Galatia

The congregations of the Roman province of Galatia in Central Asia Minor were especially dear to the Apostle Paul. He had come here, with Barnabas, on his first missionary journey, Acts 13:14-14:23, spending considerable time in the cities of Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. With Silas he had gone to the same district of the Galatian province on his second journey, Acts 16:1-6, at which time he had taken Timothy along with him. Again, on the third journey, he went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples, Acts 18:23, before going down to Ephesus. It appears, from the account in Acts as well as from the present letter, that the Gospel was, on the whole, received by the inhabitants of this part of Galatia with great enthusiasm, and they, in turn, may have carried it to the regions toward the north, where the descendants of the Celts, or Gauls, lived, who, coming from the northern part of what is now France, had migrated eastward in the third century before Christ and found a home in this fertile and beautiful country south of the Black Sea. At the time when Paul wrote this letter, therefore, there may have been flourishing congregations not only in Southern Galatia, in the sections of the country which were Phrygian and Lycaonian by nationality, but also in the region adjoining, with all of whom Paul was personally and intimately acquainted. These churches were composed principally of converts from heathenism, although there was a liberal sprinkling of Jews.

Context

The reason which prompted Paul to write this letter to the Galatian Christians was the following. Shortly after his last visit among them a number of Judaizing teachers came to Galatia and began to make trouble, Galatians 1:7. The method of these converted Jews, who still adhered in their hearts to all the precepts of the ceremonial law, was simple, but effective. “They insisted that faith in Christ was not enough to obtain righteousness before God, life, and salvation. They told the Galatians that it was necessary to salvation to keep the ceremonial law of the Jews, to submit to circumcision, observe the Jewish feasts, etc. Paul had taught the Galatians that in order to become righteous in God’s sight and obtain life and salvation, nothing more was needed than faith in Christ. To destroy this doctrine, these Judaizing teachers hinted that Paul was no true apostle of Christ, that he had never seen the Lord, and that he owed his knowledge of the Gospel to the apostles who had their headquarters at Jerusalem. They were prompted by unworthy motives, Galatians 4:17; Galatians 6:13. They soon succeeded in winning over the greater part of the churches. What made their success easy was the fact that some members hoped to escape persecution if they would enter into outward fellowship with the Jews, Galatians 6:12. Many were ready to receive circumcision, etc., Galatians 3:1; Galatians 4:9-11; Galatians 5:1; Galatians 6:13.” ^■770 .

Date and overview

The Epistle to the Galatians is one of the earliest, as many scholars believe, the very first letter which Paul wrote, very likely from the city of Corinth, about the year 51, or from Ephesus, a few years later. Its form and language indicate great commotion in the apostle’s mind, as well as a holy zeal for his apostolic office and for the purity of the Christian doctrine as taught by him. Though much briefer than the letter to the Romans, it is a doctrinal epistle throughout and of peculiar significance in the fight against Judaism. It may readily be divided into three parts. In the first, personal or historical, part Paul defends his apostolic office as one entrusted to him by God, a fact which appears not only from his being acknowledged by the apostles at Jerusalem, but also from his rebuking of Peter. In the second, doctrinal, part Paul offers the proofs for the soundness of his doctrine that salvation comes not by works, but by faith, since the nature of the Law is such as to make it necessary for the Christians to be free from its dominion, a fact which is typified also in the story of Isaac and Ishmael. In the third, practical or hortatory, part Paul draws the ethical conclusions from the doctrine as taught by him, with the admonition to hold fast the liberty in Christ Jesus; he warns them against the yoke of circumcision, against walking after the flesh; he urges them to give evidence of brotherly harmony and fellowship ^■771 .

Contents

Luther summarizes the contents of the letter as follows: “The Galatians had been brought by St. Paul from the Law to the true Christian faith and to the Gospel. But after his departure there came the false apostles, that were disciples of the true apostles, and seduced the Galatians to believe that they must be saved through the works of the Law and were committing a sin if they did not keep the works of the Law. … In opposition to them St. Paul extols his office and does not want to be considered less than any other apostle, boasting that he had his doctrine and ministry from God alone, in order to quell the boasting of the false apostles that relied upon the true apostles’ work and name. … This he does in the first and second chapters, and concludes that every one must be justified without merit, without works, without Law, through Christ alone. In the third and fourth chapters he supports all this with Scriptures, examples, and parables, showing that the Law brings sin and condemnation rather than righteousness, which is promised by God by grace only, fulfilled by Christ without the Law, and given to us. In the fifth and sixth chapters he teaches the works of love which should follow faith.” ^■772 .

Overview

The Galatians had been brought by St. Paul from the Law to the true Christian faith and the Gospel; but after his departure, false apostles came, who were disciples of the true apostles, and turned the Galatians about again, so that they believed that they had to be saved by the works of the Law and that they committed sin if they did not keep the Law, as even some high persons in Jerusalem pretended (Acts 15:1).

To refute them, St. Paul magnifies his office and will not have himself considered less than another apostle and glories in the fact that his doctrine and office are from God alone. He does this to stop the boasting of the false apostles, who supported themselves with the works and names of the true apostles. He says, it is not true, even though an angel, or even he himself were to preach it, to say nothing of disciples of apostles, or of apostles themselves.

This he does in chapters 1 and 2, and concludes that everyone must be justified without merit, without works, without law, but only through Christ.

In chapters 3 and 4, he defends all this with passages of Scripture and illustrations and parables, and shows that the Law brings sin and a curse, rather than righteousness, which is promised by God out of pure grace, and is fulfilled through Christ without the Law, and given to us.

In chapters 5 and 6, he teaches the works of love that ought to follow faith.

Verses 1-5

Introductory greeting and doxology

Paul opens his letter in the style of writing which was in use at that time, with his own name and the designation of his office. But there is a peculiar emphasis to the word “apostle” in this case, since the agitators had challenged his right to this title, which did not merely signify “one sent,” but had assumed the dignity of an official designation, pointing to the divine authority of the bearers, specifically to the call of Paul to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ by an immediate command of the Lord. This emphatic vindication is brought out also in the next words: Not from men, nor through a man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead. The opponents had probably said that his only call had been that extended by the congregation at Antioch, Acts 13:2-3, and that he had originally received Baptism and the gift of the Spirit through the agency of a mere man, Ananias of Damascus, Acts 9:17. Therefore Paul insists that his authority was not from men, just as the Scripture-account has it that he was sent forth by the Holy Ghost, Acts 13:4, that Christ Himself had sent him to the Gentiles, Acts 22:21. Neither was his call a mediate or secondary call only, even though he did not receive the Spirit at the time of the miraculous outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost. His call is through Jesus Christ and therefore also through God the Father; it is a divine call, its validity cannot be questioned. That Jesus, whose name Paul here mentions first, is fully equal in essence with the Father is brought out also by the addition of the words: Who raised Him from the dead. By that act the Father had acknowledged and confessed the Son before the whole world as the true God and eternal life, as coequal with Him in deity, in power and authority. Paul mentions this fact here, partly because the resurrection of Christ made his own call possible, partly because he thereby became a witness of the resurrection of Jesus. His words are a ringing, preliminary declaration of his apostolic authority.

Without mentioning any names, Paul sends greetings also from the group of brethren in whose midst he was at that time residing and working. In the emphasis upon the matters which he felt compelled to broach, the apostle was not alone, but he knew that the other Christians of Corinth or Ephesus were of the same opinion, which implied that the Galatians, if they gave ear to the false teachers, would sever themselves from the fellowship of their brethren, not to speak of the offense which they would be giving to a whole Christian community, no matter how small. His letter is addressed, not to a single congregation, but to the churches of Galatia, to the several congregations which had been founded as a result of Paul’s labors, his intention being that the epistle should be read before them all and thus have a cumulative effect.

As in his later epistles, the apostolic blessing is briefly summarized in the wish for grace and peace: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Through Christ the believers have grace, complete forgiveness of sins; in Christ they have peace with God. Through Christ God has become their dear Father, and the exalted Christ is their Lord. “Therefore Paul, in this greeting, has laid down a short summary of his doctrine, namely, that no one can be justified but by the grace of God, in no way through works, and that the restlessness of conscience cannot be quieted but through the peace of God, thus not through the works of any virtue or satisfaction.” ^■773 .

The great price which Jesus paid in order to bring us grace and peace is shown in the next words: Who gave Himself for our sins. Here the emphasis is upon the wonderful sacrifice which Jesus made in our behalf, as a gift of grace to those that did not merit even an infinitesimal fraction of such merciful kindness. He made use of no half-way measures; He did not rest satisfied with some unusual display of mere goodness; His gift was nothing less than His own person, a gift which could be fully accomplished only in and through His death; it was a sacrifice and sin-offering that has no equal in the history of the world. “Christ Himself was both Offerer and Offered, both High Priest and Sacrifice, in one person.” And the effect of this perfect substitution and expiation was that He might tear us away from the present world, evil as it is. The result of the redemption of Christ in the case of the believers is both to tear them away from the evil influence, from the moral corruption of the world, and also to safeguard them from the final destruction of everlasting damnation which the world is bringing upon itself by its present attitude toward Christ and His salvation. The Christians are in the world, but not of the world. They deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, Titus 2:12. And all this Christ does and effects in us according to the will of God and our Father. The fact that we are being kept in such a miraculous manner is not due to our own merits or efforts, but to the merciful will of God, which was manifested in Christ and His work of redemption, which wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, 1 Timothy 2:4. And therefore Paul wants all the praise, all the honor, to go to the gracious God, in all eternity, a declaration which he crowns with his confident “Amen.” Cp. Philippians 4:20; 2 Timothy 4:18.

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Verses 6-10

Paul’s reason for writing the epistle

Paul’s agitation is evident from the first, in every word which he writes. He had been startled by the intelligence which he received, he was intensely indignant at the attitude taken by the Galatians. Instead of offering general remarks, he immediately launches forth in a vehement discussion of the situation as it presented itself according to trustworthy accounts; for the perversion of the truth as practised by the agitators struck at the very core of Christianity; in pretending to aim at the apostle, the enemies were really placing his office under suspicion and directly hurting the cause of the Gospel.

Like a mighty torrent the force of his resentment bursts forth: I am astonished, I marvel, that so quickly you are changing over from Him that called you in the grace of Christ to another gospel. The news which Paul had received had filled him with surprised astonishment, it had almost taken his breath away, since it indicated such a quick change of mind on the part of the Galatians. For although his opponents had not yet scored a definite success, the idea which they broached had found entrance, it had gained adherents with remarkable rapidity, a fact which in itself was a disgrace to the people that had shown such an encouraging interest in the true Gospel; they were being won over, and in this they were willingly lending their ear to the false teachers. Their apostasy (for it was that to which their fickleness was drawing them) to another gospel, to a message which purported to be a message of salvation, a different, a spurious gospel, was not so much from Paul, who had issued to them the Gospel-call, as from Christ and God; for the call proceeded in the grace of Christ, from the divine love. Note: That the call to grace goes forth is due to the free mercy and love of Christ, and it is issued through the Word, by the mouth of the messengers of Christ.

That it was a false lead to which the attention of the Galatians had been drawn in their fickleness is asserted by Paul with the greatest vehemence: Whereas there is no other; or: Which other sort of gospel can make no claim of genuineness, except there are some that are unsettling you and wanting to corrupt the Gospel of Christ. That was the apostle’s charge against the agitators, that they were attempting to pass off their false message as the only true and genuine Gospel, and that they were thus marketing a lie. The result of this deception was a twofold one: They were disturbing and troubling the minds and consciences of the Galatians, causing them to be doubtful as to the doctrine which they had been taught; and they were incidentally doing their best to distort and pervert the real Gospel of Christ, the glorious message of salvation through His name. If they had succeeded in their design, it would have meant the end of pure evangelical preaching in the congregations affected. Note: This verse must be kept in mind at all times against the perverters of the message of sin and grace, no matter in what guise they come, just as it was used by the reformers in rejecting the claims of the Romish Church ^■774 .

In a ringing challenge the words of Paul sound forth: But now also, though we or an angel from heaven preach a gospel to you contrary to the Gospel which we preached to you, let God’s curse be on him! The word anathema, rendered “accursed” in the Authorized Version, was applied especially to all offerings devoted under a solemn oath to death or destruction, Leviticus 27:28; Joshua 7:1; Acts 13:14. It was not that Paul was arrogating to himself the right to excommunicate any individuals without the consent and resolution of the congregation, but that he was affirming general principles, which, on the part of God, hold true for all times. Speaking of himself and his coworkers, and therefore of all true ministers of the Gospel, he states that no doctrine has the right to exist in the Church which differs from, and contradicts, the Gospel as it has been proclaimed by him in all his work. It is not a matter of dispute between various teachers, all of whom may claim purity of truth for themselves, but the contrast is that between truth and falsehood. And there it holds good: Not Paul himself, not any of his assistants, not any minister of the Gospel, not even an angel from heaven can alter the truth in Christ. If any one should, in spite of this principle, presume to substitute a spurious Gospel, any false doctrine, for the truth of redemption, then such a one should be subject to God’s curse, the end of which is eternal death. Note: This principle must be upheld by all Christians over against the claims of false teachers; any deviation from the sound doctrine as found in the Bible, any substitution of man-made philosophies and expositions, places the authors of such attempts under the curse of God. “The Word of God shall establish articles of faith, and no one else, not even an angel.” ^■775 . “Therefore we shall confidently say with Paul: May all doctrine from heaven or from the earth or no matter whence it may have been brought, perish and be accursed, which teaches to rely upon other works, other righteousness, other merits than those which belong to Christ.” ^■776 .

For the sake of emphasis, Paul repeats this solemn statement: As we have lately forewarned you, so I say also again: If any one preaches a gospel to you which contradicts that which you have received, let God’s curse be upon him. Paul seems not only to have uttered general warnings against any doctrine at variance with the pure Gospel which he was preaching, but also to have pointed out specifically, also through Silas and Timothy, that any religion of works would remove the very foundation of the Gospel. These warnings may have been given particularly on the third journey, when the news of the activity of Judaizing teachers was spread. And he explains the severity of his expressions, of his double anathema, by asking indignantly: For is it men that I am now striving to please, to conciliate, or God? Or am I zealous about finding the favor of men? If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. If his object were to persuade men, to gain them for his own person, to seek their approval for selfish reasons, then his boasting about being an unselfish servant of Christ, for the purpose of advancing the glory of Christ only, would be hypocrisy and deception. But he insists that his sole aim and object in preaching the Gospel is the furtherance of God’s glory through the declaration of the entire counsel of salvation; this he does in his capacity as servant of Christ, whether it pleases men or not, for all men by nature are opposed to the truth and do not desire the vicarious atonement of Jesus. If he were speaking to please men, he would thereby admit that he had personal interests at stake, and his message would be bound to be influenced by that fact. But since he has in mind the glory of the Lord, he speaks after the manner and by the Spirit of God, in disinterested single-mindedness. It is the disposition which must animate and actuate every true servant of Christ at all times.

