Galatians 4:3 I. Mankind has been in the position of a child, and successive generations have been slowly trained by God's fatherly care, as a preparation for that liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, that life and immortality brought to light by the Gospel, the all-pervading glory of the Sun... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 4:4 Christ Obedient to the Law. I. Christ's obedience to the law was not a matter of course, following upon His incarnation. Scripture everywhere separates the two, making His obedience an additional thing, undertaken by Him over and above His becoming man. It was a positive thing, not t... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 4:4 , GALATIANS 4:6 Let us consider wherein consisted the preparation of the fulness of the time preceding the birth of Christ for a new turn in the history of the world and wherein consisted the special peculiarity of the coming of Christ which made it the germ of what there was to be in... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 4:7 God's Offspring. I. Men were children before Christ came, ignorant and unable to take care of themselves. St. Paul told the heathen Athenians that they were God's children. He put them in mind that one of their own heathen poets had told them so, and had said, "We are also God's offs... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 4:16 The Right Mode of Giving and Receiving Reproof. I. Men will profess, and perhaps unthinkingly believe, that they derive the most essential benefits derivable from a true friend; but if he shall offer to impart them he becomes an enemy. The great cause of this perversity and repugnanc... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 4:18 Christian Zeal Commended. I. Zeal may be defined as the heat or fervour of the mind, prompting its vehemence of indignation against anything which it conceives to be evil-prompting, its vehemence of desire towards anything which it imagines to be good. In itself it has no moral chara... [ Continue Reading ]
Galatians 4:28 The Promise Fulfilled for Time and Eternity. I. The promise of God to Abraham did more than give civilisation to men: it opened to them the doors of heaven. Great as have been the temporal gifts bestowed by it, greater and better are its spiritual blessings. The best commentary that... [ Continue Reading ]