CHAPTER IV. _The apostle shows that, as an heir in nonage is under tutors_ _and guardians, so were the Galatians while under the law; and,_ _as the heir when he comes of age is no longer under guardians,_ _so they, when the Gospel came, arrived at full maturity, and_ _were redeemed from the law... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Galatians 4:2. _BUT IS UNDER TUTORS_] επιτροπους. _Guardians_ and _governors_; οικονομους. those who have the _charge_ of the _family._ These words are nearly similar; but we may consider the first as _executor_, the last as the person who _superintends the concerns of_ _the family and estate_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Galatians 4:3. _EVEN SO WE_] The whole Jewish people were in a state of nonage while under the law. _THE ELEMENTS OF THE WORLD_] A mere Jewish phrase, יסודי עולם הזה _yesodey olam hazzeh_, "the principles of this world;" that is, the _rudiments_ or _principles_ of the _Jewish religion_. The a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Galatians 4:4. _WHEN THE FULNESS OF THE TIME WAS COME_] The time which God in his infinite wisdom counted best; in which all his counsels were _filled up_; and the time which his Spirit, by the prophets, had specified; and the time to which he intended the Mosaic institutions should extend, an... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Galatians 4:5. _TO REDEEM THEM_] εξαγοραση. To _pay down a price_ for them, and thus _buy them off_ from the necessity of observing circumcision, offering _brute sacrifices_, performing different _ablutions_, c., c. _THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE ADOPTION OF SONS._] Which adoption we could not ob... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Galatians 4:6. _AND BECAUSE YE ARE SONS_] By faith in Christ Jesus, being redeemed both from the _bondage_ and _curse_ of the law; GOD-the _Father_, called generally the _first_ person of the glorious TRINITY, hath sent forth the SPIRIT-the _Holy Ghost_, the _second_ person of that _Trinity_,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 7. _THOU ART NO MORE A SERVANT_] Thou who hast believed in Christ art no longer a _slave_, either under the _dominion of sin_ or under _obligation_ to the Mosaic ritual; _but a son_ of God, adopted into the heavenly family. _AND IF A SON, THEN AN HEIR_] Having a right to the _inheritance_, be... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 8. _WHEN YE KNEW NOT GOD_] Though it is evident, from the complexion of the whole of this epistle, that the great body of the Christians in the Churches of Galatia were converts from among the _Jews_ or _proselytes_ to Judaism; yet from this verse it appears that there were some who had been c... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 9. _NOW, AFTER THAT YE HAVE KNOWN GOD_] After having been brought to the knowledge of God as your Saviour. _OR RATHER ARE KNOWN OF GOD_] Are _approved_ of him, having received the adoption of sons. _TO THE WEAK AND BEGGARLY ELEMENTS_] After receiving all this, _will ye turn again_ to the in... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 10. _YE OBSERVE DAYS_] Ye superstitiously regard the Sabbaths and particular days of your own appointment; _AND MONTHS_] New moons; _times_-festivals, such as those of tabernacles, dedication, passover, c. _YEARS._] Annual atonements, sabbatical years, and jubilees.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 11. _I AM AFRAID OF YOU_] I begin now to be seriously alarmed for you, and think you are so thoroughly perverted from the Gospel of Christ, that all my pains and labour in your conversion have been thrown away.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 12. _BE AS I_ AM] Thoroughly addicted to the Christian faith and worship, from the deepest conviction of its truth. _FOR I_ AM _AS YE_ ARE] I was formerly a Jew, and as zealously addicted to the rites and ceremonies of Judaism as ye are, but I am saved from that mean and unprofitable dependen... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 13. _YE KNOW HOW THROUGH INFIRMITY_] The apostle seems to say that he was much afflicted in body when he first preached the Gospel to them. And is this any strange thing, that a minister, so laborious as St. Paul was, should be sometimes overdone and overcome by the severity of his labours? Su... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 14. _AND MY TEMPTATION WHICH WAS IN MY FLESH_] On this verse there are a great many various readings, as there are various opinions. Instead of μου, MY _temptation_, ABC*D*FG, some others, with the _Coptic, Vulgate, Itala_, and several of the primitive _fathers_, have υμων, YOUR temptation.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 15. _WHERE IS THEN THE BLESSEDNESS YE SPAKE OF?_] _Ye spake_ _of_ should be in italics, there being no corresponding word in the Greek text. Perhaps there is not a sentence in the New Testament more variously translated than this. I shall give the original: τις ουν ην ὁ μακαρισμος ὑμων· _Wh... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 16. _AM I THEREFORE BECOME YOUR ENEMY_] How is it that you are so much altered towards me, that you now treat me as an enemy, who formerly loved me with the most fervent affection? Is it _because I tell you the truth_; that very _truth_ for which you at first so ardently loved me?