GALATIA was one of the interior provinces of Asia Minor. Paul, probably, planted the gospel there during the journey which he took through that region, an account of which is given in Acts 13:4 to 14:26. It is true that Galatia is not particularly mentioned in this account, though it might very probably be included in the general expression used in 14:6, at the close of the verse. We find that, on the second journey of the apostle into Asia Minor, made for the purpose of visiting those churches which had been planted before, (Acts 15:36,) Galatia is specified as a region included in the tour. (16:6.)

      There is no direct evidence in respect to the condition of the Galatian churches, when this letter was written,--nor of the occasion which particularly called for it. It is evident, however, from the Epistle itself that the same difficulty found its way to these churches, which seems, in a greater or less degree, to have affected nearly all the others,--namely, the difficulty arising from the attempts of the Jewish Christians to bring the Jewish law into the church, by compelling the Gentile converts to conform to the Mosaic ritual. These Jewish converts very naturally were prone to regard Christianity as the consummation and fulfilment of Judaism. At first they were very unwilling that the gospel should be offered to the Gentiles at all, and afterwards were disposed to insist that, if any Gentiles received it, they must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses, as well as obey the precepts of Christ. Paul was often called to combat this error; and circumstances seem to have occurred, in the history of the Galatian churches, rendering some decided testimony against this perversion necessary for them; for the subject constitutes the chief topic of discussion in this Epistle.

      Very various opinions, or rather conjectures, have been advanced in regard to the place where this Epistle was written but there is no sufficient evidence on which to found a rational judgment. The statement at the end that it was written at Rome, is not to be considered as decisive authority. [417]

      1. Not of men. From various expressions occurring in Paul's Epistles, we infer that his authority as an apostle was sometimes called in question by his enemies. In fact, although he received his commission to preach the gospel directly, and in the most unequivocal manner, from Christ himself, he was not one of the twelve, to whom the term apostle more strictly and properly applied. From the distinct and formal manner in which he maintains the divine origin of his call to preach the gospel, in this chapter, (11-24,) we may infer that his commission had been questioned by some persons inimical to him among the churches of Galatia.

      6. From him that called you; from him who was the instrument of calling you; referring apparently to himself, as the subsequent train of remark seems to imply. The calling of the sinner is generally, in the writings of Paul, ascribed directly to God; though it may not improperly be ascribed to the human instrument through whose agency it is done.

      7. Which is not another; not another gospel, but only a perversion of the gospel, as is stated in the close of the verse. A similar mode of expression, or rather turn of thought, occurs in 2 Cor. 11:4.

      8, 9. The meaning is simply that it is utterly impossible that there should be another gospel; that is, another system of religious truth, inconsistent with what had been revealed to him.

      10. Persuade men; seek the favor of men.

      11. I certify you; I assure you.--Is not after man; was not communicated to me by man; that is, it does not rest on human authority.

      12. Of Jesus Christ. The apostle here refers to the direct interview which he had with Jesus Christ, when he was first called to preach the gospel, as recorded in Acts 9:3-9.

      13. My conversation; my course of life. See Acts 9:1, 2. [418]

      14. And profited in the Jews' religion; went forward ardently and zealously in it.--The traditions of my fathers. There was a large body of doctrines and precepts held as of divine authority by the Jews, which had come down from the fathers by tradition,--not being recorded in the word of God. Our Savior often alluded to these traditions in his conversations with the Pharisees.

      16. To reveal his Son in me; that is, when he was on his way to Damascus.--Conferred not with flesh and blood; consulted not with men.

      17. Neither went I up, &c.; that is, not immediately.--Into Arabia. Of this journey into Arabia, Luke, in the Acts, does not give any account.

      21. Acts 9:29, 30.

      22. The churches of Judea; that is, to those churches generally. It would seem, from the account in the Acts, that he must have been well known in Jerusalem. (Acts 9:26-28.)

      24. The design of this whole passage (11-24) is, to vindicate the views of religious truth which the apostle had inculcated, and which he was about to inculcate in this Epistle, by showing that they rested on no human authority, but on revelations made directly to him from the Lord Jesus Christ.

