Galatians 6:17

As at the opening, so at the close of the Epistle, St Paul asserts his authority. Thenit was as a duly commissioned Apostle, hereit is as a tried and tested servant of his Heavenly Master. He has fully discussed the question at issue. He has said his last word upon it. From henceforth he claims exemption from the worry and distraction of controversy. As he said elsewhere, -If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant" (1 Corinthians 14:38).

for I bear … the Lord Jesus All commentators agree in regarding this as having reference to St Paul's suffering for Christ. -I, unlike these false teachers, can appeal to the marks of persecution which I have undergone as proofs of the depth of my convictions, the sincerity of my faith". But the particular expression, -the marks of the Lord Jesus", may either mean the -wounds of Christ" or the marks of ownership branded on the Apostle's body, which proved him to be the -slave of Christ". Certain marks (stigmata) were affixed by means of a hot iron on two classes of slaves, (1) those who had run away from their masters or had otherwise misconducted themselves, in which case they were a badge of disgrace;and (2) on slaves attached to particular temples, as the property of the deity worshipped there. Of course St Paul cannot allude to the former of these cases. He may speak figuratively of the scars which he bore on his body, from wounds received at Lystra and elsewhere, as the proofs of his devotion to the service of Christ. Bp. Lightfoot adopts this view as most appropriate. "Such a practice at all events cannot have been unknown in a country which was the home of the worship of Cybele. A - sacred slave" is mentioned in a Galatian inscription". There is however, something to be said for the other explanation which makes the marks of the Lord Jesus to be the wheal of the stripes inflicted on His sacred body the print of the nails and of the spear. In confirmation of this view passages are adduced in which St Paul speaks of himself as a partaker of the sufferings of Christ, of bearing about in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus, of filling up in his flesh the sufferings of Christ, 2Co 1:5; 2 Corinthians 4:10; Colossians 1:24; nay more, of being crucified with Christ, Romans 6:6; Galatians 2:20. On the whole, however, the former account of the phrase seems preferable. Most modern expositors notice the alleged - stigmata" of St Francis of Assisi. The connexion is limited to the identity of the term, which has been adopted by Romish hagiologists from the Latin Vulgate. The stigmata of the Saint were notmarks of persecution.