THERE WERE IN THE GENTILE WORLD ALSO BEFORE CHRIST CHILDREN OF GOD IN BONDAGE TO HUMAN RULE, THAT KNEW NOT THE UNSEEN FATHER IN HEAVEN WHO WAS ORDERING THEIR LIVES. THEY WERE LIKE ORPHAN CHILDREN, WHOM A DEPARTED FATHER HAS WITH LOVING CARE CONSIGNED DURING CHILDHOOD TO THE CHARGE OF GUARDIANS AND S... [ Continue Reading ]
νήπιοι : _children, i.e._, spiritually children. The clause points to the stage of undeveloped spiritual life through which converts from heathenism had passed, the spiritual childhood which had been the lot of earlier generations before the time was ripe for the Advent. στοιχεῖα. The association of... [ Continue Reading ]
When God saw that the world was ripe for the Advent, He sent forth His Son. Until generations of mankind had learnt through years of social training to control some of the animal instincts of their lower nature, to rebel against its brutal passions, and cherish a desire to live in obedience to their... [ Continue Reading ]
ἵνα … ἵνα. These two final clauses couple together two gracious purposes of God in the scheme of redemption, (1) the obliteration of a guilty past, (2) divine adoption with the blessings which sonship entails. The description _under Law_ includes Gentiles as well as Jews: for though they had not _th... [ Continue Reading ]
Sonship involves relations of mutual confidence and love between the Father who bestows His choicest gifts, and the Son who responds with His whole heart.... [ Continue Reading ]
διὰ Θεοῦ. This language is unusual, and many variations are found in MSS. and versions, amidst them the Received Text Θεοῦ διὰ Χριστοῦ, but there can be little question on MS. evidence that the above is the genuine text. As for the true force of the words, the Epistle has now traced the scheme of re... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOUGH IN TIME PAST WHEN YOU KNEW NOT GOD YOU WERE SLAVES TO FALSE GODS, HOW CAN YOU, NOW THAT YOU HAVE LEARNT TO KNOW HIM, OR RATHER HAVE BEEN RECOGNISED BY HIM, TURN BACK TO THE LESSONS OF CHILDHOOD AND CRAVE A BONDAGE TO TIMES AND SEASONS? The guilt of past idolatry is palliated on the score... [ Continue Reading ]
μᾶλλον δὲ. This correction is added, lest any should pride themselves on their knowledge of God, to warn them that it is not due to their own act, but to God who recognised them as His sons and repealed Himself to them. ἀσθενῆ καὶ πτωχὰ. Hitherto the Apostle has spoken with respect of the education... [ Continue Reading ]
The observance of Sabbaths and new moons, of feasts and fasts, of sabbatical and jubilee years, was clearly enjoined by the ceremonial Law; and Paul admitted the obligations of that Law for himself and for all the Circumcision. He continued to frequent the Sabbath-worship of the synagogue, attended... [ Continue Reading ]
DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE APOSTLE AT THE CHANGED FEELING OF HIS CONVERTS; REMINISCENCES OF THE PAST; PATHETIC APPEAL TO OLD AFFECTION; PROTEST AGAINST PRESENT ESTRANGEMENT.... [ Continue Reading ]
Our versions abruptly sever the connection of this verse with the previous context, and do great violence to the Greek text in both clauses. They transpose the words ἀδελφοὶ δέομαι ὑμῶν from their true place at the end of the verse to the beginning, and render γίνεσθε ὡς ἐγώ, _Be ye as I am_. But th... [ Continue Reading ]
διʼ ἀσθένειαν. This can only mean _owing to infirmity of the flesh, i.e._, to illness. διά with accusative has the same causal force in the N.T. as in Attic Greek. A phrase like διά νύκτα, _by night_, is found in Homer, but διά subsequently lost its temporal force, and only regained it in the Latini... [ Continue Reading ]
τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν. The best MSS. all read ὑμῶν, not μου or μου τον. The accusative τὸν πειρασμόν is not governed by ἐξουθενήσατε or ἐξεπτύσατε, whose real object is the με which follows ἐδέξασθε : it is really a pendent accusative in apposition to the sentence: _As for the temptation to you in my f... [ Continue Reading ]
ποῦ οὖ … The MSS. are decisive in favour of ποῦ, which makes excellent sense. “You congratulated yourselves,” it is urged, “on my coming among you, you welcomed me as an angel, as Christ Himself: what has become of that feeling now? where is your satisfaction at your lot?” ἐδώκατε. Some MSS. insert... [ Continue Reading ]
ὥστε is often used in the sense of _therefore_ to introduce an imperative or an affirmative conclusion in the Epistles of Paul, but not an interrogation. I can see no reason here for making the clause interrogative: the rendering _I am therefore become an enemy to you_ is quite in harmony with the c... [ Continue Reading ]
