse 25,' Afterfaith is come;' John xvii. 19,' Sanctified through the truth;'
Acts xxvi. 18,'Sanctified by faith;' John xvi. 13,'The Spirit of truth;'
2 Cor. iv. 13,'The Spirit of faith;' John xviii. 37,' Every one who is of
the truth;' Gal. iii. 9, " They that be offaith;' Acts vi. 7,' Obedient to the
faith;' 1 Pet. i. 22,' Obeying the trath;' 2 Tim. i. 5,' The unfeigned faith
that is in thee;' 3 John 3,'The truth that is in thee.' "-SANDEMAN.




172           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. l1I. 1-IV. 7.
to the coming of the Messiah.' We Jews were kept under the
law shut up,' or,'shut up under the law.'
It has been common to connect the words "shut up "1 with
the concluding cluause " to the faith," and to consider the words
as conveying the idea, that the design and effect of the commands and threatenings of God's law on the mind of an awakened
sinner, is to close every avenue of relief but one, and shut him
up to accept of the free and full salvation of Christ by believing
the gospel. But though this is a truth, and an important one,
it is not the truth taught here.
The apostle is speaking of the design of the law in reference
to the Jewish church or people as a body, and their situation
munder it. They were kept shut up under it. They were kept
as under the care of a sentinel; they were shut up as in a
fortress, or confined within certain limits. The general idea is,
they were in a state of restriction. They were kept from mingling with the rest of mankind, preserved a distinct people; and
to gain this object, were subjected to many peculiar usages. The
law was " the middle wall of partition " which kept them distinct
from the other nations of the world. The making one city the
seat of religion, the laws with regard to food and ceremonial
pollution, the institutions directly opposed to the prevailing
customs of the surrounding nations, and the express prohibition
to form alliances with heathen nations, all these formed a more
powerful barrier to commixture with the surrounding nations
than any physical separation of mountains, or seas, or distance
could have done.
The apostle seems obviously.to have intended to convey the
accessory idea of uneasy confinement. Their state was necessary,
and it was happy when compared with that of the heathen
nations; but still it was a state of restriction and confinement,
and in this point of view not desirable. This state was, however,
never designed to be permanent. It was intended to serve a
purpose, and when that purpose was served, it was intended to
terminate.
"We were," says the apostle, " kept under the law, shut up
unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed."  " Unto,"2
is here equivalent to'until.' A  parallel mode of expression,
(FlVYTKXftServ2ot.'                   d.2
OlVYyKEKX IE tLA'O/UP.               EfI.




P. IV. ~ 9.]1 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 173
though the subject is different, is to be found, 1 Pet. i. 5. The
phrase is parallel, though not quite synonymous, with that used
in the 19th verse, "till the Seed should come in reference to
whom the promise was made."  "The faith" here, is plainly the
same thing as the faith in the first clause of the verse. The
Jewish church was not without a revelation as to the way of
justification, for in that case they could not have been justified by
faith. We know that the Divine method of justification is " witnessedl by the law and the prophets." But it was not manifested2
- fully, clearly, made known-till the fulness of the time, when
" the mystery which had been kept secret" was disclosed. The
phraseology adopted by the apostle, the revelation of faith, makes
it evident that faith here refers to doctrine. He speaks of it as
"afterwards to be revealed."3  The gospel revelation formed a
principal subject of Old Testament prophecy;4 and the believing
Jews under the law were encouraged to look forward to a period
when "the glory of the Lord should be revealed, and all flesh
should see it together." When his " salvation should be brought
near, and his righteousness should be revealed."5  The apostle's
assertion then in this verse is,' previously to the Christian revelation, we Jews were kept in a state of separation from other
nations by the restrictive ordinances of the Mosaic law, till that
revelation was made to which we had been taught to look forward.' He expresses nearly the same idea under a different
figure in the following verse.
"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to
Christ, that we might be justified by faith." 6 " Wherefore" 7 does
not here intimate that what is contained in this verse is a logical
inference from what has preceded. It is not properly an inference, but a superadded illustration. It is just as if he had said,'Thus the law was our schoolmaster,' etc.  " Schoolmaster," in
the modern use of the term, scarcely answers the apostle's idea.
A pedagogue, a tutor, s was anciently among the Greeks and
1 paprvpovpvTl.                     2 7reqaVEpEOTat. Rom. iii. 21.
3 7.)V uEXXovCYav 7r'crtv al7roKaXovqOvat, pro T7)v 7rlorrLv, 7?,v IEXk. a7roK. A
similar transposition, Rom. viii. 18; 1 Pet. v. 1.
4 evayyE'Lov 7rpoE7rTITy-yEXaro a&a Tr v 7rTpOqqTp'V (v ypafa7 ryiatLa. Rom.
i. 2, 3.
5 Isa. xl. 5; lvi. 1.        6 Gal. iii. 24.          7 oelr-e.
8 7rat8aycoyo, not aiLcoKaXos.




174             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IIL l-IV. 7.
Romans-and let it be remembered Paul is writing to a Gentile
church-a servant or slave to whom the charge of the children
was given while they were under age, and whose business was
not solely, or chiefly perhaps, to instruct them, but to keep them
from mischief and danger. The paedagogue and the praeceptor
were two different persons, and had entirely different duties to
perform.l Now, says the apostle, the law acted to us the part
of a tutor or paedagogue, restraining, chastising, and protecting
us, and preparing us by its discipline for a higher and better
order of things. The apostle's object is plainly to lower the idea
of the Galatians respecting the state of the Jews, and the
economy under which they were placed.  He intimates that they
were in an infantine state, and that the economy they were put
under suited it. They were wayward children, put under the
care of a faithful, but somewhat severe and strict, tutor —a
servant or slave only temporarily employed till the children
should arrive at maturity.
"The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ."  These
words have often been applied to express this idea,-that it is by
the commands and threatenings of God's law brought home to
the conscience of the sinner by the effectual working of the Holy
Ghost, that he is induced to believe the revelation of mercy,
and gladly to receive Christ Jesus as the only and all-sufficient
Saviour. But this, though a very important truth, is obviously
not what the apostle means. He is speaking of the church as a
body, and the law it was subject to. Nor is the somewhat more
plausible exegesis, that the apostle means to say, that the law by
its typical ordinances introduced the Jews into an acquaintance
Horace calls the paedagogue " Custos:""Imberbis juvenis, tandem custode remoto
Gaudet equis, canibusque, et aprici gramine campi."-Ars. Poet. 161.
It seems equivalent to Hebrew er —0, " Am I my brother's keeper?"-Gen.
iv. 9;-and to the Spartan aTrateL (Hesych. quasi drva ra'ae 7rroXoirvTe).
The following passage from a Talmudical writer illustrates the Jewish idea of
a psedagogue: " Rex filio poedagogum constituit, et singulis diebus ad eum
invisit, interrogans eum; num comedit filius meus? num bibit filius meus?
num in scholam abit? num ex schola rediit."-TANCHUMA, f. 35, 1; apud
Wetstein. The pmedagogue was a person of severe manners, and often of harsh
aspect. Nero, according to Suetonius, used to speak of the " vultum pedagogicum" of Seneca, who appears, from his authentic portraits, to have had. a very forbidding countenance. The temporary character of the office of the
pedagogue is intimated in the very name-one who has the care of children.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 175
with the Messiah whom they prefigured, satisfactory, for the
leading idea in the word tutor or paedagogue is not teaching,
but custody-restriction-correction. You will notice that " to
bring us " is a supplement, and is one of the supplements which
might as well have been omitted. " Unto Christ," is equivalent to,'until Christ.' The three following expressions are
obviously parallel, and throw light on each other.  "The law
was added because of transgressions till the Seed should come to
whom the promise was made."  "We were kept shut up under
the law till the faith was revealed."  "The law was our tutor till
Christ, that uwe might be justified by faith."  These last words may
either signify,'The law was our tutor till Christ, that we might
be justified by believing,' i. e. that when the way of salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus alone was made known, Jews
might be prepared for gladly accepting it-gratefully-hailing a
better and more benignant order of things, which would put an
end to all the unpleasant restraints of this severe tutor.' Or,' Thus the law was our tutor till Christ; this was its character;
so that if we Jews are justified at all, we are justified by faith.
The law restrained, commanded, and punished, but it did not
justify. If we Jews are justified, it is not by the law, but by faith.'
It matters not much which of these two modes of interpretation be adopted, though I confess I lean to the latter. The substance of the apostle's assertion is, that " the law was added because of transgressions till the Seed should come, in reference to
whom the promise " of justification to the Gentiles by faith " was
made;" that "before faith came," before the gospel revelation was
given, the Jewish church " were shut up under the law," till the
good news promised afore was announced; and that " the law
was the tutor or paedagogue " of the infant church " till Christ."
The apostle now proceeds to show that the law, though an institution necessary in and suited to that imperfect and preparatory state, was utterly unnecessary and unsuited to that new and
better state into which the church had been brought by the
coming of the Saviour, and to the full and clear revelation of
the way of salvation, and therefore to endeavour to perpetuate it
was the height of criminal folly. This is the principle which
the apostle lays down in the verse which follows, and which he
illustrates down to the close of the 11th verse of the next
chapter.




176            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. ECHAP. Iii. 1-IV. 7..5. State of the Church after "faith has come."
"But after that faith has come, we are no longer under a
schoolmaster: for ye are all the children of God by faith in
Christ Jesus." 1
The meaning of the phrase, " the coming of faith," has already
been illustrated.  By "faith" we understand the gospel revelation, not only as given, but received. " After that faith is come,"
is, we apprehend, equivalent to,'After that the truth about the
come Saviour, and the completed revelation, has been made
known to us, and believed by us.'
"We are no longer under a schoolmaster."2   These words
seem a statement not only of the fact, but of the reason of it. It
is as if the apostle had said,'We are no longer, and we no longer
need to be, under such a restrictive system as that of the law.3
The necessary imperfection of the revelation of the method of
salvation, till the Saviour appeared and finished his work, and
the corresponding limitation of the dispensation of divine influence, rendered such a restrictive system absolutely requisite;
but the cause having been removed, the effect must cease. Till
faith came, it was necessary that we should be under the tutelage
of the law; but now that faith is come, we need our tutor no
longer. When the child, in consequence of the development of
his faculties, and the completion of his education, becomes a man,
and capable of regulating his conduct by internal principles, the
tutor is dismissed, and his pupil is freed from external restraints
now understood to be superseded by the expanded, instructed,
disciplined, rational and moral powers of his nature.'
It is plainly on this principle that the apostle reasons; for he
immediately adds, " For ye are all the children of God by faith
in Christ Jesus."4'Faith being come, you no longer need a
tutor; for by faith in Christ Jesus ye are all the children of
God.' The change of the person from the first to the second,
from  we to ye, is easily accounted for.  The language in the
1 Gal. iii. 25, 26.
2     Wmvat izr,'to be under the power of.' Rom. iii. 9; 1 Cor. ix. 20.
3 " 7E'aotov ~ TOv apaS?yeVOlEVovS T- 7ratlayaoyo VPO/1) V7roro'Tao(Te(EOaL'  O'rTep
Kal Tod, )p;pag /avela7ELu /i7 r), T tov 1 paX v Otpal rav  XVXVOV. " —THEOPHYLACT.
4 Gal. iii. 26.' " Paul, as a true and excellent teacher of faith, hath
always these words in his mouth-' by faith,'' in faith,'' of faith."' —LUTHER.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 177
25th verse is strictly applicable to believing Jews only, who once
were under the tutelage of the law; the statement made in the
26th verse is equally applicable to believers, whether Jews or
Gentiles, to all the Galatian converts, and is plainly intended
to lay a foundation for this conclusion —' if the coming of the faith
emancipates those believers who were under the tutelage of the
law, it surely must prevent those believers who were never subject to it from being brought under its bondage.'
To perceive the force of the apostle's reasoning it is necessary.
to observe that the figurative appellation "children of God"' is
here used with a certain peculiarity of reference and meaning.
When Christians are represented in Scripture as the children of
God, we have a view given us sometimes of their state, and
sometimes of their character, and sometimes of both conjoined.
We are taught either that God regards them as his children, or
that they regard Him as their father, or both. To speak in technical language, it sometimes represents them as justified, and sometimes as sanctified, and sometimes as both justified and sanctified.2 In most of the passages where this figurative expression
occurs, it describes the state and character of saints, in opposition to the state and character of unconverted, unforgiven, unsanctified sinners. But in the passage before us, it obviously
describes the state and character of saints under the Christian
dispensation, in contrast with the state and character of saints
under the Jewish dispensation. The persons spoken of as having
been under the law, previously to the coming of faith, are not
represented as aliens from the family of God. They belonged to
it; but being under age, they were " under tutors and governors
till the time appointed of the father," when they were to receive 3
what our translators call, " the adoption of sons "-the privileges of
grown-up children. There can be no reasonable doubt then that the
phrase " children of God " is here equivalent to grown-up children.4
The meaning of this language is not obscure. It is as if the
apostle had said,'There is as great a difference between the
1 Cviol eroo is substantially equivalent to rTKva Ocoi, only that the former
expresses the idea of one conscious, grown up, more than the other."-OLsHAUSEN.
2 This idea is more fully illustrated in " The Children of God, and how
men become so," in " Plain Discourses on Important Subjects."
3 -TV voO~eolav, chap. iv. 5.       4 vlo, not Vl?7TrLOL, or TEKVia.
M




178            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
privileges you possess, and the character of love to God, and
confidence in Him, and submission to Him, to which you have
been formed, and the p5rivileges and character of those who lived
under the law, as there is between the state and feelings of a son
arrived at maturity, and having finished his education, and those of
the same child while an infant or still under the care of the nurse
and the tutor; and it were not more incongruous for such a
person to insist on still remaining in the nursery or the school
-to have all his movements watched and regulated by servants
-than it is in you believers in Christ to seek to remain under
the bondage of the law, not to speak of your subjecting yourselves to that bondage.'
It is " through faith in Christ Jesus" that they were introduced into the privileges and formed to the character of mature
children. " Faith in Christ Jesus," here as in the whole of the
context, is equivalent to the revelation of the truth about Christ
Jesus viewed as believed.  It is by this revelation believed
that Christians obtain that knowledge of the Divine Being as
"the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," and our God
and Father in him, which at once fills them with joy and peace,
and forms them to that love and confidence in Him which leads
them  to "serve Him  without fear," and to "walk at liberty,
keeping his commandments." To such persons the restrictions
of the Mosaic law are unnecessary, and its carnal ordinances
altogether unsuited; and such is the state into which every
believer of the gospel is brought, and such is the character to
which every believer of the gospel is formed.'
We are now prepared to feel the force of the apostle's reasoning.' Now that the gospel revelation has been made, and believed
by us, we stand no more in need of such an elementary, restrictive, external dispensation as the law; for through this gospel
believed we are introduced into a state, and formed to a character,
1 Riccaltoun connects Iv XpLar6 with viol Oeov. His observations are. as
usual, acute: —" If I am not mistaken, the apostle means to say, that their
sonship was not so much by believing as by the consequence and fruit of it,
viz. their being in Christ. He says, indeed, very plainly, that they were
the children of God by faith; but it was only in Christ that they were so.
The phrase E'y XptTr& is never, so far as I remember, joined with 7riTLrIt or
7rfUTOd, when believing in Christ is designed, but elr XptrTOdv, or'7rl XpLOr0d'v.
And thus he explains it in the following verse, where he gives the reason of
what he says in this."




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 179
to which such an introductory institution, however well fitted to
serve its own purposes, is utterly unsuited.'
That this high honour of being " the children of God" is not
peculiar to any class of believers, but common to them all, is thie
principle which the apostle states and illustrates in the succeeding
verses. " For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ
have put on Christ." 1
To be "baptized into' Christ Jesus" obviously means something more than to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
The phrase occurs here only and in the sixth chapter of the
Romans, verse 3d, and in both places, something is predicated
of those who are " baptized into Christ," which cannot by any
means be said of all who are baptized, whether in infancy or
mature age, in the primary sense of the term.3 All who are
baptized into Christ, are there said to be "baptized into his
death," and " buried with him by baptism unto death, and risen
with him," etc. And here all who are "baptized into Christ
Jesus" are said to "put on Christ."  Union with Christ as
dying and buried, and raised again, is obviously the idea in the
sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. To be baptized into
Christ is, I apprehend, just equivalent to be united or intimately
related to Christ by that faith of which a profession is made in
baptism.
We cannot understand the apostle'swords as applying to all who,
either in infancy or mature age, have undergone the rite of Christian baptism, for they are not true of them all. They plainly
refer to those who have received the doctrine of Christ, who " by
one Spirit have been baptized into one body, and have been made
to drink into one Spirit;"4 who are saved " by the washing of
regeneration," which is not baptism, " and" —even " the renewing of the Holy Ghost."5 The baptism here spoken of is the
" one baptism" which belongs to those who have one God and one
Lord-one spirit, one faith, one hope. It is that of which external
baptism is the emblem-a blessing not at all necessarily connected with, and in very few instances, if any, bestowed simultaneously with, the administration of the external rite. In the case of
1 Gal. iii. 27.                                   2  Ls.
3'C Si quis hoc corporeum, quod oculis carnis aspicitur, aquae tauturn
accipit lavacrum, non est indutus Dominum Jesum Christumn."-HIERONYM.
4 1 Cor. xii. 13.' Tit. iii. 5.




180            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV\. 7.
an adult, the possession of this spiritual baptism is pre-supposed.
It is not external baptism that unites to Christ.
All who are thus related to Christ Jesus by faith "put on
Christ." The language is figurative. Properly speaking, we
put on garments. But the phrase is often used figuratively in
reference to the acquisition or exercise of intellectual and moral
habits, whether good or bad.  We read of being 1" clothed with
cursing,"' of being "clothed with humility," 2 of putting off
" anger, wrath, malice," etc., and putting on " kindness, humbleness of mind,"3 etc.  In this use of the figurative expression
there is no difficulty. It is sometimes, though less frequently,
used in reference to persons. Thus, " the Spirit of the Lord" is
said to have " come on," literally (" to have clothed" " Zechariah
the son of Jehoiada."4  We are exhorted to put off the old man,
and to put on the new man.5 And in the thirteenth chapter,
verse 14, of the Epistle to the Romans, Christians are exhorted
to " put on Christ."  " To put on Christ" in that passage plainly
means to imitate Christ, to be distinguished by the graces and
virtues which distinguished him. To clothe ourselves with his
habits.
We apprehend the context here requires us to explain the
phrase somewhat differently. To put on Christ is plainly something parallel, if not equivalent, to being " a child of God," as
being "baptized into Christ" is parallel to having the faith of
Christ. " To put on Christ" is to become, as it were, one person with Christ. They are invested, as it were, with his merits
and rights. They are treated as if they had done what he did,
and had deserved what he deserved. Thev are clothed with his
righteousness, and in consequence of this they are animated
by his spirit-the mind that was in him is in them. To use the
apostle's own language, they do not so properly "live," as "Christ
lives in them." The apostle's statement, in plain words, is-' All
who believe in Christ Jesus are so closely related to him as to be
treated by God as if they were one with him.' When he looks
at them, he sees nothing, as it were, but Christ.
This is the privilege of all believers. For the apostle adds,"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor
1 Psal. cix. 18.       21 Pet. v. 5.          Col. iii. 8-12.
4 2 Chron. xxiv, 20.   5 Eph. iv. 22-24.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 181
free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one  in
Christ Jesus." 2
The general idea obviously is, that under the Christian dispensation our religious privileges depend on nothing but our
connection with Christ Jesus, which is formed entirely by faith.
External distinctions are here of no avail. It is neither as a
Jew nor as a Greek3 equivalent to a Gentile, as a bondman nor
as a freeman, as a man nor a woman, but purely and solely as a
person "' in Christ" that the believer enjoys any spiritual blessings. And all who are in Christ Jesus are blessed with the
same privileges. Believers when they have put on Christ, put
off these external distinctions, and appear, as it were, all one in
Christ Jesus.
The apostle marks here the decided difference of Christianity,
both from Judaism and Paganism. There was a great difference
in Judaism4 between Jews and Greeks-a great difference between male and female-the seal of the covenant being confined
to the first. Among the pagans, slaves were excluded from the
temples where free men worshipped.5
The conclusion which the apostle draws from all believers
being thus united, and equally united to Christ Jesus, is that
they are all equally secured of those blessings which flow entirely
from their connection with him. "And if ye be Christ's, then
are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." 6
To be " Christ's," or to be " of Christ," the property of Christ,
as it were, a part of Christ-a member of his body-his flesh
and bones-one spirit with him, is the same thing as to be in
him, and to be clothed with him. "d If ye be Christ's," if you be
united to him, " then are ye Abraham's seed."
To perceive the force of the apostle's argument, you must
look back to the 16th verse, where we are told that Abraham's
seed was Christ. Now, says he, if ye are one with Christ, the
EL. Interpreters are divided as to the meaning of this word: some
insisting that it is equivalent to crl, -others, that it is EVeOTL. It does not
matter which view is taken; the general meaning is the same.
2 Gal. iii. 28.                                    3'EXX;,v.
4 The pEo-r'otXoLv 70-o fpay/ov. Eph. ii. 14, 15.
5 Min. Felix. Jaspis supplies OIKOs-EJ9 OlKOS,-' one family —all brethren,
children of the same Father, standing precisely in the same relation to Him.'
6 Gal. iii. 29.




182           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-1V. 7.
seed of Abraham, then are ye also Abraham's spiritual seed.
You may be Abraham's natural descendants; but if ye have not
put on Christ, if ye are not in him, if ye are not his, you are not
Abraham's seed. And if ye have put on Christ, if ye are in
him, if ye are his, though you be an utter alien from the Hebrew
family, you are one of Abraham's seed. Jews have no claim to
the appellation, in its spiritual sense, if they are not Christ's;
and Gentiles, if they are Christ's, have just as good a claim as
their believing Jewish brethren-they, too, are "heirs according
to the promise."
To be " an heir" of Abraham, is to possess the same blessings
which Abraham possessed, and to hold them by the same tenure.
All who are Christ's, in other words, all who believe, are " blessed
with faithful," i. e. believing, " Abraham." Like him, they are
justified, and like him justified through believing.
" According to the promise" may either signify' agreeably to,'
in virtue of,'the Divine promise,' which says, " in Abraham's
seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed;" or' in reference to the promised blessing,' which we have seen above was
justification by faith.  The same sentiment is to be found
strongly expressed, Rom. viii. 17,-"- And if children, then
heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ: if so be that
we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."
Eph. ii. 19,-" Ye " Gentiles " are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of
God." Rom. ix. 7, 8,-" Neither, because they are the seed of
Abraham, are they all children:'but, In Isaac shall thy seed be
called." " The children of the promise are counted for the seed."
6. Figurative illustration of these two states.
There is an unhappy disposition in mankind to overlook and
underrate the advantages which they enjoy, while at the same
time they often attach an utterly disproportioned value to supposed advantages of which they are destitute. It is in consequence of this that they so eagerly, in many cases, exchange
real for fancied good; and find, too late, that they have made " a
senseless bargain." It is in consequence of this, too, that in
circumstances furnishing everything requisite to substantial comfort we find so many completely miserable, just because they are
without something or other which, whether right or wrong, they




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVILELY RATIFIED. 183
have imagined to be necessary in order to make them happy. It
is quite possible that the attainment of this very something might
be productive of pain instead of pleasure,-it is absolutely certain
it would not produce the effect of perfect satisfaction which is
anticipated; but in the meanwhile the want of it embitters
every source of enjoyment, and keeps the mind restless and
unsatisfied.
It is distance which lends enchantment to supposed advantages and pleasures; and the best way to secure ourselves
from this fascination, is to endeavour to bring them near the eye
of the mind, and thoroughly scrutinise them alongside of those
possessed advantages for which we may be tempted to exchange
them. In that case, we shall often find that what was a seeming advantage would be a real and important disadvantage
to us; and we shall uniformly find that the most promising of
these advantages has its accompanying disadvantages, and is far
indeed from that unmingled good which fancy told us of.
The Galatian Christians, chiefly of gentile origin, were in
great hazard of being led dangerously astray by that principle
in human nature, to the operations of which I have been adverting, at the period the apostle Paul wrote this epistle to
them. By the tender mercies of God they had been delivered
from a state of heathen ignorance, immorality, and wickedness,
and made partakers of that peace and purity which flow from
the knowledge and faith of the truth as it is in Jesus. " In him
they had redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins;"
they were " sanctified in his name, and by his Spirit;" and, in
the enjoyment of his consolations, and the hope of his glory, they
were " walking in all his commandments and ordinances blameless." How happy must they have been, had they been but
aware of their happiness! But, yielding a too ready ear to the
statements of some Judaising teachers, they began to think that,
to complete their spiritual dignity and happiness, they must
submit to the initiatory rite of the Jewish economy, and yield
obedience to all its ritual requisitions.  Nothing seemed so
venerable as this kind of connection with the holy family; and,
instead of moving onwards in that holy happy course on which,
by the belief of Christian truth, they had entered, they were in
extreme hazard of being drawn aside to the by-paths of ceremonial services, in which, whatever exercise for the body they




184           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-1Y. 7;
might find, they would experience no improvement to the mind,
no rest to the conscience, no peace to the heart.
The apostle, who watched over them with the tender anxiety of a
spiritual parent, uses the appropriate remedy. He strips the legal
economy, now become obsolete, of the false splendour with which
the Judaising teachers had contrived to surround it. He brings it
near to them-fully unfolds its nature and design — distinctly shows
that it was an introductory, imperfect, and temporary dispensation
-that what they strangely had been led to account dignity was
indeed in their case degradation-what they called going forward
was indeed going backward-what they gloried in as progress was
in reality all but apostasy. He sets the state of Judaism alongside
the state of Christianity, and distinctly shows the Galatians that in
their case the two were utterly incompatible, and certainly not to
be for one moment compared with each other: in plain words, he
assures them that if they were determined to be Jews, they must
cease to be Christians; and that, if they did make such an exchange, they would have to regret it now and for ever.
To make the thing, as it were, palpable to them, he brings it
before their minds in a variety of aspects, and illustrates it by
various analogies.  One of the most striking of these lies now
before us. He illustrates the principles he has laid down by a
domestic analogy, showing that it would not be more unnatural
or absurd for a family of children arrived at majority to insist on
being again subjected to all the restraints of the nursery, than it
would be for them, after being introduced into the glorious freedom of the children of God, voluntarily to subject themselves to
the servitude of the Mosaic institution.
There should have been no division of chapters here. The
careful reader of the epistles must often find occasion to notice
that the division of chapters and verses is far from being uniformly judicious.'
(1.) The Figure.
" Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is
1 It is very justly remarked, that these divisions "dubia ssepe movent ubi
nulla sunt et- conjuncta disjungendo lectorem turbant et confundunt."KCENIGSMANNUs, de malis pastoribus, John x. 1, etc. Thes. Nov. Theolog.
Philolog. Pars I. p. 516. Calvin very justly remarks of the passage before




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 185
under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the
father." 1
The expression, "Now I say," is just a phrase of transition.2
It introduces an explanation or modification of what has been
said, as chap. iii. 26.
The reference here does not seem to be, as we have remarked,
to the case of the proprietor of an estate leaving the management
of the education and property of an only son in infancy or childhood, the heir of his property,-the one to the charge of tutors,
the other to the care of governors and stewards,-till the period
which the father in his will had fixed for his son entering on the
uncontrolled possession of his rights. This would not well correspond with what it is intended to express,-the state of the
children of the ever-living God. The reference seems plainly to
be to what ordinarily took place both in Jewish and Greek
families, even during the life of the father. In these families,
the son, though destined ultimately to be the possessor of the
father's property, and called among the Romans, during his
minority, " herus minor," as with us, the " young master," was,
in so far as independent management was concerned, in a state
not superior to that of a servant.  He was obliged to rise and go
to bed, to work or rest, to study or amuse himself, according to
the will of others. Like the servant, he was altogether a person
"under authority."  The management of his time and occupation was committed to slaves, who were themselves entirely
subject to the command of the father of the family; and this state
was continued till the time fixed by the father for his son being
freed from this system of restrictions, and entering on the exercise
of his independent right.
us, "Quisquis capitum sectiones distribuit male hanc sententiam avulsit a
superioribus."
Gal. iv. 1, 2. The design of the apostle in introducing this illustration
is very well stated by Storr: "Ut enim pueri bonorum paternorum hoeredes
non eo sunt, quod pcedagogorum disciplina continentur, ab iisque coercentur
et reprehenduntur, sed antiquiore gaudent jure, et aliquantisper solum donec
lure suo rectius uti possint eidem perfruendo preparantur atque asservantur
sub poedagogorum principatu: ita etiam populus Dei impubes disciplina
legis non ideo cohibebatur, ut propositam beatitatem ceternamn HAC VIA obtineret, sed utjuris aliunde pendentis (iv. 4-7)fructui prcepararetur tantisper
atque servaretur."-De Consensu Epp. Pauli ad Hebrceos et Galatos, pp.
13, 14.
2 Ayw U, —that is,' hoc est quod volo.'




186            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
i" Son,"' and " servant"2 or slave, are tacitly opposed to one
another.'Ye are now children;' what were they before? what
could they be but slaves?  Is not the family3 made up of these
two classes? and it is more than hinted that the situation
of those whom he was addressing previously to their becoming
Christians was comparatively a servile one.  This suggestion
could not be very agreeable to the Jewish part of the Galatian
church; and they might appeal to the Old Testament Scripture
for proof that even under the former economy they were " children of God." 4 The apostle does not deny that even under the law
they had a sonship;5 but he clearly implies that that state was by
its restrictions very similar to a state of servitude.
The word rendered " children," 6 signifies persons of immature
age, whether in infancy or under training. The word rendered
"tutor,"7 denotes one to whom is entrusted the power of management of property or persons. In a civil sense, it is applied to
provincial magistrates; in a domestic sense, to the managers
of farms and estates. The word rendered " governor," 8 signifies
a house-steward to whom the management of the domestic concerns was entrusted. Such was Eliezer of Damascus in Abraham,
the rich Emir's, establishment.  The tutor or governor is not the
same as the official styled "the schoolmaster,"9 whose sole business was to take care of the children; but while under age, the
children, as to pecuniary matters, were under the tutor and
governor.  The expression "until the time appointed of the
Fathei,"'~1 is of itself sufficient to prove that the reference is not
to the children of a dead proprietor under the care of what we
call trustees or tutors; for the period of tutelage was fixed
among the Greeks and Romans, not by the testament of the
father, but by the civil law. The minor son, though "lord of
all,"" destined to be the proprietor of the estate, " differs," so far
as restriction is concerned, "nothing from a servant" —-a slave.
The condition of the minor son was thus to be borne patiently
-it was vastly preferable to abandonment; viewed in contrast
to such a state, and in reference to the object in view, the
vLd.                  2 aoXoS.             s oLKla.
i:,.ts are. Deut. xiv. 1.   5vio0Eola. Rom. ix. 4.  6 v7jrorLOS.
7 rLTpoIros.                                9s8OIK.OVlO  7mradayony~o.
10 7rpo0crala, that is, YI'ppa,' tempus constitutum,' a legal term.
11 KVpLO 7ravrcov.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 187
preparing the son for a higher position, it was a condition to be
thankful for-but certainly in no point of view was it to be
fondly cleaved to when its ends had been answered, or preferred
to the liberty for which this state of restriction was intended as
a preparation.
Let us now see how dexterously the apostle turns this familiar
fact to account, as an illustration of the subject more immediately
before him.
(2.) The application of the figure.
"Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under
the elements of the world: but when the fulness of the time was
come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God
hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a
son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."'
(a.) The Church's minor state.
" Even so."2  It is just as if the apostle had said,'Analogous
to the manner in which human fathers manage the education
of their offspring, has the Father of the great "family in
heaven and earth" conducted the discipline of his children.'
" When we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of this world."' To the question, Whom are we to understand by the persons3 in whose name the apostle speaks? the
answer plainly is, The family of God, the true church, genuine
believers. And to the question, What are we to understand by
their being " children," 4 that is, children under age? the proper
reply as obviously is, It refers to the state of the church under
the law, as one of imperfection, comparative feebleness, and
preparation.  It does not, however, so properly refer to its
condition of subjection to the law-intimated in the phrase " were
in bondage under the elements of the world"-as to its imperfection which rendered subjection to such an economy as the law
necessary.
" When we were children" is just equivalent to,'When our
Gal. iv. 3-7.    2  VTCS Kat.      q t4  lij0lo.
OUT~ K11




188           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. I-IV. 7.
knowledge of divine things was limited and indistinct, and all our
spiritual faculties in an unripe and imperfect state.' We have but
to look into the Old Testament and New Testament revelation to
see that the one is far more confined and far less distinct than
the other. From the very circumstances of the case, it behoved
to be so. The salvation was yet a future salvation, and it was
to be accomplished by means of the instrumentality of human
agency acting according to its ordinary laws. On this supposition, which is the truth, a clearer revelation would have been
incompatible with the object in view; so that under that order
of things the children of God would, in ordinary circumstances,
be in a state of infancy, or at best, childhood.
Now, when this was the state of their spiritual knowledge
and faculties, they were obviously utterly unfit to be left to
their own management. Something analogous to "the tutors
and governors appointed of the Father" was absolutely necessary, and this was found in what the apostle terms "the elements of the world" under "the bondage" of which they were
placed.
There are here two questions to which our attention must be
turned, What are " the elements of the world"? and, How were
the children of God under the law "'in bondage under these
elements"?  The word rendered "element"1 properly signifies
an order or series, and thence is transferred in a variety of ways
to things which stand in an order or series, or to things which
keep other things in a series or order. In the classics, it is used
of alphabetical characters or letters, as their order is fixed; and
by joining them, syllables and words are formed, and regular
orderly languages are produced. In a more extended sense, it
is employed of things which in any view are "elements"-things
out of which other things are constituted or compounded. Peter
uses the word of the component elementary parts of the universe.2
Some have thought that " the elements of the world"3 here refer
to the sun, moon, stars, and other bodies; but the apostle is plainly
speaking of the Judmeo-Christian Galatians (we), and even as to
the Ethnico-Christian Galatians it is doubtful how far they had
been in bondage to these as objects of worship.
1 cTroqXELov is the diminutive of the substantive orotXos.
2 2 Pet. iii. 10.     3a o rLrotXEa Tro KOrlaOV.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 189
To be "in  bondage under the elements of the world" is
obviously opposed to the being "redeemed from the law," so
that the reference of the phrase is undoubted. It refers to the
commandments and ordinances of the Mosaic law, and they seem
to be termed " elements,"l as elementary modes of instruction
corresponding to the alphabet, and suited to children;2 and
" elements of this world,"' as the elementary modes of discipline
belonging to, and characteristic of, the preparative Jewish dispensation.4  Now, by the elements here referred to, I understand
the whole system of external observances under the law, which,
if I may use the expression, may be considered as elements,
rudiments, suited to the comparatively childish state of the
church at the period referred to. And they are termed "worldly
elements"5 to mark their sensible and external character. In
training children, we are obliged constantly to appeal to their
senses; we cannot fix their attention in any other way. It is
by sensible representations we convey abstract truth into their
minds.  In like manner, in the childish state of the church,
arising out of the imperfect revelation of the economy of grace,
and that, again, proceeding from the nature of the case, the
church was taught and disciplined by symbolical representations
and external services.  This worship, though not destitute of
spirituality-for everything had a meaning, and that meaning
was by no means all concealed-had a great deal of corporeality.
It was very much a thing of time, and place, and circumstance.
The constant round of such observances was intended, in some
measure, to serve as a substitute for that enlightened spiritual,
habitual, service of God, which nothing but a clear revelation,
1                                                     2oLXEa.  2   LO
3 6 KoHUOS = OUTOS KOTUOo, as opposed to EKEIVOE K6OlpOS'.
4 That 6 KOd'OOS0, here, is equivalent to o'7JTo Ko'roS, and is a designation
of the Jewish economy as contrasted with the Messianic economy, is rendered
highly probable by Col. ii. 20, 21, where the -ra (rToLXEla To KO'loJOV are
plainly identified with such o0'y{/ara as /7'7 arn,,P/"8 YVev'r,,PO) OivE.
Having died in reference to the former, the Colossians are considered as
acting incongruously by observing the latter, as still living in " the world,"
to which such elementary dogmata belonged.
a5  TrOLXEa TOV K6OJOOV. It is a strange notion ascribed to Athanasius,
that these ar. T. KOO. are the oracles and rites given to the Jews, which were
intended, by means of the Jews, to train the Gentiles-" the world"-to the
true knowledge of God.




190           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
accompanied with a full effusion of divine influence, could have
produced.
Under these worldly external elementary institutions, the
church, in its childish state, was " kept" as in a state of bondage; that is, its members were kept in a restricted, confined
state-they were "kept" "shut up under the law."  Chandler
remarks, "The Jews were in bondage under these elements.
Their very religion made them a kind of slaves; the expense
necessary to support their temple worship was very great, and a
constant burden on their estates. Their frequent washings and
purifications must have been attended with many great inconveniences: their annual journeys to Jerusalem, which all the
male Jews were thrice every year obliged to perform, were both
costly and troublesome: so that they might well cry out,' What
a weariness is it?' upon which account the apostle Peter calls
the Mosaic law, even in Jerusalem itself,'a yoke which neither
we nor our fathers were able to bear.'1 The being under such
a law was really a state of slavery and bondage; and therefore
the Jews who were heirs of the promises differed nothing whilst
they were under it from servants."
This was no doubt a far preferable state to that of the Gentiles;
for better be the Lord's bondmen than our own masters, or, in
other words, the devil's slaves. But though a state preferable to
that of the Gentiles, and necessary in the peculiar circumstances
in which the church was placed, it was not, as we have already
showed, in itself a desirable state. It was only intended to be
introductory to something better. It was God's purpose to bring
them, his bondmen-children, into "the glorious liberty of his
grown-up children;" and accordingly the apostle states, that when
God by the accomplishment of his promise disclosed the mystery,
when Christ being come, there could with propriety be given
a full and plain account of the way of salvation through himsuch a view of the Divine character as accompanied with divine
influence, was quite sufficient without these artificial and worldly
elements to lead the believer to the habitual service of God-then
the family of God were delivered from that system of restriction
to which they had been so long necessarily subjected, and were
introduced into the enjoyment of the privilege of grown-up
1 Acts xv. 10.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 191
children. This is what is stated in the next verse, one of the
most important in the Book of God.a
"But when the fulness of the time" was come, God sent forth
his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of
sons." 2
Fully to unfold and illustrate the ideas contained in this verse,
it will be necessary for us to follow an order somewhat different
from that adopted in the verse itself. In such a passage as that
before us, the first point is to endeavour to ascertain what is
the leading idea, and what are the accessory ones —what is the
trunk, and what are the branches. That is easily done in the
present instance.  "When we were children, we were under
bondage; now when the fulness of time is come, we have obtained the adoption of children." To the obtaining of this it was
necessary that they who were under the law should be redeemed
from it; and in order to gain this, " God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law." 3
(b.) The State of vloOala, or, "Mature Sonship," into which the
Church has been introduced.
"The fulness of the time "b is a Hebraism for' the full time,'
in the same way as "the perfection of beauty"4 is'perfect
beauty, and " the promise of the Spirit,"5'the promised Spirit.'
When the full time was come-when the time appointed of the
Father 6 was fully arrived-then we, that is, the church, the
family of God, obtained the adoption of sons.
The word " adoption," 7 here, is not used in the sense in which
it is employed in theological writings generally. It does not
a Calvin's note on this passage is so valuable, that, though somewhat long,
I shall quote the whole of it at the close of the Exposition.-Note A.
1 rXkipo/ia TLoos signifies'that which fills it up.' — Cor. x. 26; Mark viii.
20. 7rkXpcoa ToI Xp6vov,' complementium temporis' —' the end of the time
appointed,' —lrX7ptp~6q7 Xpovov, 7rerVrpo)Ta& 6 Katpds, ETrXqrpo0tqo'av seu 7rearX -
pcovmTa& 7pepat. The time of the Messiah was called by the Jews avvrE'XLa
ToV aL:,YOv, KatpoS  iExarov, 71Epa&t eoXarat. Eph. i. 10, 7rArpopa T)JV KaLpov,.
Mark i. 15, 7rxrXrporal 6 KaLpo' Kalt?fr/LKEJ t 3aaoXELa roZ eFov.
2 Gal. iv. 4, 5.                                  b See Note B.
3 "Tantum abest, ut eos, quibus lex lata non fuit jugo legis subjecerit, ut
et ipsos Judaeos liberatum venerit."-WETsTEIN.
Psal. 1. 2.   5 Gal. iii. 14.       i~ rpooOeoeupla pdepa.    7 vioeoia.




192            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. ITT. 1-IV. 7.
denote the state of a person newly introduced into the family in
opposition to that of a person who is not of the family at all-it
describes the state of a member of the family raised to a higher
station in the family. "-Adoption of sons " is equivalent to,'the state of mature sons as opposed to the state of infants and
children.'l It describes not the state of saints as opposed to
that of sinners, but the state of saints under the Christian
dispensation in contrast with that of saints under the Mosaic dispensation.
Now, in what does that state consist?  In the possession of a
larger portion of knowledge of the character of God as a
father, in a higher measure of filial love and confidence towards
Him, and in a system of religious observances in their simplicity
and spirituality suited to this extended knowledge and improved
character. Under the Christian dispensation there is a much
clearer revelation of the character of God as " rich in mercy and
ready to forgive;" "just, yet the justifier of him that belie'veth
in Jesus," than under the Mosaic. The glory of God is most
illustriously displayed "in the face of his Son Jesus Christ."
The natural effect of this revelation believed is to destroy " the
fear that has torment," and to fill the mind with filial confidence and love. These sentiments as naturally draw out the
thoughts and affections towards God, and thus render unnecessary, and indeed unsuitable, that complicated system of external
religious observances which characterised the former economy.
Under the Christian dispensation, the ordinances of religion
consist chiefly of the simplest possible expression of the sentiments and feelings due to God, and of the direct and obvious
means of religious and moral improvement. There is just so
much of positive institute, and no more, as to keep us in mind of
our duty implicitly to submit to Divine authority, while even
these positive institutions are so simple and significant as to have
far more in them of spiritual, than of bodily, service. To use the
powerful language of the first of English authors, " The doctrine
of the gospel planted by teachers divinely inspired, was by them
winnowed and sifted from the chaff of over-dated ceremonies,
and refined to such a spiritual height and temper of purity, and
1,C YoOerla," says Schott, "emphatice dicitur de transitu ex statu servili
qualis fuit puerorum in conditionem filii qua usum faciat integrum cujusque
juris et commodi filio competentis."




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIEI). 193
knowle(lge of the Creator, that the body, with all the circumstances of time and place, were purified by the affections of the
regenerate soul, and nothing left impure but sin; faith needing
not the weak and fallible offices of the senses to be either the
ushers or interpreters of heavenly mysteries save where our Lord
himself in his sacraments hath ordained."'
(c) The Means by which this favourable Change was effected.
In order to the church obtaining this " adoption of sons "this state of mature sonship-it was absolutely necessary that the
believers under the law should be "redeerned" from  it. We
have already seen that the system of religious observances under
that economy was rendered necessary by, and was suited to, that
imperfection of revelation, limited exertion of divine influence,
and corresponding imperfection of spiritual character, which prevailed under it. That service, as the apostle informs us, " stood
only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances," which could not make them that performed them perfect
as pertaining to the conscience, and was imposed only "until
the tiine of reformation."2
The removal of that state of things was necessary both in reference to believing Jews who were already in the family of God,
and in reference to those Gentiles who by believing were to be
brought into it. It was not meet that those in the family, when
admitted to the privilege of mature sonship, should continue
subject to the restraints necessary in infancy and childhood; and
it was not meet that those admitted into the family in this advanced state, should be made subject to these restraints. Thus
it was necessary for them who were under the law to be redeemed
or delivered from the law " that we "-that is, both Jews and
Gentiles-" might obtain the adoption of sons."
The manner in which this great and happy change in the state
of the church was brought about, is thus stated,-" God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law," that He
might 1" redeem them -that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons." This change in the Christian
state was highly important, and its importance is marked by the
manner in which it was accomplished. It was not accomplished
1 Milton.                        2 Heb. ix. 10.
N




194            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-1V. 7by a mere revelation of the Divine will by an ordinary messenger
either angelic or human. It was accomplished by the onlybegotten Son of God becoming incarnate, and subjecting himself
to the law that he might deliver his church from under it.  To
bring his ancient church out of the slavery of Egypt and put
them in possession of liberty and peace in Canaan, God raised
up Moses and Joshua; but to deliver them from the thraldom of
the law, and to introduce them into the glorious liberty of God's
children, "He sent forth his Son."
A" The Son of God " is an appellation given to him who is our
Redeemer, to indicate the identity of his nature with, his personal
distinction from, and the intimacy of his relation to, his divine
Father, as well as the complacential affection with which they
regard each other. When Jesus called God his own Father,
and called himself God's own, only-begotten, Son, the Jews
understood him to say he was equal with God; and that they
did not misunderstand him, is plain from our Lord never correcting them. This glorious Personage, in nature and perfection
equal to the Father, but in the economy of human salvation
subject to Him, was "sent forth" or commissioned by Him to
bring his church into the enjoyment of " the adoption of sons."
The phrase " sent forth"'- is used of one who sends a person
from him in another direction to execute a commission.2 Plainly
referring here to something preceding our Saviour's birth, it contains in it an intimation of the pre-existence of the Saviour-a
doctrine very distinctly taught in many passages of Scripture.'
The Son of God was sent forth " made or born of a woman." 4
This expression obviously describes our Lord's incarnation.  He
was sent forth in human nature. "1 The Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us."5  "Forasmuch as the children" whom
he came to bring to glory "' were partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same." 6 It has been
l E    Ea7'eTX'XELV.
2 It is used to denote the sending of messengers, Exod. iii. 10; Acts xxii. 21.
3 Semler's remark here is excellent: " Res ipsa sufficit: talibus sententiis
reprimi omnes illos qui existendi initium repetunt ab hac nativitate E'K
yvvaLKov, quee hic commemoratur. Molesta est sedulitas qune hic obloquitur.
Johannes, chap. i. et Paulus saepissime asserunt 7rpoi raplv hujus filii apud
Deulm."
4 ycEVOEVOV EK yvvaLKo'.,S n -ny, —Job xiv. 1.  5 John i. 14.
6 Heb. ii. 14.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 195
thought that there is a reference in the phrase to the peculiar
mode of our Lord's becoming incarnate-in being born of a
virgin, being the offspring of the woman. The words do not
necessarily express this; but I am not prepared to assert that
the fact was not present to the apostle's mind when he chose this
particular expression which naturally enough suggests this idea in
preference to other expressions, which would have merely conveyed
the idea of incarnation, without any reference at all to the mode.
He came, not only made or born of a woman, but " made" or
born "under the law;"' not only a man, but a Jew. Many
interpreters consider " the law" here as what they term  the
moral law in its covenant form. The doctrine which they state
in these words, "Christ was made under the moral law in
its covenant form"-that is, " Christ Jesus came commissioned
by the Father to yield a perfect obedience and satisfaction to
the law, which his people, whether Jews or Gentiles, had broken,
and thus to deliver them from condemnation, and secure for
them eternal life"-is a most important truth; but it seems very
plain that it is not the truth here taught.2
The law under which Christ is here represented as made is
the law under which the church was placed before his coming,
and from which it was necessary to deliver her in order to the
obtaining the adoption of sons. He was made under that law,
inasmuch as he was the substitute of all his believing people
who had ever been under it, bound to obey its precepts, and to
sustain its curse, which they had incurred. It is not at all
unlikely that one of the arguments of the Judaising teachers
was,' Jesus Christ was himself a Jew; he was under the law,
and yielded obedience to all its requisitions; he was circumcised and scrupulously conformed to all its injunctions;' and that
the apostle had a reference to this in bringing forward the fact.
It is as if he had said,' It is very true that Jesus Christ was
" made under the law," but it was " to redeem them who were
under the law." So far was the imposition of the law on the
1 yeroE ov 7vr vodov.
2 " There have been many disputes about the law under which Christ was
made, and how far, and in what respects, he was subject to it. These I have
no mind to enter into, as it is plain that it was the same law which the
apostle had been speaking of,-the law which held him and all his countrymen in bondage as children under age."-RIlcCALTOUN.




196           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. 11I. 1-I. 7,
Gentiles from being the object of his coming, one of its designs
was to deliver the Jews from under it.'
It only remains, to a full elucidation of this important verse,
that we inquire what connection there is between God's sending
forth his Son in human nature and subject to the Mosaic law
and the redemption of them who were under that law, and the
churches obtaining the adoption of sons.  We have already
seen that the state called "/the adoption of sons" —the state of New
Testament privileges and liberty- could not exist along with the
state of legal bondage; and we have seen, too, that the only
honourable termination to the legal economy was to be found in
its precepts being perfectly obeyed, and its curse fully endured,
by the Substitute of those belonging to the spiritual Israel who
had lived under it. For this purpose it was obviously necessary
that that Divine Substitute should become both a man and a Jew,
and in human nature, and subject to the Mosaic law, and as all
his people under that law were bound to do, and suffer all they
had deserved to suffer, and thus lay a foundation for the honourable termination of a system which had served its purpose, and
the continuation of which was inconsistent with the higher and
better order of things which was now to take place.
Besides, it was the imperfection of the revelation of the way of
salvation, attended with a corresponding limited communication
of divine influence, which was the cause of that imperfection of
spiritual character which made the law necessary as a restrictive
system; and it was the fact that the Saviour was yet to come,
that the salvation was yet to be accomplished, which rendered the
imperfection of the revelation necessary. Now, when the Saviour
was come, and had "finished transgression, and made an end
of sin, and brought in an everlasting righteousness," a foundation
was laid for a full and plain revelation, and this revelation,
attended by the influence of the Holy Spirit, produced that state
of thinking and feeling in reference to divine things to which
such a system of carnal ordinances as the law contained was at
once unnecessary and unsuitable, and which fitted the people of
God for that simple spiritual order of things which distinguishes
the gospel economy. Such is the apostle's analogical illustration
drawn from domestic life.
A question most deeply connected with our highest interests
claims our attention ere we proceed farther. This Son of God,




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 197
sent forth by the Father, has come into our world-made of a
woman-made under the law-a man, a Jew, and he has done
and suffered all that was necessary to redeem them that were
under the law-and in doing so he has laid a broad and sure
foundation for all men, whether under the law or without law,
whether Jews or Gentiles, on believing, obtaining the high privilege of mature divine sonship. An infinite atonement has been
made and accepted-a plain and well-accredited revelation has
been given, and a channel wide and deep opened for the communication of divine influence all powerful to purify and to save.
We live under the dispensation in which all these things are
matters, not of prediction and expectation, but of history and of
experience.
But we mnay live under that dispensation and yet continue
personally uninterested in its blessings. The question-the allimportant question-is,' Am I so united to Christ as to be interested in the blessings of his salvation?' Such an union can only
be formed by the faith of the truth; and wherever that faith really
exists there is that union, and there are all its blessed results.
If we are the children of God, it is through the faith of Christ;
and if we believe in Christ, we are the children of God. "To
as many as receive him he gives the privilege of being the sons
of God —even to as many as believe in his name."
Let us see then that we be not unchanged men, while an economy is in operation around us, in which " old things have passed
away, and all things are become new"-that we be not in darkness amid light, and when many once in darkness are now light
in the Lord-under condemnation while a free pardon is proclaimed in our ears, and many as guilty as we are actually pardoned-dead while quickening influence is in active operation
around us, and many once as lifeless as we are quickened together
with Christ. Let us see that we be so united to Christ as to be
" made the righteousness of God in him." Let us see that we be
i"created anew in Christ Jesus;" for "if any man be in Christ Jesus
he is a new creature." Let us see that this double change has taken
place on us. Without the first change, heaven is shut against us;
without the second, we are unfit for heaven; without them both,
it had been better for us that we never had been born. It will
be a fearful thing if, with an infinite atonement-an omnipotent
Spirit-a plain and well-accredited Bible-a full and a free salva



198             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
tion-we yet perish. No common perdition must be our perdition-deeper than that of Jews or heathens in proportion to
the greater number and higher value of our privileges. But
why should there be perdition at all? Salvation in Christ with
eternal glory is brought very near us, and must be ours if we do
not obstinately refuse to receive it.  It can be received only in
the faith of the truth of the gospel; and why should we not
believe? all things are ready-the completed sacrifice-the free
Spirit-the plain well-accredited record-nothing in the way but
"' the evil heart of unbelief "- a state of mind as monstrous as it
is wicked, as irrational as it is ruinous.
For a proof that the Galatian believers were indeed introduced into a state analogous to that of grown-up children, the
apostle appeals to their state of mind in reference to God produced by the operation of the Holy Spirit. e
(d) Consequence and proof of this favourable change of condition.
The consequence and proof of this happy change in the
church's condition are described in the two following verses," And because1 ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his
Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art
no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God
through Christ."2
The word " sons" 3 is obviously to be understood as equivalent
to grown-up sons, as opposed to sons in a state of infancy and
childhood; and the whole phrase "because ye are sons" is equivalent to-' as a proof of your being introduced into a state of
mature sonship, as an evidence that you have indeed obtained
the adoption of sons4-" God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son
into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father."'
c See Note C.
1 Many interpreters, like our translators, consider -ir as equivalent to
&ao'TL. Others, perhaps with equal justice, give it its ordinary meaning, and
supply &8Xov, " And that ye are sons is evident," as at chap. iii. 11.
2 Gal. iv. 6, 7.
vlds, as opposed to VTrLOl. voirt&dTr?7 and vioOe'[la are contrasted. " Dixit
vtoL non raaW&s enim sunt pueri, h. e. infantes aut servi; utrumque puer significat in omnibus linguis: et cum ipse Christus raks dicitur servus intelligitur. Nec dicit vY7rot irnfantes, qui fari nondum sciunt; sed viobY vocat,
nimirum adultos, nec tantum loquentes sed clamantes."-A. MORUS.
4 t  v' o  la
7T1V V0oOEO-1aJA




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 199
It is not very easy to determine whether by "the Spirit of
God's Son" we are here to understand the Holy Spirit, that
divine person who, along with the Father and the Son, exists in
the unity of the Godhead, and is the great agent in the communication of spiritual blessings; or-like the phrase " The spirit
of Elijah "-the temper, the disposition, of Christ —the way of
thinking and feeling in reference to God, by which he was characterised. Both modes of interpretation are sufficiently agreeable to the use of the language and the object of the apostle.
Indeed, it matters very little which is adopted; for the characteristic sentiments and disposition of Jesus Christ, his spirit,
was the result of the operation of the Holy Spirit, who, in his
enlightening and sanctifying influence, was given him without
measure. At the same time, the phrase "sent forth," which is
the same as that used in reference to our Lord in the 4th
verse, seems more applicable to a person than to a temper or
disposition. And on this account we are disposed to consider
the phrase " Spirit of his Son" as an appellation of the Holy
Spirit, intimating either his essential or economical relation to the
Divine Son-either his proceeding from him, or his being sent by
him, or his dwelling in him.
By God's sending forth the Holy Spirit into the hearts of the
believing Galatians, we are to understand his making them the
subjects of his influence. In the whole of the Christian economy
"All things are of God."  He sends forth his Son; He sends
forth the Spirit of his Son. " Of Him, and through Him, and to
Him, are all things."
The particular nature of the influence of the Spirit of his Son
whom He sends forth is described in the conclusion of the verse,
-" Crying, Abba, Father."  The word "crying" is by a Hebraism used instead of making to cry. The phrase is explained
by a similar one in the parallel passage in Romans,-" Whereby
we cry, Abba, Father." I The Spirit of God's Son sent into the
hearts of the believing Galatians led them to cry, "Abba, Father."
The Holy Spirit, through the faith of the gospel, had formed
them to the sentiments and feelings of children, had given them
such views of the Divine character as led them to venerate Him,
to love Him, to trust in Him, and to express these sentiments and
1Rom. viii. 15.




200            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-Iv. 7.
feelings in spontaneous, reverential, affectionate, confidential
prayer.  "Abba" is a Syrian word, signifying father, and a
word which none but children were allowed to use. The SyroChaldaic was the apostle's vernacular language as a Jew. The
idea he means to express, was that the Galatian believers felt
towards God as children, and showed that they felt in this way
by the manner in which they approached Himn in their devotions.
Now, what could be more natural for him than to use the word
with which his ear was most familiar as the expression of filial
regard, which he had likely a thousand and a thousand times
addressed, both to his earthly and heavenly father, as an expression of confidence and tenderness? and then, recollecting that
many of those to whom he wrote did not understand the Syriac
language, he adds a translation in a language with which they
were acquainted.' The distinction between slaves and children
is strongly marked. Slaves seldom spoke to their master; and
when they did, it was in a subdued voice, and then they called
him Lord, Baali. Children habitually speak to their parentsthey speak boldly. In distress they cry to them, and they call
them, Father, Abba.  Selden quotes the Babylonian Gemara to
prove that it was not allowed to slaves to use the title of Abba
in addressing the head of the fanlily, or the correspondent title
Imma, when speaking to the mistress of it.  The possession of
such views and feelings in reference to God, and the habitual
expression of these in humble, believing, affectionate prayer, are
the result of the Spirit of God's Son being sent into the heart, and
the most satisfactory of all evidence that we indeed have received
the adoption-are the children of God through Jesus Christ.
This is the conclusion which the apostle draws from  it in
reference to the Galatians in the next verse,-" Wherefore thou
art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ." 2
] It is a striking instance of learned trifling, when Dr Gill remarks on this
passage, that " the word ABBA, read backwards and forwards, is the same
pronunciation; and may teach us that God is the Father of his people in
adversity as well as in prosperity."  Olshausen's note is better: "With the
assumption that the child-like lisp in the word may be combined Winer's
opinion, that well-known prayers began with Abba; so that the clause might
be paraphrased thus,' Who teaches us to pray with a child-like mind, and in
a child-like form."'
2 Gal. iv. 7.




P. IV. ~ 9.] JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH DIVINELY RATIFIED. 201
The apostle here changes the number in his address from the
plural to the singular, " thou art no more," etc. instead of, "ye
are no more," etc.  Such changes are common in the apostle's
writings; and it is not always possible to assign the reason. In
the case before us, it is not improbable that the apostle's object
was to impress on the minds of the Galatians that the privilege
he was speaking of was a personal privilege, not enjoyed in
consequence of their connection with any visible society merely,
but in consequence of every individual, by his own faith of the
gospel, obtaining an interest in the blessings it reveals and
conveys.
The verse is obviously a deduction from what goes before.
The import of the connective particle 1 "wherefore," or, so that,
or, thus, is —'since God has by sending his Son,' etc. has redeemed
those who are under the law, and introduced his church into the
state of mature sonship, and since He has by the operation of his
Holy Spirit formed you to a character suited to that state, it is
evident that ye are indeed sons of God, grown-up sons of God,
and enjoying all the privileges of that exalted state.
" Thou art a son"' at once placed in the filial relation and
formed to the filial character. God regards and treats thee as
his son; and thou art taught by the Spirit to think and feel in
reference to IIim as thy Father; " and if a Son, then an heir of
God through Christ."
To be the " heir" of any person, in strict propriety of language,
is to be destined to be the legal possessor of his property after
his death. It is plain that in this point of view the word is
inapplicable to God.  To be "an heir of God" is just to be
possessed, and secured, of all the blessings which may be expected from God in the character of a father. The force of the
apostle's argument is,  If thou art indeed a son of God, thou
mayest safely count on all the privileges of sonship; if thou art a
son, the inheritance assuredly is, or will be, thine.' We have
the same argument, nearly in the same words, Romans viii. 17,"A' nd if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with
Christ: if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together."
1 
2 Vtod.   t::  Hebroeis sexum utrumque notat: ita e'Kva et viol pro filiis
et filiabus: in jure Coesareo filius filiam etiam notat."-WEssELIUS.




202           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. III. 1-IV. 7.
And all this is " through Christ Jesus." It was entirely on
account of what Christ had done and suffered in the room of the
believing Galatian-it was entirely in consequence of the belief
of the truth on this subject —that he was a son and an heir of
God; and the conclusion to which the apostle obviously wishes
him to come, and to which his statements plainly lead, is this,-'What object can in your case be secured by subjecting yourself
to the law? Ye are already in possession of, or at any rate
secured of, all you can possibly wish in the way of dignity and
happiness; ye are already the sons and heirs of God through
Christ Jesus. Ye are already complete in Christ,-why go to the
law then?  What can it do for you which he has not done?
What can it give you of which you are not already possessed?'
But you will notice the apostle introduces another idea; he
not only exhibits the dignity and happiness of their state as
believers simply, but he exhibits it as contrasted with the degradation and misery of a situation in which they had been
previously placed. "Thou art no longer a servant, but a son,"
etc. Some interpreters suppose that the apostle is here contrasting the state of believers under the gospel with that of believers
under the law. But this is obviously not the case. The apostle
in this passage represents the state of believers under the law not
as a condition of servitude (though in some respects resembling
such a state), but of tutelage; he compares it not with the
condition of slaves, but with that of children during their
state of minority.' Had he been addressing Christian Jews, he
would have said rather, —' Ye are no longer in a state of infancy
and childhood, but in a state of mature sonship.' Indeed, from
the following verse it is quite plain that he is addressing himself
to converted idolaters, persons who never had been subject to
the law. The word "servant" properly signifies'slave,' and
strikingly describes that degraded spiritual condition in which
the Galatians were previously to their conversion.' Thou art
no longer a slave as thou once wast-the devoted, degraded
servant of false divinities-but thou art introduced into the glorious freedom of the children of the true God, and into all the
immunities and privileges connected with such a situation.'
1 They were vrrtot, 7eKVla, not 8ovXot.




PART V.
THE APOSTLE'S EXPOSTULATIONS WITH AND WARNING
OF THE GALATIANS.
GALATIANS IV. 8-V. 12. —" Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did
service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have
known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days,
and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed
upon you labour in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye
are: ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how, through infirmity of the flesh,
I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in
my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God,
even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear
you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own
eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy,
because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but not well; yea,
they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be
zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present
with you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ
be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my
voice; for I stand in doubt of you. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the
law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons;
the one by a bond maid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of
the bond woman was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by
promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants;
the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which
now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above
is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren
that bearest not; break forth and cry thou that travailest not: for the
desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we,
brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that
was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it
is now. Nevertheless, what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bond woman
and her son: for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of
the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond woman,




204             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
but of the free. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath
made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I-Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you
nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a
debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we
through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus
Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith
which worketh by love. Ye did run well; who did hinder you, that ye
should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth
you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you
through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that
troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. And I, brethren,
if I yet' preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the
offence of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off which trouble
you."
SECT. I. —INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
MAN is a being endowed with affections as well as intellect, and
these different parts of his mental constitution mutually influence
each other. While, on the one hand, you cannot obtain a secure
hold of the affections without first bringing the understanding
over to your side; on the other, the having the affections on your
side makes it a comparatively easy work to obtain the suffrage of
the intellect.  The same sentiments and arguments wear a very
different appearance to the mind when they come from a friend
and from an enemy.  If I am  prejudiced in favour of an individual, I naturally see everything he says in the best light. I
am prejudiced in favour of his sentiments and arguments; and
if the former are true and the latter conclusive, their truth and
force are more readily acknowledged and more strongly felt just
because they are his. On the other hand, if I am prejudiced
against an individual, I view everything he says and does with
suspicion. I am prejudiced against his sentiments and arguments, just because they are his; and though the former should
be true and the latter conclusive-so evidently true and completely conclusive that there is no denying the one or resisting
the other-yet still there is a struggle against, and a reluctance
in, surrendering our understandings into the hands of one who
has no hold on the heart.
Hence the importance of a teacher of Christian truth standing
well in the affections of those whom  he instructs.  If a teacher




1P V. ~ 1.]      INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.                  205
of Christianity be generally viewed as a man altogether destitute
of, or greatly deficient in, integrity and piety, anxious to promote
his own interest and reputation, but careless of the spiritual
interest of those to whom he ministers-however able and eloquent
may be his discourses, however clear his statements of truth and
powerful his enforcements of duty —it is not at all likely that his
labours will either be very acceptable or very useful. On the
other hand, if a teacher of Christianity be regarded by his people
with reverence and love, as really " honest in the sacred cause,"
firmly believing every statement he makes, exemplifying in his
own character and conduct every virtue and duty he recommends, truly desirous of promoting their spiritual improvement
and ultimate salvation, truth from his lips is likely to prevail
with double sway, attention will be readily yielded, and conviction, instead of being resisted, will be welcomed, and obedience
cheerfully rendered.
Both Paul and his Judaising opposers in the church of Galatia
seem to have been aware of the peculiarity in the human constitution we have just adverted to, and to have regulated their
conduct accordingly. Perceiving that it was a hopeless undertaking to shake the faith of the Galatians in Paul's doctrine so
long as he continued the object of their veneration, esteem, and
love, these false teachers appear to have left no means untried to
destroy their confidence in his divine mission as an apostle, and
his integrity as a man. They seem to have used the most unworthy acts to seduce their affections from their spiritual father
and to appropriate them to themselves; and it appears that their
nefarious attempts were attended in too many cases with success.
The apostle easily could, and actually did, oppose clear statements to their misrepresentations, and powerful arguments to their
sophistical reasonings; but he knew hunlan nature too well to
think that statements of truth however clear, and reasonings in
its support however powerful, could of themselves regain alienated affection, or, while that affection continued alienated, were
likely to produce their own appropriate effect on the mind. To
counteract the mischievous design of his enemies and to pave the
way for the unprejudiced consideration of his statements and
arguments, we have seen him in the two previous chapters of his
epistle vindicating his authority as an apostle, and his integrity
as a man; and in the paragraph which begins the next division




206          EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
of his epistle, we find him with the skill of a master in the science
of human nature making an appeal to the all but extinguished
kind affections of those who had once so dearly loved him, bringing before their minds in a manner peculiarly calculated to make
an impression on their hearts, that mutual interchange of kind
affections and friendly offices by which their original intercourse
had been characterised, and assuring them that however they
might have changed he remained unaltered, that his heart beat
as warm as ever to their best interests, and that all he had endured for them he was willing to endure again, though the more
he loved them the less he should be loved.
The object of the apostle in thus adverting to their former
situation soon becomes apparent.
It lays a foundation for a new argument against their seeking
to be subjugated to the Mosaic law. The substance of it is this:' Ye were once slaves; now you are free. Would you wish to
be slaves again? for, indeed, there is much in common between
the rites of the religion you have abandoned and these over-dated
ceremonies for which you are discovering so preposterous a fondness.'
SECT. II. —THE APOSTLE SHOWS THE GALATIANS THAT THEY
WERE IN DANGER OF SUBJECTING THEMSELVES TO A BONDAGE SIMILAR TO THAT FROM WHICH THEY HAD BEEN DELIVERED.
"Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto
them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have
known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to
the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to
be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and
years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour
in vain." 1
It is as if the apostle had said,' Ye are no more slaves; but
there was a time when ye were slaves.' " When ye knew not
God,"-that is,'when you were ignorant of the true God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you were in a state of
heathenism,'2 —" ye did service unto them which are no gods."
1 Gal. iv. 8-11.       2 aOoL Xoplv Xp'aTroi. Eph. ii. 11, 12.




P. V. ~ 2.]     DANGER OF THE GALATIANS.                207
The English phrase do service, which suggests no other notion
than worship, does not by any means come up to the apostle's
idea: " Ye were enslaved 1 to them who are by nature no gods,"
-ideal beings, dead men, evil spirits, heavenly luminaries.' You
served your false divinities, and you served them like slaves:
you had the feelings of slaves in reference to them, and your
conduct was like that of slaves engaged in a toilsome, profitless
round of external services.' In false religion in all its forms,
nothing is more remarkable than its enslaving, degrading influence on the minds of its votaries.
Such was once the situation of the Galatians; but an important change had taken place: " They knew God, or rather
were known of God." 2 These words admit of two different
modes of interpretation. According to one of these, the words
mean,'They had obtained the knowledge of the existence and
character of the true God; or rather, to speak more accurately,
they had been made to know by God.3 Their knowledge of
God was not the result of their own research: it was entirely of
God. He gave the revelation; He sent it to them; He " opened
their understanding" to understand and believe it.' In this case
we must suppose the apostle to use a Hebraism. According to
the other mode of interpretation, which, upon the whole, I think
the preferable one, the word " know" is to be considered as
equivalent to' acknowledge,'-a sense which it certainly has in
some passages of Scripture; for example, Amos iii. 2; Matth.
vii. 23; John x. 14; 1 Cor. viii. 3.'But now, after ye have
acknowledged God, or rather have been acknowledged by God,4
-now that you have, in consequence of having believed the
gospel, taken the true God for your God, and have been acknowledged by Him as his people, by his bestowing on you
numerous and important privileges,-how  is it that in these
circumstances " ye turn again5 to the weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire," or do ye desire, " again to be in
bondage?"'
1 dJovXEvcTaTE.   2 7VyrOYVe edOv, MaXXov & yVoxCOevTrEs V67r0' eov.
3 Interpreting the Greek passive as if it were the Hebrew hophal.
7rpooXr/0ce0vrev, as Theophylact interprets it.
5 rXtv atVOOAEv. Our translators have not rendered aIvoEv, considering
the two particles as signifying nothing more than TrdXLv. This seems a
mistake: atwOOEv seems equivalent to "eo modo quo a principio."




208           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IVr. 8-V. 12.
These words may seem at first view inexplicable, as they may
appear to involve in them one or other of the two following equally
false suppositions: that the Galatian Gentiles had been subject
to the law previously to their believing the gospel; or, that they
were disposed to return to heathenism. There is a principle that
removes all difficulty.-The rites of the heathen worship and the
now obsolete ritual observances of the Mosaic economy having
much in common, they both deserved the name of "weak and beggarly elements." The leading character of both was externality;
they were both "worldly elements;" they consisted "in meats,
and drinks, and divers washings."  Those rites were "weak and
beggarly."'l These epithets seem synonymous; and intimate
that they were incapable of propitiating God, of pacifying the
conscience, of improving the character. The apostle2 represents
the "weak" 3 and the "unprofitable" 4 as the characteristic
features of the law, viewed as a method of salvation.
The apostle's expostulation is obviously very forcible:'That
ye should have been slaves, even the slaves of false deities, when
you knew no better, was not wonderful; but now that you have
acknowledged God as your God, and that He has acknowledged
you, not merely as his servants, but his sons, it is very extraordinary that, after experiencing A" the liberty of the children of
God"-the walking at liberty, keeping his commandments, ye
should discover a disposition again to be subjected to a state of
things which, as to externality and restriction, bears a striking
analogy to the state from which you have been delivered.'
That the apostle's suspicions were not unfounded, he makes
evident from the facts he refers to in the next verse. "Ye
observe days, and months, and times, and years." 5
This verse may be rendered interrogatively; but that does not
materially affect its meaning. From this passage, it is plain that
some of the Galatian converts had yielded to the Judaising
teachers, and commenced in good earnest to keep the law.
While they were Gentiles, they performed a set of useless
ceremonies in honour of their false deities; and now they do
the same thing though unintentionally, in honour of the true
God.  Under the Christian dispensation, with the exception
1                       2aoOEYT KaL,rrXd.  2 Heb. vii. 18.  s rW TvoEV.
i or amvcbXEs. T        Gal. iv. 10.




P. V. ~ 2.]       DANGER OF THE GALATIANS.                     209
of the Lord's day,' all days are alike. God may be worshipped at
all times, and in all places. The phrase " days" 2 probably refers to
the Jewish Sabbath, and the great day of expiation; "months," 3
to the festivals at the new moons; " times,"4 to annual feasts,
such as the Passover, Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles;
"years," 5 to the Sabbatical year and the year of Jubilee.
It seems plain, from the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters of
the Epistle to the Romans, that though the apostle considered
the observing of these institutions on the part even of believing
Jews as unnecessary, he did not consider it as unlawful, so long
as they viewed them not as a means of justification, but merely
as institutions originally of Divine appointment, and in their
estimation unrepealed. But for believing Gentiles, who never
had been subject to the law, to engage in these services, had a
very suspicious aspect indeed, and certainly seemed to say that
they wanted something more than was to be found in Christ and
in Christianity.  Accordingly, the apostle adds, "I am afraid of
you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." 6 I I am
afraid that you have rendered of no effect all the labour I have
bestowed on you.' The great object of a Christian teacher is to
1 That, under the Christian dispensation, the first day of the week is
divinely appropriated for religious purposes, and that this is in reality the
form in which the principle embodied in the Sabbath from the beginning is
exhibited under that dispensation, are principles capable, I apprehend, of
complete proof by a " conjugation of moral probabilities," which, on a fair
mind, is fitted to produce an effect as powerful as demonstration. The dislike of the objects of the institution, it is to be feared, in many cases leads
people to demand a kind and degree of evidence of which the subject does not
admit; and I am afraid harm has been done by persons endeavouring, with
the best intentions doubtless, to meet this unreasonable demand.
2 1,'pas.        3 L  v             KatpOvsa.         p5 avrov..
6 Gal. iv. 11. ~o/3ol&tat v',a1s is an example of a construction in which a
noun in the accusative is governed by the first of two verbs, instead of being
nominative or, more rarely, accusative to the second.  4S v'aiS,'in reference
to you,' equivalent to iV7rEp;V/V. A similar construction is found, Ignat.
Ep. ad Rom. ii. —of&oitLal nlv vIpLv dyadrqv, /I1  avrT I/e as 1K7r,.  Storr
considers the use of v4&s as indicating this thought,'I am afraid that you
yourselves have frustrated the labour I bestowed on you. The Judaising
teachers could not have done it without your assistance.' He considers it as
an expression similar to e/ofio3vro 7rv Xao'v, " lest they should be stoned,"
Acts v. 26; that is,' they feared that the people would stone them.' Jaspis
brings out the same sense in his note: " Timeo ne opera, quam vobis insumsi
a vobis irrita reddatur-per vos vana sit."
O




210           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
bring men to the enjoyment of the blessings of Christianity, by
leading them to understand and believe " the truth as it is in
Jesus." And whenever men who profess to believe the gospel
act in a manner which gives reason to think that they really do
not understand and believe the gospel, then the Christian teacher
has reason to fear that he has bestowed labour on them in vain.
Such was the conduct of the Galatian Christians. The man who
clearly understood and firmly believed the gospel, which Paul
had preached among them, found all in Christ of which he stood
in need. " Christ" was to him "all in all."  He wanted no
wisdom but the wisdom of Christ-no propitiation but this propitiation. " Of God Christ was made unto him wisdom;" and
in him he found "justification, and sanctification, and redemption." 1 But when, by submitting to circumcision, offering sacrifices, and performing other ceremonial services, the Galatians
seemed to find something wanting in Christ, there was much
reason to fear that, notwithstanding their profession, they did not
understand and believe the truth; and that, of course, the apostle's
labour had been bestowed on them in vain.
There is something peculiarly affecting in these simple words
of the apostle. He had laboured, laboured too with apparent
success; but now, through the exertion of false teachers, the
fruits of his labour seem in extreme hazard of being completely
blasted. How happy would it be for Christ's church if ministers
in general were of the apostle's spirit-" jealous over their people
with a godly jealousy!" 2
SECT. III.-THE APOSTLE REMINDS THEM OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THEIR CONVERSION, AND SHOWS THEM THAT
NOTHING HAD OCCURRED THAT SHOULD HAVE CHANGED
THEIR SENTIMENTS TOWARDS EITHER HIM OR HIS TEACHING.
"Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are:
ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how, through infirmity
of the flesh, I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And
~my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ
Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear
1 1 Cor. i. 30. 8LKaioOvPi TEa Kayl ayao/L Kat aroXv,7pouts.    2 2 Cor. xi. 2.