      1. Fourteen years after. In Acts 11:29, 30, a journey of Paul to Jerusalem is mentioned, and also another in 15:1-4. The latter has been generally supposed by commentators to be the one here referred to.

      2. By revelation; under divine guidance. He did not go to seek direction from the apostles at Jerusalem.--Them which were of reputation. James, Peter, and John, are particularly mentioned, v. 9.

      3. Titus is often alluded to by Paul in his Epistles, though he is not mentioned in the Acts. He appears, like Timothy, to have been made a convert through Paul's instrumentality, and both afterwards became efficient and [419] devoted fellow-laborers with the apostle.--Neither Titus--was compelled; that is, he did not allow him to be compelled. Paul caused Timothy to be circumcised, (Acts 16:3,) his mother being a Jewess, but he would not allow Titus to be. He thus practised according to the principles which he always enjoined, yielding to Jewish feelings so far as it was proper to do so, and resisting only when resistance was necessary in vindication of the truth. The reason why he would not allow Titus to be made a Jew is stated in the two following verses.

      4. Into bondage: to the Jewish law.

      5. Might continue with you; might be maintained among the churches.

      6. Added nothing; gave me no new light on the principles of Christianity.

      7. We are to understand by this, not that such a division was officially made, giving Peter and Paul respectively the exclusive charge of the two great departments here referred to, but only that, in the course of divine providence, Paul had been led to preach more among the Gentile nations, and Peter more among the Jews. That the work of bringing the Gentiles into the kingdom of Christ was not wholly assigned to Paul, is evident from the fact that Peter was the instrument of their first admission. (Acts 10:)

      10. The poor; the poor brethren in Judea. This charge Paul did not forget. He long afterwards raised contributions for them in Macedonia and Achaia. See 2 Cor. 9: and note to v. 15.

      11. Was come to Antioch; had come, and was residing there.

      12. From James; who was at Jerusalem.--Then which were of the circumcision; that those who had come from Jerusalem. [420]

      14. Walked not uprightly; did not act honestly and openly. Some suppose that Paul's address to Peter ends with this verse; others regard it as extending to the end of the chapter.

      15. By nature; by birth.

      17. Is--Christ the Minister of sin? does the gospel promote and encourage sin? The apostle here distresses from his main subject of discussion to answer this objection.

      18. If I build again, &c.; if I return again to the sins which I had abandoned. The argument would seem to be that, although the Christian depends on faith in Christ, and not on legal observances, for salvation, yet he fully renounces all sin when he unites himself to Christ, and the guilt and the responsibility are altogether his own, if he return to sin again.

      20. Christ liveth in me; Christ supplies me with that spiritual life, which both disposes and enables me to keep the divine law; thus showing that he is not the minister of sin. (v. 17.)

      1. Bewitched you; deluded you.--Evidently set forth; plainly preached.

      3. Are ye now made perfect by; are ye going to end in.

      5. By the works of the law; by Judaism. [421]

      7. Are the children of Abraham; whether Jews or not. If they share in the faith of Abraham, God considers them as his children.

      8. All nations; that is, the Gentiles; thus showing that the extension of the offers of salvation beyond the Jewish communion was the design of God from the beginning.

      12. That doeth them; that is, that fully obeys the requirements of the law.--Shall live in them; shall be saved by them.

      13. The curse of the law; the terrible penalty of the law.--Being made a curse for us; in the condemnation, sufferings, and death, which be endured for us.--Cursed, &c.; Deut. 21:23.

      14. The blessing of Abraham; the blessing pronounced upon Abraham.

      15. Though it be, &c. The meaning of this and the following verses is, that even human covenants, once made and confirmed by the usual forms, are not affected by subsequent transactions; and the promises made to Abraham being conditioned originally on faith, these conditions could not subsequently be altered by the giving of the law, centuries later.

      16. And to seeds, as of many. There has been great diversity of opinion in respect to this passage. The argument would seem to be, that the seed of Abraham, in whose favor the promise was made, was regarded as one community, to be saved on one common principle, so that all, whether they lived before the law, or during the continuance of the law, or under the gospel, constitute but one seed, to be saved in one way; and that way must be by faith.--Which is Christ; the whole body of believers in Christ. The word Christ is used in a similar sense in 1 Cor. 12:12, and in other places.