The substantive ζῆλος (probably derived from ζέειν, _burn_) denotes some kind of passionate desire. Whether it was of good or evil tendency depended on the nature of its object and the spirit in which it was pursued: for the same term was used to designate zeal for God or for some noble object, pers... [ Continue Reading ]
τεκνία μου. This is an accusative in apposition to ὑμᾶς, not a vocative introducing a fresh appeal. It is clear from the addition of the connecting particle δέ after ἤθελον that that word begins a new sentence. τεκνία is usually a term of maternal endearment; and though addressed by John in his firs... [ Continue Reading ]
ἤθελον. This imperfect expresses a modified wish, qualified by implied conditions, like ηὐχόμην in Romans 9:3 and ἐβουλόμην in Acts 25:22. He would fain be with them now (ἄρτι) instead of waiting for some future opportunity, were it not that he was unavoidably detained by other claims. ἀλλάξαι. This... [ Continue Reading ]
PATRIARCHAL HISTORY IS EMPLOYED TO ILLUSTRATE THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS, WHO ARE THE PROMISED SEED OF ABRAHAM, BY JEWS WHO ARE HIS SEED AFTER THE FLESH. HAGAR AND HER SON, SARAH AND HER SON, FURNISH PROPHETIC TYPES OF THE MUTUAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO. AS HIS ELDER SON, THE SLAVE-BORN ISHMAEL... [ Continue Reading ]
γέγραπται ὅτι. The statement which follows is not a quotation, but a summary of recorded facts. Hagar and Sarah are entitled _the_ handmaid and _the_ freewoman because they are accepted types of each class in Scripture. In the LXX παιδίσκη denotes _any_ young woman (_e.g._, Ruth) as it does in Atti... [ Continue Reading ]
The two who were coupled together in the last verse as sons of one father are here contrasted in respect of their different mothers. γεγέννηται. The perfect is used in order to present the birth as a Scripture record now in existence (_cf._ Hebrews 11:17; Hebrews 11:28 …): otherwise the aorist ἐγενν... [ Continue Reading ]
ἅτινά ἐστιν ἀλληγορούμενα. No doubt is thrown on the historical truth of the patriarchal history by classing the story of Ishmael with allegories: though an additional value is thereby claimed for it as embodying spiritual truth, and typifying the permanent relation between the two seeds. αὗται γάρ... [ Continue Reading ]
τὸ γὰρ. The variety of readings in the MSS., το Αγαρ, το γαρ Αγαρ, το δε Αγαρ, το γαρ, indicates some primitive error of transcription. It is hardly possible to extract any reasonable sense from the three first: for τὸ Ἅγαρ cannot mean Hagar herself: it denotes the name Hagar, and Stanley's attempt... [ Continue Reading ]
ἡ ἄνω Ἱερ. The Psalms and Prophets attest the enthusiastic devotion of Israelites to the city of Jerusalem. Since the temple of God and the palace of the house of David were within its walls, it was at once the holy city round which clustered the religious feelings of Israel, and the city of the gre... [ Continue Reading ]
The prophecy of Isaiah 54:1, here quoted from the LXX, describes the restoration of Zion, the enlargement of her borders and increase of her people, under the figure of a wife long neglected and barren, but now restored to the favour of her husband and fruitful in children. This picture was perhaps... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐδίωκεν. This imperfect denotes a tendency and disposition rather than actual persecution on the part of Ishmael. The nearest approach to it recorded is in fact his mockery of Isaac on the occasion of his weaning (Genesis 21:9). The LXX gives a different version of his conduct on that occasion, whic... [ Continue Reading ]
Again, the expulsion of Ishmael gives warning that those who observe the letter of the Law only, and lack the true spirit of sonship, though they render formal obedience to the will of the Father, have no abiding inheritance in His house.... [ Continue Reading ]
The preceding allegory has illustrated the essential difference between the heritage of Jews and Christians. Whereas Jews inherit bondage to Law, freedom is the Christian birthright, derived from their heavenly mother. The Apostle now proceeds to enforce the truth that Christ bestowed this freedom u... [ Continue Reading ]
to Galatians 5:12. Freedom is our birthright in Christ and an essential condition of our call. Accordingly the Apostle protests against the claim that all Christians should be circumcised, as a departure from the spirit of Christ, a dangerous innovation which the churches will certainly condemn, and... [ Continue Reading ]