III. (1-5) Whence this strange relapse? It is not as if you were ignorant of better things. The crucified Saviour, the one great object of faith, has been preached before you in a way too plain to be mistaken. It has been written, as it were, in large characters before your eyes. It could only be so... [ Continue Reading ]
FOOLISH. — The same word as that which is used in Luke 24:25, “O ye fools and slow of heart,” and in Romans 1:14, “wise and foolish,” 1 Timothy 6:9, and Titus 3:3, but not the same as that which is used in Matthew 7:26; Matthew 23:17; Luke 11:40; Romans 1:22;... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS ONLY. — The Apostle considers a single argument enough. He will only place the present conduct of the Galatians in contrast with their past, and ask how they can possibly reconcile the two. RECEIVED YE THE SPIRIT. — The reference is to those spiritual gifts, described more fully in 1 Corinthian... [ Continue Reading ]
FOOLISH. — See the Note on Galatians 3:1. HAVING BEGUN IN THE SPIRIT. — Begun your career as Christians in a manner so entirely spiritual — with the spiritual act of faith on your part, and with an answering gift of spiritual graces and powers. MADE PERFECT BY THE FLESH. — Do you wish to finish and... [ Continue Reading ]
SUFFERED SO MANY THINGS. — The Galatians, like other churches, were subjected to much persecution when first they embraced Christianity. The persecutors were probably their own Jewish countrymen, whose jealousy and rage they had braved in the name of the gospel as preached by St. Paul. Now they were... [ Continue Reading ]
The appeal by which the Apostle sought to check the defection of his thoughtless converts was not only an appeal to their past experience, when first they listened to his own preaching, but also to their present experience of facts that they saw actually going on among them. The first great outpouri... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN AS. — The argument is here very condensed. Ideas lie close together in the Apostle’s mind which are some distance apart in ours. He asks whether, in bestowing the gifts of the Spirit upon the Christian Church, God made use of the medium of the Law or of faith. The answer he assumes to be faith;... [ Continue Reading ]
(6-14) These prolific results are due to faith, and not to the Law; just as it was faith which won for Abraham that imputed righteousness. Faith was the cause, blessing the consequence, which extends to all the spiritual descendants of Abraham. The Scripture distinctly foresaw this when it declared... [ Continue Reading ]
The main point of the Apostle’s argument in the present passage is the superiority of faith over the Law. He has, however, also in view the ulterior consequences of that superiority. Unlike the Law, faith is open to all Gentiles as well as Jews. The promise, therefore, being annexed to faith, contai... [ Continue Reading ]
The universalism of the promise is accounted for by the fact that it is rested upon faith and not on works — thus showing a distinct prevision of a time when the whole world should be invited to claim a share in it by the exercise of faith. THE SCRIPTURE. — Here, with a more decided personification... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WHICH BE OF FAITH. — The same phrase as in Galatians 3:7 above. WITH FAITHFUL ABRAHAM — _i.e.,_ in company with Abraham. The same idea is presented in two different forms. Abraham’s spiritual descendants are blessed “_in_ him;” they are also blessed “_with_ him.” He is the head of a great comp... [ Continue Reading ]
In this and the following verses the action of the Law is contrasted with that of faith, and the necessity of faith and the system of things to which faith belongs brought out into strong relief. The antithesis is: faith — blessing; law — curse. The “curse” was the penalty which the Law itself impos... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. — Standing as a prisoner before His tribunal. THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. — The stress is on the word “faith.” It is _faith_ (not law) which gives life. In St. Paul’s application of the passage, the word “just” must be taken in what is technically termed a slightly proleptic... [ Continue Reading ]
The Law could not bring a blessing. It could not justify. For the condition of justification is faith; and the Law has nothing to do with faith. Its standpoint was entirely different — that of works.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAW IS NOT OF FAITH. — The ruling principle of the Law is not faith, but something else — works. THE MAN THAT DOETH THEM. — By “them” is meant the “statutes” and “judgments” mentioned immediately before in the verse (Leviticus 18:5) from which the quotation is taken. Just as the stress was upon... [ Continue Reading ]
CHRIST HATH REDEEMED US. — Better, _Christ redeemed us._ The opening of this verse without any connecting particle lends sharpness and emphasis to the contrast. The Law brought a curse. There it stopped short. That was all it could do. The first thing that Christianity does is to undo this result of... [ Continue Reading ]
The Law brought a curse, but the Christian is delivered from that curse. How? Christ has taken it upon Himself. The Crucifixion brought Him under the curse of the Law. At the same time, it abolished the dominion of the Law, and threw open the Messianic blessedness to Gentiles as well as Jews: in oth... [ Continue Reading ]
The abolition of the Law, consummated upon the cross, involved the doing away of all the old restrictions which confined the Messianic inheritance to the Jews. Henceforth this inheritance, and the promised outpouring of the Spirit which was to accompany it, was open equally to the Gentiles. The one... [ Continue Reading ]