P. V ~ 3.]  CIRCUMSTANCES OF THEIR CONVERSION.             211
you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked
out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore
become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" 1
The meaning and reference of the words in the 12th verse are
by no means very evident.2  The words admit, and they have received, various interpretations. They are obviously an exhortation to imitate the apostle. The question is, In what?
They have very generally been considered as an exhortation to
the Galatians by the apostle, enforced by a motive, to cherish the
same views which he entertained in reference to a full and free
justification by faith in Christ, without the works of the law.
The interpreters who take this view of the passage would read
the words thus, " Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am: for I
was as ye are:" as if he had said,' I once thought as ye do; I
once considered circumcision and the other observances of the
Mosaic institution absolutely necessary to salvation; I once expected to obtain the Divine favour by my own exertions. But I
have seen reason to change my opinion; and I am quite sure,
that if you saw things in their true light, you would adopt, not
those views which, from a full conviction of their falsehood, I
have abandoned, but those which I now hold fast as the truth of
Christ, and the only foundation of my own hope as a sinner.'
Other interpreters suppose that the apostle does not refer so
much to sentiment as to conduct.  " Be ye as I am;"-that is,' Exercise your Christian liberty; imitate me in my disregard of
the obsolete requisitions of the Mosaic economy;'-" for I am as
ye are."'I, to use the language of the address to Peter in the
second chapter, " I live as the Gentiles do." 3 I, though a native
Jew once under the law, disregard these legal restrictions. Why
should you Gentiles, who were never under the law, submit to
them, now that they are destitute of all obligation even on those
who were once bound to observe them?'
Gal. iv. 12-16.
2 The first thing is to attend to their construction, which is obviously
elliptical. In the first clause, after y&3 " I," may either be supplied E'Jl,
"am," which is often omitted in such cases, or y/yova, "have become," from
the preceding verb. The change of time in that case is not inconsistent with
the usus loquendi, Mark xiv. 29; 2 Tim. i. 5. ylvoa& cannot well be supplied, as not suggesting any fit sense, —ylhvopat not being equivalent to ELtl.
The ellipsis after Kayco may also be variously supplied, either EL/i or yeyova:
and that after LpdE, either ETrr or eyevE'Oe.    3 by EVLKCOV.




212           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
I confess that neither of these modes of interpretation seems to
me satisfactory. I apprehend that the apostle is in these words
neither calling on them to think as he thought nor to act as he
acted, but is urging them to regard him with the kind affection
which they once cherished towards him and which he still continued to cherish towards them. It is one of the comparatively
few good exegetical remarks (for there are very many good
doctrinal and experimental remarks) in Luther's large commentary. " The meaning is not, Think of doctrine as I do; but, Bear
such an affection towards me as I do towards you." The apostle's
phraseology seems proverbial, and may be illustrated by a passage
in the Old Testament Scripture, 1 Kings xxii. 4. "I am as thou
art," is there obviously equivalent to,'I am united to you in the
most cordial friendship, so that you may use my resources as if
they were your own.' In like manner, the apostle beseeches the
Galatians to lay aside any unkindly feelings they might through
the arts of the Judaising teachers be induced to indulge towards him, and to regard him with that perfect affection which
they once entertained for him, and which he still continued to
entertain for them. It is equivalent to the expostulation,'Why
should you dislike me who so cordially love you?'
Alienation of affection is often greatly increased by a consciousness that we have acted unkindly to one whom we once
loved, and a suspicion that in consequence of this he cannot but
regard us with unfriendly feelings. It is in consequence of this,
that when friends quarrel the offender frequently finds it more
difficult than the offended to resume that cordiality of affectionate
feeling which previously existed between them. It was, I apprehend, for the purpose of removing this obstacle out of the way of a
complete restoration of a right state of feeling in the Galatians
towards himself that he adds, " Ye have not injured me at all." 1
These words may either intimate that the Galatians had never
done him any personal injury, but on the contrary, as he goes
on to state, had heaped on him every mark of affectionate regard; or, that the injury had been done principally not to him
but to themselves; or rather, that their having deserted his
doctrine, and cherished unkind and unfounded suspicions of him,
had made no such impression on his mind as to produce in his
1 o0E tLE S7 KoT'aTf.




P. V. ~ 3.]  CIRCUMSTANCES OF THEIR CONVERSION.          213
heart alienation or resentment.'I do not feel as an injured man
in reference to you. I have no resentment. I indulge no feelings but those of affectionate regard.' The apostle acts in reference to the Galatians on the same principle on which the
Supreme Being acts in reference to sinful men. He seeks to
cure their disaffection to him by displaying his affection to them.
His language is,' 0, how can ye hate one who loves you so well
that he will do everything but deny himself to make you happy?'
In prosecuting his object of blowing into a flame the almost
extinguished embers of affection in the hearts of the Galatian
converts, the apostle discovers equal delicacy of feeling and
knowledge of the human heart.  An ordinary man in the
apostle's circumstances would have expatiated on the labour and
privation he had exposed himself to, to promote their interests;
and if he had touched on the expression they had once given of
their attachment to him, it would have been for the purpose of
giving greater keenness to his upbraidings for their subsequent
unkind, causeless, abandonment of him whom they had once acknowledged as the greatest of their human benefactors. But the
apostle takes a different course-a course more corresponding to
the dignity and tenderness of his own character, and a course
far better fitted to gain his object. He dwells, not on his labours
and sufferings, but on their affectionate reception of him and his
services; and if he speaks of those at all, it is for the purpose
rather of enhancing the display the Galatians gave of their attachment to him. There is nothing like upbraiding. He speaks as if he
had been the obliged party, puts them in mind of the marks of
regard they had heaped on him, and the happiness they then had
felt in the indulgence and expression of their kind affections.
" Ye know how, through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the
gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in
my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel
of God, even as Christ Jesus."'
The expression " to preach the gospel through the infirmity of
the flesh," is idiomatic, but its meaning is obvious.2 The apostle's
1 Gal. iv. 13, 14.
2 S' acOEtvEav is equivalent to Ev aCo&EPela, though this signification of the
preposition with the accusative is, as Koppe says, " Paulo rarior." —Phil.
i. 15; John vi. 57. Wakefield says, " Gravissimos hujusce constructionis
auctores habuit Paulus; Homerum, Hlesiodum, Aristotelem, Demosthenem,




214             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
statement is plainly equivalent to,'when I first preached the
gospel to you-when I first laid before you the principles of
Christianity - I laboured under severe bodily indisposition.'
The apostle had been twice in Galatia previously to his writing
this epistle. It is to what happened on his first visit that he
here alludes.
It is needless to indulge conjecture as to the particular disease under which the apostle laboured at the time he introduced
Christianity into Galatia, though it seems to have been one
which in some way or other had a tendency to make his ministry
less acceptable to strangers.  Chandler says, "It was probably
some tremor or convulsive motion of his nerves, arising from the
extraordinary revelations made to him, or the glory which struck
him blind at his first conversion, or the impressions which were
made on him when he was snatched up into the third heavens."'
Some interpreters consider "infirmity of the flesh" as referring
to a state of extreme calamity generally-a state of poverty and
persecution; but I apprehend the more definite sense is the
more natural one.
The apostle does not say,'I gave a strong proof of my affection to you in preaching to you the gospel when in a state of
extreme indisposition,' or leave them to draw that inference;
but he does say,' notwithstanding all the comparative imperfection of my labours among you, arising from this indisposition, you
appreciated them at a very high rate.'
"My temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not nor
rejected."2  "Temptation" is often in Scripture equivalent to
affliction viewed as a trial of character.3  The strongly idiomatical language in the text, translated into plain English, is
equivalent to,'You did not treat me or my labour with contempt
or rejection when I was tried by the severe bodily indisposition
et alios."  The regular form would have been 8' dao-ervlas, in which case it
would have been a similar expression to a&a ypad/_aro Kal 7reptropis 7rapaMaTrv. —Rom. ii. 27. Storr explains the phrase so as not to be anomalous.
He supposes the meaning to be &d, —on account of, bodily disease, Paul was
detained in Galatia when he meant to pass through it; and thus his illness
became the occasion of Christianity being introduced into that country sooner
than otherwise it would have been. The natural meaning of the phrase 3V'
a0cOEVELaV CrrapK(o appears from Rom. vi. 19.
12 Cor. xii. 1-10.             2 OVK Efov0EVFvarE ov8E fETrrvc7aTEr
s Luke x. 2, 28. Acts xx. 19. 1 Pet. i. 6.




P. V. ~ 3.]  CIRCUMSTANCES OF THEIR CONVERSION.             215
under which I then laboured.  On the contrary, you "received
me as an angel of God-as Christ Jesus."' The same Greek
word signifies angel and messenger; so that the first clause may
mean, 4ye received me as a messenger of God.' At the same
time, as the apostle's object is obviously to place in a very strong
point of view the high esteem, the warm affection, the Galatians
showed to him, I am disposed to acquiesce in the version of our
translators, especially as this seems to have been a proverbial
expression.l'  An angel of God, nay, Christ Jesus himself, could
not have been more respectfully, more affectionately, received by
you than I was with all my infirmities.'2
The apostle goes on with his description,-" Where is then
the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had
been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have
given them  to me."3  I do not think the rendering of the first
clause of this verse is by any means happy. It does not seem to
give the natural meaning of the words, and the sense it brings out
does not well suit the context. The reading in the margin,'what
was,' is better than that in the text, where.4 The words literally
rendered are,'What or how great was your mutual congratulation? 5 How did you then felicitate one another! Oh, how happy
did you think yourselves in having me, though a poor diseased
man, for your teacher. So highly did you value me, so much did
you prize my labours, that there was nothing you would not have
parted with to make me happy.' This is obviously the meaning
of the proverbial phrase, " plucking out the eyes." It has been
conjectured, and though ingeniously, it is still but a conjecture,
that Paul's indisposition was a severe affection of the eyes, and
that this suggested the peculiar mode of expression.
2 Sam. xix. 27.
2OVTCO f,)-TI El  E TlC'TaTE, CS KpELTTOva e7 KaaT aV0pOTroV." —THEOPHYLACT.
s Gal. iv. 15.
4 TlS is equivalent to rdoroo. Eph. i. 18; Mark i. 27; vi. 2; Luke viii. 25,
compared with Matth. viii. 27. Some Codd. have 7rov. Lachmann prefers
that reading; and Tischendorf in 1st edit. (1848), but nIs, in 2d edit. (1849).
5 IaKapLli(Tov. We have the same word, Rom. iv. 9, " Cometh then this
/.aKapLa-(puo"-this felicitation, in the thirty-second Psalm —" on the circumcision only, or on the uncircumcision also?" Beza explains the word as
equivalent to "beatitudinis predicatio." In Jam. v. 11, the cognate verb,IaKapL[OplUev signifies " we count" and pronounce " happy"-we felicitate-," them who endure."




216            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
These words contain a most beautiful picture of the native
effect of the gospel, when believed, to attach the believer to him
who has been the instrument of his conversion. It is possible
for a minister to be very popular, as it is called, among a people
to whom, in a spiritual sense, he is utterly useless; but it is not
possible for a minister to be really useful to individuals without
exciting in the minds and hearts of these individuals a very
warm personal affection; and when the gospel is remarkably
successful, the danger is not of converts not being sufficiently
attached, but of their being inordinately attached, to the minister
who has been the instrument of conveying to them so great a
benefit. The being greatly applauded, is scarcely any proof that
a minister has been successful; the being highly esteemed and
cordially loved, is a considerably strong presumption that he
has; the being regarded with indifference and dislike, is a clear
proof that he has not.
The apostle concludes this affecting expostulation by proposing to them  a very touching question.  " Am  I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?"'
It is as. if the apostle had said,' Whence has originated the
alienation of your sentiments in reference to me? How is it you
regard him as an enemy whom you once regarded as your friend?
Have I done any thing which warrants such a change? I remain unaltered; I tell you the truth —the same truth I originally told you —that truth on account of which you loved and
honoured me.'
The word translated, "to tell the truth,"2 has a more extensive
meaning.  It refers to conduct generally.  It is equivalent to,' I have acted an honest, upright part. I have " walked uprightly
according to the truth of the gospel." 3 I maintain and declare
the same truth which, when you understood and believed it,
I Gal. iv. 16. exOpos is here obviously used in its active sense. In the
New Testament it is sometimes used in a passive sense-' regarded and
treated as an enemy,' Rom. xi. 28. An attention to this remark is necessary to the right interpretation of a number of passages: "When we were
enemies;XOpol;"  "the carnal mind is enmity'XOpa."-Rom. v. 10; viii. 7.
2     vdXO0EOvv. "Dealing truly and uprightly with them; for that, and not' telling the truth,' is the proper meaning of the word." —RICCALTOUN.
3 d(IaX,8eVovrev?v dydrn (Eph. iv. 15) means much more than speaking the
truth in love; it signifies thinking, feeling, acting under the influence of " the
truth, which worketh by love."




P. V. ~ 3.] CIRCUMSTANCES OF THEIR CONVERSION.          217
filled you with joy and peace, and made you highly esteem and
warmly love him who made it known to you; and my conduct
towards you has been constantly influenced by that truth. It is
strange that you should cease to love me for the very reason
why you began to love me.'
Perhaps there may be some reference in these words to the
faithful and somewhat severe language he had used in a preceding part of the epistle. In this case the words imply the following sentiment:' If I have used "all plainness of speech" in
pointing out to you error and danger, this is no proof that I am
your enemy; on the contrary, it is the truest proof of my friendship.  "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an
enemy are deceitful."' We are rather disposed to think the
former mode of interpretation the true one.l
In the following verse the apostle traces the alienation of the
affection of the Galatians to its true source in the unworthy acts
of the Judaising teachers.
The change which took place in the estimate formed by the
Galatians of the apostle at different times suggests important instruction to the ministers of religion in every age. It teaches
them not to be unduly elated by popular applause; and not to
be unduly depressed when it is withheld or withdrawn. It is a
minister's duty to use every proper means to stand well in the
estimation of those to whom he ministers, and it argues not
magnanimity, but stupidity and ingratitude, to be insensible to
the pleasure which the successful use of these means is calculated
to excite. But he is a fool who makes the attainment of what is
usually called popularity a leading object-he is worse than a
fool who, in order to secure or retain it, conceals or modifies,
in the slightest degree, his conscientious convictions, either as to
faith or duty. The present approbation of conscience, and the
anticipated approbation of his Lord, these are the objects the
Christian minister should continually keep in view. When popularity is gained along with these, it is really valuable, for it
insures the probability of usefulness; but the hosannas of the
crowd are dearly purchased at the expense of one pang of con1 Dr Paley has compared the paragraph, which here terminates, with
2 Cor. xii. 1-9, and, with his ordinary fairness and ingenuity, deduces from
them a very powerful argument for the genuineness of both epistles, and the
truth of Christianity.-Horse Paulince, chap. v. No. iv. Works, vol. ii. p. 208.




218           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
science-one frown of the Saviour. It is obviously, however,
equally the interest of ministers and people that a cordial attachment should subsist between them, and that on both sides
everything should be avoided that has a tendency to diminish
and alienate mutual affection. It is very difficult for a minister
to do his duty in a right spirit to a people when he has reason
to think they have little or no attachment to him, and it is all
but impossible for a people to derive spiritual advantage from a
minister whom they do not respect and love. Happy is that
Christian society when the minister loves his people, and the
people love their minister A" for the truth's sake," and when they
manifest their mutual affection, not by warm protestations, but
by his honestly and affectionately performing every pastoral duty,
and by their " walking in all Christian commandments and ordinances blameless."
SECT. IV. THE APOSTLE EXPOSES THE UNWORTHY ACTS OF
THE JUDAISING TEACHERS.
The Christian ministry, if entered on with appropriate sentiments, and prosecuted with conscientious fidelity, will be found
replete with difficulties. Its toils are arduous and unceasingits trials numerous and severe. He who would " war this good
warfare" must " endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ."  The man who assumes the sacred character of a
minister of Christ, with the honest intention of performing
its duties (and he who resumes it without such an intention will
find in the ultimate result of things that he had better have
chosen any other profession) must lay his account with submitting to labours often ill-appreciated, sometimes unkindly
requited, and with meeting with trials and afflictions which are
the more severe as coming from a quarter from which nothing
but support and encouragement had been expected.
It is one of the highest and purest pleasures man is susceptible
of in the present state, which the faithful minister of Jesus
Christ enjoys, when he clearly sees that his labours are answering their great purpose-that under his ministrations the
thoughtless are becoming considerate-the ignorant intelligent
-the spiritually foolish "wise unto salvation"-the bad becoming good-the good becoming better —those who are far




P. V. ~ 4.]   THE JUDAISING TEACHERS EXPOSED.           219
from God brought near to Him, and those who are near Him
brought still nearer, multitudes " striving to enter into the kingdom of God," and those who have entered "walking worthy
of their high calling," and rapidly "growing up in all things
to Him who is the head." Wherever this is in any good measure the case, there is a peculiarly strong and tender attachment
between the Christian minister and his spiritual children, and the
indulgence and display of it on both sides is a source of heartfelt
satisfaction. He loves them for the sake of the truth which dwells
in them, and which he trusts will abide in them for ever. He
" lives," i. e. he enjoys life, if they but " stand fast in the Lord."
They are his "joy and his hope" even now, and he trusts they
will be his " glory and his crown of rejoicing in the presence of
his Lord Jesus at his coming." On the other hand, they " esteem
him very highly in love for his work's salke," and, among higher
incentives, they feel the pain which their inconsistent behaviour
would give their best earthly friend, and the satisfaction which
their consistent conduct would afford to him-a motive of no
slight influence to their "walking in all the commandments and
ordinances of the Lord blameless."
This is a delightful state of things, and every faithful minister
may reasonably expect to know something of these joys; but at
the same time, it is an uncertain state of things, and every faithful minister must be prepared to meet with some of his severest
trials from a quarter from which he has already derived some of
his highest satisfactions, and from which he was perhaps anticipating with confidence a long continuance of them. It is not
an impossible, nor even an uncommon, thing for persons who
seemed to be-who were —most tenderly attached to their minister, and attached to him in consequence of having received
from him spiritual advantage, to have their affections entirely
alienated from him whom they so greatly esteemed and loved;
and what is worse still, it is not impossible, nor very uncommon,
to find this alienation of affection to their minister rising out of,
or at any rate connected with, indifference about, or rejection of,
those grand peculiarities of Christian truths, of which, the faith
and the love that grows out of it, form " the perfect bond"'
which unites Christians in the love of their common Lord and
of each other.
1.VEfJ, 7,o7. Lo Ev reXT,'?,r, rov.-Col. iii. 14.




220           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. LCHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
This is one of the severest trials which a Christian minister
can meet with; and perhaps there are few situations in which
he is so strongly tempted to indulge something like a resentful,
almost a malignant feeling, as when thus situated, in reference to
those designing men, whose selfish intrigues have been the means
of injuring the best interests of his people, and robbing him of
the dearest jewel of his heart. It is comparatively an easy thing
for a minister to be reproached, and ridiculed, and persecuted by
an ungodly world; but he only knows who has felt it how bitter
it is to see those of whose conversion and spiritual improvement
he flattered himself he had been the instrument, to guide whom
to heaven he felt to be his most delightful work on earth, and to
neet with whom in heaven was not one of the least delightful
anticipations of eternity-to see them regard him with "hard
unkindness, altered eye," especially if, when they are turning
their backs on him, they also seem in extreme hazard of making
shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience.
It is one of the high excellences of the epistles of Paul that
they embody a perfect directory for the Christian minister. He
can scarcely be placed in a situation of difficulty and trial which,
in all its most prominent circumstances, Paul has not occupied
before him, and all that he has ordinarily to do is just to copy
his example, to be a follower of him, as he was a follower of his
Master. The passage that lies before us exhibits him exposed to
that perhaps severest ministerial trial to which I have been adverting, and it is worth our while to inquire somewhat particularly how he conducted himself under it.
In the verses preceding, he had endeavoured to revive the
almost extinguished embers of the Galatians' affections towards
him, by showing how fondly he cherished the recollection of
their kind regards and offices, by which their original intercourse
had been characterised, assuring them that however they might
be changed he remained unaltered, and if he ever deserved their
esteem he had not become unworthy of it. He now proceeds to
unfold the base acts by which the Judaising teachers had endeavoured at once to seduce them from their attachment to their
spiritual father, and from the simplicity and integrity of Christian truth, as he had taught it to- them.  "They zealously
affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye
might affect them.  But it is good to be zealously affected




P. V. ~ 4.]  THE JUDAISING TEACHERS EXPOSED.          221
always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with
yOU." 1
There can be no doubt as to the persons to whom the apostle
here refers, though he does not name them. He plainly speaks
of the Judaising teachers. We have here an instance of what
I may call the naturalness of the apostle's style. When speaking
on subjects peculiarly painful, or of persons peculiarly disagreeable to us, we mention their names as seldom as possible. There
was no danger of the Galatians misunderstanding him or misapplying what he said, and he saves himself the pain of being
more particular.
These verses admit of different interpretation according to the
sense you give to the principal word in them rendered'zealously
affect.' 2 If we understand the word in the meaning given to it
by our translators-a meaning, by the way, in which it never
occurs anywhere else in the New Testament-the apostle states
that these Judaising teachers pretended the warmest attachment
to the Galatian converts,3 and endeavoured, though neither in
the most honourable way, nor for the most honourable purposes,
to ingratiate themselves with them-and that it was a leading
object with them to exclude the Galatians from all intercourse
with the apostle, to cut off all connection between them and him,
that they might the more certainly succeed in their plan of retaining the Galatians' affections to themselves.
This is very good sense, and sufficiently well corresponds with
the connection. It also presents us with a lesson which is not
unneeded in our times, " to be on our guard," to use Riccaltoun's
words, "against those who lie in wait to deceive, and to set a
mark on those who make no scruple to attack the characters of
men as good, if not better, than themselves, when they stand in
their way-a practice generally disclaimed, but, alas! as generally practised." But we apprehend it labours under insuperable
objections.  It gives a meaning to the principal word in the
sentence which it certainly never has anywhere else in the New
Testament, and which it is doubtful if it has in any book, and it
obliges us to understand theword with different shades of meaning in each case in which it occurs in these two verses.
The word properly signifies'to be ardent,' and seems used
Gal. iv. 17, 18.  2 MXoVEro.  S Amorem vestrum captant.




222           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
only in this sense, either literally or figuratively, in the New
Testament. It is used to signify'to desire earnestly,' 1 Cor. xii.
31; xiv. 1, 39;'to be zealous,' Rev. iii. 19; and'to envy,'
Acts vii. 9; xvii. 5; 1 Cor. xiii. 4; James iv. 2.' It is the last
of these senses in which we apprehend the apostle uses it in the
passage before us-' They envy you,' says the apostle,'but not
well or honourably.'  Their endeavours to bring you over to
Judaism originate, not in a benevolent, but in a very opposite
principle.  They grudge that Gentiles should be allowed to
indulge the hope of sharing in the blessings of Messiah's reign,
without submitting, like them, to the yoke of the Mosaic law.
They were actuated by the same principle as the unbelieving
Jews mentioned by Luke, Acts xvii. 5, who, " when some of
their brethren believed along with a great multitude of the devout
Greeks, moved with envy,2 raised a tumult" in Thessalonica. The
same principle operates in different ways, according to the different circumstances in which the person actuated by it is placed.
What in an unbelieving Jew produced persecution, in a nominally
converted Jew led to artful measures to entrammel the believing
Gentiles with the burdensome requisitions of the Mosaic law.
"' They envy you," says the apostle; " but not well"-honourably.3 There is a praiseworthy emulation which, by a tolerable
license, may be termed an honourable envy. If the Judaising
teachers, on seeing the peace and comfort which the Galatian
converts enjoyed in walking at liberty, keeping Christ's commandments, had been so struck with the happiness of their
situation as to have set about acquiring those extensive liberal
views of the gospel of Christ which Paul had exhibited to the
Galatians, and which would have relieved their consciences from
the observance of the Mosaic law, and enabled them, too, to
"serve" God, "not in the oldness of the letter, but the newness
-of the spirit," that had been a praiseworthy ambition, an honourable envy. But the object of their earnest desire was not to
obtain for themselves the fellowship of that liberty wherewith
Christ had made the Galatian converts free, but to bind round
their neck the yoke which they refused to have unloosed from
their own.  Their envy or emulation did not stir them  up
1 Oove'vere icatl CXovre.' Envy' seems a juster rendering here than " desire
to have."           2  wa,;aveTys. T. R.          3 KaX&k.




P. V. ~ 4.]   THE JUDAISING TEACHERS EXPOSED.            223
to rise to the level of the Galatian liberty, but to bring down the
Galatians to the level of Jewish bondage.'To gain their object,' says the apostle,'they would exclude
you,' that you may envy them.' 2  The meaning seems to be,
They wished to exclude them; that is, they wished to shut out
the converted Gentiles from associating with them on equal
terms.  They refused to "eat along with them." 3  They wished
to go farther: they wished to exclude them from the privilege of
the kingdom of the Messiah, unless they became Jews; for their
doctrine was, " Except ye be circumcised after the manner of
Moses, ye cannot be saved." 4  They thus wished to shut out
the converted Galatians, that they might envy them,-that they
might form so high an estimate of the privilege of the circumcised
as to solicit to be introduced into their society as the only true
church, or at any rate, the highest form in the true church.
Alas, how much of this spirit has been discovered in the
Christian church in every age! Alas, how much of it is to be
met in our own age, notwithstanding its boasted illumination
and liberality! How do individuals and denominations pride
themselves on those distinctive dogmas or usages which separate
them from the great body of Christians,-distinctions which
must be of minor importance, which often rest entirely on human
authority,-and obstinately refuse to admit to their communion
men of the purest faith and manners, if they will not assume
their badge, practically saying to all around them, " Stand by, I
am holier than thou;" and, instead of endeavouring to select
everything that is excellent in the various forms of Christianity,
are chiefly bent on imposing their peculiarity, which after all may
be a defect or a deformity, on the whole Christian world as a
term of communion. This attempt to form a sort of privileged
order in Christ's kingdom, where all are kings and priests, which
originated among the Judaising Christians of the first age, is still
1 EKKXEC'aaL ivaS OE'AovoLv.
2'H/uas is the textus receptus, but the weight of evidence is in favour of
vit/a. This is one of the few passages in which our translators give the
textus receptus in the margin, and follow another and better reading in the
text. Some suppose the meaning to be,'They wish to exclude you from
intercourse with me.' In this case probably' from me' would have been
added; nor is EKKIXELO, by the usus loquendi, applied to intercourse with an
individual.
8 Gal. ii. 12.                                 4 Acts xv. 1.




224           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
made in a variety of ways; but wherever or by whomsoever it is
made, every enlightened Christian will regard it with disapprobation, and do what lies in his power to expose its folly and
wickedness, and prevent its success. " In reading the history of
the church, it is hard to say whether what has gone, and still
goes, under the name of zeal, has done more good or hurt to
religion. When regularly conducted according to the apostle's
rule, it is the fervour of love to God and man, the very best
thing in the world. But how readily does it degenerate into
what the apostle blames in the Judaisers,-zeal for a party; and
that, again, into the bitterest enmity, which naturally leads to
what we find the apostle cautioning against,' biting and devouring one another!' 1
But to return to the apostle. "But it is good to be zealously
affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present
with you." 2
Those who are satisfied with our version explain these words
in one or other of the following ways. Some refer themn to the
Galatians, thus:' These men have used dishonourable means to
attach you to them, and it is not very much to your honour that
they have succeeded; but it is truly honourable to remain steadily
attached to that which is good. You would act an honourable
part, if the same zeal for the truths which you discovered when
I was with you were still displayed by you, now that I am absent.'
And others refer them to the apostle, thus:'These men have
dishonourably abused the facilities my absence offered them, by
alienating your affections from me and fixing them on themselves;
but my attachment to you is of that honourable kind in which
absence makes no change. I loved you then; I love you now.'
We have already stated the reasons why we cannot accede
to this mode of interpretation. Giving the verb its common
meaning, and understanding it to be not in the middle but in
the passive voice, we read, "But it is good," or honourable, "to
be envied in a good thing always, and not only when I am
present with you." It is better, and more honourable, to be the
object of the envy of these Judaisers, than to be the subject of
their triumph. It is as if the apostle said,'Ye were once the
subject of their envy; and I would God ye were the subject of
1 Riccaltoun.                    2 Gal. iv. 18.




P. V. ~ 5.]  THE APOSTLE'S ANXIETIES AND WISHES.            225
their envy still. I wish your place in their estimation had been
the same in my absence that it was when I was present with
you.' The good opinion of some men may be bought at too
high price.
The words, A" in a good 1 thing," —or, literally,'in that which
is good,'-obviously refer to the faith and practice of Christianity;
as when the apostle says, "Let not your good" 2-that good
thing of yours-" be evil spoken of." It is an honourable thing
so to assert the privileges, profess the principles, perform the
duties, and exhibit the influence of Christianity, as to command
the respect, and even envy, of the men of the world. And the
doing this ought not to depend on accidental circumstances, such
as the presence or the absence of influential individuals, as a
teacher or a parent. Wherever we are, and in whatever company, let us remember that it is an honourable thing to be
envied for Christian attainments. 3
SECT. V.-THE APOSTLE EXPRESSES HIS DEEP ANXIETY FOR
THEM, AND HIS WISH TO BE PRESENT WITH THEM.
In the two succeeding verses, the apostle expresses his affectionate anxiety in reference to the Galatians in terms peculiarly
touching.  "My little children, of whom4 I travail in birth
again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with
you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of
you."5 A more beautiful picture of pastoral affection is perhaps not to be found in the sacred volume. He addresses them
in terms the most expressive of tender regard, —" My children
-my little children." 6 They had been converted to Christianity
through his instrumentality; and they had given but too satis1 EV KaXW.
2 Ti- cyaOov, Rom. xiv. 16. Christianity was at once 7r KaZO'Y and To
ayatov of its genuine disciples.
S Locke's notion, that KaWM refers to the apostle, is quite untenable.
ov6v looks back to v4i5a, verse 18; otherwise it would be an dvaKoXovOov:
or rather, the use of the masculine where strict syntax seems to require the
neuter, is to be accounted for on the principle, " that pronouns often differ
in gender from the noun to which they relate, as the idea expressed by them,
and not their grammatical gender, is taken into view." Matth. xxviii. 19;
John vi. 9. Winer, ~ 21, 1.
Gal. iv. 19, 20.                                7EKVla,Uov.
P




226              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
factory evidence that they were to be addressed as "babes in
Christ," not as " spiritual"-" men of full age." 
The great object of his anxiety was, "that Christ might be
formed in them;"2 that is, that they might be true, thorough
Christians.  The phrase is peculiarly expressive.  When a man
becomes a true Christian, " Christ is formed in him;" that is,
Christ's mode of thinking and feeling becomes his. The mind
that was in Christ is in him.  He has the spirit of Christ; so
that he thinks as Christ thought, feels as Christ felt, speaks as
Christ spoke, acts as Christ acted, suffers as Christ suffered. He
is just an animated image of Jesus Christ. This, and nothing
short of this, is to be a Christian; and to have his people thus
made Christians, is the great object of every faithful minister.
Nothing short of this will satisfy him.
The gaining of this object excited the apostle's most earnest,
anxious desires in reference to the Galatians. There was nothing
he would not willingly do and suffer to secure it.  11 I travail in
birth again until Christ be formed in you."  No figure could
more strongly express the apostle's agony of anxiety and desire.
"I travail again in birth."   Ile had  suffered much painful
anxiety in reference to them formerly; and now he is, as it
were, constrained by their inconstancy to endure for them a
second time the sorrows of a mother.3  Who that sincerely con11 Cor. iii. 1. H eb. v. 13, 14.
2 " If ministers wish to do any good, let them labour to form Christ, not
to form themselves, in their hearers." —CALVIN.
3o lvo is used to signify the pains of gestation as well as of parturition,
like the Heb. 5t;, Psal. vii. 15, LXX. Erasmus' paraphrase, though somewhat diffuse, is very beautiful:-" Utinam liceret vobis oculos vestros in
pectus meum inserere, cerneretis nimirum quanto cum animi dolore scribam
haec. Filioli mei! semel vos genui Christo, non sine multo nixu ac molestia,
nune desciscentes a Christo denuo parturio donec plene fornzetur in vobis.
Semen bonum jeceram unde pure Christianos nasci conveniebat, sed nescio
quo fascino degeneratis in Judoeos, et in' aliam formam' transitis. Christus
ccelestis est, spiritualis est, vos terreni et carnales esse tenditis. Sed affectum
animi mei non satis exprimit epistola. Utinam nunc liceat apud nos esse ut
quod literis uteunque significo possim viva voce vobis aperire. Nonnihil
adderet vultus, nonnihil lachrymae, nonnihil ipse vocis ardor. In omnia me
mutarem quo vos revocarem ad Christum, nune blandiens, nunc obtestans,
nune objurgans. Orationem melius ad varietates animorum et ad rem presentem accommodarem. Experirer omnes remediorum vias donec omnes ad
sanitatem revocassem."  Not less beautiful are the words of " the judicious
Hooker:"-" He pitieth them; he taketh them up in his arms; he lovingly




P. V. ~ 5.]  THE APOSTLE'S ANXIETIES AND WISHES.             227
siders the weight of the interests which hang on Christ's being
formed in the soul can wonder at the apostle's anxiety? The
true cause of wonder and of regret is that such anxiety is so rare
in those to whom  is committed the care of souls-the management of the highest interests of the immortal mind.
" 1 I desire to be present with you, that I may change my voice;
for I stand in doubt of you." " I stand in doubt of you;" 1 that is,'I do not know well what to think of you. I do not know well
how to address you. I cannot think of treating you as apostates,
and yet I cannot speak to you as consistent Christians.'  "I
desire to be present with you."'I wish I were with you, and
then I should be able to ascertain exactly how the matter stands.'
" And to change my voice;" that is, "to vary my mode of address according to circumstances," 2 as Luther has it.  "I could
reprove sharply them who are obstinate, and comfort the weak
with sweet and loving words, as occasion should require."  An
epistle can but give what it has —the loving voice of a man can
add and diminish, and change itself into all manners of affection,
suited to times, places, and persons. The apostle well knew the
importance of suiting the applications to the state of the spiritual
patient-the importance, to use the apostle Jude's expression, of
"making a difference," "3  having compassion" on some, and
" saving others by fear, pulling them out of the fire." The
presence of a minister with his people, and, so far as it is practicable, his intimate acquaintance with them, are of the utmost
importance to the proper and successful discharge of the duties
embraces them; he kisseth them; with more than fatherly tenderness, does
so temper, qualify, and correct the speech he uses toward them, that a mnn
cannot easily discern whether did most abound the love which he bore to
their godly affection, or the grief which the danger of their opinion bred
him."-Discourse of Justification, Works, vol. iii. p. 406. 8vo, Lond. 1830.
1'cropoual.. -John xiii. 22; 2 Cor. iv. 8; Kal 7'7ropEiTo LXX. Gen. xxxii. 7.
— v piv,' in reference to you.' —1 Cor. ii. 6; xiv. 11; 2 Thess. i. 4.
"I ropovtzaL is to be taken as passive:' I am brought into embarrassment in
regard to you.' "'-OLSHAUSEN. " Absque dubio apostolus hisce verbis majus
quid innuit quam se de Galatis dubium esse, et hesitare quidnam de iis asserendum sit: versu enim praecedenti vehementem animi sui commotionem
indicaverat. In simili ferme emphasi hoc verbum occurrit, LXX. Gen.
xxxii. 7, ubi dicitur, Et timuit Jacob valde et juit illi anxium.  Ax *et quoe
postrema verba transferuntur, Kal,prTopEio. "-KEUCIENrIUS.
2 c" Modo leniter modo duriter loqui prout res ferret."
3 8laKptvo'tLEzvot.-Jude 22.




228           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
of the pastoral office.  " Confidence about the profession of
others cannot be scripturally regulated-if it vary not in degree
according to the scriptural evidences they afford of believing the
truth, and it is hard to say whether it be more dangerous when
it is on the favourable or unfavourable side." 
What an admirable model for a Christian minister is the
apostle Paul! May the Great Shepherd of the sheep deeply
imbue all his servants with the spirit of Paul, which is, indeed,
His own spirit, that they may be enabled to " feed the flock of
the Lord, which He purchased with his blood"-to "gather the
lambs in their arms, and to carry them in their bosom, and
gently lead those which are with young"-to " seek that which
is lost, and to bring that again which was driven away, and to
bind up that which was broken, and to strengthen that which
was sick;" or to adopt another set of figures, that they may be
i gentle among the people of Christ, as a nurse cherisheth her
children —so affectionately desirous of them as to be willing to
impart to them, not only the gospel of God, but also their own
souls" —"labouring night and day, exhorting, and comforting,
and charging every one of them, as a father doth his children." 2
When such pastors abound, the church must flourish. From such
labours divine influence will not be withheld. Then, as in the
beginning, " The word of the Lord would have free course, and
be glorified" —then would " the churches have rest, and be
edified; walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of
the Holy Ghost, they would be edified," 3 and "the exalted
Saviour seeing of the travail of his soul would be satisfied."
SECT. VI.-ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.
In the paragraph which follows, the apostle endeavours to
wean the Judaising Galatians fromn their strange attachment to
an obsolete and servile economy by unfolding to them its true
nature. This he does by referring them to an emblematical
representation of the two economies taken from the domestic
history of Abraham by the prophet Isaiah (ch. liv. 1), and
-amplified by himself.4
1 John Walker.      2 1 Thess. ii. 7, 11.  S Acts ix. 31.
4 This allegorical representation may be considered as a specimen of what
the apostle would have said to them had he been with them.




P. V. ~ 6.]     ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.                 229
" Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear
the. law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons; the
one by a bond maid, the other by a free woman. But he who
was of the bond woman was born after the flesh; but he of the
free woman was by promise.  Which things are an allegory:
for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai,
which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is
Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now
is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which
is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written,
Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou
that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children
than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac
was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even
so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith the Scripture? Cast out
the bond woman and her son: for the son of the bond woman
shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then,
brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the
free." l
1. Introduction.
The word " hear"2 in this place, as in many other places of
Scripture, is equivalent to,'to attend to,' or'to understand.'8
The " law" may be interpreted, either of the Pentateuch, the five
books of Moses,4 or of the Mosaic institution of which it gives an
account. The latter is its meaning when it occurs the first time,
and the former seems to be its meaning when it occurs a second
time.  It matters little in which way you understand it.  The
force of the apostle's question is plainly this,'If you Galatians,
who aspire to circumcision, and subjection to the Mosaic law as a
privilege, understood the true nature of the law, as described in
the inspired account of it, you would not be so anxious to bring
1 Gal. iv. 21-31.                                 2 dKOvELv.
s Matth. xi. 14; Mark iv. 33; 1 Cor. xiv. 2. The Hebrew vht is used
in the same way.'; Origo formulae loquendi ex more Veterum, non legendo,
sed recitantem audiendo, Scripta cognoscendi explicanda."-KoPPE.
4 " VOOy 86E XEYEL TO 70 7 E, Ove, fL3lvXOV. EOS yap av- 7-ao-av riv iraXagav
VP01oV KaXElv."-THEOPHYLACT.




230           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 1.'
yourselves under its yoke-you would find that to you it is fraught,
not with safety and honour, but with danger and disgrace.' 1
The notions about the law which the Judaising teachers had
instilled into the minds of the Galatian converts were false.
Their attachment to the law was formed on these false notions;
and therefore the shortest and surest way of weaning them from
their attachment to the law was the exposure of the falsehood of
these notions, and the statement of the opposite truth. This
statement the apostle does not make in direct terms; but by a
reference to a piece of Jewish history which afforded a striking
emblematical representation of the truth on this subject, and
which had already been employed by the prophet Isaiah.
2. The allegory.
"For it is written, that Abraham had two sons; the one by a
bond maid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the
bond woman was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman
was by promise." 2
"For"3 is, we apprehend, a mere connective particle here.
"It is written,'4 is an ordinary formula of quotation. Here it
does not mean that what follows is written in so many words in
any of the Old Testament books; but that the facts here stated
are related there. Abraham had a number of sons besides Isaac and
Ishmael; but it is to these, and to the circumstances of their birth,
subsequent conduct, history, and fate, that the apostle's discussion
exclusively relates. Ishmael was the son of Hagar, a female slave.
Isaac was the son of Sarah, a free woman, of the same rank with
her husband. Ishmael was born in the ordinary course of nature.
Isaac was born in consequence of a peculiar interference of Heaven, made known "by promise." Such are the facts of the history.
3. The allegory explained.
"Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants;
the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which
is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth
"1 Legem non legistis."-VULG. " Si me non auditis, legem ipsam quam
ambitis, audite: ipsa vos a se ad Christum amandavit."-C. A LAPIDE. It
is to the thought implied in the words that we are to trace the use of the
particle yap, if it be more than a mere indication of connection.
2Gal. iv. 22, 23.           yap.                 yeyparr7al.




P. V. ~ 6.]      ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.                    931
to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us
all.  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not;
break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate
bath many more children than she which hath an husband." 1
The introductory words, " which things are an allegory," have
occasioned much difficulty to interpreters.2   Some have considered them as equivalent to,'these events were intended to
typify corresponding events under the Christian economy, and
their history is to be viewed as an obscure prophecy.' The
words certainly do not necessarily imply this; and the admission
of the principle on which the interpretation goes,'that everything, or almost everything, in Old Testament history is typical,'
would lay a foundation for the indulgence of the wildest dreams
of the imagination,3 and would withdraw the mind from the' Gal. iv. 24-27.                    2 arLa E'(TLV dXXopoa Leva.
3 ", Origen, and many others along with him, have seized the opportunity
of torturing the Scriptures in every possible way, away from the true sense.
They concluded that the literal sense is too mean and poor; and that under
the outer bark of the letter there lurk deeper mysteries, which cannot be
extracted but by beating out allegories. And this they have no difficulty in
accomplishing; for speculations which appear to be ingenious have always
been preferred, and always will be preferred, by the world to solid doctrine.'With such approbation, the licentious system gradually attained such a
height, that he who handled Scripture for his own amusement was not only
suffered to pass unpunished, but obtained the highest applause. For many
centuries, no man was considered to be ingenious who had not the skill and
daring necessary for changing into a variety of curious shapes the sacred
Word of God. This was undoubtedly a contrivance of Satan, to undermine
the authority of Scripture, and to take away from the reading of it the true
advantage.  God visited this profanation by a just judgment, when He
suffered the true meaning of the Scripture to be buried under false interpretations.
" Scripture, they say, is fertile, and thus produces a variety of meanings.
I acknowledge that Scripture is a most rich and inexhaustible fountain of all
wisdom; but I deny that its fertility consists in the various meanings which
any man at his pleasure may assign to it. Let us know, then, that the true
meaning of Scripture is the natural and obvious meaning; and let us embrace
it, and abide by it resolutely. Let us not only neglect as doubtful, but boldly
set aside as deadly corruptions, those pretended interpretations which lead
us away from the natural meaning."-CALVIN.
Rosenmiiller's " Historia Interpretationis librorum Sacrorum in ecclesia
Christiana ab Apostolorum setate ad literarum instaurationem," in five
volumes, is a most entertaining and instructive work, well worthy the careful
perusal of every one who devotes himself to the interpretation of Scripture.




232             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. -V'. 12.
rational interpretation of the Old Testament history, and the
important religious and moral instruction which thus interpreted
it is calculated to convey.'
Others consider the words as equivalent to,' These historical
facts may be turned to account as affording an emblematical
illustration of the true nature of the two divine economies of
which I am discoursing;' but it seems plain that the apostle
speaks of these facts as if they had already been used as emblems.
He does not make the allegory; but he takes up an allegory
formed to his hand, and applies it to his purpose.
I apprehend the phrase, "which things are an allegory," is
just equivalent to, "which things are allegorized;"2 to wit, in
the book of the prophet Isaiah, in the passage which the apostle
immediately quotes from the fifty-fourth chapter.3 On no other
supposition can you account for his quoting this passage; and this
principle of interpretation, as we shall soon see, carries light
through the whole paragraph.4
Let us first of all examine the passage in Isaiah, quoted by the
apostle, in which the allegory is to be found. The passage is
quoted from the Greek translation commonly in use when the
1 " The sacred writers, in the illumination of the Divine Spirit, understood
history, as it were, in its signatura: they looked into the heart of things;
and thus beheld already formed, when as yet in the earliest germ, like fruit
in the blossom, what was later to be developed. Without this spiritual intuition, a similar mode of proceeding-that of the Rabbins and enthusiasts
of all descriptions used at all times,-is only a means plausibly to impart a
Biblical sanction to the wildest creations of phrenzy.  We therefore, as not
being favoured with so intense an operation of the Spirit, cannot proceed
independently in the adoption of types, but must adhere to those expressed
and sanctioned in the Scriptures."-OLSHAUSEN.
2 See Constantini Lexicon, in voc. ovoroLXE;o.
s There is little or no force in Koppe's objection to this exegesis, that if it
were correct, the word ought to be  tXXTyopif7va, not adXryopo,4leva. It is
common in all languages to speak in the present of the contents of actually
existing books, though these books may have been written in a distant age.
4 Luther seems to have seen this; for he says, " The apostle showeth by
the allegory qf the prophet Isaiah," etc. Anthony Collins, the free-thinker,
objects that the apostle here sophistically uses an allegory as an argument;
but he mistakes the case. The apostle shows that an allegory of the prophet
Isaiah, when rightly interpreted, teaches precisely the same doctrine which
he does respecting the law and the promise,-a perfectly legitimate argument,
and one well fitted to have weight with those to whom it was addressed. See
an excellent note in Gerard's Institutes of Biblical Criticism, p. 466.




P. V. ~ 6.]    ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.              233
apostle wrote, and it exactly enough corresponds with the'sense
of the Hebrew original. The meaning of the closing phrase is
better given here than in our translation of the Old Testament
-" her that hath a," or rather the, " husband," conveys the idea
of the original phrase better than " the married wife."
The prophet's address obviously goes on the following hypothesis: a man who, as it appears from the apostle's interpretation,
is Abraham, has two wives,-the one of whom, Sarah, on account
of her barrenness, lives as it were in temporary widowhood;
while the other, Hagar, " has the husband," and brings him a
son. The mystical Sarah is congratulated by the prophet because
the period of her reproach and desertion is hastening to an end,
and because her offspring shall ultimately be more numerous than
that of the mystical Hagar who long seemed to occupy her place.
In plain terms, the passage is a prediction that a period was
coming when the spiritual descendants of Abraham should be
far more numerous than his merely natural descendants ever
were-when the true children of God should be more numerous
than the nominal children of God, the Israelitish people, had
been. We have a similar use made of a fact in ancient history
by the prophet Jeremiah respecting the Babylonian captivity,
and by the evangelist Matthew in reference to the slaughter of
the infants of Bethlehem.'
But let us look at the apostle's explanation of the allegory.
These women spoken of by the prophet allegorically, Sarah and
Hagar, " are the two covenants." This is a mode of speech of the
same kind as when our Lord says of the bread, " This is my
body," that is, it represents it, signifies it; and when the apostle
says of the smitten rock, "That rock was Christ."  In this
allegory, these two women represent or signify the two covenants.
Similar modes of expression are to be found,-Genesis xli. 26;
Matthew xiii. 20, 22, 38, 39; John vi. 41; Apoc. xvii. 15. I
have already stated to you that the English word "covenant"
does not exactly answer to the original term,2 which is much
more comprehensive in its meaning.' Constitution' or' arrangement' comes nearer to it. But what are the two constitutions
or covenants here spoken of?  Some interpreters explain them
of what are ordinarily termed the covenant of works and the
1 Gen. xxx. 1, 2. Jer. xxxi. 15. Matth. ii. 17.  2 tLa6Kq.




234            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
covenant of grace. Others, of the two dispensations, the Mosaic
and the Christian.  An examination of what the apostle says
will probably convince us, that while there is an approximation
to truth in both of these opinions, neither of them is exactly
accurate.  "The one," says the apostle, "from  the Mount
Sinai gendereth unto bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar
is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which
now is, and is in bondage with her children." The one covenant
or constitution is that from Mount Sinai; it is that order of
things under which the Jews were placed at Mount Sinai to
keep them  a separate people, commonly termed "the law."
That constitution "gendereth to bondage " —bringeth forth
children who are slaves.2 The children of a constitution or
covenant are the persons who are under it, and whose characters
are formed by that constitution.  The children of "the law"
were the Israelites generally, and the Gentiles who submitted
to it. It was formed on a servile principle, " do, and live;" and
so far as men were influenced by it only, they must have had a
servile and not a filial character.
We are never to forget, however, that the promise was before
the law, and that the law did not disannul the promise. Believers under the law were not destitute of the filial character;
but the law under which they were, infused even into their feelings and services something servile; while, on the other hand,
unbelievers under the law, who formed the great majority,
were entirely slaves, obeying merely from the fear of external
evil and the hope of external good. This is the constitution
which Hagar in the allegory represents.
The words which follow, "For this Agar is Mount Sinai in
Arabia," have greatly perplexed interpreters.3 Their perplexity
seems principally to have originated in supposing that the
apostle was speaking of the woman Hagar, while in reality he is
1 ELS aovXeLav yevvcoca.
2 According to a dictum of the civil law, " Partus sequitur ventrem."
3 6 "We are not to understand these words as if St Paul meant to say,
Because Mount Sinai is called Hagar in Arabic, therefore Abraham's servant
of that name must be a type of the law; but only in this way, As Abraham's
maid-servant Hagar is a type of the law, it is also remarkable, and may be
considered as providential, that an identity of name between her and the
mountain from which the law was given should exist, and that, too, in the
language of the descendants of Hagar's son."-OLSHAUSEN.




P. V. ~ 6.]     ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.                  235
speaking of the word only-her name.  The truth is, that the
words seem not to contain an explanation of any part of the
allegory, but merely to embody a passing remark as to the meaning of the word " Agar " in the Arabian language.  " For this
word Agar in Arabia is," or signifies, "Mount Sinai."'  The
word "Agar" in Arabia signifies a rock, a rocky part of the
country, a rocky mountain such as we know Sinai is; and we
are told by oriental travellers, that this name is given by the
Arabs to that mountain.'The rock,' by way of eminence.2  It
is just as if the apostle had said,-' By the way, it is a remarkable circutistance, that in Arabia the name of Mount Sinai is
Agar.' The words then (whether proceeding originally from the
pen of the apostle, or, what is not impossible, being originally a
marginal remark afterwards introduced into the text) are to be
considered as parenthetical, and the sense goes on just as if they
had not been introduced.3
"Agar," then, in the allegory, " answereth," 4 or corresponds,
"to Jerusalem that now is, and is in bondage with her children."
Jerusalem, the metropolis of the Holy Land, the seat of religion,
is naturally enough used for Judaism.'Jerusalem  that now
is,"5 is just Judaism in its present state. Now Judaism in the
apostle's times, was just as it were the embodied representation
of the constitution given at Mount Sinai, unmodified by the
promise. The unbelieving Jews were under the unmitigated
slavish influence of that economy. " Jerusalem which now is,
is in bondage with her children." Agar is the emblem of the
law, and Ishmael of those who are under it.
The other part of the allegory is more briefly explained," But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of
us all."6 It is quite plain, though it is not expressed, that
1," When a noun of any gender is considered in a material sense, merely
as a word, it takes the neuter article."-WINER, ~ 27, 5, Note 2.
2 As the Romans called Rome " Urbs;" and the Athenians called Athens,
ao-rv.
3 Riccaltoun takes a peculiar view of the construction of the passage. T-'Ayap he considers as equivalent to, " As to the figurative Hagar, this is the
truth:' Sinai is a mountain in Arabia; but it answers to the present Jerusalem in bondage with her children."' This is obviously quite unsatisfactory., OVTOlXEL.                              Tx VV.V'lEpovo-aXML.
6 Had the antithesis been fully brought out, we should have had ~ 81 &Evpa
8tatqlKr) EiS EXevBteptav / yrvv(ra T7t'E vappa, ocvo-7oLXEL   2 7-, i'vo'Iepovo'aXqtil




236            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
Sarah the barren woman in the allegory is significant of another
covenant or constitution which answereth to what is here termed
"Jerusalem  from above."1  What that constitution is, it is not
very difficult to perceive.  It is not what systematic theologians
call the covenant of grace; far less is it what is ordinarily called
the Christian dispensation. Let us look at the allegory, and it
will guide us in our explanation of it.
Sarah, the barren woman, was Abraham's wife previously to
his taking Hagar for his concubine.  The constitution of which
Sarah was the type in the allegory, must surely then be a constitution which existed prior to that of which Hagar was the
type. What is it then but the other constitution which the
apostle in  the  context contrasts with  the law, even  "the
covenant which was confirmed before of God" in reference to
the Messiah, and which the law could not disannul? It is just
the method of salvation made known to Adam immediately after
the fall, more fully made known to Abraham, and still more
fully unfolded by the prophet, and " manifested" in the gospel
revelation.
This constitution, of which Sarah is the emblem, corresponds
to, is embodied in, " the Jerusalem  above."  These words are
often interpreted of the celestial church; but in this way of considering the phrase, it is difficult to see what is meant by its
being the "mother of all believers."  The word "above "2 is
used in reference to time as well as place. The phrase before us
may mean either the Jerusalem that is above in place —that is,
the heavenly Jerusalem, or it may mean the Jerusalem above
in time, or the ancient Jerusalem.3 That the last is its meaning
here, seems probable from its being contrasted, not with Jerusalem
7,Y EXEVOdEpa TL.'erL pTL7p 7ravrTov  si&v.  The ancient Romans used to say,
"Roma communis nostra patria est."  rt  E(TT71 = Kal avrri Iyv EfTrl.
1 C7 a'vo'IepovcaX-rA.                               2 ao.)
3 Luther has clearly seen that it cannot refer to the Jerusalem above as
to place, though he does not seem to have had even a glimpse of the true
meaning; yet his note is worth transcribing. " Jerusalem which is above is
not the city of life to come, or the church triumphant, as the idle and unlearned monks and school doctors dreamed, who taught that the Scripture
had four senses,-the literal, the figurative, the allegorical, and the moral.
The new and heavenly Jerusalem is appointed of God on earth, and not in
heaven, to be the mother of us all, of whom we have been gendered, and yet
daily are gendered."




P. V. ~ 6.]     ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.                  237
below or Jerusalem on the earth, but with Jerusalem that now
is. Jerusalem seems to have been a seat of religion before the
Israelitish economy.  Melchizedec, the priest of the most high
God, was king of Salem, which we know was an ancient name
for Jerusalem, and which was embodied in its later appellation.'
Zedec seems also to have been an ancient name of Jerusalem.
This is asserted by the pseudo Josephus.2  Adonizedek is the
king of Jerusalem as Adoni-bezek is the king of Bezek; Joshua
x. 1; Judges i. 5; and there seems a reference to this in Isaiah
i. 26; Jer. xxxi. 33.  In this case, "Jerusalem above," or the
ancient Jerusalem, is a very appropriate emblem of' the religion
of fallen man in its primitive form before " the law was added,"
which is substantially the religion of the New Testament, the
latter being the complete development of the former. It is, I
apprehend, in reference to the state of things in which Melchizedec was a priest, that our Lord is termed a priest, not after the
order of Aaron, who was the priest of a peculiar people, but
after the order of Melchizedec, who was the priest of mankind.
The expression means more than this.
If, however, we should understand the word "above" as referring
to place, the idea is this,-' All believers of every age have gone
to heaven; and when a man becomes a believer, he joins the
great society they belong to.'  Thus the conversion of the
Gentiles is described as their coming and sitting down "with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of their Father;"
and the apostle, speaking of believers on the earth, says, That they
are "come to the spirits of the just made perfect."3  In either
view of it, Jerusalem is the true spiritual church consisting of
genuine believers from the beginning down to the present time.
1 This view is supported by Oederus Miscell. Nov. Lips. vol. iv. p. 3;
Teenckius, in his Comment. Exeg. de prisca Hierosolyma; Michaelis, J. D. in
his NPotce ad paraph. Epp. Pauli; and an anonymous writer in the
Secession Magazine, 1839, whose three papers are most creditable to
his learning, ingenuity, and industry. Dr Adam Clarke states, that
" Kimchi, speaking of Melchizedek, king of Salem" (in a note on Salem),
"' says, -,\ vSt:'~i,-' This is the Jerusalem from above;"' but I have
not been able to verify the reference. Wetstein, who is a safer guide on
such subjects than Adam Clarke, refers the dictum to Midras Hannaalim, f.
22, 33. I have no doubt he is accurate.
2 Joseph Ben Gorionis, in his History, lib. xxxii. chap. 6.
3 Matth. viii. 11. Heb. xii. 22.




238             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
That church is free. Its principles are free and generous. They
lead men to obey from love. Its first principle is,'believe and
live; and love, and do, and enjoy.' In the original state of
the spiritual church, its members were untrammelled by such carnal ordinances as were afterwards enjoined "because of transgressions." With the exception of a very few simple rites, its
service was spiritual and rational.  It preserved a filial spirit
in all who belonged to it. Even under the servitude of the law,
and now in the most perfect state as to revelation in which it is
to be exhibited on earth, its members are "made free by the
Son, and are free indeed."' 1
This primitive catholic church, which is founded on the promise
of mercy, is " the mother of us all," says the apostle; that is, of
all believers whether they be Jews or Gentiles.  They are all
Abraham's spiritual seed-all children of the mystical Sarah;
and they are a numerous family-" a multitude, which no man
can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
tongues." 2
4. The Allegory Extended and Explained.
Such is the apostle's exposition of the prophet's allegory. But
he not only explains the prophet's allegory, he also extends it.
He has already done so in introducing the idea of the free and
servile condition of the emblematical females and their offspring;
but he further employs it by showing how strikingly the conduct
and the fate of the servile and the free-born offspring of Abraham
emblematically represent the conduct and fate of those " who are
of the law," and those " who are of the faith of Christ."
Let us consider a little more particularly this application.
1 Vitringa, who takes this view, supposes that there is reference to the
fact that Jerusalem was composed of two parts, one of which was called t
Kah 7IrTXLS, and the other called a'aeo ro'lrXt: and that the last of theseJerusalem the Upper, Mount Zion, the City of David, comprehending Mount
Moriah, the seat of the temple, as contrasted with the Lower City-is employed by the apostle as an emblem of the celestial church. I do not see
-what light this throws on the subject. At the same time, it is but justice to
state, that Vitringa was, so far as I know, the first to see clearly that the
prediction in Isaiah is the key to this paragraph, and to apply the key in a
satisfactory explanation. Peirce's Dissertation, following in the same track,
has also done good service to the cause of principled exegesis.
2 Rev. vii. 9.




P.. ~ 6.]     ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.                239
" Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.l
But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that
was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what
saith the Scripture? Cast out the bond woman and her son:
for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of
the free woman." a The word " we" plainly refers to all who,
with the apostle, whether Jews or Gentiles, expected salvation
by faith in Christ without the works of the law.'We believers
are, as Isaac was, "the children of promise."' The general
meaning of the word is plain enough.'In this allegory, we
believers are represented by Isaac, and those who are of the
works of the law are represented by Ishmael. We and they
stand in a relation to God, and to one another, similar to that in
which Isaac and Ishmael stood to their father, and to one
another.'
There can be no doubt that this is the leading idea; but
it is not so easy distinctly to perceive in what the similarity
consists. At first view, the words may seem merely to state the
fact that, as Sarah, in the allegory, represents the promise,-so
Isaac represents believers, the children of the promise. Had
this, however, been the apostle's meaning, he would not have
said " the children of promise," or rather, " children of promise,"
but' the children of the promise.'
Some have sought the resemblance in Isaac being " by promise,"
in opposition to Ishmael " being born of the flesh." The relation
between the Israelites and God, originating in the law, was a
relation into which they were brought by natural descent: the
relation into which believers are brought with God originates in
a supernatural divine influence, which is the subject of promise.
Others seek it in the fact that Isaac was a genuine believer, and
in this sense " a child of the promise."' As Isaac was by faith
an heir of the promise, so are we.' Neither of these views is
satisfactory. I am disposed to think the phrase, "children of
promise," is a Hebraism, and is equivalent to promised children.
Isaac was Abraham's promised son. It was to him that the
promise of a son made to his father referred,-not Ishmael, who,
though Abraham's. son, was not his promised son. Now, in like
1 KaTa'IoraaK, "like Isaac." Eph. iv, 24; Heb. viii. 9.
2 Gal. iv. 28-30.




240            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CIIAP. IV, 8-V. 12.
manner, believers are the promised children-the spiritual seed
promised to Abraham, as the father of all who believe. This
idea is strikingly expressed by the apostle in his Epistle to the
Romans, when he states that'Abraham was justified while uncircumcised, that it might be plain that uncircumcised believers
were his spiritual children, and that no circumcised person was
his spiritual child unless he was also a believer;' and when he
states that'all Abraham's children are not reckoned his seed; 2
and that they who are merely the children of the flesh, these are
not the sons of God, but the children of the promise are counted
for the seed.' 3
In this statement is plainly implied its counterpart, that they
who are of the works of the law-who expect justification and
eternal life by observing its requisitions-are, like Ishmael, not
promised children. It is not to them that the promises made to
Abraham's spiritual seed refer at all: it is to us believers, and to
us alone, that all the glorious privileges ascribed to Abraham's
seed, mentioned in the promise, belong. Ishmael may possess
the wilderness; but Canaan is Isaac's promised portion. Ishmael
may obtain a number of gifts, not without their value; but the
birthright and inheritance are Isaac's.
The apostle proceeds to show that the analogy holds as to the
character and conduct of the two classes, of which Ishmael and
Isaac are emblems. " But as then he that was born after the
flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is
now." 4 The fact on which the analogy proceeds is this, that
" he that was born after the flesh" —that is, Ishmael —" persecuted," or maltreated, "him that was born after the Spirit," that
is, Isaac.  How Ishmael came to be said to be " born after the
flesh," we have already explained. He was Abraham's son; and
that is all that can be said of him. But how is Isaac said to be
"born after the Spirit"? We have no reason to doubt that
Isaac was a true saint-a man " born of the Spirit;" but whether
he was so at the time Ishmael persecuted him we cannot tell.
And, at any rate, there does not seem any reference to what is
-ordinarily called regeneration here; for it is of Ishmael and Isaac
as children of Abraham that the phrases " after the flesh" and
1 Rom., iv. 10-12.   2 Vide Hallet's Observations.   8 Rom. ix. 7, 8.
Gal. iv. 29.




P. V. ~ 6.]    ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.                241
" after the Spirit" are employed. The phrase " after the Spirit,"
as opposed to that " after the flesh," seems equivalent to'in an
extraordinary manner, by Divine agency,' much in the same way
as it is used in the following expression: —" Not by might, nor
by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."'
The fact to which the apostle refers is recorded, Gen. xxi..
9-12: "And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which
she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said
unto Abraham, Cast out this bond woman and her son: for the
son of the bond woman shall not be heir with my son, even with
Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight
because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be
grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy
bond woman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken
unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called." What
the precise nature of this persecuting or mocking was it is needless to inquire. It is plain from Sarah's opinion, which was
sanctioned by the express approbation of God, that it was no
trifle-something which made it necessary to banish Ishmael
from the family. The cause of Ishmael's dislike, and ill-usage
of Isaac, though not recorded, was very probably envy of his
brother's peculiar privileges.
In this point, then, says the apostle, the analogy holds. Those
whom Ishmael represents in the allegory still persecute those
whom Isaac represents. The descriptive appellations given to
Ishmael and Isaac are given also to those whom they represent.
" They of the law " are represented as, like Ishmael, " born after
the flesh." They are mere outward Jews. They become the nominal people of God, either by natural descent, or by submitting
to the carnal ordinances of the Mosaic institution. There is
nothing spiritual in their relation or character-nothing supernatural in the way in which they are formed. On the other
hand, " they of the promise"-they who believe are represented
as, like Isaac, born of the Spirit. They are " Israelites indeed,"
" inward Jews."2 They become the true children and people of
God by the belief of the truth, which belief is of the operation of'
God. Their relation to God is spiritual, and that relation is
supernaturally formed.
I Zech. iv. 6.
a dXjOO&'Irpay)X(Tal-Ev T' KplVrT(r'Io0VaUoL,-John i. 48; Rom. ii. 29.
('




242           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.'Now,' says the apostle,' as Ishmael persecuted Isaac, so do
those born of the flesh persecute still those who are born of the
Spirit.' The Jews, who obstinately rejected Christ and his religion, persecuted those who embraced them. They were the
fiercest enemies of the primitive church. It is of them the
apostle speaks when he says, " They both killed the Lord Jesus
and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they
please not God, and are contrary to all men; forbidding us to
speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved, to fill up their
sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." 1
The best commentary on these words is to be found in the book
of the Acts of the Apostles.2  In the words of an accomplished
writer,3 " As Ishmael persecuted Isaac with taunt, and sarcasm,
and keen-edged mockery, nay, possibly with heavier weapons,
and more substantial tokens of boyish antipathy, and rivalry,
and passion, the buffet and the blow, and all the tortures and
petty tyranny which Ishmael's superior age and strength enabled
him to exercise over his envied brother, most probably a delicate
and gentle child, —as he turned out a meek, and tranquil, and
meditative man,-even so the children of the servile persecuted
those of the free Jerusalem. Stung with jealous rage at the
claims of the infant church-which had arisen, as it were, to
push them from their stools, to rob them of their birth-right, to
supplant them in the prerogatives which they thought and
gloried in as rightfully their own-they poured upon the head
of the detested sect the last extremes of scorn and cruelty. They
smote now the heart of the Christian with the scourge of tonghes,
and now his person with the lictors' rods; now they sought to
overwhelm his character with barbed and venomous reproaches,'sharp sleet of arrowy shower,' and now hurled at his head
missiles of more ponderous and crushing sway. Wherever their
influence reached, they laboured in stirring up against the church
a perpetual and unrelenting persecution, and exhausted all the
resources of subtlety and violence in testing to the uttermost the
meekness, and patience, and power of endurance which that young
church, mighty in weakness, had inherited from its founders."
11 Thess. ii. 15, 16.
2Acts iv. 1-6, 18; v. 17, 40; vi. 9, etc.; ix. 1, 2; xiii. 45; xiv. 19;
xvii. 5, 13; xxi. 20; xxii. 22, etc.; xxiii. 2, 12; etc. etc.
8 Brown Patterson.-Discourses, vol. ii. pp. 459, 460.




P. V. ~ 6.]    ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.              243
Those unbelieving Jews were not, however, the only class of
the children of the bond woman who persecuted the children of
the free woman. A considerable number of Jews professed to
believe Jesus to be the Messiah, while at the same time they
retained their carnal views as to the character of the Messiah,
the design of His mission, and the nature of His kingdom; and
these nominal, false Christians harassed those who had juster,
more spiritual, and more liberal views of the Christian economy.
These men called themselves Christians; but they were in reality " the enemies of the cross of Christ," and the enemies of
all those who gloried in it.
But the apostle traces an analogy, not only between the conduct of Ishmael and Isaac, and that of the two classes he is
speaking of, but also between their destinies. "Nevertheless,
what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bond woman and her
son: for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the
son of the free woman."' The words here quoted are, as we
have seen, the words of Sarah 2 to Abraham when she was displeased at Ishmael's mocking and abusing her son. The counsel
of Sarah, we are told, " was very grievous in Abraham's sight
because of his son;" but it was sanctioned by divine approbation, and was of course followed by Abraham.3 The design
of the apostle is plainly to bring before the mind of his readers
these ideas. Ishmael was expelled the family of Abraham, and
excluded from the inheritance. " They who are of the law " shall
be expelled from the family of God, and excluded from the
inheritance of his children.  Isaac obtained the inheritance;
and so also shall all " they of the promise," or in other and equivalent words, "of the faith of Christ."
It is not at all improbable that the apostle here has a reference
to the plain and public proof which Jehovah was soon about to
give in the complete destruction of the Jewish polity-of His
rejection of the unbelieving Jews as His people —" the cutting
off of the natural branches," as he phrases it in the eleventh
chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. "Ere long the decree
went forth from God which stript them of the power they loved
so well, and had wielded so unsparingly, of persecuting the
chosen seed. As of Hagar and Ishmael it had been said, so of
1 Gal. iv. 30.      2 Gen. xxi. 10.        Gen. xxi. 12.




244           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
the Mosaic institute, and those who clung to it as their justifying
plea, their title to God's favour, their glory, and their hope —of
the law and of her children it was said,' Cast out the bond maid
and her sons.' The authority of the Mosaic law was abolished
-the system of its institutions was subverted. From the tents
wherein they had dwelt so long around the tabernacle and pavilion of their God, from the mountain of Jehovah's heritage,
from the pale of his acknowledged people, his chosen family,
they were driven forth, and long, like Ishmael, they have had
their abiding place in the wilderness, and long have wandered to
and fro,' tribes of the wandering foot and weary eye,' seeking
rest, and finding none, fainting often for thirst, like Hagar and her
son, in Beersheba's wilderness, yet still by a special Providence
sustained and miraculously delivered, earning from the wilderness over which they are scattered a random and scanty sustenance, like that old huntsman of the desert,'their hand
against every man,' or at least every man's hand against them.
Meanwhile'the free Jerusalem, who is the mother of us all,'
hath been brought back again in nuptial pomp into the palace
of the king, with gladness and with mirth on every side, and
now shines forth in matron dignity, rejoicing in the name received from God, of" Sarah " —lady, that is, a princess-the acknowledged spouse of her Saviour-God,-the consort-queen of the
King of kings. The Lord hath looked on her reproach, and she
hath become'the joyful mother of children.' She has broke
forth on the right hand and the left, and her seed has inherited
the nations. How amply this prediction has been fulfilled since'the promise' took the name of the gospel, we need not tell.'The world hath seen a nation bornA nation in a day.'
And the time is coming when the Lord shall yet more illustriously fulfil His promise to Sarah, that He will make her seed
as'the dust of the earth, innumerable,'-when all of the race of
man shall become the children of the church, and even far scattered Israel shall return from their long and weary exile, and
with'the innumerable multitude- out of every kindred, and
people, and tongue, and nation,' shall be adopted into her glorious and happy household.'Rise crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise!
Exalt thy towering head, and lift thine eye,




P. 7. ~ G.]    ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.               245
See a long race thy spacious courts adorn,
See future sons and daughters yet unborn,
In crowding ranks on every side arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies.' "
But it would be wrong to confine the apostle's meaning to this
particular proof of God's casting the children of the bond woman
out of his family. He seems plainly to have meant to bring
forward the general truth,'That no man who sought for salvation by obedience to the Mosaic law could possibly obtain an
interest in the blessings of the Christian salvation.' Whether he
rejected Christianity altogether, or whether he endeavoured to
connect an acknowledgment of the Messiahship of Jesus Christ
along with obedience to the Mosaic law, as the ground of his
hopes of acceptance with God, he equally shut himself out fromn
participating in the blessings of Christ's salvation, by refusing to
receive it in the only form in which it is offered-" The gift of
God through Jesus Christ our Lord." The leading law of the
spiritual church in all ages is, " the man who is just by faith
shall live." That law, as more fully and plainly stated under
the New Testament dispensation, runs thus, " Whosoever believeth shall be saved" —" God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life."  He who refuses to accept of
salvation in this way must want it:  For "there is no name
given under heaven, or among men, whereby men must be saved"
but the name of Jesus, and no way of obtaining a personal interest in his salvation but by believing. " He that believeth not
shall be damned."  "He is condemned already, and the wrath
of God abideth on him."
While there can be no doubt, then, that the apostle had
directly in view the Jewish opposers of true spiritual Christianity, his principles are much more widely applicable. In every
age, not only have there been two parties-the church and the
world, like Abraham's family and the surrounding nations-but
there have been two parties in what is called the church-those
who submit to God's method of justification, and those who go
about to establish a method of justification of their own-like
Isaac and Ishmael, both in the family of Abraham externally.
1 Brown Patterson, ut sup.




