Galatians 5 - Introduction

He moveth them to persist in their liberty, and not to observe circumcision; but love, which is the sum of the law. He reckoneth up the works of the flesh, and the fruits of the Spirit; and exhorteth to walk in the Spirit.

Anno Domini 49.

THE Apostle, in the third chapter, having, from Abraham's justification by faith, proved, 1. That all who believe are the seed of Abraham, whom God in the covenant promised to justify by faith:—2. That the law of Moses, which was given long after the covenant was ratified by the oath of God, could neither annul nor alter the covenant, by introducing a method of justification different from that which was so solemnlyestablished in the covenant:—3. That men are heirs of the heavenly country, of which Canaan was the type, not meritoriously by obedience to the law, but by the free gift of God.—4. That the law was given to the Israelites, not to justify them, but to restrain them from transgressions; and, by making them sensible of their sins, and of the demerit of their sins, to lead them to Christ for justification.—Farther, having, in the fourth chapter, observed, that the method of justification by faith, established at the fall, was not universally published, inthe first ages, by immediately introducing the gospel dispensation; because the state of the world, in the first ages, did not admit thereof, and because it was proper that mankind should remain a while under the tuition of the Adamic law, and of the law of Moses, accompanied, indeed, by such measures of divine grace as would be sufficient, through the merits of the Redeemer, for the salvation of every faithful soul:—also, having declared, that the supernatural generation of Isaac, and his birth in a state of freedom, were intended to typify the supernatural generation of Abraham's seed by faith, and their freedom from the bondage of the law of Moses, as a term of salvation, the Apostle, in this fifth chapter, as the application of the whole of his doctrine, exhorted the Galatians to stand firm in that freedom from the law of Moses, as a term of salvation, wherewith Christ had freed them in the gospel dispensation; and by no means to be again held fast in bondage to any ritual form of worship, Galatians 5:1.—Then, with the authority of an inspired Apostle, he solemnly declared, that, if they sought salvation by receiving circumcision, Christ would be of no manner of use to them as a Saviour, Galatians 5:2.

The Judaizing teachers, who enjoined obedience to the law of Moses as necessary to salvation, being sensible that the burdensomeness of the services required by Moses might deter the Gentiles from receiving circumcision, had, it seems, made the Galatians believe that circumcision did not bind those, who lived out of Judea, to obey the more troublesome and expensive services of the law; such as the offering of sacrifices, the paying of tythes, the going up to Jerusalem three times in the year, &c. but to obey those precepts only which were of easy performance, namely, the keeping of the sabbaths, the new moons, and the other holy days enjoined in the law: theabstainingfromuncleanmeats, the avoiding of the company of the uncircumcised, &c. Wherefore, to undeceive the Galatians, the Apostle solemnly testified to them, that every circumcised person, who sought to be justified by the law of Moses, bound himself to obey all its precepts, without exception, and subjected himself to its curse, if he failed in the least particular, Galatians 5:3.—In short, they separated themselves from Christ, who sought to be meritoriously justified by the law of Moses; and, to their unspeakable loss, excluded themselves from the grace offered in the gospel, Galatians 5:4.—as they might know from this, that all who adhere to Christ are warranted, by the gifts and graces of the Spirit bestowed on them, to consider themselves as justified through faith, without the works of the law of Moses, Galatians 5:5.—Besides, in the gospel dispensation, neither circumcision, nor the want of it, availeth any thing to men's acceptance with God, but the faith which strongly works by love to God and to man, Galatians 5:6.—Next, the Apostle having observed that, at the first, the Galatians made good proficiency in the doctrines of the gospel, he asked, who it was that now interrupted their progress, so as to make them forsake the truth, Galatians 5:7 and hoped, that when they considered what he had written, they would not think differently from him, concerning the method of justification, Galatians 5:10.—And because his enemies had said, that, since he conversed with the apostles at Jerusalem, he had altered his doctrine, and now taught the necessity of circumcision, he desired to know how it came to pass that the Jews still persecuted him? For, if he preached circumcision, the stumbling-block of the cross of Christ was certainly removed out of their way, Galatians 5:11.—Then concluded, with wishing them to cut off by excommunication the person who had subverted them, Galatians 5:12.

The doctrinal part of the Epistle being finished, the Apostle, in what remains, advised the Galatians not to use their freedom from the law of Moses, with respect to meats, as a pretence for gratifying their sensual appetites, to the offence of their weaker Jewish brethren, who still thought the meats forbidden by Moses unclean, Galatians 5:13.—Because, in so doing, they would break the great Christian law of love, Galatians 5:14.—the Jews, by speaking of the Gentiles as prophane persons; and the Gentiles, by representing the Jews as ignorant bigots. For, said the Apostle, by thus giving occasion to the flesh to exercise its lusts in biting and devouring one another, ye will bring destruction on one another, Galatians 5:15.—He therefore commanded them to obey the dictates of the Spirit of God, and not to fulfil the lusts of their flesh. Withal, to make them the more watchful in that respect, he told them, that the inclinations of the Spirit and of the flesh are oftentimes contrary the one to the other: and that, through the prevalence of the inclinations of the flesh, men are frequently hindered from doing what the Spirit inclines them to do. At the same time, to encourage them, he assured them, that if they followed the dictates of the Spirit of God, they would not fall under the curse of any law whatever, Galatians 5:18.—Then, to shew what sort of actions the lust of the flesh would lead them to perform, he enumerated the works of the flesh: and, to make them sensible of the dangerous nature of these works, he foretold now, as he had done before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God, Galatians 5:19.—Also he enumerated the fruits of the Spirit; and, in their commendation, took notice, that their excellency is so evident, that in no nation was there ever any law made against them, Galatians 5:22.—Farther, as a powerful motive to renounce the works of the flesh, he assured them that all Christ's faithful disciples have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts, Galatians 5:24.—In short, since the Galatians lived under the spiritual dispensation of the gospel, he commanded them to walk according to its rules, Galatians 5:25.—And cautioned such as possessed the spiritual gifts to avoid vain-glory in the exercise of them, that they might not provoke their brethren to anger and strife. And those who were destitute of the spiritual gifts, he exhorted them not to envy those who were endowed with them, Galatians 5:26.