I SPEAK AFTER THE MANNER OF MEN. — The figure that I am going to use is one taken from the ordinary civil relations between man and man, and therefore, it is left to be inferred, supplies an _à fortiori_ argument in things relating to God, for men may change and break the most solemn engagements; Go... [ Continue Reading ]
(15-18) To take an illustration from purely human relations. A covenant once ratified is binding. It cannot be treated as if it did not exist, neither can fresh clauses be added to it. Now the covenant and promise made to Abraham (by the terms in which it was made) could point to no one but the Mess... [ Continue Reading ]
A parenthetical explanation of the true object of the promise. That promise was shown by its wording to have reference to the Messiah. It did not speak of “seeds,” but of “seed” — not of “descendants,” but of “descendant.” And the Messiah is, _par excellence,_ the “descendant” of Abraham. The object... [ Continue Reading ]
The fulfilment of the promise is thus to be seen in the Messianic dispensation now begun. The Law, which was given four hundred and thirty years _after_ the promise, had no power to cancel it. This verse contains the direct inference from the argument stated in Galatians 3:15. When a document has b... [ Continue Reading ]
The fulfilment of the promise is unaffected by the Law. For it is not dependent upon the Law, or upon the Law and the promise combined (the Law _modifying_ the promise), but upon the promise alone. The Law does not come in at all. Law and promise — in other words, contract and free gift — are incomp... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE THEN SERVETH THE LAW? — Literally, _What then is the Law?_ What is its object or function? If it did not affect the promise, what did it do? The Apostle proceeds to answer this question. IT WAS ADDED. — It was not a part of the original scheme, but came in as a sort of marginal addition.... [ Continue Reading ]
If such was not the function of the Law — if it had _no_ power to modify the promise — what was its true function? It was a sort of measure of police. Its object was to deal with transgressions. It was also a temporary measure, of force only until it should be superseded by the coming of the Messiah... [ Continue Reading ]
The mention of the word “mediator” implies a contract to which there are at least two parties. But where there is a contract there must be also conditions, and if these conditions are not observed the whole falls to the ground. Such was the Law. The Law was not kept, and therefore the blessings anne... [ Continue Reading ]
(21-24) If the Law was thus inferior to the promise, does it therefore follow that it is contrary to it? By no means. The Law could not indeed give life; it could not justify, or place in a state of righteousness. Its real result was rather to place all men in a state of sin. But by so doing it prep... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROMISES. — Here, as in Galatians 3:16, the plural, because the promise to Abraham was several times repeated, and afterwards ratified to his descendants. FOR IF... — The argument which follows begins with a concession. Though the Law was no substitute for the promise, it yet directly led up to... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SCRIPTURE. — Slightly personified. HATH CONCLUDED. — The same peculiar word occurs in Romans 11:32, with a similar sense. It means to “shut up,” “hem in,” “prevent from straying either to the right hand or to the left,” as a shepherd shuts up his flock in the fold. ALL. — This is put in the ne... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE FAITH CAME. — Before faith awoke into exercise, began to exist, or the preaching of Christ as its object. WE WERE KEPT. — Better, _we were kept in ward,_ so as to bring out more clearly the force of the metaphor which runs through the verse. The Law was a kind of prison-house, in which we we... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER. — Not quite a satisfactory translation; yet it is difficult to suggest a better. The Greek word is that from which is derived the English “pedagogue.” Originally it meant the slave who was placed in charge of a child, and whose duty it was to conduct it to school. The i... [ Continue Reading ]
(25-29) But now the Law has been exchanged for the dispensation of faith. Henceforth the old state of pupilage is at an end. We are no longer like children, but adult members of the divine family — _sons_ of God. We have entered into this relation by faith in Christ. For to be baptised into Christ i... [ Continue Reading ]
CHILDREN OF GOD. — The translation “children” here is unfortunate, as the point to be brought out is that the Christian is no longer in the condition of “children,” but in that of grown-up “_sons._” The pre-Messianic period bears to the Messianic period the same relation that a childhood or minority... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR. — This introduces the reason why the Christian stands to God in the relation of an adult son. He is so by virtue of his relation to Christ. BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST. — To be baptised “_into_ Christ” is something more than merely “to be baptised _in the name of_ Christ.” It implies the contracting... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse continues the proof that _all_ Christians are, in the fullest sense, “sons of God.” Galatians 3:27 showed _why_ this was so; the present verse shows that there are no exceptions, no inequalities. All Christians alike, no matter what their race, status, or sex, stand on the same footing of... [ Continue Reading ]
Conclusion of the whole argument. The followers of the Messiah are the true seed of Abraham. The kingdom of the Messiah, which they possess, is the promised inheritance.... [ Continue Reading ]