246           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
There always have been men who professed to believe Christianity,
while they did not understand its true nature; and who, while
they called Christ their only Lord and Saviour, were in reality
the servants of men, and trusting in something else than His
righteousness for their salvation. Sometimes this has been the
character of the great body of a religious society, as in the case
of the Roman church, falsely styled catholic. In all ages it has
been the character of some in every religious body. These
children of the bond woman have always been persecutors of the
children of the free-Rome Papal has been a more cruel enemy
of vital spiritual Christianity than ever Rome Pagan was. The
worst enemies of the truly evangelical party in every established
church are their nominal brethren who think of justification "as
if it were by the works of the law;" and, generally speaking,
enlightened, consistent Christians, with whom Christ is all in all,
are the objects of the peculiar dislike of those who, while they cling
to the name Christian, have dismissed from their religion almost
all direct reference to Christ as the Lord of their faith, and the
ground of their hope.
These two classes of men have always existed, and are likely
in some measure to continue to exist to the end. The tares and
the wheat will not be completely separated till the harvest. But
they shall then be separated. " The children of the bond woman
shall not be heirs with the children of the free woman." Mere
nominal Christians-those who have never been "justified by
the faith of Christ," nor regenerated by his Spirit, though they
may have had a place in his church here, of which they were
unworthy, shall have no place in the church above. They
seemed here " children of the kingdom; " but instead of being
admitted to "sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the
kingdom of their Father," they shall be "cast out into outer
darkness, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of
teeth." This is a consideration which may well alarm us all.
Nothing but scriptural, spiritual, Christian, religion will save.
Nothing short of an implicit belief of Christ's gospel, an unreserved dependance on his atonement, a universal transformation
by his Spirit, a constant reliance on his assistance, a habitual
submission to his will, can prove us " children of the promise"
-heirs of the inheritance.
The paragraph, the illustration of which I have finished, is




P. V. ~ 6.]    ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.              247
perhaps above all others fitted to give distinct and accurate ideas
respecting the great economies, or covenants, or arrangements
by which God has developed and executed his purpose of mercy
to man. I take leave of it, in the words of the author already
repeatedly quoted, in his elegant dissertation on this important
passage.  "Such is the allegory drawn, first by'the prophet and
then by the apostle, from the history of Abraham's household.
We do not need the practical inference, at least in the same
shape which Paul intended the Galatian church to draw from
its consideration-that they should steadfastly resist the acts and
efforts of the Judaising teachers, by whom they were at this time
assailed, and against whom he wrote the epistle before us, labouring as they did, and straining every nerve to bring back the
Galatian converts unto the yoke of an over-dated bondage, by
persuading them of the necessity of submission to the Mosaic
institute for ultimate salvation.  Be then our first practical
lesson a lesson of gratitude that we need not this instruction;
that to us it has been given distinctly to behold'the wall of
partition' utterly thrown down, and'the handwriting  of
ordinances' finally abolished, to exult in the unclouded light and
unfettered liberty of the gospel, and to acknowledge as the common'mother of us all' the mystic Sarah, the free Jerusalem.
And be it further ours, to take especial heed that we not merely
call ourselves, but are, her children; that our character is befitting
those who profess to be the children not of the bond woman, but
of the free; that we love our heavenly Father with a filial and
ingenuous love, and our Christian brethren with fraternal regard
and sympathy;, that we imbibe our spiritual mother's spirit, and
by her maternal instructions are daily becoming educated and
ripe for heaven. So shall we share the present privileges of her
holy household; so shall we sympathise and exult in the glorious prospects which are before her, even in our fallen world; so
especially shall we share her joy in the anticipation now, in the
inheritance hereafter, of'the glory that is to be revealed,' when
she shall be presented to her immortal spouse in sublime, unsullied loveliness,'a glorious church without spot or wrinkle;'
when she shall be acknowledged and welcomed by all the inhabitants of heaven as'the bride,''the Lamb's wife;' when He
shall encircle her fair brows with the spouse's diadem, and she
shall stand on his right hand as queen'in the gold of Ophir;'




248             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. I'2:
when all her blessed seed shall share her glory and her joy;
when she shall take and make them princes in the land of immortality-' kings and priests unto God, even their Father.' 
5. TlPe Allegory practically Improved.
That partial obscurity which occasionally perplexes the interpreters of the apostolical epistles is easily accounted for, and is
not altogether to be regretted. It is easily accounted for, arising
as it does in a good measure out of their very nature as episto1 Brown Patterson. The remarks of Mr Barnes are so judicious and useful,
that I gladly give them a place in this note:"(1.) It is by no means affirmed that the history of Hagar and Sarah in
Genesis had any original reference to the gospel. The account there is a
plain historical narrative, not designed to have any such reference.
" (2.) The narrative contains important principles, that may be used as
illustrating truth, and is so used by the apostle Paul. There are parallel
points between the history and the truths of religion, where the one may be
illustrated by the other.
"(3.) The apostle does not use it at all in the way of argument, or as if
that proved that the Galatians were not to submit to the Jewish rites and
customs. It is an illustration of the comparative nature of servitude and
freedom; and would, therefore, illustrate the difference between a servile
compliance with Jewish rites and the freedom of the gospel.
" (4.) This use of an historical fact by the apostle does not make it proper
for us to turn the Old Testament into allegory, or even to make a very free
use of this mode of illustrating truth. That an allegory may be used sometimes with advantage, no one can doubt while the' Pilgrim's Progress' shall
exist. Nor can any one doubt that Paul has here derived, in this manner,
an important and striking illustration of truth from the Old Testament.
But no one acquainted with the history of interpretation can doubt that vast
injury has been done by a fanciful mode of explaining the Old Testament,
by making every fact in its history an allegory, and every pin and pillar of
the tabernacle and the temple a type. Nothing is better fitted to bring the
whole science of interpretation into contempt; nothing more dishonours the
Bible, than to make it a book of enigmas, and religion' to consist in puerile
conceits. The Bible is a book of sense; and all the doctrines essential to
salvation are plainly revealed. It should be interpreted, not by mere conceit
and by fancy, but by the sober laws according to which are interpreted other
books. It should be explained, not under the influence of a vivid imagination, but under the influence of a heart imbued with a love of truth, and by
an understanding disciplined to investigate the meaning of words and phrases,
and capable of rendering a reason for the interpretation which is proposed.
Men may abundantly use the facts in the Old Testament to illustrate human
nature, as Paul did; but far distant be the day when the principles of Origen
and of Cocceius shall again prevail, and when it shall be assumed that' the
Bible means everything that it can be made to mean."'




p. V. ~ 6.]     ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.                  249
lary compositions, written in a remote age to persons whose
modes of thought were very different from ours, and of whose
particular circumstances we are in a great measure ignorant,
except so far as these can be gathered from the epistles themselves; 1 and it is not altogether to be regretted, for not only does
it stimulate attention, but it is one of the many marks of authenticity which belong to these writings.
Without that particularity of allusion by which they are so
remarkably distinguished, and from which occasionally obscurity
must necessarily arise, the internal evidence that the epistles
are no forgeries, would not have been by any means so strong
as it is. On the supposition of the epistles being what they
profess to be, they could not have been without their obscurities
to us, unless accompanied by a collection of historical notices
and documents more voluminous than the letters they were
meant to illustrate.
A careful study of the epistles and of the history of the age in
which they were written will frequently suggest important hints
for the elucidation of passages which otherwise would be extremely obscure. This is a source of satisfactory interpretation
which is by no means yet exhausted. And in the absence of all
direct information, it not unfrequently happens that a reference
to opinions and customs, modes of thought, and modes of expression, known to have existed at the period when, and among
the people to whom, these epistles were written, enables us more
distinctly to apprehend the meaning of a statement, the appropriateness of an illustration, and the force of an argument.
This remark applies, we apprehend, to the somewhat difficult
paragraph in the exposition of which we are engaged. We
know  certainly that the Jews were  accustomed  to  plume
themselves on their descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
From connection with these patriarchs, they conceived that the
most valuable blessings necessarily flowed. They looked upon
all the other nations of the world as belonging to an inferior
1 " Haud paullum difficultatis vel ex eo nascitur quod Paulus EPISTOLAS
scripsit; quae cum colloquia inter se notorum esse soleant et tanguntur in iis
quoe nemini nisi quibus Epistolhe reddendae sint cognita, et causwe expositio
non ad rem sed ad amicorum ingenium et rationes accommodatur. Atque
Epistolas ante multa secula scriptas fieri non potest quin majores etiam et
quas historie luce plane discutere nequeas, tenebre premant." —FRITscHE.




250           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
class, and considered submission to the rite of circumcision and to
the other ordinances of that law which had been given to Israel,
as the only way in which these nations could find admission into
the privileged order of the people of God. Jewish contempt and
hatred of gentilism and Gentiles, were proverbial; and this mode
of thinking and feeling was not confined in the primitive age to
the unbelieving Jews; it prevailed to a considerable degree
among the great majority of converts to Christianity, and formed
a leading trait in the characters of those Judaising teachers, from
whose artful attempts the Galatian gentile converts were exposed
to considerable hazard of being induced to sacrifice that entire
reliance on Jesus Christ for salvation, which the apostle had
taught them, and place at least a portion of their dependance on
their being admitted by circumcision among the carnal descendants of Abraham.
In prosecuting their object, there is little doubt that they
dwelt much on circumcision being the seal of God's covenant;
and that while uncircumcised, men were still aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenant of
promise; and they not improbably, in illustration of their
doctrine, that faith in Christ as the Messiah without circumcision was not sufficient, might in allusion to the history of
Abraham state, that they who acknowledged the Messiah yet
did not submit to circumcision, were but imperfectly connected
with Abraham. If they were of the family at all, it was but as
Ishmael was, not as Isaac. Nothing could better comport with
the sentiments and feelings of these false teachers. Nothing could
be better fitted to gain their object of making their gentile converts envy them than such a statement.'Ye are but Ishmaelites. We are the true Israel.'
All this is highly probable; and on the hypothesis of its having
been fact, we see an obvious propriety in the peculiar illustration
which the apostle uses; and we admire his dexterity in wresting
his adversaries' weapons out of their hands, and turning them
against themselves, by showing that they were the Ishmaelites
and the unbelievers; and that the true Israelites were those who
rested entirely and solely in the faith of Jesus Christ.
The apostle shuts up his allegorical illustration of the two
economies, and paves the way for the practical inference to which
the truth thus illustrated naturally led, in these words: " So




P. V. ~ 6.1    ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.              251
then, brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of
the free."l This, as is common with the apostle, seems the first
half of an antithetic sentence-the second member readily supplied by the intelligent reader,-and for obvious reasons left thus
to be supplied, being-' And the Judaisers are children, not of
the free woman, but of the bond.'
These words stand in need of little illustration. We are not
to consider them as, strictly speaking, a conclusion from what goes
before; for what goes before is an analogical illustration, not an
argument. They are merely a brief statement of the sum and
substance of that illustration; the justness of which depends not
on its intrinsic evidence, but on its having been employed by
inspired men-a prophet and an apostle.' We believers are the
true seed of Abraham, the spiritual children of God. We are
not children of the bond woman, born to slavery, but we are the
children of the free woman born to liberty.'
The idea of the abolition of the legal economy, though not
directly brought forward here, is plainly implied. The mystical
Isaac is born and weaned; the power of the mystical Hagar is
come to an end. She and her children must be banished from
the family; and it is not meet that the children of the promise
should be longer subject to her control or their persecution.
This view is very closely connected with the verse which follows;
and we have here one among very many proofs, that the division
of the New Testament into chapters is far from being uniformly
judicious. If, indeed, believers are the subjects of the economy
of promise, and if the economy of law is come to an end, nothing
could be more incongruous than for them to endeavour to attach
themselves to it; and a plain and broad foundation is laid for the
exhortation which the apostle proceeds to address to them.
" Stand2 fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made
us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." &
The first words of this verse are connected by Lachmann and
Schott with the preceding one,-" We are children of the free
woman by that liberty whereby Christ has made us free." We
prefer the ordinary mode of connection.
This exhortation is obviously addressed to the gentile converts among the Galatians, and this is intimated by the change of
1 Gal. iv. 31.
2  OM)v 8& 0TKETf r  l&E aaXevotevovs."-THEOPIIYLACT.  3 Gal. v. 1.




252           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V\. 12.
person, " we are the children not of the bond woman, but of the
free," that is, we believers, whether Jews or Gentiles; " stand,"
ye gentile believers, " fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has
made you free;" and it is further made evident from the persons addressed being persons who had not submitted to circumcision. This remark is of importance to the right understanding of the passage.
By the liberty wherewith Christ had made these gentile converts free has very generally been understood- freedom from the
Mosaic law. But they surely could not with propriety be said to
be made free from that to which they were never subjected.
The liberty with which Christ had made them free is something
much more general and extensive than this-something that is
common both to believing Jews and Gentiles. It is a deliverance
from subjection to the doctrines and commandments of men, and
it is a deliverance too from a servile spirit in yielding obedience
to the commandments of God.
When a man embraces the gospel with an enlightened faith
he acknowledges Christ as the alone Lord of his understanding
and conscience, of his faith and conduct; he knows and feels that
no man, no body of men, have any right to dictate to him what
he is to believe, and what he is to do in religion. " One is his
master, even Christ." To observe all His ordinances and commandments is the whole of his duty; and in doing so (" he walks
at liberty."
In embracing the gospel, the man not only obtains this kind
of freedom, but he is also delivered from a servile spirit in obeying the commandments of God-knowing and believing that
4" God is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to men their trespasses"-persuaded that "in Christ he has
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of his sins according to the riches of Divine grace," he loves God who has so
loved him, and constrained by love he " serves him without fear
in righteousness and holiness." This is the liberty wherewith
Christ makes all who believe His gospel free.
Luther's description of the liberty wherewith Christ makes
hIis people free, though not perhaps exegetically correct, is doctrinally true, and very beautiful and delightful.  "Christ has
made us free, not civilly nor carnally, but divinely; we are made
free in such a sort that our conscience is fiee and quiet, not




P. V. ~ 6.j     ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.                  253
fearing the wrath of God to come. This is the true and inestimable liberty to the excellency and majesty of which, if we
compare the others, they are but as one drop of water in respect
of the whole sea.  For who is able to express what a thing it is
when a man is assured in his heart that God neither is, nor
will be, angry with him, but will be for ever a merciful and a
loving Father unto him for Christ's sake? This, indeed, is a
marvellous and incomprehensible liberty, to have the most high
and sovereign Majesty so favourable to us that he doth not only
defend, maintain, and succour us in this life, but also as touching
our bodies will so deliver us as that, though sown in corruption,
dishonour, and infirmity, they shall rise again in incorruption, and
glory, and power. This is an inestimable liberty that we are
made free from the wrath of God for ever and is greater than
heaven and earth and all other creatures. Of this liberty there
followeth another freedom from the law, sin, death, and the
power of the devil.'Blessed is he that understandeth and believeth.' "1
Now, the apostle's exhortation to the Galatian converts is,
"stand fast in this liberty." To stand fast is just equivalent to,'to persevere in, to maintain.' 2' Act like Christ's freemen.'
To receive the doctrines of the Judaising teachers, to submit to
the ritual observances which they wished to impose, was utterly
incongruous with this liberty. They said, " unless you are circumcised, and keep the law of Moses, ye cannot be saved." But
Christ had said no such thing; on the contrary, he said, "Whosoever believeth shall not perish, but have everlasting life." To
receive their principle, and to act on it, was plainly to renounce
Christ's authority, and to submit to the authority of men; and
the whole of their system of seeking justification by their own
doings was utterly subversive of the filial confidence, that generous
spirit, which the faith of the gospel of Christ generates, and was
necessarily productive of a servile temper. " Stand fast in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free," is thus equivalent
to,'maintain your Christian freedom.' When the Judaising
teachers press their principles on you, ask for their authority;
1 A fuller illustration of Christian liberty may be found in " Expository
Discourses on the First Epistle of Peter," Disc. xi. vol. 1.
2 Rom. v. 2; 1 Cor. xv. 1; xvi. 13; 2 Cor. i. 24; is equivalent to  r,
2 Kings xxiii. 3; Eccl. viii. 3; Dan. xii. 13.




254           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
request them to show you the sanction of Christ; and let them
know that He is your master, and that ye are not, and will not
be, " the servants of men." When they call on you to submit to
circumcision and other ritual observances, in order to obtain the
favour of God, tell them that, "being justified by faith, ye have
already peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and
have access into the grace wherein ye stand, and rejoice in the
hope of the glory of God."
The apostle adds, " be not entangled again with the yoke of
bondage," or rather, a yoke of bondage.' The apostle plainly
refers to the subjection to the law-this was the particular yoke
of bondage that the Galatians were in danger of being subjected
to-but he speaks generally, and calls it not the yoke, but a yoke,
for a plain reason. The Galatian gentile converts had never
been subject to this yoke of bondage before, and therefore they
could not with propriety be warned against being again entangled in it; but they had been subject to a yoke of bondage,
and might with propriety be warned against being again subject
to any such yoke.
The state of gentilism, as we have already seen, bore in many
respects an analogy to the state of those who were under the law.
The heathen were the slaves of human authority even more, if
possible, than the Jews were; like them, they were subject to an
endless, wearisome series of external services; and like them, their
sentiments and institutions naturally produced a servile spirit. It
is as if the apostle had said,' You were once slaves: Christ has
made you free: beware of becoming slaves again. If you follow
the advice of these Judaising teachers ye will become so. They
have no better claim on your belief than the priests and sages of
paganism; and the system of observances they would force on
you has now no more authority than that burdensome ritual froIn
which you have been so happily delivered.'
The general principle of this exhortation is applicable to
Christians in all ages, both in regard to religious doctrine and
duty. Let them assert their freedom, and guard against the
admission of any principle, or the submission to any imposition,
1 Ovye aovXelas, equivalent to Cvy7s ao6XelS,'a servile yoke,' not the
"yoke which is easy," Cvyo Xp7uTro's, Matth. xi. 30; O3api., not e'Xappds.;veXErtOaL is properly used of all things which are caught and retained by
ropes and nets.




P.. ~ 6.]       ALLEGORICAL ILLUSTRATION.                    255
that may entangle their consciences and strip their obedience,
even to Christ's law, of that child-like character which the faith
of Christ in its purity, and the ordinances of Christ in their
simplicity, are so well calculated to produce and cherish.
What an admirable system is pure Christianity! How grateful should we be for the clear and full statement of it we have in
the New  Testament Scripture!  How deeply should we study
it! How jealously should we guard it against corruption!
How anxiously should we seek to experience more and more of
its generous and holy influence-its efficacy to purify and to
bless! How grateful especially should all be who have reason to
hope that they are in possession of this liberty! He whom the
Son makes free is free indeed. Every man is naturally a slave;
and he only is truly free whom grace has made a freeman.'
1 How beautiful and how true our Christian poet's description of this
liberty:" This is a liberty unsung
By poets, and by senators unpraised;
Which monarchs cannot grant, nor all the powers
Of Earth or Hell confederate take away:
A liberty which persecution, fraud,
Oppression, prisons, have no power to bind;
Which whoso tastes, can be enslaved no more.'Tis liberty of heart, deriv'd from Heaven,
Bought with His blood who gave it to mankind,
And seal'd with the same token. It is held
By charter, and that charter sanctioned, sure,
By the unimpeachable and awful oath
And promise of a God. His other gifts
All bear the royal stamp that speak them his,
And are august; but this transcends them all.
[True liberty!] A flight into God's arms,
Ere yet mortality's fine threads give way,
A clear escape from tyrannising lust,
And full immunity from penal woe.
He is indeed a freeman, free by birth,
Of no mean city, plann'd or ere the hills
Were built, the fountains open'd, or the sea,
With all its roaring multitude of waves.
His freedom is the same in every state;
And no condition of this changeful life,
So manifold in cares, whose every day
Brings its own evil with it, makes it less.
For he has wings that neither sickness, pain,
Nor penury can cripple -or confine;




256           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
Let those who have this freedom act a part worthy of it, and
let those who want it gratefully receive what is "freely given
them of God. Still does "the anointed of the Lord" proclaim
"liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison doors to
those that are bound."' Let them receive the truth in the love
of it, and that truth will make them free; and as it is this truth
believed which gives this spiritual freedom, so it is the continued belief of this truth which alone can enable them, in opposition to all the attempts of their spiritual enemies to entangle
them again in bondage, to " stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made us free."
SECT. VII. —THE COURSE THE GALATIANS WERE FOLLOWINGAN IMPLICIT RENUNCIATION OF CHRISTIANITY AND ITS
BLESSINGS.
The paths of error and vice are downward paths; but the
descent is sometimes so very gradual, especially at first, that it
is often no easy matter to convince those who have entered them
that they have left the level ground of truth and duty. To use
another figure, the divergence from the straight road is often so
very small that he who has abandoned it may easily for a time
persuade himself that he is still prosecuting it. The lines of
direction seem- to be almost parallel; yet at every step he takes
they are diverging, and by and by it will become abundantly
apparent, even to the individual himself, that the path he now
treads and the path he formerly trode are different paths. It
is quite possible he may still think that the path he has chosen
is the preferable one; but he can no longer indulge the delusive
notion that he has not altered his course.
In many cases, I am persuaded, the fatal catastrophe of
" making shipwreck of faith, and of a good conscience," might
No nook so narrow but he spreads them there
With ease, and is at large. The oppressor holds
His body bound; but knows not what a range
His spirit takes, unconscious of a chain,
And that to bind him is a vain attempt,
Whom God delights in, and in whom He dwells."
-COWPER, Task, v.
Isa. lxi. 1.




P. V. ~ 7.] THE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF JUDAISING.    257
be prevented, -were the true nature and probable results of commencing apostacy, either in principle or in conduct, brought
before the mind. Many a man has begun with doubting or
denying some particular doctrine of revelation which seems beset
with peculiar difficulties, such as the doctrine of original sin, and
has ended with denying the Divine authority of the Bible altogether. Many a man has begun with venturing on what he
was afraid was wrong, or at any rate was by no means quite
sure was right, who has ended with disregarding all religious
and moral obligations. Had these men understood the tendency
of the first step, they might perhaps not have taken the second.
Had they contemplated the termination of their career they
might probably never have commenced it.
Nothing is more unfair than to charge a man with holding
principles which he disavows, however justly deducible from his
professed opinions. Such a mode of reasoning, however common,
is obviously uncandid, and has a much greater tendency to irritate
than to convince. To charge a man with crimes of which he
knows he is not guilty, though the faults he has committed may
naturally lead to the perpetration of these crimes, is certainly
not the most likely way of reforming him. But it is a matter of
the last importance that the tendency of a false principle, and of a
criminal action, should be distinctly and fully laid before the mind
of him who has adopted the one, or committed the other; and that
he should be faithfully and affectionately warned against holding
an opinion or indulging a practice the moral characters of which
are very different from what he apprehends them to be, and which
will in the ordinary course of things sink him in depths of error and
guilt, from which at present he would perhaps recoil with terror.
It is most unfortunate when a person just about to commence the downward road of apostasy falls in with a well
meaning, it may be, but most mistaken friend, who flatters him
in the opinion he has formed that there is nothing very dangerous or wrong in the course he is taking, who says "peace, peace,"
to him while there is no peace.  A true friend will in these
circumstances not thus help forward the delusion; but, at the
hazard of displeasing him  whom he wishes to save, he will
honestly, but at the same time kindly, tell him the truth, and,
leading him to the brink of the precipice, bid him ponder ere lihe
goes farther in the path which terminates so fearfully.




258           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
This is the kind office the Apostle Paul is doing to the Galatians, who, through means of the arts of Judaising teachers,
were in extreme hazard of apostatising from pure Christianity.
They in general seemed to have entertained the idea, that they
might follow the course recommended by their teachers, and yet
continue believers and followers of the Lord Jesus —possessors of
the character and heirs of the inheritance of true Christians.
The apostle endeavours to dissipate all such delusive hopes, and
distinctly informs them, that if they were determined to follow
their new teachers they must make up their mind not only to
abandon their old teachers, but to give up their Saviour; for that
to depend on him for salvation, and at the same time to depend
on circumcision or any thing else for salvation, were, whatever
their new teachers might tell them, utterly incompatible; that to
yield to these Judaising teachers was to sacrifice their Christian
freedom, and in effect to renounce Christianity altogether.
"Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing."' There are two things which
here require our attention-the apostle's statement and the
manner in which this statement is made. The statement is, that
if the Galatian gentile converts submitted to circumcision in
compliance with the wish of the Judaising teachers, "Jesus
Christ would profit them nothing." The phrase, " Jesus Christ
shall profit you nothing," is equivalent to,'you will derive no
advantage from Jesus Christ-you cannot share in the blessings
of his salvation.' The statement is not, that no circumcised
person can obtain salvation through Christ. Abraham, the father
of circumcision, and all his believing children of the circumcision, were saved through the Messiah, and through faith in the
Messiah. From the case of Timothy, who was of Jewish descent
by his mother, and who, after his conversion to Christianity, was
by the apostle taken and circumcised, it seems plain that the
mere act of submitting to that rite did not imply in it a renunciation of the blessings of Christ's salvation. The words are to be
understood with a reference to the Galatian converts in the particular circumstances in which they stood. For them who were
Gentiles never subject to the law of Moses, to submit to it in
order to obtain for themselves the favour of God and eternal life,
Gal. v. 2.




P. V. ~ 7.] THE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF JUDAISING.    259
was an implied renunciation of Christianity, and to such persons
Christ could be of no advantage.
Actions derive their moral character from the circumstances
in which, and the principles from which, they are performed.
To eat bread and drink wine in commemoration of Christ's death,
had not our Lord commanded us to do so, would have been a
superstitious usage-a piece of will-worship. To do so now that
he has commanded it, is an important part of Christian worship.
To observe this ordinance for the purpose for which it has often
been observed, to make atonement for sins, or to qualify for
civil office, is gross profanation. To observe this ordinance from
a regard to the Divine authority-a wish to honour the Saviour,
a desire to obtain spiritual improvement —is highly dutiful. In
like manner, for a Jew, previously to the coming of the Messiah,
to attend to the initiatory rite of his religion, was an imperative
duty. For a Jew, even after the coming of the Messiah, to
submit to it, if he did not regard it as the ground of his hope, as
securing his salvation, was not forbidden, nay, in certain circumstances, as those of Timothy, it might become a duty. But for
any person, especially for a Gentile professing to believe the
gospel, and to expect pardon and salvation entirely "'through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," to submit to circumcision for the purpose of securing for himself the favour of God
and eternal happiness, was obviously most incongruous and criminal conduct.
The doctrine of the Judaising teachers, as we have often had
occasion to observe, was, "except ye be circumcised and keep the
law of Moses, ye cannot be saved."  In submitting to the rite in
compliance with the wishes of such teachers, gentile converts in
effect said,'The atonement of Jesus Christ as apprehended by
faith, is not a sufficient ground of hope; it stands in need of addition.' This is to renounce Christianity. For its leading doctrine
is, "Christ is all." In him we are justified, sanctified, and redeemed.
And the apostle's objection to circumcision, now an obsolete rite,
would have been equally strong to their substituting anything else
in the room of the Saviour's obedience to the death, which is the sole
foundation of the sinner's hope, or of that faith of the truth by which
the sinner lays hold of "the hope set before him in the gospel."
Such then is the apostle's statement-that if any gentile convert
submitted to circunlcision as, either wholly or in part, the means of




260           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CIIAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
obtaining the Divine favour, he cut himself off from the blessings of
Christ's salvation. Not that there was no room for his repentance
-not that if he did repent and believe the gospel his having submitted to circumcision would bar his way to the Saviour-but the
act when performed in these circumstances, and from these principles, was an implied renunciation of Christ and Christianity.
The manner in which the statement is made deserves notice.
"Behold, I Paul say unto you."  This form of introducing the
statement, marks his sense of its importance, and his wish that it
should be well pondered by them. It is equivalent to,'I Paul,
a divinely authorised teacher, " an apostle not of man, neither by
man" who " wrought miracles among you and ministered the
Spirit," who ardently loves you, and whom you once ardently
loved, and who have been artfully and calumniously represented
as contradicting the doctrine I taught while among you, I Paul
solemnly assure you, in the name of my Master, that if you submit to circumcision that you may be saved by it and the works
of the law to which it is introductory, you in effect renounce
Jesus Christ, and will cut yourselves off from a participation in the
blessings of his salvation.' There is no reason to doubt that the
Judaising teachers had told the Galatian converts, that submission to circumcision, even on their principles, was perfectly
consistent with the faith of Christ, and that it was under this
mistaken notion that some had discovered a willingness to comply
with their wishes. Such a declaration was therefore called for on
the part of the apostle, and was certainly well fitted to make them
pause and consider before they went further.
In the next verse the apostle takes notice of another circumstance which the Judaising teachers had kept out of sight, and
which was well fitted to show the Galatian converts how hazardous
a step they were taking in submitting to the initiatory rite of
Judaism-: "For I testify again to every man that is circumcised,
that he is a debtor to do the whole law." 1
As the statement in this verse is a different one from that
made in the former one, and indeed different from any made in
the previous part of the epistle, we apprehend the word " again " 2
1 Gal. v. 3. " Si Judaismus via est ad salutem, totus Judaismus observandus est: Non ex eo eligendum et spernendum quod velis."-GROTIUS.
2 7rcaXtv. If the 3d and 4th verses are considered as one statement, then
7rAXlv has its proper signification, and refers to the Xyco in verse 2.




P. V. ~ 7.] TIHE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF JUDAISING.   261
signifies here'besides,' or,'moreover.' This is its signification,
Matth. v. 33; xiii. 45. Some consider it as equivalent to, " on the
other hand;" and quote in support of this signification, Matth.
iv. 7; 1 Cor. xii. 21; 2 Cor. x. 7; 1 John ii. 8.
The phrase, " every man that is circumcised," is obviously to
be limited to every one of the persons to whom he is referring.' Every one of you gentile converts who submit to circumcision,
in compliance with the will of your new teachers, I testify to you
that by doing so he becomes bound to keep the whole law;'
that is, on the very same principle that you submit to circumcision as necessary for your salvation, you must observe all things
" written in the book of the law to do them."' Chrysostom remarks that "there is an internal connection of precepts in the
law, circumcision was connected with sacrifice, sacrifice implied
sacredness of times and places, and sacred places required lustratory rites." The apostle does not say that by doing so they
would obtain what they were in quest of. On the contrary, he
distinctly tells them that, " by the deeds of the law no man can
be justified." But he tells them also what consistency required
of them if they submitted to circumcision.
It seems obvious that these Judaising teachers were not very
attentive to some of the Mosaic rites;2 and it is probable that
the gentile converts in submitting to the initiatory rite of
Judaism did not contemplate subjecting themselves to all its
requisitions.' But,' says the apostle,'where can you stop? If
obedience in any point be necessary, it is necessary in all. Circumcision is not more obligatory than the other ordinances of the
Mosaic economy.' They were thus allowing a heavier yoke to
be imposed on them than they were aware of. And all for no
purpose-for worse than no purpose.
The principle is of universal application.  Whenever a man
shifts the ground of his hope in any degree from the finished work
of Jesus Christ-whenever he depends on anything he has done,
or is to do-he lays himself open to a claim for complete perfect
obedience and satisfaction to that law, by obedience to which he
is seeking justification. To depend on works at all is absurd, unless
we have perfect works. We must choose between the two principles, justification by faith and justification by works —justification
1'roLtiaL oi;ov r'bv voYov is equivalent to vo/Lov rrX7p~oat, or lrotlo-ma Th
yEypabuL/va ev v' tf33X) ro7o v6dov.-Gal. iii. 10.  2 Gal. vi. 13.




21;2            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
as a friee gift, and justification as a merited reward. There is no
combining the two principles; and if we prefer the law, let us recollect we must stand by its terms. "The soul that sinneth shall die."
This is substantially the apostle's assertion in the next verse.
"Christ is become of no effect unto you,1 whosoever of you are
justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace."2 The expression
" whosoever of you are justified by the law," is plainly equivalent
to,' such of you as are seeking justification by the law;" 3 for, as
the apostle has himself remarked above,4 " that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, is evident." To such of the
Galatians as were seeking justification by the law, " Christ had
become of no effect." The word here used is the same as that
employed in Romans vii. 2-6, —-" She is loosed "5-1" We are
delivered from  the law.""  The idea is,'Christ and you are
completely separated.'7 They had professed faith in Christ, but
their conduct in seeking justification by the law was a proof that
they never understood the gospel they had professed to believe.
Christ for justification and the law for justification, are not bnly
two different, but two incompatible, things. You who are seeking for justification by the law can have nothing to do with
Christ, for " Christ for righteousness," or justification, "'is the
end of the law." The man who is seeking pardon and salvation
as the reward of his own doings, either in whole or in part,
necessarily, from the very constitution of the gospel, cuts himself
off from the benefit of Christ's mediation. God will give freely
or He will not give at all. Christ must be the sole Saviour,
he will not divide his honour with the sinner.8
"No; HE as soon will abdicate his own
As stoop from heaven to sell the proud a throne." —CowER.
" Ye are fallen from grace."  To " fall from  grace," is not to
1 Theophylact interprets the phrase, " Kaw7pyrY7),re TE dro' To Xpto'-ro (which
is a phrase of the same kind as Karn7py-O're 7ro  rov  vouov, Rom. vii. 7),
pqaelLptav KoLovlav fXere ET er ro XpLT'rov."
2 Gal. v. 4.
3 &KaltoVaO is equivalent to &LKatoio'Oat Cq7Trere, or oT-rovaa'dETE.
4 Gal. iii. 11.            KarTpyl77ral.         6 Kaa7py7zEqpFv.
7 Dr Pye Smith interprets the phrase thus, " Ye are nullified from Christ;"
that is,' He is to you as if he had never existed: ye are totally separated
from him.'-Scri2p. Test. iii. 53.
s It has been well said, "Christum dimidium quisquis habere vult perdit
totum."




P. V. ~ 7.] THE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF JUDAISING.    263
cease to be objects of the peculiar favour of God. We have no
reason to think the persons spoken of were ever interested in
the Divine special favour; and it appears to us very distinctly
the doctrine of the Bible, that a man cannot, in this sense of the
word, fall from  grace.  "There is no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus."  Nothing "can separate them from
the love of God,"-i. e. his grace " in Christ Jesus." 1 Grace is
here used as opposed to works; and what the apostle says is,'By seeking to be justified by works, you have renounced the
way of justification by grace.' There is no combining the two
things; for, as the apostle says, " if it be by grace, then is it no
more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace: but if it be
of works, then is it no more grace; otherwise work is no more
work." 2'You give up all claims on the Divine favour, or
kindness, when you go about to establish a method of justification of your own.'
In the general principles laid down here we are just as much
interested as the Galatian converts, to whom the Epistle was
written. The principle in human nature which led them to seek
for justification by the Mosaic law still exists, and is in active
operation; leading men, under a profession of Christianity, to
" make void the grace of God," and involve themselves in endless
destruction, by " going about to establish their own methods of
justification," and refusing to submit to the Divine method of
justification. These human methods are various; but their common principle is to substitute something in the room of Christ's
obedience to the death as the ground of hope, and something
in the room of faith as the means of justification. An error
here must be dangerous-may be fatal. Let us all carefully
examine the foundation of our hopes. The only secure ground
is the finished work of Christ; the only way of making that the
ground of our hope is the faith of the truth respecting it. But
let us never forget that the only permanently satisfactory evidence
of our interest in Christ's atonement, and of our having really
believed the true gospel, is our personal experience of its sanctifying and comforting efficacy,-the only sure evidence of our
having the faith of the gospel, is our feeling its purifying, and
our exemplifying its transforming, influence.  Luther's pithy
1 Rom. viii. 1, 35-39.           2 Rom. xi. 6.




264            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CIHAP. IV. 8-V.'2.
words are worth quoting:-" Some would bind us at this day to
certain of Moses' laws which like them best, as the false apostles
would have done at that time; but this is in no wise to be
suffered.  For if we give Moses leave to rule over us in anything, we are bound to obey him in all things; wherefore we
will not be burdened with any law of Moses.  We grant that he
is to be read among us, and to be heard as a prophet and a
witness-bearer to Christ, and moreover, that out of him we may
take good examples of good laws and a holy life; but we will not
suffer him in any wise to have dominion over our consciences.
In this case, let him  be dead and buried, and let no man know
where his grave is.-Deut. xxxiv. 6." 1
To a reflecting mind, few things seem more worthy of considerate remark than that identity of essence which, amid almost
endless variety of form, has characterised false religions and
corruptions of the true. True religion, in all its forms, has been
spiritual in its nature, and humbling in its tendency; and false
religions, in all their varieties, have been possessed of directly
the opposite qualities. The leading principles of true religion
are, " God is all in all;"-man, as a creature, " is as nothing;
and less than nothing, and vanity;"-God, as the Governor of
the world, has done all things well;-his law is, like himself,
perfect, —its precept is not too strict, its sanctions are not too
severe; and man, as a sinner, a violator of the law, is most
criminal, and altogether inexcusable; —if man is saved at all, it
must be in the exercise of sovereign kindness on the part of Him
whom he has offended.  " All things are of God."  " Of Him,
and through Him, and to Him, are all things." The leading
duties of true religion are spiritual duties-exercises of the mind
and heart; the understanding and affections towards God corresponding to the views given of his character and moral administration, and our relations to Him.
In almost all false religions and corruptions of the true, the
pride of man's nature is done homage to. He is not represented
as he really is, an inexcusably criminal, an utterly lost, being,
1 These are not words I should choose to express an entire approbation
of; but the sentiment they are intended to state is of infinite importance:' Nothing in the law of Moses is obligatory on a Christian's conscience, merely
because it is there, for a very plain reason,-that if anything in it is obligatory for this reason, evc2ulthbin in it must be obligatory.'




P. V. ~ 7.] TUE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF JUDAISING.    265
and he is flattered by what is a radical principle in every religion but the pure religion of the Bible, that he can either by
repentance or sacrifice propitiate the Divinity for any offence he
may have given HIim, and that he is to be author of his own
moral improvement, the builder of his own immortal fortunes.
The Divine favour is to be merited, not freely received.
And as in their principles false religions flatter the pride of
man, so in their practical requisitions they suit themselves to
that part of the depraved human constitution, its supreme attention and attachment to sensible things-things seen and temporal.  Externality, if we may use the word, is the leading
character of the duties enjoined by false religions. A round of
ritual observances, a series of outward performances is prescribed,
viewed not as the expression of religious thought and feeling, but
as constituting the substance of religious duty. These are the
great characters of Paganism in its leading forms, both in ancient
and modern times. They are the leading characters of false
Judaism and of false Christianity. They are the leading characters of Mohammedanism. They are the leading characters of
Popery. And one or other of them, in most instances we are
persuaded both of them, will be found in all the numerous
essential corruptions of protestant Christianity. In truth, all the
forms of false religion are just so many varieties of one religion,
the religion of corrupt depraved men; the elements of which
rising out of the pride and secularity of that corrupted nature
which equally belongs to them all, are essentially the same,
though liable to endless modification from the circumstances in
which individuals or bodies of men are placed.
We find from the passage which we have been considering,
that these characters belonged to the earliest corruptions of the
Christian faith. The Judaising teachers, instead of the humbling doctrine of redemption through the blood of Christ and
justification by faith, taught, that by submitting to circumcision
and obeying the law, men could do something in the way of
meriting the Divine favour; and their object was to substitute
in the room of the simple and spiritual institutions and duties of
pure Christianity the numberless carnal ordinances of the Mosaic
institution. In doing so they pretended to be improving on the
Christianity taught by the apostle; but he plainly informs the
Galatian converts that this was not to improve Christianity but




266            EPISTLE TO TIIE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
to destroy it; and that if they were determined to receive what
in reality was another religion, they must make up their minds
to give up that which they had professed to embrace.  He
states to them, that whosoever submitted to circumcision for the
purpose of obtaining justification by doing so, cut himself off
from all interest in the blessings of Christ's salvation. That on
the same principle, that circumcision was necessary to justification, perfect obedience to every requisition of the law was necessary; that to seek justification by law was an implied apostasy
from Christ, and that all who did so of course relinquished all
claim on the free favour of God, and came forward as expectants
of Divine favour and eternal life, not as humble suppliants,
but as persons entitled to a stipulated reward for the performance of stipulated labours. To impress more deeply on the
minds of the Galatians the conviction that the gospel of these
Judaising teachers was indeed " another gospel; " that the religion to which they were attempting to convert the Galatians was
not the religion of Christ, and of course that he had not gone too
far in declaring those who embraced such views apostates from the
faith they had once professed, the apostle in the following verses
shortly, but plainly, states what were the principles held by himself and all true Christians on the subject under consideration.
-" For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any
thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love."'
" Righteousness" is in this verse, as in the epistles of Paul
generally, equivalent to,  justification.'  " Hope " is here plainly
employed as descriptive not of the affection of hope, but of the
object of hope; as, Col. i. 5; Tit. ii. 13; Heb. vi. 18; vii.
19, the thing hoped for.  "The hope of justification," is just
equivalent either to,'the justification hoped for-that state of
favour with God which is the object of our hope;' or to,'that
final happiness which is the object of the hope of those who are
justified by faith.2'Now,' says the apostle,' we wait for or expect this hoped for
justification.'  The word "we" is descriptive of the apostle and
those who thought along with him in opposition to the false
teachers.  "W We," that is genuine Christians, expect that justifi1 Gal. v. 5, 6.       2    &6'r7 t ofKcTOJYqS a  T;,a'tOS.-02 Tim. iv. 8.




P. V. ~ 7.] THE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF JUDAISING.    267
cation which we hope for, or that salvation which is the object of
our hope as justified persons " through the Spirit by faith."
The phrase "through the Spirit," or, "in the Spirit," may
either be connected with the word "we," or with the phrase,
"expect the justification we hope for." In the first case it
describes the character of the persons spoken of; in the other it
describes the manner in which they expect justification. In the
first way of explaining it is equivalent to,' \Ne who are " in the
Spirit" and "not in the flesh;" we who are spiritual and not
carnal; we who by the Spirit of God have been formed to a
spiritual character; whatever others may do; wE expect the justification we hope for solely by faith.' This makes very good sense;
but the peculiar turn of expression adopted by the apostle, and
the connection in which the words are introduced, lead us to
prefer the second mode of interpretation, which considers the
phrase as describing the manner in which they expect' justification.' We expect the justification we hope for "in the Spirit,"
or, "through the Spirit;" that is spiritually, in a spiritual manner, not in a carnal manner. We expect justification not by the
performance of external ceremonies as the Judaising teachers
teach you to expect it. We have " begun in the Spirit," and we
are determined to carry on in the Spirit. We expect spiritual
blessings in a way corresponding to their nature.'
And as they expected the hoped for justification, or the blessing they hoped for as justified persons, through the Spirit,
not through the carnal ordinances of the law, so they expected it not by working but by believing —" we expect the hoped
for justification by believing." It was by believing they had obtained a place in God's favour, and it was by believing they
hoped to retain it. Justification was a blessing of which they
were already in possession; but it is a permanent state into which
they enter by faith, and in which " they stand by faith." The sentiment is the same as that more fully expressed by the apostle in the
beginning of the fifth chapter of the Romans, " being justified
by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ:
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we
stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God," that is, of the Divine
approbation at last. It is not by obedience to the law of Moses,
1 (7rfEKaEXEOt0(il. Roin. viii. 19, 23, 25; 1 Cor. i. 7.




268            EPISTLE TO TILE GALATIANS. [CIIAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
but by exercising faith in the gospel of Christ that we hope to
continue in the state of favour into which we have been brought,
and to receive the Divine approbation at last.
The reason why Paul and all genuine enlightened Christians
expected the hoped for justification "through the Spirit," not
through the flesh, " by faith," not by works, is stated in the 6th
verse,-" For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any
thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." 1
The phrase " in Christ Jesus," has been variously interpreted,
some considering it as equivalent to,'in the estimation of Jesus
Christ; 2 others, as equivalent to,' in the kingdom of Christunder Christ's dispensation.' We see no necessity of receding
from the ordinary sense of the phrase, according to which it
describes that intimate relation to Christ Jesus in which all true
believers stand. The expression by an ordinary ellipsis is equivalent to,'to the being in Christ Jesus; 3 to the being a true
Christian-one so related to Jesus Christ as to be as it were in
him, one with him, interested in all the blessings of his salvation.'
Now, to the being a true Christian, "neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision." It is not either as Jews
or as Gentiles that men are connected with Christ Jesus. The
general idea is, connection with Christ depends on nothing external. It is the same idea that is more fully expressed, 1 Cor.
vii. 19; Col. iii. 11; and Gal. iii. 28.  The apostle's statenent then is,'We do not look for justification from  any external distinction; for we know that to the being a true Christian external distinctions, of whatsoever kind they be, avail
nothing; but we do look for justification by faith, for we know
that " faith working by love " does avail to a man being in Christ
Jesus to his being a true Christian.
By "faith" I understand just the belief of the gospel —the
counting true the testimony which God has given us concerning
his Son-that he " died-for our sins according to the scriptures;"
that "he was raised again from the dead according to the scriptures;" that " he came to save sinners, even the chief;" that "his
blood cleanseth from all sin;" that " he is able to save to the
uttermost;" and that "'whosoever believeth on him shall not
perish, but hlave everlasting life."  This faith availeth to a man
1 al. v. 6.                               2 iq. 7raph Xpto-rr.
3 Rom. viii. 1; Eph. i1.1.  S rTO'aL' rV Xpto-lcr'bIoov.




P. V. ~ 7.] THE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF JUDAISING.          269
being in Christ Jesus.  It is this faith which connects a mall
with the Saviour. He who has it not, whatever else he may
have, is not in Christ Jesus; he who has it is in Christ Jesus.
"He that believeth not is condemned already.  He that believeth is not condemned-he cannot come into condemnation."
" We look for justification by believing," says the apostle, for
faith avails to a man being in Christ Jesus. And " there is not "there cannot be-" condemnation to them  who are in Christ
Jesus." It takes no more to make any man a subject of Christ's
kingdom than to be of" the truth "-this truth; and it requires
no less. The Jews, notwithstanding all their privileges, are not in
Christ if they be not of this truth; the Gentiles are free in this
kingdom if they be of this truth. The circumcision of the Jew
does not raise him above the Gentile; the uncircumcision of the
Gentile does not sink him below the Jew. The Greek has no
advantage from his politeness; the barbarian has no loss from
his rudeness. The slavery of the bondman cannot hinder his
liberty if he be of the truth; and the freeman, if he is not of the
truth, has no part in " the liberty wherewith Christ makes free."'
This faith, which connects the sinner with the Saviour, which
avails to the being in Christ Jesus, is described as faith 1" which
worketh," which exerts itself " by love." 2  Wherever the word
of the truth of the gospel is believed it produces an effect on the
temper and conduct. " It worketh effectually in all who believe."
The apostle James speaks of a "dead faith," that is, either a
mere pretended faith-a faith which a man says he has but has
not-or it is a faith of something else than the gospel. A man
may have a considerably distinct and extensive theoretical view of
the gospel without believing it; and such a view may-must —
be in a great measure inoperative —will exert itself in any way
rather than in love and good works. But wherever the faith of
the gospel-of the whole gospel-exists, it will "work," 3 and
"by love."'Glas.                             21 Thess. i. 3. 1 Tim. i. 5.
s EVYp7OV/EV?7q is not in the passive but in the middle voice,-' which exerteth itself;' or is used deponently,'which worketh.'-Rom. vii. 5; 2 Cor.
i. 6; iv. 12; Eph. iii. 20; Col. i. 29; 1 Thess. ii. 13; 2 Thess. ii. 7; James
v. 16. In the most of these passages it cannot have a passive signification.
The attempt to interpret in this way has produced very strange exegeses.
Some very good Protestants, as well as the Papists, insist that the true
translation is,' faith which is wrought, or produced, by love.' We are by




270             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAl'. IV. 8-V. 12.
It is impossible, from the constitution of human nature, that
the gospel should be really believed without the man who believes it, just in the degree in which he believes it, loving God,
loving Christ, loving his brethren in Christ Jesus, loving his
brethren of mankind. It is so easy to impose on a person's self
-by mistaking mere speculation about the gospel for the faith of
the gospel, or by mistaking the faith of something else for the
faith of the gospel-that it is of the last importance to him who
would not be deceived in a matter which involves his everlasting
interests to take care not to conclude himself a believer if he is
a stranger to that love by which the faith of the gospel uniformly
exerts itself.
In the verses which follow, the apostle recals to the minds of
the Galatians the auspicious commencement of their careerexpresses his regret and astonishment at their subsequent conduct, halting and stumbling in the Christian course-states his
conviction that the means which had been unhappily effectual
for this purpose were not sanctioned by Divine authority, and
warns them of the hazard of admitting any, even the slightest,
admixture of human error into the system of Divine truth, of
which their creed, as received from him, was originally composed.
SECT. VIII.-ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS FITTED TO ROUSE
THE GALATIANS TO SERIOUS CONSIDERATION.
1. Tlhey had been arrested in the course they had well begun.  Why?
"Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not
obey the truth? " 1
no means convinced that the Greek words require such a translation; and
although we readily admit that love to God greatly facilitates the exercise
of faith in his declarations, yet we cannot conceive of love to God in a mind
where the faith of the gospel does not exist. There is no God but the God
whom the gospel reveals; and how can He be loved if lHe is not in some measure
known? and how can He be known but by the truth about Hilm being in some
measure believed? We do not well understand-most certainly we cannot
approve-either the philosophy or the theology which makes love the primary
principle of faith. Pareus says, " Bellarminus manifesto barbarismo  passive
interpretatur E'VepyeLro." See Winer, ~ 39, 6, note. Cameron's note, in his
Myrothecium, p. 244, is exceedingly good: " Ridiculi," says he, "sunt Pontificii qui hinc volunt probare fidenl a charitate generari."
IGal. v. 7.




P. V. ~ 8.]    ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS.                 271
The language is figurative, but by no means obscure. The
life of a Christian, which is a life of faith in, and obedience to,
Jesus Christ, is here represented as a race course on which a
man enters when he believes the gospel, and along which he
runs while holding fast the faith of Christ-he walks in his
ordinances and commandments blameless.  "Now," says the
apostle, " ye did run well." On embracing the gospel, ye for a
while had your conversation in every way becoming the gospel of
Christ. Ye " walked at liberty, keeping Christ's commandments"
--  having received Christ Jesus, the Lord, ye walked in him-"
-finding yourselves " complete in him."  In the words " ye did
run well," is obviously implied, that they ran well no longer'a sentiment more plainly brought out in the interrogation which
follows, "who did hinder you that ye should not obey2 the
truth?"
The figure is contained in the first clause, Who has obstructed you-repelled you —in your onward career;' and in the
second clause it is explained,'Who have induced you "not to
obey the truth."'3  To "obey the truth," is to yield the mind
up to the native influence of the truth.  The man who yields
his mind to the influence of the truth, as it is in Jesus, finds all
he needs in Christ-he does not go about to establish a way of
justification of his own, but submits to God's method of justification, through the faith of Christ. All halting in the Christian
course originates here. While the mind yields itself up to the
influence of the truth, the Christian runs well; but whenever
this influence is resisted, he is hindered. The question is not
answered; nor was it needful.  The apostle and the Galatians
were perfectly aware how the change had been brought about,
and who had been the great agents in effecting it-the Judaising
teachers.'Now,' says the apostle,'the change has not come
from the right quarter.'
1 It is an expression like that of Virgil: " Fuimus Troes;" or, " Troia
fuit."
2 The sense is the same if fL be omitted; [L, equivalent to 7riKE/rL.
EVEKO4'Ev, preferred by Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, etc., does not
materially change the meaning.
s aX~O8eta, equivalent to adXBOrta Tro evaTyeXlov.




272            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
2. ThYe "persuasion" which had induced them to change had not
comle from Christ.
"This persuasion cometh not of Him  that calleth you." 
The word "persuasion" 2 may be understood as referring either
to the Galatian Christians or to the Judaising teachers who had
misled them.  In the first case it must refer to the opinion they
had been brought to entertain in reference to the necessity and
efficacy of submission to the Mosaic law  for justification, or
rather to their credulous confidence in their false teachers; and
according as you understand the phrase, "Him that calleth you"
of God, or Christ, or of the apostle, the meaning will be either,
This opinion you have imbibed, or this submission of mind you
have showed, is not of divine origin, or is not of divine requisition;' or it is not an opinion or habit of mind which you have
learned from me.3
I am rather disposed to view the word as referring to the persuasion-the persuasive arts used by the Judaising teachers, by
means of which they hindered the Galatian Christians in their
Christian course, and led them to disobey the truth. This persuasion, of which you have been the subjects, " is not of Him
who calleth you."  In illustrating the sixth verse of the first
chapter, I explained the phrase h1im who calleth you, and endeavoured to show that it refers, not to the apostle, but to Jesus
Christ. The apostle's statement seems then to be,'This persuasion to which you have yielded is not from Christ. It comes
from a very different quarter. The men who have employed it
are not moved by HIs Spirit. They have no divine authority,
and you ought not to yield to them, " no, not for an hour."'
3. The evil was likely to increase.
The proverbial adage which the apostle goes on to quote, seems
to have been intended to meet a thought which might very
1 Gal. v. 8.                                      2 7rEt0YV77.
3 The word 7emt/ovi) is dara~ Xeyo'eLvov. It does not appear in the LXX
nor in any profane writer, with the exception of Apol. Synt. p. 195, 10;
Chrysost. 1 Thess. i. 3; Eustathius, in his Notes on the Iliad and Odyssey, and
belongs to what has been termed Grcecitas serior. This has led some to doubt
the authenticity of this verse, but without sufficient reason. It is no satisfactory proof of a word not being in use at the time the New Testament was
written, that it occurs in no extant book of that age.




P. V. ~ 8.]    ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS.                 273
naturally rise in the minds of such of the Galatians as had listened to the seductive persuasions of the Judaising teachers-' Why so much ado about nothing? May we not, in matters of
so slight importance as these Jewish rites, accommodate ourselves
to our new teachers?' " No," says the apostle. " A little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump." 1 This is a proverb borrowed probably from some old Greek writer. The principle necessarily
involved in submitting to any Jewish rite in order to justification, is one which, once admitted into the mind, will completely
change the whole belief in reference to the peculiarities of the
Christian faith. It leads directly to the denial of the two grand
principles of the Christian system: The necessity and sufficiency
of Christ's obedience to death as the only ground, and of faith in
the gospel as the only means, of the sinner's justification. " Leaven " is frequently used to denote false doctrine, as Matt. xvi. 6;
1 Cor. v. 7; and is alluded to, though the word does not occur,
2 Tim. ii. 17. By some interpreters the proverb has been applied to the Judaising teachers, as if the apostle had said,' Beware
of these teachers; they may be few at present; but error is infectious. By and by the whole body of you may be led away
from the truth.' This harmonises with the way in which the
same apophthegm is applied by the apostle in reference to the
Corinthian Church.2  He exhorts them to cast out the incestuous person, as his continuance in the society was hazardous to
the purity of the other members. But there is nothing to hinder
the apostle from applying the same proverb to different subjects
which it equally answers. Our Lord, for instance, employs this
proverb-" The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant
above his master"-in illustration of two totally distinct statements,-Matt. x. 24; Luke vi. 40.3
4. The Apostle still hoped well of them.
In dealing with those who have apostatised, or are in danger
of apostatising, there is a peculiar need of the union of tenderness with fidelity.- In warning men of the crime and misery of
apostasy the minister cannot be too honest. There is scarcely
a possibility of exaggerating here. But he must not take too
1 Gal. v. 9.                                  21 Cor. v. 6.
3 Locke's conjecture, that the awhole controversy originated only with one
man, is inconsistent with verse. 12,-drvacrarogvres.
S




274           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
readily for granted either that apostasy is begun, or that it has
become obstinate. To address a man who is but doubting as if
he were a confirmed infidel is a very likely method of making
him one. The Christian teacher ought always to act under the
influence of the charity which "hopeth all things;" and when
he stands in doubt of any of those whose souls are committed to
his care, he must not conceal his hopes while he makes known
his fears.
Here, as in every other department of the duty of a Christian
teacher, the apostle Paul presents us with an example which
every minister of Christ should endeavour to copy. After having, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, placed before the mind the
fearful consequence of apostasy in one of the most alarming
passages in the whole book of God,' he adds, " But, beloved, we
are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany
salvation, though we thus speak."  And in the section of the
Epistle to the Galatians now before us, after he has stated the very
hazardous and criminal conduct of those who should yield to the
ensnaring acts of the Judaising teachers, he expresses his hope
that the great body of the Galatian converts would adopt a wiser,
more dutiful, and safer course.  "I have confidence2 in you
through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he
that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be." 3
The literal rendering of this first clause is,'I have confidence
in the Lord in reference to you,' or' I hope in the Lord concerning you.' The confidence of a true Christian, either in reference
to his own perseverance, or to that of his Christian brother, rests
on the Saviour. He trusts in reference to both that the arm of
Divine kindness which has laid hold of them will never let them
go-that He who has begun the good work will carry it on
" until the day of the Lord," and will keep those whom He has
brought to the knowledge and belief of the truth by His power
" through faith unto salvation." The apostle had reason to hope
that many of the Galatian church were genuine converts of
Christ; and, with regard to them, he had a confident hope in
Christ that, notwithstanding the temptations they might be
1 Heb. vi. 4-8.
2'Ey/b E7reroLa K. T. A. seems opposed to 6 8' rapcraCowv K. T. X.-' I have
no reason to despair as to the ultimate success of my exertions; 6 8 rT. has,
he will not only be disappointed, but punished.'  3 Gal. v. 10.




P. V. ~ 8.]     ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS.                  275
exposed to, they would continue " rooted and grounded" in Him,
and " established in the faith as they had been taught."
That this was the subject of the apostle's confidence is plain
from what follows-" I have confidence in the Lord concerning
you, that ye will be no otherwise minded."'  Some interpreters
would confine the reference of these words to the apophthegm
which immediately precedes them, and the application of it, q. d.'I trust you will be of my mind, that the beginnings of error are
hazardous, and will act accordingly.'
It seems to me much more probable from the solemnity of the
preface, that the apostle refers to the great subject of controversy between him and the Judaising teachers. His confidence
was that the Galatian converts would reject that " other gospel"
which it was the object of their new teachers to obtrude on
them, and think on that subject as he thought —as they had
thought in the beginning of their Christian profession; and that,
in opposition to all attempts to seduce them, they would continue
to hold Christ's obedience to the death as the only ground of
their justification, and faith in him as the only means of their
justification.
5. Their troublers would be punished.
In the concluding clause of the verse he states his conviction
that while through the help of Christ they would be preserved
" steadfast and immoveable " in the true grace of God wherein
they stood, those who had disturbed their peace by harassing
their minds with perverse disputings about the law should not
pass unpunished.  "I He that troubleth you,2 whosoever he be,
shall bear his judgment." We cannot conclude certainly from
these words that the apostle had in view some individual of con1 pov~o, in the sense of judging.-Acts xxviii. 22; Phil. iii. 15.
2 5 rapaCcrdov, in the singular, used collectively for ol rapacrcrovre. That
there was a plurality of these disturbers is plain from verse 12, = " He that
perplexes and unsettles," instead of establishing the mind in sound doctrines,
like the teachers described by Galen, as quoted by Wetstein, 7aparT7ovrTE
uovov T'ov IzavBatvov~Tav, &LOC:KOVTes 5U oSvSEv. This puts us in mind of what
Dr Johnson said of Dr Priestley,-" He unsettles everything, and settles
nothing." Kpilia, sentence of a judge, generally condemnatory, often used
for the punishment adjudged.-Matth. xxiii. 14; Rom. xiii. 2. The phrase
3aaCraLavL Kpqla is equivalent to B.an:n,t Mic. vii. 9, and generally refers to
Divine punishment.




276           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
siderable note on some ground or other among the Galatians
who was the ringleader in these attempts to seduce the church
from the apostle's doctrines, and the simplicity of apostolic usages;
though this is not at all improbable. The force of the phrase is
obviously,-' Those men who have done so much to disturb the
peace of your minds by leading you away from the all-perfect
sacrifice of the Saviour as the ground of your hopes, and to
break the peace of your church by introducing debate and strife
among you, however distinguished they may be for rank or
wealth, for learning or apparent piety, shall assuredly not pass
unpunished, they shall "bear their judgment."  "Judgment "1
is here, as in some other passages of the New Testament, punishment. It is, however, punishment which is the consequence of
judgment. Some have supposed that the apostle refers to excommunication, as if he had said,'I hope you will be of my
mind as to the danger of allowing such persons to continue in
your body, and punish them by excluding them, as they deserve,
from your assemblies.' I rather think the train of thought is,'I trust that you will not suffer from these attempts; and I
know that their authors shall not escape with impunity. They
must be judged, and they shall be punished.'
It is a dangerous thing to disturb the Christian Church,
especially by the introduction of false doctrine. He who does
so incurs a tremendous responsibility. He must stand his trial;
he must bear his punishment. Good men, under the influence
of mistaken views and wrong feelings, have often troubled the
Church, and though they have had " their soul for a prey," they
did not escape unpunished. And dreadful indeed is the doom
which awaits wicked men and deceivers who, to gratify unhallowed ambition, or for any similar purpose, have introduced
error, disorder, and tyranny into the church of Christ. "Offences " of this kind " must come; but woe to the man by whom
they come."
6. The obvious falsehood of the suggestion, that the Apostle
had become a preacher of Circumcision.
Among the unworthy arts used by the Judaising teachers to
gain over the Galatians to their views, this was one, the repre1 Luke xx. 47; xxiii. 40. Rom. xiii. 2.




P. V. ~ 8.]    ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS.                277
senting the apostle as now teaching the same doctrines as themselves. In the following verse the apostle strongly denies and
clearly refiltes this charge. " And I, brethren, if I yet preach
circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence
of the cross ceased." 1
It is probable that the false teachers availed themselves of the
fact of Paul's having taken Timothy and circumcised him, and
of his having, in certain circumstances, observed Jewish ceremonies-becoming " a Jew to the Jews " to save them, —to give
plausibility to their representation that Paul had changed his
mind since he was in Galatia, and was now of their opinion.
Nothing can be more satisfactory than the apostle's refutation
of the charge. It consists in an appeal to facts. The first
"yet,"2 if it be genuine, which is doubtful, must refer to the
period previous to Paul's conversion. Certainly at no period
posterior to it did he " preach circumcision." Prior to it, nobody could cry up circumcision more than he.'How  is it,'
says he,' that I am still the object of the persecution of the Jews
wherever I go? Were I teaching that the Gentiles must be
circumcised, and observe the law of Moses, in order to salvation,
the principal cause of their extreme dislike to me would be removed.' Had Paul been contented, with the Judaising teachers,
to make Christianity a modification of Judaism, and Christians
a Jewish sect, distinguished from other Jews merely by a belief
that Jesus was the Messiah, in their sense of the Messiah, he
would have met with comparatively little opposition. In that
case " the offence of the cross would have ceased."
" The cross," when not used in its strictly literal sense, sometimes, perhaps, signifies, in the New Testament, sufferings on
account of Christ and Christianity,-e. g. " If any man will come
after me, let him take up his cross."' It more frequently, however, signifies the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as the victim for
sin-the fact that he was crucified-the doctrine that his crucifixion was the expiation of sin.  " God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."4
In the first sense, the meaning of the phrase,'" the offence,"
or stumbling-block, " of the cross," is the obstacles which persecution for Christianity throws in the way of the progress of that
1 Gal. v. 11.   2 ETr.     3 Matth. xvi. 24.    Gal. vi. 14.




278           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 1S.
religion; in the second, it is the obstacles which the doctrine of
the crucifixion of Christ, as the victim for sin, throws in the way
of its success. Either mode of interpretation will bring out a
good sense. If you adopt the first, the meaning is,' If I had
become a preacher of circumcision, the Jews would have ceased
to persecute me, and this obstacle in the way of men becoming
Christians would no longer exist.' If you adopt the second, it
is,' If I were a preacher of the necessity of circumcision, and
the observance of the law of Moses, to salvation, the Jews would
cease to persecute me, for the great stumbling-block to them —
the representing the obedience of Jesus Christ to the death, the
death of the cross, as the sole ground of hope-would no longer
exist.' We prefer the latter mode of interpretation. It was not
so much the fact of the Messiah being crucified-though even
that was not very palatable-which exasperated the Jews, as the
holding forth his death on the cross as the only ground of hope
for sinners, excluding everything else, particularly all those things
in which they had been accustomed to place their confidence, and
thus reducing them, as Jews, to a level with the despised, accursed Gentiles; and it is this which has been substantially the
great stumbling-block all along. It is this which makes genuine
Christianity so much disliked by natural men in all countries and
in all ages,-the insisting on relinquishing every ground of hope
but one, and that one the death of Jesus Christ on a cross. Whenever Christianity has been so modified as to get quit of this most
repulsive principle, it has ceased to excite very strongly the antipathies of natural men. But it is this doctrine which gives Christianity all its peculiar efficacy; and when " the offence of the cross"
ceases in any other way than by the eyes of the mind being
opened to behold its glory, the triumph of Christianity ceases
also. The Jews had no great objection that Jesus should be
allowed to be the Messiah, if, at the same time, the law of Moses
was admitted to be the only way of salvation; and' there are
multitudes who are ready enough to admit that Jesus was a
divine messenger, if they may be but permitted to depend for
salvation on anything but his obedience to death.
It is not a pleasant thing in itself to be an object of censure;
but an honest minister of the gospel would rather be censured
than praised by persons of a particular mode of thinking. When
he hears a discourse praised by those who are 1" going about to




P. V. ~ 8.]    ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS.                279
establish their own righteousness,"-who are expecting salvation
in some other way than " through the redemption which is in
Christ Jesus,"-he feels alarmed that " the cross" has not had
its own pre-eminent place assigned it; for to such persons,
wheresoever "the cross" is, there is " a stumbling-block."  To
the unrenewed mind, Christ crucified-the sole foundation of
the sinner's hope-is the grand hindrance to the embracing of
Christianity. Give up this, and what is necessarily connected
with this, and the bitterest opponents of Christianity may be
softened into complaisance; but you cannot give up this without in effect giving up Christianity itself-with all that gives
it peculiarity-with all that gives it efficacy.
7. The Apostle's wish that they who troubled the Galatian converts
might be cut off.
In the next verse the apostle expresses a strong wish that the
Galatian church were well rid of those Judaisers who had
troubled their peace, and had well-nigh subverted their souls.
" I would1 they were even cut off which trouble you." 2 The word
translated " trouble " here is not the same as that word in the
10th verse, though it is nearly of equivalent import.3 The Judaising teachers derived the name of " troublers" on two accounts,
both as they troubled the minds of the Galatian converts individually with doubts and alarms, and collectively as a society, producing strifes and schisms among them. To use the language of
the apostolic decree respecting the same class of persons at Antioch, "They troubled the disciples with words, subverting their
souls;"4 and they also, to use the apostle's language in reference
to the same class in the Church of Rome, "caused divisions and
offences, contrary to the doctrine which they had learned."'
With regard to those persons, the apostle wishes they were
" cut off." It is not very easy to say what is the true meaning
of the phrase, rendered " I would that they were cut off."6
Some will have it a wish that, by a sudden stroke of Divine
judgment, they were deprived of life, and hurried into the de1 toEXov ("q5EXor), in classic Greek, is usually construed with the infinitive. Its connection with the indicative in the case before us, is, I apprehend, late usage.
2 Gal. v. 12.   3 varaarovrs    4 Acts xv. 24.    Ront xvi. 1247.
6 ar7oKoKovTaL.




280           EPISTLE TO TIE GALA.TIANS. [CHAP. IV. 8-V. 12.
struction whichll their conduct merited. This is the view taken
of it by the judicious Calvin. He remarks that, though at first
sight such a wish may not seem very consistent with the Christian meekness of the apostle, yet, in a certain state of mind,
when the glory of God and the welfare of his church occupy
the whole attention, and when the criminal conduct of some individuals is seen to be obscuring the one and endangering the
other, and there seems no way of the mischief's being stopped
but by their death, such a wish as that of the apostle is the natural result of a high degree of spiritual feeling, and is not to be
condemned.  "When the wolf entereth the fold of Christ," says
he, " is the shepherd to be condemned who wishes his destruction, as absolutely necessary to the safety of the sheep ".? 1 This
is anything but satisfactory, and can be accounted for only on
the principle that the reformer had still in him a remnant of the
spirit of the church he had abandoned. Surely, when he wrote
these words, he knew not what spirit he was of.
It is a more probable interpretation which explains the phrase
of excommunication.' I wish they were cut off from the Christian church; I wish they were distinctly declared to be what
they are, not Christians.' At the same time, I think it likely that,
if this had been the apostle's meaning, he would, as in the case
of the incestuous person in the church of Corinth, have exhorted
the Galatian church to excommunicate them.2  The words may
be rendered,' I wish they would cut themselves off; I wish
they would renounce all pretensions to Christianity.' This is a
wish similar to that of Jesus Christ in reference to the church
of Laodicea, —" I would that thou wert either cold or hot."3
Paul would rather that those men had become true Christians;
but if not, he would rather they would cut themselves off from
the Christian church altogether. It is a very just observation of
Mr Fuller, that " corrupt Christianity is more offensive to God"
-and, we may add, more hurtful to the interests of genuine
Christianity, " than open infidelity." Every man who has just and
extended views will be ready to say,' We wish there were more
real Christians; but we wish there were fewer merely nominal
"Neque tamen hoc modo quenquam velim perditum, sed ecclesiae amor
et solicitudo me rapit quasi in ecstasin ut nihil aliud curem: Nemo verus
erit ecclesiae pastor qui non simili zelo ardeat."-CAL) IN.
2 1 Cor. v. 3-5.                             s Rev. iii. 15.




P. V. ~ 8.]      ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS.                     281
Christians, even although the diminution should be made by these
nominal Christians throwing off a profession altogether.' The
doctrinal errors and the practical abuses which prevail among
nominal Christians are the principal cause, of a secondary kind,
why Christianity has not long ago gained her promised triwmnphs.1
The general conclusion of a practical kind, to which all this
is calculated to lead, is, that, both as individuals and as churches,
if we wish to be what we ought to be, we must cling alone to the
cross-to Jesus Christ, and to him crucified-as the sole ground
of hope, and the grand channel of Divine influence; and that
our worst enemies, whatever guise they may assume, are those
who would conceal or obscure the cross, or place anything in its
room. " God forbid that we should glory, save in the cross of
our Lord Jesus."
1 The opinion of Chrysostom and Jerome seems very strange to persons of
occidental and modern habits of thought, but is not deserving of the indignant contempt with which it has been very generally treated. EL PojXovITat, /l? 7repLTrmeVeTOo'av toavov, aXla raTpLKotTreOdOctav.-CHRYSOST.  " Si
putant sibi hoc prodesse, non solum circumcidantur, sed etiam abscindantur."
-HIERONYM. The best modern interpreters, including Olshausen and
Neander, following Grotius and Koppe, embrace this exegesis. The Visigoths had a very severe law against those who should practise the rite of
circumcision, borrowed apparently from this view of the passage.-See Grot.
in loc. Le Clerc's censure of this opinion is certainly excessive: " Imprecatio ejusmodi scurrae est non Pauli." When he said this, he spoke like a
European, not like an Oriental,-like a Dutchman of the seventeenth century,
not like a Jew of the first. Bengel places a point after o'4EXov, and connects it with what goes before: —" Then is the offence of the cross ceased.
Would that it were so."-And then translates what follows as a sentence
by itself:-" They that trouble you shall be cut off." This is more ingenious
than satisfactory. If the sarcasm seem unworthy the apostle, then Bengel's
punctuation must be adopted, and the expression must be considered as
equivalent to:hed,' they shall be punished by God,' Gen. xvii. 14; Exod.
xxxi. 14;-a repetition of the sentiment at verse 10, caaorioE'L 7to Kpl/la.




PART VI.
PRACTICAL INJUNCTIONS.
GALATIANS V. 13-VI. 10.-" For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty;
only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that
ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit,
and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to
the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led
by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions,
heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the
which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which
do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's
have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit,
let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain-glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in
a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;
considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something,
when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own
work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.
For every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that is taught in the
word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption;
but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we
faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men,
especially unto them who are of the household of faith."
IN the verses which follow, down to the 10th verse of the sixth
chapter, the apostle gives the Galatians various practical advices,
rising out of the previous discussions.




r. VI. ~ t.] CAUTION AGAINST THE ABUSE OF LIBERTY. 283
SECT. I. —CAUTION AGAINST THE ABUSE OF LIBERTY.
He first of all cautions the Galatians against the abuse of their
Christian liberty. " For brethren, ye have been called unto
liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by
love serve one another."'
There is a strange disposition in mankind to misapprehend
the meaning and tendency of religious truth however plainly
stated, and to turn it to purposes which it was never intended to
answer, and which, when rightly understood, it obviously appears
that it was never intended to answer. The Apostle Paul was well
aware of this tendency, and accordingly he often connects with
a statement of a Christian doctrine a caution against its abuse.
This is what we find him doing here in reference to the doctrine
of Christian liberty which he had been stating and defending.
The whole of the paragraph which commences with this verse
and ends with the 10th verse of the next chapter, is occupied
with showing that the liberty wherewith Christ had made them
free, by no means relaxed their obligation to religious and moral
duty, but, on the contrary, furnished them at once with the most
cogent motives and the most powerful encouragements to avoid
sin in all its forms, and to cultivate universal holiness both in
temper and conduct.
"For"2 seems here to be merely a particle of transition.
The whole clause is equivalent to,'Brethren, ye have indeed
been called to liberty.' To be "called," is, as we have had repeated occasion to remark to you, equivalent to becoming a
Christian; so that the apostle's statement is,-' In being made
Christians ye were made freemen.3  "Called unto liberty," 4 does
not mean merely to be called into a state of freedom from the
Mosaic law, but to be called into such a state of spiritual liberty
generally as is quite incompatible with subjection to that institution. When men become Christians by the belief of the truth,
1 Gal. v. 13.
2 ydp. A learned friend suggests that yap refers to the apostle's displeasure at the Judaisers, —q. d.' How can I but resent their attempts yap'3' e'evoepla, " Called that you may be free." For a similar use of carl,
compare 1 Thess. iv. 7; Heb. ix. 17; Eph. ii. 10; Rom. viii. 20.
ids EXEvEplav, "in order to possess freedom." See 2 Thess. ii. 14.