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Verses 11-24

Paul protests his apostolic commission

He has his Gospel by direct revelation of Jesus Christ:

The apostle here takes up the first point of his argument, meeting the objection as though his preaching had no claim to apostolic authority and power, that he was not an apostle like the Twelve, who received their commission directly from Christ, who had been trained in doctrine and preaching by the Lord Himself. With all the force of truthful assertion he states: But I declare to you, brethren, concerning the Gospel as preached by me, that it is not according to man. Although he is writing in indignant protest against a false opinion, which is dangerous to the Gospel itself, his kind address shows that his vehement denunciation is directed against the doctrine which was perverting the Galatians rather than against their persons. He reminds them of the fact which was surely known to them before, but which must be brought out now with peculiar emphasis, that the Gospel-message as proclaimed by him had nothing in common with man-made doctrines, neither according to its origin nor according to its character. He had not received it from any man, nor, on the other hand, had he been taught it. He deliberately places his own person forward: No more than any of the Twelve had he been given instruction in the Christian doctrines by any man; he was of equal rank with the other apostles. It had not been necessary for him to take a course in catechetical instruction, as, for instance, Theophilus, Luke 1:4, or the Galatian Christians, but he had received full knowledge and understanding through a revelation of Jesus Christ, in a supernatural manner. Whether he refers to the vision on the way to Damascus or to subsequent extraordinary manifestations, does not appear from the text; perhaps he intends to convey both, the fundamental and central illumination being that at the time of his conversion, which was followed by special revelations at different periods of his life.

To substantiate his assertion that his only teacher in the Christian doctrine was Christ, Paul now refers to some facts connected with his life at the time of his conversion. Luther gives the connection of thought as follows: “That you may know very exactly that I neither from my progenitors nor from the apostles nor from any man received my instruction, but from God alone, in order that you may be certain and not permit yourselves to be turned away to human things under any pretense, whether it be my name or the names of the apostles, behold, I tell you my history anew and insert it here.” ^■777 . They had heard about, they were fully acquainted with, his manner of living, with his behavior while still in Judaism, while his heart was yet filled with Jewish partisanship. They had received the information that this bitter party spirit had been surpassingly strong in his case, prompting him to take the lead in persecuting the congregation of God and in destroying it. With absolute frankness Paul confesses his incessant activity against the Church of Christ, his firm determination to bring about its total annihilation. Cp. Acts 7-9. He even made progress, he advanced in his bitter zealotism beyond many men of his own race and nation; he outstripped them in his ardor for his ancestral traditions. As the son of a Pharisee, Acts 23:6, he thought it was his duty to uphold the hereditary traditions of his family at all costs. Such was the disposition of his mind, such was the situation: “My early education is a proof that I did not receive the Gospel from man. I was brought up in a rigid school of ritualism, directly opposed to the liberty of the Gospel. I was from age and temper a staunch adherent of the principles of that school. Acting upon them, I relentlessly persecuted the Christian brotherhood. No human agency, therefore, could have brought about the change. It required a direct interposition from God.” (Lightfoot.)

How God interfered in his Pharisaic designs Paul relates next: But when it pleased Him who had set me aside from the womb of my mother, from the very hour of my birth, and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, in order that I might preach Him in the Gospel among the Gentiles, immediately not did I take counsel with flesh and blood, nor journeyed I up to Jerusalem to those that were apostles before me, but went away to Arabia, and again turned back to Damascus. Here is a song of praise to God’s merciful pleasure, by which, without any human aid and human merit, he had experienced His wonderful grace and been commissioned as an apostle. According to this good pleasure, the Lord had set Paul aside even before his birth for this purpose; He had influenced his entire life, his education, his intellectual development in such a manner as to enable him later to become a chosen instrument, Acts 9:15. The result was that God called him through His grace, both to faith and to the apostolic ministry, these two events being coincident in his case. The purpose of the call was that Paul should, in and through the Gospel-message, preach Christ, who had been revealed to him in such a remarkable manner, to the Gentiles. It is probable that this miraculous communication, by which Paul learned to know Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of the world, came to him at the time when he spent three days in blindness, in solitary communion with himself. At this time God reenforced the knowledge which Paul had concerning the history of Jesus with a complete revelation of His person and office, thus giving to this chosen vessel the preparation which enabled him to go forth as a witness for, and a servant of, Christ.

The effect of the call on Paul was remarkable; he gave heed to it at once. He did not take time to discuss the weighty matter with flesh and blood, with any mere man, neither himself nor any other person; his answer was: Here am I, send me. Straightway he preached Christ in the synagogs, Acts 9:20. Since his call was direct and immediate, it was not necessary for him to make the journey up to Jerusalem, with the idea of getting the sanction of the apostles. Instead, without any further command and commission from Jerusalem, he made a journey to Arabia, in whose deserts he was shut off entirely from all intercourse with the brethren, but, on the other hand, had plenty of opportunity for solitary communion with God. At the close of this sojourn, of which we have no other information, Paul returned to Damascus, where he resumed his activities and was forced to flee from the city on account of the hatred of the Jews, Acts 9:23-25; 2 Corinthians 11:32-33.

Paul’s visit to Jerusalem:

Just how long Paul remained in Arabia cannot be ascertained; many commentators believe that his trip was only of short duration, his activity in Damascus occupying the greater part of the time ^■778 . Three years after his conversion and call to his apostolic office, after his flight from Damascus, he made the journey up to Jerusalem, Acts 9:26-29. His object in doing so, as he hastens to add, was not to receive his commission to preach at the hands of the apostles, but to visit Peter, to become personally acquainted with him. It was Barnabas who at that time introduced Paul to Peter, Acts 9:27. That he could not have taken a course of instruction in the Christian doctrine at that time is shown by the fact that he remained in Jerusalem only fifteen days. He undoubtedly consulted with Peter, but he spent much of the time also with the other brethren and in disputes with the Jews, Acts 9:29, as well as in the Temple, where, in a trance, he received the command to set out on his missionary work among the Gentiles, Acts 22:17-21. Incidentally, Paul states, he saw none of the other apostles at that time, all being absent from Jerusalem in the work of their calling. Only James, the brother of the Lord, had been present besides Peter. And lest any person in the Galatian congregations, under the influence of the false teachers, should question this statement, the apostle adds a solemn oath, asserting and attesting that he was not writing a falsehood. Not only his apostolic dignity, but the truth of the Gospel preached by him was at stake, and he felt it necessary to make such a strong exclamation.

The apostle now summarizes, giving an account of his early missionary labors. Having left Jerusalem, he went to his home city, Tarsus in Cilicia, Acts 9:30, and afterward was active, with Barnabas, in Antioch, the metropolis of Syria, Acts 11:26. This again shows that the apostles were not his teachers, but that he himself was at once minister and apostle with full authority. And as a further proof of his not having been a disciple of the apostles he refers to the fact that he was unknown by sight to the congregations of Judea that were in Christ; they did not even know him personally, as they undoubtedly would have, had he spent a longer time in their midst as a pupil of one or several apostles. Note that the congregations and therefore the Christians composing them are described as being in Christ; the Lord is the power by which they came into being, their inspiration, their life. Mark also that the congregations of Judea are here spoken of as many local organizations, not as mere branches of the mother congregation in Jerusalem. The only report about Paul that came to these brethren in Judea stated that the former persecutor was now preaching the faith which he once was destroying, that is, had attempted to exterminate. Whereas he had formerly made every effort to hinder men from believing in Christ, he now bent all his powers to have men come to the faith. And so they glorified and praised God in the apostle, rightly ascribing the change in his attitude entirely to the grace of God working in his heart, even as it does to-day.

Summary

After a brief introduction and doxology, Paul states his reason for writing the epistle and then immediately enters upon the historical and apologetical part of his letter by defending his apostolic commission.

Verses 1-10

Further confirmation of Paul’s apostleship

Paul refuses to yield to false brethren:

After proving that he had not been made an apostle by any man’s teaching, but by divine revelation, Paul now shows that his confidence and reliance upon this fact was so great that he could frankly challenge examination by any person and yielded to the unauthorized impetuosity of no man. He therefore relates the history of an event which occurred after his first missionary journey: Then, after fourteen years, I again made the journey to Jerusalem, with Barnabas, taking also Titus along. As he had been figuring from the time of his conversion in the previous chapter, as the foremost event in his life, so he here refers to the number of years which had elapsed since he became a Christian. Fourteen years he had spent in his apostolic office when an occasion arose which made it necessary for him to make the trip from Syria up to Jerusalem. He went with Barnabas, who had been his coworker on the first missionary journey and could testify to the wonderful success which the Lord had laid upon their labors. His young assistant Titus he took along as a companion.

Here again Paul’s independence of the older apostles is set forth. For he went up, as he writes, in accordance with a revelation, not on account of any instruction which had been given by any hierarchy. The Lord Himself transmitted His will to the apostle, and the fact that the congregation at Antioch then chose him as a delegate shows that their decision was prompted by this revelation. Luke tells the story of this journey and of the meeting which it occasioned in Jerusalem in its general aspects, Acts 15:1-29; Paul relates the incidents which will bear him out in his contention. There had been a meeting with the entire congregation, in which Paul had laid before them the Gospel which he preached among the Gentiles, giving them a summary of his preaching, of his message, thus enabling them to see for themselves that he was teaching the truth, justification by faith alone. But there had also been a private conference with the men that were of some reputation, that were leaders of the congregation in Jerusalem, whether before or after the general meeting is immaterial. With his customary tact Paul wanted to avoid misunderstandings, mistaken ideas concerning his work. It was not that he was not absolutely sure of his position and of the truth of his doctrine, but that his doctrine might be represented falsely, lest perhaps he should be running or had run in vain, that his labor had been performed to no purpose.

What success the apostle had in this conference is implied in a striking manner by an incident which he here mentions: Yet even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was not compelled to be circumcised. Paul made a very complete and detailed report of his work among the Gentiles, not only of his preaching, but also of his practise, not concealing the fact that he no longer demanded that the Gentiles be circumcised. Now his argument to the Galatians is this: If the claims of the Judaizing teachers in their midst were true, if the ceremonial law had not yet been abrogated, then the leaders of the congregation in Jerusalem would certainly have insisted upon his changing his practise in this respect. But far from declaring his position false, these men, two of whom were members of the original band of apostles, sided with him to that extent that they did not even demand the circumcision of Titus, who was of Gentile parentage.

Paul now returns to the reason for his journey to Jerusalem, saying that he went up because of the false brethren, Acts 15:1, who had smuggled themselves in, such men as came in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, to lie in wait to deprive us of it, in order to bring us into bondage. These men belonged to the Pharisaic party, and they had come into the congregation at Antioch in the same manner in which spies manage to enter into the camp of an army. They had given no evidence of their intention, but had come under the guise of seekers of truth. If they had had honest doubts of the truth of the one or the other doctrine taught by Paul and Barnabas, integrity would have demanded that they make an open statement of their position, state their objections, and accept Scriptural proof. But these men lacked all honesty and frankness; they were filled with malice; the object which they hoped to gain was to deprive the disciples at Antioch of the liberty which they had by virtue of the redemption of Christ, and thus to bring them back into the former bondage of the Law with all that this state implied.

But Paul soon discovered their duplicity and frustrated their intention by insisting upon the liberty which was his through the merits of Christ: To whom not even for an hour we gave place by submission, in order that the truth of the Gospel might permanently remain with you. Paul’s spiritual insight, which amounted almost to instinct, sharpened as it was by his own experience, realized at once what was at stake, that the question did not concern an insignificant, indifferent matter, regarding which people could well be of different opinions, but that the contention of the Judaizing teachers struck at the very root of Christian doctrine. And therefore he and Barnabas refused to yield, to submit, even for a moment. They knew that if they had given way at that point, the whole fabric of Christ’s doctrine would have fallen to pieces. And so the motive for their firmness was the maintenance of the truth of the Gospel, also for the Galatians, of the retention of the evangelical freedom to which the believers were entitled by virtue of Christ’s redemption. Even at that time, therefore, the apostle had guarded the blessings of the Gospel for the Galatians and for all Christians; he had foiled the plans of the false teachers, he had prevented their reintroducing the servitude of the Law into the Christian Church. Just as soon as any suggestion is introduced into a congregation or a church-body which goes beyond things indifferent and attempts to confirm false doctrine and to suppress pure doctrine and Christian liberty, then the only stand to take is that of uncompromising opposition ^■779 .

The result of the visit to Jerusalem:

Paul’s great agitation is here again evident, for he breaks the construction of the sentence again and again, apparently losing the thread of his discourse, but he never fails to bring out the central idea which he has in mind. He wants to emphasize his independent apostolic commission, and this fact is brought out in spite of the involved construction: But of those that were in repute as being something, — whatever they may have been, it makes no difference to me; the face of a man God does not accept, — for to me those in repute imparted nothing. In his anxiety to emphasize the point he wishes to make in the proper manner, Paul does not finish his first sentence, although he brings out the thought. Those that were esteemed highly in the congregation of Jerusalem had no word of disapprobation for the content and manner of Paul’s preaching, and on the other hand they had no instruction for him, they did not attempt to teach him anything as to his doctrine. And in order that this fact might be impressed upon the minds of the false teachers and their followers in the midst of the Galatian congregations, he explains his use of the word “in repute” by the parenthetical remark that the status of these people in no way impressed him, for God does not judge according to outward appearance and station. His apostolic authority and power did not rest upon their commission and approval. They had not prescribed the form of his doctrine. “This he says in order to show that he, in the judgment of the very apostles of whom the false teachers boasted against Paul, had taught correctly, and that the apostles stood on his side against the false apostles, who boasted of the authority of men.” ^■780 .

The entire manner of the leaders in the congregation at Jerusalem not only did not express disapproval of Paul and his ministry: But on the contrary, when they saw that I was entrusted with the Gospel of the uncircumcision, just as Peter with that of the circumcision (for He that was operative for Peter with regard to the apostleship of the circumcision was operative also in me toward the heathen), and found out about the grace which was given to me, — James and Peter and John being the men, they that were esteemed to be pillars, — they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship (with the understanding) that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcision. During the conference which was held at Jerusalem between James, as the head of the local church, Acts 21:18, Peter, and John, on the one side, and Barnabas and Paul, on the other, the situation was fully discussed, from every angle. And the result of the discussion was that they all agreed, from the evidence offered: It is God’s will that Paul preach the Gospel chiefly to the heathen, just as it seems clear that Peter has a special call to preach Jesus to the Jews. Thus each one recognized the problem which was given him, attempting the solution, however, not in his own wisdom; for Paul, in repudiating false charges against his authority also in this instance, gives all glory to God, since it was He that was operative in both Peter and him, in the one to work with great success among the Jews, in the other to be equally successful among the Gentiles. So the men that were considered pillars, according to the judgment of men, recognized without reserve, fully acknowledged, the calling of Paul which had been entrusted to him by grace and confirmed by special gifts of grace. To the evidence afforded by the success of his labors among the heathen was added the conviction that this was due to the grace of God. This frank acknowledgment was just as openly manifested when they all shook hands in token of fellowship and agreed that the arrangement by which Paul was to devote himself to preaching the Gospel among the Gentiles and the others to teaching the Jews was to be observed. Not as though Peter and John would not have dared to instruct a Gentile or Paul and Barnabas a Jew, as Luther remarks ^■781 . “The mutual understanding between the two groups of apostles obviously did not imply an absolute restriction of each to one section of the Church. All converts alike were members of a single united Church; circumstances of themselves forbade any definite division: Paul opened his ministry everywhere in the synagog, and numbered Jews as well as Greeks among his converts. So Peter, again, is next found at Antioch.” ^■782 .