      18. Of promise; that is, in fulfilment of a promise. [422]

      19. Because of transgressions; to restrain transgressions.--The seed should come; that is, until the generation should come in which the kingdom of Christ was to be established, and the promises of the covenant fulfilled.--Was ordained, &c. The latter clause of this verse, together with the verse which follows, is a passage which has in all ages baffled the learning and ingenuity of commentators. Various conjectures have been offered, but they throw but little light upon the meaning.

      24. The law was our schoolmaster; that is, the law was only the means of preparatory training, by which the Jewish nation was led on to salvation by Christ.

      27. Have put on Christ; that is, have become all so united with Christ as to form one body of believers in him.

      1. Though he be lord of all; though he is to inherit all.

      3. The elements of the world. The Jewish institutions are obviously intended by this expression; but why they are, so designated is not very clear.

      4. The fulness of the time; the full time predicted.--Made under the law; born a. Jew, and consequently under the Mosaic institutions.

      5. To redeem them, &c.; thus showing that they owe their redemption not to their Judaism, but to their Christianity. [423]

      8. The apostle here appears to address the Gentile portion of the Galatian churches.--Ye did service unto, ye were in bondage unto.

      10. Ye observe; that is, religiously; depending upon such observances for acceptance with God.

      12. This passage is evidently elliptical, and is considered obscure.

      13. Through infirmity of the flesh; that is, suffering under infirmity of the flesh. (Comp. 2 Cor. 12:7.)

      14. As Christ Jesus; as clothed with his authority.

      17. They; the false teachers.--Zealously affect you; pretend to be ardently interested in your welfare.--Exclude you; separate you; that is, from me.

      18. Always in a good thing; that is, to adhere firmly and steadily to what is right.--Not only, &c.; referring to what he had said in v. 15.

      19. Of whom I travail in birth; for whom I feel the deepest solicitude and anxiety.

      20. To change my voice; that is, to administer admonition and reproof to them, which it had not been necessary to do when he was with them before.

      22. A bond-maid; Hagar.

      24. An allegory; that is, may be regarded as such.--These are the two [424] covenants; may be considered as representing the two covenants.

      25. Is Mount Sinai; that is, represents Mount Sinai in this illustration.

      26. Jerusalem which is above; the spiritual Jerusalem; that is, the body of believers under the gospel.

      27. It is written; Isa. 54:1.

      29. He that was born after the flesh; Ishmael, the son of Hagar.--Him that was born after the Spirit; Isaac.

      30. Cast out, &c The rejection of Hagar thus represents the rejection of the bondage and servitude entailed by the Jewish law.

      1. Be not entangled again; do not return again to the bondage of Jewish rites from which you have been delivered.

      2. If ye be circumcised; if you seek salvation through this rite, and rely upon it as the ground of acceptance with God.

      3. He is a debtor, &c.; that is, if he depends upon the law for justification, he must obey it in full.

      4. Ye are fallen from grace; you give up all right to expect or hope for favor or mercy.

      5. Wait for; depend upon. We are looking to that source as the ground of our reliance.

      8. This persuasion; this idea that you must come under obligation to the Mosaic law.

      9. A little leaven, &c.; that is, the error had arisen from the influence of a small number, though it had spread extensively among them. [425]

      10. His judgment; the just judgment of God.

      11. It would seem from this passage that Paul had himself been charged with adhering to the necessity of circumcision.--Persecution; that is, from the Jews.--Is the offence--ceased; it would cease.

      13. For an occasion to the flesh; for the indulgence of sinful propensities.

      16. Ye shall not fulfil; ye will not fulfil.

      4. In himself alone, and not in another; that is, his sources of joy shall be within himself.

      5. For every man, &c.; that is, his happiness must depend upon his own inward character. [426]

      6. Communicate; share with; that is, let the taught provide for the comfortable subsistence of their teachers.

      7. Is not mocked; cannot be deceived.

      12. To make a fair show in the flesh; to make an outward display of sanctity.

      13. In your flesh; in your ceremonial observances.

      17. The marks; the proofs that I am his. He refers, doubtless, to the marks of bodily injury which he had sustained in the service of Christ. [427]

[AINT 417-427]