284             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
they are introduced into the state, and formed to the character, of
spiritual freemen. Their conscience is delivered from the yoke
of human authority, and their obedience, even to the Divine law,
flows not from the mercenary spirit of a slave, but from the
generous spirit of a son. It is the offspring not of unenlightened
fear, but of well-informed love.
In the beginning of the chapter the apostle had exhorted the
Galatians to " stand fast " in this liberty, and to resist every
attempt to bring them into bondage. In the passage before us,
he warns them against the imprudent display and the criminal
abuse of this liberty. Ye are indeed called unto liberty, and you
ought to assert the liberty into which you have been called; but
you ought also to beware of using it as an occasion to the flesh.l
" The flesh" here obviously signifies the depraved inclinations
which are natural to man in his present state, and which, though
subdued, are by no means extinguished even in the regenerate.
These inclinations are personified under the name of " the flesh,"
and are represented as ready to seize every opportunity that is
afforded for obtaining their gratification. In the seventh chapter of the Romans we find " sin dwelling in " Paul-which is
just a synonyme for " the flesh," —represented as "taking occasion" from  the tenth commandment to 1"work in him  all
manner of concupiscence;"2 and here we find " the flesh" in the
Galatians represented as being ready to turn to its own purposes
the doctrine of Christian liberty.3
Of the manner in which " the flesh " has availed itself of the
doctrines of Christian liberty for its gratification, the history of
the Christian church is replete with the most melancholy illustrations. At a very early period indeed " the grace of God was
turned into lasciviousness," and  freedom  from  sin strangely
identified with freedom in sin-freedom to sin. There were men
bearing the Christian name who said, "let us continue in sin
because grace abounds," and who used the liberty to which
1 3XEr7EE, seu /vXaTCTEOE  x7J TeV E)XEvOEpya EXT Ex, seu TrpfE71TE L)I adopU, K. 7r. X. More fully by Camerarius: p/o'vov dpa&T r' 7 vXaTr-Eo-Te r&    irapaXd3gre T7jv EevOEplav Tavry7V 7rpo's a(pop/'vt 77)q TapKL T/yoVV T7G C1jV KamT crapKa.
TovrErTLv v7r)IpETovvr'E 7ait (rapKLKalt  O'iv ErltOvtlLC.-Notat. Figur. p. 91.
1 Pet. ii. 16 is a parallel passage.
2 Rom. vii. 8.
d4opz)5 signifies not only the occasion, but the cause,-indeed, whatever
is subsidiary to the doing of anything.




P. VI. ~ 1.] CAUTION AGAINST THE ABUSE OF LIBERTY. 285
they falsely laid claim as a cloak of wickedness. The character
and doom of such persons are graphically described by the
apostles Peter and Jude:-" They shall receive the reward of
unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime: spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with
their own deceivings while they feast with you: having eyes fall
of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable
souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices;
cursed children: which have forsaken the right way, and are
gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who
loved the wages of unrighteousness; but was rebuked for his
iniquity: the dumb ass, speaking with man's voice, forbade the
madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds
that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is
reserved for ever. For when they speak great swelling words of
vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much
wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live
in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are
the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of
the same is he brought in bondage.  For if after they have
escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein,
and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the
way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn
from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is
happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is
turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed
to her wallowing in the mire."  "For there are certain men
crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into
lasciviousness."  " Wo unto them."  "To them is reserved the
blackness of darkness for ever."'
It is deeply to be regretted that abuses of the doctrine of
Christian liberty are not mere matters of history, but that there
are still so many who "use it as an occasion to the flesh."
There are not wanting men who avow the principle that Christians have nothing to do with the law of God; and there are
1 2 Pet. ii. 13-22. Jude 4, 11, 13.




286           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
many who would not avow such a general statement who are
yet acting as if it were true. This is fearful delusion.  The
madman who has mistaken his tattered garments for the flowing
robes of majesty, and his manacles for golden bracelets studded
with jewels, has not erred so widely as the man who has mistaken carnal license for Christian liberty.1
From the apostle's urging the Galatians to mutual love, and
cautioning them against biting and devouring one another, it
seems probable that the particular abuse of Christian liberty
which he had in view was the ostentatious and untimely display
of their freedom from the Mosaic law, in a way calculated to
offend those of their brethren who, though they did not depend
on the law for justification, yet conscientiously, though mistakenly, yielded obedience to its injunctions as an unrepealed
divine institution. The apostle's advice seems equivalent to,'Let not pride and vanity, or any other fleshly principle, induce
you to make uncalled for displays of your Christian liberty,
which may hurt the feelings and disturb the peace of some of
your Christian brethren.'
It is a very important observation of a judicious commentator,2
that " there is a great difference between Christian liberty, and
the use of Christian liberty." Christian liberty is an internal
thing; it belongs to the mind and conscience, and has a direct
reference to God. The use of Christian liberty is an external
thing; it belongs to conduct, and has reference to man. No
consideration should prevail on us for a moment to give up our
liberty; but many a consideration should induce us to forego
the practical assertion or display of our liberty.
SECT. II.-AN EXHORTATION TO " SERVE ONE ANOTHER IN
LOVE" SUPPORTED BY MOTIVES.
Instead of making such an ostentatious display of their liberty,
the apostle exhorts the Galatians,-i. e. obviously that part of
them who thought along with him-" the spiritual," as he terms
them in the beginning of the next chapter —the same class whom
he terms " the strong," in the Epistle to the Romans, —" by
1 This subject is handled at large, Expos. Disc. on the First Epistle of
Peter, Disc. xi. Part ii. ~ 2, vol. i. p. 342.
2 Calvin.




P. VI. ~ 2.1 MOTIVES TO " SERVE ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE." 287
love to serve one another." Though free from the tyranny of
human authority, they were readily, " in love," to act the part
of servants to one another.  " By love" signifies' influenced
by love;' and "serve one another" means,'act the part of
mutual servants; endeavour to promote one another's best interests; do not stand sturdily on your rights; do not obstinately assert, in every case, your undoubted prerogative as Christ's
freemen; do not practically, and especially do not ostentatiously
and invidiously, use that Christian liberty, which you cannot
too sacredly preserve from violation; but, on the contrary, led
by love, readily submit even to servile offices,l to promote one
another's best interests.'
The apostle enforces his exhortation by two powerful motives:
the one arising from love being the fulfilling of the law; and the
other from the disastrous consequences of their allowing the flesh
so to take occasion of their liberty, as to produce strifes and debate. " For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and
devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of
another." 2
1. Love is the fulfilment of the law.
" The law " here plainly does not signify the Mosaic law, but
the law by which Christians are bound to regulate themselves;
for, as the apostle elsewhere says, though completely free from
the obligation of the Mosaic law, they are " not without law to
God, but under the law to Christ." It is what the apostle calls
" the commandment," when he says, " The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned;"3 and what the Apostle James
terms " the perfect law of liberty," and " the royal law,"4 in
opposition to the law of bondage.
Now, says the apostle, " By love serve one another,"' for love
is the sum and substance of the law to which ye are subject.'
" All the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, Thou shalt love
1 8ovXEVere. The example of this is to be found, John xiii. 1-15, where
we find the Master E'v aya'nwr ovXEvOv, acting the part of a servant, to cure
of worldly ambition those who called him " Master and Lord," and to teach
them to do to each other as he had done to them all.
2 Gal. v. 14, 15.     3 I Tim. i. 5.      4 James i. 25; ii. 8.




288            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
thy neighbour as thyself."  The precept here is quoted from
Leviticus xix. 18;- but the words are plainly employed by the
apostle in a somewhat different sense from that in which they
are used by the Israelitish  legislator.  " ZNeighbour," with
Moses, is equivalent to " one of the children of thy people;"
" Neighbour," with the apostle, is equivalent to' every man.'
The apostle had learned this mode of extending the meaning of
the word " neighbour" fiom his Master.  When, on our Lord's
stating that the sum of the duty of man consists in the love of
God, and the love of his neighbour, he was asked by a lawyer,
": Who is my neighbour?"  The parable of the good Samaritan
was the answer.l
The command referred to has been by some considered as
meaning merely,' Thou shalt love thy neighbour as well as thyself;' that is, thou shalt not love thyself only, but thy neighbour
also. This is certainly greatly below the true meaning. Others
have interpreted it as equivalent to,'Thou shalt love thy neighbour in the same degree as thyself.' This, as, from the constitution of human nature, it is impossible, is as obviously above
the true meaning. The true interpretation is,' Thou shalt love
thy neighbour in a way similar to that in which thou lovest thyself-with the same sincerity, with the same constancy. Our
Lord's words are the best commentary on it. " Whatsoever ye
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
Interpreters have wasted their ingenuity in endeavouring to
show how the whole law can be said to be fulfilled by the love of
our neighbour, when that. law requires love to God, as well as
love to man. The truth obviously is, that " the whole law " here
is to be understood in reference to the subject of which the
apostle is speaking. The whole of the law respecting our neighbour is fulfilled2 by love. This precept is very fully illustrated
by the apostle in his Epistle to the Romans: —" Owe no man
anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another
hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery,
1 Luke x. 30-37.
2 7r'upovo-at~ may be equivalent to dvaKeqaXotooTOaLt, Rom. xiii. 9; in
which case the meaning is, "All the requisitions of the law are summed up
in this precept;" or it may be equivalent to,' is performed," is fully obeyed,'
-Matth. iii. 15; Rom. viii. 4; xiii. 8; Col. iv. 17. Ao'yos, like the Hebrew
~:n, is equivalent to' thing.'




P. VI. ~ 2.] MOTIVES TO a SERVE ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE." 289
Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear
false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be ally other
commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  Love worketh no ill
to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."'
When, then, Christians do not "serve one another by love," the
law of Christ is not fulfilled but violated.
2. Evil consequences of an opposite temper and conduct.
Another motive which the apostle employs to induce the
Galatian Christians to serve each other in love, is derived from
the disastrous consequences of allowing the flesh so to take occasion of their liberty, as to produce strife and debate.  "But
if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another."2 The language is here highly figurative,
but by no means obscure.  By "biting and devouring one
another'; we are to understand violent strifes and debates in
consequence of the new views which the Judaising teachers
had introduced —" vain contentions about the  law," "perverse disputings," " foolish and unlearned questions gendering
strife."
The natural consequence of thus "biting and devouring one
another" was their being " consumed one of another."  This
may be understood of the mischievous effects of such contention
either on the Galatians, viewed individually, or as a church.
Such a state of contention would go far to destroy the life of
Christian godliness in the hearts of the disputants. It would
also materially affect the interests of the church. It would prevent accessions; for who would willingly join a society divided
against itself? and it might very probably end in the dissolution
of the church altogether, and the extinction of Christianity in
that region of the world.3
1 Rom. xiii. 8-10.                               2 Gal. v. 15.
3 The mischievous consequences of strife are finely described by one of the
most ancient of poets:Av'ahp "Epts' crvly'pq r/KE ue V IIOvov dhyLtEoevTa,
A7l'Ov Te, Aotpov w7, Kal "AXyEa 8aKpvOevra,'Yo/U'vaS r'% PO,'vovv re, MaXas 7','AvSpoKcra'a 7re,
NeL'K:eci re, Iev8Ea  Tse, Aoyovs','A/uFLXoylaE Te,
Avfrvoptlv, -Arv rea wTrvvyOea a(XX)XQoltv-'
T




290            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 1l.
The remark of the apostle is of general application. It is
melancholy to mark how strikingly it has been illustrated in the
history of the church in every age. How have the strifes and
debates which have agitated the Christian church prevented
edification within, and conversion without! It is not the conscientious differences subsisting among true Christians which
cause these evils. It is not the honest avowal of these differences, but the unchristian temper in which such questions are
often, nay, almost always, debated that produces the mischief.
The flesh takes occasion from them to seek its own gratification.
The strifes and debates of Christians are one grand obstacle to
the universal triumph of Christianity —the religion of love; and
we have no reason to hope for this till we see the followers of
Christ more influenced by the spirit of their Master. Blessed
be God, we do see this in some measure. The love for debate
in the Christian church is not extinguished, but it is greatly
moderated; and the acrimonious and contemptuous spirit, which
used to blow up its flames, is, we trust, decidedly on the decrease.
We strongly deprecate that spirit of insensibility to the importance of religious truth, which, if it produce tranquillity in
the religious world, does so by producing death. That is the
worst of all states. But it is very desirable that Christians-I
mean true Christians-should deliver themselves more up to
the cementing influence of those grand principles of Christian
truth, in the belief of which they are all united; and, when they
cannot help differing in opinion, maintain their conscientious
views in a meek and humble spirit. It is in this way that we
are to expect unity to flourish in the church, and to extend
throughout the world. Nothing can produce this desirable state
of things but a more general and diligent study of the will of
God, as made known in his word, and a more liberal effusion of
his Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of peace and love, as well as
of truth and purity. To engage in this study, to pray for this
effusion, is the duty of every individual Christian; and when'OpKov 0, OS 8, 7ATXEdlTOV E7rLXOOVLOVSV dvOp&Crovs
Ilu.jale6L, Tre KeV TL E KQV s7rLOpKOV 0tr,0/o."
-HESIOD, Theog. 226-232.
How much more concentrated the inspired writer, James iii. 16: —" 0rou
yap RIXoS Kaol pptOELa, SKEL daKaraaraCrga KaL 7rav OaiXov 1rpaiya."




P. VI. ~ 3.] MOTIVES TO " SERVE ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE." 291
individual Christians generally set about the performance of this
duty in the spirit of faith, and humility, and perseverance, glorious results may be expected.  " How delightful," to borrow
the beautiful words of Robert Hall, "could we behold in the
church a peaceful haven inviting us to retire from the tossings
and perils of this unquiet ocean to a sacred enclosure, a sequestered spot, which the storms and tempests of the world were not
permitted to invade.
Intus aquae dulces vivoque sedilia saxo,
Nympharum domus. Hic fessas non vincula naves
Ulla tenent, unco non alligat ancora morsu."'
Or in the more beautiful imagery and language of the inspired
poet,-" Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes
shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall
not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be
removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken: but
there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers
and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall
gallant ship pass thereby. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord
is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us." 2 "The
Lord hasten it in his time."
SECT. III.-A GENERAL EXHORTATION TO " WALK IN THE
SPIRIT' AS THE BEST MEANS OF OBTAINING DOMINION
OVER THE LUSTS OF TfIE FLESH.
The best security against abusing the doctrines of grace is
really to understand and believe them. It is on this principle
that the apostle prescribes to a Christian evangelist a clear, full,
and constant exhibition of the peculiarities of Christ's doctrine
as the best method for securing that they who believe in Christ
should maintain good works. "Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,
by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our
Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made
I Virggil,,Aen. i. 173.   2 lsa. xxxiii. 20-22.




292             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful
saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that'
they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto
men."
It is on this principle, also, that, in the passage which follows, he
recommends the yielding of the mind up to the practical influence
of the grand peculiarities of Christian truth as the best preservative from those immoral dispositions and practices in which, from
the remaining depravity of their natures, even true Christians are
in constant danger of indulging.  "This I say then, Walk in
the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil2 the lust of the flesh." 3 The
word "Spirit" here does not seem  to denote the Holy Spirit,
that Divine person who, along with the Father and the Son,
exists in the unity of the Godhead, and to whose operation all
that is right in thought and feeling in created beings is traced in
the Holy Scriptures; but that frame of thought and affection
which is produced by his agency through the belief of "the
truth as it is in Jesus." 4  It is contrasted with "the flesh,"
which is a general term for that frame of thought and affection
which is habitual to man unchanged by Divine influence.
The introductory formula, " This I say," 5 is obviously intended
to mark the apostle's sense of the importance of the sentiment he
was about to utter. "1 To walk" 6 is a common figurative expression for conduct. To " walk in the law of the Lord " is to regulate our conduct according to its precepts.  To "walk in the
Spirit," is to act like spiritual persons-to follow out to their
fair practical consequences those views and affections to which,
through the faith of the gospel, by the agency of the Holy Spirit,
t1a.
2 Some interpreters-Beza, for example-render the second as well as the
first clause in the imperative; but the apostle obviously means to represent
TO 7rvefv/artL repLtraTenv as the antidote to To rEXELV ielOvll'av (oapKor.  Our
translation follows the Vulgate; Luther and Erasmus, deserting Beza, which
they do not often do.
8 Gal. v. 16.  4 "' C The Spirit' denotes the renewed nature."-CALvIN.
5 Perhaps here, as at Rom. xii. 3, and Matth. xxiii. 3, Afyco is equivalent
to'I command.'
6 repluarev, descriptive of a course of life-active, regular, progressive,
continued exertion.-Rom. vi. 4; 2 Cor. ix. 2; 1 Thess. ii. 12. IvevMarTL
reptlrarelre equivalent to Kar7-a rvevia 7reptLrarelre.-Ro m. viii. 4.




P. VI. ~ 3.] EXHORTATION TO " WALK IN THE SPIRIT."         293
they were formed-to live habitually under the influence of
the faith of Christ, and those dispositions which it naturally
inspires.'Deliver yourselves up to the native force of those
new views and affections, and ye will not fulfil the lusts of the
flesh.'
"The flesh," as we have just remarked, is the mode of thinking and feeling which is natural to man in the present state of
human nature; and "the lusts of the flesh" are the desires
which naturally rise out of this mode of thinking and feeling.
From experience and observation, as well as from Scripture, we
know that this mode of thinking and feeling is depraved-wholly
depraved. Every man may truly adopt the apostle's language,
"In me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing." 1  The desires of the flesh then are foolish and criminal desires; and to
" fulfil "2 these desires is to endeavour to gratify them, to adopt
the course of conduct to which they naturally lead.
The apostle's statement, then, is this,' The best way of opposing the criminal biases of our depraved nature, is to yield
ourselves up to the practical influence of that new and better
mode of thinking and feeling into which we are brought by the
faith of the gospel. This will put a more effectual check on the
desires of the flesh than the most rigid observance of Mosaic
ceremonies. Nothing mortifies pride, malignity, and impure
desire, these lusts of the flesh, like walking in the Spirit.' Clear
views of Christian truth, accompanied by corresponding affections, followed out to their obvious practical results, will do
more to deliver a man from the power of vicious habits than the
most minute, laborious series of external services or ritual observances.
It is probable that the Judlaising teachers endeavoured to
recommend submission to the Mosaic law as a piece of moral
discipline-an excellent method of "1 mortifying the flesh with its
affections and lusts;" but Paul shows them " a more excellent
way."  If their "conversation was only such as became the
gospel of Christ Jesus," they would find no want of the law as a
means of nullifying sin. If they would but commit themselves
1 Rom. vii. 18.
2 rEXdv, 1" rem perficere,"-' to do a thing thoroughly and exactly.' TrXEJv
fErtOvFzlav oapKod, equivalent to vorllV Ta OEXfnea'a TrEs oapKds, Eph. ii. 3;
7rOLEf rTav,r8v/las, John viii. 44.




294           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [Ct\AP. V. 13-U1. 10.
to the influence of Christian faith and affection, they would experience that the schoolmastership of the law was become unnecessary. Walking in the Spirit, they would walk in wisdom
and in harmlessness, in purity and in love.  "If ye walk in the
Spirit, ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh."
And it is plain, not only that it is so, but that it must be so.
For the Spirit-the new way of thinking and feeling to which
the faith of Christ forms a man-is directly opposite to the mode
of thinking and feeling which is natural to man, and when the
one prevails, the other must decay. This is the sentiment conveyed in the next verse.  "For the flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary
the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye
would." 1
"The flesh" here, as above, is just a general term for that
mlode of thinking and feeling which is natural to man in his present depraved state, and which, although modified by an infinite
variety of circumstances in individuals, is in its grand substantial
character the same, common to the species; and " the Spirit," as
opposed to it, is just a general name for that mode of thinking
and feeling which is produced in the mind by the agency of the
Holy Spirit through the instrumentality of Christian truth,
which, though differing in degree, is substantially the same in
all true Christians. " The flesh" is a phrase of equivalent meaning with " the old man," and " the Spirit" with " the new man."
These two modes of thinking and feeling are here, as in many
other parts of the apostle's writings, personified and spoken of as
if they were living beings.
The flesh is represented as " lusting against the Spirit," and
the Spirit against the flesh. These opposite modes of thinking
and feeling may be viewed, either as existing in different minds,
or in the same mind. In all men merely born of the flesh, the
first of these modes of thinking and feeling reigns supreme. In
all born of the Spirit, the second of these modes of thinking and
feeling predominates; and it is to this that we are to trace that
difference, that opposition, of desires and pursuits by which
worldly men and true Christians are distinguished.
But it is not to this external struggle between these two modes
1 Gal. v. 17




P. VI. ~ 3.] EXHORTATION TO " WALK IN THE SPIRIT."    295
of thinking and feeling that the apostle here refers, but to the
opposition between them that is exhibited when they exist in the
same mind. Every Christian is by nature a carnal man. He
thinks and feels " according to the course of this world." 1 When
he becomes a Christian by the belief of the truth under the operation of the Holy Ghost, he gets a new mode of thinking and
feeling-he becomes a spiritual man-he is A" delivered from the
present evil world," and brought under " the power of the world
which is to come." But he is not completely delivered in the
present state. He is not thoroughly spiritualised. He still remains to a considerable degree under the power of his former
mode of thinking and feeling, though his new mode of thinking
and feeling gives a decided character to his habitual desires and
pursuits.
Now, in such a person " the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh."  This is one of the subjects
which are best illustrated by examples. Under the influence of
that mode of thinking and feeling which the faith of the gospel
and the operation of the Holy Ghost produce, the Christian
earnestly wishes to acquiesce in the most severely afflictive dispensations of Divine Providence-to have no will but the will
of God; but under the influence of that impatience of suffering,
and that opposition to the Divine will, which are natural to man,
he finds such acquiescence no easy attainment, and feels in extreme hazard of becoming fretful or sullen. This is 1" the flesh
lusting against the Spirit."
On the other hand, when a Christian meets with unmerited
ill-treatment from his fellow-men, he is very apt, under the influence of his natural mode of thinking and feeling, to cherish
resentment and to seek revenge; but his new mode of thinking
and feeling opposes this, and, remembering how God for Christ's
sake forgave him all his trespasses, he is made, in opposition to
the lustings of nature, to forgive his brother his trespasses. This
is " the spirit lusting against the flesh."
In all this there is nothing but what is perfectly consistent
with the constitution of human nature; though it must be confessed that, by forgetting that the representations in our text,
and in the seventh chapter of Romans, are figurative; and
1 Eph. ii. 2.




296            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
that " the old man" and " the new man," " the flesh" Iand " the
Spirit," " the law of the members" and "' the law of the mind,"
are not separate living agents, but merely personifications of
opposite modes of thinking and feeling, many Christian divines
have involved this interesting department of Christian experience in a " darkness which may be felt —have perplexed and
harassed the minds of the pious, and furnished to the falsehearted pretender to vital godliness an opportunity, of which he
has not been slack to avail himself, of transferring the blame
of his bad dispositions and criminal conduct from  himself to
some mysterious spiritual agent whom  he terms "the  old
man," and for whose operations he does not feel himself answerable.l
These two modes of thinking and feeling are directly opposed
to one another; " they are contrary one to the other." The one
is occupied with' things seen and temporal," the other with
" things unseen and eternal:" the desires and the pursuits to
which they give origin must, of course, be opposite too.
The consequence of such a state of things in a mind in which
both modes of thinking and feeling exist, where there is both
flesh and spirit, is described in the close of the verse: " So
that2 ye cannot do the things that ye would." These words
admit, and of course they have received, a considerable variety
of interpretation. Some connect them with the first clause,"The flesh lusteth against the Spirit; so that ye cannot do the
things which ye would." They consider it as an expression of
the same sentiment as the following passage in the Epistle to the
Romans: "'To will is present with me; but how to perform that
which is good I find not." 3' Owing to remaining depravity,
our holy resolutions are very imperfectly executed.'  Others
connect them  with the second clause:' The spirit lusteth
1 Origen's interpretation will surprise the reader unread in Patristic
exegesis:-"' Caro concupiscit adversus Spiritum,' id est, historia et Scripturae carneus seu literalis intellectus contra allegoriam et spiritualem doctrinam repugnat.' Spiritus autem adversus carnem,' id est, umbrae veritas
refragatur." Well might Jerome, "pertaesus," as Pareus says, with these
"nugee," say, " An contemnenda historia et allegoria sequenda?  Imo:
allegoria vana et umbratica, et nullis veritatis fixa radicibus."
2 t'va is here plainly ecbatic, marking the result not intention-so that,
equivalent to oIarE.
3 Rom. vii. 18.




P. V  ~ 3  EXHORTATION TO;" \WALK IN THE SPIRIT."           297
against the flesh; so that ye cannot do the things which ye
would."'In consequence of the tendencies of your renewed
nature, you cannot —you dare not-yield obedience to the impulses of your depraved nature.' While a third class connect
them with the third clause: " These two are contrary the one to
the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would."' You
can neither follow your depraved nor your holy inclination without feeling resistance and opposition. You cannot follow your
holy inclinations with that unmixed determination which distinguishes perfectly holy beings, nor can you follow your criminal
inclinations with that unmixed determination that distinguishes
completely depraved beings: the lustings of the flesh prevent
the one; the lustings of the spirit prevent the other.'  Did the
passage stand alone, I would prefer this last mode of interpretation; but when I look at it in its connection, I can scarcely
doubt that the second is the true mode of explanation. The
verse before us is an illustration 6f the statement contained in
the previous verse, that if they " walked in the Spirit, they
would not fulfil the lusts of the flesh;"-that yielding themselves
up to the practical influence of the new and better mode of
thinking and feeling produced by the gospel, under the operation
of the Holy Spirit, was the surest preventive of immoral conduct.'Now,' says the apostle,' I know indeed that the flesh will lust
against the spirit, but the spirit will lust against the flesh (for
these things are directly opposed); so that ye cannot do what,
but for this opposite influence, you would'be wholly inclined to
do.' Just in the degree in which the Christian is influenced by
the Spirit, the new and better mode of thinking and feeling,
though he experience the natural desires of the flesh and the
mind, he cannot fulfil them, he feels-not a natural, but-a
moral impossibility of fulfilling them; and sets himself to mortify, crucify, destroy them.'
The observation which follows is obviously one made by the
1 It is but right to notice that the first view is not without plausible
support. The verb 9XEtv, though it may be applied to the propensities of
the flesh, is, in the parallel passage, Rom. vi. 15-18, etc., used only in reference to the tendencies of the Spirit; and the 7rrvEtLaTt alyEr-Oat, in the 18th
verse, may be considered as opposed to the') FrotiEv a;a'v OBXrp-E.   I do not,
however, think there is much in these remarks,-certainly not enough to
neutralise the argument suggested by the scope of the passage, especially
when it is consistent also with the usus loquendi.




298            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
way, but, like all the apostle's occasional remarks, having an
important bearing on his general object.  "But if ye be led by
the Spirit, ye are not under the law." 
" To be led by the Spirit " is another figurative expression, signifying to be influenced by the new mode of thinking and feeling to which the Spirit by the faith of the gospel forms men.
To " walk in the Spirit" and to be "led by the Spirit," are
nearly synonymous.  The active influential nature of the Spirit
is perhaps somewhat more clearly brought out in the last of these
modes of expression. They who are thus influenced are not
under the law.  It has been ordinary to consider this verse as
stating, that all who are the subjects of the leading influences of
the Holy Ghost are delivered from the law, in its covenant form,
from its condemning, and irritating, and commanding power.
This proposition, if rightly explained, contains much important
truth, but it does not, I apprehend, at all express the apostle's
neaning.  "The law" is here, as generally throughout the
epistle, the Mosaic law, to which the Judaising teachers were
endeavouring to subject the Galatians.  And what the apostle
says is this,-' If you are influenced as you ought to be by these
views and affections which grow out of the faith of the gospel,
you will not be among those who seek to subject themselves to
the Mosaic law, you will distinctly see that you stand in no
need of it, that its genius does not correspond to the character
of the new and better order of things which the Messiah has introduced, and refusing to submit to what are now nothing better
than " commandments of men," you will "walk at liberty, keeping God's commandments."  They who are led by the Spirit
spontaneously2 by " a law written on their hearts," follow that
course which God approves, and have no need of the paedagogy
of the law from which the church has been delivered.3
Gal. v. 18.                                    2 8EAo'3aKLot.
s It is not impossible that the apostle here, according to his manner,
expresses one part of an antithetical sentence, leaving the other part, on
which the point of his statement sometimes depends, to be understood.-' If
ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law; and if ye are under the
law, ye are not, ye cannot be, led by the Spirit.' Olshausen seems to have
some idea of this kind in his note: —" Now this fight (verses 16, 17) to which
the Spirit leads, is not by any means a work under the law, as if the believer
fancied lhe could obtain salvation himself by it: the man receives the Spirit
only if he is not under the law, if he through faith is become a child of God."




P. VI. ~ 3.] EXHORTATION TO " WALK IN THE SPIRIT."              299
The great practical lesson taught us by this passage is, that
the true way of mortifying sin and making progress in holiness,
is to yield our minds and hearts more and more up to the transforming influence of divine truth. Divine truth is efficacious
only when attended by the operation of the Divine Spirit.
The humble diligent study of the Bible, especially the New
Testament scriptures, and fervent believing prayers for the assistance of the Holy Spirit, are the principal means of Christian
sanctification.
That "the flesh " and " the Spirit" are direct opposites, and
that of course the true way of escaping from the dominion of the
former is to subject ourselves to the power of the latter, is strikingly and beautifully illustrated in the passage which immediately follows, containing as it does a view of the practical consequences of these two modes of thinking and feeling-the carnal
and the spiritual mind.  " Now the works I of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have
also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God." 2
As "the flesh" is, as we have repeatedly remarked, the mode
of thinking and feeling natural to man in an unregenerate state,
so " the works of the flesh "3 are the practical results of this mode
of thinking and feeling-the mode of conduct to which it naturally leads-just as we say, " the work of righteousness is peace,"
peace is the natural result of righteousness.  "Now," says the
apostle, "the works of the flesh are manifest."4  There is no
t," Th /iEv 7rovrlpa epya et 7)/.v  yLvov7raL doVov, 8&a Kal Epya o-apKos ELrE'lJ
a/la Kal cOK fpyo8LaV KaL fapvT17Ta E'xovra.  T aa  o KaXa OVX77E rEpas &tal
PIOVO E7rLJEXElav, a)XXa KaL T7rj. a6VOEV 0TVVEpyElS. E o Kaplrov alra fiTe Tov
7rvEviaroos."-TiHEPHYLACT.
2 Gal. v. 19-21.
3,, It is a melancholy thing to observe how much richer is every vocabulary
in words that set forth sins, than in those that set forth graces. When St
Paul (Gal. v. 19-23) would put these against those-the works qf the flesh
against the fruit of the Spirit, these are seventeen, those only nine; and
where do we find in Scripture such a list of graces as we do of their opposites?
-2 Tim. iii. 2-5; Rom. i. 29-31."-TRENCH on the Study of Words.
"4  Nemineinem latent."-Acts iv. 16. Everybody knows what they are.
The workings of the flesh and Spirit in the mind are hidden, invisible; but




300             EPISTLE TO TIlE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
reason to doubt about them. It is quite plain what they are. There
is no need of laborious inquiries to ascertain them. And then he
proceeds to particularise a number of them. When the apostle
represents all the different varieties of injustice, malignity, and
impurity as the works of the flesh, he states the same truth
as our Lord does when He says that, " out of the " unchanged
" heart" of mall "proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
false witness, blasphemies." Every species of immorality of conduct is the result of depraved  thought and  feeling.  What
appears without is the index of what is going on within.
To enter into a minute description of the different crimes
which are here mentioned, could serve no good purpose, and
might serve some bad ones. There are immoral practices which
are not even to be named among Christians, and there are
others which, though they must be named, should scarcely be
more than named. There are certain vices, and a number of
them  are mentioned in this catalogue, which can scarcely be
made the objects of steady intellectual contemplation without
tainting in some degree the purity of the mind. The greater
part of the terms employed by the apostle are sufficiently plain.
A few of them, however, to an English reader require a word or
two in explanation.'
" the works" of the first, and " the fruit" of the second —the results of their
inward workings-are manifest.
1 MoLXeda, "adultery," is expressive of illicit intercourse where at least
one of the parties is married: the genuineness of the word here is doubtful.
Hopvela, rendered "fornication," is often used as including both whoredom
and adultery: when used along with IoLXEia, it signifies the former, scarcely
reckoned a crime among the heathen. dKaOapcrla, " uncleanness," is a general name for sexual impurities; and when spoken of as distinct from IotXela
and 7ropvela, probably refers to those unnatural practices so common among
the heathen. adTEXyEla, " lasciviousness," denotes all intemperate desires.
Ei&oXoXarpEla, "idolatry."-It was quite a natural transition from deeds of
impurity to idolatry. Many of the acts of worship to idols were abominable
impurities; and, in the Hebrew mode of speaking, idolatry was spiritual
whoredom or adultery. OaplzaKela,  "witchcraft." —Using magical charms
and potions was generally practised by the pagan priests. Z'Expa, "' hatred,"
-enmities, whether concealed in the heart, or made manifest in language
and conduct. —Luke xxiii. 12.'epts, "variance,"-a fondness for quarrelling.
-Phil. i. 15; 1 Cor. i. 11. CiXol, "C emulations," ardours, in a bad sense,a bitter spirit of rivalry and contention.-James iii. 14-16; Acts v. 17.
Ovliol, "wrath," a high degree of anger, producing high breathing. It differs
from  wpyi1, which indicates the impulse to. act whllich anger gives. EpLtE&ai,




P. VI. ~ 3.] EXHORTATION TO " WALK IN THE SPIRIT.'           301
The word rendered " witchcraft" 1 is of ambiguous meaning.
It is used to signify the preparation and administration of poison,
and also the magical use of herbs and other substances for producing love, or hatred, or indifference. It is probable that it is
in the last sense that it is employed here. The employment of
such terms is no proof of the reality of magical influence. It
merely establishes the fact, that magical arts were then practised,
and that the practice of such arts was a work of the flesh.
" Sedition,"2 in the modern usage of the English language,
denotes a political crime, the endeavouring to excite disturbances
and change in a government. There can be no reason to doubt
that in very many cases this is criminal-a work of the flesh;
but the meaning of the word used by the apostle is much more
extensive, and describes all divisions which originate in other
principles than a regard to truth and justice, whether in families,
or states, or churches.3
" Heresies,"4 though the English word is little more than the
Greek word in English characters, does not convey to an English mind anything like an exact idea of the apostle's meaning.
Heresy in English means an error with regard to some fundamental principle of religion. We call Socinians and Pelagians
heretics. In the apostle's usage of the term heresy it is nearly
equivalent to sect, an(t, as used here, is very nearly synonymous
with seditions, unreasonable and unnecessary divisions.  This
seems the ordinary sense in which the word is used in the New
Testament, and it enables us to explain a passage which in the
English sense of the term " heresy" is not easily explained. The
apostle says that " a heretic is condemned of himself."5  Now,
certainly, every man who errs even on a fundamental doctrine of
Christianity is not " self-condemned" in the ordinary meaning
of these words. I have no doubt that many men have been
perfectly sincere in maintaining what are commonly called
"strife," a rather uncommon word, from  Lptkov, a mercenary, and signifies' factions.' dPO'OLt,;" envyings;" (povot, C "murders."-There is a natural
connection between the things:  0o'dvov often produces fodvos.  There
is also a rrapavolpacla, of which the apostle seems fond. tlOat, i" drunkenness," and K4,)ot, "' revellings," are naturally connected: K4llot were luxurious
feasts on days sacred to their divinities, especially Bacchus.
1 4aptuaKEla.    2 8txo0orac-at.    3 Rom. xvi. 17; 1 Cor. iii. 3.
aULpEE(Lr.     5 Tit. iii. 11.




302           EPISTLE TO T'HE GALATIANS. [CIIAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
heresies. The apostle's meaning is,-' The man who unreasonably leaves the communion of the church condemns and punishes
himself. By leaving the church he executes upon himself the
severest sentence she can denounce against him, that of excommunication.
These particular immoral practices are mentioned by the apostle
probably because they were very prevalent in the age and
among the people to whom he was writing. He closes his
catalogue, however, by the very general expression, " and such
like."' The substance of his statement is obviously this,-' The
flesh, that mode of thinking and feeling which is common to all
men in their unregenerate state, naturally produces every form of
impiety and malignity, impurity and intemperance.'
What a humbling view of human nature! But is it more
humiliating than it is just? In every age has not " the wickedness of man been great on the earth"? and is there any man
who knows himself that is not ready to say with the apostle, " in
me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing"?  There is
plainly something radically wrong with human nature. It stands
in need not merely of improvement but renovation. We " must
be born again." "' Old things must pass away, and all things
must become new."
To his enumeration of the works of the flesh, the apostle appends a very solemn declaration in reference to them,-" Of the
which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past,
that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of
God." The importance of the statement appears from the solemn
manner in which it is introduced: " in reference to these things
I tell you before;" that is,' I forewarn you,'-his declaration
referring to something that is future,-" as I also in time past,"
when among you, warned you. When we look at such declarations as that before us, we are apt to suppose that, if once
made, they would never need to be repeated-it seems that
they would strike so deep into the heart, as to influence every
future thought and feeling —and that, if once known, theiy could
never be forgotten. But how different is the truth! The plainest
and most interesting truths of religion need to be very often repeated. " Precept must be on precept, and line upon line;"
1 K(a1t Ta LOLta TOVTLS.




P. VI. ~ 3.] EXHORTATION TO "; WVALK IN TIlE SPIRIT."    303
and the minister who is more anxious to save his people's souls
than to tickle their imaginations and gratify their curiosity, will,
like the apostle, find it requisite to tell them again what he has
often told them before. For him to say the same things ought
not to be grievous to him, for it is not only safe but usefulaye, necessary for them.
The declaration is one that justifies the solemnity with which
it is introducedcl,-" They which do such things shall not inherit
the kingdom of God." " The kingdom of God," or " of heaven,"
is a phrase of frequent occurrence in the New Testament. It is
plainly used in two ways, in the one of which Christians are
viewed as the subjects, in the other as the possessors, of the
kingdom.  The first way of using the phrase naturally rose
out of the mode of thinking common among the Jews, and
produced by the phraseology of the prophets.  The Messiah,
or promised deliverer, is very often spoken of by them as a
Prince; and the order of things to be introduced by him is
naturally spoken of as his kingdom. In this view of the figure,
the Messiah is the king, and all true Christians are his subjects.
This is perhaps the most ordinary way in which the phrase is
employed; and it is sometimes used with a reference to the laws,
and sometimes to the privileges, of this spiritual kingdomn,sometimes in reference to its imperfect state on earth, and sometimes to its perfect state in heaven. In the second way of employing the phrase, it is used on the general principle of figurative language. To denote the dignity and happiness which
await true Christians in their ultimate state, it is termed " the
kingdom prepared for them." The figure is used in this way
when the Apostle James speaks of poor Christians being " heirs
of the kingdom which God has promised to them who love Him."
When Christians are represented as " made kings," and when
it is promised to such as overcome that they shall " sit down
with Christ on his throne, even as he also overcame, and is set
down with his Father on his throne," —wherever, indeed, the
phrase before us occurs, " inherit the kingdom of God,"-the
phrase is obviously used in this last way; and to " inherit the
kingdom of God " is just equivalent to' obtain possession of that
state of dignity and happiness, which is figuratively represented
as a kingdom-a divine kingdom.'
The apostle's assertion, then, is that no man who does the works




304           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
of the flesh shall be a partaker of the celestial blessedness. The
assertion is a most solemn and important one. The man who is
habitually characterised by any one of the habits above mentioned, or by any similar habit, cannot, if he die in this state, be
saved. Let us all look inward, lest we come short of the heavenly
kingdom.  Eternal happiness is at stake.  If we habitually
indulge in any immoral habit, it matters not what it is; if we
are habitually ungodly, or impure, or unjust, or intemperate, we
cannot be saved. And let us remember that exclusion from that
state of celestial royalty is but part of the evil. There are but
two states in the eternal world, and they who do not " inherit
the kingdom" must be " cast into outer darkness, where there
is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth."  There is
no intermediate sentence between,-" Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom," and, " Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire."
It would be well if all who are living to the flesh would seriously
consider these truths,-" If ye live after the flesh, ye must die."
" If ye sow in the flesh, of the flesh ye must reap corruption."
While men are "after the flesh," they will "mind the things of
the flesh." The only way of securing abstinence from the works
of the flesh, which end in perdition, is to be "born of the Spirit;"
for " except a man be born again," he will not abstain from the
works of the flesh, which must ruin him. The tree must be
made good that the fruit may be good.  " Ye must be born
again," " not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, even of
the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."
The apostle having thus stated the practical results of that
mode of thinking and feeling which is common to all men in
their unregenerate state, and which he terms " the flesh," goes
on to give a contrasted view of the practical results of that new
and better mode of thinking and feeling, to which men are formed
by the Holy Spirit, through the faith of the gospel, and which
he terms " the Spirit."  " But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law." 1
" The Spirit" here, as throughout the whole context, is the
new way of thinking and feeling to which a man is formed by
1 Gal. v. 22, 23.




P. VI. ~ 3.]   EXHORTATION TO "WALK IN TIHE SPIRIT."   305
the faith of the truth.  Now " the fruit "' of this is just the disposition and habits that grow out of it.  "Love  2 is enlightened
benignant affection toward God and man; "joy "3 is holy cheerfulness; "' peace "4 is a peaceful disposition, rising out of " the
peace of God keeping the mind and heart;" " long-suffering"5
is patience under ill-treatment long continued;.6 a gentleness "7
is kindness-readiness to forgive and relieve; 8 "goodness "' is
a disposition to oblige; 10 " faith "'1 is fidelity;12," meekness "'13 is
lenity, or a disposition to bear, forbear, and forgive;4 " temperance"'5 is continence-moderation, in our estimate, desire, and
pursuit, of worldly good.
He who, through the belief of the truth, has the mind in him
which was in Christ, is, in the degree in which he has this mind
in him, good and happy-filled  with benevolence-happy in
himself, and rejoicing in the happiness of all around him-at
peace with God and himself, and disposed to be at peace with
all men-not easily provoked, even by continued ill usage-mild
in his temper and manners-distinguished by unbending integrity and inviolable fidelity-gentle to the infirmities of others
-and, if severe in anything, severe to himself, in guarding
against every approximation to sinful indulgence.
Such is the kind of character which naturally grows out of
that new and better mode of thinking, to which men are formed
by the faith of the truth. It would not be difficult to show how
every one of these holy amiable dispositions grows out of the new
mind, —how the faith of the truth, or, in other words, the truth
believed, naturally leads to these results. To do this with all of
1 Kapnro, is in sense equivalent to f~pya: but the apostle se.ems to delight
to speak of salutary and praiseworthy results under this beautiful figure.Rom. i. 13; vi. 22; vii. 4; xv. 28; Eph. v. 9; Phil. ii. 22; iv. 17. In one
place he speaks ironically of the fatal effects of sin as fruits, Rom. vi. 21. It
is an ingenious remark of Bishop Sanderson respecting the effects of the flesh
being termed " works," and those of the Spirit, " fruit: "-" Where the flesh
rules all, the work exceeds the fruit; and therefore, without mentioning the
fruit, they are called' the works of the flesh.' But where the Spirit rules,
the fruit exceeds the work; and therefore, without even mentioning the
work, it is called' the fruit of the Spirit."'
2 ayaq7rl.       xapa.          4 p7jvrl.         5 paKpOvla.
6 Rom. ii. 4; Eph. iv. 2; Col. iii. 12.            7 XprO(ro'rT.
s 2 Cor. vi. 6; Col. iii. 12.      a dyaOo-Tv7.    10 2 Thess. i. 4.
1,lLOtLT.      12 Matth. xxiii. 23; Rom. iii. 3; Tit. ii. 10.
13 rpavrU7.     14 1 Cor. iv. 21; Col. iii. 12.'5 iyKpaCrLa.
U




3(06          EPISTLE TO THE GALATIAN-S. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
them would occupy too much room. I shall content myself with
showing how one of these tempers is " the fruit of the Spirit "gentleness or meekness,-and I shall borrow my illustration
from the apostle's own writings. Christians are exhorted to be
" gentle, showing all meekness unto all men; "for," adds the
apostle, "we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and
envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, being justified by his grace, we
should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."l
It will be a very edifying exercise, in our retirements, to go
over the whole of the passage, and to consider how the faith of
the grand peculiarities of Christian truth is calculated to produce all the various graces and virtues of the Christian character.
It is quite evident that the fruit of the Spirit and the works of
the flesh-the practical results of' the unregenerate and the regenerate frame of mind —are directly opposite, and that in the
degree in which a man is under the influence of the latter will
he be delivered from the influence of the former; and that of
course "walking in the Spirit" is the best way of guarding
against "fulfilling the lusts of the flesh." It is plainly morally
impossible that the man full of " love, joy, peace, long suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance," should
indulge in the works of the flesh, as specified in the preceding
verses; and that the shortest and only effectual method of becoming truly holy, and truly happy, is just to have the mind
completely imbued with the grand distinguishing peculiarities of
Christian truth.
Particular precepts, enjoining what is right and forbidding what
is wrong, are very useful in their own place in promoting true
holiness; but their place is, comparatively speaking, a subordinate one. What is chiefly wanted is a living spring of holy disposition —a habitual dislike of sin in all its forms-a habitual love
of holiness; and this is nowhere to be obtained but in that " new
1 Tit. iii. 2-7.




P. VI. ~ 3.]  EXHORTATION TO " WALK IN THE SPIRIT."  307
mind," which is indeed "the mind of Christ," and which becomes
ours when; and just-in the proportion in which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, we believe " the truth as it is in Jesus."
As it is " the Spirit," the new mind, alone which can produce
these fruits; so, on the other hand, wherever there is the Spirit,
the new mind, these effects will be produced. Whatever profession we mav make, it is certain that we do not understand and
believe the gospel, if we do not feel a happy, holy, transforming
influence.  "The Spirit" is an active principle. Wherever it
exists it operates. If we are habitually strangers to the dispositions above enumerated, we have not " the Spirit of Christ;" and
".if we have not the Spirit of Christ, we are none of his."
Alas! have not many who bear Christ's name reason to fear
that they are altogether destitute of his Spirit; and even those
who have something like satisfactory evidence that in them  is
the mind which was in Him, have they not much ground of
regret and self-condemnation that they have it in so limited a
measure. The only  way of obtainilng it by those who want it,
is the belief of the truth under the influence of the Holy Ghost;
and the only way of obtaining larger measures of the Spirit, is
to grow in the knowledge and faith of this truth; and in order
to the growth, and continued and increased operation, of this
knowledge and faith, Divine influence is necessary; and this
continued and increased operation is promised to sincere, believing, and persevering prayer.
The apostle adds, "Against such there is no law." This is one of
those passages in which, though the words are perfectly plain, there
is some difficulty in perceiving their reference, or the particular
purpose for which the apostle employs them.  "Against such," 
that is, not against such tempers and dispositions, but against
persons characterized by such tempers and dispositions there is
no law. Some have supposed that the apostle's meaning may
be thus expressed,'If all men were of this description, there
would be no need of law.' These are not at all the class of
people against whom " law" is directed.2  We rather think that
the following statement comes at least nearer his object in introducing this clause,'The Judaising teachers, to gain their
end, not only talked much of the advantages of submitting to
1 rotovTcov, not rotovTv.         2 1 Tim. i. 9-11.




308            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
the law of Moses, but also of the danger of not submitting to
it.  Now, says the apostle,'these threatenings need niot alarm
you if ye thus walk in the Spirit. That law approves of such
characters and corresponding conduct, that law  has no curse
for you.' 1
The apostle then proceeds to state that all true Christians do,
under the influence of the Spirit, endeavour to mortify the flesh
— under the influence of their new mode of thinking and feeling
endeavour completely to abandon their old mode of thinking and
feeling; and calls on the Galatians who professed to be spiritually
alive to prove this by a corresponding course of conduct in avoiding the works of the flesh, and displaying the fruits of the Spirit
in their behaviour to each other.  "And they that are Christ's
have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." 2
"' They who are Christ's" is a phrase just equivalent to the
appellation Christians, when understood in its true extent of
meaning. It is a word often employed in a very extenuated
sense. Every man who makes a profession of Christianity-who
pays some regard to its external offices-who has been baptized,
and who has not formally renounced his baptism-every man,
in a word, who is not a Pagan, or Mohammedan, or Jew, or
infidel, is usually called a Christian. But there are many such
Christians who are not Christ's. By their worldly, and often
wicked, conduct, they dishonour His name and injure his interest; and on the great day of final reckoning he shall say to
them, "Depart from  me, I never knew  you, ye workers of
iniquity."   The general idea suggested by the expression is
intimate connection-" They are Christ's," as " Christ is God's."
They are his peculiar property, given to Him by his Father,
redeemed by his blood, animated by his Spirit, subject to his
authority, conformed to his image, devoted to his honour. They
1 It is but right to state that I do not distinctly understand the reference
or design of these words, " Against such there is no law." Rosenmiiller's
scholion is as good as any interpretation I know: —" Est Meiosis. Tantum
abest ut iis legis Mosaicie terrores sint metuendi, ut potius Deo sint grati,
et accepti licet non circumcisi." Some would render Kaa-'concerning,' q. d.' These qualities, these dispositions of mind and heart, are not the proper
subject of law.' Law refers to overt acts. This is true of human laws; but
the remark cannot be extended to that law which is 7TVEv/aTL'KdO', whose two
cardinal commands are, The supreme love of God, and The sincere love of
our neighbour.                                     2 Gal. v. 24.




P. VI. ~ 3.]  EXHORTATION TO " WALK IN THE SPIRIT."   309
call no man master or proprietor-one is their master and proprietor, Christ.  They are not their own, but his-his onlywholly-for ever. Now, all who are thus Christ's " have crucified 1 the flesh with the affections and lusts."
" The flesh" is, as I have so often had occasion to remark, a
general name for that mode of thinking and feeling which is
natural to man so long as he continues a stranger to the regenerating power of Divine influence; and "the affections and lusts"
are just those dispositions and desires which naturally grow out
of this frame of thought and affection. The flesh and its attending lusts are here personified, spoken of as living beings; and
true Christians are represented as putting them to death by
crucifixion.
The figure is bold, and to our comparatively cold and tame
occidental imaginations may appear harsh; but it is highly
significant, and its meaning is obvious.  Crucifixion was a
punishment appropriated to the worst crimes of the basest sort
of criminals, and produced death, not suddenly, but gradually.
This seems to have been the idea present to the apostle's mind:
True Christians regard with disapprobation and loathing that
mode of thinking and feeling which is common to all till they
are renewed; and they earnestly desire, and constantly seek, its
complete extinction. They do not succeed in completely destroying it while here below; but they have fixed it to the Cross,
and they are determined to keep it there till it expire. The
phrase is similar in its meaning-but more emphatic-to the
phrases, "mortifying our members which are on the earth""putting off the old man who is corrupt in his deeds."
Some have considered this passage as parallel with the following passage in the Epistle to the Romans,-" Our old man is
crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin.""  But the two passages
refer to two completely distinct, though very closely connected,
subjects. The passage in the Epistle to the Romans refers to
1 aravppooav, in the aorist: "Crucify," equivalent to' have crucified, are
crucifying, habitually crucify.' "Actio solita, vel studiose exercita per aoristos
vel preterita, exprimi solet: ut et per presentia interdum."-E. SCHMID.
We express what is customary in the present.
2 Rom. vi. 6. The true parallel to the passage before us is Col. iii: 5.
The VEKpOVV Ta FdXq there, is equivalent to cravpoivY r',v capKa, K. T. A. here.




310            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CItAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
something done for the Christians-the passage before us to
something iWhich the Christian does for himself.  The one describes the Christian privilege-the other delineates his character.
The statement in the Epistle to the Romans is,'The atonement
secures the sanctification of all interested in it.  What Christ
suffered on the cross laid a secure foundation for the deliverance
of his people from all immoral principles.' The statement before
us is,'Every true Christian regards with disapprobation and
hatred that wrong way of thinking and feeling which is natural
to him, and is engaged in endeavouring to root it out completely.
He is treating it in a way analogous to that in which the basest
criminal is treated.'
It deserves notice that the expression is unlimited-" the flesh,
with the affection and lusts."  It is not merely with some of the
more unsightly products of the flesh that the Christiah is displeased, it is with the flesh itself. It is not the pruning of the
old stock which will serve his purpose, it must be dug up by the
roots. It is not the improvement of "c the old man," it is the
putting him off.  What the Christian is determinedly seeking
after is complete deliverance from a mode of thinking and feeling
at variance with the mind and will of God.
This crucifixion of " the flesh, with its affections and lusts" —
the habitual desire and endeavour to master that wrong way of
thinking and feeling, which is natural to us all, is peculiar to the
true Christian, and it is characteristic of the true Christian.
None but true Christians do so, -all true Christians do so.
None but those who are Christ's " crucify the flesh, with its
affections and lusts."  Many who are not Christians dislike
peculiar vices, and carefully avoid them. Many who are not
true Christians set about a partial self-reformation, and for a
time are very zealous in prosecuting it; but none but a true
Christian makes war habitually with " the flesh," the worldly
Tnode of thinking and feeling, in its root as well as in its fruitin its most reputable as well as in its most disgraceful forms.
Other men may chastise " the flesh," but it is only they that are
Christians that crucify it.
And as it is peculiar to Christians, so it is common to them to
" crucify the flesh, with its affections and lusts."  Some of them
are more successful than others in mortifying and crucifying
their depraved modes of thinking and feeling; but they are all




P. VI. ~ 3.]  EXHORTATION TO' WALK IN THE SPIRIT."   311
honestly thus engaged; and it is just in the degree in which they
are successful that they give evidence to themselves and others
that they are indeed belonging to Christ. The apostle's statement
is not what many commentators have represented it. They who
are Christians ought to A" crucify the flesh, with its affections and
lusts," though that is a truth too; but it is they who are Christians do crucify-a declaration which plainly implies, that if men
do not 1" crucify the flesh, with its affections and lusts," they are
not Christ's. The man who habitually indulges any of the affections or lusts of the flesh, makes it evident, whatever he calls
himself; he is not in reality a Christian. He has not the Spirit
of Christ, and therefore he is none of his.
The apostle proceeds now to exhort the Galatians to prove
the reality of their religion by producing its fruits. The exhortation, we should have naturally expected, would have been,
-' If, then, ye are Christ's, crucify the flesh, with its affections
and lusts.' To be " in Christ," and to be " in the Spirit," are
descriptive of the same persons. Not to " walk after the flesh,"
and to " walk after the Spirit," are but different views of the
same kind of character and conduct; so that, to a person who is
familiar with the apostle's mode of thought and expression, there
is nothing unnatural in the phraseology of the exhortation that
follows.  "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the
Spirit."'
To " live," in the phraseology of the apostle, is often equivalent to' be happy.' " Now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." 2
" If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye
shall live."3. It is plain, however, that the word is not used in
this sense in the passage before us.  To " live in the Spirit" is
just' to be spiritually alive'-to be animated and actuated by
the Spirit.
"The Spirit," as I have endeavoured to show, is, in the
whole of this context, that new mode of thinking and feeling to
which a man is formed by the Holy Spirit, by the instrumentality of the faith of the truth as it is in Jesus; and to " live
in the Spirit" is just to possess this mode of thinking and
feeling.
To "walk" is, in Scripture language, descriptive of a course
1 Gal. v. 25.      2 1 Thess. iii. 8.   3 Rom. viii. 13.




312            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
of conduct.  To "walk in the Spirit"l is habitually to act
spiritually-to behave like spiritual men-like men who think
and feel in that new and better way to which the Holy Spirit
forms all who are under his influence.
The force of the exhortation is obviously this,-' If we are
Christians, let us prove ourselves to be so, by acting like Christians. If we are spiritually alive, let us show that we are so by
being spiritually active. If we really think and feel as all do
who are believers of the truth, under the influence of the Spirit,
let us make this evident by embodying our convictions and feelings in our behaviour.'2
There are two important general principles obviously implied
in this exhortation, —the one, that we must "live in the Spirit,"
in order to our " walking in the Spirit;" and the other, that
" walking in the Spirit" is the natural result, and the only
satisfactory evidence, of " living in the Spirit."  " Living in the
Spirit " is necessary in order to " walking in the Spirit." A man
must be a Christian before he can act christianly. The tree
must be good in order to the fruit being good; the fountain must
be cleared that the streams may be pure. Christian conduct
can spring only from Christian principle. Are we anxious to
get to heaven, and, for this purpose, to obtain that " holiness,
without which no man can see the Lord"?  The only way of
obtaining it, is to be thus " transformed by the renewing of our
mind;" and this can only be brought about by the operation of
the Holy Spirit, through the instrumentality of Christian truth
understood and believed.
The other principle is equally important, —' Walking in
the Spirit is the natural result and only satisfactory evidence
of living in the Spirit.' The state of the mind and heart is
closely connected with that of the conduct. Whatever a man's
profession be-however ingeniously he may speculate, and however plausibly and fluently he may talk about Christianity, —if;
in his temper and conduct, he does not exhibit the native results
1 (r.oLXELVI equivalent to lrept7raTeiv, verse 16.-Acts xxi. 24; Rom. iv. 12;
Phil. iii. 16. "crrotxlv significat ordinate incedere et intra limites suos
continere."-ESTIUS.
2 Bauer's paraphrase is good (Rhet. Paul. ii. 672):-' Si vivimus (interne
qua sensum et conditionem) spiritu; spiritu et agamus, incedamus more externo: vitam internam probemus factis externis."




P. VI. ~ 4.]    PARTICULAR EXHORTATIONS.                 313
of Christian principle and feeling, he makes it evident that he is
not a Christian.  " By their fruits," says our Lord, " ye shall
know them." The Spirit is not there when his fruits are not there.
SECT. IV.-PARTICULAR EXHORTATIONS TO CERTAIN VARIETIES
OF " WALKING IN THE SPIRIT."
The apostle follows up this general exhortation by a variety
of particular ones, all of them included in it.
1. Caution against vain-glorying.
The first is contained in the 26th verse,-" Let us not be
desirous of vain-glory, provoking one another, envying one another."' The English words, " Be not desirous of vain-glory,"
naturally signify,'Do not eagerly desire, do not supremely seek
after, a high reputation for qualities which are really not valuable
in themselves, or are valuable in the estimation of those only whose
good opinion is of little value.' True glory consists in being justly
esteemed by good men for really good qualities.  "Vain-glory"
is to have the reputation of qualities which we do not possess, or
to be praised for qualities which, though we do possess them, do
not deserve praise; or to be highly esteemed by men whose
esteem is of little value. To " be desirous of vain-glory," in any
of these senses, is a very foolish and a very unchristian thing;
but it does not seem to be the evil against which the apostle is
here guarding the Galatians.
We apprehend the apostle's meaning is this,' Let us not be
vain-glorious.'2 To be " vain-glorious " is to boast of what we
do not possess, or of what, though we do possess it, is of no
value, or is of far less value than we attach to it For the meaning of the word, consult Phil. ii. 3; 2 Cor. x. 17; xii. 1-10;
Phil. iii. 3-10. The Galatian church was divided into two
parties-the Judaising party, and their opponents. The first
boasted of their circumcision, and their superior sanctity in keeping the Mosaic observances; and of their honours, as connected
"The sixth chapter ought to have begun here; for v. 26 stands in strict
connection with what follows it down to vi. 5, and is separated from the
foregoing by the exhortation making a transition from its entirely general
character to the special."-OLSHAUvsEIN.
2 KEVO5&$oL. NEW\COME.




314            EPISTLE TO THIE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-\I. 10.
with Abraham, the father of the faithful.  This was to glory in
what was not really valuable. All these things, under the gospel,
are utterly useless. The other party was in danger of glorying in
their freedom from the restrictions of the Mosaic law, and to look
down on their brethren as men of contracted minds. This liberty
was in itself a good thing, but it was not a thing to glory in.
It was not their chief blessing. The kingdom of God consists
" not in meats and drinks," but in "justification"-in " peace"
with God-in "joy in the Holy Ghost." 1  These were the
blessings to glory in. This was true glory.'Now,' says the apostle to both parties,'be not vain-glorious.'
Let not the Jew or the Judaiser boast of his subjection to the
law; and let not the Gentile boast of his freedom from the law,
as if either the one or the other was the great benefit by which,
as Christians, they were distinguished2
The natural consequence of indulging in this vain-gloriation
was mutual quarrelling and mutual hatred, —" Provoking one
another,"-' Calling out one another to the field of controversy.'
When one said,' I am better than you, because I submit to the
Mosaic law,' and another,'I am better than you, because I walk
at liberty,' these statements naturally led to disputations and
vain-janglings about the law, and these as naturally tended to
strengthen mutual dislike into mutual hatred.
" Envying one another."  The word " envy," in its most appropriate meaning, denotes a malignant uneasiness arising from
perceiving the superiority of another. I do not see how, in this
strict sense, it is very applicable to the case in the apostle's view.
The word is sometimes employed to signify hatred, —as when it
is said that Pilate knew that "' through envy "-that is obviously
malignity-" the Jews had delivered Jesus to him."  In this
way we understand the word here. Controversies on such subjects generally end in setting the combatants farther than ever
fromn each other, as to kindly affection. He, who in the com1 Rom. xiv. 17.
2 Jerome, considering the words as equivalent to Phil. ii. 3, " Let nothing
be done through vain-glory," very forcibly remarks, " Eleemosyna si ob
laudem fiat inanis gloria est: longa oratio, pallor ex jejunio, ipsa quoque
castitas in matrimonio, viduitate, virginibus, svepe plausum quarit humanum;
et quod dudum timeo dicere, sed dicendum est, martyrium ipsum, si ideo fiat
ut admirationi et laudi habeamur in fratribus, frustra sanguis effuisus est."
3 Matth. xxvii. 18.




P. VI. ~ 4.]   PARTICULAR EXHORTATIONS.               315
mencement of such a'controversy, only suspected the Christianity of his brother, generally ends with denying it. If he disliked him then, he hates him now. This is not to 1" walk in
the Spirit;" but in " the flesh."
It would be consolatory could we think that the exhortation
in the text, though necessary in the apostle's time; had become unnecessary in ours. But alas! how different is the truth! How
much vain-glorying is there among the professors of the name
df Christ, even among those of whom charity obliges us to hope
that their profession is genuine! How do they glory in their
distinctions! One boasts of his connection with a rich and
powerful, ancient and venerable establishment; another glories
in his being a Dissenter. One boasts of the imposing splendour,
and another glories in the primitive simplicity, of their respective
mnodes of worship. Even far less discernible marks of distinction become grounds of gloriation: and this provokes to angry
controversy; and this again produces strife, jealousy, enmity,
malignity. Were we more spiritual it would be otherwise. We
should glory chiefly in the grand principles of Christian truth, in
which all really good men are agreed; and our -attachment to
these would produce attachment to all who really believe them.
Wrhile every man sought after, and endeavoured to communicate
to his brother those views of truth and duty, which he conceived
he had obtained from his Bible —  speaking the truth in love,"there would be no "provoking one another," except "to love
and good works;" and instead of " envying and hating one
another," there would be general edification of the body in love.
This state of things is to be brought about by the minds of
men being brought more and more under the influence of Christian truth by the operation of the Holy Ghost. We may be able
to do but little in the way of forwarding such a state of things,
but we do something if we yield up ourselves to the enlightening,
sanctifying, softening, influence of the truth as it is in Jesus.
2. Duty of " the Spiritual " to those 4 overtaken in a fault."
The passage which follows is obviously so closely connectedwith what goes before, that it ought not to have been disjoined
from it. It is the continued amplification of the general injunction to Christian duty contained in the 25th verse of the preceding chapter.  "If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the




316            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIAINS. [CHAP. V. 13 —VI. 10.
Spirit." Under the influence of the new and better spirit to
which we are formed by the agency of the Holy Spirit through
the instrumentality of the faith of the truth, let us not be vainglorious, provoking one another to useless and mischievous contentions which have a direct tendency to produce mutual aversion
and malignity. This was to walk after the flesh and not after
the spirit; this was to cherish instead of to crucify the flesh in its
affections and lusts. Instead of seeking each his own glory, let
us seek one another's true happiness; instead of triumphing over
a fallen brother, and endeavouring to elevate ourselves by his
depression, let us cherish a deep sense of deficiency and weakness;
and in that meek disposition which such a feeling naturally produces, let us endeavour to reclaim the wandering, to strengthen
the weak, and to raise the fallen. Such is the general import of
the paragraph which follows, and to the more particular examination of which our attention must now be directed.  " Brethren, if
a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such
an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted." 1
It is plain that though the apostle's language be indefinite,
"'if a man be overtaken in a fault," the injunction does not
refer to mankind generally, but to the members of a Christian
church.  It is just equivalent to,' if any of you'-" any man
that is called a brother."2
The phrase translated, "be overtaken in a fault,"3 is somewhat ambiguous. For a man to be surprised or taken in a fault,
or to be overtaken by a fault, is to fall into error or sin.  The
phrase seems to have been selected for the purpose of conveying
the idea that the person referred to is not a habitual sinner-is
not a person who lives in sin-who habitually does what is inconsistent with the will of Christ. He is not the person whom
John describes as "a doer of sin."4  A person of this description has no right to a place in Christ's church.  If he has been
admitted into communion with a scripturally organised church,
it must have been by mistake; and when ever his real charac1 Gal. vi. 1                                  21 Cor. v.11.
s 7rpo1Xt:'Ev r tvt raparro'ia7rt,' caught in a fault,'-or rather,' caught
by a fault, 7rpo —before he had time to observe its approach, to see its
bearings, to muster resistance.' 7rpoXtqOr = -vvaWarap7raX0O. —CHRYSOST.
t6  fLapTaivc —6 TroLtOr) r'T ataprtav.-1 John iii. 6, 8.




P. VI. ~ 4.]    PARTICULAR EXHORTATIONS.                  317
ter manifests itself, it is their imperative duty to " put away from
among them such a wicked person." The fault here referred to
is obviously occasional; the man is "overtaken" in or by it.
From  the force of temptation, the want of prayerful vigilance
and humble dependence, every Christian, even the most eminent,
may fall into error and commit sin.
Now, what is the duty of his fellow Christians to such a
person? Is it immediately to expel him from their society?
No; it is their duty to restore him, and to restore him in the
spirit of meekness. The word rendered "restore"1 properly signifies to put a dislocated member of the body into its proper place.2
When a professed Christian falls into error or sin, he becomes,
as it were, a dislocated member of the mystical body of Christ,
incapable of properly performing its own functions, and occasioning pain and inconvenience to the other members of the body.
To "restore such an one," is to use the appropriate means of
convincing him of his error and sin, and bringing him back to
the path of truth and righteousness.  He was not to be immediately excommunicated-that is the last resort; but neither was
he to be allowed to continue in a state dangerous both to himself
and his fellow church members.  When a member of the human
body is dislocated, amputation is not immediately resorted to.
But neither is it allowed to remain in a state of luxation.
Means are immediately employed to have the dislocation reduced.
Whenever a Christian man is "overtaken in a fault," means
should without delay be used to "restore " him.  And what are
these means? By faithful, but at the same time friendly, statements of the truth, let him be led to see that he is in error and
in fault.  Show  him  the inconsistency of his opinion or his
conduct with the doctrine and the law of Christ. Point out to
him the bad consequences which are likely to result from it, both
to himself and others. And when he is thus brought to a just
sense of his fault, and in danger of being swallowed up of overmuch sorrow, turn his mind to the gracious promises made to
1 " KaraplSe'Ee, id est, nitimini eum, quasi luxatum membrum, suo loco
reponere et adaptando rursum compingere."-BEzA.
2 Vide Suicer. Generally, mend, repair.-Matth. iv. 21; Mark i. 19. The
KamraprLtoSv T6OV wav-' the putting into, and keeping in joint, the various
members of Christ's body'-is represented by the apostle as the great end of
the gospel ministry, Eph. iv. 12.




318             EPISTLE TO THE GALAIIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-V1. 10.
the returning backslider, and receive him, as in that case there is
reason to believe thatChrist has received him.
All this must be done "in the spirit of meekness."'  "The
spirit of meekness "2 is a Hebraism  for' a meek spirit.'  The
offending brother is not to be addressed in a tone of arrogant
superiority, or angry rebuke.  He is not to be "treated as an
enemy, but admonished as a brother." Every thing that is done
must be done in such a manner as to make it evident that there
is no wish to give unnecessary pain, and that the ultimate objects
in view are the honour of the Saviour, the prosperity of his
church, and the best interest of the individual himself.  In
performing this most important part of Christian duty, it is
peculiarly necessary to be "gentle, apt to teach," "'patient,"
" in meekness instructing those who oppose themselves." 3
This injunction to restore an offending brother in " the spirit
of meekness is addressed to " those who are spiritual."   The
appellation "spiritual"4 is often used to denote converted men
in contrast to unconverted men, who are denominated "carnal,"5 " sensual." 6  But the word is also applied to Christians of a high order of attainment, to distinguish them from
Christians of a low order of attainment.  Enlightened, consistent
Christians, as distinguished from  their brethren of narrow prejudiced views and irregular and doubtful habits. This is plainly
the meaning in which the apostle employs the term when he
says to the Corinthians, whom  he yet considered as Christian
brethren,-" I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but
1 It is well remarked by Basil, that, in performing this duty, "spirituales
debent imitari probos medicos qui Tegris non irascantur, sed adversus morbum
ipsum pugnant." Augustine's golden rule well deserves to be cited: " Salsitudinem correptionis amor Christi temperet, et dilectionem proximi sal
justitiae condiat."
2 In 1 Cor. iv. 21, alyaC7r and 7rvEvLa 7rpavn7-ros are represented as synonymous. It is a phrase of the same kind as Isa. xxix. 10; Rom. xi. 8, —" a
spirit of slumber."
s " The duty of watching over each other, so frequently inculcated on the
disciples, may be perverted, and become the source of strife, confusion, and
every evil work. There is no part of Christian duty which requires us to
look more carefully to our own spirit than administering reproof to our
brethren; and the more we are impressed with a sense of our own weakness
and proneness to fall, the better shall we be able to hold up our brother
when he stumbles."-J. A. HALDANE.
7rFU/LaTLKOL.              5 capKlKoL.               6 q/VXLKOL.




P. VI. ~ 4.]      PARTICU1LAR EXHORTATIONS.                     319
as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ,"l etc.  "The
spiritual" here are obviously the same class as the apostle in the
Epistle to the Romans, chapter xv. 1, calls " the strong." 2 " We
then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak,
and not to please ourselves." It is then the peculiar duty of
enlightened Christians who are enabled to act so as to " adorn
the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things," to restore such
of their less enlightened and consistent brethren as have fallen
into error or sin.  And if, instead of this, they are disposed to
treat their offending brother with arrogance and bitterness, it is
proof that they are not so spiritual, nor so strong, as they
ought to be, or, as they think they are.  "d For the fruit of the
Spirit is love, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness."
The apostle enforces the exhortation by a powerful motive"considering  thyself lest thou also be tempted."3   But the
apostle changes the manner of his address from the plural to the
singular, to give it more force and point,-" each one "-" considering thyself lest thou also be tempted."4 These words may
either be considered as referring to the duty of restoring the
offending brother, or the manner of performing the duty "with
meekness."   The  spiritual were not to allow  the offending
brother to continue in error and sin, but were to take all proper
means to restore him, to bring him back to truth and duty.
They were to do this from the consideration that error and sin,
if allowed to pass unnoticed in a religious society, are likely to be
hurtful not only to the individual but to the society, and not
only to the reputation of the society, but to its real spiritual
interests. " A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." If first
one brother and then another, when he falls into a fault, be
11 Cor. iii. 1-4.                                   2 ol Svvarol.
EKao'TOS must be supplied. This is, as to meaning, equivalent to (rKOWrOVVTrEV ceavToV5S /l) Kal VtlsEL retparo-Oee.
4 Such changes from the plural to the singular sometimes occur in the
apostle's writings, as above, chap. iv. 7, and 1 Cor. iv. 2. Jerome and Le
Clere note this change of person as a solecism; Blackwall and Doddridge
remark it as a beauty. Such changes are to be found in the best authors,
e.g. Horace:" Nescios fari, pueros Achivis
Ureret flammis, etiam latentern
Matris in alvo."-Od. lib. iv. 6, 8.
0"'e  rao"v oa-Aor L..a. Tota AEC...."-Tenuc. 6, 80, 2 (Kriiger).
See also, Aristoph. Acharn. 290 (Dind.); 276, 277 (Bekk.)




320             EPISTLE TO THIE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
allowed to continue in it, the danger of others falling before
similar temptations is greatly increased; and the honest, yet
meek and gentle, exercise of discipline in not overlooking faults,
but restoring the faulty, by warning, and instruction, and rebuke, is one of the great means of preserving others from
falling into similar faults. But I apprehend that the apostle
meant the motive contained in the concluding clause of the
verse, to refer not so much to the restoring the fallen brother
as opposed to the neglect of discipline, the letting him alone,
as to the restoring him as opposed to the abandoning him, and
the restoring of him  with meekness instead of using the appointed means of restoration in a haughty overbearing spirit.'Do not treat a brother, a fellow Christian, as if he were a determined apostate from Christ and Christianity; and in employing means to bring hint back to the way of truth and righteousness, while you deal faithfully with him, deal kindly and gently
with him. Make it apparent that it is because you love him
that you cannot "suffer sin upon him;" and do this, remembering that you are also a man labouring under the remains of the
same depraved nature, exposed to temptation, liable to sin, "lest
thou also be tempted."'  If placed in his circumstances you
might probably not have acted a wiser or a better part.  Most
assuredly you would not if the grace of Christ had not enabled
you. Let a sense of your own weakness induce you not indeed
to spare the fault, but to pity the offender. And let the force
of the general law of our Lord, " as ye would that others should
do unto you, do ye even so to them," be strengthened by the
consideration, that it is quite a possible thing that you, through
the prevalence of temptation, may be placed in circumstances
similar to those of the brother whom you are now called on to
restore.2
This is a passage which is replete with important instruction
1 lretpacrO-val is here, plainly, not merely to be tempted, but to be seduced
to sin, to succumb to temptation; for it answers to the words in the previous
part of the verse, E. rr. a. E. r. 7r.-equivalent to,' lest thou also be overtaken
in a fault.' The word is used in the same way, 1 Thess. iii. 5.
2 Dr Paley (Horce Paulince, chap. v. No. VI. Works, ii. p. 215) refers to
2 Cor. ii. 6-8, and adds, " I can have little doubt but that it was the same
mind which dictated these two passages." It is good, when looking on an
offending brother, to reflect, as a modern Latinist has it,-" Aut sumus, ant
fuimus, aut possimus omne quod llic est."-MANTITANUS, de honesto amore.