There was one more point in the agreement, however, which Paul expressly mentions, since it was of such importance in his work: Only that the poor we should keep in mind, which, indeed, I was zealous to do. The frankness, integrity, and truthfulness of Paul is here brought out, as well as his disinterestedness, his unselfishness. That he kept the poor in Judea in mind at all times is apparent in many passages of his letters, 1 Corinthians 16:1; 2 Corinthians 8:9. “The poor whom he, Romans 15:26, calls the poor saints are those whom the Jews, for the sake of Christ, had deprived of their goods and possessions, … or those that had given their possessions to the congregation, as is written in Acts 4:32; probably also those that suffered want in the famine which, as Luke mentions in Acts 11:28, happened under Emperor Claudius.” ^■783 . Paul purposely brings forward this bit of evidence in order to emphasize the contrast between the Jewish Christian opposition to him in the work of the Judaizing teachers and his approved zeal and affection for the Jewish Christians.

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Verses 11-21

Paul’s reproof of Peter, and the lessons drawn therefrom

Peter’s strange behavior at Antioch:

Paul here relates this incident (for such it was, being without influence on the work of the Church), not in order to impair the reputation and authority of Peter, but to bring out the fact that his own position was independent, and that he was the equal of Peter. It was the principle of the matter with which Paul was concerned and which he brings out in his narrative. It seems that, some time after the meeting in Jerusalem, Peter came to Antioch for a visit, the object of which is not indicated. And it was at this time that Paul found it necessary to take a stand against him, since his conduct had been found reprehensible, blameworthy. The Christians at Antioch had reasons to pass an unfavorable judgment upon Peter, and Paul felt obliged to take their part for the sake of the evangelical truth. For when Peter had first come down from Jerusalem, he had observed the compact as made in Jerusalem, Acts 15; he had freely associated with the Gentile Christians, just as he had done before, Acts 10:11. But when certain people came from James, persons that belonged to the stricter class of Jewish Christians, who still observed all the outward customs of the Jewish religion, Peter withdrew from association with the Gentiles, in order to give the impression that he was avoiding the Levitical defilement which attended eating with Gentiles. But aside from the fact that Peter had himself defended his associating with Gentiles under similar conditions, Acts 11, the articles of agreement which had been drawn up in Jerusalem were binding upon him as well as upon the Gentile Christians; they were the conditions of intercourse between the Jewish and Gentile Christians, and therefore Peter’s withdrawal from the common meal violated the spirit of that solemn treaty. Peter’s offense thus, in separating himself from the Gentiles, was an act of dissimulation, of hypocrisy, because he lacked the moral courage to face the stricter Jews.

Peter was a person of importance and influence, and his tentative and irresolute efforts gradually to withdraw from intercourse with the Gentile Christians had its effects upon others: And with him acted as hypocrites also the other Jews, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. This conduct was characteristic of that Peter whom the gospels describe: “First to confess Christ, first to deny Him; first to recognize and defend the rights of the Gentiles, first to disown them practically; his strength and weakness, boldness and timidity are the two opposite manifestations of the same warm, impulsive, and impressible temper.” ^■687 . Evil results followed at once; for the Jewish Christians of Antioch, who had previously associated with their brethren from among the Gentiles without a thought of evil, now affected religious scruples which they did not feel, their insincerity being a true form of hypocrisy. But what capped the climax was that even Barnabas permitted himself to be carried away by this reactionary behavior. Naturally, the Gentile Christians were both offended and perplexed, since by the change of conduct in Peter and the other Jews they were driven to the thought that, after all, the Mosaic Law must be binding, even in matters pertaining to outward ceremonies.

The situation was such as to cause the most serious apprehension on the part of Paul and to call for immediate drastic measures: But when I saw that they did not walk squarely according to the truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter before all, If you, being a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, why are you compelling the Gentiles to live as Jews? The behavior of Peter was a public offense and scandal and may have been particularly noticeable at the common meals associated with the celebration of the Holy Communion. Paul, therefore, with the Eighth Commandment in mind, did his duty without flinching: he spoke to Peter face to face, in the presence of those against whom he was sinning. Paul was concerned about the truth of the Gospel; for the conduct of Peter and the rest was casting reflections upon those whom God had pronounced clean in Christ. Not to confess outright, to walk circuitous paths, to evade straightforward honesty with the specious plea of charity, — all these are things which do not harmonize with the Christian love which the Gospel presupposes in a life of sanctification. Paul’s rebuke, therefore, was short and to the point. Peter was a Jew, and thus it would have been natural for him to live as a Jew, to observe the customs and forms which had been laid upon the Jews of old. But now he had deliberately left this accustomed practise and lived after the manner of the Gentiles, had associated with them on terms of absolute equality, which was perfectly right and proper for him to do, since he knew that no contamination would result. Now, however, that he had withdrawn in such an ostentatious manner from this association, he was really exerting a severe pressure on Gentile converts to adopt the Jewish mode of life, for they could not but conclude that, after all, the Jewish manner of living must be holier and better. Paul’s point was well taken, as Peter’s silence also admitted. “The hypocrisy of Peter, I say, Paul did not suffer. For he approves Peter’s having lived after the heathen manner and again after the Jewish manner, but he condemns him for withdrawing and separating himself, when the Jews came, from the foods of the Gentiles. By this withdrawal he induced both Gentiles and Jews to believe that the heathen manner was not permitted while the Jewish was necessary, although he knew that both were free and permitted.” ^■784 . Note: Whenever the freedom and the truth of the Gospel are endangered by any acts of moral timidity and cowardice, the one approved course is to rectify the mistake at once and thus save the honor of Jesus.

The lessons drawn from this incident:

Whether these words belong to the reproof which Paul addressed to Peter at Antioch or are a further exposition of the principle involved in the incident, is immaterial; they show, at any rate, that Paul felt the very basis of Christian doctrine to be endangered by the conduct of Peter. His words, therefore, form an elaborate argument against the doctrinal errors of the Judaizing teachers: We, by nature Jews and not sinners out of the Gentiles, yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but only through faith of Christ Jesus, we also have put our faith in Christ Jesus, in order that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law; for by works of the Law shall all flesh find no justification. The apostle speaks here of those that are Jews by nationality, to whom he belonged, having been born a Jew and educated as a Jew. These all had the outward advantage of possessing the Word of God, and the true Israelites had forgiveness of sins through this Word, whereas the Gentiles as a class were sinners, outside of the pale of the Church in every sense of the word. But in spite of this fact which gave them an outward advantage over the Gentiles, since the latter had neither the Law nor the works of the Law, as Luther writes, the Jews were not in themselves righteous before God; they could at best point only to an outward righteousness.

But since there is no essential difference between Jews and Gentiles, Paul makes a very general statement, namely, that he and all Jewish Christians know that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but only and alone by faith of and in Christ Jesus, by the faith which is wrought by Him and places its trust in Him. “We are righteous, he says, because we are by nature Jews, not sinners like the Gentiles, but we are righteous through the righteousness of the works of the Law by which nobody is justified before God. Therefore we also, even as the Gentiles, regard our righteousness as dirt and seek to be justified through faith in Christ; being sinners together with the Gentiles, we are justified together with the Gentiles, for God, as Peter says, Acts 15:9, put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” ^■785 . This is not a matter of feeling, but of knowledge based upon the testimony of the Gospel. And upon this basis we have put our faith in Christ Jesus, not in works, not in merit, not in conduct of our own, for a sinful person cannot and does not perform such deeds as will make him pure and righteous in the sight of God. Justification can be obtained only in that way which is offered in God’s revelation, by placing one’s faith in Christ Jesus alone. And even then it is not the act of believing which merits salvation, but the act of believing is the manifestation of the life wrought by God, by which a person receives the righteousness of Christ. Everything that pertains to works, that has even the semblance of works, is ruled out, must be excluded absolutely; for there is no justification for all flesh through works of the Law, highly as they may be esteemed otherwise in the Christian’s sanctification, Psalm 143:2; Romans 3:28. By faith the sins of the sinner are imputed to Christ, and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to the sinner; by faith the works that agree with the will of God in the Law are set aside as works that fulfil the Law, but incidentally that same faith, having accepted the justification offered by the grace of God through the merits of Christ, is found engaged in works which are well pleasing to Christ and our heavenly Father.

Paul now answers an objection which is often brought forward against the doctrine of justification, as stated by him in such an unequivocal manner: But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves are found sinners, is Christ, then, a servant of sin? By no means! For if those things which I destroyed I build again, I prove myself a transgressor. For I through the Law am dead to the Law, in order that I may live to God. We Christians know and freely acknowledge that our only chance at justification is through faith in Christ, just as Paul did, just as Peter did. But if we, at the same time, by attempting to fulfil the Law (which is impossible), ourselves are found sinners, place ourselves under the condemnation of transgression, is Christ, who lives in us by faith, therefore a minister of sin in us? Paul rejects the very thought with horror. And yet, this is the inevitable, logical consequence of such an action as that of which Peter was guilty: confessing himself to belong to the freedmen of the Lord, and yet, by a hypocritical attempt at fulfilling the ceremonial law, again placing himself, and therefore the Lord in him, under the dominion of sin. That this is the logical consequence, Paul shows by stating that he who rebuilds a house destroyed by himself thereby openly confesses himself to be the criminal. Even so Peter, by trying to foist upon the Christians the demands of the ceremonial law, declared as much as if he had been wrong in making use of his evangelical freedom, that rather the Law was to be observed in all particulars now as before. In opposition to this, Paul says that the true Christian through the Law is dead to the Law. He has found out, in many cases by bitter experience, that all his efforts at fulfilling the Law are ineffectual, that he cannot obtain complete righteousness by the works of the Law; his spiritual understanding of the Law shuts out the very possibility. And so he has died to the Law; the Law, which would have had dominion over him if he had lived and continued his attempts to fulfil it, now has lost its power over him, Romans 6. He that tries to keep the requirements of the Law becomes subject to death through the Law, for the Law will condemn him as a transgressor. But he that dies to the Law in Christ escapes its condemnation, and can thenceforth devote the new, spiritual life which he has obtained from Christ to the service of Christ. Cp. Romans 8:7,13. The Christian, through, on account of, the Law, under a legal dispensation, owing to sin, was brought under the curse of the Law; but having undergone this, with and in the person of Christ, he has died to the Law in the fullest and deepest sense, being both free from its claims and having satisfied its curse.

This thought is brought out more fully in the last verses: With Christ I was crucified together. But it is no longer I that live, there lives rather in me Christ; but what I now live in the flesh, in faith live I it, namely, in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I frustrate not the grace of God; for if righteousness come through the Law, then Christ has died in vain. By faith every believer comes into fellowship with Christ’s death on the cross, thus becoming a partaker of all the blessings and benefits which the death of Christ has brought to men. The individuality, the person, of the believer is therefore submerged in Christ. It is not his own spiritual life, strictly speaking, which lives in this earthly body, but that of Christ, who has made His abode in him, John 15:1-6. And the spiritual life in this mortal body can be sustained only in that measure and degree in which it is nourished by faith. That is the believer’s confidence, that Christ, the Son of God, loved him, a fact which was established beyond the shadow of a doubt by Christ’s great sacrifice, when He gave Himself into death as the Substitute for all men. This faith is grounded in the Gospel, receiving new impetus and power out of the Word, and its life is shown day by day in the conduct of the soul united with Christ. Note that Paul applies the entire work of Christ to himself, to his own person, in a confession of justifying faith which may well serve as a model for every Christian.

The conclusion of the apostle with reference to his own life therefore is that he would not be so foolish as to attempt to live by the keeping of the Law, for such an action would render the death of Christ a useless sacrifice. For if righteousness had been in man’s reach by means of the Law, if there had been any chance of obtaining perfection before God in the legal environment, by letting one’s life be an outflow of the requirements of the Law, then there would have been no occasion for the death of Christ, it would have been a vain and superfluous sacrifice. Naturally we must conclude from the argument of the apostle: It is impossible to live in accordance with the Law of God; no observance of the Law and its demands can save us: therefore there was an absolute necessity for the death of Christ. Thus Paul’s argument based on the complete atonement through the redemption of Christ was the most effective reproof of the lapse of Peter and of the doctrines of the Judaizing teachers; and the same argument must be brought forward to-day whenever legalistic demands are made within the Church, whether by teachers or by hearers.

Summary

In further confirmation of his apostleship Paul refers to his stand against the false teachers in Antioch, the recognition of his preaching and ministry by the apostles and leaders in Jerusalem, and his reproof of Peter when the latter did not conduct himself according to the truth of the Gospel.

Verses 1-18

Salvation is not of works, but by faith

Paul appeals to the experience of the Galatians:

The apostle here opens the doctrinal section of his epistle. But so great is his agitation over the threatened defection of the Galatians that his customary cool argumentation is here replaced with an excited chain of rhetorical questions: O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, to whom Jesus Christ, the Crucified One, was painted before your eyes? It was an evidence of senseless folly which the Galatians offered by their behavior in this instance, just as though somebody had bewitched or hypnotized them, as though they were being led astray as a result of magic. For the Cross of Jesus Christ and His atoning death, on the one hand, and the shallow legalism of the Judaistic teachers, on the other, are such great contrasts that no expression seems strong enough to describe their foolishness. The content of all Paul’s preaching had been Christ’s redemptive work; His expiatory death had been the theme of all teaching in their midst; their justification and salvation had been based upon His atonement alone: this was the picture which Paul had drawn and painted before their eyes as often as he appeared in their midst. Their present attitude, therefore, in giving ear to the seducers, seemed inexplicable unless one referred it to demoniac powers. It is always thus when people give ear to false doctrine, the folly often taking hold of them in such a way as to render them insensible to all appeals from Scriptures.

Paul here tries the one method which had any hopes of success, that of reminding them of their own experience at the time of their conversion: This alone I want to learn from you. Out of the works of the Law did you receive the Spirit or by the hearing of faith? To what agency did they ascribe the inward change which they experienced at the time of their conversion? The Spirit with all His gifts and blessings had come upon them; they had received forgiveness of sins, the assurance of the mercy of God, of their adoption as children of God. Surely not one of them would assert that this gift of the Spirit came to them as the result of their keeping the Law. The blessings of the Gospel had come to them through the preaching concerning faith. They had heard the message of redemption which wrought faith in their hearts, through the power of the Spirit; that they knew, and thus only one answer was possible.

The apostle now draws the conclusion which shows them the extent of their folly: So foolish are you? Having made a beginning by the Spirit, you now make the ending in the flesh? When they were regenerated by the power of the Spirit, they accepted the fact of their salvation through the work of Christ in simple faith, and the Spirit had free rein in their hearts, teaching them the various facts pertaining to their new state. But the promise of the splendid beginning did not continue; the end of their spiritual history threatened to be connected with things of the flesh only, with matters concerning circumcision, the various laws about purification, the observance of certain days and festivals, etc. To such matters of the Jewish ceremonial law they were attaching an importance which tended to make them eclipse the fundamental doctrines of Christianity in importance. Instead of going forward, they are losing ground in Christian knowledge so rapidly that there was danger of a speedy end, so far as their spiritual life was concerned.

