_HE MOVETH THEM TO DEAL MILDLY WITH A BROTHER THAT HATH SLIPPED, AND TO BEAR ONE ANOTHER'S BURDEN; TO BE LIBERAL TO THEIR TEACHERS, AND NOT WEARY OF WELL-DOING: HE SHEWETH WHAT THEY INTEND THAT PREACH CIRCUMCISION: HE GLORIETH IN NOTHING, SAVE IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST._ _Anno Domini 49._ THE Apostle... [ Continue Reading ]
BRETHREN, &C.— The Apostle here exhorts the stronger to gentleness and meekness towards the weak: "If a man, by frailty or surprize, be overtaken in a fault, do you who are eminent in the church for knowledge, practice, and gifts, raise him up again, and set him aright with gentleness and meekness;... [ Continue Reading ]
BEAR YE ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENS,— "Bear with one another's infirmities; help to support each other, under the necessary burdens and evils of life;—and _so fulfil the law of Christ."_ See Romans 15:1 and 1 Thessalonians 5:14. There were some among them very zealous for the law of Moses: St. Paul here p... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL HE HAVE REJOICING, &C.— _Shall he have whereof to rejoice._ The meaningof the passage is this: "Brethren, there are some among you who would bring others under the ritual observances of the _Mosaic law;_ a yoke which was too heavy for us and our fathers to bear. They would do much better to ea... [ Continue Reading ]
_GALATIANS 6:6_.— St. Paul having laid some restraint upon the authority and forwardness of the teachers and leading men among them, who were, as it seems, more ready to impose what they ought not on the Galatians, than to keep them forward in the practice of gospel obedience, he here takes care of... [ Continue Reading ]
BE NOT DECEIVED;— The Apostle here, with great propriety and force, exposes the evasions that some would make use of to excuse themselves from acts of liberality; by which, however they might impose on others, they would egregiously deceive themselves, as every circumstance lies open to an all seein... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THEM WHO ARE OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH.— "To them who are united to us in the bonds of Christian faith and love; and who, on that account, as belonging to one family, and heirs of the same hope, have certainly the first claim to our regard and assistance.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SEE HOW LARGE A LETTER, &C.— The original has been taken in different senses by interpreters, both ancient and modern. The Vulgate has it, _with what letters;_ Castalio, _with how many letters;_ Erasmus, _how large a letter;_ and Beza, _how long a letter._ St. Paul mentions his writing _with his... [ Continue Reading ]
ONLY LEST THEY SHOULD SUFFER PERSECUTION— This seems to open the main secret springof that zeal for the Jewish ceremonies in some who professed themselves Christians, which occasioned so much uneasiness in the apostolic churches. The persecuting edicts of the Jewish Sanhedrim, whose influence extend... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THEY MAY GLORY IN YOUR FLESH.— "May glory in this mark of circumcision, fixed in your flesh, and boast of the many converts to Judaism which they have had the interest and address to make." See on Galatians 6:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT A NEW CREATURE.— Καινη κτισις, _a new creation;_—which strongly impresses the greatness of the change made in men by Christianity, thoroughly and experimentally entertained.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS MANY AS WALK, &C.— St. Paul having asserted, in the foregoing verse, that it is the _new creation_ alone which qualifies men to be proper members of the kingdom of Christ, and puts them into the possession of the privileges thereof, this verse may be understood also as assertory,—_peace shall... [ Continue Reading ]
I BEAR IN MY BODY— Archbishop Potter thinks, that the Apostle here alludes to the στιγματα, or _brands,_ with which the Greeks used to mark those who were appointed to serve in the wars, lest they should attempt to make their escape. Others suppose, that the reference may be to those marks by which... [ Continue Reading ]