P. VI. ~ 4.]   PARTICULAR EXHORTATIONS.               321
to the members of Christian churches in all ages. Our Lord
has informed us that offences must come; and the history- of his
church has in every age confirmed the declaration. In every
Christian church, however careful they may be in their admission of members —and the great body of Christian churches
would require to be, in this respect, much more careful than
they are,-individuals will be overtaken in faults. Now, what
is to be done in such circumstances?  Many Christians seem to
think that the less'that is said or done in such a case, so much
the better; and that, at any rate, private church members have
nothing to do in such matters.
But this is an important mistake. Regard-to the honour of
Christ, who means his church to be an animated representation
of his religion,-to the interest of the society, " for a little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump," and "evil communications corrupt
good manners,"-and to the welfare of the offender himself, imperatively requires that violations of the law of Christ should not
be allowed to pass unnoticed. The duty of church members is,
to watch over each other, to be one another's keepers-to "look
diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of
bitterness springing up trouble them."' The course to be followed in such cases is distinctly marked out by our Lord and
Saviour,-Matt. xviii. 15-17. Members of Christ's church ought
not to be "busy bodies in other men's matters," or lend an easy
ear to every idle and slanderous tale; but when it is known
that a Christian brother or sister,-a person in church fellowship,-has acted a part inconsistent with the Christian profession,
they are bound to endeavour to restore such a person. He who
is aware of the fact ought to go privately to the offender, and
" tell him his fault" faithfully, yet tenderly; and in most cases
this will serve the purpose. But if it does not do so, then he
must take the second step with him-go with a Christian friend
or two to the offender, and remonstrate with him; and if that
also should be ineffectual, then the matter must be brought before " the church "-the assembly-that is, as I understand it,
the assembly of elders; and if all these attempts to " restore such
an one in the spirit of meekness " fail, then there remains nothing
but that he be excluded as a person who will not submit to the
1 Heb. xii. 15.
X




322           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
law of Christ, and be to us " as an heathen man and a publican,"
till he come to a better mind.
If it is the duty of every church member to do all in his power
to restore the brother that has been overtaken in a fault, it is'
peculiarly the duty of those who are appointed the overseers of
their brethren. The elders should watch over the flock of Christ
committed to their oversight, as they must answer at last to the
great Shepherd of the sheep. They ought to wink at no violation of the law of Christ, to allow none to wander from the fold
without warning them of their danger, and by every proper
means endeavouring to bring them back.
It is of importance to recall to the mind that the paragraph
we are illustrating commences with the 25th verse of the preceding chapter. "If," says he, "we live in the Spirit, let us
also walk in the Spirit," that is, 1" If we, through the knowledge
and belief of Christian truth, are "renewed in the Spirit of our
minds," let us prove this by a corresponding mode of conduct.
If we are spiritual men, let us act like spiritual men. This
general exhortation is followed by a more particular one, which
is indeed just the application of the more general one to the
peculiar circumstances of the Galatians.'Let us act like
spiritual men in guarding against that vain glorious spirit which
finds its gratification in comparing our real, or supposed, excellence with the real, or supposed, deficiencies and faults of others,
and which naturally leads to mutual provocation and mutual
hatred. Instead of finding in the mistakes and faults of our
brethren materials of self-glorification, let us do everything in
our power to correct these in the spirit of true Christian affection, recollecting our own weakness and liability to sin, which
may soon call for a similar exercise of Christian affection on the
part of our brethren towards us. Thus, instead of being the
means of cherishing a vain glorious disposition, which is a carnal
temper, the mistakes and faults of our brethren will be the means
of calling forth and strengthening true Christian charity, which
is the most precious fruit of the Spirit, and the leading duty
enjoined by the law of Christ.' We thus see how naturally the
injunction comes in which follows in the 2d verse.




P. VI. ~ 4.]     PARTICULAR EXHORTATIONS.                    323
3. Exhortation to bear one another's burdens.
"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law  of
Christ." 1
The word A" burden" 2 is obviously used here in a figurative sense.
When thus employed it is significant of anything which produces
painful exertion or depression, or which impedes easy unrestrained action. It is applicable to laborious duties-to painful
restraints-to afflictions, whether external or internal, bodily or
mental —to intellectual deficiencies, and to moral infirmities. All
the ideas of which the term, in its figurative sense, is expressive,
may perhaps be reduced to three-labour, suffering, infirmity.
The phrase "to bear a person's burden" must vary in its signification according to the particular sense we affix to the term
burdel.  To bear the burden of a person who has a heavy load
of laborious duty, is either to assist him directly in the performance of it, or to act towards him in such a manner as shall make
the performance of it more easy; to bear the burden of a person
who is oppressed with affliction, is to commiserate him, and do
what we can to relieve and comfort him; to bear the burden of
one who is encumbered with mistaken views, mental weakness,
strong prejudices, and bad temper, is patiently to bear the annoyance which these unavoidably occasion; at the same time,
employing all proper means for correcting these intellectual and
moral obliquities, weaknesses, and faults.
It is without doubt the duty of Christians to bear one another's
burdens, in all these senses of the term; and it is difficult to
say how much it is in the power of Christians thus mutually
1 Gal. vi. 2. Locke's paraphrase of the paragraph 2-6 is ingenious; and,
though not unobjectionable in every point, probably sketches accurately
the course of thought. This is its substance: —' Brethren, there be some
among you that would bring others under the ritual observances of the
Mosaical law,-a yoke which was too heavy for us and our fathers to bear.
They would do much better to ease the burdens of the weak: this is more
suitable to the law of Christ, which they are under, and ought strictly to
obey. If they think that because of their spiritual gifts they have power to
prescribe in such matters, they deceive themselves,-they have no such
power. Let them take care of their own actions, that they be what they
ought to be. This will give them matter of glorying in themselves, and not
vainly in their influence over others, prevailing on them to be circumcised
(chap. vi. 13). For every man shall be answerable for his own actions.'
T2 O3apoS.




324           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
to minister to each other's improvement and happiness. vWith
regard to the burden of laborious duty, it may be often greatly
alleviated by direct assistance, and when that is impracticable,
or improper, by wise and friendly advice. When Christians are
the objects of the laborious duties of their fellow Christians,
the temper in which they meet dutiful exertions will either
greatly increase or greatly diminish the burden. When a
Christian people, for example, discover a readiness to adopt every
measure proposed by their minister for their spiritual improvement-when his honest endeavours are affectionately secondedthe most burdensome occupations of the pastoral office become a
pleasure. The people in this way bear their minister's burden.
On the other hand, when all his exertions are met by a cold and
heartless acquiescence, or, it may be, by direct opposition, then the
weight of the pastoral duty is found a burden indeed. How much
is it in the power of Christian parents to make the duties of their
children easy, and in the power of Christian children to make
the duties of their parents easy. Oh! how much might be done
in, and by, the Christian church, if all its members could be
induced, to use a homely but expressive phrase, to work to one
another's hands!
Then, with regard to the burden of affliction, it is often practicable to remove at least a portion of it. I can bear a part of the
burden of my poor brother by imparting to him of my substance.
I can bear a part of the burden of my brother reproached for
righteousness' sake by taking him by the hand, avowing my
conviction that he has been falsely accused, and thus either
removing the reproach, or bearing it along with him; and even
in cases where there can be no direct participation, yet commiseration and consolation may be yielded, and these may go far in
many cases to make a burden tolerable which otherwise would
have altogether crushed the heart.
We apprehend, however, that it is to the last kind of burdens
-those of intellectual deficiencies or moral infirmities-that the
apostle here refers. Instead of despising and hating one another
on account of their respective prejudices, mistakes, and faults,
and finding in these food for self-conceit and vain glorying,
they are to assist one another, and to promote one another's
happiness and improvement.  The exhortation seems nearly
equivalent to that given by the apostle to the Roman church,



P. VI. ~ 4.]    PARTICULAR EXHORTATIONS.                   325
" We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the
weak, and not to please ourselves." 1
To bear the mistakes and faults of our fellow Christians does
not by any means imply that we flatter them in their erroneous
opinions or improper habits; but it does imply that we, cherishing a deep felt sense of our own intellectual and moral deficiencies
and improprieties, bear patiently the inconveniences which their
mistakes and faults occasion to us, and in a truly friendly dis.
position do everything in our power to remove these mistakes
and faults. A true Christian, to illustrate what I mean by an
example, has a violent temper, which makes himself and all about
him very uneasy. His fellow Christian must not, on this account, give up all intercourse with him; he must not take occasion from the infirmity of his brother to flatter his own self-complacency, but he must patiently bear the uneasiness which this
infirmity produces, and use, in the spirit of Christian love, the
appropriate means for curing it.2  When a Christian brother
under his burden stumbles and falls, we are not to let him lie
on the ground and recover his feet in the best way he may; far
less are we to insult him as he lies prostrate, and point him out
to the scorn and derision of the world.  We are to take him
by the hand and raise him up; and as we have all our burdens,
we are to journey on, hand in hand, endeavouring to keep one
another from falling, and to press in a body forward along the
prescribed course, that we may all obtain the prize of our high
calling, in that " better country," where we shall be relieved from
all our burdens at once, and for ever.
The apostle enforces his injunction to bear one another's burdens
by a powerful motive: by doing so, Christians " fulfil the law of
Christ." " The law of Christ" seems here plainly to be the law of
mutual love, so often and so explicitly enjoined, and so powerfully
and affectionately enforced,-John xiii. 34, 35; xv. 12. There
does not seem to be anything emphatic in the word "fulfil."3
1 Rom. xv. 1.
2 Chrysostom's illustration is a very good one: "He who is quick and
irritable, let him bear with the slow and sluggish; and let the slow, in his
turn, bear with the impetuosity of his fiery brother: each knowing that the
burden is heavier to him who bears it than to him who bears with it."
3 dvar)tupoiv seems equivalent to rr~-poiv. If there be anly difference, the
meaning is intensified in the compound verb. See Gal. v. 14.




326           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
It just signifies to obey. When Christians bear one another's
burdens, they obey the law of Christ; and when they do not,
they violate that law. When they act in the manner in which
we have described, they show that they really love one another;
and when they act in an opposite way, they show that they do
not love one another.  It is a very powerful motive with a
Christian mind to reflect,'If I do this, I do what is well
pleasing to my Saviour —what he has required of me as a proof
of my love and obedience-and if I do not this, I displease him,
I trample on his authority, I dishonour his name.'
There seems to be a tacit contrast between the law of Moses
and the law of Christ. It is as if the apostle had said,'This
bearing one another's burdens is a far better thing than those
external observances which your new teachers are so anxious to
impose on you. To be sure, it is not like them, a keeping of the
law of Moses, but infinitely better, it is a fulfilling of the law of
Christ-the law of love.'
SECT. V. —CAUTION AGAINST OVER SELF-ESTIMATION.
The succeeding verses contain in them a powerful motive against
the indulgence of a vain-glorious disposition. "For if a man
think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth
himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall
he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For
every man shall bear his own burden."  For a man "to think
himself something," or " somebody," is to entertain a high
opinion of himself; as for a man to think himself " nothing," 2 as
the apostle has it, 2 Cor. xii. 12, is to entertain a low opinion of
himself. As the apostle is here speaking of professors of Christianity, we are to understand his words with that reference.
The man who thinks himself something is the man who has a
high opinion of his own Christian attainments, who thinks himself a very enlightened, accomplished Christian. The apostle
obviously refers to the man who is vain-glorious-who, instead of
restoring a fallen brother, glories over him, and who does not
consider himself that he also may be tempted-who does not
lighten his neighbour's burden by assistance or-sympathy, but lets
him bear it alone the best way he can, nay, perhaps adds to it.
1 Gal. vi. 3-5.            2 oVu Evat. 1 Cor. xiii. 2.




P. VI. ~ 5.] CAUTION AGAINST OVER SELF-ESTIMATION.      327
Now, of such a man, the apostle says, " If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."
These words admit of two different interpretations, according
as you connect the middle with the first or with the last
clause. If we connect the middle clause with the first one, as
our translators have done, the meaning is,'If a man think himself to be a Christian of a high order, while he either is not a
Christian at all, or at any rate a Christian of a very inferior
order, he commits an important mistake-he falls into a hazardous error.l  The man who supposes himself arrived at "' the
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," when in reality only " a babe in Christ," " deceives himself," and throws
important obstacles in the way of his own improvement. Such
a person is likely always to continue a babe.
This is a very common mistake among persons of the genuineness of whose Christianity charity obliges us to hope well; and it
is one of the principal reasons why there is so much cause for
complaining of many professors, that, " when for the time they
might have been teachers of others, they need yet some one to
teach them what be the first principles of the oracles of God."
In their own estimation they have little to learn, while the truth
is, they have learned but little.
But the mistake is much more deplorable when a man
flatters himself into the belief that he is a Christian, perhaps a
Christian of the first order, while in reality he is not a Christian
at all. The thing is quite possible-I fear not uncommon. We
pity the poor maniac mendicant who thinks himself a king-we
pity the man who has persuaded himself he is a man of wealth,
while in reality he is in immediate hazard of bankruptcy-we
pity the man who is assuring himself of long life, when he is
tottering on the brink of the grave; but how much more to be
pitied is the man who thinks himself secure of the favour of
God, and of eternal happiness, while in reality " the wrath of
God is abiding on him," and a miserable eternity lies before
him! No kinder office can be done to such a person than to
arouse him from his state of carnal security-to undeceive him
-to convince him of his wants while they may be supplied, of
his danger while it may be averted. A wo is denounced against
1 The verb OpevarraTv v, "to delude one's self," is one of the ar7ra6 XkeRyodeva in
the New Testament. The derivative substantive fpeva7rcardr   occurs, Tit. i. 10.




328           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CIlAP. V. 13-TI. 10.
such as are thus at ease in Zion. Such sinners have cause to
be afraid.  Fearfulness may well surprise these hypocrites. It
will be well if they abandon their refuges of lies ere the overflowing flood of vengeance overtakes them.
But the words admit of another interpretation, which we are
rather disposed to think the just one,' If any man think himself
to be something, seeing he is nothing, he deceiveth himself,' or'If any man think he is something, he deceiveth himself, for he
is nothing.' The apostle is cautioning the Galatians against a
vain-glorious disposition; and in this verse I apprehend he means
that the habitual indulgence of vain-glory is utterly inconsistent
with the possession of genuine Christianity.  Humility is a leading trait in the character of every genuine Christian. He knows
and believes that he is guilty before the God of heaven exceedingly, and he feels that he is an ignorant, foolish, depraved
creature —that of himself he is nothing, less than nothing, and
vanity. Feeling thus his insignificance as a creature, and his
demerit and depravity as a sinner, he is not —he cannot be
-vain-glorious. Whatever he is that is good he knows God
has made him to be. Whatever he has that is good he knows
God has given him.  The falls of others excite in him not
self-glorification, but gratitude.  " Who maketh me to differ?"
"What have I that I have not received?"  "By the grace of
God I am what I am."  The greater advance a man makes in
true Christianity, the more humble he becomes. He gets better
acquainted with himself; more emancipated from the dominion
of self-love, and obtains higher and juster ideas of that holiness,
which is the object of his ambition.
How humbly does the Apostle Paul speak of himself! 1How
far was he from thinking highly of himself!  " In me, that is my
flesh, dwelleth no good thing."  " When I would do good, evil
is present with me."   " Less than the least of all saints""the chief of sinners." 1 A man, who had spent a considerably
long life in very active labours for the honour of God and the
salvation of mankind, and who, in the estimation of those who
knew him best, had reached an uncommon height of Christian
excellence, uses the following language in a paper obviously
never intended for the public eye, "' Lord, I am now entering
1 Rom. vii, 18, 21; Eph. iii. 8; 1 Tim, i. 15,




P. VI. ~ 5.] CAUTION AGAINST OVER SELF-ESTIMATION.    329
on the thirty-fourth year of my ministry, an amazing instance
of sovereign mnercy and patience to. a cumberer of the ground.
How strange that thou shouldest have, for more than sixty
years, continued to exercise mercy and loving kindness upon
a wretch that has all along spoken and done all the evil that
I could, nor even would yield but when the Almighty influence of free grace put it out of my power to oppose it. Lord,
how often have I vowed, but never grown better-confessed, but
never amended. Often thou hast challenged and corrected me,
and yet I have gone on frowardly in the way of my heart. As
an evil man and a seducer, I have grown worse and worse.
But where should a sinner flee but to the Saviour. Lord, all
refuge faileth me: no man can help my soul. Nothing will do
for me but an uncommon stretch of thy Almighty grace. To
thee, O Jesus, I give up myself as a foolish, guilty, polluted, and
enslaved sinner; and I hereby solemnly take thee as mine, as
made of God to me, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption. I give up myself as a poor, ignorant, careless, and
wicked creature, who has ever been learning, and yet never able
to come to the knowledge of the truth; to theet O Lord, that
thou mayest bestow gifts on the rebellious, and exalt thy grace
in showing kindness to the unworthy. O Saviour, come down
and do something for me before I die." 1
This is the spirit of genuine Christianity; and the man who
thinks highly of himself, in thinking highly of himself shows that
he is not what he supposes himself to be. He wants humility,
which' is essential to genuine Christianity; and if he feeds his
self-conceit by glorying over the supposed or real inferiority of
others, he proves himself destitute of that charity of which the
apostle says, 1" Though I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, and have not charity, I am nothing."2  "Not as though
I had already attained," 3 is the true Christian motto. " If any
man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet
as he ought to know.4
As a cure for vain glory, the apostle prescribes an impartial
and thorough examination of the individual's own conduct.
" But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have
rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man
1 Vide " Form of Dedication," Brown's Select Remains, p. 10.
2 1 Cor. xiii. 12.     Phil. iii. 12.     41 Cor. viii. 2.




330           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
shall bear his own burden." 1 The word " work" is just equivalent to conduct and character, as 1 Peter i. 17; Rev. xxii. 12.
The word "prove" 2 signifies to try as metals are tried, and sometimes to approve in consequence of trial,-Luke xiv. 19; 1 Cor.
iii. 13; xvi. 3; 1 Peter i. 7; 1 Thess. ii. 4; Rom. xiv. 22.
" Let every man prove his own work."'?'Let every man
thoroughly investigate his own character and conduct. Instead
of looking at the defects of his neighbour's character, and making
use of them as a foil for setting off his own excellencies, let him
examine his own character by the unerring test-the Divine law.'
The consequence of such an investigation is stated in the conclusion of the verse, " and then shall he have rejoicing in himself,
and not in another. For every one shall bear his own burden."
The ordinary way of interpreting these words is this.3'If on
fairly examining your own conduct and character by the test of
the Divine word, it bears the trial, then you will not neea to
compare yourselves with others in order to secure a feeling of
self-approbation. In that case you will have the satisfaction of
knowing, not merely that your conduct is better than that of
some other people, but that it is really such as to be well-pleasing
to God. You will not need then to look around you to gather
satisfaction from seeing that you are not worse, or even better,
than others; you need only look inward to have the testimony
of " the man within the breast." In this view of the passage
what a fine illustration have we of it in the contrasted gloriations
of the apostle and of the Pharisee,-" Our rejoicing," says the
apostle, " is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity
and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace
of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more
abundantly to you-ward."4 —" The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men
are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican." 5
In this case, the 5th verse must be considered as a motive to,
or a reason for, the duty enjoined in the beginning of the 4th,
-" Let every man prove his own work; for every man must
bear his own burden."  The word here translated " burden"6 is
1 Gal. vi. 4, 5.                              2 &oKqiaC'co.
3 As if the apostle had said, Kail eaY E'av-'o, or r o'pyov Eav-ov 8oKtUaC7q,
K. T. X.
I 2 Cor. i. 12.       5 Luke xviii. 11.         6 boprorV.




P. VI. ~ 6.] THE DUTY OF SUPPORTING TEACHERS.           331
not the same as that so rendered in the 2d verse; but it is of
nearly equivalent import.' Let every man investigate his own
conduct; for it is our own conduct for which each of us must
ultimately be responsible. In this view of the words, they are
nearly parallel to the passage,-" But why dost thou judge thy
brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we
shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is
written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us
shall give account of himself to God."'
It is proper to state, however, that the 5th and the concluding part of the 4th verse have received another interpretation,
which, to say the least, is not destitute of plausibility,-' Let
every man try his own work, impartially examine his own character and conduct, and the consequence will be, he will keep
his glorying to himself2 —he will not boast to another what he is
— he will find so much wanting, and so much wrong, that he
will find there is no room for glorying. He will no longer think
himself something; for he will find himself to be nothing. It is
self-ignorance which generally lies at the foundation of selfesteem. In this case the apostle recommends what he himself
practised,-" For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or
compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but
they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." 
In this case the meaning of the 5th verse,'for every one
shall, or must, bear his own burden,' is-every one has his own
faults and infirmities. None is without his burden, and therefore none is entitled to glory over others because they have burdens; and the dutiful and reasonable course is to bear one
another's burdens, to exercise the forbearance we need, to yield
the assistance we require, and thus fulfil the law of Christ.
SECT. YI.-THE DUTY OF THE GALATIANS TO SUPPORT THEIR
TEACHERS.
Among the important purposes served by the apostolical
epistles must be numbered the communicating of accurate infor1 Rom. xiv. 10-12.
2,C In se conclusam tenebit gloriationem:" h. e. " abstinebit a gloriando."
-KOPPE. In this case, Rom. xiv. 22 is an illustration.    3 2 Cor. x. 12.




332          EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
mation respecting the constitutional principles and particular
laws of that spiritual society established by Jesus Christ, usually
termed the Christian church.
Nothing is more obvious than that the Author of Christianity
intended his followers to associate themselves together for the
purpose of promoting their religious and moral improvement by
a joint observance of certain institutions, and by mutual superintendence and incitement, warning and encouragement. It was
not his purpose merely to make those who believe in him wise,
good, and happy as individuals, but to bind them together in
a holy fellowship-the connecting bonds of which should be
common faith and mutual love; and the objects of which should be
the united worship of their common God and Father, the united
promotion of the glory and interest of their common Lord and
Saviour, and their mutual advancement in the knowledge of
Christian truth, the cultivation of Christian affection, the practice
of Christian duty, and the enjoyment of Christian comfort. This
society established by his appointment, subject to his authority,
devoted to his honour, and blessed by his peculiar presence, is
the Christian church.
To every man of enlightened curiosity it must be a desirable
thing to understand the constitution and laws of so singular an
association; and to every Christian such a knowledge must be
peculiarly valuable, for how otherwise can he know how to " behave himself in this house of God?"
It is obvious that this society is entirely voluntary-that no
man can become a member of it but by his own free choice;
but it is equally obvious that the very act of connection with
such a society is an act of obedience to the authority of Jesus
Christ; and that the society, though voluntary, in submitting to
his authority, are not at liberty to regulate themselves according
to the dictates of their own humour or even reason, but are
bound to conform themselves to his laws. The offices, the officebearers, the qualifications and duties of office-bearers and members, all these have been the subjects of legislation by Him whom
alone we are warranted to call Master, and to whose arrangements we are bound implicitly to submit. The Christian church
is not to be considered, as many good men seem to consider it,
in the same point of light as a bible or missionary society-a
humanly devised method of gaining a divinely enjoined end.




P. VI. ~ 6.] THE DUTY OF SUPPORTING TEACHERS.          333
It is a divinely appointed means to gain a divinely appointed
end. Its principles and laws, which are to be sought in the
New Testament, are obligatory on the conscience, and we act
a most unauthorised part when we attempt to substitute in
their place principles and laws which may seem to us in particular circumstances better fitted to promote the great object
in view.
The church of Christ is a collection of men who, professing to
believe the principles of Christianity, unite in voluntarily observing, and supporting, and extending those institutions, the object
of which is the conversion of unbelievers and the edification of
believers-the making bad men good and good men better. In
conformity to the genius of Christianity, which is much more a
religion of principle than of statute, in which it is strikingly and
most favourably contrasted with Judaism, whose place it occupied, the mi-,or arrangements of time, place, and circumstance, are in a great measure left to be regulated by the judgment of particular societies; but everything that can be considered as essential to the being and well-being of the society in
all circumstances, is fixed by the express appointment of its great
Founder.
Among these vital points must be numbered the principle on
which the society is to be sustained. The maintenance and the
extension of the institutions of Christianity involve not only
labour, but expense. How is this to be defrayed? How are the
funds necessary for this purpose to be raised? The answer to
this question is contained in the words to which the course of
our exposition now brings us; and we are conscientiously persuaded that it had been well for the church and for the world
had this sacred canon been strictly observed, and had Christianity been sustained and extended solely by the voluntary
exertions and the voluntary contributions of those who themselves had experienced its invaluable blessings, and who felt
the obligation under which both duty and gratitude laid them
to supply the temporal wants of those who ministered to
their spiritual necessities, and to communicate to their perishing brethren of mankind those benefits which sovereign unmerited kindness had bestowed on themselves. Here, as in every
other case, the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of
man.




334             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
" Let him that is taught,1 communicate unto him that teacheth
in all good things."2
These words, though they seem  so plain as scarcely to need
interpretation, have yet divided not a little the opinions of commentators.
The concluding phrase, " in all good things," admits of being
connected either with the word " teacheth," or with the word
c" communicate." In the former case the meaning is,' Let him
who is taught, impart of his substance to him who gives him
instruction about " all good things."' The objections to this interpretation seem to me insurmountable.3
The interpreters who connect " all good things " with " communicate," are not of one mind as to the meaning of the phrase.
Some consider " all good things " as referring to the Christian
teacher's knowledge of the doctrine and the law of Christ, and
his living under the influence of the former and the practice
of the latter, and view the verse as enjoining on the taught to
have fellowship with him in all these good things, in other words
calling on the disciples to be like their teacher.4
1,, Kar77XOVeEvor, proprie qui, viva voce, instruitur. Luke i. 4; Rom. ii. 18."
-VORSTIUS. " Obiter observemus: etiam temporibus apostoli catechizandi
rationem in ecclesia fuisse et viguisse, ut alii docerqnt, alii discerent r-v
Xo'yov doctrinam, et quidem catechetica forma. Hicque ordo in ecclesia
mansit, donec in papatu catechizatio evanuit: quie nunc summa necessitate
in integrum est restituta."-PAREUS. It is deeply to be regretted that the
catechetical form of instruction of the mature as well as of the young, once
universal in the Scottish churches, has in many cases nearly, if not altogether,
disappeared.                                           2 Gal. vi. 6.
5 This is an unusual signification of the word KoWvoVEco,-Rom. xii. 13;
Phil. iv. 15; Heb. xiii. 16. Besides, this mode of exegesis is contrary to
the usual construction of the verb KarIXEAo, which would, in order to bring
out the sense, require Ka7rxo~vrL avrwv 7ravra Jya~ca, or 7repl 7racvrov adyaO&v.
4 This view, to which Schott is partial, was stated and supported with great
candour by the late Dr Wilson of Stirling, in the Scottish Guardian, 23d
Dec. 1813; and very ably opposed by Dr Marshall of Kirkintilloch, Voluntary
Church Magazine, vol. v. pp. 189, 337. Ambrose, no great authority in an
exegetical question, is perhaps the only ancient who has taken this view, and
he has found but few followers among the moderns. Had there immediately preceded an exhortation to the teachers to unfold the whole doctrine
and law of Christ, and regulate their own character and conduct according
to their teaching, there might have been some probability in this interpretation; though even then the words adopted would seem an unnatural way of
expressing the sentiment. Olshausen very justly remarks," The reference of
the Jlyatfi to spiritual treasures we can only reject as a total misapprehension."




P. VI. ~ 7.]     CAUTION AGAINST DELUSION.                    335
The other class' with whom we agree refer the words " all
good things," to all things good for a comfortable subsistence.
This sense the term undoubtedly has,2 and the general principle
conveyed in the passage is, we think, this,-' that Christian
teachers should be supported by the voluntary contributions of
those whom they instruct.' 3d
SECT. VII. —CAUTION AGAINST MISTAKE IN REFERENCE TO THE
CONNECTION BETWEEN PRESENT CHARACTER AND CONDUCT,
AND FUTURE PUNISHMENT OR REWARD.
To this exhortation to a liberal support of the institution of the
Christian ministry, the apostle subjoins a most impressive warning
against self-deception. " Be not deceived; God is not mocked:
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that
soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that
soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."4
The injunction, " Be not deceived," when viewed by itself, is
a very general one. It is a warning against all errors of all
kinds, —a caution equally against allowing others to deceive us,
and against deceiving ourselves. All religious error is dangerous,
and ought to be carefully guarded against. " There is a natural
connection between truth and holiness, and between error and
sin." While the devil' abode in the truth' he was holy; and no
sooner was man deceived than he became a sinner. Every duty
is acting out a truth, and every sin is the embodiment of a false1 This class includes Chrysostorn, Jerome, Calvin, Koppe, Berger, Winer,
etc.
2 Luke i. 53; xii. 18, 19.
3 " Generalis doctrina que hic traditur," as Beza says, "est ut discipuli
magistrum alant; quod qui non faciat impius quodam modo inter profanos
etiam homines censetur. Et ex hoc saltem loco colligere licet, quse tune
fuerit alendorum pastorum ratio, nullis adhuc publice constitutis publicis
ecclesiasticis fundis: et quis nunc sit ordo in hac re servandus ecclesiis in
majores quam unquam antea angustias redactis partim lupis ipsas oves deglubentibus partim eorum sordibus qui cibum illum celestem ne teruntio
quidem dignantur." Erasmus' notion, that the word Xkyov refers to an
account being kept between the teacher and the taught of what is given
and received, is really, as Beza says, " prorsus darpoo-8tvvo'ov."  5 Xodyos
here is equivalent to   Xdoyos rov EvayyFXlov.  Acts xv. 7.
d See Note D.                                 i Gal. vi. 7, 8.




336           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
hood. Is it reasonable to expect that a man will walk in the
right way if he does not know it? and if he is deceived as to this
point, what can be anticipated but that he will stray into forbidden paths? Error is not, cannot be, either innocent or safe.
It cannot be cherished without both sin and danger.
In the passage before us, the caution is to be viewed as referring to that species of error into which the Galatians were in
danger of falling; and what that was, it is not difficult to discover, from the preceding and following context. From the
extreme importance attached to certain external rites and observances by the Judaising teachers, they were in danger of
supposing that the essence of religion consisted in these, and to
flatter themselves that they were truly righteous, merely because
they attended to these rules and observances, though, at the
same time, they were strangers to that spiritual mind, which is
the essence of true Christianity, and were living in the neglect
of duties plainly enjoined by the law of Christ, and to the performance of which the spiritual mind naturally leads. The error
against which they are here so impressively warned is, that a
man may live a carnal life, and yet be ultimately happy,-may
A" sow to the flesh" without reaping corruption,-or that a man
may attain ultimate happiness without living a spiritual life,may " reap life everlasting" without " sowing to the Spirit."
To those who were in danger of being thus deceived by the
Judaising teachers, and who were in danger of thus deceiving
themselves, by supposing they were something, when, in reality,
they were nothing,-by supposing themselves objects of Divine
approbation, when, indeed, they were objects of the Divine
displeasure, the apostle says, " Be not deceived,"-' Let no man
deceive you; and do not deceive yourselves.'
Many, perhaps most, interpreters have supposed that the
apostle particularly refers to those of the Galatians who, seduced
by these false teachers, had been led to neglect altogether, or to
perform in a very imperfect manner, their duty in supporting
those instructors whom the apostle had placed over them. That
such would be the natural result of the success of the ministrations of the Judaising teachers, and that the apostle's caution is
very applicable to such a case, there can be no doubt; but we
see nothing, either in the words or in their connection, which
should lead us to limit their reference to this particular form of




P. VI. ~ 7.]    CAUTION AGAINST DELUSION.                337
self-deception, -a person supposing himself a Christian, and
cherishing the hope of eternal happiness, while living in the
neglect of so plainly commanded a duty. It is well remarked
by Riccaltoun, that "' the unhappy selfish spirit-an attachment
to the present world-inclines men to excuse themselves in neglect
of that duty, and perhaps the neglect of this ordinance of God
for the support of a gospel ministry, and substituting another
mode of provision in its room, has contributed more than any
one thing to the corruptions which have in all ages disfigured
and disgraced the Christian religion."' The injunction, "' Be
not deceived," which is common in the apostolic writings,2 appears to be here just equivalent to,' Beware of supposing
that, in consequence of any external rite or distinction, you are
objects of Divine favour-the peculiar people of God. It is not
circumcision nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, that constitutes real Christianity.'
" God is not mocked." God is often mocked by men, both
explicitly and implicitly. There are men so fearfully impious,
as to ridicule the attributes, and works, and word of God;
and there are many more whose conduct can be accounted
for on no other principle than that they have the most unworthy
and contemptuous conceptions of God. The apostle does not
mean to deny this: so far from denying it, he plainly intimates
that those who deceive themselves, by cherishing the hope of
eternal happiness while they live " after the flesh," do in effect
attempt to impose on God, and thus mock Him. But He is not
imposed on.' His unchangeable principle of moral government
shall be applied in reference to such individuals, and they shall
be treated, not as what they professed to be-not as what they
perhaps had succeeded in convincing others, and to a certain
extent themselves, that they were, —but as what they really
are.
This leading principle of the Divine government is couched in
plain and figurative language.  "Whatsoever a man soweth,
1 This is a striking statement from a minister of an Established Church.
21 Cor. vi. 9; xv. 33; 1 John iii. 7; James i. 16.
s The phrase, Oeos o  /uvKTr7pL'Erat, is equivalent to,' God will not suffer hinlself to be sported with; God cannot be deceived.' This is Theodoret's idea:
—'" s/ope ~rdvra 06 rV OXoV IO)dT' /7 VO/lt)Te avr;v ayvoelv Trh EVOdeVa."
Elsner has, on this rare word, UvKrT-9plSraL, a long note, which is worth reading.
~y




338            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
that shall he also reap."' The expression seems proverbial, and
intimates that there shall be a strict conformity between a man's
present character and conduct, and his future condition-a correspondence similar to that which exists between sowing and
reaping. The proverb holds both as to the kind and as to the
quantity of the seed sown. He who sows tares shall reap tares;
and he who sows wheat shall reap wheat. Sin will produce
punishment, and duty will lead to reward.  "He who sows
sparingly shall reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully
shall reap bountifully." The degree of punishment will be proportioned to that of crime, and the degree of reward to the
degree of holiness.
The language seems also to intimate, that the connection between character and conduct in this world, and condition in a
future world, is not accidental or arbitrary, but is just as much in
the natural order of things in the moral government of God, as
the connection between the quantity and the quality of what is
sown and what is reaped, is in the physical government of God.
To suppose that sin will not lead to punishment, is as absurd as
to suppose that tares will not produce tares. To suppose that
sin can end in happiness, is as absurd as to suppose that tares
will produce wheat. To suppose that happiness can be obtained
without holiness, is just as absurd as to expect an abundant
harvest of precious grain when nothing has been sowed at all, or
nothing but useless and noxious weeds.
The apostle amplifies the figure in the 8th verse, —" For he
that soweth to his flesh,2 shall of the flesh reap corruption; but
he that soweth to the Spirit,3 shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."
In explaining figurative language, the first thing to be done
is to endeavour to form a distinct idea of the figure which the
author employs.  We must understand what is the illustration
before we can apprehend its force as an illustration. In the passage before us, " the flesh" and " the Spirit" seem to be represented as two fields, producing very different crops when culti1 This principle is strikingly expressed in the old monkish rhyme: —
" Quod sibi quisque serit prwesentis tempore vitee,
Hoc sibi messis erit cum dicent, Ite, Venite."
We have a similar proverb to that before us, Prov. xxii. 8; 2 Cor. ix. 6.
2 o'7rLpov e(l  rTiV TpapKa Eavro6.     (o rElpo  FS EL To rvYEv.ta.




P. VI. ~ 7.]     CAUTION AGAINST DELUSION.                  339
vated.l He who cultivates the field of " the flesh " has a harvest
of "corruption;" he who cultivates the field of " the Spirit" has
a harvest of " life everlasting."
For a man to " sow to his flesh," and to cultivate the field of
"the flesh," is the same thing as "to live after the flesh "-" to
walk after the flesh "-to " do the works of the flesh "-to " fulfil
the desires of the flesh." " The flesh" is just human nature
unchanged by Divine influence-the mode of thinking and feeling which is natural to man. The man who is characterised by
any of the enormities mentioned in the close of the fifth chapter
of this epistle, is one who " sows to the flesh;" but he is not the
only cultivator of the field " which bringeth forth nothing but
briars and thorns, and the end of which is that it shall be burned."
The man who is entirely occupied with sensible and present
things, though he should not be what is ordinarily termed immoral-nay, the man who is strictly honest, and honourable, and
punctiliously religious, so far as external morality and religion
go,-who yet does not look at " things unseen and eternal," that
man, too, sows in the flesh.
And both of these classes of cultivators of this field which the
Lord has cursed, shall reap the same kind of harvest. Both
shall "reap corruption."   " To reap corruption" is a phrase
which, had we met with it by itself, we should have said naturally
signifies to obtain, as the result of our exertions, that which is
corruptible and perishable. In this light it is strikingly true of
the man who sows in the flesh. Let him be as successful as his
heart can desire in the attainment of the pleasures, honours, and
wealth of the world, what has he got? nothing but corruption.
Short-lived, transitory, perishing are the leading characters of all
things natural and earthly. But when we notice that " corruption"
is contrasted with " life everlasting," and we compare the passage
before us with the passage in the Epistle to the Romans, chap. viii.
13, with which it is obviously parallel. " If ye live after the flesh,
It is well remarked by Schott, " adpt et irvezfa comparantur agris qui
conseruntur, frugesque proferunt diversissimas indoli seminis convenientes."
He adds, " Non dixerim cum Ruckerto imaginem seminis jam prorsus cedere
imagini agrorum: solent quippe pro varia agrorum indole diversa seminum
genera adhiberi."  Ruckert, notwithstanding, is right. To mix the two
figures produces inextricable confusion. To " sow in," is just equivalent to'cultivate.'




340           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13 —I. 10.
ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds
of the body, ye shall live," we cannot doubt that " corruption"
is here equivalent to death or misery-the second death, everlasting misery.'The man who cultivates the field of the flesh
shall find his labours end in his own ruin; a carnal life, whether
spent in the grossest pollutions of open and unrestrained profanity, or in the strictest observances of a merely worldly religion
and morality, must end in the destruction of the soul.'
As he who cultivates the field of the flesh shall have a harvest
of everlasting ruin, so he who cultivates the field of the Spirit,
who "sows in the Spirit," shall have a harvest of everlasting
happiness.  "The Spirit," as opposed to the flesh, is the new
mode of thinking and feeling produced by the Holy Spirit,
through the instrumentality of the gospel, understood and believed. To sow in the Spirit-to cultivate this field-is just to
use the appointed means of improving and perfecting this new
mode of thinking and feeling, the yielding ourselves up to its
influence, the following it out to its fair results on our behaviour.
He sows in the Spirit who 1" lives by the faith of the Son of God,"
and abounds in all those holy dispositions and habits, which are
enumerated in the end of the preceding chapter, as " the fruits of
the Spirit." Such a person shall have a harvest of everlasting
bliss and happiness, that is, he shall be everlastingly happy,
and his happiness will be the result of his having sown to the
Spirit.
The language of the apostle in both clauses deserves attention,
and is very instructive. He who sows in the field of the flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption. He who sows in the field of
the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. That very corrupted nature which the one has indulged shall be the source of
his misery-the various carnal dispositions which he has cherished
shall be, as it were, the fiends which shall torment him for ever.
Lust, avarice, ambition, reigning with unabated, perhaps increased, force in the soul, while no means of gratifying them in
any degree are afforded, must make the irreclaimably wicked
inconceivably miserable in their final state. I do not deny, I do
not even doubt, that in the regions of final punishment there are
direct inflictions of wrath from the hand of a righteously offended
divinity; but it surely deserves notice that, in very many passages of Scripture, the misery of the irreclaimably impenitent is




P. VI. ~ 7.]    CAUTION AGAINST DELUSION.             341
represented as the native, necessary, result of their own conduct.
The whole economy of God's moral government would need to
be altered, the constituent principles of man's nature would need
to be changed, before those who live and die " carnal" can be
really happy in another world.
On the other hand, He who cultivates the field of the Spirit,
shall of that Spirit reap life everlasting. That new and better mode
of thinking and feeling which he has carefully cherished shall be
to him the source of everlasting happiness. It shall be to him "a
well of living water springing up to everlasting life." We are
too apt to think of final happiness as something quite distinct
from that holy frame of feeling and thought to which the gospel,
as " the ministration of the Spirit," forms the human soul, while
in reality it is just the perfection of it.  Holiness is heaven.
The spiritual mind-the mind of the Spirit — the mode of
thinking and feeling produced by the Holy Spirit through the
belief of the truth-not only leads to, but is "life and peace."
We should not look on the cultivation of the Christian, the
spiritual, character as in itself a hard, disagreeable task, by which
-for which-we are at last to be compensated with an exceedingly great reward in heaven; but we ought to consider every
attainment as bringing its own reward with it, every spiritual view, every spiritual feeling, as a part of the heavenly
felicity. The Spirit is the "earnest" of the inheritance. It is
a part of a whole-the beginning of what is to be perfected in
eternity. The Christian is not like a labourer in the mines, who
inust look to the upper regions for nourishment and support, and
who cannot turn to immediate use the results of his toilsome
operation; but, like the agriculturist, all whose labour goes
directly to the production of what is nourishing, and who is supported by the very same kind of material as that in the cultivation of which he is engaged. Every just view of Christian truth
-every holy disposition-is a source of enjoyment opened to the
Christian in this waste and howling wilderness; and it is perfect knowledge and perfect holiness which form " the river of
life, clear as crystal, issuing forth from beneath the throne of
God and of the Lamb," along whose banks all the nations
of the saved repose, "and drink their fill of its pure immortal
streams."
tro pdvo'7a rov 7rv6v/LaTros.




342           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
The passage which we have attempted to illustrate is considered by many interpreters as having a particular reference to
the disposal of pecuniary substance.  They understand the
apostle as saying, he who expends his money in gratifying the
flesh shall have a poor return-he shall purchase to himself nothing but ruin; but he who lays it out in accordance with the
views and desires of a spiritual mind, that man shall be richly
compensated in the treasures of eternity. This is no doubt a
truth; but we do not apprehend that the words of the apostle so
much embody that truth as the more general one which we have
illustrated, and which implies this particular truth as well as a
thousand others of the same kind.
SECT. VIII.-EXHORTATION TO WELL-DOING, AND CAUTION
AGAINST BECOMING WEARY IN IT.
In the verses that follow the apostle warns against becoming
weary in Christian well-doing, and enforces his warning by a
very powerful motive. "d And let us not be weary in well-doing:
for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have
therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially
unto them who are of the household of faith." 1
": Well-doing"2 is a phrase which may be understood, either in
a more restricted, or in a more extended, sense. In the first
case, it is equivalent to beneficence; in the second, to dutiful
conduct generally. It is a good general rule of interpretation,
that when a word or a phrase occurs which admits of a more
restricted and more extensive sense, the more extensive sense is
to be preferred, if there is nothing in the passage or its context
to fix it to the more restricted meaning. Applying this principle
to the passage before us, we consider "well-doing" as a word of
equal extent with " sowing to the Spirit" —as a phrase descriptive
of the whole duty of a Christian. The Christian's business is, to
"do good"-to perform all the duties that rise out of the various
relations in which he stands to God and his fellow men. These
duties are numerous; they are, many of them, arduous; they
are constantly recurring; and their performance must be coeval
with the Christian's life.
1 Gal. vi. 9, 10.                 T2 o' Kaav 7rotovVTfe.




P. VI. ~ 8.]  WELL-DOING ENJOINED AND ENFORCED          343
Owing to the number, the difficulty, and the never-terminating, never-remitting obligations of these duties, even genuine
Christians are in danger of 1" becoming weary of well-doing."
They become backward to undertake them, and languid in performing them. They multiply and magnify obstacles. They
are ingenious in devising excuses. They leave them half done,
and are strongly tempted to abandon them altogether. It ought
not to be so. It would not be were Christians what they should
be —what they might be. The great cause of weariness in welldoing is a deficiency in faith, and a corresponding undue influence of present and sensible things.  To the man who
has, through the faith of Christ, overcome the world, none of the
commandments of God are grievous.  On the contrary, "In
keeping them he finds a great reward." But whenever the
Christian walks by sight, and not by faith, he becomes weak as
another man, every duty is a burden. It is when in the exercise
of faith he realises to himself the unseen realities of religion and
eternity, that he " renews his strength, mounts up on wings as
an eagle, runs and does not weary, walks and does not faint."
Against this spiritual languor, which makes the discharge of
duty tiresome, and strongly tempts to its utter abandonment, the
apostle here warns the Galatian Christians, "Be not wearyl in
well-doing."
We have here a beautiful exemplification of the extent and
spirituality of the law of Christ.  It prohibits the neglect of
well-doing, as well as positive evil-doing, and it reaches to the
very spring of actions. It not only prohibits the neglect of welldoing, but that weariness in well-doing which is likely to lead to
this neglect. It is not satisfied withl the thing enjoined being
done; it must be done in a right temper. The Lord loves a
cheerful doer as well as a cheerful giver.
The motive which the apostle employs, for the purpose of
guarding the Galatian Christians against weariness in welldoing, is at once appropriate and powerful.  Nothing is so
much calculated to produce languor as a suspicion that all
our exertions are likely to be fruitless; and nothing is better
fitted to dispel it than the assurance that they shall assuredly be
1 EKKaKEO,' to turn a coward, to be faint-hearted, to despond.' —Eph. iii.
13; 2 Cor. iv. 1, 16; Luke xviii. 1; 2 Thess. iii. 13. Lach. and Tisch.
read IyKaK(o in all these passages.




344            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 1a-VI. 10.
crowned with success.  "In due season," says he, "ye shall
reap, if ye faint not."
" Ye shall reap." The language is figurative, but not obscure.
Indeed it is far more expressive than any literal description could
have been. It implies in it the idea of reward-of reward naturally rising out of, and proportioned to, the dutiful exertion.
The Christian shall be rewarded for his well-doing. Every act
of Christian duty, every sacrifice made, every privation submitted to, every suffering endured, from a regard to Christ's
authority, with a view to Christ's honour, shall assuredly be
recompensed.  This reward is often-usually-granted in part,
even in the present state, and shall be most certainly conferred
in the future.  This reward shall grow out of, and correspond
to, the dutiful exertions of the Christian. It shall be his harvest. The happiness of a Christian, both in this world and the
next, is, in a great measure, the natural result of his conformity
to the will of God. Every holy temper is a capacity of enjoyment, and a source of enjoyment at the same time. The cultivation of holy dispositions, and the performance of commanded
duty, are necessary to the true happiness of the Christian, not
only from the Divine appointment, but from the very nature of
the case.
The happy results of well-doing are not, however, in every
case immediate-in no case are all the happy results of any act
of well-doing at once and completely developed-and therefore
the apostle adds, Ye shall reap "in due season." 1 Christians
frequently act like children in reference to this harvest. They
would sow and reap in the same day. When children sow
the seeds of flowers in their little gardens, they are apt to become impatient for their appearing above ground; and then
for their yielding blossoms; and by this impatience are often
not merely disquieted, but induced to do what must retard,
and may altogether prevent, the eagerly desired event. Like
1 The difference between Katpos and Xpo'vos is illustrated in the following
words of Demosthenes: " ovtplaLvaL 7roXcuv ~-payXia-ov Ka(L pey/civ KatpbV
EV 3paXel Xpo'v ytyveaalt," —(19, 6); and in the verses of Ausonius, de
sapientibus: —
"Pittacum dixisse fama est Lesbium
rl7CvoCKe KaLpo'v. Tempus ut noris jubet,
Sed KaLpo( iste TEMPESTIVUM TEMPUS est."
-PALAIRET, p. 436.




P. VI. ~ 8.] WELL-DOING ENJOINED AND ENFORCED.          345
" the husbandman" who " waiteth for the precious fruit of the
earth, and hath long patience for it, till he has received the former
and latter rain," the Christian must also " be patient and stablish
his heart." Our time is always ready; but it is not for us either
to know or to regulate the times and the seasons. The Father has
kept them in his own power. The harvest is certain. This we are
assured of, and, moreover, that if our own fault prevent not, it will
be abundant and joyful. Whether it is to be an early or a late one
depends entirely on the alTangements of Him who is " wonderful
in counsel, and excellent in working." And is it not right that it
should be so? Is it not enough to be assured that in due seasonat the period fixed by infinite wisdom and kindness-our objects
shall be completely gained, our exertions abundantly rewarded?
The concluding clause deserves particular notice, A" if we faint
not," literally "not fainting."' This phrase, "not fainting," may,
so far as construction is concerned, be connected with either clause
of the verse. It may be considered as describing either the
nature of the dutiful exertion, or of the gracious reward. They
who take the last view consider the apostle as saying, Unwearying labour or Christian duty will terminate in unending reward.
We shall never cease to reap if we but persevere in well-doing.
There will be satisfaction without satiety, and that for ever.
This is truth, important truth, but we rather think the more
ordinary way of connecting the phrase brings out better the
apostle's exact meaning.
The saint's reaping is suspended on his not fainting, that is,
his reward is suspended on his " constant continuance in welldoing." The words obviously imply,'If we faint we shall not
reap.' No true saint will so faint as to abandon altogether the
onward course of well-doing; but just in the proportion in which
he does so shall he not reap; just in this proportion shall he come
short of "obtaining a full reward:" and if a man who has
exhibited all the appearances of saintship, who has been reckoned
a saint by himself, and by those who were best acquainted with
him, if that man should so faint as to habitually neglect the performance of Christian duty, no doubt he shall reap, but it will be
"of the flesh, corruption," and not " of the Spirit, life everlast1 EKX;reOaL,' to be unstrung-relaxed, to be weakened, fatigued, to faint.'
-Matth. ix. 36; xv. 32; Heb. xii. 3, 5; Deut. xx. 3. U7) KXvdO/EvoL, equivalent to av u7 EKKX v eAa.




346            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
ing."  A great deal of the false and dangerous notions entertained in reference to a most important Christian doctrine, that
of the perseverance of the saints, would be prevented were men
but to remember that the perseverance of the saints is a perseverance in holiness, and that, though "eternal life is the gift
of God through Jesus Christ our Lord," it is on those only who,
"' through a constant continuance in well-doing, seek for glory,
honour, and immortality," that eternal life is conferred. It has
been finely said, " He who becomes a Christian in the true sense
of that word becomes such for eternity. He has enlisted for
life-for immortal life-never to withdraw. He becomes pledged
to do good, and to serve God always. No obstacles are to deter
him, no embarrassments are to drive him off the field. With
the vigour of his youth, and the influence and wisdom of his
riper years, with his remaining powers when enfeebled by age,
with the last pulsations of life here, and with the immortal energies of a higher life in a better world, he is to do good. For
that he is to live. For that he is to die. And when he awakes
in the resurrection with renovated powers, he is to awake to an
everlasting service of doing good, as far as he may have opportunity, in the kingdom of God." 1
No man who is habitually neglectful of, or allowedly languid
and careless in, the discharge of Christian duty, can have satisfactory evidence of his being an object of Divine favour; and if,
in these circumstances, he cherishes a confidence in the goodness of his state, and in the security of his salvation, his confidence is presumptuous.
From the consideration that every dutifill exertion of the
Christian shall in due time receive its recompense, the apostle takes
occasion to exhort the Galatians to act a consistent and dutifiul
part in reference to all men, and especially in reference to their
Christian brethren. " As we have therefore opportunity, let us
do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." 2
The phrase, " doing good,"3 like well-doing, may either be
1 Barnes.
2 Gal. vi. 10. The apostate Julian owns that Christians acted out the
apostle's injunctions: "Tpibovort," says he, " ofi avo-oelE yaXtlhalot 7rpSo'TOVS EavrTV Kal 7'TOVSv?E7TepovS."
3Epya(JrOa To dyacov.




P. VI. ~ 8.]  WELL-DOlNG ENJOINED AND ENFORCED.         347
considered as expressive of benevolent exertion, or of dutiful conduct generally. In the passage before us it has almost universally been interpreted in its restricted sense. It is the Christian's
duty to A" do good;" to endeavour to lessen the amount both of
moral and physical evil, of sin and of suffering; to add to the
amount both of moral and physical good, of worth and happiness, in our world. To enlighten the ignorant and prejudiced;
to rouse to consideration the inconsiderate; to lead the guilty
to the blood of atonement, and the depraved to the laver of
regeneration; to make the bad good, and the good better; to
comfort the disconsolate; to relieve the poor and the miserable,are so many varieties of the general duty of Christian beneficence. In the performance of this duty, the Christian knows
no limits except those which are fixed by his power and opportunity of doing good. He is not to be confined by relationship,
or neighbourhood, or sect, or even religion. The possession of
a common nature is claim enough on his good wishes and good
offices. Every Christian is as really, though not quite in the same
way as the apostle, a " debtor to the Greek and the Barbarian,
to the wise and the unwise."  Whether a man be " a Jew or
a Gentile, bond or free," learned or illiterate, good or bad, if he
labours under evils from which we can relieve him, it is our duty
as Christians to do so.
But while Christians are bound " to do good to all men," they
are peculiarly bound to do good " to those who are of the household of faith." Jerome refers this appellation to Christian ministers, who are, in a peculiar sense, "the domestics" in the family of
God; but it is better to refer it to Christians generally' —the
believing family. The application is admirably expressive. All
genuine Christians are bound together by a very powerful and a
very tender tie. That tie is the faith of the same truth. It is this
which unites them to God, " the Father of whom the whole
family in heaven and earth are called;" to Jesus Christ, the
elder brother; and to one another, as children of God and
brethren of Christ,-" heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus
Christ."' They love one another " in the truth, for the truth's
sake, which is in them, and will abide with them for ever." Duty
1 Theodoret interprets the appellation as equivalent to 0do'rto'rot. Strabo
speaks of OLKlOtL tLXOcO'fn'aV (i. 1, 11); and Diodorus Siculus of OZKE6ot
l-tyapXiav (13, 91).




348           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
corresponds with relation. Christians, therefore, are particularly
bound to do good to one another. Every poor and distressed
man has a claim on me for pity, and, if I can afford it, for active
exertion and pecuniary relief. But a poor Christian has a far
stronger claim on my feelings, my labours, and my property.
He is my brother, equally interested with myself in the blood
and love of the Redeemer. I expect to spend an eternity with
him in heaven. He is the representative of my unseen Saviour,
and HE considers everything done to his poor afflicted brother
as done to himself. For a Christian to be unkind to a Christian, is not only wrong, it is monstrous.
The obligation to do good to our fellow-Christians extends
both to their external and spiritual necessities. It is an important duty, " if we see a brother or sister naked, or destitute of
d'aily food, to give them those things which are needful for the
body." But it is not a less important duty, when we see a Christian brother 6r sister labouring under mistake, or in danger of
falling into sin, to endeavour to undeceive them, and to warn
them of their danger. Spiritual evils are the worst evils, and
spiritual blessings are the best blessings; and we do good to our
brethren in the most important way, when we deliver them
from these evils, and put them in possession of these blessings.
We are to love our brethren as Christ loved us, and do good to
them as he does good to us.
Christians are to " do good to all men, and especially to those
who are of the household of faith, as they have opportunity."
The idea commonly attached to these words is, that Christians
are bound to seize every opportunity of doing good, both to mankind generally, and to their fellow-Christians in particular.
This is an important truth, but we doubt if it is exactly the truth
which the apostle here expresses. The word " season " 1 in the 9th
verse, and the word " opportunity " in the 10th, are the same in
the original. That word is the link which connects the two verses.
" In due season ye shall reap."  While we have the " season"
let us do good; as if he had said,' The season of reaping will
come in due time. Now is the season for sowing. While ye
have the season, improve it. In a short time the objects of your
beneficence will be beyond your reach, or you will be taken from
KaLpos.




P. VI. ~ 8.]  WELL-DOING ENJOINED AND ENFORCED.              349
them. The eternal harvest depends on the short seed-time.
There is no time to be idle, for " whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap." 
While I have explained the phrase " doing good," in the way
in which it is ordinarily understood, as referring directly to benevolent exertion, I am strongly disposed to think that the word
is employed by the apostle in its most general sense.' Work that
which is good in reference to all men, but especially in reference
to the household of faith.' It seems to us to refer to the duties of
justice as well as mercy. "Render to all their due;" " wrong no
man;" and, in reference to your brethren, let your conduct be
scrupulously upright and dutiful. We find the apostle warning
Christian servants against using improper freedoms with their
Christian masters, as if their common privileges as Christians
brought them nearer a level in civil society; and using the
Christianity of their Masters as a powerful superadded reason
why they should be obedient to them. " Let as many servants
as are under the yoke count their, own masters worthy of all
honour; and they that have believing masters, let them not
despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them
service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the
benefit."2 And we find him representing the Christian character of a person injured by another Christian as a great aggravation of the offence,-" Ye do wrong, and defraud, and that
your brethren."3  This gives unity to the whole paragraph,-" sowing to the Spirit," "well-doing," and " doing good," all of
them being terms of nearly equivalent import.
The practical improvement to be made of this passage is not
far to seek. Let us turn it to the use of serious self-inquiry.
1 The following epigram from the Greek of Posidippus, by the celebrated
Sir Thomas More, on a figure of KaLp(o, is striking:"Tu quis? Ka~tpo ego omne domans.
Cur summis instas pedibus? Semper rotor. Alas
Cur plantis gestas? Ut levis aura ferar.
Dextrae cur inserta novacula? Signum homini hoc est,
Vis conferri acie quod mihi, nulla potest.
Cur coma fronte jacet? Venientem ut prendere possis.
Parte est cur calvum posteriore caput?
Quod postquam levibus praeceps effugero pennis,
Ne valeat tergo quis revocare velit."
2 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2.                                1 Cor. vi. 8.




350           EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. V. 13-VI. 10.
Let us ask, Have we never been, are we not now, " weary in
well-doing"?  Are we " doing good to all, as we have opportunity, especially to the household of faith "? If we press these
questions honestly home, deep self-humiliation will be the result.
-But let us not, however, despair. The more languid we are, the
greater is the necessity for earnest prayer and increased exertion.
The less good we have done in the past, the more diligent should
we be in doing good in the future. The season of doing good
will soon close for ever. " What our hand findeth to do, let
us do it with our might." The season of reward will soon come
to those who,;" by a patient continuance in well-doing, are seeking for glory, honour, and immortality."  "Be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch
as your labour is not in vain in the Lord."
And if the harvest seems long in coming-if the reward seems
long delayed-still " faint not."  " Cast not away your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. For ye have
need of patience" —that is, you must persevere-" that after ye
have done the will of God, ye may receive the promise." 1
This seems to be the conclusion of the epistle, properly so
called. What follows has all the ordinary marks of a Postscript.
1 Heb. x. 36.




PART VII.
POSTSCRIPT.
GALATIANS VI. 11-18. —" Ye see how large a letter I have written unto
you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair show in the
flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are
circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may
glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Crois
of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I
unto the world.  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any
thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk
according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of
God. From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the
marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with your spirit. Amen."
SECT. I. —INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
IN an age like the present, in which infidel principles are extensively entertained and zealously propagated, it is a matter of
high importance, both to the satisfaction of his own mind, which
may be disturbed by the hardy assertions or sly insinuations of
unbelievers, and to the credit of his religion, which is apt to
suffer when its supporters appear perplexed or silenced by the
cavils of its opponents, that every professor of Christianity should
be so well instructed in the grounds on which he has embraced
that religion, as true and divine, as to enable him " to hold fast
the profession of his faith without wavering," and " to give an
answer to every one who asketh him a reason of the hope that
is in him, with meekness and fear." The evidence of the genuineness, the authenticity, and the inspiration of the Holy Scripture, ought to be familiar to his mind. To the questions, Why
do I believe the books, received by me as sacred, as the composi



352            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
tions of the persons whose names they bear? Why do I give
credit to their statements, and why do I consider these statements as not only characterised by strict truth, but possessed of
Divine authority? he ought always to be ready to give an answer
which is satisfactory to his own mind, and which is likely to be
so to every candid inquirer.
A man may have a great deal of this kind of knowledge without being a Christian at all, in the true sense of that word. It
is to be feared that some have most ingeniously and satisfactorily
defended the truth and divinity of Christianity, who have lived
and died strangers and enemies to all that is most distinctive and
valuable in the doctrine of that religion, and utterly destitute of
all those invaluable blessings which, when understood and believed, these doctrines uniformly convey to the soul; and, on
the other hand, many genuine Christians are extremely deficient
in this kind of knowledge, and still more deficient in the capacity
of using with advantage that limited portion of it which they
possess.
This is deeply to be regretted. "I take it," says the great
and good Richard Baxter-" I take it to be the greatest cause
of coldness in duty, weakness in grace, boldness in sinning, and
unwillingness to die, that our faith in the divine authority of
Scripture is either unsound or impure. Few Christians among
us have anything better than an implicit faith in this point.
They have received it by tradition. Godly ministers and Christians tell them so; it is impious to doubt it, and therefore they
believe it; and this worm, lying at the root, causeth the languishing and decaying of the whole."
It is surely, then, the duty of the Christian teacher frequently
to turn the attention of those whom he instructs in the numerous, varied, and powerful arguments which prove that, in receiving Christianity, "we have not followed a cunningly devised fable," but that we have embraced what is emphatically
" the truth;" and to do this, not merely in presenting to them
a complete systematized view of the evidence of revelation,
but by seizing every opportunity of fixing their minds on those
signatures of truth and divinity, which become apparent as we
study the different doctrines, and duties, and institutions of
Christianity, and the various parts of that inspired volume, in
which these doctrines, and duties, and institutions are unfolded.




P. VIi. ~ i.]    INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.                  353
With such an opportunity are we now presentedl, in reference
to the genuineness of that portion of the inspired Scriptures —the
Epistles of the Apostle Paul.
To the question, How do you know that these epistles are really
the writings of the Apostle Paul, and not the forgeries of a late
age? it is a most satisfactory answer,-' I have the same kind
of evidence, and a great deal more of it, as that on which the
Commentaries of Julius Caesar, or the Epistles of Cicero or Pliny,
are universally allowed to be the sworks of the great men whose
names they bear. From  the very period when the epistles are
said to have been written, there is an unbroken succession of
testimonies that, at that time and thenceforward, they were admitted by those who had the best means of ascertaining the truth,
and the strongest inducements to employ these means, to be
the undoubted productions of the age, and of the individual to
whom they are ascribed.
But, apart from this evidence altogether, there is another
species of proof of the genuineness of the epistles, which is calculated to convey most satisfactory conviction to every candid
mind. I refer to the very numerous undesigned coincidences between the different epistles, and likewise between the epistles and
that historical work, the Acts of the Apostles, in which many of
the incidents of Paul's life are recorded. Dr Paley, in the most
original of all his very useful works, has fully expanded this
argument, and has made it appear, to the satisfaction of every
unprejudiced inquirer, that were a person to fall in with the Acts
of the Apostles and epistles of Paul, without previously knowing
anything about them-destitute of all external, direct, or collateral
evidence,-he would find in these undesigned- obviously undesigned-correspondences good reason to believe the persons and
transactions referred to, to be real, the letters genuine, and the
narratives true.
To feel the full force of such an argument, the numerous minute
and obviously undesigned coincidences must be brought forward;
but a single example of the species of undesigned coincidence, on
which the whole cogency of the argument depends, is enough to
make a person understand its nature, and ought to induce him
to study it in the admirable work already referred to-and what
would be still better, to endeavour to develop it for himself, by a
careful perusal of the inspired books in question.
z




354             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
SECT. II.-THE APOSTLE'S REMARK, THAT HIS LETTER WAS
AUTOGRAPH.
The first verse of this postscript furnishes an example of that
reference to circumstances in the apostle's history, not mentioned
in the epistle, which furnishes so strong an evidence of the
genuineness of his letters. " Ye see how large a letter I have
written unto you with mine own hand."'
The circumstance to which we wish to draw your attention,
as an exemplification of undesigned coincidence, of a kind altogether irreconcileable with the hypothesis of forgery, is Paul's
directing the notice of the Galatians to his having written
this epistle " with his own hand."  To have noticed this was
quite natural in Paul, who, as we learn from other epistles, was
not accustomed to write to the churches entirely or chiefly with
his own hand, but employed an amanuensis, and merely wrote
his salutation in the close, as accrediting the letter. The Epistle
to the Romans was written by Tertius.2  The First Epistle to
the Corinthians, the Epistle to the Colossians, and the Second
to the Thessalonians, have all, near their close, these words,
" The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand;" and, in the
last of the instances, it is added, " Which is the token in every
epistle: so I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with you all. Amen." 3
To an impostor ignorant of Paul's custom alluded to —and
you will observe it is no more than an allusion (for this passage
does not state what we know from other sources to have been
Paul's custom)-the reference could not have occurred; and an
impostor, aware of Paul's custom, would have imitated it. It
could not have occurred to a forger of the epistle to give plausibility to his claim by setting forth his epistle as written in a
way different from that in which those of the apostle generally
were.
If we admit the justness of the version of our translators as to
the words rendered " how large' a letter," which, however, is
doubtful, we shall find another obviously undesigned correspondence. The Epistle to the Romans and the two Epistles
1 Gal. vi. 11.                        2 Rom. xvi. 22.
3 1 Cor. xvi. 21; Col. iv. 18; 2 Thess. iii. 17.    7rXlKOLI 7ypallart.




P. VII. ~ 2.]     TIlE EPISTLE AN AUTOGRAPH.                     355
to the Corinthians are all of them larger than the Epistle to
the Galatians. But none of these epistles existed at the time
this epistle was written; and with the exception of these, and
the Epistle to the Hebrews, of which it is by no means absolutely certain, though in a high degree probable, that Paul
was the author, and which was also written subsequent to the
date of this epistle, the Epistle to the Galatians is the largest of
the apostle's letters.
The meaning of the apostle's phraseology in this verse is somewhat doubtful; and it deserves notice that this is a fair specimen
of many of the difficult passages of Scripture. The way in
which you understand them  affects no principle, either of Christian faith or duty. The apostle's words might have been rendered in English, with a somewhat similar ambiguity of meaning
as that which belongs to them in the original,'Ye see what a
letter I have written you with my own hand.' The reference
may be either to the matter or manner, to the form, or the size,
or the length of the letter. There is nothing in the words which
absolutely fixes it to any one of them. It may be, you see how
" weighty and powerful" a letter I have written you; or how
faithful and affectionate a letter I have written; or how long 1 a
letter I have written you.
Some of the earlier Greek interpreters suppose that there is a
reference to the large and not very well formed Greek characters
which the apostle, accustomed to writing in Hebrew, employed.2
1 c" Epistola ad Galatas, quamvis per se, brevis, longa dicitur ut Galatae
monerentur de summa cura ac solicitudine Pauli qui alias non consueverat
sua mzanu, tam multa scribere."-STonn.
2 This view deserves consideration, as the apostle never elsewhere uses
ypailiara for an epistle; though it is certain that ypdaara is sometimes
employed to denote, not the written characters, but what these characters
express, the writing itself, John v. 47; and in Acts xxviii. 21 it can scarcely
be doubted that ypapiarTa means an epistle, or epistles, and also 1 Mac. v. 10,
comp. 14. Paul himself calls the Scriptures of the Old Testament va Iepa
pypara,   2 Tim. iii. 15. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, CEcumenius.Jerome, among the ancients,-and among the moderns, Semler, Winer, and
Ruckert, —consider the phrase as referring to the form of the letters. Theophylact's words deserve to be quoted: "v ro5  T rXlKoLS ob ie7e;ov   ortL 8qXBXWLKiV
adXXa 7rT1 c4dopFlas  vOiJv ypa!tiarcov cooel; eyE. KavrTOL Li) Es   atpttrra ypadeLv,!coLd  1vaTyKao-t7rv &td'XELpoV rjV TiLUTrOXljv yphaiat."  Jerome (Corn. in loc.)
quotes the words of one whom, though he does not acquiesce in his interpretation, he calls "vir apprime nostris temporibus eruditus: " —" Paulus Hebrseus
erat, et Graecas literas nesciebat, et quia necessitas expetebat ut manu sua epis



356               EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
There can be but little doubt as to the general idea which the
apostle intended to convey by these words. He meant obviously
to bring before the mind of the Galatians the fact of the deep
interest he took in them, as expressed by his writing such a letter,
and writing it too with his own hiand.l  It may be that, by
drawing their attention to the circumstance that he had not,
as usual, employed an amanuensis, he meant to show the delicacy of his affection. A friend will himself write to a friend
with whose conduct he is dissatisfied in a manner very different
from  that in which he would do were he obliged to employ a
third person to communicate his thoughts.2
SECT. III.-UNPRINCIPLED CONDUCT OF THE JUDAISING
TEACHERS.
What follows consists chiefly of a caution to the Galatians
against the acts of the Judaising teachers, drawn from the consideration of the mean and unworthy ends which they had in
view  in endeavouring to induce them to conform to the rites of
Judaism.  " As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh,
they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer
persecution for the Cross of Christ." 3
The general meaning of these words obviously is,' These men
tolam subscriberet contra consuetudinem curvos tramites literarum vix magnis
apicibus exprimebat, etiam in hoc sume ad Galatas indicia charitatis ostendens,
quod propter illos, id quoque quod non poterat facere conaretur." Hleinsius
supposes that the words refer only to the next verse, which he conceives was
written in capital letters with the apostle's own hand. Excellent, however,
as the sentiment is in that verse, we should rather have supposed that the
14th and 15th verses would have been chosen as peculiarly worthy of such a
distinction; and it is doubtful if this mode of distinguishing peculiarly
important words, phrases, or sentences, is of so ancient a date. Erasmus is
very happy in his paraphrase: " Videtis Galatoe quantopere mihi res cordi
sit qui tam prolixam epistolam vobis meapte manu scripserim. Agnoscitis
notulas digitorum meorum. Non est quod suspicemini subditiciam epistolam;
tota mea est, mei pectoris apud vos index." Paley's note is, as usual, ingenious and satisfactory.
1 Most readers will join in Pareus' wish: "Utinam  a-ro'ypa5ov apostoli
nobis habere et videre liceret."
2 " L'Apostle leur fait cette remarque, cormme etant un temoinage de son
ardente affection vers eux. Ainsi un nlari reserve sa propre main pour sa
femme, un pere pour son fils, un hommne pour son intime ami." —LAuNAY.
3 Gal. vi. 12.




P. VII. ~ 3.]    THE JUDAISERS UNPRINCIPLED.             357
who are so very zealous to make you submit to the initiatory
rite of Judaism are not actuated by honest, though mistaken,
conscientious views, as to the necessity of the observance of the
Mosaic law to your salvation: their object is to secure the favour,
or, at any rate, to avoid the persecution, of their unbelieving
Jewish brethren. It is not an honest, though mistaken, wish to
serve you, but the unworthy, selfish desire of serving themselves, that influences them. Let us look a little more closely
at the phraseology in which this sentiment is expressed.
The apostle does not name the Judaising teachers, but he so
describes them that they cannot be mistaken. They were such
as desired " to make a fair show in the flesh." 1 " To make a fair
show" is to assume a course of conduct which will be agreeable
to those whom we wish to please.  6To desire to make a fair
show" is to be anxious to fashion our conduct so as to please.
Now, these Judaisingl teachers were anxious to adopt a line of
conduct which would please their unbelieving brethren.  The
phrase "in the flesh" modifies the expression "making a fair
show." The best commentary on the expression, as used here, is
to be found in the following passage in the Epistle to the Philippians,-" For we are the circumcision, which worship God in
the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence
in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in'the flesh.
If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust
in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock
of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews;
as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the
church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." 2
In reference, then, to the Mosaic observances which were
fleshly or carnal, that is, of an external ceremonial nature, these
Judaising teachers wished to follow a course which would secure
them from the persecutions of their unbelieving brethren. The
same principle, in other forms, is still found operating among the
professors of Christianity.  How many are there who are constantly endeavouring to make a compromise between the demands
1 ETrpoOCOrEWL is one of the a/ra XFyo6/eEva in the New Testament, and
does not occur at all in the classics,, though they have words formed on the
same principle: or-etvorpooC@olnrv, fVTrpownCroS'.
2 Phil. iii. 3-6.