Another question concerning their experience as Christians: So many things have you suffered in vain? — if it be really in vain! The Galatian Christians, like those of other provinces, had been subjected to various persecutions, most of which had been due to the jealousy and hatred of the Jews; many and various had been these experiences, and they had endured them all for the sake of the Gospel. But if they should now incline to the teaching of the Judaistic intruders, then all their sufferings would be vain and worse than useless. For their behavior would then proclaim their former resistance to have been stubborn and wanton caprice, without any foundation of Christian persuasion, without an object that would really make it worth while.

Paul finally refers to the situation as it obtained when he was writing this letter: He that now supplies you with the Spirit and works miraculous powers in you, does He do it by the works of the Law or by the preaching of faith? Paul had the confidence that the communication of the Spirit was still continuing in their midst, that they were being supplied bountifully from the riches of His treasures, that He was exhibiting miraculous powers among them: did any of them have the boldness to argue that these supernatural manifestations were the result of performing works of the Law and not rather such as followed the preaching of faith? If this experience has taught them nothing, then Paul would feel greatly disappointed.

Paul brings Scripture-proof for his position:

The apostle here reminds the Galatian Christians that were inclined to follow the Judaizing teachers of the example of Abraham, the ancestor of the Jewish nation, to whom the Jews were wont to refer with particular pride, and thus incidentally answers the questions of Galatians 3:2 and Galatians 3:5. He quotes Genesis 15:6 according to the Greek translation: Just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Cp. Romans 4:3. Not by any works which Abraham performed, but by his faith was he justified before God. For the faith of Abraham was not the mere assent to the words of the Lord upon that single occasion, but it was faith in God as the Father of Jesus Christ and in the Messiah of the world, whose coming was promised to the patriarch. But Paul now draws a conclusion: You perceive, you understand, then, that they who are of faith, these are the children of Abraham. Since faith was the ground of Abraham’s justification, it follows that all those that have the faith of Abraham are his true children. The mere bodily descent from Abraham secures salvation for no man, but as Abraham was saved, thus all believers are saved, namely, by faith. Cp. John 8:39. No matter what the nationality of a person may be, if he proves himself a true child of Abraham by exhibiting the same faith in God and the Savior, then he will inherit the blessing given to Abraham and to his seed forever.

To this proof from Scriptures Paul adds another to show that the heathen were also included in the promise: Moreover, the Scripture, foreseeing that by faith God would justify the Gentiles, proclaimed the Gospel to Abraham before: Blessed shall be in thee all the nations (or Gentiles). Paul’s reference is to Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 18:18, and he identifies the Word of God with the Scripture. God knew in advance that the Gentiles would be justified by faith: it was thus determined in His eternal and immutable counsels; He is the God that justifies by faith. Therefore the Gospel-message which was included in the promise to Abraham proclaimed a blessing to be bestowed upon all Gentiles. Since, however, the Gentiles were not connected with the Law of Moses, it is obvious that their justification could not be based upon anything else than their faith; works of the Law were excluded by the nature of the case. Therefore the conclusion offered by the apostle must be correct: So, then, they that are of faith are blessed with the believing Abraham. All men who, like Abraham, put their trust in their Lord and Savior in simple faith are included in the blessing of the promise. Men of faith are heirs of salvation, not men of works.

Paul’s opponents are subject to the curse of the broken Law:

Paul here takes up the claim of the Judaizing teachers as to obtaining the blessing of righteousness and salvation on the score of perfect obedience to the Law. He flatly declares: For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse. Instead of obtaining the blessing of perfect righteousness and being accepted by God, all men that have the idea that they can fulfil the Law perfectly are subject to the curse of the Lord, which He pronounced Deuteronomy 27:26: Cursed is every one that does not continue in all that is written in the Book of the Law to do it. The apostle implies, of course, that all the efforts of men to keep the Law of God perfectly are vain; no man can fulfil the demands of the just and holy God as expressed in His written will; there is no man without sin. And therefore they that persist in their endeavors to obtain justification before God by keeping the Law are under that curse which was pronounced from Mount Ebal.

That the Law and all attempts at fulfilling the Law cannot come into consideration in the justification of man is furthermore established by the fact that the Word of God itself excludes it as an agency of salvation: But that in the Law nobody is justified before God is evident, for, The just shall live by faith. Even though a person should strain every nerve to keep the Law of God perfectly and thus to be acceptable in the sight of God, it would avail him nothing, not only because the goal is unattainable from the very outset, but because God Himself makes the statement that faith is the justifying factor, Habakkuk 2:4. Obtaining eternal life depends not upon works, but upon faith alone; salvation comes to him that places his trust in Jesus Christ as his Savior. This is not a matter of argument, of dispute, but it is a fact of the Gospel to which we must testify and bear witness unceasingly. To clinch his argument, Paul says: But the Law is not of faith; it has nothing in common with faith; the two ideas, faith and works, mutually exclude each other. He that is justified by faith is not justified by the Law; he that still hopes to get to heaven by his good works, by his keeping of the Law, shuts himself out from faith, closes the one way of salvation which is open to all men. For only he that can point to an actual and entire performance of all requirements of the Law can justly demand eternal life in payment, a condition which is obviously unthinkable. So the apostle’s argument stands that the Law is excluded as an agency of salvation by its very nature, since it demands a fulfilment which no man can render and, on the other hand, since it cannot work faith, by which alone justification before God is applied to man.

So far as the Law, then, was concerned, it left all men in a state of absolute hopelessness; for its blessing could not be realized on account of man’s infirmity, and so only its curse remained to drive man to despair. But here the promise given to Abraham exerted its power: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse in our stead. As matters stood before the promise of the Messiah was given, final and utter condemnation was the inevitable lot of all men. And deliverance from this state of condemnation was possible only by the payment of a ransom which would satisfy all demands of justice. But for the prisoners under the sentence of death and damnation Christ Himself paid the price; He gave Himself as a ransom for all men, He endured the penalty pronounced upon malefactors, He hung upon the accursed tree of the cross as if He had been the guilty one. With great emphasis this is brought out, since Paul does not merely say that He became accursed, but that He became a curse for us, just as he writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, that God made Christ to be sin for us. The word of the Law: Cursed be every one that is suspended upon a tree, Deuteronomy 21:23, spoken in general of such as were hanged, found its truest application in the case of Him that was crucified and paid the penalty of sin as all men’s Substitute. Thus the atoning death of Christ resulted in our redemption.

The consequence of this atoning death is a matter of comfort to all men: That to the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus, that we might accept the promise of the Spirit through faith. Although the Gospel was proclaimed even in paradise after the Fall, the promise to Abraham is that to which the apostle has reference as to that upon which the hopes of the Jews were based. By the vicarious death of Christ the blessings of this promise were extended to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews; for it really amounted to an open proclamation that the wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles was now broken down, since the benefit of His death was to come upon all men. And the fact of the finished salvation in Christ is now made the property of the believers, who receive the promise of the Spirit by faith. Through the redeeming death of Christ all believers, both Jews and Gentiles, have free access through the Spirit to the Father. Thus, although the Law condemns all men, yet Christ, since He, as the Sinless One, took upon Himself the punishment of sin and became its victim for our sakes, fulfilled the demands of the Law so that it can no longer accuse and condemn those that place their trust in Him who is our propitiation, whose righteousness is imputed to us ^■786 .

Paul argues finally from the promise of the inheritance made to Abraham:

The apostle here offers the mystery of God in a human parable, incidentally addressing the Galatians in a kind and captivating manner, to win them by his confidential tone: After the manner of man speak I. In his endeavor to show that the promise alone brings salvation, he uses a comparison taken from the ordinary practise in regard to the last will or testament of a man, by which he disposes of his goods: Though it be but a man’s, yet if it is ratified, no man sets aside a testament or adds thereto. If a man’s last will and testament is duly witnessed and sealed, the disposal of his property is commonly regarded as being consummated; how much more, then, ought this to be true of the testament of God by which He made Abraham and all his children heirs of the evangelical blessing! Cp. Hebrews 6:17-18.

Of this testament of the Lord the apostle now says: But to Abraham were spoken the promises and to his Seed. God’s testament consists of promises of grace and blessings which are not connected with any legalistic demands and conditions, such as Genesis 13:15; Genesis 17:8; Genesis 22:18. The testament of God was, moreover, not exclusively for Abraham, was not exhausted in him, but included his Seed as well. The blessing in this Seed of Abraham is in force to-day, is applicable to all true children of Abraham up to the present time, for they represent all nations of the earth. For that reason Paul argues from the singular form of the noun in the Hebrew text, Genesis 12:3: He does not say, And to seeds, as of many: but as of one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ. In all the divine promises concerning the Seed, as early as Genesis 3:15, where the Messiah, through whom God wants to bless all nations, is designated, the Lord always speaks in the singular. In this one descendant of Abraham, in Jesus of Nazareth, all nations are blessed. Note that the argument of Paul, being based upon a single word in the Old Testament, is a powerful argument for the verbal inspiration of the Bible.

The statement of Galatians 3:16 had been made by way of parenthesis. The apostle now names the point which he intended to emphasize by his comparison: But this I say, A testament, ratified by God to Christ, the Law, which came into being four hundred and thirty years later, does not render void that it should invalidate the promise. The testament and will of God, the evangelical promises, were by God sealed to Abraham and therefore to Christ, who was expressly mentioned in the blessing. Some four hundred and thirty years later, Exodus 12:40, counting from the journey of Jacob into Egypt to the exodus of the children of Israel, the Law was given by God from Mount Sinai. It is self-evident that this later revelation cannot annul or invalidate the promise given to Abraham. The Mosaic Law is not a codicil which sets aside the testament of the Lord, the Gospel promise given to Abraham. For, as the apostle argues: If out of the Law the inheritance, then no more out of promise; but to Abraham through promise God has freely granted it. If the spiritual inheritance, the grace and mercy of God, were actually obtained through the keeping of the Law, then the promise would no longer be in power, for obviously the two cannot be in force at the same time, that the inheritance is a free gift, and that we are still under obligation to earn it by works. But now the inheritance was a present to Abraham by the promise, by the testament of God; therefore the other assumption as to the earning of its blessings by works cannot stand. It is all free grace on the part of God, and His promise is a means of grace which does not speak of a possible good fortune which might come to Abraham, but of a transmission of the inheritance by virtue of the testamentary disposal; it is not a dead letter, but it is spirit, life, and power. Thus Paul has proved the inferiority, the subordinate character, of the Law.

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Verses 19-29

Proofs for the liberty of a Christian from the nature and meaning of the Law

The secondary office of the Law:

The apostle here meets an objection which the opponents might make. If the Law can be of no assistance in the matter of justification, what is its purpose? He shows that the fact of the Law’s being without value so far as salvation is concerned by no means renders it useless. It was added on account of the transgressions until the Seed should come to whom the promise had been made, being ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. The Law was added to the communications of God to men, as a companion or servant of the evangelical promises, Romans 5:20. On account of the transgressions it was set forth in addition to the Gospel-promise, by the side of the message of salvation. As the children of Israel grew in numbers, they gradually lost sight of the great prophecy of their spiritual inheritance; they became guilty of various transgressions of the will of God; they were in danger of losing the treasure which had been entrusted to them. And so God gave them the Law to show them their transgressions, to keep alive in them the consciousness of sin, to make them feel the need of a Savior at all times. Such is the supplementary, the ancillary character of the Law; it is to serve for the purpose of working knowledge of sin and of the wrath of God on account of sin. This object incidentally gives to the Law a temporary character; it was to serve only until Christ, the promised Seed, came. The ministry of condemnation was to be done away with, 2 Corinthians 3:11, for Christ is the end of the Law to them that believe. As soon as Christ occupies the heart of a person by faith, the Law as such has lost its power; it can no longer hurl maledictions and condemnations upon us, and its demands become mere sign-posts to show the way to the service of sanctification. The subsidiary character of the Law is finally shown by the manner of its origin, since it was set forth through angels by the hand of a mediator. The angels of the Lord were His servants on Sinai, in proclaiming the Law; their voice sounded forth in the sound of the trumpet, their power was seen in the quaking of the mountain and in the flames of fire. By means of their service the Lord placed the words of the Law into the hands of Moses to deliver them to the people.

In connection with this plain statement Paul now remarks: But the mediator is not of one; the very term excludes his being the mediator of a single party; but God is one. These two statements may be regarded as the first two members of a logical conclusion, the third member then being: A mediator does not mediate between God. The meaning of the apostle then would be: By giving the Law through the mediator, Moses, the Lord wanted to indicate plainly that the Law should and could have nothing to do with the subject under discussion, the justification of poor sinners. But an even simpler explanation is the following: At the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai God made use of a mediator, Moses. But a mediator, by virtue of his position, is the representative of both parties of a covenant. These parties at Mount Sinai were God and the children of Israel. By using Moses as mediator, God indicated that He was entering upon a covenant with the Israelites under certain conditions. God promised them eternal life, but only on condition of their fulfilling His Law in all its particulars. But it is different with the promise which the Lord gave to Abraham, Galatians 3:16 and Galatians 3:19. God there did not make use of a mediator, but spoke to Abraham in person, face to face. He alone was active in giving His free promise of grace, with His testament of mercy, given absolutely without condition; He acted as one, in the freedom of His divine favor ^■787 .

A second objection: Is the Law, then, against the promises of God? By no means. People might object that, since there is such a great difference between the character of the two communications of the Lord to men, the one nullifies the other. But that does not follow. God does not contradict Himself. For if a law were given which could have given life, then truly were righteousness out of the Law. If that were the character, the nature, of the Law, not only to demand righteousness, but also to transmit righteousness, if it were able to give spiritual life to such as are in spiritual death, then the order of salvation would indeed have been changed, then both doctrines, the Law and the Gospel, would be advancing the claim of bringing salvation, then we could be justified before God by means of the Law. But there are no powers of regeneration in the Law, it cannot work the new, spiritual life.

The Law thus being excluded as a means of grace, only one thing remains: Rather has the Scripture shut up all under sin, in order that the promise might be given by faith in Jesus Christ to them that believe. What Paul writes in Romans 3:22-23, that there is no difference, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, is amply substantiated in many passages of God’s Word, Psalm 14:3; Psalm 143:2. All men without exception are prisoners under sentence, condemned to pay the penalty of sin; not one there is that can deny his guilt. And since they are all thus in the same condemnation by the sentence and the power of the Law, therefore the purpose of the Law to pave the way for the action of the Gospel may now be realized. Works and merits have been discarded, the Law as a means of grace can no longer be considered: the Gospel-promise is given by faith in Christ to them that believe. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling! The promise is given, faith is given; and faith accepts the promise and thus has forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation ^■788 .

The Law’s pedagogical task has now been completed:

The apostle here completes his discussion as to the purpose of the Law by holding before the Galatians an example with which they were familiar: But before faith came, we were in custody under the Law, shut up unto the faith which was to be revealed in the future. Before the era of the Gospel, before the preaching of faith in the redemption of Christ in the proper sense of the term had begun, the Jews were under restraint, confined, kept in custody under the Law. The believers of the Old Testament were under the guardianship of the Law, which regulated their lives even to the last detail. It was a galling bondage which was thus exercised, depriving them of all liberty and choice of action. But God’s purpose in imposing this temporary restraint was kind and merciful, for it was to serve in the interests of the future time of the New Testament, when Christ would come to deliver them from the bondage of the Law.