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 17. _THEY ZEALOUSLY AFFECT YOU_, BUT _NOT WELL_] It is difficult for common readers to understand the meaning of these words: perhaps it would be better to translate Ζηλουσιν ὑμας ου καλως, these false teachers _endeavour to conciliate your esteem,_ _but not in honest_ or true _principles_; t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 18. IT IS _GOOD TO BE ZEALOUSLY AFFECTED_] It is well to have a _determined mind_ and an _ardent heart_ in reference to things which are laudable and good. _NOT ONLY WHEN I AM PRESENT_] You were thus attached to me when I was among you, but now ye have lost both your reverence and affection f... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 19. _MY LITTLE CHILDREN_] τεκνια μου. My _beloved_ _children_. As their conversion to God had been the fruit of much labour, prayers, and tears, so he felt them as his children, and peculiarly dear to him, because he had been the means of bringing them to the knowledge of the truth; therefore... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 20. _I DESIRE TO BE PRESENT WITH YOU_] I wish to accommodate my doctrine to your state; I know not whether you need stronger reprehension, or to be dealt with more leniently. _I STAND IN DOUBT OF YOU._] I have doubts concerning your state; the progress of error and conviction among you, which... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 21. _YE THAT DESIRE TO BE UNDER THE LAW_] Ye who desire to incorporate the Mosaic institutions with Christianity, and thus bring yourselves into bondage to circumcision, and a great variety of oppressive rites. _DO YE NOT HEAR THE LAW?_] Do ye not understand what is written in the _Pentateuch... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. _FOR IT IS WRITTEN_] Viz. in Genesis 16:15; Genesis 22:1, c., _that Abraham had two sons_, Ishmael and Isaac _the one_; Ishmael, _by_ _a bond maid_, Hagar; _the other_, Isaac, _by a free woman_, Sarah.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. _WAS BORN AFTER THE FLESH_] _Ishmael_ was born _according_ _to the course of nature_, his parents being both of a proper age, so that there was nothing uncommon or supernatural in his birth: this is the proper meaning of the apostle's κατα σαρκα, _after_ or _according to the flesh_, and an... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 24. _WHICH THINGS ARE AN ALLEGORY_] They are to be understood _spiritually_; more being intended in the account than meets the eye. _Allegory_, from αλλος, _another_, and αγορεω, or αγοπευω, _to speak_, signifies a _thing that is a representative of another_, where the _literal sense_ is the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _FOR THIS AGAR IS MOUNT SINAI IN ARABIA_] Το γαρ Αγαρ Σινα ορος εστιν εν τη Αραβια. This is the common reading; but it is read differently in some of the most respectable MSS., _versions_, and _fathers_; thus: το γαρ Σινα ορος εστιν εν τῃ Αραβια, _for this Sinai is a mountain of Arabia_;... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 26. _BUT JERUSALEM WHICH IS ABOVE_] The apostle still follows the Jewish _allegory_, showing not only how the story of _Hagar_ and _Sarah, Ishmael_ and _Isaac_, was allegorized, but pointing out also that even _Jerusalem_ was the subject of allegory; for it was a maxim among the rabbins, that... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 27. _REJOICE_, THOU _BARREN THAT BEAREST NOT_] This quotation is taken from Isaiah 54:1, and is certainly a promise which relates to the _conversion of the Gentiles_, as the following clause proves; for _the desolate_ - the Gentile world, _hath many more_ _children_ - is a much larger and more... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 28. _NOW WE_] Who believe in the Lord Jesus, _are the_ _children of promise_-are the spiritual offspring of the Messiah, the seed of Abraham, in whom the promise stated that _all the_ _nations of the earth should be blessed_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _BUT AS THEN HE_] Ishmael, _who was born after the_ _flesh_-whose birth had nothing _supernatural_ in it, but was according to the ordinary course of nature, _PERSECUTED HIM_] Isaac, _who was born after the Spirit_-who had a supernatural birth, according to the _promise_, and through the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 30. _WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURE?_] (In Genesis 21:10:) _Cast out the bond woman and her son_: and what does this imply in the present case? Why, that the present Jerusalem and her children shall be _cast_ out of the favour of God, and _shall not be_ _heirs with the son of the free woman_-shall n... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Galatians 4:31. _SO THEN_] _We_-Jews and Gentiles, who believe on the Lord Jesus, _are not children of the bond woman_-are not in subjection to the Jewish law, _but of the free_; and, consequently, are delivered from all its bondage, obligation, and curse. Thus the apostle, from their own Sc... [ Continue Reading ]