358             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
Of conscience and of interest, who are afraid to break with the
world by giving up with its even to them very doubtful practices,
and by a fearless avowal of Christian principle, and a determined
obedience to the law of Christ.  Such men play a losing game
at best. They seldom gain even their immediate object. The
world is a tyrant which requires unqualified submission; and if
their conscience prevent them from giving this, all partial compliances will excite but the contempt of those whose favour
they are courting. And even should the end be gained, if they
should have their reward in keeping in the good graces of the
worldly, it is a miserable one. They have gained, it may be, the
good opinion of the world; but they have lost that of God, on
whose decision their destiny through eternity depends. His
words are by no means equivocal:  "No man can serve two
masters."
These time-serving, worldly professors of Christianity are
among the most dangerous enemies of spiritual Christianity and
spiritual Christians.  They are continually endeavouring to
bring these over to their side, and urging them to act as they
do, under the pretence that Christianity may thus be rendered
more palatable to worldly men, but in reality that they may be
secured from what they account unnecessary reproach and suffering.  Such was the part which the Judaising teachers acted.
From a wish to ingratiate themselves with their unbelieving
brethren, they i" compelled" 1 the Gentile converts to be circumcised, that is, used every method in their power by persuasion,
threats, and declining to associate with them unless they submitted to their favourite rite.
Had this originated in conscientious convictions, even then the
apostle would have warned the Galatians against it. He would
still have considered them as in a dangerous error; but their
behaviour would not, in his estimation, have been so contemptible
as it was, originating, as he knew, and as indeed was made evident by their conduct, in low, selfish motives. In doing all that
lay in their power to induce the Gentile converts to assume the
external aspect of Jews, their object was to secure themselves
from persecution. They did it " lest they should suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ." The early Roman emperors,
1 The force of the word dvayKad'ovoct, in such a connection, has already
been explained, chap. ii. 3, 14.




P. VII. ~ 3.]    TIIE JUDAISERS UNPRINCIPLED.                359
according to Jerome, allowed the Jews throughout the empire
to exercise their religion; and it has been supposed that circunmcised Christians were considered as Jews, but if they were
uncircumcised they were liable to persecution, as the professors of a
"religio illicita."  This supposed fact-for it is not authenticated'
-has been considered as throwing light on this passage; but we
cannot perceive this: for it was not by their own circumcision,
but by the circumcision of others, these men sought security from
persecution, so that the persecution here referred to was not
from Pagans, but Jews, from whom, indeed, the principal persecutions of Christianity, directly and indirectly, in the earlier
times proceeded.2
The Cross of Christ here, and in the 14th verse, is by many
interpreters considered as equivalent to sufferings on account of
Christ, as " the sufferings of Christ" is, in 2 Cor. i. 5, obviously
expressive of sufferings in the cause of Christ, and accordingly
they render the words,3' lest they should be persecuted wit/h the
Cross of Christ, lest they should be called on to bear the Cross,
which every true disciple, according to the declaration of our
Lord, must bear.' Though, however, every true disciple must
bear his own Cross, yet I do not know that the phrase,' Cross
of Christ,' is ever used in this sense in the New Testament. So
far as I have been able to form an opinion, the expression, when
used as in the case before us, always signifies the fact of the
death of Jesus Christ on the Cross, as the expiation of human
guilt-the only ground of human hope, superseding everything
else as the foundation of acceptance with God.4 It was this
doctrine which was peculiarly unpalatable to the unbelieving
Jews,-leading, as it plainly did, to a renunciation of all the
expiatory rites of the Mosaic law as utterly useless, and indeed
impious and criminal, if used as affording a method of obtain1 The Jews were cruelly oppressed by the emperors, and the most degrading
means employed to extort from them what was called the Judaicus fiscus,
the tax originally imposed on them by Titus, when he commanded them to
pay annually, for the support of the temple of Jupiter in the Capitol, the
half shekel they were accustomed to pay for the support of the temple of
Jehovah,-a tax not only cruelly harassing to their feelings, but oppressive
to their consciences.
2 Acts viii. 1; xiii. 50; xiv. 5, 6; 2 Tim. iii. 11.
Oa Cr7 T. gravps TOiV Xpt;TOro &COK CvTa.
I Cor. i. 17, 18; Phil. iii. 18.




360             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
ing the Divine favour. They could not bear that Gentiles
should be recognised as of the household of God, merely because
they believed in Christ, and trusted in his death on the Cross as
the procuring cause of their salvation, and therefore nothing was
so well fitted to moderate their antipathies as to throw this into
the shade by continuing to observe the rites and ceremonies of
the law. Now, these time-serving men thought the best way of
rebutting the charge, that by becoming Christians they had become enemies to the law, was by yielding external conformity to its
rites, and insisting that all Gentile converts to Christianity should
also, by doing so, seem to have become proselytes to Judaism.
This tampering with truth and duty, even when it originates
in a mistaken but sincere wish to serve the interests of Christianity, joined with dangerously lax notions as to expediency, is
highly criminal; but when, as it often is, as it was in the case
before us, a mere cloak for low selfishness, it is peculiarly detestable. That it was so in the case of these Judaising teachers is
plain from what is stated by the apostle in the next verse.
"For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the
law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory
in your flesh."' 
It is not easy to say whether these words in the first clause
refer to the Judaising teachers or to those among the Galatian
converts whom they had prevailed on to submit to the initiatory
rite of Judaism. They state what was probably the truth with
regard to both; all that they wished was to save appearances. The
Judaisers insisted on the Gentile converts being circumcised: for
to associate in a religious way, and in the ordinary offices of life,
with persons known to have been heathens, and never to have
submitted to the initiatory rite of Judaism, was something which
could not be hid, and would have outraged the prejudices of the
unbelieving Jews; but entire submission to the law in every
case does not seem to have been required. The circumcised
Gentile convert was not even by them, it would seem, required
in everything to " live as a Jew." And even of themselves, it
swas probable that what Paul says of Peter was true, that though
Jews, they lived in many things " as the Gentiles did."  Their
object was to make a fair show; alld wheil legal observances
Gal. vi. 13.




P. VII. ~ 3.]    THE JUDAISERS UNPRINCIPLED.            361
were not necessary to serve their purpose, they could easily dispense with them.
Now, either of these courses of conduct on the part of the
Judaising teachers was a proof that they had no really conscientious conviction of the obligation of the Mosaic law. If
they had, they would have been consistent.  Their object was
to have, in the fact of having induced Gentiles to submit to the
initiatory rite of Judaism, something that they might use as a
defence against the persecutions of the unbelieving Jews. They
could point to these circumcised Gentiles, and say,' See the
proof of our reverence for the law.'
Connected with this was the mean, unworthy motive of wishing to have substantial evidence of their power over the minds of
the converts. There is no power which, by men of a certain cast
of mind, is so much coveted as power over other men's minds —
the being able to say,'they embraced doctrines just because we
taught them, and submitted to usages just because we prescribed
them.' Nothing can be more absurd than this-as if their own
responsibilities were not enough when called to " give account of
themselves to God," they must ultroneously undertake other men's
responsibilities, adding to their own burden, sufficiently heavy
already, without at all lightening that of their dupes. For of
every one of them it must still continue true: "Every one
must give account of himself to God."l  Such a principle is
utterly unworthy of a Christian teacher; and whenever the
slightest symptom of it appears, it is the duty and interest of the
Christian people to watch it with the utmost care, and to resist
it with the utmost pertinacity.
Let us bear on our souls the indelible mark of subjection of
mind and heart to Christ; but let us bear neither on our bodies
nor on our souls the brand of subjection to human authority.
"One is our master, even Christ." "Be not the servants of men."
The fact that merely external conformity, and that to a certain
length only, satisfied these false teachers-and, it would seem,
served their purpose, also, in quashing the persecution of the
unbelieving Jews,-is striking and important.  Like cases are
by no means rare.  In almost every variety of corrupted
Christianity we find materially the same thing.  If a man will
1 Rom. xiv. 12.




362             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CIIAP. VI. 11-18.
but profess his faith in the infallibility of the Roman Catholic
church, and perform its rites regularly, he will be allowed almost
any latitude he pleases, both as to opinion and conduct. Where
there is nothing but an external religion, great uneasiness is
often produced in families when some of the members, from
conscientious principle, go not to the usual place of worship, or
observe not the usualform of worship; —it does not matter whether
the persons belong to the Established Church, or to a Dissenting
body-to the Episcopalian or Presbyterian persuasion. The great
matter is not the conviction of the mind, but the bringing them
back to the orthodox place of worship. If they can be got back
again to the church, or to the chapel, or to the meeting-houseif the external conformity be but yielded, all is gained. And,
indeed, what else can be expected?  Where a person's own religion is all of this external professional kind, how should he seek
for anything more in another?
Let us learn from this passage to beware of bye-ends in religion. Let it be our constant object to maintain " a conscience
void of offence to God and man," and to be able to say, " Our
rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the
grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world." 1
Let us also be warned against taking up with a mere outside
religion-a thing of time, and place, and circumstance. Real
Christianity is a religion as extensive as the nature of man as a
being capable of thought, feeling, and action. Let our religion
be the religion of the mind, the religion of the heart, the religion
of the life,-not a theory of doctrine, however ingenious, or even
correct,-not a feeling casually, though it may be strongly, excited, -not an external and ritual service, however simple or however imposing, —not an assumed garb, however splendid, and
gracefully worn; but a constituent —the governing-element of
our intellectual and moral nature: not speculation-not enthusiasm-not superstition-not formalism-not hypocrisy: not exclusively doctrinal, or experimental, or liturgical, or professional,
or practical; but all these in due proportion and degree,-the
natural effect of the truth understood, and believed, and loved, —
"' faith purifying the heart, working by love, and overcoming the
1 2 Cor. i. 12.




P. V-II. ~ 4.]   THE APOSTLE'S DETERMINATION.         363
world." Let this be the religion which we cultivate in ourselves,
and let this be the religion we endeavour to propagate among
our brethren of mankind.
SECT. IV.-THE APOSTLE'S DETERMINATION TO GLORY ONLY
IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
The sentiments of the apostle in reference to the cross, so
directly opposed to those of the Judaising teachers,-the change
produced on his views and feelings in reference to the world, and
on the views and feelings of the world in reference to him, in
consequence of his entertaining and avowing these sentiments, —
and the influence of this faith and profession in producing these
changes, —are very strikingly expressed in the following verse: e
" But God forbid  that I should glory, save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and
I unto the world."2
The connection of this passage with what goes before, indicated by the particle " but,"3 may be variously stated. The
particle " but " usually intimates contrast. The words before us
may be considered as directly connected with the words immediately preceding. As if the apostle had said,' Your false teachers
glory or boast in their influence over you, proved by your submitting to the initiatory rite of Judaism in consequence of their
urgency; but I have a more solid ground for my boasting. I
glory not in the blind submission of men to my authority; I
glory in the Cross of my Saviour.' The contrast in this case is
between the two different grounds of the glorying of the Judaising teachers and the apostle.
The words may, however, be viewed as connected, not with
those which immediately precede them, but with the close of
the 12th verse, while the 13th is viewed as a parenthesis. In
this case, the contrast is between the light in which the Judaising teachers and that in which the apostle viewed the Cross of
Christ. They greatly underrated its importance; they wished to
conceal it; they were ashamed of it; and were afraid of suffering
persecution on account of it. But, instead of this, the apostle
e See Note E.
1 " The 4ot u7) Y;eotro answers to the W- n t'~~t,  Gen. xliv. 7; Josh.
xxiv. 16."-OLSHAUSEN.         2 Gal. vi. 14.        3 bi.




364              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
gloried in it, and was determined to glory in nothing else. It
does not matter which of these two views of the connection we
adopt, though I am disposed to prefer the latter.
The meaning of the whole passage depends on the sense we
affix to the phrase, " Cross of Christ." Some judicious interpreters understand "' the Cross of Christ" here, of sufferings in
the cause of Christ; and they consider the expression in the
text as just synonymous with his declaration in 2 Cor. xii. 5,
" Of myself I will not glory, save in mine infirmities." "' Most
gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the
power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure
in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in
distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am  weak, then am I
strong." " We glory in tribulations also."l The same senti-.nent was strongly felt by the apostles, when they "' departed
from the presence of the " Jewish " council, rejoicing that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name."2 It is
strikingly stated, when suffering for Christ is represented to the
Philippians as a privilege, on the possession of which the apostle
congratulates them,'" Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ
to suffer for his sake."3  If this be the apostle's meaning, he
contrasts his own feelings with those of the Judaising teachers.' These men are afraid and ashamed of bearing the Cross after
Christ: I count this my highest honour; and through the means
of these sufferings "' the world is crucified to me "-the pleasures,
and honours, and riches of the world have become, in my estimation, things contemptible and valueless; and, on the other
hand, these sufferings have made me an object of contempt and
dislike to the men of the world,4 so that I am under no temptation to court their favour, as these Judaising teachers are, by
doctrines fashioned to their taste.'
There is no doubt that this is plausible. The sense thus given
to the words is quite self-consistent. It agrees well enough with
the context, and the obvious design of the writer, and it is perfectly agreeable to the analogy of faith; but it labours under
one very important defect, — it gives the phrase, "4 Cross of Christ,"
a sense which, though not unnatural, nor inconsistent with the
genius of the language or the analogy of Scripture expression,
lRom. v. 3.   2 Acts v. 41.   Philip. i. 29.    41 Cor. iv 9.




P. vli. ~ 4.]   THE APOSTLE' S DETERMINATION.           365
is yet altogether unsupported; for, as we have just observed,
wherever the phrase, " cross of Christ," occurs in the New
Testament, and does not express the instrument of our Lord's
death, it signifies the fact that Jesus Christ expiated the Sill of
men by dying on a cross.1
This, then, is the sense in which we understand it here. Inl
the fact that the incarnate Son of God had expired on a cross
as the victim of human guilt-that he was "delivered for our
offences"-mthat he was "made sin for us" —that he "gave
himself for us, the just One in the room of the unjust, that he
miglht bring us to God,"-the apostle gloried, and declares that,
in comparison with this, he will glory in nothing else.
Now, what is meant by his thus glorying or boasting in the
cross of Christ? This will be best understood by contrasting
the apostle's sentiments on this subject with those of the Judaising teachers, who were ashamed of it. They did not place
their dependence for salvation on the cross of Christ, or, at any
rate, not wholly there. They concealed it: they thought that
this concealment was necessary in order to the success of Christianity; and they shrunk from suffering on account of it. In
all these ways they showed the low estimate they had formed
of the cross of Christ; and just in an opposite way did the
apostle show the high estimate he had formed of it.
It is difficult to say exactly what views these teachers had of
the cross of Christ. It is plain, however, that they did not look
to Christ's death as the price of their salvation-the ground of
their hope. They did not submit to God's method of justification, but went about to establish a way of their own, " as it
were, by the law." They depended, at least in part, for acceptance with. God on circumcision, and the performance of ritual
observances.
But, on the other hand, the finished work of Christ was the
sole ground of the apostle's confidence: —" For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ
Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might
also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh
that he bath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of
1 1 Cor. i. 17, 18; Phil. iii. 18.




366             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
Benjamin, alln Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a
Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching
the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.  But what
things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea
doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I
may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith." 
The Judaising teachers showed their low estimate of the doctrine of the cross by concealing it, or, at any rate, casting it into
the shade. The apostle, on the contrary, showed his high estimate of it by giving it the greatest possible prominence in his
exhibitions of Christian truth. Read his epistles, and you will
find how closely he kept to his determination to "' know nothing,"
among those to whom he made known the gospel, " but Jesus
Christ and him crucified," that Jesus was " delivered for our
offences;" that "He died in our room;" that "we have redemnption in Him, through His blood, who is set forth a propitiation;" that " we are bought with a price;" that " He was made
sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in
him;" that "' we who are far off were brought nigh by the blood
of Christ;" that " He gave himself for us, a sacrifice and an
offering, that He might bring us to God;"-these were the constant themes of the apostle's discourses.2 " I declare unto you
the gospel," says he, " which I preached unto you, which also
ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are
saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless
ye have believed in vain: for I delivered unto you first of all
that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures."3  " The Jews," says he, " require a
sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ
Phil. iii. 3-9. The words which Chrysostom puts in Paul's mouth are
very appropriate:-" KavXdoLat Eiv TOD (rTaVpp Toy Xptor'oi''tL 6 XpLo-T-O
/at' IE 8ovXov Lopb')v avEXa3EV Kal'E7raOEv arrep E'ra&eV V EFE TV 8 AOVXOV TOv
EXOpov Tov adycoyova.
2 Rom. iv. 25; v. 8; iii. 24, 25; Eph. i. 7; 1 Cor. vi. 20; 2 Cor. v. 21;
Eph. ii. 13; v. 2.                            31 Cor. xv. 1-3.




P. V1i. ~ 4.]   THE APOSTLE'S DETERMINATION.            367
crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks
foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." 
The Judaising teachers considered the doctrine of the Cross
as a great obstacle in the way of the spread of Christianity. The
apostle was of opinion that when the doctrine of the Cross was
not received, Christianity was not received; and that that doctrine, opposed, as it is, to the pride and prejudices of men, is yet
the divinely appointed and divinely adapted method for triumphing over that pride and these prejudices. It was the grand
weapon of his warfare, and though not "carnal," he found it
" mighty through God to the pulling down of strong-holds;
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ." 2
The Judaising teachers shrunk from suffering on account of
the Cross. The apostle, on the contrary, would not purchase
life at the price of denying, or even of concealing, this doctrine.
On the contrary, he thought shame honour, and suffering happiness, in such a cause. " Neither count I my life dear unto
myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry
which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of
the grace of God." 3
But why did the apostle thus glory in the Cross of Christ?
He saw, in the fact of the expiation of the sins of men by the
death of the Son of God on the Cross, such a glorious display of
the wisdom and power, the holiness and benignity, of the Divine
character, as destroyed the native enmity of his own heart, quelled
the jealousies of guilt, sweetly constrained him to love God, filled
his mind with holy peace and joyful hope, delivered him from
"the bondage of corruption," and brought him into " the glorious
liberty of the children of God;" and he was persuaded that what
the Cross of Christ was to him it was calculated to be to every
one of the children of Adam, who, like him, understood and believed the truth respecting it. Therefore he gloried in the Cross
in Christ-in Christ crucified.4
1 I Cor. i. 22-24.     2 2 Cor. x. 4, 5.     3 Acts xx. 24.
4 ", The apostle had reason to glory in the cross of Christ, had it been no
more than that his suffering on the cross was his entrance into glory,-a




368               EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
"The doctrine of the Cross," as has been finely remarked by
John Glas, in his'" Testimony on the King of Martyrs," one of
the most valuable theological treatises produced in this country
during the eighteenth century-" The doctrine of the Cross is the
distinguishing truth of Christianity, whereby it is differenced from
mere natural religion, and from all the religions of the world, that
any may compete with it. All the parts of the Scriptural revelation depend on it, and are connected with it, so that, take away
this truth out of the gospel, it will become another gospel, and the
whole of the prophets and apostles will be utterly made of none
effect as to eternal life and salvation. This truth is the great
means whereby the power of God is put forth to save sinners
and to subject them to him in his kingdom. It was by the
revelation of Christ's righteousness in the gospel that Christ's
kingdom was first set up and advanced in the world, and it was
by the renewal of this great truth, after it had been bound under
antichrist's reign, that the Lord began to "consume that wicked
one."  At the Reformation Luther said, " This article reigns in
my heart, and with this the church stands or falls."  Without
this great truth all other means for promoting or defending the
kingdom  of Christ will be altogether ineffectual; yea, on the
contrary, serve to advance the kingdom of Satan. The strength
of Christ's kingdom, and its safety, lies all in this truth. So
they who would advance this kingdom in the world must bear it
about with them in their hearts, in all their preaching, and in all
their conversation in the ministry; and truly this would be a
spring of daily refreshment to themselves, and of great liberty
circumstance which will weigh much with every true lover of Jesus: so himself says to his disciples,' If ye loved me, ye would rejoice because I go to
the Father.' But there was more, greatly more. The cross of Christ sets
forth the great High Priest'offering himself a sacrifice for the sins of the
world,' and by that one sacrifice doing what all the sacrifices offered according
to the law of Moses could never do: a sacrifice which had not only the promise of pardon, but of eternal life, annexed to it. By the cross of Christ,
the terms on which the grant and promise of that life which was made to
man were completely fulfilled, and the grant comes to us free as grace itself.
On the cross, also, a throne of grace is erected, to which the worst of sinners
may come, not only with safety, but with the fullest assurance of success,
that they shall obtain'mercy and grace to help in every time of need;'
insomuch that the least doubting or wavering is a shameful affront offered
to the faithfulness both of God, the promiser, and his ever-blessed Son."RICCALTOUN.




P. VII. ~ 4.]    THE APOSTLE'S DETERMINATION.                 369
and boldness in all the labours of the gospel ministry, and in all
the sufferings that attend it.l
In this glorying in the Cross of Christ, the apostle sets an
example which should be followed by every Christian, and especially by every Christian minister. Indeed, we are not Christians at all, in the true sense of that word, if we are not glorying
in the Cross-in the Cross alone —as the ground of our hope. It
is to be feared that multitudes are deceiving themselves on this
all-important point. They say they are depending on Christ;
but, in many cases, if they would but " examine themselves,"
they would find that they are depending on themselves. They
expect pardon and salvation, not solely because Christ, the just
One, died in the room of the unjust, but entirely, or in part, on
the ground of their not being so bad as others, or of their repentance, their reformation, their good intentions, their alms deeds.
If they think of the Cross as a ground of reliance at all, it is only
as something to have recourse to in order to supply the deficiencies
of other grounds of hope. This is not to glory in the Cross; it
is to do it foul dishonour.  "Other foundation can no man lay,
save that which is laid." From the beginning to the end of
Christ's religion, the weight of our eternal hopes must rest solely
on the Cross.2
1Glas' Testimony of the King of Martyrs, chap. iv. sect. iii. It may
be an act of supererogation, but I cannot help taking this opportunity of
earnestly recommending my readers to study a sermon on the passage under
consideration by M'LAURIN, the greatest of our Scottish Theologians, in
which the glories of the Cross of Christ are exhibited with a depth of spiritual understanding and feeling, and a force of argument and eloquence
seldom equalled, and still more seldom combined. The words of Augustine
deserve to be quoted:-" Poterat apostolus gloriari in sapientia Christi et
verum diceret; poterat in majestate, poterat in potestate et verum diceret;
sed dixit, In cRUCE. Ubi mundi philosophus erubuit ibi apostolus thesaurum reperit ut qui gloriatur in Domino glorietur. Quo Domino? Christo
crucifixo. Ubi humilitas ibi majestas, ubi infirmitas ibi potestas, ubi mors
ibi vita." —De Verbis Apost. Ser. xx.
2  "Where should the guilty, who has lost
Jehovah's favour by his sin,
Find worth that he may safely trust,
A righteousness to glory in?
" Behold the Cross! the blood divine
That there for sinful man was spilt!
Here's worth enough to glory in,
Enough to cleanse the foulest guilt.
2A




370            EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
The example of the apostle deserves to be sedulously followed
by the ministers of the gospel. Every Christian minister should
himself be a Christian-should, for himself, as a poor, guilty
hell-deserving sinner, glory in the Cross; and if he does so, the
Cross is sure to occupy its proper place in his public ministrations. It is thus only that he can be faithful to his Master-it
is thus only that he can gain the great object of his ministry in
making men good and happy. Let a man preach with the
greatest ability and zeal everything in the Bible but the Cross,
he shall, as to the great end of preaching, preach in vain.
While, on the other hand, the honest preaching of the Crossthough in great weakness, and even when accompanied with
great deficiencies as to a full declaration of the counsel of God
on some other subjects-has usually been accompanied with the
divine blessing. The doctrine of the atonement ought not to
be the sole theme of the Christian ministry, but every doctrine,
and every precept, of Christianity should be exhibited in their
connection with this great master principle; and the leading
object of the preacher should be to keep the mind and the heart
of his hearers steadily fixed on Christ Jesus —Christ Jesus
crucified.
SECT. V. —THE CRUCIFIXION OF THE WORLD TO THE APOSTLE,
AND OF THE APOSTLE TO THE WORLD, BY THE CROSS OF
CHRIST.
The influence which Paul's views of the Cross had on his
views of the world, and the influence which his boastful manifestation of these views of the Cross had on the views of the men
of the world respecting him, are powerfully expressed in the close
of the sentence,-" By whom the world is crucified unto me, and
I unto the world." 1f
It was because Paul gloried in the Cross of Christ that the
world was crucified to him, and he to the world; and it was
because the Judaising teachers did not glory in the Cross of
"When false foundations all are gone,
Each lying refuge blown to air,
The Cross remains our boast alone:
The righteousness of God is there."-Glassite Hymn.
Gal. vi. 14.                f See Note F.




P. VII. ~ 5.] THE WORLD CRUCIFIED TO THE APOSTLE.          371
Christ that the world was not crucified to them, nor they to the
world.
The relative which connects the two parts of the verse,' may
either refer to Christ, or to Christ's Cross. From the way in
which our translators have rendered it, it is plain they referred it
to Christ —"by whom," that is, by Christ. With a large proportion
of the best interpreters, I think it more natural to refer it to the
Cross of Christ, and would render it " by which." The apostle's
declaration then is, by the Cross of Christ2 "the world is
crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Such is the construction of the passage: let us inquire into its meaning.
" The world "  is a term  that very often occurs in the New
Testament in a somewhat peculiar sense. It designates present
sensible things, viewed as exercising a malignant influence over
the minds of men —directly opposed to the influence which future
and spiritual things should exert over them.4 It includes in it
the external frame of nature-mankind-and their institutions,
honours, pleasures, and wealth-disgrace, pain, and poverty-all
that originates in this material system, and interests us, as belonging to it. It is plain that one man's world may be very
different from another man's world. The world of the peasant
and of the prince, of the theologian and of the statesman, of the
Jew and of the Gentile, are very different worlds, but they are
composed of the same sort of elements; and " the world" in
each case means just the various earthly, external, influential
objects, whether persons or things, objects or events, by which
the individual is surrounded.
In the passage before us, and in many others, these sensible
present things are personified, and termed " the world." Now,
the apostle represents this figurative personage as crucified " to
him;" that is, in his estimation. It deserves notice that the
Apostle Paul is peculiarly attached to the word 1" crucify." He
often uses it, when another word would nearly at least have expressed his idea, and when a person, whose mind and heart were less
1 0.
2 By giving, as a marginal rendering, " whereby," our version indicates the
ambiguity of the original                         63  Kod.tOs.
4 1 Cor. vii. 31, 33; 2 Cor. vii. 10; James iv. 4; 1 John ii. 15, 16.
Theodoret's note is good: " Kdo,/ovo  / E4KAXE -eh aL torLKh arpaYtLara,  r7v
8d'av, rv 7rXoi7rrov."




372             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
occupied with the cross, and Him who hung on it, would naturally
have employed another term,-" Our old man is crucified;"
"They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh;" and here,
"The world is crucified to me, and I am crucified to the world."
But what is the apostle's meaning when he says " the world"
-that is, present sensible things, as possessing and exercising
influence-is as a crucified person, in his estimation?  "The
world," in the estimate formed of it by mankind in general, may
be compared to a mighty prince, who has unlimited means of
bestowing rewards and inflicting punishments, and whose favour,
of course, it is of the highest importance to secure and retain.
They conceive that happiness is to be found in present sensible
things. To be rich and honourable, to have all the accommodation and pleasures of the present state, to enjoy the smiles of
this potentate, is, in their estimation, to be happy. To be poor
and despised, persecuted and afflicted, to be subjected to the
frown of this potentate, is, in their estimation, to be miserable.
This is the mode of thinking and feeling natural to man, and it
was once the apostle's mode of thinking and feeling. He once
counted worldly honour, and wealth, and pleasure, and power,
gain; but now, instead of viewing the world as a mighty potentate, he regarded it as a condemned malefactor nailed to a cross.
He no longer looked to it for happiness; he no longer regarded
it either with admiration or fear; he no longer courted its smiles;
he no longer dreaded its frowns. The wealth, and honours, and
pleasures of the world could not seduce him, nor all its varied
evils terrify him into an abandonment of the Saviour or of his
cause-make him renounce or even conceal one of his doctrines
— neglect one of his ordinances, or violate one of his laws. In
his estimate, to do anything inconsistent with duty to his Lord,
in compliance with " the course of this world," in order to attain
its richest reward, or avoid its severest punishment, would be as
absurd as if to procure a favourable glance from the eye of a
worthless expiring felon on a cross, a person were to subject himself to the displeasure of an accomplished and powerful sovereign, who had every claim on his affections and allegiance.l
1 Erasmus happily expresses it, " Nec malis illius territor, nec commodis
titillor; nec odium metuo nec plausum moror; nec ignominiam reformido
nec gloriam affecto."




P. VII. ~ 5.] TIlE WORLD CRUCIFIED TO THE APOSTLE.       373
The phrase probably intimates even something more than
this.  The apostle regarded " the world" viewed as man's idol;
(for " covetousness "-just another word for the supreme love of
the world-" is idolatry,")-that from which he seeks for happiness,-that which he substitutes in the room of God, and of his
Son, with a species of horror similar to that with which a Jew
regarded a crucified person-as one accursed of God. He shrunk
back from the idea of making that which is the object of God's
curse the object of his supreme affection.
This complete revolution in the apostle's mode of thinking in
reference to the world, was brought about by the Cross. It was
by the cross of Christ that the world was crucified to him; that
is,' It was the doctrine of the Cross, understood and believed by
him, that led him into this way of thinking and feeling in reference to the world.'
How it did so it is not very difficult to explain. The death of
the incarnate, only-begotten Son of God on a cross, in order to
avert the miseries, and secure the happiness of eternity, is calculated so to impress the mind with the inconceivable importance of that eternity, as that the man brought under the " power
of the world to come" is delivered from " the present evil world."
Every earth-born thing, in such a case, " grows dim and disappears-shrinks to a thing of nought."  Besides, the doctrine of
the Cross believed gives other and better sources of enjoyment,it makes us acquainted with things far more to be desired than
any worldly good, and things far more to be dreaded than any
worldly evil; and it necessarily leads us to view " the world"
in the aspect in which all men naturally consider it, as our most
dangerous enemy, leading the mind away from God, and tendinog to form us to a character directly the reverse of that which
Christ died on-the cross for us to secure.'
But the apostle not only states that by the Cross " the world
was crucified to him," but that by the Cross too " he was crucified
to the world." Some interpreters consider these words as just a
repetition of the same sentiment, under a different form of expression.' I am crucified in reference to the world. I regard
"1 c The apostle had commenced his epistle (chap. i. 4) by stating that
Christ' gave himself for the sins of his people, that he might deliver them
from this present evil world;' and here, at the close, he shows how this was
effected in his own experience, by' the cross.' — HALDANE (J. A.)




374             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
the world as a crucified person does; what are the riches, and
honours, and pleasures of the world to one expiring on a cross?
I see the world in the light in which he sees it.' In their way
of understanding the phrase, it is equivalent to, " dead to the
world."
But I am not disposed to think this the right mode of interpretation. There is plainly an antithesis; and the two parts of
it must be explained on similar principles. If the first means,'The world is as a crucified person in my estimation,' the second
must mean, I I am as a crucified person in the world's estimation.'l " The world," in the second clause, is not quite so extensive in its meaning as in the first. It plainly, from the nature
of the case, refers to that part of " the world" which is intelligent-' the men of the world.' To men of the world the apostle
was a crucified person; he was an object of contempt, of hatred,
and even of horror. There was a time when he was highly
esteemed by his unbelieving countrymen-his living world-as
a man of talent and worth. But it was now far otherwise. They
reckoned him a wicked fool-a mischievous madman. His Jewish brethren regarded him with peculiar terror as an apostate,
and hated him nearly as intensely as they did his Lord;2 and
the sentiments of the unbelieving Gentile world in reference to
him were not materially different,-somewhat less of hatred —
possibly somewhat more of contempt. What the apostle says
generally of his apostolic brethren, was peculiarly applicable to
himself: —" For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles
last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle
unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for
Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ: we are weak, but ye
are strong: ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto
this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked,
and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place; and labour,
working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being
persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we entreat: we are
1 The first clause is equivalent to,' Ego mundum damno et execrationi
habeo;' the second is equivalent to,' Mundus vicissim me anathema et
catharma reputat.'
2 The force of the two clauses is very well given by Bauer, in his
Phil. Thucid. Paul. —" Ipse nil magni facit mundi, et mundus ipsum contemnit."




P. VII. ~ 5.] THE APOSTLE CRUCIFIED TO THE WORLD.      375
made as the filth of the world, and are the off-scouring of all
things unto this day."' 
And as the world was " crucified to the apostle by the cross
of Christ," so " it was by the cross of Christ that he was crucified
to the world."  It was the mode of thinking, and feeling, and
acting, to which the faith of the doctrine of the Cross naturally
led, that made him the object of the contempt and dislike of
worldly men. It was this that led him to the bold avowal of the
hated doctrine of the Cross, and of the doctrines connected with
it, equally disliked by the worldly; and to that course of active
endeavours to overthrow the power of the world over the mind
and heart of men, which formed the business of his life.
The object of the apostle in making these statements is plain.
It is as if he had said,' Your Judaising teachers wish to keep
well with the world; but all this is over, completely over, with
me. Through the Cross, what is the object of their admiration
and fear, as it was once of mine, is the object of my dislike and
contempt; and indeed it were needless for me to attempt to court
the world's favour, for I know that, through the Cross, I am become an object of its contempt and execration. But in the Cross
I have infinitely more than the world ever gave me-ever could
give me,-infinitely more even than I ever expected from it;
and I have also what far more than compensates for its contempt
and hatred. I glory in the Cross. God forbid that I should not
glory in it, and God forbid that I should glory in anything else.'
What the apostle here expresses is not a sentiment and experience peculiar to him as an apostle, it is a conviction and
feeling common to him with all in Christ. His declaration ought
to be employed for the purposes of self-inquiry. Is the world
crucified to us by the Cross of Christ, and are we by that Cross
crucified to the world? We all naturally love and serve the world.
In some of its forms it is the great subject of thought-the great
object of affection. True faith in the Cross, and in Him who
hung on it, crucifies the world to us, and makes us cease to love
and serve it. " This is the victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith." Men, to whom the world is not crucified, are
certainly not believers; and men professing Christianity, who
are not " crucified to the world "-men whom the world loves
1 1Cor. iv. 9-13.




376             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
and honours, —have cause to stand in doubt of themselves.
Where the Cross holds the place in the heart which it did in
the apostle's, and exercises the influence over the character and
conduct it did in him, it will be equally clear that the world is
crucified to the individual, and he to the world.
Christians do not need to be greatly concerned though "they
are crucified to the world,"-though the world should strongly
dislike them, and very clearly show its dislike. Its smiles are
more formidable to their best interests than its frowns. It is not
wise to provoke unnecessarily the ill-will even of the most decidedly worldly —this is fitted to do nothing but mischief; but
Christians should do nothing inconsistent with their professed
attachment td the Cross of Christ to secure the favour of the
world. Either course of conduct throws obstacles in the way of
their doing duty to the world, which is, to endeavour to save it
from itself. They ought especially to be desirous to have the
world every day more crucified to them-to be every day more
and more delivered from its demoralising influence; and they
must never forget that it is the Cross which is the grand means
of emancipation from the world's power. The thought-Christ
the Son of God-" the just One died in the room of the unjust,"
for our sins, to deliver us from " the present evil world "-clearly
apprehended, firmly believed-ought ever to be present to the
mind. " Forasmuch as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh"
-let us arm ourselves with this thought, —" He that hath suffered in the flesh is free from sin, that we no longer live the rest
of our time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to the will of
God." It is the grace of God, manifested in the Cross of Christ,
that effectually teaches to " deny ungodliness and worldly lusts,
and to live soberly, righteously, and godly; and to look for the
blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."
SECT. VI. -TE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY AGAIN STATED.g
The apostle now, in this Postscript, repeats substantially, as
of supreme importance, a statement which he had already made
more than once in a former part of the epistle.l This double
g See Note G.                1 Gal. iii. 28; v. 6.




P. VII. ~ 6.] THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY AGAIN STATED. 377
repetition strongly marks at once his sense of the intrinsic value
of the principle, and his conviction that the Galatians very much
needed to have their attention directed to it. "For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." 
The first thing requiring attention here, is the connection between this and the preceding statements, indicated-by the particle
" for." 2 I apprehend the following is the apostle's train of
thought:-' I do not glory in Jewish peculiarities, such as circumcision, for I know that in Christianity these are of no avail;
but I do glory in the Cross of Christ, through which that radical
spiritual change is effected, which is all in all in Christianity.
These Judaising teachers, calling themselves Christians, are a
most inconsistent set of men. They glory in what has nothing
to do with Christianity, and are ashamed of what is its very
essence. I act a more consistent part: I care nothing for what
I know to be nothing in Christ's estimation; I care much for
what I know to be everything in his estimation. "For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature."'
The phrase, "in Christ Jesus," may either be considered as
signifying'under Jesus Christ'-that is, under the New Testament economy; or it may be viewed as an elliptical expression,
equivalent to " to the being in Jesus Christ,"-that is, to the being
a true Christian, so related to Christ, as to be treated as if we
had done what He did, suffered what He suffered, and deserved
what He deserved,-so as to obtain a participation in all the
blessings of his salvation,-so as to be partakers with Him of the
divine special favour; of the Spirit of truth, holiness, and consolation, which dwells in Him without measure; and of all the dignities, immunities, and delights of the children of the Lord God
Almighty, whose only-begotten He is, yet " the first-born among
many brethren." It does not matter much which of the two
views you take; both express important truth, and both express
truths quite appropriate to the apostle's object. We are rather
inclined to consider the first as exhibiting the apostle's meaning;
under Christ, as opposed to under Moses, " neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision."
1Gal. vi. 15.                     2 yap




378             EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
The term rendered " availeth "' seems a false reading. The
idea plainly is,' Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is any
recommendation to a man under the Christian dispensation. The
proper signification of both phrases-" availeth," and " is "-is
to have force, to be of importance, whether of a favourable or
unfavourable kind. Under the law circumcision was something
-it " availed," or was of force. It never secured salvation, but
it opened the way to the possession of numerous important privileges; and, on the other hand, uncircumcision precluded the
enjoyment of these privileges. A Gentile, on being circumcised,
was admitted to the participation in all the external privileges
of the chosen nation; and, on the other hand, a Jew, a descendant from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, if he did not submit to
circumcision, was cast off from the people of the Lord, and had
no more interest than an uncircumcised Gentile in the blessing
of the natural covenant. But under Christ it is otherwise: circumcision is nothing; it has no force in introducing a man into
the enjoyment of its privileges: uncircumcision has no force in
excluding him from them. Submitting to the initiatory rite of
Judaism has nothing to do with Christianity. He that has submitted to it is not on that account the nearer the enjoyment of
the blessings Christianity promises: he that has not submitted
to it is not on that account the farther from the enjoyment of
these blessings. The circumcised and the uncircumcised stand,
in reference to them, on the same level.
The words that follow-" but a new creature"2'-are equivalent to,' But in Christ Jesus a new creature, or creation, is
something-a new creature availeth.'
But what are we to understand by this "new creature," or
new creation, which exists and avails in Christ Jesus? In the
passage which is often quoted as parallel to that now before us,
"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature "3-or, there is
-1 E-tv, not lo'Xv't, seems the genuine reading, and is placed in the text by
Griesbach, Scholz, Lachmann, and Tischendorf. I'XVEL seems to have been
borrowed from chap. v. 6, where it is the undoubted reading.
2 KaOn,) KTkI'T. " The translation we have of these words is by much too
weak to express their meaning.' A new creature' does indeed suppose' a
new creation."' -RICCALTOUN.  "A new creation" leads the mind more
directly to the supernatural character of the change whereby a man becomes
a Christian.                                 3 2 Cor. v. 17.




P. VII. ~ 6.] THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY AGAIN STATED. 379
a new creation,- it is probable that " new creation" describes the
whole change which takes place when a man becomes a Christian,
-the change of state, as well as the change of disposition,-the
change of relation, as well as the change of character. It intimates
not only that, when a man becomes a Christian, he becomes a
new man, but that he comes into a new world. " Old things pass
away, and all things become new." But, in the passage before
us, it seems restricted to the change of character. The new
creature, or creation, is but a figurative phrase for " faith that
worketh by love."1 It is that new mode of thinking and feeling
which, growing out of the faith of the truth respecting the Cross
of Christ-produced by the Holy Spirit, and manifesting itself in
love and its fruits,-constitutes the essence of true Christianity,
and, as the apostle says, crucifies the world to a man, and him
to the world. The new creature is not a new soul, nor is it the
addition of new faculties to the old soul-far less is it a portion
of the Divine essence somehow or other amalgamated with the
human spirit; but it is a new way of thinking, of feeling, and
of acting-a new system of sentiments, affections, and habits,
all of them the work of the Holy Spirit, growing out of the faith
of the truth, which HE produces in the soul,-" faith working
by love."
This is something-this, and nothing else, avails in Christ
Jesus. A man, though circumcised, if he is not a " new creature," has neither lot nor part in the matter of true Christianity.
A man, though uncircumcised, if he is a " new creature," is,
in all the emphasis of the word, a Christian; he is one with
the Seed, in reference to whom the promise was made,-identifled with Christ, —" an heir of God-a joint-heir with Jesus
Christ."
The great principle here taught by the apostle, though, according to the wisdom given to him, taught with a peculiar
reference to those whom he was immediately addressing, is,'that
true Christianity does not consist in anything merely external,
but in the state of the " hidden man " of the mind and heart.
Nothing merely external can make a man a Christian. He may
be baptised, but the washing of water is not " the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost."2  He may
1 Gal. v. 6.
2 XOVTpOV 7raXtyyEVEroaVS KCIt (tvaKatvC(tSt 7TVEVI(,La'o,;yov. —Tit. iii. 5.




380            EPISTLE TO TIlE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
observe the Lord's Supper, but eating bread and drinking wine,
" not discerning the Lord's body," is not " the communion of the
body and blood of Christ." He may attend the public ordinances
of religion, but all this may only be bodily service. He may give
much alms, and say many prayers, but all this may be to be seen
of men. He may do many things commended by Christ, but
his motives may be dangerously defective or fatally wrong.
Nothing will suffice but the new creation-the mind and the
heart transformed by divine truth regarding the Cross of Christ,
made effectual by divine influence.
It is lamentable to think how often religion is placed in what
has nothing to do with true Christianity,-in counting beads,
and doing penance, and going on pilgrimages,-in wearing a
particular dress, or speaking a peculiar dialect; and it is almost
equally lamentable that, among those who are somewhat better
informed, it is often placed in what, at best, is merely the expression of real religion, and which, of course, where the reality
is wanting, is mere show and hypocrisy-nothing, or worse than
nothing. It is not connection with religious parents —it is not
membership in the purest church in the world-it is not the observance of external ordinances-it is not the most decorous
course of general conduct, which makes the true Christian. It
is the renewed mind and heart, and the transformation of character, which the renewed mind and heart produce.
" The word of the truth of the gospel" is the instrument by
which alone, under the influence of the Spirit, the character
connected with salvation-the character necessary to make a
person capable of enjoying the blessings of the Christian salvation-is formed. It is this which gives such transcendent importance to the gospel, and to the faith of the gospel. Some
seem to think that there is a way of faith leading to heaven
distinct from that of holiness. But the way of faith and holiness is the same way. It is by believing that we become holy;
and if we are not holy, it is the strongest of all evidences that we
do not believe. It is a lamentable mistake to suppose that something called faith may be a substitute for spiritual practical
religion-for a life of principled obedience and submission to the
will of God. In believing we obtain a new mind; and if we
have obtained this new mind, we must, according to its measure,
be transformed: so closely connected are " the faith which work



P. VII. ~ 7.] THE APOSTLE'S PRAYER FOR ALL CHRISTIANS. 381
eth by love" of chap. v. 6, and " the new creature" of the verse
before us.
SECT. VII.-THE APOSTLE'S PRAYER FOR ALL WHO POSSESS THE
ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF CHRISTIANITY, AND ACT ON IT.
On all who act on this principle, the apostle implores every
heavenly and spiritual blessing, acknowledging them, and them
only, as the true people of God. 11 And as many as walk 1 according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the
Israel of God." 2
These words contain the statement of a principle which the
apostle obviously considered of cardinal importance, and the
expression of a kind wish in reference to all who regulate themselves by this principle as their rule. Let us attend to these in
their order; and first, of the apostle's principle.
It has been supposed by many good interpreters that there is
only one class of persons spoken of by the apostle, that they who
~' walk by this rule," and A" the Israel of God," are but different
descriptions of the same class of individuals. They consider the
particle, " and," as equivalent to, " even." There can be no doubt
that the particle is used in this way, 1 Cor. iii. 5, and elsewhere:
at the same time, it is not a common use of it. We apprehend
that the apostle refers to two classes of persons; that the first
application refers to teachers of Christianity, and the second to
private Christians.
The "rule"3 is obviously the principle laid down in the preceding verse; and to "walk" by that rule, is to regulate their
conduct according to this principle. The teachers of Christianity
who walk by this rule are those who not only boldly avow it, but
who, in receiving persons into the fellowship of the Christian
church, will be satisfied with nothing short of, and require nothing
more than, credible evidence of the new creation —a credible
1 TroLXV7rovalv. "Ita incedere, ut recta serie et ordine progrediantur,
illud est TTOLXEiV."-RAINOLDUS, ap. BEZA.
2 Gal. v. 16.
3 It deserves notice, merely as a specimen of what fantastic exegesis some
learned men will occasionally adopt, that De Rhoer interprets the word
Kavwv of Jesus Christ.-Feric Daventrienses, p. 119. T7 Kavovl = Kar 7Tav
Kavola.




382              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
profession of the "faith that worketh by love."  The Judaising
teachers did not walk by this rule. A worldly, immoral man, if
he would but submit to circumcision, they were ready to acknowledge as a disciple; and an enlightened, conscientious Christian,
if he would not submit to circumcision, they were disposed to
exclude from their fellowship. To such persons the apostle
would not bid God speed, though he did pray " that God would
give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth;" but
on all who walked by the rule, " In Christ Jesus there is neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision, but a new creature," he invoked
" peace and mercy," that is, every blessing.
And he invoked these blessings, not only on them, but also on
"' the Israel of God,"l that is, the spiritual Israel in opposition
to the carnal Israel.' "Ye," says the apostle, speaking to the
believing Galatians, "Ye are the seed of Abraham, and heirs
according to the promise." "We," says he to the Philippians
— we, that is, believers, whether Jews or Gentiles-" We are
the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit.""  Paul had
a strong affection for his unbelieving brethren, Israel after the
flesh, and " his heart's desire and prayer to God for them was,
that they might be saved."4 But he regarded the Israel of God
with an affection of a peculiar kind. They were his " brethren
in the Lord;" it mattered not to him whether they were Jews
or Gentiles. By faith they had become the Israel of God-God's
spiritual people-and for them he supplicates all heavenly and
spiritual blessings. Let us imitate the apostle. Let us show
our disapprobation of all who either make terms of communion
which Christ never made, or dispense with those terms which
He has made. The two things commonly go together. Let us
walk by this rule. Let us cordially love and earnestly pray for
all who walk by it, whether they follow with us or not; and let
our kind regards be as extended as those of our Lord and his
apostles-let them reach to all the Israel of God.
1' I(rpaqTtTLK0Vy yap 7o aXqLvoLv, evvIAartKOV, Kai'Ionia yfvosS KaL'IaKcf3,
Kal'IaadK, Kal'A3paad,  rov v dcKpofvtrlfa e;rl E7L  7flaTTEL aprvpIO0vroS W Mir
roe eEOv Ka'l EVXoyrl7OvroS, Kat 7raTrpob roXX&v eOv&v KXrl;evrov, rvEi EcOtEv,
oL Tal  oTroTV cra7avproV So XpLrro TrZ EEi rpoTPOcpaxO;eres."-JUST. MART.
Dial. curm Tryph. It is remarkable that two such learned and judicious
interpreters as Bengel and Morus (S. F. N.) should refer this phrase to the
Jews, " Israel Kara capKa."
2 6'Iopa'X Ka' oadpKa —1 Cor. x. 18.    3 Phil. iii. 3.    4 Rom. x. 1.




P. VII. ~ 8.] THE APOSTLE NO LONGER TO BE HARASSED.    383
SECT. VIII.-AN  INJUNCTION  TO  CEASE  TO  HARASS  THE
APOSTLE, AS HE HAD BEEN HARASSED BY THE JUDAISERS
AND THEIR FOLLOWERS.
The epistle now draws to a conclusion. The apostle makes a
request, or rather issues forth a command, that he should no
more be teased and harassed, as he had been, by these Judaising
teachers in Galatia, and assigns a very good reason for this.
" From henceforth' let no man trouble2 me: for I bear' in my
body the marks4 of the Lord Jesus."5
The words have received two interpretations. They have been
viewed as signifying,  Let no man professing to be a Christian
act the part of these Judaisers, in disturbing and harassing my
mind: I am exposed, in the cause of Jesus Christ, to suffering
enough already: let him look at the marks I bear in my body
of suffering sustained in the common cause, and let him not
heap up sorrow upon sorrow upon me.' Others consider them
as meaning,' Let nobody, after this clear statement of my views
and determination, trouble me by seeking my sanction to Judaising principles or practices: I am a Christian-a thorough
Christian: the marks which I bear in my body of the sufferings
I have undergone in defence of the Cross, the grand peculiarity
of Christianity as opposed to Judaism, are like the signs impressed on the bodies of priests to mark them as the property
of their deities, or on slaves to mark them as the property of
their master:6 these are evidences that I have taken up my
1 ro XOolwoV, SUp. XpOSvov. The complete phrase is daro T. X. 7r.
2 K07OVS rrapxeLv,' to give trouble.' Matth. xxvi. 10; Luke xi. 7.
"O;VK,ELrE 6'XCO, aXXah 3acTrradco (OrTrep TL Tpo7raLoV, CT r lEliov a3acrtLLKOV
KaL TOVTOLS Eva0pvvoLat.a-THEOPHYLACT.
"4     o' -h iyzara T. K. I. Opponuntur stigmata in corpore notre circumcisionis."-BENGEL.                                    Gal. vi. 17.
6 r.LtY.laTra, equivalent to 7raOtza'ara'TO XpLcrroi, 2 Cor. i. 5; T)Vy VEKpoaGlV
ToO Kvpiov'bIlo o, 2 Cor. iv. 10; KO7rovv, 7rX,7yds,, r vaXaKaS, v OavaTovs, 2 Cor.
xi. 23. Prudentius describes the practice referred to:" Quod cum sacrandus accipit sphragitidas
Acus minutas ingerunt fornacibus;
His membra pergunt urere, utque igniverint,
Quamcunque partem corporis fervens nota
Stigmarit, hanc sibi consecratam proedicant."
-InepLt Sreb. Hymn. x. 1076-80.




384              EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
ground, and that my mottoes are, " Christ, and Him crucified."
l None but Christ-none but Christ."  " Christ is all, and in
all."' The latter appears to me the more probable meaning.
A third mode of interpretation has suggested itself to me, as not
without plausibility:' Let those who harass me take care what
they are about. They need fear nothing from me; but I have
a powerful Master: I am his property, and bear his mark on
me. He will take care of me, and He will not suffer those who
abuse his property to pass unpunished.'
Every Christian, and especially every Christian minister, will
find it highly advantageous to imitate the apostle in his decision on such points. There is nothing ultimately gained by
seeming to "halt between  two opinions" in  such matters.'
Decision commands respect, even when exciting hatred and fear.
1 Dr Paley's note on this verse, in connection with chap. iv. 29, v. 11,
deserves to be quoted: —" From these several texts, it is apparent that the
persecutions which our apostle had undergone were from the hands, or by
the instigation, of the Jews; that it was not for preaching Christianity in
opposition to heathenism, but it was for preaching it as distinct from Judaism,
that he had brought upon himself the sufferings which had attended his
ministry. And this representation perfectly coincides with that which results
from the detail of St Paul's history, as delivered in the Acts. At Antioch
in Pisidia, the' word of the Lord was published throughout all the region;
but the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief
men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and
expelled them out of their coasts.' (Acts xiii. 49, 50.) Not long after, at
Iconium,' a great multitude of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed;
but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil
affected against the brethren. (Acts xiv. 1, 2.) At Lystra,' there came
certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and,
having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.'
(Acts xiv. 19.) The same enmity, and from the same quarter, our apostle
experienced in Greece. At Thessalonica,' some of them (the Jews) believed,
and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. But the Jews which believed not,
moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and
gathered a company, and set all the city in an uproar, and assaulted the
house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.' (Acts xvii.
4, 5.) Their persecutors follow them to Berea.' When the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea,
they came thither also, and stirred up the people.' (Acts xvii. 13.) And
lastly, at Corinth,' when Gallio was deputy of Achaia, the Jews made
insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat."' Erasmus' paraphrase of [aa'rgco K. T. X. is beautiful. Whether




P. VII. ~ 9.]     CONCLUDING BENEDICTION.                     385
The apostle exemplified his own precept, " Let no man despise
thee." 1
SECT. IX.-CONCLUDING BENEDICTION.
The epistle closes, according to the apostle's custom, with a
solemn benediction.   "Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with your spirit.  Amen." 2  "The grace3 of our Lord
Jesus Christ" is just the favour or kindness of our Lord Jesus
Christ. To possess this is an inconceivable blessing. To be the
objects of the kind regards of one so excellent, so amiable, so kind,
so wise, so faithful, who can estimate the value of this? It was
the apostle's wish that the Galatian Christians might every day
enjoy new proofs of this unaltered, unalterable love.
He does not pray simply that " the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ may be with them," but that it may be with their "spirit."
The leading object of the whole epistle is to withdraw them more
from external things, and fix them on things spiritual; and such
a prayer is a most appropriate conclusion. AMay you have tokens
of the Saviour's kindness in his blessing you with " all heavenly
and spiritual blessings"-in his making you more and more holy,
and thus more and more happy —making you grow in knowledge,
and faith, and comfort, and holiness. "Amen." So may it be;
so shall it be. Thus does the apostle conclude this admirable
epistle, and show us, by his example, what it is to " do all things
in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father
by him."
The illustration of this epistle is now concluded, and nothing
he does not rather put the sentiment into the words, than draw it out of
them, would, however, admit of a question: —" Tantum enim abest ut ab
Evangelica veritate probris ullis aut afflictionibus queam divelli ut ignominiam ob Christum inustam mihi ut carceres ut virgas ut vincula et lapidationes caeteraque mala quve pro Christo nomine perpessus sum, ceu notas
stigmataque Domini mei Jesus Christi mecum ubique circumferam in corpore
meo veluti trophoea quaedam ostentans ac gloriae mihi ducens quod qua licet
imitari merear Christi crucem quam praedico."
1 Tit. ii. 4.                                   2 Gal. vi. 18.
3 It is of little moment whether by this " grace" we understand that free
love and favour which He always bears in his heart to all that believe in his
name, or all that kindness-all those heavenly and spiritual blessings —in the
communication of which He manifests this love, this free favour.
2n 




386               EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [CHAP. VI. 11-18.
remains but the improvement which ought to be made, and the
account which must be given. God requires the things which
are past, and so should we. Let me request my readers seriously
to review  the whole epistle —let them  ask themselves,'Do we
understand it better, and do we feel more powerfully the sanctifying and consoling influence of the doctrines which it unfolds?
Have we,in the course of studying this very precious portion of the
volume of inspiration, become more decidedly, more thoroughly
spiritual? Have we seen more distinctly that the finished work
of the Saviour is the only ground of our hope —that the faith of
the truth is the only instrument of our justification, the principal
means of our sanctification-that the Holy Spirit is the grand
agent who works in us both to will and to do? And are we in
consequence of thus depending more entirely and confidently on
the Saviour, believing more implicitly the truth as it is in him,
and seeking with greater earnestness that Holy Spirit who is
promised to all who ask him?' If it be so, even in one instance,
the author's labour has not been lost; should it be so in many
instances, he has received " a full reward," and the church of
God may another day reap a rich benefit.l
In the " textus receptus" followed by our translators, the following note is added to the epistle, " Unto the Galatians, written
1 The prayer with which Pareus closes his course of Lectures on this
Epistle is so appropriate and excellent, that we give it a place here: " Gratias
tibi clementissime Pater, agimus toto pectore, quod ad divinissimam hane
apostoli tui epistolam intelligendam et enarrandam caliginosas mentes nostras
Spiritus tui radiis illustraveris, tempusque et vires dederis ut cceptam ejus
interpretationem ad finem usque feliciter perducere potuerimus. Invocamus
te porro supplices, inscribe, obsigna eodem spiritu tuo doctrinam auditam
cordibus nostris, ut vires et opera nostra, nosque ipsos ultro abnegantes,
omnem justitiam, vitam, salutem nostram non nisi in cruce unigeniti Filii tui
per fidem quoeramus: qui factus pro nobis execratio, ut nos ab execratione
et servitute legis liberates promissa benedictione donaret, inque libertatem
filiorum Dei transmitteret. Da etiam ut in libertate quam Christus filius
tuus sanguine suo nobis acquisivit, firmiter perstemus, nec jugo antiquae legis
aut humanarum traditionum denuo nos implicari sinamus: opera insuper
carnis fructificantia in interitum, summo studio fugiamus, et fructus Spiritus
tibi placentes perpetuos feramus: denique secundum canonem hune apostolicum provide incedentes pacem et misericordiam sempiternam consequamur
in Christo Jesu: cui tecum et cum Spiritu tuo Sancto sit benedictio et gloria
et honor et robur in secula. Amen."




P. VII. ~ 9.]     CONCLUDING BENEDICTION.                   387
from  Rome."    Those hypographs subjoined to the epistles
express merely the opinions entertained by the transcribers
who added them, no man can tell when or where; and are
of value just so far as they can be supported by evidence. We
have seen2 that it is not at all probable that the statement
made here is correct; and that from whatever place the epistle
was written, it is all but certain that it was not from Rome.
" The copiers," says Dr Wall, "could not have pitched on a
more unlikely place; a place where St Paul had never been:
nor did he go thither for several years after this. There is, indeed, no certain character of time or place found in it. But as
his last being in Galatia was but a little before this time, and he
rebukes them for being so soon gone off from the principles he
had taught them, and because Ephesus was the first place he
settled at after he left them, Usher, Pearson, etc. conclude that
it was written from thence not long after his settling there." 3
1 7rpos raXa'Trav cypaicr dlr6'P6tPr]L. There is a great variety in the Codd.
respecting this subscription. The Coptic version adds 83h Ttirov, and the
Arabic Sta T'rov Kal AovKa.
2 Prolegomena, pp. 5, 6.
3 Critical Notes on the Newu- Testament, pp. 173, 174.








APPENDIX
NOTE A, p. 191.
CALVIN'S EXPOSITION OF GAL. IV. 1-7.'QUIDAM accommodant similitudinem ad unumquenque hominem:
quum  Paulus de duobus populis loquatur. Fateor quidem verum
esse quod dicunt: sed nihil ad praesentem locum. Electi, inquiunt,
tametsi filii Dei sunt ab utero, donec tamen fide in libertatis possessionem veniant, sub lege manent, servis similes; cognito autem
Christo hoc genere tutelme non amplius indigent.  Ut hoc totum concedam, nego hice Paulum de singulis hominibus tractare: nego eum
distinguere inter tempus infidelitatis et vocationis ad fidem. Sed de hoc
disputat, Quum una sit ecclesia Dei qui fit ut diversa sit nostra et
Israelitarum  conditio?  Quum  fide simus liberi qui fit ut illi qui
communem  nobiscum  fidem habuerunt ejusdem nobiscum libertatis
compotes non fuerint? Quum ex aequo simus omnes filii Dei, qui fit ut
a jugo quod coacti sunt portare, sinus hodie immunes?  De his enim
controversia et certamen erat; non autem qualiter lex unicuique
nostrum dominetur, ante quam per fidem liberemur ab ejus servitute.
Sit ergo ante omnia hoe constitutum, Paulum hic ecclesiam Israeliticam, quoe sub Veteri Testamento fuit, conferre cum ecclesia Christiana:
ut inde pateat quod inter nos conveniat, et quod alii ab aliis differamus.
Haec comparatio uberrimam doctrinam continet, atque imprimis utilem.
Primo, hine colligimus, ejusdem haereditatis spem fuisse patribus sub
Veteri Testamento, quam hodie habemus, quia ejusdem adoptionis participes fuerunt; et non ad eos minus quam ad nos pertinere spiritualem
benedictionem Abrahe promissam. Secundo, colligimus in externa servitute nihilo minus liberas fuisse ipsorum, conscientias: neque enim
Mosem, Danielem, pios omnes reges, sacerdotes, et prophetas, et totum
chorum fideliumr impediebat adstrictio servandae legis, quin spiritu
essent liberi.  Ergo jugum  legis ita humeris portabant, ut libero




390                   APPENDIX, NOTE A.
interea spiritu Deum colerent: proesertim vere de gratuita peccatorum
remissione edocti, conscientias haberent a pecati et mortis tyrannide
solutas.  Inde constituendum est, eandemn semper fuisse doctrinam, et
vera fidei unitate nobiscum fuisse conjunctos: unius etiam Mediatoris
fiducia nobiscum fretos, Deum  Patrem  invocasse, et eodem Spiritu
fuisse gubernatos. His omnibus consentaneum  est, discrimen inter
nos et veteres patres non in substantia esse, sed in accidentalibus:
Nam quve proecipua sunt in Testamento vel fcedere, in iis convenimus:
caeremoniae et totum illud regimen in quibus differimus, sunt quasi
accessiones. Praeterea observatum est, tempus illud fuisse ecclesie
pueritiam: nune vero a Christi adventu ecclesiam adolevisse, ut sit
quodammodo in aetate virili. Clara enim sunt Pauli verba: sed hic
difficultas oritur, quia videtur parum sibi constare. Nam ad Ephesios,
cap. iv. 13, hortatur nos ad quotidianos progressus, " donec perveniamus in aetatem adultam et mensuram plenitudinis;" et ad Corinthios
priore Epistola, commemorat "' se lac potum illis, utpote, pueris, dedisse;
quia solidi cibi non erant capaces;" et paulo post conferet Galatas
infantibus. Respondeo, illic agi de singulis hominibus et privata
cujusque fide: hic vero in universum de duobus corporibus, non habita
personarum ratione.  HMc responsio pertinebit etiam ad solvendam
multo majorem difficultatem. Videmus enim quam incomparabiles
fuerit Abrahab fides, quanta luce intelligentiao polluerint sancti prophetva. Qua ergo fronte audebimus nos proe illis jactare viros? annon
potius illi heroes, nos pueri? Ut de nobis taceamus, quis inter Galatas
repertus fuisset par uni ex illis cuilibet? Verum hic, quemadmodum
jam dixi, non tractatur de singulis personis, sed universalis utriusque
populi conditio describitur. Instructi tune fuerunt amplioribus donis
quidam: sed pauci fuerunt, non totum corpus: deinde ut multi fuerunt,
non respiciendum quales intus fuerint, sed qualis fuerit in illis gubernandis Dei ceconomia. Constat autem  fuisse pedagogiam  hoc est
disciplinam puerilem. Hodie autem quid?  Ruptis illis vinculis, jam
liberalius ecclesiam suam Deus regit, nec sub tam arcta custodia tenet;
quanquam obiter simul notandum, quamlibet eximia intelligentia
donati fuerint, illam  tamen resipuisse naturam  temporis, ut in
revelatione quam habebant, esset semper aliquid instar nubis subobscurum. Unde illud Christi, " Beati oculi qui vident quaw videtis:
multi reges et propheta optarunt videre eadem nec viderunt."  Nunc
tenemus qualiter praeferamur iis qui longe nobis fuerunt excellentiores:
neque enim id tribuitur personis: sed totum pendet ex aeconomia
divini regiminis."
" Some apply the comparison to the case of any man whatever,
whereas Paul is speaking of two nations.  What they say, I ac



CALVIN'S EXPOSITION OF GAL. IV. 1-7.          391
knowledge, is true; but it has nothing to do with the present passage. The elect, though they are the children of God from the
womb, yet until by faith they come to the possession of freedom,
remain like slaves under the law; but from the time that they
have known Christ they no longer require this kind of tutelage.
Granting all this, I deny that Paul here treats of individuals, or draws
a distinction between the time of unbelief and the calling by faith.
The matters in dispute were these: Since the church of God is one,
how comes it that our condition is different from that of the Israelites?
Since we are free by faith, how comes it that they, who had faith in
common with us, were not partakers with us of the same freedom?
Since we are all equally the children of God, how comes it that we
at this day are exempt from a yoke which they were forced to bear?
On these points the controversy turned, and not on the manner in
which the law reigns over each of us before we are freed by faith
from its slavery. Let this point be first of all settled, that Paul here
compares the Israelitish church, which existed under the Old Testament, with the Christian church, that thus we may perceive in what
points we agree, and in what we differ. This comparison furnishes
most abundant and most profitable instruction.
" First, we learn from it that our hope at the present day, and that
of the fathers under the Old Testament, have been directed to the
same inheritance; for they were partakers of the same adoption.
According to the dreams of some fanatics, and of Servetus among
others, the fathers were divinely elected for the sole purpose of prefiguring to us a people of God. Paul, on the other hand, contends
that they were elected in order to be together with us the children of
God; and particularly attests, that to them, not less than to us, belonged the spiritual blessing promised to Abraham. Secondly, we
learn that, notwithstanding of their outward slavery, their consciences
were still free. The'hard bondage'l of the law did not hinder
Moses and Daniel, the pious kings, priests, and prophets, and the
whole company of believers, from being free in spirit. They bore
the yoke of the law upon their shoulders, but with a free spirit they
worshipped God. More particularly, having been instructed concerning the free pardon of sin, their consciences were delivered from
the tyranny of sin and death. They held the same doctrine, were
joined with us in the true unity of faith, placed reliance on the one
Mediator, called on God as their Father, and were led by the same
Spirit. All this leads to the conclusion, that the difference between
us and the ancient fathers lies in accidents, not in substance. In all
I Exodl. i. 1-1.




392                  APPENDIX, NOTE A.
the leading characters of the Testament or Covenant we agree: the
ceremonies and form of government, in which we differ, were mere
additions. Besides, that period was the infancy of the church; but
now that Christ is come, the church has arrived at the estate of
manhood.
"The meaning of Paul's words is clear; but has he not some
appearance of contradicting himself? In the Epistle to the Ephesians
he exhorts us to make daily progress'till we come unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.' 1 In
the first Epistle to the Corinthians he says,'I have fed you with
milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it,
neither yet now are ye able;'2 and shortly after this he compares
the Galatians to children.3  In those passages, I reply, the apostle
speaks of particular men, and of their faith as individuals; but here
he speaks generally of two bodies, without regard to persons. This
reply will assist us in resolving a much greater difficulty. When we
look at the matchless faith of Abraham, and the vast intelligence of
the holy prophets, with what effrontery shall we dare to talk of such
men as our inferiors? Were not they rather the heroes, and we the
children? To say nothing of ourselves, who among the Galatians
would have been found equal to any of those men?
" But here, as I have already said, the apostle describes, not particular persons, but the universal condition of both nations. Some
men were endowed with extraordinary gifts; but they were few, and
the whole body did not share with them. Besides, though they had
been numerous, we must inquire, not what they inwardly were, but
what was that kind of government under which God had placed them,
and that was manifestly a school,4 a system of instruction for children.
And what are we now? God has broken those chains, governs his
church in a more indulgent manner, and lays not upon us such severe
restraint. At the same time, we may remark in passing, that whatever amount of knowledge they might attain partook of the nature of
the period, for a dark cloud continually rested on the revelation which
they enjoyed. And hence that saying of our Saviour,'Blessed are
the eyes which see the things that ye see: for I tell you that many
prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and
have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and
have not heard them.' 5 We now understand in what respect we are
preferred to those who were greatly our superiors; for the statements are
not applied to persons, but relate entirely to the economy of the Divine
administration."-PRINGLE'S Trans. Bib. Cab. No. xxx. pp. 94-96.
1 Eph. iv. 13. 2 1 Cor. iii. 2. 3 Gal. iv. 19. 4 ocyryaa. 3 Luke x. 23, 24.




NOTE B.                       393
NOTE B, P. 191.
PERIOD OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH.
The period when Jesus Christ appeared in our world is one of those
circumstances on which the enemies of Christianity, both in ancient
and modern times, have founded an objection against the truth of
that religion; but, like all the rest of their objections when thoroughly
examined, it has been found to corroborate the claim which it was
brought forward to invalidate.
It has often been asked with an air of triumph by the infidel,' If
Jesus Christ be the Saviour of the world, why did he not make his
appearance till so late an age?' Even though the Christian were
utterly incapable of replying to this question, it ought not, in the
slightest degree, to shake the stability of his faith. He has abundant
direct evidence that Jesus Christ is the divinely appointed Saviour of
the world; he knows the fact that he did come at the period referred
to, and not sooner, and brought along with him most satisfactory
credentials of his divine mission; and though he were totally incapable of accounting for his coming at this time, rather than at any
other, that might prove, indeed, his own ignorance, but it could not,
in the slightest degree, diminish the force of the proof of the fact that
Jesus did come at that time, and that he was the person whom he
professed to be. If we are never to believe a fact, whatever direct evidence we may have for it, till we are able to account for every circumstance connected with it, the articles of our creed will be few indeed.
But the Christian can answer the question, and can answer it very
satisfactorily. And the first answer to be given to the question, Why
did not the Saviour of the world appear at an earlier period? is this,
Because the period when he did appear was that fixed in the ancient
prophetic oracles for his appearance. Had Jesus Christ appeared
either much sooner or much later, that would of itself have been
demonstrable evidence that, whoever or whatever he might be, he
was not the Messiah promised to the fathers. There were three
different descriptions of the period when the Messiah was to appear
given by the ancient prophets. Shiloh was to come, and the gathering of the people was to be to him when the sceptre was about to
depart from Judah,l or, in other words, when the Jewish state was
about to lose its separate existence. The Messenger of the covenant
was to make his appearance in the second temple, and to fill it with
1 Gen. xlix. iG.




394                  APPENDIX, NOTE B.
a glory superior to the Shechinah or resplendent cloud, the visible
symbol of the Divine presence in the first temple.' Messiah was to
be cut off when the seventy prophetic weeks, or four hundred and
ninety years, had been accomplished on the holy city from the period
of its rebuilding.2 Just as the seventy prophetic weeks were expiring,
when the Messiah must be cut off, Jesus expired on a Cross; and,
within a few years after his death, the Jewish state was merged in
the Roman empire, and the second temple levelled with the dust.
This answer is certainly quite a satisfactory one; but it is not the
only one which the Christian has to give to the infidel question, Why
did not the Saviour of the world appear at an early period? In the
circumstances of mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, viewed in a
political, moral, religious, aspect at this period, there will be found
much to make it evident that the signatures of wisdom are deeply
impressed on that divine determination which fixed the era of the
appearance of the Saviour of the world. " Christianity came into the
world at a period more full of excited intellect than any preceding
age had witnessed: and therefore at a time the best fitted for its
mental reception, comprehension, and circulation."3  A  general
expectation, probably excited by the predictions of the prophets,
made known by the Greek translators commonly termed the LXX,
of the appearance of some extraordinary personage, very extensively
prevailed, which was fitted to excite attention when the Messiah
actually appeared. The political state of the world was peculiarly
suitable. Had the Jews been an independent nation, with the power
of death and life invested in them, it seems certain that on the first
suspicion that Jesus laid claim to Messiahship, he would have been
put to death. In consequence of that power being lodged in a Roman
governor, not at all interested in a matter connected with the Jewish
religion, for three years and a half our Lord was permitted to exercise his ministry, and his death at last secured by practising on the
fears of the unprincipled Jewish Procurator. The extent of the
Roman Government, and the universal peace, and the uniform system
of internal police, which then prevailed throughout the empire, made
the intercourse between distant nations more free and open than it
had perhaps ever been, and thus paved the way for the more rapid
and extensive propagation of the Christian faith.  "Polytheism had
evidently relaxed its hold on all classes. That aged monarch maintained his throne, not from the deep-rooted, rational, or conscientious
loyalty of his subjects, but for want of a competitor, because mankind
1 Hag. ii. 9; Mal. iii. 1.                    2 Dau. ix. 24-27.
3 Turelr's History qf England during the Mlidtldle Ayes, Parut IV. chap. i. vol. v.
pp. 3-5.




PERIOD OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH.   395
were habituated to a government which the statesman thought it
might be dangerous, and the philosopher, enjoying perfect toleration,
and rather proud of his distinctive superiority than anxious to propagate his opinions throughout the world, did not think worth while, at
the hazard of public odium, to disturb. Judaism gave manifest indication of a preparation for a more essentially spiritual, more purely
moral, faith." 1
" The ancient religions were effete, they belonged to a totally different state of civilisation than that which the progress of the race
had brought forward. They retained, indeed, the stronghold of habit
and interest on different classes of society, yet the general mind was
advanced beyond them. They could not supply the religious necessities of the age. The world peaceably united under one temporal
monarchy, might be compared to a vast body without a soul-the
throne of the human mind appeared vacant. Among the rival competitors for its dominion, none advanced more than claims local or
limited to a certain class." 2 There was obviously needed a religion,
rational and simple, suited to mankind in all circumstances. The
false religions, Greek and Barbarian, had lost their hold on the thinking. Even the true religion of the Jews was obviously unfit to take
their place. A religion which might deserve the name of the Religion
of Man was clearly wanted, and such was the religion which Jesus
Christ came to introduce.
By far the justest and most profound views which have been
presented to the world on this subject are those of the lamented
Neander, in his introduction to his " General History of the Christian Religion and the Church."  "It is only from its historical
connection with the previous development of that portion of mankind among whom Christianity first appeared that its effects can be
rightly understood; and such a connected view of the subject is
necessary to guard against all false explanations. Such a connection
is hinted at by the Apostle Paul, when he says that Christ appeared
when the fulness of the time was come. For these words clearly
imply that the precise time when he appeared had some particular
relation to his appearance-that the preparations made by the previous development of the history of nations had been leading precisely
to this point, and were destined to proceed just so far, in order to
admit of this appearance-the goal and central point of all. It is true,
this appearance stands in a highly peculiar relation to the religion of
the Hebrews, which was designed to prepare the way for it in an
eminently peculiar sense. It is connected with this religion by the
M' illman's History of Christianliiy, vol. i. chapl. i. ). 24.  2 Ibi(. chap. i. p. 8.