This relationship and aim the apostle illustrates: So that the Law has been our pedagog unto Christ, that by faith we might be justified. Among the Greeks the pedagog was a faithful slave, entrusted with the care of the boy from his infancy to the time of his beginning manhood, whose specific duties consisted in keeping the boy under his charge from physical and moral evils and in accompanying him to school and to places of amusement. The pedagog thus had the right, to a certain extent, to issue commands and prohibitions, to threaten punishment, and to limit the boy’s freedom, but always to the end that the pupil might be trained for mature age and for the assuming of the higher duties which devolved upon him as a citizen of the state. The believers of the Old Testament, according to this comparison, were spiritually not yet of age; God had given them the Law with all its demands and injunctions as a pedagog, its purpose being to lead them to salvation in Christ, with whom the era of the Law would come to an end. Not as though the Law was able to make the believing Israelites better morally and thus render them worthy of Christ’s love. Its aim was simply to make the people conscious of their inability to fulfil the Law, and thus to make them eager for the free mercy which was revealed in Christ. In this manner the eager desire of the Old Testament believers was kept awake: I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord! Genesis 49:18. Note: The fact that the Law is a pedagog holds true even now, inasmuch as it works knowledge of sin in the heart of man, showing him his utter insufficiency and inability even with his best efforts. For when so much has been achieved in the heart of man by the preaching of the Law, then the gracious Gospel brings faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and assures the believer of his salvation.

But the work of the Law is only preparatory: But now that faith has come, we are no longer under the pedagog. For you all are children of God through faith in Christ Jesus; for as many of you as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Now that the Gospel-era is upon us, now that the time of the New Testament is come, now that faith in Jesus Christ is being proclaimed, we are no longer under the jurisdiction of any pedagog. We are now spiritually of age, we have grown to manhood, we are adult children of God; the services of a special overseer are no longer required. By faith in Christ Jesus, which was kindled in us by the preaching of the Gospel, we have entered into that wonderful relationship to God the Father. The apostle here expands the thought to include the Gentile Christians as well: You all are children of God by faith in Jesus, not by any work of the Law. And with this thought he connects another, namely, that we have become children of God by faith, through the Sacrament of Baptism. Our baptism was done in Christ, unto Christ; we have thereby entered into the most intimate relation to Christ, we have put on Christ with His garment of perfect righteousness. In and with Christ we are clothed with His innocence, righteousness, wisdom, power, salvation, spirit, and life. “It is a spiritual putting on … and is done in this way, that the soul accepts Christ and all His righteousness as its own possession, is defiant, relying upon it as if done and earned by itself. … Such accepting is a spiritual putting on: that is the manner and nature of faith.” ^■789 .

In this respect, moreover, all believers are alike before God: Not is there Jew or Greek, not is there slave or freeman, not is there male or female; for you all are one in Christ Jesus. Because in Baptism the believers have put on Christ, have been clothed with the garment of His righteousness, therefore all distinctions of nationality are abrogated. It makes no difference to the Lord whether a person was originally a Jew, and burdened with the yoke of the Law, or a Greek, a Gentile living in the license of heathenism: by putting on Christ in Baptism they all become His dear children. All distinctions of rank and social position, too, are done away with, just as all differences of sex. In the Christian Church a man does not hold a higher rank because he is a freeman, or a lower rank because he is a slave; nor does one stand higher, if a man, and lower, if a woman. All are in the same way children of God through Christ. Social distinctions are indeed not abrogated in the world, just as all the other differences will continue to exist, 1 Corinthians 7:17-22. But within the Church, before God, we are all alike, poor sinners in need of salvation, children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and therefore all one in Him. Christ the Head, and all believers the body; in Him is power and life, from Him all His members derive life and strength.

And so the apostle concludes: But if you are Christ’s, then you are the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise. By faith the believers are one with Christ, one in Christ. And since Christ is the true Seed of Abraham, therefore the believers, having put on Christ, having entered into the most intimate fellowship with His person, become related to Abraham as Christ is related to the patriarch by the promise of God: they are Abraham’s true seed, his spiritual descendants. And here also there is no difference between Israel according to the flesh and according to the spirit; in fact, whether Jews or Gentiles, the true children of Abraham are those that have accepted the promise of God given to him by faith. And so they are also heirs, not by nature, not by merit, but according to the promise. The believers receive the inheritance, righteousness before God, life, and salvation by reason of the Gospel-message proclaimed to Abraham and are children and heirs of the promise. Not by the works of the Law, but by faith these wonderful gifts become theirs. Thus Paul has refuted the errors of the Judaizing teachers of all times with powerful and irrefutable arguments ^■790 .

Summary

Paul shows that salvation is not of works, but by faith, from the experience of the Galatians, from the example of Abraham, and from the nature of the Law; he shows that the purpose of the Law is subordinate as serving in the capacity of a pedagog unto Christ, in order that the liberty of the believers as children of God may finally be realized.

Verses 1-31

The sonship of the believers opposed to the bondage of the Law

The believers sons and heirs through Christ:

The apostle here gives a further explanation as to the purpose of the Law in the Old Testament, namely, that it was not intended to give life and salvation to men, but to serve as a pedagog unto Christ: What I mean to say is this, For the length of time that the heir is a minor, he differs in nothing from a servant, although he is lord of all the possessions. This principle, or rule, holds true universally, with only slight modifications. A child, a son, not having reached the legal age is a minor and is not permitted to have charge of the property, either the will of the father or the decree of the probate court providing a guardian or trustee for that purpose. At the time of Paul the minor was legally about in the same position as the slave. No act of his had the sanction of the law, unless it was performed through his legal representative. He was under guardians, or tutors, and stewards, or trustees, until the time appointed of the father, who might even make a provision to limit the heir’s right to his property beyond the age of legal majority. The men named by the father had charge of the property, counseled the boy, defended and directed him. “An infant was under a tutor until he reached the age of fourteen; … thereafter he is able to make a will and dispose of his own property. But the practical management of the property remains in the hands of a curator till the ward reaches the age of twenty-five. This is exactly the state of things which Paul speaks of.” ^■791 . It is plain, of course, that a father is not acting foolishly, or for the purpose of punishing his son, in imposing such restrictions upon him, but for the minor’s benefit, lest he spend and squander his money foolishly. Thus the apostle takes an example from daily life, one with which his readers were familiar, in order to illustrate the relation of the Old Testament believers to the Law, in order to show what object God had in imposing such restrictions upon His children.

The apostle now makes the application: Even so we, when we were minors, were in bondage under the rudiments of this world. Paul here includes himself with the believing Jews, with those that placed their faith in the Messiah. These believers were indeed children of God and heirs of the promise, Galatians 3:16 ^■792 . By their faith in the promised salvation they were actually in possession of all heavenly gifts and blessings, of full salvation. But spiritually they were minors; they had not yet come to a mature understanding of God’s counsels and plans; they were restricted under tutors and curators. And among these were the elements, the rudiments, of this world. The word “element” really signifies a peg or stylus standing in a row, from which was derived the meaning “letter,” and finally “elementary teaching,” 2 Peter 3:10-12; Hebrews 5:12. It is here most probably used in the meaning of “letter” or “statute,” for such the Law was to the Old Testament believers, a letter written on stones and on paper, governing their actions, but unable to renew their hearts. As Luther writes: “ ‘Elements’ is here taken according to the peculiar diction of Paul and according to the grammar for the letters of the Law themselves, of which the Law consists, as he also calls it in 2 Corinthians 3:6 and elsewhere, Romans 2:27-29, ‘the letter,’ the conclusion being that elements in the plural is the Scripture or the written Law.” ^■793 . And as for the term “rudiments of the world,” Luther explains: “He thus calls the Law ‘elements of the world,’ that means, external letters, or statutes, that are written in a certain book. For although the Law in civil matters restrains from evil and insists upon doing good, yet, when it is fulfilled in this manner, it does not liberate from sins, it does not justify, it does not prepare the way to heaven, but leaves the people in this world. For I do not obtain righteousness and eternal life in this way, that I do not kill, that I do not commit adultery, that I do not become guilty of stealing, etc. These external virtues and honest conduct are not the righteousness of Christ or of heaven, but are a righteousness of the flesh and of the world. … Therefore he [Paul] rejects and condemns with this little word, ‘elements of the world,’ the entire righteousness of the Law which lay in these external ceremonies, although they were ordained and commanded by God to be kept for a time, and designates them with the most contemptible name ‘elements of the world.’ ^■794 ” Cp. Colossians 2:8,20.

That was the condition of the believers in the Old Testament: they were God’s dear children, heirs of the promise, and were saved through faith in Christ. But they were not yet in full enjoyment of their sonship and of their inheritance. God had laid a yoke upon their necks, the Law of Moses with its many statutes and commandments, with its priests, sacrifices, purifications, etc. Thus they did not yet have free access to the Father, but these statutes stood between them and God. This condition the people were to endure for a time, being under guardians and trustees until the time appointed by God.

And of this time St. Paul writes in a strain of exultant joy: But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, placed under the Law, in order that He might ransom those under the Law, that the sonship we might receive. In the figure used by the apostle, time is regarded as a measure, or vessel, which was filled up to the top. When the time of this present world-age had reached the point which had been determined by God, then His great counsel of love was put into execution. God sent forth His Son, who had been with Him, in His bosom, from eternity. “If He was to send Him, He must have been there before. He must have been in existence before He came and became a man.” ^■795 . God sent forth His Son, begotten out of His own substance, equal with the Father in power and honor, of the same essence, and yet a different person. The Son of God came into the world in a miraculous manner, made or born of a woman, of the Virgin Mary, as a true, natural human being, with flesh of her flesh and blood of her blood. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary. Thereby He was placed under the Law, by an act of voluntary humiliation on His part. Unlike the ordinary human being, He was not subject to the demands of the Law, for He Himself was the Lawgiver. But God subjected Him to the Law, and Christ willingly submitted to this humiliation. His circumcision on the eighth day was a sign of this submission, whereby He openly declared that He took upon Himself the obligation to fulfil the Law, to bear the curse and the punishment of the Law. For His object in doing so was to pay the ransom for our deliverance from the power of the Law, which would have continued forever but for His coming. Although Paul refers especially to the believers of the Old Testament as being under the bondage of the Law, his words have a wider application and bring reassuring comfort to the believers of all times. This is brought out by the declaration that we, all believers, whether of the Jews or of the Gentiles, should receive the sonship of God. By fulfilling the Law, Christ has delivered us from the coercion, from the curse of the Law. We are no longer in its power, we are no longer its slaves. The price of our ransom has been paid, the Law no longer has any jurisdiction over us. From the most degrading slavery we have entered into the most honorable relationship to God: we are the children of God, not indeed by nature, but by adoption, by God’s deliberate acceptance of our unworthy selves, for the sake of His only begotten Son. How utterly the claims of the Judaizing teachers were refuted by this powerful Gospel-preaching!

What effect this action on the part of God has in our case, Paul shows in a triumphant conclusion: Because, then, you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So, then, you are no longer a servant, but a son, but if a son, then also an heir through God. The sonship is not confined to the believers among the Jews, but is expressly designed for the Gentile Christians as well; now that Christ has come, God accepts all that believe in Christ as His dear sons and daughters. And this sonship involves a relation of the most intimate confidence and love between the heavenly Father and His adopted children. To each individual one God has sent and given the Spirit of His Son into his heart. The Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is active in the work of regeneration and sanctification: the Father sends the Son’s Spirit, but this same Spirit is incidentally the believers’ guarantee of sonship, through Him they attain to the consciousness of sons of God. Because He has taken possession of their hearts, therefore the believers are able to speak to God as their dear Father in full confidence, to cry to Him in the full assurance and strength of their faith’s persuasion: Abba, Father! The Aramaic and the Greek terms are set side by side, the equivalent expressions being intended to emphasize more strongly the idea of Father. So God sends the Spirit that lives in His Son, in order to make us sure that we are His brothers and coheirs; for just as He addresses God as His dear Father, so we also should have the conviction of the unspeakable goodness and grace of God and trust in Him as dear children will in their dear father. And in order to bring this truth home to each and every one of his readers, Paul says, in the singular, that every one of them is no longer a servant, a slave, but a son. God does not send His Spirit to slaves that are still bound with the shackles of the Law; it is to His sons that He gives the Spirit of sonship. The apostle reminds every member of the Galatian congregation and therefore every Christian of all times of the fact that he, by virtue of the indwelling of the Spirit, is a free child of God. What a disgrace, then, for Christ, our Savior, if we should voluntarily place ourselves under the Law and with this idea attempt to fulfil the Law, instead of showing the loving mind of obedient children! This emphasis becomes all the greater if we remember that children are also heirs of all the possessions of the father. The believing Christians are heirs of God; righteousness and salvation, eternal life with all its bliss, is theirs. All these gifts are theirs by virtue of their baptism and faith, and they will enter into the full enjoyment of these blessings when they leave this vale of tears behind them. Note that Paul has taken the last vestige of a foothold from the Judaizing teachers, for not by good works, by faithful and strict observance of the Law of God, but by God’s free grace and mercy, “through God,” as He gave evidence of His love in Jesus, the believers are assured of the inheritance of heaven ^■796 .

The foolishness of backsliding from this truth:

The apostle here interrupts his doctrinal exposition to rebuke the Galatians for their strange conduct in turning back to a slavery of legal observance from which he had rescued them long ago: But at that time indeed, when you did not know God, you were in bondage to such as really are no gods. The Galatian Christians, Gentiles for the most part, had in the time before their conversion, before they had come to the knowledge of the true God, been in servitude to what they thought were gods, but which, as they now knew, were mere figments of their imagination. The thought implied in the apostle’s rebuke is: In the days of your ignorance there was some excuse for bondage to imaginary gods, to such as had no real existence. Now, however, the case is different: But now, having known God, having come to the knowledge of the true God by the grace of God in bringing them to such knowledge, how was it possible for them to turn back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, with the deliberate intention of serving them again, from the beginning, all over again? By being brought to the knowledge of God, by being converted, the Galatians had turned from their futile bondage, from their attempt to keep the Law, as they understood it, Romans 2:14-15. That was a work of God’s mercy alone; the knowledge of God which is by faith comes without a man’s merit and desire. Having been saved on the one hand, however, they were backsliding on the other; they were turning their attention and themselves to the rudiments of which Paul had spoken in Galatians 4:3, to the demands and statutes of the Law. Under the influence of the Judaizing teachers they were going so far as to believe that they could merit something in the sight of God by observing the weak and beggarly statutes of the ceremonial law. Weak they were, because the Law cannot work righteousness and cannot even assist in obtaining it; and beggarly, empty, poor they were, because, instead of bringing true spiritual riches, they continually render a person poorer in true worth. The Galatians were thus beginning their heathenish life, with its futile efforts of appeasing a righteous and holy God, all over again. For in listening to the admonitions of the false teachers, “they were not only given to the celebration, but, precisely like the Jews, were already scrupulous also as to the correct reckoning of time for their holydays. Days, with reference to the Sabbath; months, probably with reference to the new moons; seasons, within the year, with reference to the feasts; years, with reference to the Sabbatical year.” ^■687 .