396                 APPENDIX, NOTE B.
common element of a divine revelation-of a supernatural and superrational element, by the common interest of theism and the theocracy.
For all revealed religion-the whole development of theism and the
theocracy —points from the beginning towards one end. And this
being once reached, every part must be recognised as belonging to
one organic whole-a whole wherein all the principal momenta
served to announce beforehand, and to prepare the way for the end
towards which they were tending as their last fulfilment and consummation. It is in this point of view that Christ was able to say of
his relation to the Jewish religion what, in the same sense, he could
not say with respect to any other, that he was not come to destroy
the law and the prophets, but to fulfil, although it is at the same time
true that the character of one who came, not to destroy, but to fulfil,
best describes the position of Christ relatively to whatever of truth
lay at the bottom of all religions, and, in short, to all that is pure in
humanity. But still we must not here confine ourselves exclusively
to the connection between Christianity and Judaism. Judaism itself,
as the revealed religion of theism, cannot be understood in its true
significance except when contrasted with paganism as the religion of
nature. Whilst, on the one hand, the seed of divine truth, out of
which Christianity sprang, was communicated to reason by divine
revelation, so, on the other hand, reason unfolding itself from beneath
had to learn by experience, especially among that historical people
the Greeks, how far singly, and by its own power, it could advance
in the knowledge of divine things. To this the Apostle Paul alludes,
when he says, "God has determined for all nations the times before
appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek
the Lord; if haply, they might feel after him, and find him." And
so, too, when he says of the times immediately preceding the revelation of the gospel, that the world, by its own wisdom, sought to know
God in his wisdom, but could not know him. As the duty had been
laid on the Hebrews to preserve and transmit the heaven-desired
element of the theistic religion, so it was ordained that among the
Greeks all seeds of human culture should expand in beautiful harmony to a complete and perfect whole. Then Christianity, removing
the opposition between the divine and the human, came to unite both
in one, and to show how it was necessary that both should co-operate
in preparing for its own appearance, and for the unfolding of all that
it contains. Origen therefore did not hesitate to admit what Celsus,
the great antagonist of Christianity, had maintained when he ascribed
to the Greeks a peculiar adaptation of talents and fitness of position,
which qualified them for applying human culture to the development
and elaboration of those elements of divine knowledge they had re



PERIOD OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE MESSIAH.   397
ceived from other quarters, and especially from the East. Besides,
among pagans, the transient flashes of a deeply-seated consciousness
of God-the sporadic revelations of Him in whom we live, and move,
and have our being, and who has not left Himself without a witness
among any people-those " testimonia animma naturaliter Christianae "
(as it is expressed by an ancient father) which pointed to Christianity, are too clear to be mistaken. And while it was necessary that
the influence of Judaism should spread into the heathen world, in
order to prepare the way and open a point of communication for
Christianity, so was it needful also that the stern and repulsive
rigidity of Judaism should be softened and expanded by the elements
of Hellenic culture, in order to adapt it to embrace the new truths
which the gospel was to exhibit. The three great historical nations had,
each in its own peculiar way, to co-operate in preparing the soil on
which Christianity was to be planted-the Jews on the side of the religious element, the Greeks on the side of science and art, the Romans,
as masters of the world, onI the side of the political element.  When
the fulness of the time was come, and Christ appeared-when the
goal of history had thus been reached-then it was that through him,
and by the power of the Spirit that proceeded from him, by the might
of Christianity, all the threads of human development which had
hitherto been kept apart were to be brought together and interwoven
in one web." 1  Olshausen's words deserve to be quoted.  "Christ
forms the centre of the history of the world in which all the radii
meet, to which all points before him, and from which all proceeds
after him. The choice of the time is certainly an act of the divine
decree, but no arbitrary one, rather one determined by the development of the human race."
It is not our purpose to pursue the subject of the time of the Redeemer's appearance in our world farther.  Suffice it to remark that,
in the fact, established on most satisfactory evidence, that the period
when the Saviour of the world appeared was the period fixed by Him
who alone hath wisdom, we have enough to convince us that it must
have been the fittest period; and though his judgments are often unsearchable, and his ways past finding out, yet here, as in almost every
other case, the result of humble devout inquiry will be, that the true
cause of astonishment is not the difficulty or impossibility of discovering good reasons for his conduct, but the innumerable variety
and immense importance of good and great objects gained by the
1 A Sermon by Principal Robertson on this subject, the first compositicn he
gave to the world, giving indication of those distinguished talents afterwards so
fully displayed in his admirable historical works, and the only sermon he ever published, is well worthy of perusal.




398                   APPENDIX, NOTE C.
arrangement which He has chosen. Could we but contemplate, in
contrast, the results of God's having fixed on this particular period,
and the results which would have flowed from fixing on some other
period-which human pride has madly dared to suppose might have
been a preferable one-how fully would we be convinced that the
folly of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and how strongly would we
sympathise with the apostle's exclamation, " O the depth of the
riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable
are his counsels and his ways past finding out!"
NOTE C, p. 198.
ELEMENTS OF CHRISTIANITY.
" If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature: old things
pass away, and all things become new." The change which takes
place when a man, by the faith of the truth as it is in Jesus, becomes
a Christian, is twofold,-a change of spiritual relation, and a change
of spiritual character. These two changes are indissolubly connected.
The change of character cannot take place without the change of relation: the change of relation necessarily produces the change of
character; and the change of character is the only satisfactory evidence that the change of relation has taken place.
When a man, by the faith of the gospel, becomes a Christian, his
spiritual relation undergoes a complete revolution. From being the
object of God's judicial displeasure, he becomes the object of his
paternal favour. From being his enemy, he becomes his friend; and
his happiness, which was formerly utterly inconsistent with the perfections of the Divine character, and the principles of the Divine
government, is not only rendered compatible with, but is absolutely
secured by, them. All this arises from that fundamental law of the
restorative dispensation,'that it is the faith of the truth which connects the sinner with the Saviour, which gives him a personal interest
in the efficacy of that sacrifice, and which thus makes it a just thing
in the moral Governor of the world to justify him, though ungodly.'
Uniformly connected with this change of spiritual relation, is a
change of spiritual character. The believer thinks, and feels, and
acts, in reference to God, and things unseen and eternal, in a new
manner. He becomes a holy, happy being. This is the necessary
result of the enlightening, and sanctifying, and comforting influence
of the Holy Spirit, which God bestows on all the objects of his




ELEMENTS OF CHRISTIANITY.                399
paternal regard; and the necessary result, too, of the belief of the
truth as it is in Jesus. The gospel is the mind of Christ. By faith
the mind of Christ becomes our mind; and we are necessarily transformed by this " renewing of the mind."
The second of these changes is the appropriate evidence of the first.
If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is not Christ's. If any
man have the Spirit of Christ, he is Christ's. The possession of the
distinctive character of the Christian is the only permanently satisfactory proof that we possess the distinctive privileges of the Christian; and as it is the only satisfactory proof, so it is a completely satisfactory one. Wherever the characteristic features of God's children
are found in men, there is no reason to question the reality of their
adoption into the family, or their possession of all the rights and
privileges of his sons. That character can be formed only by the
permanent belief of the truth: that truth can be believed only under
the influence of the Holy Spirit: that influence can be communicated
by God only through the mediation of Jesus Christ, and is bestowed
on them who are the objects of his peculiar favour.
It is on these principles, which may indeed be termed " the elements of Christianity," that the apostle appeals to the state of mind
and heart in reference to God, produced in the minds of the believing
Galatians, as evidence that they were indeed introduced into that
state of mature sonship, which rendered the carnal ordinances of the
Mosaic law utterly unfit for them. The church, previously to the
coming of Christ, was in an infant state. The revelation of the
Divine character was comparatively obscure,-the communication of
Divine influence was comparatively limited. Of course, the spiritual
character of those, under such a dispensation, was comparatively imperfect. An order of things suited to this infant state of the church
was established in the Mosaic economy. The time appointed for the
church's maturity had arrived. A full and clear revelation had been
given; a more liberal effusion of the Spirit had taken place; a more
perfect spiritual character in those who believe was the necessary
consequence. This was the result of the incarnation and sacrifice of
the Son of God, which honourably terminated the Mosaic economy,
now rendered useless, and introduced a more simple and spiritual
order of things. Into the church, in this matured state, had the
Galatians been introduced, by their faith of the gospel, —into the
church enjoying all the privileges of mature sonship; and of this they
had the evidence in their own bosoms, in those child-like sentiments
which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, they had been led to
cherish towards the Supreme Being.




400                   APPENDIXN  NOTE D.
NOTE D, p. 335.
REMARKS ON THE PRINCIPLE OF THE SUPPORT OF THE
CHRISTIAN MINISTRY, STATED GAL. VI. 6.
It is obviously the will of Christ that there should be an order of
men in the church for teaching or instructing their brethren. When
he ascended on high, " he gave"-that is, he appointed-" some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." 1 It is to the person
who occupies this place in the church, not to any one who occasionally instructs another, that the apostle refers to in the passage before
us, and in Rom. xii. 7, under the appellation, " Him that teacheth."
In all ordinary cases, the teacher ought to " wait on his teaching " —
he ought to " give himself wholly" to the work of the ministry —" to
prayer and to the ministry of the word of God" 2 —and the person
who considers the extent and difficulties of the duties of the Christian
pastor, must be persuaded that nothing but absolute necessity should
ever make the Christian teacher engage in pursuits not necessarily
connected'with his office. But then, seeing this order of men are
precluded by their duties to the church from obtaining the means of
support for themselves and families, by employing their time and
talents in secular business, provision must be made for their suitable
maintenance.
But how is this provision to be made, and who are to make it?
The answers which have been given to these questions have been
various.' Let them,' says one class,' be maintained, like the Jewish
priests, by the tithes of the land's produce'3 —or,' Let a compulsory
tax be raised from the whole community, and apportioned among
those Christian teachers who shall profess that particular form of
Christianity which has received the approving sanction of the civil
government; or among Christian teachers generally, leaving the inhabitants of each district to choose both their own form of Christianity
and their own teacher.'' Let them be maintained,' say another class,' out of a general fund composed of the voluntary contributions of the
whole body, consisting, it may be, of a great number of particular
churches, and administered by persons chosen for that purpose, according to the necessities of individual teachers.' The two former are
i Eph. iv. 11, 12.                    2 1 Tim. iv. 15; Acts vi. 4.
3 It would seem from this text, that, as Dr Chandler says, "the doctrine of the
Divine origin of tithes " (as a source of maintenance for the Christian ministry) " was
of later origin than the times of the apostles."




PRINCIPLES OF THE SUPPORT OF CHRISTIAN TEACHERS. 401
materially the system adopted in all civil establishments; the latter
is the system adopted by the large, and active, and useful body of
Christians denominated Methodists, and to a great extent by the Free
Church of Scotland.  The apostle's answer seems to indicate a mode
of maintenance for Christian teachers different from both. " Let him
that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all
good things;" that is, plainly,' Let the teacher be supported by the
voluntary contributions of those whom he teaches.' With regard to
the kind and measure of maintenance to which the Christian teacher
is entitled, that must vary according to the state of society, and the
ability of those whom he instructs; but whatever be its measure, it
ought to come from the free-will offerings of those whom he instructs.2
The mode of supporting Christian teachers seems equally a subject of
Divine legislation as the mode of commemorating our Lord's death;
and it is hazardous for us to interfere with either.
This arrangement is at once just, generous, and useful.
It is a just arrangement. According to the principles of the New
Testament, no man is called to submit to a spiritual teacher against
his will. They who are taught choose their teacher; and, when this
is taken into account, nothing can appear more reasonable and equitable than that " they who are taught should communicate to him
that teacheth." At their own request, either explicit or implicit, he
"teacheth"-devotes his time and talents to their instruction; and
surely it is not unreasonable that, when he does so, he should be
maintained.  "The labourer is worthy of his hire."3   "Who goeth
a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and
eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not
of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man? or saith not
the law the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou
shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn.
Doth God take care for oxen? Or, saith He it altogether for our
sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth
I The expression in the text indicates, as Morus says, "gradum magnum liberalitatis-studium flagrans juvandi."
2 This is in no degree inconsistent with individual Christians or societies voluntarily assisting a poor church to maintain their teachers-thus obeying the law of
Christ, "Bear ye one another's burdens."
3 Whitby's note is worth quoting: " If this was the duty of the Christian people
towards such teachers as had no need of books or study to fit themselves for the
~work, they being enabled for it by immediate assistance and gifts of the Holy Ghost,
-how much more towards them who spend much time and money to fit themselves
for that work, and must still be employed in studying and reading to make themselves
such workmen as need not to be ashamed." " Est modestius dictum communicet; non
largiatur omnia sua bona; quod postea sedulitas monachorum suasit, ut dominio omlli
translato in alios donator jam vivat ex istorum communicatione."-CAMF.RARIUS.
2C




402                  APPENDIX, NOTE D.
should plow in hope; and that he that thrasheth in hope should be
partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is
it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?  If others be
partakers of this power over you, are not we rather?  Nevertheless
we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should
hinder the gospel of Christ. Do ye not know, that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they
which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?  Even so hath
the Lord ordained, that they which preach the gospel should live- of
the gospel." 1
2. It is a generous arrangement. The principles of genuine Christianity are in the highest degree generous. The teachers are required
to act on the principle laid down by our Lord to his seventy disciples,
" Freely ye have received, freely give." They are to go forth, asking
nothing of the Gentiles. " If they receive you," says our Lord, " eat
such things as they set before you." They are to cast themselves on
the faithfulness of the Master, who has promised to take care of them.
Wherever the principles of Christianity are received-wherever the
mind and heart are made subject to the authority of Christ —and it is
only where these things appear to have taken place that a Christian
church ought to be formed,-provision is made, in the operation of
the love and law of Christ on the mind and heart, for the maintenance
of those who labour in word and doctrine. The truth known and believed will, by its native influence, secure both the support and diffusion of Christianity. To think otherwise is to think unworthily of
Christianity and of its author, and is to think inconsistently with fact,
as the period of the rapid progress of Christianity was the period of
voluntary churches. During the first three centuries the church was
not only not assisted, but fiercely opposed by all the secular powers.
The claim of a Christian teacher for maintenance from those to
whom he ministers is, as we have seen, undoubted. It rests on the
express appointment of Jesus Christ. But that claim is not of the
nature of a civil right. It cannot, without desecration, be embodied
in such bonds as may lay a foundation for prosecution in civil courts.
Everything in the kingdom of Christ partakes of its spiritual nature.
The Christian teacher's hold is on the judgment, conscience, and affections of his people. His services and their support ought to be equally
the spontaneous result of love, and of submission to the law of Him
whose they are, and whom they serve; and this principle of generous
love to " the brethren," implicit submission to " the Master," on the
side both of the teacher and the taught, is taken for granted in the
1 1 Cor ix. 7-14.




PRINCIPLES OF THE SUPPORT OF CHRISTIAN TEACHERS.  403
precept: " Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him
that teacheth in all good things."
3. It is a useful arrangement. This mode of supporting the teachers
of Christianity not only beautifully harmonises with the genius of religion, but is calculated to produce the best effects both on the teachers
and the taught. It connects, in the closest manner, the duty and the
interest of the teacher; and when this voluntary, yet commanded,
support is cheerfully yielded, he is bound to his people by the tie of
gratitude, as well as duty. It gives the taught a much deeper interest
both in the person and ministrations of the teacher, than otherwise
they would be likely to take,-an interest which is necessary to their
own edification, and which exercises a strong and salutary reaction
on the mind and conduct of the teacher.
It has often been urged by those who have endeavoured to improve
on the divine and primitive mode of supporting Christianity, that to
make Christian teachers dependent for temporal support on the voluntary contributions of those to whom they minister, is to degrade their
character, and prevent the honest discharge of their duties, by subjecting them to almost invincible temptations to secure the good-will
of their hearers by a compliance with their prejudices and humours;
that it makes the maintenance of the Christian ministry very insecure;
and that it even puts in hazard the continued existence of Christianity.
A plain expression of Christ's will, like that contained in the text, in
a rightly constituted Christian mind, bars all reasoning of this kind.
My speculations about probable consequences must not lead me to
disobey, or neglect, or tamper with, any of his commands. Let me
do what he bids me, and I may safely leave consequences to him,
who not only foresees them, but controls them as he pleases. But
let us glance at these objections.
(1.) What influence can dependence, divided into some hundred
parts, have in debasing the character? Our physicians and lawyers,
not generally-assuredly, not necessarily-men of low time-serving
habits, are dependent on their patients and clients, and are not likely
to retain their means of support unless they are active and skilful in
their respective professions. Besides, ought a Christian minister to
think himself, or to be thought by others, degraded, because Jesus
Christ has appointed him to be supported in the same way as He
himself was when on the earth, by the voluntary contributions of such
as believed in Him?
But has the arrangement any tendency to lower the character of the
Christian teacher? If a Christian church consist, in any good measure, of the kind of persons it ought to consist of, can the good opinion
of the majority be secured in any way but by a conscientious discharge




404                   APPENDIX, NOTE E.
of duty on the part of the minister? In cases where the arrangement is followed, has it any such effect e Are the most time-serving
ministers those who are ministers of voluntary churches? and is it
among these churches that we experience the greatest difficulty in
finding honest preaching, both on doctrinal and practical subjects,
and strict and impartial discipline?
(2.) As to its rendering the support of the Christian ministry
insecure, it is enough to say that, if it renders it no more insecure
than Christ's ordinance leaves it, where does this objection seek to
attach blame? And is there not something like presumption in
acting as if we supposed that we could improve on his institutions?
It has pleased God to make the support of all classes of men, in the
present state, to a certain degree precarious. Important advantages
arise out of this arrangement, and why should ministers of religion
be excluded from these advantages?
(3.) As to the last objection, we have only to say, the security of
the church depends not on human expedients, but on the power, and
faithfulness, and grace of her great Author; and the most likely
method for either ministers or people to secure that, is not to usurp
his authority, but to submit to it,-not to alter his laws, but to obey
them.l
NOTE E, p. 363.
OPPOSITION  OF THE NATURAL MIND TO THE PECULIAR DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY, ESPECIALLY THE DOCTRINE OF THE
CROSS.
" The natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither doth
he know them, for they are spiritually discerned." The peculiarities
of Christianity-its distinctive doctrines-in which its great strength
lies, have always been an amazement and an offence to the mind
unchanged by Divine influence, however powerful its faculties, and
however extensive and varied its acquirements. What is divinely
wise appears to such a mind, folly; what is divinely powerful, imbecility.
The most striking illustration of these remarks is to be found in
1 The whole subject of the support of the gospel ministry is discussed in " The
Financial Law of the Christian Church," appended to the author's Late of Christ
respecting Civil Obedience.




ANTAGONISM OF THE NATURAL MIND TO THE GOSPEL. 405
the manner in which what may well be termed the cardinal article
of the Christian faith-the expiation of the sins of men by the
death of the incarnate only-begotten Son of God on a cross,-has
been regarded and treated by men the most distinguished for " the
wisdom of the world," in every age since its promulgation to mankind. It is impossible for a man of intelligent mind to read the New
Testament with attention, without perceiving that it contains in it
far more religious and moral truth than any other book, or, indeed, than
all the other books in the world. There is, too, such a sobriety, and
consistency, and rationality in the views which it gives of the Divine
character and government, and both in the general principles and
particular details of that system of human duty which it unfolds,
as can scarcely fail in making a deep impression on every fair and
reflecting mind; and there is something so simple and satisfactory
in the divine attestation given to its contents, by a long series of
minute predictions accurately fulfilled, and an almost endless variety
of miraculous operations publicly performed, thoroughly scrutinised,
and carefully and circumstantially described by eye and ear-witnesses,
that we may safely put it to the enlightened and unprejudiced sceptic
or infidel, if such characters exist, whether, on the supposition of there
being such a thing as a divine revelation, a more natural and convincing method of accrediting it could have been devised.
I believe that many a man has distinctly seen all this, and yet has rejected Christianity, just because it contained the doctrine of the atonement, and those other doctrines which are necessarily connected with
it. It has appeared to him that in the New Testament are to be
found the elements of a more perfect system of religious and moral
truth and duty than had ever previously been given to the world;
but it has appeared to him also that there has been strange mismanagement in the employment of these elements, and that the whole
effect has been destroyed by mingling them up with such mystical,
unintelligible, incredible statements about guilt, so heinous as to require expiatidn by the sufferings and death of one who, though in
fashion no more than a man, was in truth an incarnation of the
Divinity; and depravity so deep, as that a divine physical influence
is necessary to give effect to the moral influence of plain, well-attested
truth to remove it. There is something in all this so utterly different
from, so completely incompatible with, the principles which he has
been accustomed to consider as indubitably true-something so mortifying to his pride, as well as perplexing to his intellect,-that he
rejects the whole system, being persuaded that it is impossible to
disentangle what appears to him the rational parts of it from those
obnoxious peculiarities with which they are so closely interwoven.




406                  APPENDIX, NOTE E.
We find the same principle, which leads many men to reject Christianity altogether, operating in the minds of unregenerate men, who have
been brought professedly to embrace it, in leading them to endeavour
to strip it, as far as possible, of what, as exhibited in the New Testament, form its characteristic features. The fact that Jesus Christ,
the author of Christianity, died the death of a felonious slave, cannot be denied, without giving up with the truth of the gospel history
altogether. But, in the system of many self-called Christians, the
faith of this fact does not occupy the prominent place which it does
in the writings of the evangelists and apostles; and then, in consequence of their reducing Jesus Christ to the level of mere humanity,
the fact of his death loses its character of mystery; and when brought
forward, it is not as the expiation of guilt, which is treated as a wild
superstitious dream, but merely as a display of the suffering virtues,a proof of the truth, and an illustration of the excellence, of the Christian system.
It is thus that human wisdom has endeavoured to make the " offence
of the cross" to cease. The natural man thus receives not the doctrine of the cross. Rather than receive it, he will reject Christianity
altogether; and if he receives Christianity in profession, he will fall
on some plan or other of concealing this doctrine, or neutralising it,
or explaining it away,-he will c" make the cross of Christ of no
effect."
Such was the conduct of those Jews, who falsely supposed that they
had become Christians by merely admitting the Messiahship of Jesus
Christ, while their notions with regard to the nature and design of
the Messiah's kingdom remained unchanged. The doctrine of the
Cross was by them cast into the shade,-it was a part of the history
of Jesus they were very willing to forget. They saw no inconsistency
between depending on legal observances for an interest in the Divine
favour, and the acknowledgment of Jesus as the Messiah. They had
no just views of the expiatory efficacy of the death of Christ on the
cross as the victim for human transgression. They did not perceive
its bearing on the spiritual nature of the Messiah's kingdom, nor did
they understand the transforming influence of the faith of this truth on
all who really believed it.
But while the Cross ever has been a stumbling-block and foolishness to the natural man, to the spiritual man it has as uniformly appeared " the power of God and the wisdom of God." It has appeared
to him that which gives life and efficacy to the whole system; and,
persuaded that it is so, while he relies on the Cross for himselfviewed as the most striking demonstration of Divine holy love-as
the only ground of his hope, and has recourse to it as the unexhausted,




PRACTICAL POWER OF CHRISTIAN TRUTH.             407
inexhaustible source of motive to duty, and consolation under affliction, he is persuaded that the preaching of the Cross-the full, distinct exhibition of the crucified Saviour-is the direct and only way
of putting men in possession of that inward peace, and that thorough
transformation of character, which at once fit them for acceptably
and comfortably serving God on the earth, and prepare them for that
state of absolute perfection, to which they are looking forward, in a
better world. Such obviously were the convictions of the apostle
when he adopted the strong language in reference to the cross of
Christ, which he employs in the 14th and 15th verses of the sixth
chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians:-" But God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but
a new creature."
NOTE F, p. 370.
PRACTICAL POWER OF CHRISTIAN TRUTH.
The New Testament uniformly represents Christianity as a religion
which exercises a most powerful influence both over the inner and
the outer man of those who embrace it.  " If any man is in Christ
Jesus, he is a new creature; old things pass away-all things become
new."  His character is transformed-his conduct is altered.
This claim of powerful efficiency has often been called in question
by the enemies of Christianity. They have asserted that such statements as that which I have just quoted from the apostle are not
consistent with the fact, and are, indeed, little better than " great
swelling words of vanity:" that Christianity, so far from being the
most influential species of religion on the mind and-conduct of those
who embrace it, is of all other systems the most inefficient: that its
leading principles are of an abstract, mystical nature, which can have
but little direct bearing on the duties and interests of mankind; and
that the being a Christian, or the not being a Christian, are circumstances which but very slightly, if at all, affect either the worth or
the happiness of an individual.
And they appeal to facts in support of their view of the case.
They tell us that Paganism, that Mohammedism, that Judaism, obviously influence the character and conduct of their respective votaries,
-whether that influence be a favourable one, is a different question,
-but that, generally speaking, a man's Christianity has no sensible




408                  APPENDIX, NOTE F.
effect on his general opinion, and feelings, and behaviour; that he is
just what he would have naturally been without being. a Christian,
though he had never heard the name of Jesus Christ; and that,
in ninety-nine cases out of an hundred, you may live a considerable
time on habits even of intimacy with self-called, generally recognised,
Christians, without even knowing, except by the occasional observance of its external offices, or unless the subject becomes a topic of
direct discussion, whether Christianity be their religion, or whether,
indeed, they have any religion at all.
This charge against Christianity, though ill-founded, is plausible;
and it may be worth while briefly to inquire into the causes of its
plausibility; by doing which, we are persuaded, genuine Christianity
will be completely justified, and all her claims proved to be legitimate-though it may be by showing that much that is called Christianity, and many that are called Christians, have no rightful title to
the names they bear. The allegation of the inefficiency of Christianity, when compared with some other systems of religion, may, to
a certain extent, be accounted for by the specific nature of Christianity, as contrasted with that of these other systems of religion.
Externality, if I may use the word, is their character; spirituality is
the character of Christianity. Almost the whole of Paganism, Mohammedism, and modern Judaism, consists in external rites. These
strike the senses of the observers.  The man cannot be a Pagan, or
a Mohammedan, or a Jew, without appearing to be so, even to the
most heedless observer. But Christianity has to do directly with the
mind and heart: its external services are few and simple; and its
character is the reverse of obtrusive and ostentatious. With regard
to food and dress, there is no marked difference between the Christian
and the men of the world, among whom he lives. The Christian has
no superstitious respect for times and places. The seat of the influence of Christianity is within. Its efficiency is displayed, not so
much in leading men to conform themselves to a certain form of external observances, as in influencing the whole frame of opinion, and
feeling, and conduct. To use the words of one of the earliest of
Christian writers,'-" Christians are not separated from other men
by country, nor by language,'nor by customs. They dwell not in
cities of their own, nor make use of a peculiar dialect, nor affect a
singular mode of life. They live in the cities of the Greeks, or the
Barbarians, as each one's lot may be; and, with regard to dress and
food, and other matters of every-day life, they follow the customs of
the country.  Yet they dwell in their own native land as sojourners;
The Author of the Epistle to Diognetus.




PRACTICAL POWER OF CHRISTIAN TRUTH.             409
and, while they take a part in everything as citizens, they endure all
things as strangers."
But this will not of itself account for the plausibility of the charge
of apparent inefficiency brought against Christianity by its enemies.
The true reason is, that there are various things which bear the
name of Christianity, that are not Christianity; and a multitude of
persons, who bear the name of Christians, that are not Christians.
There is a great deal of what may be called nominal Christianity, false
Christianity, and speculative Christianity, all of which are either inefficient things, or exert an efficiency of a kind very different from
that which the New Testament ascribes to genuine Christianity.
The greater part of what is ordinarily termed Christianity is mere
nominal Christianity. The greater part of those who aretermed Christians are mere nominal Christians. They have been born in a country
where Christianity is the religion generally professed —they have
been baptized in the name of Christ-they have received, it may be,
what has been termed a Christian education,-but they are very imperfectly, if at all, acquainted either with the principles of Christianity,
or the evidence on which they claim our implicit belief and obedience.
It would be a very extraordinary thing if this mere name were
efficient for any purpose but that for which it is fearfully efficientfor deluding to their everlasting destruction those who have embraced
the shadow for the substance.
But there is not only much nominal Christianity in the world, there
is also much false Christianity. There are numerous false systems
of religion, all bearing the general name of Christianity, all of them
excluding some of the characteristic doctrines of the New Testamentsome of them almost the whole of these doctrines, and including
principles different from, and inconsistent with, them. These systems,
even when sincerely believed, will not have the efficiency ascribed to
Christianity in the New Testament, for two reasons: they are not,
in their own nature, fitted to exert such an influence; and they are
not the divine ordinance for this purpose.  They will have their
influence both on the character and conduct, but it will be an influence totally different from, in many cases directly opposite to, that
which genuine Christianity exerts.
But, besides nominal and false Christianity, there is what may be
termed a speculative Christianity, which does not, which cannot, put
forth the practical transforming influence which characterises genuine
Christianity. Christian truth is a system-a connected set of principles;
and it may be viewed just as a hypothesis, much in the same way as
the Newtonian system of the universe may be contemplated merely
as a theory, without adverting to, or being at all acquainted with,




410                  APPENDIXI NOTE G.
the evidence on which it rests. A man may speculate on Christianity
as he may do on any other subject, and his theory may be the truth;
but, while he merely speculates, it is not to him the truth, but merely
a theory. He can talk fluently about it; he can argue conclusively
in its defence; he can contend earnestly for it; and yet he has never
believed it,-he does not account it " a faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation." He does not know, he is not sure of, the real
existence of the things about which he speculates. Now, this kind
of Christianity, however efficient it may be in making a man proud,
self-conceited, and contentious, will certainly not have the kind of
efficiency which we find in the New Testament ascribed to genuine
Christianity.
We are quite ready to admit to the infidel that nominal, false, and
speculative Christianity has not the efficiency to which the Christianity of the New Testament lays claim; and that nominal, false,
and speculative Christians are not, what all "' in Christ Jesus" are,
" new creatures."  But, with regard to genuine Christianity, we
must still insist that it has an omnipotent efficiency in transforming
the character, and that its principles cannot really be believed without such a change being produced on those who believe them, as will
change their views respecting almost everything, and as will also
change the views of men around them respecting their character and
conduct.
This fact is very strikingly stated in the 15th verse of the sixth
chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians. One of the grand peculiarities of genuine Christianity is the doctrine of the Cross of Christthe fact that the incarnate Son of God, in human nature, suffered on
a cross, in the room of sinners, in order to obtain their salvation.
This grand peculiarity of Christianity was firmly believed by the
Apostle Paul; he gloried in it, and he determined to glory in nothing
else. And this principle produced a most important change on the
apostle-such a change, as totally revolutionized his opinions and
feelings in reference to the world; and such a change, too, as completely revolutionized the opinions and feelings of the world in reference to him.
NOTE G, p. 3 7 7.
TENDENCY OF MAN TO REST IN A MERE EXTERNAL RELIGION.
There is a strong disposition among mankind to rest in a mere
nominal and external religion. They mistake the appearance for the




TENDENCY OF MAN TO REST IN AN EXTERNAL RELIGION. 411
reality-the name for the thing-the expression for the signification
-the means for the end. This disposition was strikingly displayed
by the unbelieving part of the ancient people of God. Their language
was, " We have Abraham for our father," —the seal of God's covenant is impressed on us. W~e are "' Jews "-worshippers of the true
God, —" and not sinners of the Gentiles "-worshippers of idols.
" The law of the Lord is with us."  " The temple of the Lord-the
temple of the Lord-the temple of the Lord are we." And yet all the
while they were utter strangers to true spiritual religion; and, while
they made their boast of the law, through breaking of the law they
dishonoured Him whom they gloried in calling their God. Their
conduct was no doubt highly foolish, criminal, and inexcusable;
in the comparative obscurity of the revelation of spiritual truth,
the corresponding comparative scantiness of the communications of
spiritual influence, and the complicated system of external observances which characterised that economy, we find what, though it does
not certainly excuse, goes far to account for the prevalence and display of this disposition.
Under the New Testament dispensation, however, where the revelation of spiritual truth is at once extensive and distinct, where the
Holy Spirit is given to all who ask him, and where the external services of religion are comparatively few and simple, and obviously
significant, it might surely have been expected that, as the means of
such self-delusion were in a great measure removed, there should be
found but few, if any, claiming the name of Christian, who were not
in reality what that name denotes.
But no excellence of external dispensation will cure man of this fatal
tendency of his nature to rest in mere nominal, professional religion.
What a prodigious majority of those who have the name Christian,
have nothing else but the name,-ignorant or misinformed as to
Christian doctrine —in spirit and in conduct unchristian-anti-christian! How many are flattering themselves that all is safe as to their
everlasting interests, because they are not Pagans, nor Mohammedans,
nor Jews, but Christians,-not Roman Catholics, but Protestants,not Churchmen, but Dissenters,-or not Dissenters, but Churchmen!
How many think themselves religious, merely because they regularly
go to church, and occasionally, as they phrase it, take the sacrament!
To cherish such a mode of thinking, under the spiritual economy
of the gospel, is surely far more foolish, criminal, and obviously
inexcusable, than under the comparative carnal dispensation of the
law, especially as HE, who knows what is in man, has in so
many instances, in the plainest and most impressive terms, both
personally and by his apostles, warned us against so deep and so




412                   APPENDIX, NOTE H.
dangerous a delusion.  " Except a man be born again, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of heaven." " Not every one that calleth me
Lord, Lord, but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven,
shall enter into the kingdom."  " Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and
do not the things which I command you?"  "If any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."  "If any man be in Christ
Jesus, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, and all
things are become new."  " For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature."
NOTE H.
PAUL'S MODE OF CONSIDERING JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY IN
THEIR VARIOUS RELATIONS.
WINER.
The distinctive characters of Judaism and Christianity. —These have
been concisely, but upon the whole accurately, treated by Winer, in the
First Excursus to his Translation and Commentary on the Epistle to
the Galatians: " Quceritur, qucenam ratio disciplinam Judaicam (ypaipFa,
~adpKa) inter et Christianum (rrveia) e mente Pauli Ap. intercedet." The
following is an abstract.
1. The sum of Paul's doctrine is this: From  the time of Moses
(Gal. iii. 17) the Jews were bound (-VyKeKXeTL0YE'voL, Gal. iii. 23) by a
divine law, Tr vdo't, the sign of which was circumcision, 7rFpLtrot, Gal.
v. 3; compare Rom. iv. 11. If they had fully satisfied the demands
of this law, they would have acquired its righteousness (rev t&KaLoovbv'v,
EK ro' volwov, Rom. x. 5; Gal. iii. 12; Phil. iii. 9),-would have been
&lKatoL, righteous, in the sight of God, and would have received eternal
life as the reward. —Rom. iv. 4; compare chap. xi. 5, 6. But no one
observed all things which the law required; nay, so far were they
from obeying the law (votuov VrOLELW, voIWt 0ovXEVELV), that, deriving from
its very commands incentives to sin (Rom. vii. 8, 11), they practised
all manner of wickedness (Rom. ii. 17, et seqq.), and so became dead
in trespasses, veKPOL (Ev ToLs rapaCrr'Tcorta  (Col. ii. 13), and in sins, Kal'aiv
atuapriaa (Eph. ii. 1, 5). Hence they failed in securing God's approbation (vc-r-Epoiv7-es 7s 8oE   Troy eEOV, Rom. iii. 23), and had to fear
divine punishment (Rom. ii. 12; Col. ii. 14), being under a curse, v7ro
KaTapav o'vTes (Gal. iii. 10, 22).  For it is of the nature of law  to
threaten punishment (Rom. iv. 15; 2 Cor. iii. 8). The punishment




JUDAISM  AND CHRISTIANITY IN THEIR RELATIONS.  413
here was eternal death (Rom. v. 16, 18, 21; vii. 13; viii. 6), as
introduced by the first sin of Adam. —Rom. v. 12, et seqq. But out
of this great misery the kindness of God would rescue them; for He,
moved by mere compassion towards men, sent Christ into the world,
who, clothed in human nature, and himself subject to the law (Rom.
viii. 3; Gal. iv. 4), but without sin (2 Cor. v. 21), suffered a cruel
death in the room of men, that he might render God propitious to us
(Rom. v. 10; 2 Cor. v. 18; Eph. ii. 16; Col. i. 20), and free us
from punishment (Gal. i. 4; Eph. i. 7; Col. i. 14; ii. 13). Both
these ideas are included in the phrases, 8tKatoo-'v?7, 8tKaLCoLS', &LKatoVtr@a.
And thus the Mosaic economy has been abrogated (Gal. iii. 13; iv. 5;
Rom. x. 14). Hence it appears,
(a) That no one can bejust/ifed by the law,'K TOy vo'Uov L&KaLoc+-Oal,
Gal. ii. 16; iii. 11; v. 4; but that all justification, atKatoavpvr, flows
solely from  the kindness of God (6&Katoo-'OaL 8copeav D7)  eov XaCPLTLt
Rom. iv. 24; Kara XaptL, Rom. iv. 16; xaptrtL o'ETW(of'VOLt Eph. ii. 5,
8; Rom. ix. 12, seqq.), and comes by virtue of the death of Christ to
believing men (8LKatowrvq a'7roKaXv7rrErTaL EK rlo'TEo)s, Rom. i. 17; Phil.
iii. 9; 7rLOreL, K 7TFrTrEO3o BlKaLtorat a'vO.) Rom. iii. 28; Gal. ii. 16; eav.LrTrrIEVCS. cO7Onr,h Rom. x. 9).
(b) The law, Yvo'/os, and consequently circumcision, 7reptrot0u, have lost
their power and authority, Rom. vii. 4; 1 Cor. x. 25; Gal. ii. 19;
iv. 10, seqq.; Col. ii. 16, 21, seqq.; Gal. v. 2; vi. 15.
(c) Gentiles may now aspire to eternal happiness; for God desires
the salvation of all (Rom. iii. 29): Christ died for men of all nations
(Eph. ii. 12, seqq.; iii. 6); heathens, who have faith in Christ, resemble Abraham, rT 7rLo07T,, the believer, and are thus his true children
(Rom. iv. 11; Gal. iii. 10). The law, voLuov, which was r0 /LE(TOTOLXOV
TroZ Jpay/lov, the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles,
has fallen (Eph. ii. 14). The happiness which awaits men reconciled
to God, and believing in Christ, 7r  XptL-T 7rt'reVovra, is contained in
life,  jr (o?, or CojI alovwl  (Rom. v. 17; viii. 6, 30; Gal. vi. 8; Col.
iii. 3; 1 Thess. v. 10, al.), and is commonly called the inheritance, 7
KXqpovopZla (Gal. iii. 18; Eph. i. 14; Col. iii. 24; compare Gal. iii.
29; iv. 7), and the kingdom  of God, f3acrtela TOZ eEOv (Gal. v. 21).
(See, however, on this phrase, Koppe's First Excursus to 1 Thess.,
p. 92, et seqq.).
2. Though the Jewish dispensation was divinely appointed (Rom.
vii. 12), yet Paul describes its genius under the designations of the
rudiments or elements of the world, O-roXELa roZ KOd'oiov (Gal. iii. 4, 9,
the letter, ypadt'a (2 Cor. iii. 6), the oldness of the (i. q. the old) letter,
7raXaLdors ypda/Laros  (Rom. vii. 6), servitude, 8ovXda (Gal. v. 1).  On
the other hand, he describes Christianity by the names of spirit, srvria




414                     APPENDIX~ NOTE H.
(2 Cor. iii. 6), Katvdr~7r 7rv4Ev;arov, newness of the letter (i. e. new letter)
(Rom. vii. 6); freedom, EXev9Epla (Gal. v. 1, 13).  Hence he calls the
Jews babes, vrlL'ovs (Gal. iv. 3); persons in bondage, 8ovX;eov-ras (Gal.
iv. 9, 24, et seqq.), 8e8ovXcYe LEvovv (Gal. iv. 3); but Christians, vLoiV TOO
eeoO, sons of God (Gal. iv. 6),'XEvE;povs, free (Gal. iv. 26).  It is
manifest that, by these epithets, he represents Judaism  as rude and
imperfect; Christianity as nobler and more perfect. But upon what is
this representation founded? (1) He designates the Mosaic law servitude; because (like all other laws) it rather compelled the Jews to the
practice of what was right, by the terror of punishment, and did not
gently influence and persuade their wills to the love of virtue-for it
is the condition of slaves to be ruled by fear; whereas Christians
pursue holiness of their own accord, of their own free choice, actuated
by the love of God and their fellow-men (Rom. vii. 6), and are therefore with propriety termed free, XEV;Oepot, because they are so in truth:
and this condition is indicated by the term  adoption, vioOeClaS (Rom.
viii. 15; Gal. iv. 5). (2) The Jewish economy is likewise styled ypat/qia,
the letter, because it was contained in a written law, which appealed to
their outward senses; but it is the property of genuine Christianity to
be internal, or to have its seat in the mind and heart. For a similar
reason, the term  c-ap4, flesh, is also applied to Judaism  (Gal. iii. 3;
vi. 12; Phil. iii. 3); intimating that its observances had chiefly
reference to the body,-e. g. circumcision, sacrifices, abstinence from
certain kinds of food,-but Christ appeared, that he might instruct
men to worship God E' rrveviart Kal. alXrOEa, in spirit and truth.
(3) That the law has no longer any force or authority, is proved
by the apostle in various ways. First, He simply teaches, from the
Old Testament Scripture, that no mortal can be justified by the law (v,
vodlup tLlatoirOat 7rapa' rC eC), Gal. iii. 11.  Compare Habak. ii. 4.
Then he shows that Abraham himself was approved by God, on
account offaith, 7rol(o-rt, and not on account of works, -'pya (Rom. iv. 1,
et seqq.; Gal. iii. 16); and that the promise,;frayyeXla, was given long
before the law was promulgated (Rom. iv. 10, et seqq.; Gal. iii. 16,
seqq.). He next uses this argument: " If righteousness be by law,
then Christ has died in vain," eL' ta Vy6wov &aKatooCVin', alpa Xpt-rOST  8copeav
a7reOave (Gal. ii. 21, al.): he afterwards has recourse to allegories
(Gal. iv. 21, et seqq.). He finally adds this: Spiritual gifts, xapltaCara
7rvvuartKa, were bestowed on men, not by law, votLov, but by faith, T-,V
r-LcTTlV; therefore the former wants efficacy (Gal. ii. 3-5).  From  all
this, it followed that Christians, whether of Jewish or pagan extraction, were to abstain from the observance of the law of Moses; but
this was to be done in a spirit of love, lest the weak might be offended
(1 Cor. viii. 1, seqq.; Rom. xiv. 13, seqq.).  But though the Jewish




JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY IN THEIR RELATIONS.  415
economy is abolished by Christ, yet the pristine splendour and ancient
honours of the nation are not to be forgotten: for, 1st, They received,
through Abraham, their founder, the divine promises (Rom. iii. 2);
2d, To them belonged the divinely-written law (Rom. ix. 4); 3d,
Of them sprang the Messiah, according to the flesh, Ka-ah o'apKa (Rom.
ix. 5).
(4) Christians who have faith in Christ, and are governed by the
Spirit, 7rEvELart, are not free from  all sin; nay, through the force of
inward corruption, they may sometimes be incited to the commission
of what is manifestly contrary to the divine will (Rom. vii. 14, seqq.
See the Rabbinical Quotations of Wetstein, ii. p. 233). But God,
being now rendered propitious through Christ, pardons those sins
which proceed  7ro Trn raTpKOrs.  From  this it is evident,-lst, With
what propriety &tKaLtooVvr, righteousness, is said to proceed entirely
from the grace of God, for the sake of Christ's death; for no man
can perfectly obey the will of God, or claim by right eternal happiness, as the reward of his virtue: we must always betake ourselves
to the clemency of the Supreme Being. 2d, It is clear that the rtTrrLtr,
faith, which the apostle demands, must not be VEKpa, dead, but joined
with the pursuit of virtue (Rom. vi. 1, seqq.; Gal. v. 13; Eph. v. 9).
Hence it is that he so frequently exhorts Christians, under the influence of the Spirit, to put on Katvov tvOporrov, the new man (Eph. iv.
23, 24; 2 Cor. v. 17; Col. iii. 10); to renounce sin (dwrocaveiv 72i
aqlaprla,1 to die to sin, Rom. vi. 2. Compare Col. iii. 5); to pursue
holiness (e7rtre-XetEv afytcocTvPqv, 2 Cor. vii. 1); to live in a manner worthy
of their calling, aditco   Trr KXTEoJr  (Eph. iv. 1; Col. i. 10); to follow
after every kind of virtue (1 Cor. vi. 10; Eph. iv. 22, seqq.; Phil. ii.
1, seqq.; Col. iii. 12; 1 Thess. iv. 1, seqq.; 2 Thess. iii. 6, seqq.).
I consider this,pace ToD vay, as a  ae~gfXE: Christians are never exhorted
zoOysY7vy TX- a,6g-/; they are exhorted XorE;a~0 i60tSV'rO;u  oXgO; Tf  r'OxgT. FRASERaS
elaborate work on "The Christian doctrine of Sanctification-an Exposition of Rom.
vi. vii. viii. 1-4," may be consulted with advantage on this subject, which is an important one in its bearings both on doctrine and experience.-J. B.




ADDENDA.
PROLEG. ~ 1.
The account of Galatia in Conybeare and Howson's " Life and
Epistles of St Paul,"' is the most complete and condensed I have met
with. Vol. i. ch. viii. p. 261-267.
PROLEG. ~ 8, P. 14.
The passage referred to in Bunyan's Autobiography deserves to be
quoted at large.
"' But before I had got thus far out of these my temptations, I did
greatly long to see some ancient godly man's experience, who had
writ some hundreds of years before I was born; for those who had
writ in our days, I thought (but I desire them to pardon me) that
they had writ only that which others had felt; or else had, through
the strength of their wits and parts, studied to answer such objections
as they perceived others were perplexed with, without going down
themselves into the deep. Well, after many such longings in my
mind, the God in whose hands are all our days and ways, did cast
into my hand, one day, a book of Martin Luther's. It was his' Comment on the Galatians.' It also was so old that it was ready
to fall piece from piece, if I did but turn it over. Now I was pleased
1 This truly scholarly book did not come into my hands till the greater part of the
Exposition had passed through the press. Its accomplished authors will forgive
the freedom I have used with their work in these Addenda. The book has suffered
in some respects, from its being designed for the drawing-room table as well as the
library shelf; but the fact of such a book being thought of for such a purpose, is fiill
of promise.




GAL. I. 1.                     417
much, that such an old book had fallen into my hands; the which,
when I had but a little way perused, I found my condition, in his
experience, so largely and profoundly handled, as if his book had
been written out of my heart. This made me marvel; for thus,
thought I, this man could not know anything of the state of Christians now, but must needs write and speak the experience of former
days.
" Besides, he doth most gravely also, in that book, debate of the
rise of these temptations, namely, blasphemy, desperation, and the
like; showing that the law of Moses, as well as the devil, death, and
hell, hath a great hand therein: the which at first was very strange
to me; but, considering and watching, I found it so indeed. But of
particulars here, I intend nothing; only this, methinks, I must let
fall before all men,'I do prefer this book of Martin Luther upon the
Galatians (excepting the Holy Bible) before all the books that ever I
have seen, as most fit for a wounded conscience.' "-Grace A bounding
to the Chief of Sinners, chap. ii.
GAL. I. 1.
IlaviXos. " It cannot be denied that the words in Acts xiii. 9-'Saul, who is also Paul' —are the line of separation between two
very distinct portions of St Luke's biography of the Apostle Paul, in
the former of which he is uniformly called' Saul,' while in the latter
he receives, with equal consistency, the name of' Paul.' "-" We are,
however, inclined to adopt the opinion that the Cilician apostle had
this Roman name, as well as his other Hebrew name, in his earlier
days, and even before he was a Christian. This adoption of a Gentile
name is so far from being alien to the spirit of a Jewish family, that
a similar practice may be traced through all the periods of Hebrew
history. Beginning with the Persian epoch, we find such names as
Nehemiah, [Attirshatha], Schammai, Belteshazzar, which betray an
oriental origin, and show that Jewish appellatives followed the growth
of the living language. In the Greek period, we encounter the names
of Philip, and his son Alexander; and of Alexander's successors,
Antiochus, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, Antipater; the names of Greek
philosophers, such as Zeno and Epicurus; even Greek mythological
names, as Jason and Menelaus. Some of these words will be recognised as occurring in the New Testament itself  When we mention
Roman names, the coincidence is still more striking. Crispus, Justus,
Niger, are found in Josephus as well as the Acts. Drusilla and
Priscilla might have been- Roman matrons. The Aquila of St Paul
is the counterpart of the Apella of Horace. Nor need we end our
2D




418                      ADDENDA.
survey of Jewish names with the early Roman Empire; for, passing
by the destruction of Jerusalem, we find Jews in the earlier part of
the Middle Ages calling themselves Basil, Leo, Theodosius, Sophia;
and, in the latter part, Albert, Benedict, Crispin, Denys. We might
pursue our inquiry into the nations of modern Europe; but enough
has been said to show, that as the Jews have successively learned to
speak Chaldee, Greek, Latin, or German, so they have adopted into
their families the appellations of those Gentile families among whom
they have lived. It is indeed remarkable that the separated nation
should bear, in the very names recorded in its annals, the trace of
every nation with whom it has come into contact, and never united.
" It is important to our present purpose to remark that double names
often occur in combination, the one national, the other foreign. The
earliest instances are Belteshazzar-Daniel, and Esther-Hadasa. Frequently there was no resemblance or natural connection between the
two words, as in Herod-Agrippa, Salome-Alexandria, Juda-Aristobulus, Simon-Peter. Sometimes the meaning was reproduced, as in
Malich-Kleodemus.  At other times an alliterating resemblance of
sound seems to have dictated the choice, as in Jose-Jason, HillelJulus, Saul-Paulus.
" Thus, it seems satisfactory reasons can be adduced for the double
name borne by the apostle, without having recourse to the hypothesis of Jerome, who suggests that, as Scipio was called Africanus,
from the conquest of Africa, and Metellus Creticus, from the conquest
of Crete, so Saul carried away his new name as a trophy of his victory
over the heathenism of the Proconsul Paulus; or that notion, which
Augustine applies with much rhetorical effect in various parts of his
writings, when he alludes to the literal meaning of the word Paulus,
and contrasts Saul, the unbridled king-the proud, self-confident persecutor of David,-with Paul, the lowly, the penitent, who deliberately wished to indicate, by his very name, that he was' the least of
the apostles,' and' less than the least of all saints.' Yet we must not
neglect the coincident occurrence of these two names in the narrative
of the events which happened in Cyprus. We need not hesitate to
dwell on the associations connected with the name of Paulus, or on
the thoughts naturally called up when we notice the critical passage
in the sacred history, where it is first given to Saul of Tarsus. It is
surely not unworthy of notice, that, as Peter's first convert was a
member of the Cornelian House, so the surname of the noblest family
of the.A.milian House was the link between the apostle of the Gentiles
and his convert at Paphos. Nor can we find a nobler Christian
version of any line of a heathen poet, than by comparing what Horace
says of him who fell at Cannm —-' animce magnac prodigum Paulum,'



GAL. I. 6, 17.                   419
with the words of him who said at Miletus,' I count not my life dear
unto myself so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry
which I have received of the Lord Jesus.'" —HowsoN, vol. i. p.
162-165.
GAL. I. 6.
"TraxE(O. This word the apostle uses, 2 Thess. ii. 2, where he exhorts the Thessalonians 1u) raxu; o'aXEvOivaL, not rashly to let themselves be shaken; where -raxE(o refers not so much to the time as to
the manner in which they were affected, like the English hastily."CONYBEARE.
GAL. I. 17.
Td7rXOoiv EZ~L'Apa/3lav. "M any questions have been raised concerning
this journey into Arabia. The first question relates to the meaning
of the word. From'the time when the word' Arabia' was first
used by any 9f the writers of Greece or Rome, it has always been a
term of vague and uncertain import. Sometimes it includes Damascus;
sometimes it ranges over the Lebanon itself, and extends even to the
borders of Cilicia. The native geographers usually reckon that stony
district, of which Petra was the capital, as belonging to Egypt; and
that wide desert toward the Euphrates, where the Bedouins of all ages
have lived in tents, as belonging to Syria; and have limited the name
[Arabia] to the Peninsula between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf,
where Jemen, or' Araby the Blest,' is secluded on the south. In the
threefold division of Ptolemy, which remains in our popular languages
when we speak of this still untravelled region, both the first and the
second of these districts were included under the name of the third;
and we must suppose St Paul to have gone into one of the two
former, either that which touched Syria and Mesopotamia, or that
which touched Palestine and Egypt. If he went into the first, we
need not suppose him to have travelled far from Damascus. For
though the strong powers of Syria and Mesopotamia might check the
Arabian tribes, and retrench the Arabian name in this direction, yet
the gardens of Damascus were on the verge of the desert, and Damascus was almost as much an Arabian as a Syrian town.
" And if he went into Petreean Arabia, there still remains the
question of the motive of his journey, and his employment when
there. Either retiring before the opposition at Damascus, he went
to preach the gospel; and then in the synagogues of that singular
capital, which was built amidst the rocks of Edom, whence' Arabians'




420                      ADDENDA.
came to the festivals at Jerusalem (Acts ii. 11), he testified of Jesus:
or he went for the purpose of contemplation and solitary communion
with God, to deepen his repentance, and fortify his soul with prayer;
and then, perhaps, his steps were turned to those mountain heights
by the Red Sea, which Moses and Elijah had trodden before him.
We cannot attempt to decide the question. The views which different inquirers take of it will probably depend on their own tendency
to the practical or to the ascetic life. On the one hand, it may be
argued, that such zeal could not be restrained-that Saul could not
be silent,-but that he would rejoice in carrying into the metropolis
of King Aratus the gospel which his Ethnarch could afterwards hinder
at Damascus (2 Cor. xi. 32). On the other hand, it may be said that,
with such convictions recently worked in his mind, he would yearn
for solitude,-that a time of mature meditation, before the beginning
of a great work, is in conformity with the economy of God,-that we
find it quite natural, if Paul followed the example of the great lawgiver and the great prophet; and of one greater than Moses and
Elijah, who, after his baptism, and before his ministry,' returned
from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness' (Luke
iv. 1)." —HowsoN, vol. i. p. 104-106.
" Those will take the right view of this sojourn of Saul in Arabia,
who regard it as a still retirement, in which he lived in communion,
in the Spirit, with the Lord in heaven, as the original apostles had
conversed with the Lord on earth."-BAUMGARTEN.
GAL. I. 18.
trTop-rat rIIETpov. " To become acquainted with Peter."-" The
first meeting of the fisherman of Galilee and the tent-maker of Tarsus,
the chosen companion of Jesus on earth, and the chosen Pharisee
who saw Jesus in the heavens-the apostle of the circumcision, and
the apostle of the Gentiles,-is passed over in a few words. The
divine record does not linger in dramatic description on those passages, which a mere human writing would labour to embellish. What
took place in the intercourse of these two saints,-what was said of
Jesus of Nazareth, who suffered, died, and was buried-and of Jesus
the glorified Lord, who had risen, and ascended, and become " head
over all things to the church,-what was felt of Christian love and
devotion,-what was learnt, under the Spirit's teaching, of Christian
truth, has not been revealed, and cannot be known. The intercourse
was full of present comfort, and full of great consequences. But it
did not last long. Fifteen days passed away, and the apostles were
compelled to part."-HowsoN, vol. i. pp. 111-113.




GAL. I. 23; II. 1.                  421
GAL. I. 23.
"The Greek words, oaKovOrTeV rav.... vV eVayyyeXaerat, seem to
imply a continued preaching of the gospel, the intelligence of which
came now and then to Judea." —HowsoN, vol. i. p. 116.
GAL. II. 1.
E'relra aL 8eKarecrTrapp&rov ercy rraXtv advE3)v ELS'Iepoo'dXvya.  On the time
of the visit to Jerusalem mentioned in Galatians, chap. ii.  " To avoid
circumlocution, we shall call the visit mentioned in Galatians ii. 1,
the Galatian visit; and we shall designate the visit mentioned in
Acts ix. as visit (1); that in Acts xi. and xii. as visit (2); that in
Acts xv. as visit (3) that in Acts xviii. as visit (4); that in Acts xxi.
as visit (5).
I. The Galatian visit was not the same with visit (1), because it is
mentioned as subsequent by St Paul.
II. Was the Galatian visit the same with visit (2)? The first impression from reading the end of Gal. i. and beginning of Gal. ii.
would be that it was; for St Paul seems to imply that there had been
no intermediate visit between the one mentioned in Gal. i. 18, which
was visit (1), and that in Gal. ii. 1, which we have called the Galatian visit.  On the other side, however, we must observe that St
Paul's object in this passage is not to enumerate all his visits to Jerusalem. His opponents had told his converts that Paul was no true
apostle, that he was only a Christian teacher authorised by the
Judmean apostles, that he derived his authority and his knowledge
of the gospel from Peter, James, and the rest of "the twelve."  St
Paul's object is to refute this statement. This he does by declaring,
firstly, that his commission was not from men, but from God; secondly,
that he had taught Christianity for three years without seeing any of
"the twelve" at all; thirdly, that, at the end of that time, he had
only spent one fortnight at Jerusalem with Peter and James, and
then had gone to Cilicia, and remained personally unknown to the
Judaean Christians; fourthly, that, fourteen years afterwards, he had
undertaken a journey to Jerusalem, and that he then obtained an
acknowledgment of his independent mission from the chief apostles.
Thus we see that his object is not to enumerate every occasion, where
he might possibly have been instructed by " the twelve," but to assert
(an assertion which he confirms by oath, chap. i. 20) that his knowledge was not derived from their instruction. A short visit to Jerusalem, which produced no important results, he might naturally pass
over, and especially if he saw none of " the twelve" at Jerusalem




422                        ADDEND)A.
when he visited it. Now, this was probably the case at visit (2), because it was just at the time of Herod Agrippa's persecution, which
would naturally disperse the apostles from Jerusalem, as the persecution at Stephen's death did; with regard to St Peter it is expressly
said, that after his miraculous escape from prison, he quitted Jerusalem (Acts. xii. 17). This supposition is confirmed by finding that
Barnabas and Saul were sent to the elders of the church at Jerusalem,
and not to the apostles (Acts xi. 30).    A further objection to supposing the Galatian visit identified with visit (2), is that, at the time of
the Galatian visit, Paul and Barnabas are described as having been
already extensively useful as missionaries to the heathen; but this
they had not been at the time of visit (2). - Again, St Paul could
not have been, at so early a period, considered on a footing of equality
with St Peter.  Yet this he was at the time of the Galatian visit (I do
not think there is much force in this reason). — Again, visit (2) could
not have been so long as fourteen years after visit (1): for visit (1)
was certainly not later than 45 A.D.; and if it was the same as the
Galatian visit, visit (1) must have been not later than from 31 to 33
A.D. (allowing the inclusive Jewish mode of reckoning to be possibly
employed); but Aretas was not in possession of Damascus till about
37 A.D.    Again, if visit (2) was fourteen years after visit (1), we
must suppose nearly all this time spent by St Paul at Tarsus, and yet
that all his long residence there is unrecorded by St Luke, who merely
says, that he went to Tarsus, and from thence to Antioch (Acts ix.
30; xi. 26).
III. The Galatian visit not being identical with (1) or (2), was it
identical with (3), (4), or (5)? We may put (5) at once out of the
question, because Paul did not return to Antioch after (5), whereas
he did return after the Galatian visit. There remain, therefore, (3)
and (4) to be considered. We shall take (4) first.
IV. Wieseler has lately argued very ingeniously that the Galatian
visit was the same with (4). His reasons are:-1. He states that, at
the Galatian visit, the apostles allowed unlimited freedom to the Gentile converts, i. e. imposed no conditions upon them, such as those in
the decree passed at visit (3). This, however, is an inference not
warranted by St Paul's statement, which speaks of the acknowledgment of his personal independence, but does not touch the question of
the converts. 2. That, till the time of visit (4), St Paul's position
could not have been so far on a level with St Peter's as it was at the
Galatian visit. 3. That the condition of making a collection for the
poor saints at Jerusalem, which St Paul says he had been forward to
fillfil (Gal. ii. 9), must have been fulfilled in that great collection
which we know that St Paul set on foot immediately after visit (4),




GAL. II. I.                       423
because we read of no other collection made by St Paul for this purpose. 4. That St Paul would not have been likely to take an uncircumcised Gentile, like Titus, with him to Jerusalem at a period earlier
than visit (4). And, moreover, he conceives Titus to be the same
with the Corinthian Justus, who is not mentioned as one of St Paul's
companions till Acts xviii. 7, that is, not till after visit (3). It is evident that these arguments are not conclusive in favour of visit (4),
even if there were nothing on the other side; but there are, moreover,
the following objections against supposing the Galatian visit identical
with visit (4). 1. Barnabas was St Paul's companion in the Galatian
visit: he is not mentioned as being with him at visit (4). 2. Had so
important a conference between St Paul and the other apostles taken
place at visit (4), it would not have been altogether passed over by St
Luke, who dwells so fully upon the council held at the time of visit
(3), the decrees of which (in Wieseler's view) were inferior in importance to the concordat between St Paul and the other apostles, which
he supposes to have been made at visit (4). 3. The whole tone of the
second chapter of Galatians is against Wieseler's hypothesis: for in
that chapter St Paul plainly seems to speak of the first conference
which he had held, after his success among the heathen, with the
chief apostles at Jerusalem, and he had certainly seen and conferred
with them during visit (3).
V. We have seen, therefore, that, if the Galatian visit be mentioned
at all in the Acts, it must be identical with visit (3), at which the (so
called) council of Jerusalem  took place.  We will now consider the
objections against the identity of these two visits, urged by Paley and
others, and then the arguments in favour of the identity.
Objections to the identity of the Galatian visit with visit (3).      Answers to the Objections.
1. St Paul mentions this journey    1. This objection is answered under
as if it had been the next visit to  I. above.
Jerusalem after the time which he
spent there on his return from Damascus: he does not say anything of
any intermediate visit. This looks
as if he were speaking of the journey
which he took with Barnabas to Jerusalem (Acts xi. 30), to convey with
him alms to the Jewish Christians in
the famine.
2. In the Galatians, the journey is   2. The journey may have taken
said to have taken place Kar' diro- place in consequence of a revelation,
xakvk+'tv (Gal. ii. 2), but in Acts xv. and yet may also have been agreed to




424                         ADDENDA.
2-4, 6-12, a public mission is men- by a vote of the church at Antioch.
tioned.                            Compare Acts ix. 29, 30, and xxii.
17-21.
3. In the Galatians, Barnabas and    3. This argument is merely ex siTitus are spoken of as St Paul's corn- lentio, and therefore inconclusive.
panions; in the Acts, Barnabas and
others (tIVs i'aXXot, Acts xv. 2), but
Titus is not mentioned.
4. The object of the visit in Acts   4. Both these objects are implied
xv. is different from that of the Gala-  in each narrative.
tian visit.  The object in Acts xv.
was to seek relief from the imposition
of the Mosaic law, that of the Galatian visit was to obtain the recognition of St Paul's independent apostleship.
5. In Acts xv. a public assembly    5. The private interviews spoken
of the church in Jerusalem  is de- of in the Epistle do not exclude the
scribed, while in the Galatians only  supposition of public meetings having
private interviews with the leading  also taken place, and a communicaapostles are spoken of.            tion to the whole church is expressly
mentioned, Gal. ii. 2 (av'rois).
6. The narrative in the Epistle    6. The narrative in Galatians gives
says nothing of the decision of the  a statement intended to prove the
Council of Jerusalem, as it is com- recognition of St Paul's authority,
monly called, mentioned Acts xv.   which is sufficient to account for this
omission. Also, St Paul might assume that the decision of the council
was well known to the churches in
Galatia; for Paul and Silas had carried it there.
7. It is inconsistent to suppose that,   7. This objection is founded on a
after the decision of the Council of misunderstanding of St Peter's conJerusalem, St Peter could have be- duct. (Vide Exposition.)
haved as he is described doing (Gal.
ii. 19); for how could he refuse to eat
with the uncircumcised Christians,
after having advocated, in the council, their right of admission to Christian fellowship.
8. The Epistle mentions St Paul    8. This argument is only ex silentio,
as conferring with James, Peter, and  and obviously inconclusive.
John, whereas in Acts xv. John is not
mentioned at all; and it seems strange
that so distinguished a person, if present at the council, should not have
been mentioned.
9. Since, in the Galatians, St Paul   9. This objection proceeds on the
mentions James, Peter, and John, it mere assumption, that because James
seems most natural to suppose that he is mentioned first, he must be James




GAL II. 1.                       425
speaks of the well-known triumvirate  the greater. James the less became
so often classed together in the gos- even a more conspicuous leader of the
pels. If so, it must have been before  church at Jerusalem than James the
the death of James the greater, and  greater had previously been, as aptherefore before the Council of Jeru- pears from  Acts xv.  James the
salem.                           greater is never mentioned first in
the apostolic triumvirate-the order
of which is Peter, James, and John.
10. St Paul's refusal to circumcise   10. Timothy's mother was a Jewess,
Titus (Gal. ii.), and voluntary circum- and he had been brought up as a Jew,
cising of Timothy (Acts xviii. 21) so  whereas Titus was a Gentile.
soon afterwards.
Thus, we see that the objections against the identity of the GaTatian
visit with visit (3) are inconclusive, consequently we might at once
conclude, from the obvious circumstances of identity between the two
visits, that they were actually identical. But this conclusion is further strengthened by the following arguments:-1. The Galatian visit
could not have happened before visit (3); because, if so, the apostles
at Jerusalem had already granted to Paul and Barnabas the liberty
which was sought for, the evayyE'XLov  T?~ aKpo3vorTLar.  And again, the
Galatian visit could not have happened after visit (3); because almost
immediately after that period, Paul and Barnabas ceased to work
together as missionaries to the Gentiles; whereas up to the time of
the Galatian visit they had been working together. 2. The chronology
of St Paul's life agrees better with the supposition that the Galatian visit was visit (3), than with any other supposition.  Reckoning
backward from the ascertained epoch of 60 A.D., when St Paul was
sent to Rome, we find he must have begun his second missionary
journey in 51, and that, therefore, the council, i. e. visit (3), must have
been either in 50 or 51. This calculation is based upon the history
in the Acts. Now, turning to the Epistle to the Galatians, we find
the following epochs.  A. Conversion.  B. 3 years interval (probably Judaically reckoned = 2 years). C. Flight from Damascus
and visit (1).  D. 14 years interval (probably Judaically reckoned =
13 years). E. Galatian visit. And since Aretas was supreme at
Damascus at the time of the flight, and his supremacy thus probably
begun about 37, we could not put the flight at a more probable date
than 38. If we assume this to have been the case, then the Galatian
visit was 38 + 13 = 51, which agrees with the time of the council,
i. e. visit (3), as above. —HowsoN, vol. i. p. 244-252, somewhat
abridged. I consider this elaborate Note as quite a master-pieceenough to stamp a volume as valuable.-See also Davidson's Introduction to the New Testament, vol. ii.




426                        ADDENDA.
GAL. II. 4.
Conybeare supplies the ellipsis thus,-" But this communication"
(referred to in verse 2) " I undertook on account of the false brethren,"
etc. This is ingenious. This mode of exegesis agrees exactly with
the narrative, Acts xv.
GAL. II. 8.
"He who wrought in Peter a fitness for the apostleship of the
circumcision, wrought also in me the gifts needful for an apostle of
the Gentiles."-CONYBEARE, vol. ii. p. 140.
GAL. II. 12.
"The peculiar character of the religion which isolated the Jews,
was such as to place insuperable obstacles in the way of social union
with other men. Their ceremonial observances precluded the possibility of their eating with the Gentiles. The nearest parallel we can
find to this barrier between the Jews and Gentiles is the institution
of caste among the ancient populations of India, which presents itself
to our politicians as a perplexing fact in the government of the presidencies, and to our missionaries as the great obstacle to the progress
of Christianity in the East." —HowsoN.
GAL. II. 15, 16.' It is important to notice, that in this passage the apostle refers
specially to the Mosaic system,-not, indeed, to the ritual observances
alone, but to the whole of that law which was delivered to the fathers
of the Jews at Sinai, and by the observance of which they had been
distinguished from the Gentiles. It is important to notice this, because
it proves that this law was not intended to form the substance of a
covenant of works for salvation to the Israelites, or was not revealed
to them in order that they might attain eternal life by a personal fulfilment of the terms which it announced. It was in reality a covenant
of works to them, in so far as it promised outward prosperity and the
possession of Canaan as the reward of adherence to its institutions;
but to convert this covenant of works for temporal blessings into a
law of works for [obtaining] justification before God and eternal
happiness, was entirely to misapprehend the design of that revelation
of God's claims on fallen man which it contained."-DUNCAN's Law.




GAL. III. 1, 10, 15.                    427
of Moses: its Character and Design, p. 217. This treatise contains
more satisfactory statement on its important subject than any book in
our language.
GAL. III. 1. vy Vthlv.
"Verba Iv iViv, si genuina sunt (etenim  non leguntur in A. B. C.
Vers. Syr. IEthiop. etc.), addita puto ad oki, ut magis appareret,
quommodo iis depictus fuerit Christus, nimirum  in ipsorum animis."WINER, Conf. Gramm. N. T. p. 63.
GAL. III. 10.
Ot ya&p a-   E'pyov rotov ElrtlY viri Karcipav eltL. "V Provision, indeed,
was made in the Mosaic system for the transgression of its precepts
by those who were subject to it. Atonement might be made by
sacrifice. But nothing can be more obvious to right reason, than
that' it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins,' or that animal sacrifices could expiate the moral
guilt of intelligent and responsible beings. They gave exemption
from temporal penalties and ecclesiastical incapacities; but their efficacy in regard to moral guilt was wholly dependent on their typical
import, and the faith of the offerer in regard to what was prefigured
by them." —DuNcAN.
GAL. III. 15.  0'eu,.
The following note, for which I am indebted to a learned friend,
will be duly estimated by Grecians.
" I think Semler (page 140, foot-note) might have brought out the
meaning of oupcos a little more simply by keeping a little nearer itself.
oos,' same, equal, like;' 4otuos,' equally,' etc. EK robrcWO  O/yOLS Qvor-ep0ov,
from  both those,'alike, equally, from  the one equally-as well-as
from  the other' (LYCURG. 61).  ravyv /iEv oVK j'OaXEV, OAS/co 86 jvayKai('t)q
oloXoyiiaaL,'he was quite averse, but equally (as if he had felt no
reluctance) he was constrained to'-or the disinclination, and the
actual consenting, are put on the same, an equal, or like footing, as
matters of fact (PL. PROT. 338).  /afiv yE' rov a Cvvarov Edvat, AXX',oou,' equally (as if it were not) (PHuED. 68).  Ka'rotl 8Kv0 y' KCtavT&,~
dXX' uo.V yYXco,' and really (Tro) I bit my lip hard (ye), but equally (as
if I had made no such repressive effort) I laughed (AR. RAN. 43).
o0aXEvres 8' V  LKEXUla 4aXnX Te rapaoKEev,.. 5O/Eo rpLa NYV -eT' a5vreLXOV,'they held out equally (as if they had not failed in Sicily)' (Tiuc.