This situation filled the apostle with consternation and sorrow, for he cries out: I fear concerning you, lest I have done all my hard work for you in vain. Disappointment, bitterness, loving appeal: they all are expressed in these words. As Luther says: “These words breathe the tears of Paul.” It is not only their sin, their ingratitude, to which he has reference, but also the great danger in which they had placed themselves. And all the hard, assiduous labor of the apostle was coming to naught.

A personal appeal for the truth against the false teachers:

Having struck a personal note, the apostle here continues in the same strain, with all the eager kindness of his loving heart: Deal with me as I dealt with you, brethren, I beg of you. He holds up his conduct as an example to them, and refers to particular occasions when the relation between them was one of unstudied cordiality. They should put themselves in his place for a moment, and try to feel as he did when he became all things to all men in order to gain them for the Gospel. Incidentally he implies that they should try to understand his position as their teacher, knowing from past experience that his instruction had always been for their benefit. He wants them to do this without the least hesitation; for, as he assures them: In nothing have you injured me. They had, on the contrary, received the Gospel message with all eagerness. The situation had been so: You know that on account of infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gospel to you at first. It seems that some sort of illness or weakness prevented Paul from continuing his journey as he may have intended, when he came to the regions of Galatia; so he remained there for a time and was prevailed upon to perform the work of his ministerial calling in these cities.

At that time the attachment of the Galatians to the apostle had been intimate and sincere: And your test in my flesh you did not despise nor spurn, but as an angel of God you accepted me, as Christ Jesus. On account of Paul’s bodily infirmity, on account of the fact that he was severely handicapped in his evangelical activity, the Galatians were put to the test as to whether they would think unfavorably of their teacher. But there had not been the slightest indication of rejecting him, of spurning his person and his message, there had been no show of contempt or disgust on account of his diseased state. Overlooking or tactfully ignoring his infirmity, they had rather accepted him with every mark of esteem, as an angel of God, as Christ Himself. Could it be possible that their behavior at that time had been a mere passing fancy? Paul asks: Where is the happiness which you exhibited at that time? What has become of that feeling now? For I bear witness concerning you that, if it had been possible, you would have torn out your very eyes and given them to me. So great had been their loving affection for their teacher that they would have been willing to sacrifice the most indispensable organs of their body, if by so doing they could have brought him relief. Note: This is a splendid example of the love which a Christian congregation should show towards its pastor in case he becomes afflicted with bodily infirmity or illness when engaged in serving them.

The apostle now brings out the contrast as indicated by their apparent estrangement: Your enemy have I thus become by my telling you the truth? In some way and at some time, probably at his last visit or through reports which had reached him, Paul had found out about the estrangement, the coldness, which was gradually taking the place of their fervent affection towards him. Upon the occasion of his last visit and probably before, he had told them the truth with all frankness; he had rebuked their errors and shortcomings; he had warned them against Jewish leaven. And these warnings had now been so manipulated by the Judaizing teachers as to argue enmity on his part and to turn the Galatians from him. But Paul analyzes the situation frankly: They take an active interest in you in no honest way, but they desire to estrange you, that you should show affectionate zeal for them. The false teachers were affecting a loving interest in the Galatians with only one object in mind, to alienate their affections from Paul and his sound Gospel-teaching and to win them for their own side. Here all personal courting, all sycophancy between preachers and hearers is condemned, and rightly so, since the desire to serve the Lord with sound Gospel-preaching, on the one hand, and the simple acceptance of the truth, on the other, should characterize the relation between pastor and parishioner. In that sense Paul writes: It is a good thing that zeal be shown in a good thing at all times, and not only when I am present with you. To be filled with zeal and eagerness for the cause of Christ and the Gospel, for the growth of the kingdom of God, is a fine and laudable thing. Under such circumstances the zeal will not relax in the absence of any particular persons, no matter how important their contributions may have been in the first place. Paul does not want his person exalted, but desires only that the honor of Christ and of the Gospel be secure.

An urgent appeal to an Old Testament example:

The love of the apostle for his deluded Galatians here flashes forth in a passage in which he, for once, uses the endearing designation of a mother for the children which she has born. He once more feels the pangs for the spiritual birth of Christ within them, until Christ be formed in them, until the new spiritual life be shaped anew in the image of Christ. In this eager love the apostle states: I would fain be with you now and change my form of communication, for I am perplexed about you. Instead of expressing himself to them by means of writing, which is necessarily formal, unpliable, unsatisfactory, not so well suited to make an impression upon the heart and mind, he would much prefer to be with them personally, to speak to them face to face. For he does not know what to make of them; he cannot understand their coldness, their defection from the truth, and therefore he feels that a personal interview with them may enable him to find the right arguments to make them change their minds and to accept the truth once more.

The apostle, therefore, uses another line of argument, in the hope of convincing the Galatians in this way, with the intention of showing them that not the religion of the Law, but that of the Gospel alone teaches the way of salvation. In doing so, he meets the Judaizing teachers on their own ground: Tell me, you that want to be under the Law, do you not pay any attention to the Law? He addresses himself to men that make their boast of upholding the authority of the Mosaic Law in all its particulars, that acknowledge the Law as the supreme master, that expect salvation through its fulfilment. He accuses them outright of being indifferent to the lessons which are found in the book of the Law, in the books of Moses; for these were designated by the one word “Law.” Cp. Luke 24:44; Acts 13:15; Romans 3:21. If their zeal for the Law is of the right kind, Paul means to say, then they would soon find in it that which ought to convince them how unsound and dangerous it is to follow the false teachers.

Paul does not quote verbally, but refers to facts as recorded in the Book of Genesis: For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one from the slave and one from the freewoman. Ishmael was the son of Hagar, the bondwoman, and Isaac was the son of Sarah, the mistress, the freewoman, Genesis 16:15; Genesis 21:2. Both boys were Abraham’s sons; however, they had not only entirely different mothers, but mothers also of entirely different conditions. Paul purposely chose the example of Abraham, since it was this patriarch of whom the Jews loved to boast. The chief point of difference in the two sons of Abraham was that the one, Ishmael, was born according to the flesh, according to the usual course of nature, Abraham having taken Hagar as his concubine, and the other, Isaac, through the promise, by virtue of the divine promise, according to which God restored to Sarah the ability to bear this son, Genesis 17:16,19; Genesis 18:18; Hebrews 11:11.

The explanation of the story:

Paul here, by the inspiration of God, gives a figurative or allegorical explanation of the story of Hagar and Sarah. In addition to the historical truth of the story of Ishmael and Isaac he finds here a spiritual truth which typifies the permanent relation between those that are under the Law and those that are under the promise. For these two women, he says, are two covenants; they represent the two religions, that of the Law and that of the Gospel. This distinction holds true for all times. For although there are many races and nations in the world, they can still be divided into but two parties, namely, such as attempt to be justified before God by their own works and merits, and such as place their trust in the merits and righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. The first class is represented by the bondwoman Hagar, the covenant which originates from, that is, on, Mount Sinai, and bears children unto bondage; for every one that still hopes to earn salvation by the works of the Law is a spiritual offspring of Hagar, the slave, and is by virtue of that fact in bondage.

The apostle continues his explanation: For Mount Sinai is in Arabia. The mountain on which the Law was given is in the same country which became the home of Hagar’s descendants, those that were children of bondage. And there is a further likeness in the fact that Hagar, as a bondswoman and the mother of a race in bondage, corresponded to, was in the same category with, the city of Jerusalem as it was when Paul wrote. Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish race, if not of the Jewish nation; there dwelt the leaders of the people that continued to teach the necessity of keeping the Law in order to obtain salvation. As Hagar was thus in the state of bondage, so Jerusalem, the Jewish race, all that believed in the way of works and merits, are in the state of slavery, of spiritual bondage, knowing nothing of the liberty of the sons of God.

What a wonderful contrast, then: But the Jerusalem which is above is free, she is our mother. The apostle here speaks of the spiritual Jerusalem, or Zion, of the Church of Jesus Christ, that is, the total number of all believers that are scattered throughout the earth, who have the same Gospel, the same faith in Christ, the same Holy Spirit, and the same Sacraments, as Luther writes. This Church is the true mother of all believers; in her they have been regenerated unto new life, by her they are daily nourished; for God has given to His Church on earth the means of grace, to be used by all believers and dispensed to them day by day. In support of this apparently daring explanation the apostle cites Isaiah 54:1: Rejoice, thou barren one that bearest not; break forth and shout, thou that travailest not; for far more are the children of the desolate woman than of her that has a husband. This is a prophetic promise given to the Church of the New Covenant, to be fulfilled in the time of the Messiah. The contrast brought out by the prophet is that between the church of the Law, which was fertile and had many children, that is, that had the opinion that she alone was the real bride of the Lord, that her children alone were God’s peculiar people, and the Church of the Gospel, of the evangelical promise, which, as the true bride of Christ, has brought forth a great number of descendants of every people, nation, and tongue; that is, the communion of believers and saints. It is a prophecy which will remain in power until the end of time; for so long the Gospel will be preached, by the power of which people are born in a spiritual manner.

The application of the lesson:

What the prophet had foretold found its realization in the Church of the New Testament. We Christians, we believers, who by virtue of the Gospel-promise are spiritual descendants of Abraham, are, after the manner of Isaac, children of the promise. Cp. 1 Peter 1:14-15. As Isaac was born to Abraham by virtue of the promise of God, so we, through faith in the promise of the Gospel, have been born anew, by the Spirit of God, as His true children, Romans 9:8.

History, however, repeats itself: Just as then he that was born after the flesh made it a practise to persecute the one after the Spirit, thus it is also now. In addition to the fact that Ishmael, Genesis 21:9, is called a scoffer, we here have the information that his attitude toward Isaac was that of continual nagging, boasting, and despising, a persecution all the more diabolical since it left little tangible cause for which one could call the lad to account. Isaac had been born according to the Spirit; the Spirit of God through His creative power had restored the atrophied organs of Sarah, Isaac’s birth thus being a miracle. Undoubtedly this fact had much to do with the attitude of Ishmael. But the very same disposition, the apostle says, we find in the world to-day; those that are in bondage under the Law and are firmly convinced that they can earn the inheritance of heaven by their works are full of hatred and enmity against those that rely upon the gracious promise of God; the self-righteous and hypocrites despise and persecute the true Christians.

But the confidence and supercilious attitude of the self-righteous will not be of long duration. For what does the Scripture say? Cast out the slave and her son; for the son of the slave shall not be heir together with the son of the freewoman, Genesis 21:10. That was Sarah’s decision with reference to Hagar and Ishmael, the bondwoman and her offspring. And such is God’s sentence upon all those that are the spiritual descendants of Ishmael, that attempt to get to heaven by the works of the Law. In spite of the persecution to which the believers in the Gospel-promises are subjected, they have on their side the divine assurance that the plans of their enemies will be unsuccessful in the end, that they have no part in the blessings of the Kingdom of Grace and the Kingdom of Glory, for they cannot be heirs together with the children of the Spirit.

So Paul concludes triumphantly: Wherefore, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. We Christians that believe in Christ and hope by such faith to be justified before God and obtain eternal life, are not among those who, like Hagar and Ishmael, were expelled from the home of Sarah and Abraham, but by the grace of God belong to those that are typified by Isaac, the son of promise; we are true children of God and heirs of eternal life. Thus the fact which Paul intended to set forth in this allegory stands out beyond contradiction over against the Judaizing teachers: The religion of the Law brings into bondage and thus to final condemnation; only the Gospel liberates and brings salvation, and therefore the religion of the Gospel is the only true religion.

Summary

Paul reminds the Galatians that they are children of God, and that they should therefore not return to the bondage of the Law; he rebukes them for falling away from their former loving relation toward him, which, he says, is due to the sordid methods of the false teachers; he shows in an allegory that only the children of the promise will obtain salvation.

Verses 1-26

Christian liberty an incentive to holiness of life

Christian liberty opposed to legal bondage:

The concluding verse of chapter 4 is incidentally the transition to the hortatory part of the epistle. Because the Christians are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free, because they are no longer under the Law, but under grace, therefore they should remember: Unto freedom Christ has liberated us. Stand firmly, then, and be not held again in the yoke of bondage. Christ has redeemed us from the servitude of the Law by fulfilling the Law in our stead; the Law, therefore, as such has no power over us as believers, since we are not under the Law, but under grace, Romans 6:14. Ours is the true freedom of the children of God, who are not under the restraint of injunctions and prohibitions, but find their greatest joy in showing their appreciation of the liberty which has been given them by a life in accordance with the will of the Lord. The Gospel freedom in no way imposes upon us restrictions, since it is a gift unto faith. But since it is such a great blessing, a blessing, moreover, which men are ever endeavoring to take from us by every form of persecution, therefore it is necessary that we stand firm and unmovable lest some one ensnare us by enticing and plausible arguments and bring us into subjection again under the yoke of the Law.

With solemn emphasis Paul calls to the Galatians: Behold, I, Paul, say to you that, if you are circumcised, Christ will benefit you nothing. That was one of the objects of the Judaizing teachers, to introduce all the forms and ceremonies of the Jewish law into the Galatian congregations as obligatory and binding also under the new dispensation. And so the former sacrament of circumcision, now a mere rite and in itself pertaining to things indifferent, became a very serious matter indeed. To the Galatians that gave heed to the words of the false teachers and believed the rite essential for salvation, it was anything but a thing indifferent. They were placing their trust in a ceremony which Christ had abrogated by His fulfilling the Law; they sought righteousness and salvation in circumcision, and therefore rejected the merit of Christ. As a mere hygienic custom Paul would not have thought of rejecting the act of circumcision, but as a religious ceremony necessary for salvation he did reject it, most emphatically, telling the Galatians that under those circumstances the work of Christ no longer had any value for them.

And not only that, but, as Paul writes: I testify again to every person that is circumcised (namely, with the intention just indicated) that he is a debtor to the whole Law. The work and merit of Christ, on the one hand, and man’s own fulfilment of the Law, on the other, mutually exclude each other. If a man believed circumcision necessary for salvation, he thereby placed himself under the Law as a whole, laying himself under the obligation of fulfilling all its precepts, ordinances, and injunctions. He cannot evade the issue by stating that he wishes to accept only this one point; it is either all or nothing. All that are of the works of the Law are under the curse, Galatians 3:10-14.

The consequence is: You are separated from Christ, as many as are justified by the Law; you are fallen away from grace. Paul uses strong language, but intentionally so. He applies the figure of a severance from the source of life and power, by which the severed members are made subject to death and destruction. By their course of seeking the righteousness before God by means of circumcision they had severed the connection, the fellowship, the union with Christ. Their sincere opinion as to being justified through the Law would avail them nothing; by this very means instead they had fallen away from grace, they had spoiled their own chance of salvation. “If you hold that by the observance of the Law you merit to be accounted righteous before God, Christ will profit you nothing; for what need of Christ have those who hold that they are righteous by their own observance of the Law? God has set forth Christ with the promise that on account of this Mediator, and not on account of our righteousness, He wishes to be propitious to us.” ^■797 .

Paul warns against the leaven of false doctrine:

In a beautiful summary of some of the main points of Christian doctrine the apostle here, first of all, reminds the Galatians of the spiritual benefits which are theirs by virtue of their Christian faith. Instead of placing our trust in the righteousness of the Law and hoping to obtain salvation by observing Jewish rites and ceremonies, we believers, through the Holy Spirit, through faith, expect the hope of righteousness. Faith in Jesus Christ is wrought by the Holy Spirit, by whom it is also nourished and maintained, who gives the pledge of its fulfilment, 2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:14; Romans 3:11-23. By this faith we not only possess the righteousness of Jesus Christ here in time, but we also have the certain hope of being justified on the great Day of Judgment. All those that remain in faith by the power of the Spirit are sure of their gracious acceptance by God at the final judgment.

Works of the Law, ceremonies of the Jewish ritual, are therefore entirely ruled out, as well as any merit in man: For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision has any power nor uncircumcision, but faith active through love. In the sphere in which Christ is active, in which He rules with His grace and mercy, all human activity cannot be considered as having any merit. God’s acceptance of a sinner is not influenced by the fact that he has received circumcision, — that rite has nothing to do with his justification; nor could one pride himself upon the fact that he had not received the Jewish rite, — a Gentile Christian that presumed to boast against his Jewish neighbors was making a very foolish mistake. For it is faith, and faith alone, faith that accepts the righteousness of Jesus Christ, faith that therefore is operative and active in works of love, which avails in the Christian hope. By faith the believers obtain the salvation earned for all men by Christ’s atoning work; and this same faith shows its life in the manifold deeds of love which are praised so highly in Scriptures. As Luther writes: “He that hears the Word of Christ in all sincerity, and adheres to it in faith, will also soon be clothed with the spirit of love.” ^■798 . And again: “Oh, but faith is a living, busy, active, powerful thing, so that it is impossible that it should not always be doing something good. It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before one asks, it has done them and is always active in doing them.” ^■799 .

Having shown what glorious blessings are in the possession of the believers, the apostle next describes the backsliding of the Galatians: You were running splendidly. They had just reached that stage in their spiritual life and its manifestations where Paul could feel a measure of satisfaction over the fine showing which they made; they seemed to be on the road to Christian perfection, as he concluded from the eagerness with which they pursued their course in holiness. Therefore it is a matter of such great concern to him: Who placed an obstruction in your way not to be obedient to the truth? Just as a runner is diverted from the path or prevented from continuing in the race by some unforeseen obstacle, so the Galatians had suddenly been hindered in their course of faith and sanctification. They were no longer yielding an attentive ear to the truth of the Gospel as preached by Paul; they were forsaking the way of righteousness by faith. Paul answers his question himself: That kind of persuasion does not come from Him that called you. It was God who had called them in the first place, through the Gospel-preaching of Paul, to which they had given ready heed at that time. But the present persuasion had a different source; this willingness to listen to false teachers had its origin in a far different place, which Paul’s tactful way of speaking here indicates: it was the work of the devil, the arch-enemy of the Gospel.

Warningly the apostle therefore calls out to his readers: A little leaven leavens the whole mass. Cp. 1 Corinthians 5:6. Just as the slightest bit of yeast, or leaven, when introduced into a mass of dough, will soon penetrate the entire lump and cause it to partake of its own nature, thus any false doctrine will quickly influence all the other doctrines of the Christian Church and work moral and spiritual corruption. The suggestions of the Judaizing teachers might seem harmless enough to the Galatians, but the principle underlying their teaching was of a nature to subvert the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. This holds true for all times; for, as Luther says, one word of God is all, and all words of God are one; all articles of Christian faith are one, and one includes them all; if we therefore give up one, then all the rest will fall away singly, for they all are connected and belong together ^■800 . If a person gives up the inspiration of the Bible, he will soon have no passage to stand on; if a minister teaches wrong in the doctrine of conversion, he thereby opens the door to all manner of legalistic and heathenish doctrines. To resist the entering wedge of false doctrine, therefore, is a matter of prime importance to every Christian.

Although the false teachers felt confident that they had shaken the allegiance of the Galatians, Paul, nevertheless, had not given up all hope with regard to them: I, for my part, am persuaded in regard to you in the Lord that you will not be otherwise minded in anything. Paul was fighting for the souls of the Galatians, and he was confident in the Lord that the designs of the false teachers would not be consummated. He was sure that the Christians to whom he had brought the Gospel amidst so many difficulties would not alter the conviction of their hearts, would not really yield to the false doctrine. The real fault lay on the other side, the blame for the present condition would attach to the offenders, to the disturbers of the spiritual peace in Galatia, every one of whom, no matter what his standing, would be obliged to bear his condemnation. The sentence of God by which He expresses His disapproval and judgment upon such offenders would be found a galling burden.

The service of love as opposed to the service of the flesh:

Paul here finds it necessary to deny a charge of the false teachers that he himself was still preaching circumcision. It may be that the resolution of the meeting at Jerusalem was deliberately misconstrued, Acts 15, or the opponents were making the best of the fact that Paul had circumcised Timothy, Acts 16:3. But the apostle finds little difficulty in refuting the charge: If I am still preaching circumcision, if that be true that I am insisting upon this rite as a prerequisite for salvation, why is it that I am yet persecuted? Why should the Jews and the Jewish teachers continue their attacks upon him? What reason would they have for such behavior? Then the offense of the Cross has been entirely removed; or: Has the stumbling block of the Cross, then, been put away? No Jew would then have to be offended any more at the Savior’s death on the cross, at the message that Christ’s death was the only ground of salvation, for Paul’s own preaching would have been retracted, then he would have admitted that the Jewish ceremonies were still necessary for justification.

But so offensive is this very thought to the apostle that he cries out: Would that they had even made themselves eunuchs that cause you to rebel! Since they overemphasized the rite of circumcision, Paul wishes that they might go a step farther and proceed to the mutilation of the flesh like that practised by many heathen in that region of Galatia, who made this a practise in honor of the goddess Cybele. For then they would be excluded from the Jewish community, Deuteronomy 23:1, and there would be some hope of their accepting the gracious liberty of the Gospel, or at least of no longer hindering such as put their trust in the Gospel ^■801 .

But as for the Galatian Christians, Paul reminds them: For you were called to liberty, brethren; only (use) not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but through love serve one another. The condition of the false teachers was that of servitude to the Law, and their endeavor aimed at foisting this bondage upon the Christians; for them, therefore, the apostle has only a malediction. But the condition of the believers is that of liberty, of the freedom of the Gospel, to which they have been called, into which they have been brought. It is the glorious liberty of the children of God. But liberty is not identical with license. And so the believers will not place their liberty into service in such a way as to offer an opening for sin. The freedom of the Gospel does not permit a person to do as he pleases, does not sanction indulgence in sinful lusts. The liberty which the believers enjoy should rather be treated as an opening for loving service toward one another. A true Christian will subordinate all selfish desires to the eager desire to be of service to his neighbor; a true Christian is the freest person in the world, and yet, by his own free will, he is never without service. And thus, as a believer, as a partaker of the freedom of the Gospel, the Christian is enabled to do what he could never have done while in bondage to the Law: he can practise love, which is the fulfilment of the Law: The entire Law is fulfilled in that one sentence, namely, in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love is the substance of the Law, and therefore by showing perfect love we fulfil the Law. The precept of Leviticus 19:18 gives a summary of the Law, showing that the keeping of the Law must proceed from the right condition of the heart; for then the external works will follow as a matter of course. “For that reason we are called to liberty, we fulfil the entire Law, when we, in case our neighbor needs it, serve him alone through love.” ^■802 . But if, on the other hand, people calling themselves Christians bite and devour each other, as Paul expresses it, then they may well take heed lest the result be that they consume each other. If the spirit of Christian love does not prevent believers from preying upon one another, they are in danger of utter destruction. This may well have been the case in the Galatian congregations, when the contrast between Jewish and Gentile Christians was brought out by the agitation attending the message of the false teachers. Note: This is always the result of factions and divisions within the Christian congregations; if no party is willing to act according to the great principle of love and all are disposed to supplant the rest, the end often shows a wasting away of the entire organization.

The works of the flesh:

The apostle here develops the topic which he announced in Galatians 5:13. His first point is a general exhortation to walk by the Spirit: Now I say, Walk by the Spirit, and the desire of the flesh you will not fulfill. The entire conduct of the believers is controlled by the power of the Spirit; He enters into their hearts and works in them by impelling and determining their walk. To walk by the Spirit, therefore, means to follow His leadership gladly, to put no obstacles in His way. By heeding the voice of the Spirit at all times and under all conditions, the believers will avoid doing the desire of the flesh. Christians indeed have their old evil nature to contend with at all times, their flesh being active to incite them to sins of every kind. But they do not yield to these temptations; they suppress every evil desire and inclination toward sin.

The apostle now substantiates his admonition: For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other that you may not do what things you would. In the heart of every Christian there is a continual battle, based upon irreconcilable antagonism between the spirit and the flesh, between the new and the old man. The flesh, the old evil nature, has only one desire, namely, to overcome the spirit, the regenerated nature, and to make the believer fall back into the service of sin and every form of ungodly conduct. On the other side, the spirit, the regenerated self of the Christian, defends itself against such attacks, desiring at the same time to overcome and suppress the old Adam, that he die with all sins and evil lusts, no matter whether they appear in a gross or in a fine form. The object of these two opponents in the believer’s heart is that he should not perform what he wants to do. The flesh tries to prevent him from doing good in any form, as he desires to do in the power of the Spirit. The spirit battles against the flesh, lest the Christian do that which is evil, what he desires to do after his evil nature. Both the flesh and the spirit are straining their utmost in this combat. Cp. Romans 7:15-23. If the Christians now walk in the Spirit, then the victory is bound to come to their regenerated selves, and they will be able more and more to quench the lust of the flesh. This must be the final result, as St. Paul writes: But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. The side of the Spirit, by the power of the Spirit, must remain victorious, and thus Paul proves his contention that the Christians are not under the Law, that it is impossible to bring them back into the bondage of the Law. He that walks in the Spirit and is impelled and led by the Spirit will look upon the will of God contained in the Law as the great ideal of a sanctified life, and he will therefore strive to live up to this ideal, not by coercion of the Law, not out of fear of punishment, not with the hope of reward or of earning salvation, but because it is his greatest joy and desire to do what pleases his heavenly Father.

The apostle now specifies some of the vices which flow from the service of the flesh, and which therefore should not be found in Christians: Manifest, however, are the works of the flesh; they are of such a nature that they cannot escape notice and that no one will deny their heinousness. Of such is adultery, marital unfaithfulness of the one or the other spouse; fornication, carnal intercourse of people that are not united in holy wedlock; uncleanness, sexual impurity in general; wantonness or sensuality, marked by shameless impudence and exuberance, all of these being sins of voluptuousness to which the ancient heathen were addicted openly, just as the modern heathen are. Of such is idolatry, to which the Galatian Christians were tempted to return by reason of the heathen festivals and banquets; and sorcery of every kind, the secret tampering with the powers of evil, including especially the use of remedies of witchcraft, both of which sins were prevalent in the Greek cities of Asia Minor in those days, Acts 8:9; Acts 13:8; Acts 19:19. Of such is enmity, which causes people to observe a malevolent attitude toward their neighbors; quarrelsomeness, which continually seeks occasion to begin wrangles; envy, which grudges one’s neighbor all that he has and always seeks its own advantage and benefit; anger, in which the jealousy of the heart breaks forth; quarrels, the natural result of anger; rivalries and factions, by which people separate themselves and refuse to associate with one another; hatred, which refuses to tolerate one’s neighbor; and finally murder, the taking of a neighbor’s life, — all of which are found also in the hearts of the Christians, making constant vigilance necessary. Of such is, in the last group, drunkenness or drinking bouts, the excessive use of intoxicating liquor; and revelry, or revelings, intemperance in partaking of both food and drink, bestial gluttony. And other things of the same category Paul adds; to which Luther remarks: “For who could enumerate the entire morass of carnal life? … He has indicated only a few, in order that the Galatians might not pretend to be ignorant how they might withstand the lusts of the flesh.” Note: There is a solemn warning in this enumeration of vices also for the Christians for these latter days; for it is only too evident that the boundary between Church and world is being obliterated in many cases; the world is entering the Church because the church people are no longer withstanding the world.

With great emphasis Paul therefore says: Of which I now tell you in advance, just as I have said before, that they who make it a habit to do these things will not inherit the kingdom of God. The apostle had given them this warning when he was present with them, and he here repeats his warning lest the judgment of the Lord come upon them for committing such crimes. Paul was not afraid to raise his voice in the endeavor to rouse the sinners before it might be too late. Because the flesh of the Christians is always active, therefore the warnings must always be repeated. Mark that he does not refer to such as are tempted to perform such heinous sins, but to such as actually give way to the temptation. All those that yield to the flesh and its desires, and live and walk in its sins, have their sentence of condemnation in advance: they cannot inherit the kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Glory, heaven and salvation. Hell and damnation is their lot as children of wrath.

The fruits of the Spirit:

In contrast to the sins and vices which the apostle has enumerated above, he here offers a brief, but comprehensive list of Christian virtues, calling them fruits of the Spirit, since they, through the power of the Spirit, grow forth out of true faith in Christ. Cp. John 15:1-6. As the first fruit of the Spirit Paul names love, the highest of all Christian gifts and works, the supreme virtue, which includes all the rest, 1 Corinthians 13. Out of this love flows joy over the neighbor’s welfare, the very opposite of envy and jealousy. He that loves his neighbor and rejoices in his good fortune will furthermore live in peace with him, always showing a peaceable disposition, avoiding all quarrels. And in order that a Christian may exhibit this desire for peace with all men, he himself shows patience, even under provocation; he is long-suffering and gentle. Yea, more: he shows kindliness and generosity, he meets his neighbor more than half way; he is always benevolently inclined, never harsh. He exhibits faithfulness, not only in positions of trust, but whenever his word is pledged. Instead of being eager for revenge, his behavior is characterized by gentleness; and instead of giving way to voluptuousness and impurity, the Christian always practises chastity, being chaste and decent in thoughts, words, and deeds, guarding also against all intemperance in food and drink and all other forms of physical indulgence, lest he defile the garment of holiness which is supposed to adorn him. Of all these virtues Paul says: Against such the Law is not, for such works agree fully with the Law of God, they are in accordance with His holy will. He that is found walking in such fruits of the Spirit will not come under the condemnation of the Law, will be free from the coercion and curse of the Law. Cp. 1 Timothy 1:9.

In summing up the characteristic attitude of the Christians, the apostle writes: They that belong to Christ have crucified their flesh with its passions and lusts. They that are Christ’s, that belong to Jesus Christ, are those that have entered into fellowship with Him, that have become His own. When the Holy Spirit wrought faith in their hearts, they crucified their flesh, they renounced the old Adam, their sinful nature. They are now living and walking in the Spirit; that is the sphere in which they live and move. Their crucified flesh may sometimes attempt to break away from the cross, but in the end it must die, and with it all the evil affections, passions, and desires. No matter how bitterly it hurts the flesh that it can no longer gratify its lusts, it must submit. It means a great deal of self-denial on the part of the believer; there is no lack of suffering and battling. As with Christ, so it is with the Christians: through tribulations they go to glory.