428                         ADDENDA.
2, 65 (8).  Observe, it comes to the same thing when we render it
by'notwithstanding:' the one event did not withstand the other-did
not stand with, against, the other (so as to prevent it).
"Sometimes one of the terms or members of comparison is suppressed, or left to be inferred: E7rf tIETroL rvp 7 yEvpav oticog q/vXaK9v
E7rrqEuav,'they actually sent a guard to the bridge equally (as if they
had believed the report that the Persians were going to break it
down; every word of which they discredited)' (XEN. AN. 2, 4, 23).
See also, 2, 2, 17, —oi pev oVv.TprTOt OLow.. E'cTpaTO7rE8EVcTavro,' encamped equally (as if the houses had not been dismantled).'  Ilellenistic usage is exactly the same, Gal. iii. 15, o',ou dv8pcorov KEKVpOur Lv c taljK7v OVElS adOerI E i' Elr-atar'cYa~ral,   q. d.' My brethren, to
explain this in a way quite familiar to your conceptions, the deed
of a man equally (as of a higher being), if duly executed, no person
tries to annul or alter;''Men hold valid a confirmed human deed
equally-just as, not less than, etc.-they hold a confirmed divine
promise.' The English' as well' is often, I think, almost an exact
equivalent:' The confirmed deed of a man as well (Luovs), nobody
thinks of making void, or even modifying;' leaving the contrasted
object or member unexpressed. Among men, a legal deed takes effect
in due time, unless revoked in whole or in part by the testator, etc.
etc.
"' Even (goaLov) a man's covenant, if confirmed, no one annuls or
meddles with'-(and I would not be surprised if this should strike you
as the more compact and exact way of rendering the verse). Now,
on my theory, even is just equal, equally. Look at John v. 23,' should
honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.' Would it alter the
meaning here, to say,' equally' as?  And though the Greek is not
LtCOVS it is KaO-ss.
"' Our translators have rendered o',ueo,' even,' 1 Cor. xiv. 7: yCoso
Ta AvXa,' even things without life.' Here, as in other cases, there is
a reference of equality-' Things without life, equally ('lWuoE) with living
creatures.' At John xii. 42, perhaps the only other instance in the
New Testament, the reference is not so obvious.  Our translation is,
Nevertheless (/o's), among the chief rulers also many believed on
him.' Now,  never-the-less' is just' not a whit the less,' or the equivalent,' equally.'-' Equally as if the prophet had not uttered the prediction,' at least the previous words; or, some of the Jews believing
was a fact, equally with the declaration of the prophet.
"If the reference is to the 37th verse alone, or chiefly, it will come
to the same thing, with a slight change in the application.
" Assuming that it does refer to the 37th, oVK 7rl0Trevov  ELs avTOv,
don't you think our translators would have gained their object




GAL. III. 24; IV. 13.                 429
as well by rendering the 42d, so,'nevertheless, many even (Kal) of
the chief rulers believed on him'?-More nearly, (,ucos0 PEvroL Kai)'Yet, in fact, and (an additional circumstance) of the chief rulers
many believed on him,' —' Yet, in fact, many-and (you may marvel,
etc. etc.)-of the chief rulers believed on him.' I would not be surprised if this, or something like it, was the origin of this usage of
Kal. We come near it with our usage of'aye.'-' Many aye (Kal) of
the chief rulers believed.' The knowledge of the history of a phrase
is often a prime help towards understanding its exact amount, and
shades, of meaning.".
GAL. III. 24.
o vo/Lov 7ratlayooyiO plA7v ye'yovev ELd XpLrT'v.-" The law was as the
slave who leads the child to the house of the schoolmaster."  " The
mistranslation of the word 7ratsay-oyio in the A. V. has led to a misconception of the whole metaphor." 1 Cor. iv. 15, 7ratlayyo'y, "the
guardian slave who led the child- to school." " As a Jewish illustration of a custom well known among the Greeks and Romans, see the
quotation in Buxtorf's Synagoga Judaica, cap. vii. —' Quando quis
filium suum studio legis consecrat, pingebant ipsi, super pergamena
vel tabella aliqua, elementa literarum, quibus etiam mel illinebant, deinde
eum bene lotum, mundis vestibus indutum, placentis ex melle et lacte
confectis, ut et fructibus ac tragematis instructum, tradebant alicui
Rabbino, qui eum deducat in scholam; hic cum ora pallii opertum ad
praeceptorem  ducebat, a quo literas cognoscere discebat, illectus
suavitate deliciarum illarum et sic' reducebatur ad matrem suam.' "CONYBEARE and HowsoN, vol. i. p. 54; vol. ii. p. 33, 145.
GAL. IV. 13.
f& aCOEVELvav,s aCapKOR. Howson gives a different turn to this expression from that adopted by our translators.  " There can be no
doubt that the literal translation of the phrase is,'On account of
bodily weakness,'-see Winer, ~ 53;-and there seems no good reason
why we should translate it differently, though most of the English
commentators take a different view.-See Meyer and De Wette.
Bittger, in harmony with his hypothesis that St Luke's Galatia
means the neighbourhood of Lystra and Derbe, thinks that the bodily
weakness here alluded to was the result of the stoning at Lystra,
Acts xiv." In this case, we may suppose that the state of his bodily
health arrested his progress as he was passing through Galatia to




430                        ADDENDA.
some other district, probably Pontus.-CONYBEARE and Howso-N,
vol. i. p. 294.
GAL. IV. 26.'H 8 A'va~ IEpovaaXap. The following Rabbinical notes, for which I
am indebted to Wetstein, are interesting:-Targum, in Psal. cxxii. 2,
— " Jerusalem quae aedificata est in ccelis, ut civitas conjuncta ei quae
in terris est." A2idras Tillim, cxxii. —" Hierusalem sursum. Dixit
R. Josua F. Levi: Civitas quse facit omnes Judaeos socios."  The
following is a very striking specimen of Rabbinical ingenious trifling:
-Bereschithl, R. lxx. 6, —" Dixit R. Simeon F. Jochae: Domus sanctuarii superior non est altior domo sanctuarii inferiore nisi xviii. M.
Unde probas?" —A very natural question,-easier asked, one would
think, than answered.  But the Rabbi has his reply ready,-" Et
haoc est porta cceli.,m numerus xviii." Such adding to the words
of the book of God, by drawing out of it what was never in it, is
unhappily not confined to Jewish commentators.
GAL. V. 5.
EX7rl8a &KaLoogv,9S. Conybeare translates this phrase, " the hope of
righteousness," and explains it as equivalent to, " The hope of eternal
happiness promised to the righteousness." ad7rEKEXo'LEOa —" We look
with earnest longing" for this'rvetzara, not o-apKtc, —EK 7rlr'0e7, not 4
pyov. —Life and Writings of St Paul, vol. ii. p. 148.
GAL. V. 6.
7TrLrTLs V' ayarr'S EV p7ovt/EIv77.-"' Faith, whose work is love." Note."Literally,' whose essential operation consists in the production of
love.' "-CONYBEARE, vol. ii. p. 149.
GAL. V. 12.
"I would wish that these agitators, who disturb your quiet, would
execute upon themselves, not only circumcision, but excision also."CONYBEARE'S Translation. He adds in a marginal note, " Observe
the force of the Kal and of the middle voice here; the A. V. is a mistranslation."-Vol. ii. p. 149.




GAL. V. 17, 187 19, 21.               431
GAL. V. 17.
/va r TrOLte. —" Not,' so that you cannot' (A. V.); but,' tending to
prevent you from.' "-CONYBEARE. The exact rendering is, " so that
you do not."'Lva t'1 expressing a negative consequence.
GAL. V. 18.
OVK veT WMr5 vJoov. 1" They who' are led by the Spirit,' of course,'have the Spirit;' and none' have the Spirit of Christ' but those who
are'his,''in him;' and all who are' in him' are' dead to the law
by his body."' " When it appears, by'the fruits of the Spirit,' that
men are thus'in Christ,' the law has nothing to say to them: they
are, as we may say, out of its jurisdiction, and under another government, where the measures of judgment, both in justifying and condemning, are altogether different. The law had its course on Jesus
Christ, and, in him, on all who are' made conformable to him in his
death;' and has no more to say to them. They are left dead in the
hands of their great Creator, and are quickened by his sovereignly
free grace; for surely nobody will pretend that God was under any
the least obligation to employ his creating power to raise any of the
apostate race; and if He was bound to none, He may quicken whom
He will; and none can complain of being injured when He leaves
them where they have chosen to be.
"But this same sovereignty of grace, wherever it is exerted, is so
far from inferring the conclusion, which some who reckon themselves
very wise very ignorantly fasten upon it, to wit, that it encourages men
to continue in sin, and neglect the study of holiness,-that it is absolutely impossible for those who have tasted of the grace of God in
truth to draw any such conclusion from it. It is true, the external
doctrine of grace may be, and has been, turned into wantonness; but
that is only grace in the theory. But wherever it is received and
entertained in the heart, it teaches what the law could never effectually
teach,'to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts.' The apostle gives
the reason, Rom. vi. 2-11." —RICALTOUN.
GAL. V. 19-21.
"The order in which the apostle lays these works of the flesh
merits our attention. By indulging these fleshly lusts in adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, and lasciviousness, the soul is so degraded and
debased below the simple animal life, that it can relish nothing-not




432                          ADDENDA.
to say of the pure spiritual pleasures to be found in the favour, and
friendship, and love of God-but such as human reason would recommend, to wit, the intercourses of love and friendship among men.
Hence they are plunged deeper and deeper in the love of a present
world; and that, we are well informed, is enmity against God. The
only tie that can unite men and keep them together is broken; and
while every one grasps what he can of the unsatisfying pleasures of a
present world, the devilish symptoms necessarily break out, to wit,
wrath, strife, seditious, and running into divisions and parties (for that is
the true import of the word which we have formed out of the Greek,
and call heresies); and the native effects of party spirit, envyings,
murder; and lands in the most unnatural vices, drunkenness and revellings, as if they wanted of all things to extinguish those glimmerings
of reason our kind Creator has been pleased to indulge us with, in
order to receive the instructions He has favoured us with in his
blessed Son, by whom He has condescended to speak to us in these
last times."-RICCALTOUN.
GAL. VI. 7, 8.
There is a degree of haze over the apostle's illustrations here in all interpretations I have met with. There seem to be two figures employed
to illustrate the certainty of the connection God has established between present character and conduct, and future destiny. The seed
sown, and the soil cultivated, to a great degree determine the nature
and the extent of the crop reaped, which is their mutual produce. It
is so in the spiritual world. He who sows in his mind error, or mere
human earthly knowledge, though it be true, will reap a very different
harvest from the man who sows in his mind the word of the kingdom,
the truth as it is in Christ; and he who cultivates the soil of " his
flesh,"-that is, his unchanged nature,-sowing it with the seed which
suits it, giving it its appropriate cultivation, planting it with what
best grows in it, will have a very different harvest from him who
makes his nature, transformed by the Spirit through the truth, his
field of cultivation, —sowing in it the seed suitable to it, planting it
with what best grows in it, giving it its appropriate cultivation. The
one field "is nigh unto cursing;" the other 1" receives blessing of God."
The force of the exhortation and motives seems to be this:' Be
not deceived; God is not mocked: for as certainly as he that sows
weeds or poison shall reap weeds or poison, and he that sows good
grain shall reap good grain,-so certainly shall he who leaves his
mind in ignorance, or allows it to be occupied with vanity and lies,
and he who fills his mind with divine truth, find in- the future state




ADDENDA.                         433
results corresponding to their respective courses. Be not deceived:
for just as certainly as labour spent on one kind of soil will produce
nothing, or worse than nothing, and labour on another kind of soil
will produce an abundant harvest of precious grain,-so certainly
shall he who spends his labour on his unchanged nature, in seeking
to gratify its propensities, following out its tendencies, and he who
spends his labour in seeking to gratify the desires of " the spirit,"
his nature as transformed by the Holy Spirit, find the result of the
former course corruption, nothing but corruption, and of the latter,
life, everlasting life.' The last figure may be illustrated by another.' He who, instead of mortifying " the old man," nourishes and cherishes him, will find he has brought up his own murderer; while he
who devotes himself to securing the health and strength of " the new
man," will find that the heavenly stranger whom he has entertained
shall richly recompense all the care bestowed on him.'
GAL. VI. 11.
2Ere 7rnlXIicotV ypaqIao'.  Conybeare translates, " Observe the size of
the characters," etc.; and remarks in a note, " Thus we must understand the phrase, unless we suppose (with Tholuck) that,rilXKols is
used for iroLoiE, as in the later Greek of the Byzantine writers. To
take yp~alqara as equivalent to E&rrUro-X7 appears inadmissible. St Paul
does not here say that he wrote the whole epistle with his own hand;
but this is the beginning of his usual autograph postscript, and equivalent to the ovn, /ypdcoo in 2 Thess. iii. 17. We may observe, as a
further confirmation of this view, that scarcely any epistle bears more
evident marks than this of being written from dictation." [This I
doubt.] " The writer received a letter from the venerable Neander
a few months before his death, which illustrated this point in a manner
the more interesting, because he (Neander) takes a different view of
this passage (P. u. L. p. 368). His letter is written in the fair and
flowing hand of an amanuensis; but it ends with a few irregular lines
in large and rugged characters, written by himself, and explaining
the cause of his needing the services of an amanuensis, namely, the
weakness of his eyes (probably the very malady of St Paul). It was
impossible to read this autograph without thinking of the present
passage, and observing that he might have expressed himself in the
very words of St Paul: "I&e Ir,7XL(KO  o ypcit tapaaov cypafta Ti El/A, XEPl."
2 E:








INDEX.
I.-PRINCIPAL MATTERS.
" Abba," meaning of the word, 199.     "Bearing one another's burden," import
Abraham, history of justification of, 114.    of the phrase, 323.
Abusing Christian liberty, danger of, "Because of transgressions," meaning of
285.                                   the phrase, 148.
"Accursed, let him be," meaning of the  "Begin ill the Spirit," meaning of the
phrase, 46.                            phrase, 110.
"Adoption of sons," meaning of the  "Blessed," force of the expression, 122.
phrase, 192.                         "Brethren," import of the expression, 23.
"Adoption of sons," constituent elements "Burden," figurative meaning of the
of, 192.                               term, 323.
Agar, the Arabic name for a mountain, Burdensomeness of the Mosaic law, 190.
and Mount Sinai, 234.
Allegorical illustration, 228.         "Calling," import of the word, 38.
Amanuenses, generally  used  by  the  Calling ascribed to the Father, 39.
apostle, 354.                        Character and conduct, with destiny,
" Amen," import of, 35.                  connection of, 338.
" Another gospel," meaning of the phrase, Character and relation, how connected,
41.                                    398.
Antagonism of the natural mind to the  "Children of Abraham," import of the
peculiar doctrines of Christianity, 404.    phrase, 119.
Antioch, account of, 81, 82.           "Children of God," meaning of the term,
Antioch, Peter's visit to, probable date   177.
of, 81.                              "Christ crucified," import of the phrase,
Anxiety, apostle's, respecting the Gala-    104.
tians, 225.                          Christian truth, practical power of, 407.
Apostasy, nascent, proper mode of deal-  Christianity, essence of, stated, 376.
ing with, 273.                       " Church," import of the term, 23.
Apostle, import of the designation, 18.    Church, Christian, described, 332.
Apostle, " not of men," " not by men,"  Church, state of, under the law, 170.
"of God," "by Jesus Christ," meaning  Church, state of, after " faith has come,"
of the phrases, 19, 20, 21, 22.        176.
Apostle, the crucifixion of, to the world,' Churches of Judea," reference of the
373-how? 375.                         phrase, 66.
Apostolic benedictions, prayers, 25.   Church's two states, figurative illustraArabia, what the region so named to   tion of, 182.
which Paul retired, 419.             Circumcision, submission to, an acknowAssociates, Paul's, in writing to the Gala-   ledgment of the obligation of the whole
tians, 22.                             Mosaic law, 260.
Authenticating his epistles, the apostle's  Circumstances of the conversion of the
mode of, 354.                          Galatians, 210.
Civil law, dictum of, 234.
"Baptised into Christ Jesus," meaning of Coincidences, undesigned, evidence dethe phrase, 179.                      ilivable fromn, 353.




436                INDEX OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS.
Commentaries, use of, xxxii.             the Epistle to the Galatians, 6; inter" Compel," force of the word, 89.        nal, 7.
"Conclude under sin," meaning of the  Expostulations and warnings, 203.
phrase, 165.                         External religion, tendency of man to
"Confer with flesh and blood," meaning    rest in, 410.
of the phrase, 63.
Consequence and evidence of the church  " Faith," meaning of the term, 117.
having entered on a state of mature  " Faith, dead," meaning of the phrase, 269.
sonship, 198.                        " Faith of Christ," meaning of the term, 93.
Contentions, evil consequences of, 289.    False Christianity, 409.
" Conversation," meaning of the term so  "Flesh and blood," meaning of the phrase,
rendered, 59.                          63.
Conversion of Paul, 61.                "Flesh, the," meaning of the phrase, 284.
Conversion of Paul, apt subject for de- "Foolish Galatians," import of the phrase,
vout gratitude to the church in every    104.
age, 68.                             Formation of Christ in men, what it
Corrupters of the gospel, how to be re-    means, 226.
garded, 44.                          " Found sinners," meaning of the phrase,
"Counted for righteousness," meaning of   94.
the phrase, 117.                     Free Church of Scotland, their mode of
" Covenant," force of the expression in   supporting the Christian ministry, 401.
the Scriptures, 141.                 "Fruit of the Spirit," import of the phrase,
"Creature, a new," meaning of the phrase,   305.
378.                                 " Frustrate the grace of God," meaning
"Cross of Christ," meaning of the phrase,   of the phrase, 98.
359.                                 "Fulness of the times," meaning and reCross of Christ, to glory in-what? 365.    ference of the phrase, 191.
"Crucified with Christ," meaning of the
phrase, 96.                          Galatia, geographical situation of, 1; ori" Crucify the fleshW" import of the phrase,   gin of the name, 1; state of, when
309.                                   visited by Paul, 2; probable date of his
"Curse of the law," meaning of the    first visit, 2; results of, 3.
phrase, 130.                         Galatians, origin of, 1; manners, language, and religion, 2; epistle to, ocDanger of tampering with the gospel, 44.    casion of, 3; subject of, 3; date of, 5;
Defence, apostle's, against the charge of   where written from, 5; genuineness of,
men-pleasing, 48.                      6; general character of, 10; division
Defence, apostle's, of himself and his   of, 11; interpreters of, 12; similarity
office, 52.                            to the Epistle to the Romans, 4, 8;
Defence of the apostle's.doctrine, 101.  diversity, 4; inscription of, 16.
Delicacy of feeling manifested by the  " Gave himself for our sins," import of, 25.
apostle, 213.                        Generosity of the Voluntary principle of
Delusion, caution against, 335.          supporting the Christian ministry, 302.
Depravity of man, proof and illustration  Gentiles, their obligation to the Apostle
of, 36.                                Paul, 99.
Design of giving the law, 148.          Gentilism, analogy of, to Judaism, 254.
Difference between Paul and Peter, ac-  Gentleness, how the fruit of the Spirit, 306.
count of, 82; not doctrinal, 85.     " Give life," force of the expression, 164.
Discipline, church, importance of, 321.    Glorying in the cross, the apostle's deDivision of chapters and verses in the    termination respecting, 363.
New Testament often injudicious, 184.  Gospel, Paul's, divine both in its subDoxology, 33.                            stance and form, 57.
" Gospel preached by Paul among the
"Eating with them," meaning of the    Gentiles," import of the phrase, 71.
phrase, 84.                          Gospel, two leading principles of, 45.
Egotism to be guarded against by min-  Greek passive  used for the  Hebrew
isters, 53.                            hophal, 207.
Elements of Christianity, 398.
"Elements of the world," meaning and  "He that ministereth the Spirit," referreference of the phrase, 188.          ence of the phrase, 113.
"Envy," meaning of the word, 314.      " Hear," force of the word in Scripture,
Epistolary composition, characteristics    229.
of, 102.                             "Hearing of faith," meaning of the phrase,
Error and sin, connection between, 335.  110.
Establishments, civil, their mode of sup-  "Heresies," proper meaning of the word,
porting the Christian ministry, 400.   301.
Evidence, external, of the genuineness of Heretic, a, how self-condemned, 301.




INDEX OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS.                            437
"Him that called you," meaning and re-  " Live to God," meaning of the phrase, 96.
ference of the phrase, 39.             Lord's Supper, possible allusion to, 105.
"Household of faith," meaning and re-  Love not the primary principle of faith,
ference of the term, 347.                269.
Hypograph of the epistle, 387.           Love the fulfilment of the law, 287.
" Lusting against the spirit," meaning of
Impossibility of justification by the law,   the phrase, 294.
123.                                  Luther, his character as a commentator"In the hand," import of the phrase, 153.   account of his Exposition of the Epistle
Incompatibility of justification by faith   to the Galatians, 13; extracts from, 13.
and justification by the law, 127.    Luther's description of Christian liberty,
Inconsistency with Scripture of justifica-    252.
tion by the law, 125.
Insidious nature of error and vice, 256.   "Made a curse," meaning of the phrase,
"Israel of God," meaning and reference    131.
of the term, 382.                     " Made of a woman," meaning of the
Interval between the giving of the promise    phrase, 194.
and of the law, 146.                  "Made perfect in the flesh," meaning of
the phrase, 110.
Jews, unbelieving, most bitter persecutors  "Made under the law," meaning of the
of Christians, 242.                     phrase, 195.
"Judaicus fiscus," 359.                  "Marks of the Lord Jesus," meaning of
Judaisers, inconsistency of, 360.          the phrase, 383.
Judaising an implicit renunciation  of  Means by which the church was brought
Christianity, 256.                      into the state of grown-up children, 193.
Judaising teachers, their attempts and  Methodists, their mode of supporting the
success in Galatia, 3.                   Christian ministry, 401.
Judaism and Christianity in their rela-  "Minister the Spirit," meaning of the
tions, 412.                              phrase, 113.
Justice of the Voluntary principle of sup-  Ministers, duty of supporting, 334.
porting the Christian ministry, 401.   Ministry, Christian, difficulties and satisJustification, meaning of the term, 91.    factions of, 218.
Justification by faith and justification by  Ministry, gospel, importance of, 113.
the law incompatible, 127.            " Mocking God," meaning of the phrase,
Justification, free, through believing, ai  337.
ratified Divine arrangement, 140.      Mode of giving the law, 148.
Justification, the method of, great subject Morality of actions, whence derived, 258.
6f the Epistle to the Galatians, 3.
Names, double, of the Jews, 418.' Kingdom of God, the," meaning of the  "Nations "' equivalent to " heathen," 121.
phrase, 303.                          "Neighbour," meaning of the word, 288.
"Know," used as equivalent to acknow-  Nominal Christianity, 409.
ledge, 207.
" Obey the truth," import of the phrase,
Law, Mosaic, threefold view of, 135.       106.
" Law of Christ," reference of the phrase,  Objections against the Voluntary prin325.                                     ciple of the support of the gospel
Law of Christ, spirituality of, 343.       ministry considered, 403.
Law of Moses not obligatory on Chris-  Obscurity, occasional, of the epistles actians, 264.                              counted for, 248; serves important
"Law, the," meaning and reference of the    purposes, 249.
phrase, 229.                          " Offence of the cross," meaning of the
Law, the, could not serve the purpose of   phrase, 276.
the promise, 163.                     " Ordained by angels," meaning of the
Law, the, in a covenant form, meaning of   phrase, 152.
the phrase, 195.                       Origen's mode of interpretation censured,
Law, the, not contrary to, but subservient   231.
to the promise, 162.                  " Overtaken in a fault," meaning of the
Law under which Christ was made, 195.      phrase, 316.
"Leaven," figurative meaning of, 273.
"Led by the Spirit," meaning of the  Parable, illustratory, 168.
phrase, 298.                          Parallel passages in the Epistles to the
Liberty, abuse of, caution against, 283.   Galatians and Romans, 9.
Liberty, Christian, in what it consists, Patristic exegesis and morality, specimen
252; poetical description of, 255.       of, 82.
"Live in the Spirit," force of the expres-  Patristic exposition, specimen of, 20, 64.
sion, 311.                             Paul, the probable origin of the name, 17.




438                 INDEX OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS.
Paul a persecutor before his conversion, "Scripture foreseeing," meaning of the
60.                                      phrase, 120.
Paul divinely and peculiarly fitted for the  Self-estimation, caution against, 326.
apostleship of the Gentiles, 78.       Sin and error, connection between, 335.
Paul goes into the regions of Syria and  "Son of God," import of the term, 194.
Cilicia, 66.                           "Sow," meaning of the figurative term,
Paul refuses to give way to false brethren,   339.
75.                                    "Speak as a man," import of the phrase,
Paul reproves Peter, 81.                   140.
Paul stated to the apostles his way of Speculative Christianity, 409.
preaching the gospel, 71; reason for  " Spirit of God's Son, meaning and referdoing so, and doing so privately, 72.    ence of the term, 198.
Paul visits Jerusalem  again, after an in-  " Spirit, the," meaning and reference of
terval of fourteen years, 69.            the expression, 292.
Paul's character as a Jew, 59.           Spirit, the, the fruit of, 305.
Paul's conduct in consequence of his  "Spiritual," dutyofthe,toa fallen brother,
conversion, 63.                          315.
Paul's conversion and call, 61.          " Spiritual," meaning and reference of the
Paul's first journey to Jerusalem, 64; ob —  term, 318.
ject of it, to see Peter, 65.          Spirituality of the law of Christ, 343.
Paul's retirement into Arabia, 64; prob-  " Stand fast," import of the phrase, 253.
able design of it, 64.                 Stupidity proverbial of the Galatians, 107'
Paul's return to Damascus, 64.           Sufferings of Christ, penal and expiatory
Period of the appearance of the Messiah,    nature of, 132; how indicated, 132.
how the fulness of the times, 393.
"Persuade God," meaning of the phrase  " Temptation," meaning of the word, 214.
so rendered, 49.                       " The just by faith," import of the phrase,
Peter divinely, peculiarly fitted for the    126.
apostleship of the Jews, 78.           " The spirit lusting against the flesh,"
Peter reproved by Paul, 81.                meaning of the expression, 295.
Preachers of error not to be encouraged, " They that are Christ's," import of the
47.                                      phrase, 308.
" Promise of the Spirit," meaning of the  " They who are of faith," meaning of the
phrase, 136.                             phrase, 119.
Promise to Abraham, argument from, 120. " Times, fulness of," meaning and referPunishment, capital modes of, among    ence of the phrase, 191.
Jews, 133.                             Titus not circumcised, 73.
"Put on Christ," meaning of the phrase, "To be pillars," force of the expression,
180.                                     77.
"To become of none effect," meaning of
" Reap," meaning of the figurative term,    the phrase, 263.
344.                                   Traditions, what included under that
"Receive the Spirit," meaning of the    term, 60.
phrase, 109.                           Transgressions, on account of which the
"Redeemed," meaning of the phrase, 131.   law was added, 150.
Redemption from  the curse of the law  Translation may be too literal, 49.
necessary in order to justification, 128.  Trifling, learned, curious instance  of,
Redemption from  the curse of the law,   200.
purpose of, 133, 135.                  Troublers of the church, danger of, 276.
Relation and character, how connected, "Truth of the gospel," meaning of the
398                                      phrase, 87.
Religions, false, common character of, 265. "Truth, the," import of the phrase, 106.
"Removed " from Christ, meaning of the
phrase, 40.                            Unprincipled conduct of the Judaising
Repetition of statement of truth and duty,   teachers, 356.
302.                                   Usefulness of the Voluntary principle of
Reproof of Peter by Paul, 81.              supporting the Christian ministry, 303.
Revelations, Paul had many, 58.
Revelation, internal, necessary to  all Vain-glorying, caution against, 313.
Christian ministers, 62.               Voluntary principle of supporting  the
"Righteousness,"  meaning of the word,    Christian ministry just, 401; generous,
118.                                     402; useful, 403.
Voluntary system of ministerial support
Sabbath, Christian, evidence for, and right   j ust, 400.
way of stating it, 209.
" Schoolmaster," proper sense of the word  " Walk in the Spirit," force of the exso rendered, 174.                        pression, 291, 311.




INDEX OF IEBRREW WORDS.                                439
" Walk uprightly," meaning of the phrase,  World, deliverance from, import of, 28;
87.                                        how effected by the sacrifice of Christ, 30.
" We," various references of, in the apos-  "World, elements of," meaning and retle's writings, 129.                       ference of the phrase, 188.
Well-doing, exhortation to, 342.           "World," Scriptural meaning of the term,
"Will of God, the," meaning of the    26.
phrase, 31.                              World, the, crucifixion of, to the apostle,
Work of Christ sole ground of justifica-    371; how? 373.
tion, 261.
"Works of the flesh," force of the phrase,  " Zealously affect," meaning of the phrase,
299.                                       221.
II.-HEBREW WORDS OR PHRASES EXPLAINED.,analy z'-1O l  7cv =bt, 154.  |      ah    n,;h, 363.
121, 47.'l:, 154.                tK 81>, 194.
tr-r  u:, 186.
~tr, 201.:', 121.
hnv=, 141.. ~X, 123.;27, 110.
us    NV'D:, 275.
~, 288.,~,  135.'~,% 162.
s:~, 68.
v,, 164.                                       68.
1.:iY'hY, 79.
1')=,% 174.'7, 2M 2a27.                           /  tinp, 123.
M. 110.
wM Iyrl 143.                           I:', 31.
-:h, 226.'~ hbrS;, 79.
I1I.-GREEK WORDS OR PHRASES EXPLAINED.'Aoya0ewaVn, 305.'A -ToCrhAXo xTf'o'-,4n10cc, 131.'Akovrn, 305.                             "At4cCs;, 174.
"AvyOs. iE ohou;, 46.'Aya2xo.ca, 89.'AsqAxs, 65.'Avs09,0s", 47.
"A9som, 206.'Ayoaoeiovoi, 358.
A' i xVyOxCla,   142.'Aacx6zs.aioo6eO-, 288.
A;~iEl,, 301.'Aox;XgovaoOxi, 325.
A&6J,Y 27.'APocxwo6VCC or S, 43.'AY,oo:gaoc;, 300.'A11cagc-rv11orS,; 279.'AX.OY, 110.'Avoe'~;ro~,   59.'Axzciv, 229.'Ave00~,, 71.'Axog,(v3IC, 78.'Ay20Ao, 69.'AX-;0~,wy, 216.'AP0g~,rij'Y x,;i', 19.'Axc0gs'Iog~ccv.7rw, 241.'AYfrlTes, 107.'A.XhXyoo/.EYxO, 231.'AT',rPlo,, 82.' A?.;o, 41.                               "Avo, 236.'AlmOg~'~MP loifle6, 131.'AvpXhI;, 208.'AIPMO:~;O Bi.OEo 94.'A4 r',s5 O xo'rla;, 415.'A/zgTrwhX;, 934.'As' &M0g~5wo, 19.




440                          INDEX OF GREEE WORDS.'A'xzMiaXsvlo', 267.                             W  El,xalotvvn,, 118.'Ao', 19, 20.                                    Els ovAeowyv fswvar,  234.'Awo0,yv71,v iir  Apcgc'i, 415.                   E;s iEv0sges'a, 283.'Aaroa)Xvtac'ITo'o  Xgio'roU, 57.             j Es'rtv.ijcy, 118.'AixOXO/4orrat, 279.                            I E   X:&El, 40.'Axrogei, 227.                                    EMs Xg~'ro, 145.'A~ogovp,CO,   227.'Ex scov, 164.'Agzsgvs;, 154.                               Ei E#  -o voov izaixcroVOac, 413.'A'xvytl6, 300.'Exxoz6Xo, 343.'AosaE',, 20R.'EzxxXs7'cm,, 223.'AwrOa, xoa 5'rovXi, 208.'Exxna~oio  Osov, 60.'A~osgi, 281.'ExX6vso'EO, 345.
AXgs oa, 151.'EXavo0sgio, 414.
B'EXEwOigovw. 414.
Ba,Xede To0  ~ov,) 413.                         "EXZn, 181.
Bo-XdzoYiy,,   107.'EAovylr0v, 118.
Baocio~,&rv xtcpO, 275.                          "Er.og'Os ar$v, ov, 88.
BP1.X70c,p, 131.                                1 E, ioU;, 62, 68.
BaiAvxTo'y, 131.'EV'IOV o'pi~a,0 59.
B/oac,, 59.'EV xoX., 22'5.'EV xoo7., 29.
rMC, 123, 163, 230, 283, 377.'EV o-gx;f, 97.
reYgw~,rac, 230.'Ev r iXgvuo'r'Iovao7o:, 241.
rsvo'psovu s.  ovvooxo's, 194.'Eu V/.,7,, 105.
rvo',usvo  vro,$o'Lov, 195.'Ev X~,lg', 40.
rvosvo; xca7g06, 131.'EosZXo's, 110.
revots, 156.'EvEoovsU'vu,) 269.
rl, 0olzS   ao,,a, oo','v, 131.'Eyvo'-S, 27.
ro've; Oeo'V, 207.'EvIXeo0oE, 254.
ryVoJoivTs' VS wEos, 207.            "            Eyv, 181;
rgu,,pp, 412, 413, 414,                         i'Eovouovs, 209.
rg.la-.ro, 355.                                1'Ey6O, 155.'EYvo olx fa-T,, 156.
AEsouVxEvboVs, 414.'EgiCci7oOost, 28.
A,' &OievEo,, 213.'EJ&Co:rseAoiv, 194.
Ama, 19, 152.'Enyogaoawv, 130.
Ama Xolcg'o;, 40.'Esr' i;xeuOVl, 283.
ilaOzx~n, 140, 141, 145, 147, 233.'E;roryyv;ulc, 147, 414.
aIYTEi6s, 152.'E,7E~A7, ays.ovvu,, 415.
zxoo6,vo, 97, 118, 164, 413.'E    O'xE~,7os, 110.
zxaoooloYn kxoz XuC%7rvo:, iX'Qlo'ITN, 413.'EwoXZo~97o,, 113.
AoxauoVoa'0,, 413.                     -'EDrdtouv, 60.
Axxooro;s, 413.'Egycie~o0act io x&oaov,, 346.
A,Xorx,'ica, 301.'E~Os7E,, 300.
AxZEfp STO, 330.                               "Eg~;, 300.
Ad',,,, 33L-.'Easroo'orx, 80.
vAo~udl, 413.                                   |'Eo-~woeacv,     309.
AouXs66-s, 287.                                 | Ers-o, 41.
AoouXEorfa, 414.                                "EI-, 51, 276.
Aouxoc, 186.                                     Eboa%,yiXao, 40.,Avvu,,mco,o; 3ovooCe, 164.                     Ebvoxlco, 31.
xAN~,XS6 Tn  t0Vo Xieg;,v, 413.                  EV0oflx, 134.
Ebroooax7;v, 357.'Ev lPz, 92.'E~~ovgopEtOao vuyxrXOn'cpbo,  152.'E&,  sjrorna~s  ox0o', 413.                    "EXO~gC, 300.
"EYYvocS, 154.'EXO~d, 216.'Ey.gcisk., 305.'E~&,  95.                                      Z3Xol, 300.'EaovuXS6aosr',  207.                            ZnxOo'j, 221.'EOvix&,c 88.                                    Zuyvv  moda;x, 254.
El,i, 43.                                       zwx,, 164.
EiAXoX6fr~:1o, 300.                            zwu  cchiwlt, 413.
ET=oCO ZTC ToS, 162.
ETa,  ~- T, 76.'H  Ya,'Ishouave p'u, 236.
E',v, vro', 176.'H isry        x xc'o'ia',6 166.
E1i~4,,  305.'H ivr,?dEoA TOiV HilVCIfoCo; &Ax'a, 137.
EMr, 172.'H ~fi, 413.




INDEX OF GREEK WORDS.                                         441'H  xX~oyvoofdd&, 147, 413.                       Nsxgoi v ro, ro7; tCaowsr,cl eo 6) x rocaw7 kAcsr~r;,'H  vvv'IEgouvoamXp, 236.                          412.'H rQlro;, 67.                                   N4rioS, 186, 187, 189.' Hjgocs, 209.                                    Nnw'rovs, 414.
No'yov  aovXa6eVv, 412.
0avtole., 42.                                   No'o, wrostv,, 412.
OEih y, 297.                                     No'so;, 413.
6;txqrc~ osou, 19, 31.                           N6ptov, 156.
Os';o~.S, 43.
ooicXxo.oi, 298.'O 0tev pAIvXXv, 27.
Ov.ol, 300.'o0.,~-vcv, 316.
"l'v, 133, 166, 292, 296.'O 14 160.'IooCgv, 65.'0      LS 6 TV, 166.'O O~is ff~ }o'~-, 156.
KxcO'  Xegox6v, 60.'O X'OO, 189, 371.
Kod, 31.'O  to'po;, 148.
K/viA xIhrI;, 378.'o0 -oir   xv & -lpxguv, 316.
K,:,vov oavewxov, 415.'O r-xogo'a,, 275.
Kcslo'rv  x.v46pto;, 414.                     O0  &asxhol, 22.
Kaego';, 344, 348.                               O1 aUvTol,, 319.
Kmgov~, 209.                                    01' ~X 5irbtai;, 119.
KXA s7, 39.                                      Ol'Xvdyvrs;, 23.
K)XL~s, 222.                                    O1xz, 186.
Kiivro;, 305                                     Otwo;, 140, 141, 427.
K.r-' &'oxIcAv4,/,    70.'Ol0~0owoao'i, 87.
Ko0T' Albh, 71.                                  "0OT, 121, 198.
Kac,' 40o&x tov'(, 105.                          Ou, 371.
K0Toi. 56.                                       Ob1V sdsa,, 326.
KoXrO'Io'wd, 239.                               Oli~lv  tbUs  i,;4'eow, 212.
KOc-  t~goosroo, 82.                             Obb01,,ot ais'pe~, 77.
K:(*  Xoigv, 413.                                Ovx'Iou vxs9', 88.
K&.roCcro;s, 131.                                01o MOra;, 187.
KaaC ds7o, 162.                                  "OAo.%, 279.
K.Ge-CuTIT, 317.
K4a&1yvoojio;, 83.                             HcIIola k,     392.
Koxcr~XovAeo;, 334.                             no,~coyyoo;, 173.
Kiab-o,, 2.                                      IIax;udd     ygq.;sCoro;, 413.
Kod0oSoio, 313.                                 nIle, 260.
K-gvoo', 71.                                     IIkxAv  uarOv, 207.
KX w,;, 39.                                      IIr  i'O, 45.
Kx7lzm, 66.                                      IIacM& Xgo'r-, 268.
Koivwvo, 334.                                  nlCed~sO'0om,, 89.
Ko6~ew, T. iraoyy6Xov, 137.                      1lgaco —xovu;, 75.
Ko'ovs ongsiXv, 383.                             n1cga;siixOn, 75.
Ko'uFo;, 27.                                     lIoXEs,, 112.
Kkso; snridvr, 186.                            IHIeTo'dv, 60.
Kvgogv, 141.                                     nHOou. 49.
K$/oi, 301.                                       Igaio'0,oses, 320.
HEri,oy't, 272.
Aax0;s)s I,' &vyyEox, 153.                       lnhoaorifawTlom, 78.
Asy'v, 292.                                      nat.. 25.
Aiyo 6i, 185.                                  IHag C&/.aejv,;, 25.
Aoyo;, 288.                                     HI -sgrah~ 7v, 292.
A6T-ro,, 131.                                    Uesr~oy'ns., 135.
nl-es4,6, 78, 413.
Mo:xxor~o';, 215.                                 l havEoiec-,T, 173.
Maxgouou;vt, 305.                                ImHn'~xo;s.g~p/zoa,  354.
M~Tvg0ovFpdv,M    173.                           nlie;, 110, 118, 305
Mi0oc,, 301.                                    Jrl-so, 122.
MigoUs, 156.                                     IXQgoc~,  191.
Ms,'i7;, 154, 156.                              nhlXwg-Z Tov  XgoVOU, 191.
Mao'i-oXos srou OIayZo,  181.                   InTxghojooua, 288.
Ma-o~rgia-4,, 43.                                IIvvclu, 413.
MsTa'1O0sos, 40.                              H1ItoviEurr'ssrqo:,7,ri, 292.
Ms7 kiormo, 162.                                IIupwVrioi.,    318.
Movm;c, 209.                                     novgo,;, 28.
MoitouM, 300.                                  lHo~vsio, 300.




442                            INDEX OF AUTHORS.
JJIoo:'ml,  305.                              To e~x0ay.~;ao.rvy, 170.
nII  ii/uo,, 63.                              To Co6,0'o, Xoy.rou 0gYip,jO, 136, 413.
ntgoygpeuiy, 105.                             To7S; aoxou:, 71.
HpgoOlsboz, 186, 191.                         ToXriGoT3cj,;os, 1.
n1govqgwu1v,nb 146.                          Tov Ao;,ro,, 383.
IlgokAs.00,, 316.                             Tov; iEx m'g, rol,i 85.
1Ifis,ri,-udy,, 62.                        Touro Ii iVW, 145.
n1go-,Ovacrxva,, 63.                          Tgdoc/~,o 1.
rngOOrST0i, 148.                              Ta rrixT, 413.
rnlooX;n0srs;, 207.
Tio} 0es6, 177.
zagxa~, 412.                                  Tios, 186.:egzxzoxi, 318.                              TVobV T-o Osou, 414.
lZog~, 414.'Tsr:g, 25.
Blog  xod a~pw,  63.                         T'ro -Y, ~g0,v;O'S;, 412.
Zrigtp,z 142, 143.'T r~,xoo -r- 0E6, 129.
Ys~cgbar,    156.'TrOxgso;, 85.
rOxEo 706 T.o x.o'pov, 413.'Tor —osY6-;s 7-S; 1o~  ro; 0s,j) 412.
Z'os7'x, 312, 381.                            To' W&/ogTa;,  129.
T'oy6xo,  188, 189.'ru)xo,, 79.                                  -gPfSxz'd,   300, 301.
ZuyxXsi',, 165.             Io7Voi, 301.:Z'v Tro Xo'`T'A/g3~i, 122.,oZoVSz U.;j,5;, 209.
Zvoas3X0n, 86.,oIs,, 301.
ZvuALcjra, 60.'b1o1oy, 330.
uvOix0n, 141.                                 QE~Ya.-rara, 327.
ZUo.orxas7, 235.,Iovio, 275.
g hah7 ~-M,xcs        Tgo   - v.T.;t, 142. iaboes, 90.
TI &0yo'o, 335.                               Xh'gh,, 305.
Tch vroirwr, 165.                             Xg:,sv:a3gag&oEew, 148.
TOs& I-sypra, ir. K. I. 383.                 X~a;o'a p,r rsr c-!),zcr, 414.
To sTOIXE7O Tou xoZ6o, 188.                   XogrynJ, 113.
T&Xi's, 42, 419.                              Xg~n~/~XoT;, 156.
Tszxy;,, 202.                                 X~gYO4r4;, 305.
TExyl; po, 225.                              Xg~,TJovYo, 81.
Ts'i-oO`y96, 1.                               Xgo'os, 344.
Taxe7, 293.                                  Xwgs X~,rToD, 206.
T;,y X6oaioavP iy  E Tvo;o'/pou, 412.
T~p 7:'6~-.,, 171.                            WevUB7s.0o, 75.
TZP v;oO6wo.c, 177, 186, 191, 192.             Wsuo.iOO-ToXo;, 19.
TI; 148.                                       UvXZi;oi;, 318.
T;;, 108, 215.
To &yVhO, 225.'f,'vw, 226.
Ta gsogo;, 323.                               "'aTs6, 173, 201.
IV.-AUTHORS QUOTED OR REFERRED TO.
Abresch, 105.                                 Barnes, xiii, 15, 68, 81, 88, 91, 148, 154,
A Lapide Cornel., xiii, 12, 40, 97, 230,         248, 346.
Alberti, xiii.                                Baruch, 127.
Alshech, 133.                                 Basil, 318.
Ambrose, 12, 145, 334.                        Bauer, xiii, 111, 312, 374.
Amyraut, 45, xiii.                            Baumgarten, 420.
Anselm, xiii.                                 Baxter, Richard, 46, 113, 114.
Anton, 162.                                   Beausobre, xiii, 26.
Arabic Version, 40.                           Bellarmine, 270.
Aristophanes, 79, 319, 427.                   Belsham, xiii, 146.
Assembly's Annotations, xiii.                 Ben Gorion, 237.
Athanasius, 189.                              Bengel, xiii, 14, 23, 43, 56, 96, 127, 142,
Augustine, 12, 40, 116, 318, 369.                165, 281, 383.
Ausonius, 344.                                Benl Sirach, 41, 141, 165.




INDEX OF AUTHORS.                              443
Berthold, 162.                          Eisner, xiv, 90, 337.
Beza, xiii, 10, 37, 62, 67,136, 145, 215, 292, Ennius, 76.
317, 335, 381.                        Epiphanius, 5.
Biblical Cabinet, 392.                  Erasmus, xiv, 4, 10, 40, 49, 131, 226, 292,
Blackwall, 319.                           335, 356, 372, 385.
Bloomfield, xiii.                       Estius, xiv, 12, 65, 312.
Bonitz, xiii, 162.                      Euripides, 76.
Borger, xiii, 12, 14, 96, 161, 162, 335, Eusebius, 6.
429.                                  Eusebius Emyssenus, 82.
Bos, xiii, 50, 112.                     Eustathius, 272.
Bosen, xiii.
Boston, xiii, 15.                       Fell, xiv.
Bowyer, xiv.                            Ferguson, xiv, 15.
Brentius, 14, 105.                      Flacius, 138.
Brown, 529.                             Fraser, 415.
Brown Patterson, 242, 248.              Fritzsche, 21, 47, 72, 93, 249.
Bulkley, xiii.                          Fuller, Andrew, 169, 280.
Bunyan, 14, 416.
Buttmann, 121.                          Galen, 275.
Buxtorff, 429.                          Gemara, Babyl, 133.
Gerard, 232.
Calixtus, 49.                           Gill, 200.
Callimachus, 107.                       Gilpin, xiv.
Calvin, xiv, 14, 40, 49, 136, 165, 184, 191, Glas, 117, 121, 269, 368, 369.
226, 231, 280, 286, 289, 292, 335.    Glassite Hymn Book, 370.
Camerarius, xiv, 95, 127, 284, 401.     Glassius, 165, 166.
Camero, xiv, 158, 279.                  Goadby, xiv.
Cappellus, 70, 157.                     Graves, 86.
Cappellus, Jac., xiv.                   Griesbach, 25, 41, 142, 145.
Cappellus, Lud., xiv.                   Grotius, xv, 14, 23, 40, 47, 65, 70, 88, 90,
Castellanus, 12.                          162, 260, 281.
Castalio, xiv.                          Gualtperius, xv.
Chandler, xiv, 15, 151, 190, 214, 400.  Guyse, 15.
Chrysostom, xiv, 6, 12, 65, 79, 82, 99, 111,
161, 281, 316, 325, 335, 355, 366.    Haldane, J. A., xv, 15, 318, 373.
Cicero, 83.                             Hall, Rob., 291.
Clarke, Adam, xiv, 237.                 Hallett, 240.
Clement, Alex., 6.                      Hardouin, 81.
Clement, Rom., 6.                       Hare, Archdeacon, 13.
Cocceius, 62.                           Heinsius, xv.
Constantinus, 232.                      Henry, xv.
Conybeare and Howson, xiv, 416, 419, Hermas, 6.
420, 425, 429, 430, 431.              Hesiod, 290.
Cowper, 139, 256.                       Hewlett, xv.
Cramer, 49.                             Hoffmann, 2.
Crellius, xiv, 21.                      Hombergk, xv, 112.
Critici Sacri, xiv.                     Hooker, 226.
Cudworth, Dr Rodolph, 13.               Horace, 111, 174, 319.
Cyprian, 40.                            Howson, xiv.
Hug, xv.
Dasovius, 133.
Dathe, 126.                             Ignatius, 6.
Davidson, xiv, 6, 9, 11.                IrenEeus, 6.
Day, xiv.                               Isidorus Pelusiotes, 145.
De Dieu, xiv, 143.
Demosthenes, 38, 344.                   Jablonski, 2.
De Rhoer, 381.                          Jaspis, xv, 51, 88, 95, 181, 209.
De Wette, 429.                          Jerome, 2, 4, 10, 12, 21, 40, 61, 64, 71,
Dickson, xiv.                             82, 108, 124, 135, 145, 161, 179, 281, 296,
Didymus, 82.                              314, 319, 335, 347, 355.
Diodorus Siculus, 347.                  Johnson, 275.
Doddridge, xiv, 319.                    Josephus, 17, 50, 146.
Douglas, 10.                            Julian, 346.
D'Oyly, xiv.                            Junius, 40.
Drusius, xiv, 93, 115, 116.             Justin Martyr, 382.
Duncan, 426.
Dyer, 76.                              1 Keil, 162.




444                      INDEX OF AUTHORS.
Keuchenius, xv, 227.                  Perkins, xvi, 14, 15, 68.
Kitto, 18.                            Pesichta, 152.
Knapp, 25, 88, 126.                   Philo, 152, 154.
Knatchbull, xv.                       Piscator, 49.
Konigsmannus, 184.                    Pittacus, 344.
Knox, Alex., 99.                      Polycarp, 6.
Koppe, xv, 14, 88, 92, 93, 136, 158, 162,, Poole, xvi.
213, 229, 232, 281, 331, 335.       Pope, 245.
Krebs, xv, 82.                        Porphyry, 71.
Kypke, xv, 112.                       Posidippus, 349.
Pott, 39.
Lachmann, 25, 71.                     Priestley, xvi, 275.
Lardner, 6.                            Pringle, 14, 392.
Launay, xv, 14, 356.                  Pripzcovius, xvi.
Le Clerc, xv, 21, 139, 281, 319.      Prudentius, 383.
Leigh, xv.
Lenfant, xiii, 26.                     Rainoldus, 381.
Locke, xv, 15, 42, 151, 225.           Raphelius, xvi.
Loesner, xv.                           Raymund, 133.
Lucifer Calaritanus, 40.              Religious Monitor, 117.
Luther, xv, 12, 49, 57, 76, 95, 96, 97, 105, Ribera, 93.
107, 148, 170, 176, 212, 227, 232, 252, Riccaltoun, xvi, 11, 19, 68, 70, 114, 144,
263, 292, 368.                         145, 178, 216, 221, 224, 235, 337, 368,
LXX., 35.                               378, 431, 432.
Lycurgus, 427.                         Robertson, 397.
Rosenmiiller, xvi, 14, 88, 231, 308.
2 Mac. iv. 45,  50.                   Ruckert, 145, 339, 355.
Marloratus, xv.
Macknight, xv.                        Sa, xvi.
M'Laurin, 369.                        Sandeman, 171.
Mantuanus, xiv, 320.                  Sanderson, Bishop, 305.
Marshall, 334.                        Schneffer, 49.
Matthaei, 25.                         Schmidt, Er., xvi, 90, 99, 309..
Melville, Andrew, 127.                Schnurrer, 126.
Meyer, 429.                           Schott, xvi, 14, 43, 132, 155, 161, 162, 192,
Michaelis, xv, 49, 65, 153, 237.        334, 339.
Middleton, Bp., 33, 95, 110.          Scott, xvi.
Mill, 25, 81.                         Semler, xvi, 14, 40, 43, 62, 81, 88, 140, 146,
Millman, 395.                           194, 355.
Milton, 193.                           Sepher, Ikarim, 127.
Minucius, Felix, 181.                 Simon, 65.
More, Sir Thomas, 349.                 Stephanus, xvi.
Morus, A., xv, 198.                   Stewart, Dr Alex., 117.
Morus, S. F., xv, 14, 45, 160, 401.    Storr, xvi, 65, 74, 92, 141, 151, 185, 209,
214, 355.
Neander, 72, 281, 395.                 Strabo, 347.
Noldius, 121.                         Suetonius, 174.
Nosselt, 160, 162.                     Suicer, xvi, 317.
Syriac Version, 40.
(Ecumenius, 12, 68, 355.
Oederus, 237.                         Talkat Rubeni, 152.
Olshausen, xvi, 12, 14, 23, 24, 50, 59, 60, Tanchuma, 174.
61, 63, 65, 69, 71, 72, 82, 86, 110, 141, Targum Hierosyl., 133.
145, 162, 171, 177, 227, 232, 234, 298, Teenckius, 237.
313, 334, 363.                       Tertullian, 5, 6, 20, 40, 46, 85.
Origen, 6, 40, $2, 296.               Theodoret, 6, 12, 40, 68, 94, 159, 165, 337,
Ottius, xvi.                         i  347, 355.
Theodorus Heracleotes, 82.
Palairet, xvi.                         Theophylact, xvi, [0, 12, 23, 51, 56, 57, 65,
Paley, xvi, 7, 65, 66, 69, 73, 217, 320, 352,   97, 115, 151, 176, 215, 229, 251, 299, 355,
356, 384.                             383.
Pareus, 14, 83, 129, 149, 161, 270, 296, Thucydides, 319, 427.
334, 356, 386.                      Tittmann, 39, 88, 99.
Pearson, 70.                          Trench, 299.
Peirce, xvi, 238.                     Turner, Sharon, 394.
Pelloutier, 1.                        Tyndale, 41.
Penn, Granville, xvi, 69.




INDEX OF TEXTS.                               445
Valcknaer, 83.                           Wernsdorff, 1.
Valla, xvi.                              Wesselius, xvii, 14, 159, 201.
Van Alphen, xvi.                         Wetstein, xvii, 152, 174, 191, 237, 275,
Van Voorst, 92.                            415, 430.
Vatablus, 49.                            Whately, iv, 97.
Vigerus, 94.                             Whitby, xvii, 45, 82, 146, 157, 401.
Virgil, 271.                             Wilson, 334.
Vitringa, 14, 40, 133, 238.              Winer, xvii, 11, 12, 14, 19, 62, 73, 83, 105,
Vorstius, 334.                             122, 126, 155, 162, 225, 235, 270, 335,
Vulgate, 230, 294.                         355, 412.
Winkler, 108.
Wakefield, 95, 213.                      Winzer, 92.
Wall, xvi, 387.                          Witsius, 85.
Walker, John, 46, 47, 48, 228.           Wolfius, xvii.
Ward, xvii.
Weingart, xvii.                          Xenophon, 428.
Weiseler, 422.
Weissmann, 85.                           Zegerus, xvii.
Wells, xvii.                             Zimmermann, 92.
V.-PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE QUOTED OR REMARKED ON.
Page                                     Page
Genesis iii. 15,..              143  Leviticus vi. 2,...    79...  iii. 17,...     28...   xvii. 5,...    127...  iv. 9,...   174...   xxiv. 22,..   161...  iv. 25,...   143             xxvi.,...   130
vi. 12,...   150
xii. 1-4,                   19..     Numbers v. 22,...    35
xii. 3,. 121,142, 143..   121
x..   ii. 3, 4,..          146....                               121
xvii. 64-8             115, 116  Deuteronomy i. 32,                   116..x. vii. 4-8,'.           1425...  xvii. 14,.281......  xvi. 18,...   121.      xxi. 3,..       1345
xxi.,                     146                xxi....               132
xxi. 9-12,...   241                 xxvi...26, v          124...  xxi. 13,... 143...       xxii., xx.           130
xxii. 16, 17,          142, 143                xxxvi. 16,..    36...  xxii. 18,...   121                xxxiv...   26...  xxv. 26,..          146...  xxi. 4,...      1  Joshuai. 24,...   121.. xxviii. 14,              121          vi. 26  1,                   165
xxix. 33,                   121          vi..18,                      47
xxx.1, 2,                   233...,. 1,                      237
x..   xxii. 1,.            116           xiv. 16,..           363
Exd xxxii. 1 7,..        227...  xli. 25,...   161  Judges i.,...   237...   li. 26,...   233...  xliv. 7,...   363  1 Samuel xxvii. 12,.   116...  xvii. 9,...   146..  xlix. 10,...   393  2 Samuel xix. 27,..   21...  xxiii. 6,.          253.   1
E...odus i. 14,                     391...  1...  xiii.,...   194  1  ings x. 2,...   121.. ix. 35,...   164...  xiv. 31,...   116  2 Kings x. 4,..   253...  xix. 9,...   116...  xx. 10,                  154...    2 Chronicles xx. 20,..   11
xx. 18-21,                  154...    xxiv. 20,..   180
xxxi. 14,.           281...   xxv. 29,.               154  Nehemiah ix. 29,...   127




446                                                 INDEX OF TEXTS.
Page                                                                     Page
Job viii. 8,...                   165   Zechariah iv. 6,..                    241...  xiv. 1,...                    194...         v. 3,.         28...  xv. 15,....       116
1Malachi ii. 2,.                   123
Psalm    xxii. 9, 10,..                     61...       iii. 1,...        394...     xxxi. 8,..                    165...   xxxii. 1-5,..                    122   Matthew  ii. 17,.                                              233...     xxxiv. 13,...        164...       ii. 23,                                         121... 2,...                   191                      iii. 15,.                               288..      lxvi. 17,.                          152                      iv. 7,.                               260...     lxxviii. 50,...       165                       iv. 21,.                               317...     xcvii. 7,..                   110...       v.31,                                           121...     xcix. 6,..                    121..       v. 33,                                          260...     civ. 4,..                   152..       vi. 24,                                           50...     cvi. 12,..                    116...       vii. 23,                                        207...     cix. 18,...       180..        viii.   1,                                      237...     cxliii. 2,..                     93...       viii. 27,.215...       ix. 13,...         39
Proverbs iv. 22,.164...   ix  36,                                            345
xxii. 8,                                        37.338ix. 24, 2..                             273..       xxii. 19,.                     56.                           2.         61
xi. 14,                                        229.. 73
Isaiah  l. 10,                                                116...    xii. 4,                                       43, 92.saiah i, 10.. x110                            xii. 30,..       16
i.,...       237...       xiii  20, 22, 38, 39,                           233..      xxix. 10,                                           318......       xiii.  20-22,.291.... 22,                                       89.. 
x... 5,.173                                                       xi.  3,.                                       5..  92
xl. 12,.116...       xvi. 3,..             273..e        i.a 8, i11.                                      165,..             2,.                     65..     li.. 3,                                        137...       xvi.  1,.. 
xlviii. 12,...       10...       xvi. 4,...        276..          iii. 12,...        1...       xvii.,..             110....,...        173...       xviii. 15-17,..        321...xxi. 1                                                                    xxiii,.. 116                                 292
i..           ii.  14,..                              275
Jeremiah i. 5,..                     61...    xxiii. 23,..                                    305.         i. 15,...         79...       xxvi. 10,                                       383... 2... i. 13,                                     107..       xxv.  318..       314
iii. 16,.                                     6...      xxviii. 14,.                       0...       vi. 30,    1..16  1...        xxviii. 18,..         39...       vi..                                          116....        xxviii. 19,..       225...  xi. 4-7,. 116
i. 9,..                   121   Mark i.,...                                           317
x... i.   1,....   i. 27,                                                 215.. 
xxx...  i. 15,.233....   iv. 33,.                   3...       xxxi. 33,                                      237...   vi. 2,.       215...   vi. 6,..         42
Ezekiel xx. 21,...       127...   vii. 14,...       229..      xxxvi. 27,.137 1...   viii. 3,                                              34... 
xliv. 23,..                      6...   xiii. 32,..          325...        x. 28,                                          120.. 
Daniel ix. 24-27,....        23
xii. 13,..    253   Luke i. 14,....    334...   i. 53,.                               335
Hosea  x.           1,...                 154...   iv. 26,.                                 43
v. 5,                                                 165
Joel ii. 28, 29,.                                             137...   v   32,..                      39
Amos iii. 2,..                   207...   viii. 25,..                   215...   x. 23, 24,..                    392
Micah vii. 9,                                                  275...  x. 30-37,                                                    288
16          xi. 7,..                   383
Habakkuk I  4,                                                126...  xii. 18, 19,...                   335
xi..  i. 21,...       145
Haggai i. 1,..                   154...   xvi. 14,...       131,   ii. 9,                                            394...                                 343




INDEX  OF TEXTS.                              447
Page                                     Page
Luke xviii. 11,..80 Acts xi. 27-80,...70..xx. 28.. 214... xi. 29, 80,... 80..xx. 47,...276... xii. 11,...28...  xxiii. 12,.. 300... xii. 20,.            0..xxiii. 40,...276... xiii. 1, 8,...2... xiii1.2,...70
John  i. 14,.                  194... xiii. 2, 9,              ~..17..i. 16,..               154... xiii.14,... 82..i. 17,... 171... xiii. 15,.             59... i. 48,..             141... xiii. 45,... 242..v. 19,.. 39... xiii. 49, 50,.           84... v. 24,..164... xiv. 1, 2,...384..v. 28,..42.. xiv. 5-13,.           59..v. 47,..355... xiv. 6,..3..vi. 9,'                           225... xiv. 19,..82,'242, 384... vi. 41:                        233... xv.. 70..vi. 53,.        1. 14..  v...223... vii. 21,..42... xv. 2,            ~             70, 71..vii. 38, 42,..120... xv. 7,                  ~            35..viii. 30,..119... xv. 10,...190..viii. 44,..293... xv. 14.. 122..x. i4,..207... xv. 23,...154:.. x. 16,.                        39... xv. 24,... 279... xii. 42,..428... xvi,             ~.       73..xiii. 1-15,.      287... xvi. 6,...2, 70..xiii. 1    6,..18... xvi. 9,...58
xiii. 22,..227..xi.45,~..384..xiv. 1,.       116... xvii. 5,...222..xiv. i6, 17, 25, 26,. 188... xvii. 5, 13,..242..xv. i9,..27... xvii. 13,...384... xv. 26,..138... xviii. 9,              ~.. 7... xvi. 7,.. 138... xviii. 13,... 45..xvi. 13,..171..   vi.2- 2,...4... xvii. i9, 11..  xviii. 21-3,...2... xviii. 37,..171..   x  1,..  1...  xx. 7,.. 122... xx. 24.. 367... xxi. 10,.            ~9
Acts ii. 14-41,..65... xxi, 24,.           12.....25,..145... xxi. 2        6,. 73... 11,                         I~~~~~~~~~~~v        5'~~~~8, 66, 70... ii...82... xxii. 21,..194.. v.16,1,                    242... xxii. 22, etc.,..242.. i. 6,.  299... xxiii. 2, 12,.           242... V. 12,..         154..   xi.1,...9... V. i7,..300... xxiii. 27,...28..v. i7, 40,..242... xxiv. 17,...80... v. 26,..209... xxv. 16,...82... v. 36,..71... xxvi. 4,...59... v. 41,.             364... xxvi. 4, 5,..6... Vi.i  7,. ~.171... xxvi. 9-11,...60... vii. 9,..222... xxvi. 18,...171... vii. 10, 34,..28... xxvii. 17,...28... vii. 35,..154... xxvii. 23,..9.. ii.1   359... xxviii. 19,..~89.. ii........11  xx i i,..          35...                    i         x. 1,2, 24.  xxviii. 22,..         27... ix. 6,..70... ix. 13,..60  Romans i. 2, 3,..173... ix. 19,..58...  i. 6,..39... ix. 26,..     2...  i. 9,..66... ix. 27,..65...  i. 13,..305... ix. 28-30,..65...  i. 17,.      97, 413,,, ix.29,~  66...  i. 26,.        5... ix. 31,..228... i.29, 31,.         299... x. 15,..84... ii 4,..         305... xi. 26,.        ~81...  ii. 12,..412




448                         INDEX OF TEXTS.
Pagee                                  Page
Romans ii. 17,..412  Romans  viii. 7,...216... ii. 18,.       334...  viii. 13,...339... ii. 26, etc.;.       b 8...  viii. 15,                     9.. i. 27,.       214...                v        ii 7   182, 201.. i. 29,..110... vii. 18,..173... ii2,..415... viii. 19, 23, 25,..267... iii. 3,..305...  vii. 20,...28... iii. 9,        ~. 176...  viii. 30,... 39...  iii. 9, 19,.            19...  viii. 31,..162...  iii. 9, 22, 24,..90...  viii. 385-89;              263...  iii. 21,... 173...  viii. 3 6,... 121
iii.  In 21, 22, 25, 26,.    97...  viii. 38,... 27.   iii. 23,...412...  ix. 1,...66.    iii. 24, 25;,.. 366...  ix. 4, 5,.           ~.415.   iii. 28:                   413...  ix. 7, 8,...240.   iii. 29,...413...  ix. 12, seq.,..413...  iii. 30,...161...  ix. 17,...120...  iv. 3,...120...  ix. 24,...39...'v. 4,...412...  ix. 30, 31,..98...:v. 9,.            215...  ix. 31, 32,..123..iv. 9-13,...             146...  ix. 32,... 93...  iv. 10-12,..240...  x. 1,..     382...  i.1:...413...  x. 3-10,...98.~.'v. 11-16,..144...  x. 5,.       ~.412
~..  iv. 13,..93...  x. 5-11,.      ~.128...  iv. 15,.       125,'165, 412...  X. 9, 14,                 1...  iv. 16, 24,..413...  xi. 5, 6,       ~    ~.   412...  iv. 18.. 45...  Xi. 8,.       ~.318...  iv. 20,...145...  xi. 24,...45...  iv. 25,...366...  xi. 25,...105...  v. 2.. 253...  xi. 28,.~ 216
~...  v. 3,                       364...  xi. 32,.        165, 166...  v. 8,...366. xii. 3,...292...  v. 10.. 216..... xii. 12,..,   v. i0; 12, seqi.,.    413.       xlll. 2,           275, 334...  V. i3, 14,...147...            x     i.80,.288, 289...  V. 16, 18, 21,..413...  xiv. 10-12,..331... V. i7,..  97, 413...  xiv. 12,...331...  V. 19,...131...  xiv. 13, seq.,..414...   v. 20,...148...  xiv. 14,...43..i. 11,..                9...  xiv. 1    6,.   225..vi. 2,... 415...  xv. 1,...324...  vi. 4,... 292... xiv. 17,...      80
~..  Vi~ 6,....31, 309...  xv. 28,..305...  vi. 15-18,.         297...  xvi. 17,.. 45,'279, 301...  Vi. 19,             140, 214...  xvi. 19,...145...'~i. 21.. 305...  xvi. 25,..57...  vi. 22,.....  v..2,19 164  i Corinthians i. 1,..19...'vi. 25,..105...    i. 7,..268...  vii. 4,.         9,'305, 413..i. 9,..    39...  vii. 5.. 269...    i. 9, 26,..39...  vii. 6,...413...    i. 11,..300...  vii. 8-11,...412...    i. 12,.      4.   vii. 10,                 164...        i. 1, 18,...  vii. 12,.        130, 413...    i. 22-24,..367...  vii. 13,..60, 413...    i. 23,.     105...  vii. 14,...415...    i. 30,.2(), 98, 210...  vii. 18,           ~      ~296...    ii. 2,..32, 105;...  vii. 18, 21,.     328...    ii. 6,..227...  viii. 1,-.        263, 268... ii. 9,..56...  viii~ 2, 6,...164... ii. 10,.. 8, 62...  viii. 3,..25, 413...    iii. 1,..226...  viii. 4,..288, 292...    iii. 1-4,..319...  viii. 6,...413...    iii. 2,..392..vi~ii. 6, 30,..413...    iii. 3,..301




INDEX OF TEXTS.                                                                               449
Page                                                                               Page
1 Corinthians iii. 7,..          71   2 Corinthians iv. 8,..    227...             iii. 16,..          79...              iv. 10,..        383... iv. 2,..        319...              iv. 12,..        269...             iv. 5,..          20...              iv. 13,..        171...             iv. 9,..        364...              iv. 17,..          60...             iv. 9-13,.                      375...              v. 13,..          58...             iv. 21,.            305, 318...              v. 17,.               31, 379...             v. 3-5,..        280...              v. 18,..          61...             v. 6,..        273...              v. 18, 21,..        413...            v. 7,..        273...              v. 19,..        119...             vi. 8,..        349...              v. 21,.               98, 131...             vi. 9,..        337...              vi. 6,..        305...             vi. 20,.                      366...             vii. 1,..        415...             vii. 10, 29, 35,.        145...              vii. 10,.371
vii. 15, 17,..           39...             viii.,..           80...             vii. 17,..          43...              viii. 23,..          18...'vii. 19,.               268...              ix.2,..        292...             vii. 31,..          60...              ix. 6,..        338...             vii. 31, 33,..        371...              ix. 9,..        113...             viii. 1, seq.,.        414...              x. 1, 10,..        214...             viii. 2,..        329...              x. 4, 5,..        367...             viii. 3,.        207...              x. 7,..        260...             ix. 2,..        113...              x. 10,..          17...             ix. 7-14,..        402...              x. 12,..        331...             ix. 8,..        140...              xi. 2,..        210...             ix. 20,..        176...              xi. 4,..          47...             ix. 24-26,..          72...              xi. 23,.. 58, 383... x. 18,..        382...             xi. 31,..          66...             x. 25.                      413...             xii. 1,..          58...             xi. 23, etc.,.          58...            xii. 1, 7,..          58...             xii. 3,..          56...             xii. 1-9,..        217...             xii. 11,..        161...              xii. 11,..          89...             xii. 13,..        179...              xii. 12,..        326...             xii. 21,..        260...              xii. 13,..        113...             xii. 31,..        222...             xiii. 1, 2,..        329   Galatians i. 6,...        419...             xiii. 2,                                     3.  326...          i. 17,-...        419...             xiii. 4,..        222...          i. 18,...         420...             xiv. 1, 39,..        222...         i. 23,...         421...             xiv. 2,..        229...         ii. 1,...        421...             xiv. 6,.                 57...         ii. 2,...          58...             xiv. 7,..        428...         ii. 4,...        426...             xiv. 11,..        227...          ii. 8,...         426...             xiv. 16,..          35...         ii. 12,..                      426...             xv. 1,.                56, 253...         ii. 15, 16,..         426...             xv. 1-3,..        366...         ii. 16,...        123...             xv. 3,..           58...         iii. 1,...        427...             xv. 33,..        337...         iii. 9,...         171...             xvi. 1,..          80...          iii. 10,... 28,427...             xvi. 13,..        253...          iii. 12,...         412...         iii. 15,...        427
2 Corinthians i. 1,..          19...         iii. 17,...        412...             i. 5,..        383...         iii. 23, 25,..         171
i. 6,..        269...         iii. 24,...         429
i. 8,..          60...         iv. 7,                                                319
i. 12,.            330, 362...         iv. 13,...        429...             i. 23,..          66...         iv. 15, 16,..           38...             i. 24,..        253...         iv. 19,...         392
ii. 6-8,..        320...         iv. 26,...        430
ii. 9,..        145...         v. 5, 6,...        430
iii. 6,               ~             165, 413...         v. 12,..                      430
iii. 8,.              113, 412...         v. 13,..                        39
iii. 9,.                 98...         v. 17, 18,..         431...             iv. 1, 16,..        343...         v. 19-21,..         432...            iv. 2,..           82...         v. 23,..                162
iv. 6,..          62...          vi. 3,..                 71
2F




450                                   INDEX OF TEXTS.
Page I                                                Page
Galatians vi, 7, 8,.                           432   Colossians i. 2,                                122...     vi. 8,                            164...     i. 5,                             266
vi. 11,                           433...     L 14, 20,                         413
vi. 14,.          31,105...     i. 29,                            269
ii. 16, 21,                      413
Ephesians i. 1,                                 19..    ii. 20, 21,                       189
i. 3, 4, 6,                        32..     ii. 13,.                      413.i 3-14,                           33..     ii. 14,.                        412.i. 5, 11,                        31..     iii. 3,. 31,413
i. 7,                       366, 413...     iii. 4,                           129
i. 14,                           413...     iii. 8-12.                        180
i. 18,                           215                  iii. 11,.. 78, 268
ii. 1, 5,.                      412...     iii. 12,.                        305
ii. 3,. 90, 293..     iii. 14,                          219
ii. 5,                           413..     iii. 16,                           39.ii. 10                          283...     iii. 17,.                         17.i. 1,                             78...     iii. 24,.           413
ii. 11, 12,                      206...     iv. 17,.                         288.i. 11-22,                       136.i. 12,.                       413   1 Thessalonians i. 3,. 32, 269.i. 13,                          366...         ii. 5,                      66. L 14,                     136, 413...         ii. 7, 9,                  228.i. 14, 15,                      181...         ii. 12,.       39,292
ii. 16,                          413...         I ii. 13,                  269.i. 21,                            79...         ii. 14-16,                 359
iii. 3.                        58, 62                        ii. 15, 16,                242.ii. 6.                          413. iii. 5, 72, 320.ii. 8,. 79, 328...          iii.  11,.                  32
iii. 10, 11,                       34...        iv. 7,.        39, 283
iii. 11,                          31...         v. 24.                      39
iii. 13,.                       343.. iii. 20,... 269   2 Thessalonians i. 4,.               227, 305..iv.,..39...         i. 9,                       29
iv. 2,                           305...         ii. 2,                     419
iv. 12,.            317...         ii. 7,                     269:..    iv. 13,.                         392...         ii. 14,. 39,283...    iv. i5,.                         216...         iii. 13,.                  343...    iv. i6,.                        113...    iv. 22,.            59  I  Timothy  i. 5,                           269, 287...    iv. 22, 24,                       180...  i. 9-11,                           307...    iv. 23, 24,                       415...  i       15,                         328...    iv. 24,.                        239...     ii. 5,                            159
v. 2,.           25, 366...      ii. 6,                            25
V. 9.                            305...      iii. 15,.              79
v. 32,                           145...      vi. 1,2,.             349
Philippians i. 6.110...     vi. 12,                           39
i. 15,                          300
i. 27,                          161...         9,                           171
i. 29,                          364... 2152
ii. 3,                          314                  i.2                                5... 16,                          72.        i. 17,                          273.       iii. 2-5,                        299
ii. 23,                           18. 
3,                    3821414...                ii. 7,                             72
il,3-6,                       357
ii,3-91                       366   Titus L. 10,                                    327
55                          120..  ii. 16,                                 305
91i 9         98, 166, 412, 413..  i. 13)                                  266
12..                        329           ii. 14,                                   25..15,                           275            iii. 2,                                 301
iii..16,                    312            iii.      2-                      179, 380.ii. 23,.35    365   Hebrews v. 13,14,...  ii. 4-8,                            273...  iv. 17,                    305..                                  2.olossians ii.,                                19.      vi. 6,                              266




INDEX OF TEXTS.                                                                        451
Page'                                                                        Page
Hebrews vii. 14,...    145   1 Peter v. 10,..                       39...        vii. 19,..                     266...        viii. 9,..                     239       2  Peter i. 3,...         39..         ix. 10,..                     193...      i. 20, 21,...        145...        ix. 14,..                     105...      ii. 13-22,...       285
ix. 15,..                      39...      iii. 7, 10, 11,..         29...        ix. 16,..                     136...      iii. 13,...         30...        ix. 17,..                     283...      iii. 15,...         84
x. 5-10,..                      33
x. 9,..                     135   1 John i. 7,..                    105
x. 26,...         25...      ii. 2,..              134..         x. 36,.350...      ii. 8,..              260...        xi. 39,..                     137...      ii. 15, 16,..                    371...        xii. 3, 5,..        345...      ii. 16, 17,..                      29...        xii. 22,.237...      ii. 29,..                     119...        xiii. 16,..                    334...      iii. 1,...          26...      iii. 1, 8, 9,...        119
James i. 16,..                     337                     iii. 6, 8,..                     316...    i.  25,...        287...       iii. 7,..                     337...     ii. 8,...        287...       iii. 14,..                     164...    iii. 13,...          59...       iv. 9,.                             62...  14, 16,..     300...       iv. 10,..                       25
iii. 16,...        290...      iv. 20,..                     121...    iv. 2,..              222...       v.6,.                       58... iv. 4,...        371... v. 11,...        215   2 John 10, 11,.                                    47... v. 16,...        269
3John3,....    171
1 Peter i. 4,...          30
i. 5,..        173   Jude 4, 11, 13,.                                  285...     i....        214...   i. 15,                                                    39   Revelation i. 5, 6,...          35
i. 18,                                           59, 60...         iii. 15,...        280..  i. 22,...        171...         iii. 19,...        222..  ii. 9,...          39...         v. 9,..                     121..     ii. 13,                                                19...         v. 9, 14,.                      34..  ii. 16,...        284...          vii. 9,..             121, 238
iii. 2,...          32...          vii. 10,..          34..  iii. 18,...          25...         ix. 4,...          43..      iv. 11,...       113...         xvii. 15,..        233
v. 1,73...          xviii...        142
v. 3,...        180..         xxii. 9,..          68
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