In close connection with this thought the apostle writes: If we live in the Spirit, in the Spirit let us also go forward. Let us not become desirous of vainglory, to provoke one another, to envy one another. The life which is in the believers by the power of the Spirit should also be impressed and stamped upon their entire conduct, should cause them to make progress in their spiritual life. They should turn neither to the right nor to the left, but follow the norm of the Spirit, in the strength given by the Spirit. And one way in which the Christians should show their progress in spiritual life is this, that they should not be seekers after vainglory, that they do not strive for personal honor and glory, as every man is inclined to do by nature. Every one wants to be more than his neighbor, in ability, in social position. False ambition has brought untold misery upon the Church of Christ. For it is due to that attitude that men provoke one another, assume a challenging position, question the ability and the motives of one another, are jealous of one another’s success in any line of effort, seek to minimize real accomplishments by adverse criticism. If the desire for vainglory rules in a person’s heart, the result will be the rapid loss of brotherly love, followed by dissension, quarrels, jealousy, and hatred ^■803 .

Summary

Paul admonishes the Galatians to hold fast their Christian liberty, to avoid the leaven of false doctrine and the works of the flesh, and to walk in the Spirit, bringing forth the fruits thereof.

Verses 1-10

An admonition to serve one’s neighbor in love

A warning against self-exaltation:

The apostle here carries out in greater detail the admonition at the end of the preceding chapter, not to provoke and envy one another. With appealing kindliness he addresses the Galatian Christians as “brethren,” thus conveying the conviction which he has voiced, Galatians 5:10, that they are still, at least at heart, true to the message which he brought to them. He writes in a very general way: If a man, a person, be overtaken in any fault, you that are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. With wise tact Paul says: A man, and not: A brother, for they should remember that the person that has fallen is a weak, sinful human being. “What fact is so obvious in the case of a human being as that he may fall, be seduced, and err?” ^■804 . Before a person is aware of it, before he realizes the danger of his position, he is detected and caught, as one that suddenly stumbles. The fault is there, without a doubt, but the apostle purposely brings out the idea: To err is human. For his admonition to those that are spiritual, to those that live and walk in the Spirit and bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, is that they should not become angry with the brother whom the cunning malice of the devil and the weakness of his own flesh have led into sin, but help to restore him to the normal Christian state, bring him back into order as a member of the body of Christ, see to it that he reenters into the right relation with God. This is done by reminding the brother (or sister) of the great danger which is threatening his soul, that he may become terrified, cease from sinning, and be saved from eternal death. All this should be done, not in the spirit of supercilious superiority, but in the spirit of meekness, with cordial kindness. There is nothing more disgusting and repulsive than the patronizing airs assumed by people that consider themselves pillars in the Christian Church, when dealing with a fallen brother. The reproof must be so administered, with such kindly seriousness, that the brother at once feels that the only interest we have in the matter is to save his soul.

The necessity of performing this task in the spirit of meekness is emphasized by the apostle: And look to thyself lest thou also be tempted. The example of Peter and of David ought to be sufficient to serve as a warning for all times. The very people that indulge in overestimation of self, in self-exaltation, are most likely to be overtaken in a fault and to yield to a temptation. The proper relation that should obtain between Christians is therefore described by the apostle: One another’s burdens bear, and thus you shall properly fulfil the law of Christ. The believers have burdens to bear, manifold temptations to sin, moral faults and frailties especially coming into consideration here. These the Christians should bear mutually; they should beware of acting uncharitably in case a brother has offended them, for the brother is also obliged to be patient with many of their own faults and peculiarities. Thus the Christians help one another in the miseries of this present sinful world; thus they help one another to overcome the specific transgressions with which they are battling; thus they fulfil the law of Christ properly. “The law of Christ is the law of love. Christ having redeemed us, renewed us, and made us His Church, has given us no law but that we should love one another, John 13:34.” ^■805 . True, cordial brotherly love will not look down upon the stumbling brother and boast of its own holiness, but will come to his aid, shrinking back neither on account of inconvenience nor because of misconstruction of motives.

This lesson Paul proceeds to impress upon his readers: For if a man is of the opinion that he is something, when he is nothing, he is deceiving himself. The apostle’s first reason for opposing self-exaltation was that it is contrary to the law of love. He here adds the thought that it is also very foolish. For he that gets the idea concerning himself that he is something great and extraordinary thereby exalts himself above his neighbors. But in doing so such people are acting under a vain delusion, since in the eyes of God’s holiness and wisdom they are neither perfect nor wise. “They have the opinion that they are something, that is, inflated by their foolish illusion and their vain dreams, they have a wonderfully high opinion of their wisdom and sanctification, whereas in truth they are nothing and merely deceive themselves. For it is a manifest deception if some one is convinced that he is something and yet is nothing. Such people are described in the Revelation of John, Revelation 3:17, in these words: “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” ^■806 .

Instead of being found engaged in such a foolish undertaking, therefore, Paul advises every Christian: But his own work let every man test; then shall he have reason for boasting only in what concerns himself, and not in what concerns the other. For each man shall bear his own pack, or load, his daily burden. Instead of indulging in vain imaginations and opinions, Christians will take care to test their own case, inquiring very earnestly how matters stand with them. The result will be that they will find so many things in need of improvement in their own heart and life that they will not find time to criticize their brother or sister. And all self-congratulation will not be the result of invidious comparison, but of actual merit, without any reference to the neighbor; and any improvement in his own case the Christian will ascribe all the more readily to the sanctifying power of the Spirit of God. At the same time, each man will find that he has his own burden, his own load, to carry, just as every soldier bears his own kit. His own self-examination will reveal as much, and the judgment of God on the last day will emphasize this still more strongly, 1 Corinthians 3:8. Luther writes of this testing of self which every Christian should practise: “ ‘Let him test his own work,’ that means, let him not concern himself about the work of another, let him not attempt to find out how bad the other is, but how good he himself is, and strive to be found approved in good works for his own person, lest he by reason of the work of another become secure and drowsy, as though he must be considered good by God, since he is better than that evil person, as a result of which he, on account of malice toward the other, ascribes more to himself than his own work justifies without malice toward the other. Your works will not become better through malice toward another. Therefore live so, act so, that you test your work, how much you may boast of yourself in your own conscience, as it is said in 2 Corinthians 1:12: For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience. … But he tests his work when he marks how diligent he is in love to bear the frailty of others; and surely he that would pay attention to this would easily beware of malicious judgments and evil reports.” ^■807 .

The apostle urges unselfish service:

These single admonitions are not brought in as abruptly as might appear at first glance. Paul is still speaking of the life in the Spirit, which is opposed to all envious grudging. And he here voices a thought which he has emphasized also elsewhere: Let him that is taught in the Word communicate to him that teaches in all good things. He that is taught in the Word, either in the more restricted private and catechetical discussion or in the public instruction, in which the teacher expounds the Word of God before all, should communicate to, literally go shares with, the one that does the teaching, in all good things, not only in temporal support, but in all other benefits as well. They that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel, 1 Corinthians 9:14. Thus the ministers, on their part, do not degrade their ministry to a mere business, especially since it is impossible to speak of adequate compensation in their case, and the parishioners, on their part, do not regard the money paid toward the minister’s support as charity, but as the proper sharing of goods demanded by God.

Solemnly the warning sounds in this connection: Do not let yourselves be deceived; God will not be sneered at. For what a man sows, this he also reaps. He that sows on his own flesh will harvest from the flesh destruction; he that sows to the Spirit of the Spirit will harvest everlasting life. In connection with the obligation of gratitude which he has enjoined upon them, the apostle warns the Galatian Christians against harboring or entertaining any erroneous thoughts. For it is nothing but self-delusion if a person tries to convince himself that he believes in Christ and can comfort himself with regard to the mercy of God and the forgiveness of sins, and yet permits his flesh to rule with all its passions and evil lusts, disregarding all duties which the law of love imposes. For it is impossible to sneer at God with impunity. He will not be disregarded and despised. Although our gracious and merciful Father, He is also the holy and righteous God, whose vengeance will find all the workers of iniquity. If a person, therefore, reaps God’s wrath and displeasure, temporal death, and eternal damnation, he has no one to blame but himself, since he sowed on his own flesh, since he served the lusts of his own evil nature. His harvest agrees with his sowing. Altogether different is the case of him that sows to the Spirit, that takes the proper care of the new man wrought in him through regeneration, that strives more and more to put on the new man, who after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Such a person will enjoy the harvest of eternal life. By the grace of God the present spiritual life will mature into the life of glory and in glory, where there is fulness of joy at the right hand of God forevermore. What an incentive to every Christian to walk in the Spirit and thus to obtain this harvest of joy!

Unwearied efforts should therefore characterize the life of the Christians, as the apostle writes: But in well-doing let us not become weary; for at the proper season we shall harvest if we do not become faint. In well-doing we should not become weary, which not only includes the manifold deeds of charity, by which we have an opportunity to assist our neighbor in spiritual and temporal distress, but refers to the entire spiritual life of the Christian. In this the Christians should not become weary; they should not lose courage; they should not permit the obstacles to wear them out. Only he that remains faithful to the end, the same shall be saved. As soon as our spirit grows weary, then our body will also become faint. This we cannot afford to permit, for the harvest is promised only to such as do not become weary and faint. The harvest of satisfaction and joy in this world may still be connected with much labor and exertion, but if we persist to the end, without growing faint, our reward will be unspeakable fulness of bliss, an everlasting harvest of joy in the presence of our Lord and Savior.

The apostle concludes his admonition with another urgent call: Now, then, as we have time, opportunity, let us do good to all men, but most of all to them that are of the household of faith. Here and now, in proportion to the opportunity offered and afforded to us on all sides, we can and should do good. Now is the chance of the Christians, the most opportune time for sowing deeds of kindness. We do not know how soon the Day of Judgment may be coming. We should practise deeds of love toward our neighbor, we should be of assistance to him, no matter whether the trouble which is bothering him be of the body or of the spirit, our neighbor in this case being every person that is in need of our help, whether Jew or Gentile, friend or enemy, known or unknown, grateful or ungrateful. Only one distinction should we observe; we should give the preference to those that are of the household of faith. Our companions in faith, our fellow-Christians, are united with us by the most intimate bonds of fellowship. To their wants and needs we should, therefore, attend first of all, to them we should give assistance by preference. That is the great duty which our living and walking in the Spirit places upon us ^■808 .

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Verses 11-18

Concluding remarks

Paul’s love in contrast to the behavior of the false teachers:

The apostle here calls attention to a special evidence of his love for the Galatian Christians: See with what large letters I write to you with my own hand! As a rule, Paul dictated his letters, affixing only the conclusion or his personal greeting with his own hand, as a proof of the epistle’s authenticity, 1 Corinthians 16:21; Colossians 4:18; 2 Thessalonians 3:17. In this case, however, the apostle seems to have written the entire letter personally, and with large characters, which seems to have been a mark of unusual favor and respect ^■809 .

But even as the love of Paul appeared in his every move, so the intrigues of his opponents stood out prominently, if one but drew the right conclusions from their actions: As many as wish to please in matters of the flesh, these constrain you to be circumcised, only that they should not suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ. The Judaizing agitators were not sincere; they wanted to make a show before men to gratify their own carnal vanity; they were trying to gain followers in order to boast of their popularity. In this sense only did they insist upon circumcision, not because they actually believed the rite to be necessary for salvation. At the same time (and here another carnal reason appears) they followed this course in order not to be persecuted by, or on account of, the Cross of Christ; they did not want to embrace the cause of the Cross of Christ because a plain Gospel-confession brought persecution. So they escaped persecution on the part of the Jews, and in most cases also on the part of the Gentiles, by this questionable method. But Paul lays bare their hypocrisy: For not even they themselves, although circumcised, keep the Law, but they desire that you be circumcised in order to boast in your flesh. The Jewish teachers, with all their bragging of being circumcised, were not concerned for the Law on its own account. They were like the scribes and Pharisees to whom the Lord addressed Himself, Matthew 23:25-28. It was not their interest in the Law or in the spiritual welfare of the Galatians that prompted the Judaizing teachers to preach the necessity of circumcision, but merely their desire to boast of converts, of more persons gained for their own views and obedient to their wishes.

The position of Paul had nothing in common with such selfishness: But let it be far from me to glory but in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world. That is the significance which the Cross has for him, that is the effect which it has had upon him and upon his entire way of thinking. He boasts of the triumph of the Cross of Christ, which overcame his own flesh, which effectually overcame the power of the world over him and his former carnal love for the world and its lures, whether of honor, pleasure, or wealth. He knows that justification and salvation have come to him through Christ Crucified, that atonement has been made for him by his Lord’s Passion and death. That is his one exultant boast. He has, therefore, forever severed fellowship with Jewish rites and Gentile vanities, which are an empty, hollow mockery to him. He knows, moreover: Neither circumcision has any value nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Cp. Galatians 5:6. He that is a Jew by birth and religion for that reason cannot claim acceptance on the part of God, just as he that is a Gentile cannot for that reason hope to be more acceptable to the Lord. These conditions are mere accidents of outward circumstance, and have nothing to do with justification before God. The new creation, the regeneration of the heart through the power of God in the means of grace, that alone places a person into the right relation with God. That is the glorious comfort of all believers.

Conclusion:

Crucified to the world, but alive to Christ and in Christ, that is the condition of the believers that have become new creatures by the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit. And therefore Paul, in a calm, but triumphant statement, calls out: And as many as shall walk according to this rule: peace upon them and mercy, yea, upon the Israel of God. All believers accept the principle formulated by Paul in Galatians 6:15, it is the standard according to which they regulate their lives. And upon all such, as upon the true Israel of God, the apostle invokes peace and mercy. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, which assures them of the right relation to God, Philippians 4:7, the peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 5:1, is the blessing which follows belief in the Gospel. For it has been made possible by the mercy of God, shown to us poor sinners for the sake of His Son, by which He forgives us all our sins and accepts us as His dear children.

Having thus finished his exposition of the truth, Paul has only one wish: Henceforth let no one cause me distresses, wearisome annoyances. He expects it of the Galatians, and feels sure that they will heed his appeal, that they will pay no more attention to the Judaizing teachers. For as for him, he was bearing the marks, or stigmata, of the Lord Jesus in his body. Such marks were branded upon the body for various reasons, the reference here probably being to the brand of freedom placed upon the slave when he was sold to the temple and thus liberated from his master ^■810 . Paul bore such marks on his body, all the traces, scars, wounds, and welts of the various persecutions which he had been obliged to endure in his apostolic calling. Also herein he had become like his great Master.

And so he concludes: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. The grace which was merited by the atoning work of Christ is the highest gift which God can bestow, and it is Paul’s prayer that it may fill their spirit, their mind, with the calm certainty of salvation, a certainty which neither false teachers nor all the forces of the world could take from them. The very last word of the epistle proper is the kind and appealing address “brethren.” The severity of the entire letter is mitigated by this one word, in which unaltered brotherly love is expressed.

Summary

The apostle warns against self-exaltation and every show of selfishness, pictures his love in contrast to the hypocrisy of the false teachers, and begs the Galatians to return to the proper spirit of peace in order that they may enjoy the mercy of the Lord.

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