PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians
Edgar Huxtable [1810-1897] · 361,419 words · 379 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 1
THE PULPIT COMMENTARY, BDITED BY TIIE VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN o• GLOUOES'l'EB; AND BY THB REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A. GA LAT I ANS. ~xpositfon BY THE REV. PREBENDARY E. HUXTABLE, M.A., LATB BUD-DEAN OF WELLS .A.ND VICB-PBINCirAL Oi' WELLS TBEOLO':iICAL COLLEGE. lt1omiletfcs BY REV. PROFESSOR T. …
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iv. 10) that Crescens was gone to Galatia, the word was commonly, and perhaps rightly, taken by Greek commentators, as referring to a European Gaul, and not to that in Asia Minor. Galat has very much the appearance of being the very word Kelt slightly varied in its utterance; but it is not quite certain that it is so; …
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right across the continent as far as beyond Babylon. And we learn from Josephus (' Ant.,' xii. 3, 4) that this king, with a view to the consolidation of his power, ordered his general Zeuxis to remove two thousand Jewish fa.milie11 from Mesopotamia and Babylon into Lydia and Phrygia, and to locate them "in the castles …
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-Apollos, for example-who from their earliest years had been familiar witb t,hose sacred writings which were able, as St. Panl reminds Timothy, to make men wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesns; so that when the way of God had been carefully exponnded to them, they would find themselves, under the Spirit's …
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countries over which Christianity was extensively diffused, each considerable town, or village even, had its own several " Church " presided over by presbyters of its own, and in organization independent of the others. W o read, for example, of "the Churches of Ga.latia," "the Churches of Mace- donia," and" the Churche…
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"he went down to Antioch; and having spent some time there, he went forth, going through in order the Galatic Land ancl Phrygia, Rtabiishing all the disciples." 'fhen, after an interesting parenthesis respecting Apolla9, the historian adds (Acts xix. 1), "Paul having passed through the upper country [that is, the uplan…
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especially the apostle's words in eh. vi. 12, 13 favour the belief that the trouble originated with certain who were themselves Galatians. They arc spoken of as " undergoing circumcision " (-rrEpi-rEp.vop.Evoi : see note ; the competing reading, -rrEpi-rETJJ-TJP.tvoi, comes to the same result: they had evidently no…
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obscurity hanging about the precise nature of the perversion which St. Paul is encountering in this Epistle, thus mnch is certain : like certain members of another Church in that peninsula four or five years later, they no longer were "holding fast the Head;" "vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind," they were urging t…
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does not feel a certain air of freshness and recency hanging abont the fa.et alluded to in the words, "as I gave order t.o the Churches of Galatia. " - whether the apostle does not mean something like this, "The other day I received from the Churches of Galatia a similar reqnest that I would state to them in what. man…
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If t.he above ree.sonings, frci:rn de.ta which are confessedly in some degree problematical, appear, however, to be on the whole approvable, then we arrive at the result that the entire business of the Galatian trouble had been brought to a sa~isfactory conclusion before the apostle despatched his first letter to the C…
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of tho apostles, except James, the Lord's brother, be ar,eounted as such. After that I was discharging the work of my ministry in Syria and Cilicia, having been all the while, from the first, pers~nally unknown to the Churches of Judam.; they only were bee.ring of Ille that, without any communication with them, I was p…
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1, LITERATURE, I The literature .availal:>le on this Epi,stle •is very, copi~u~'. Jimong the. xp.~st helpful: may b.e mentioned .the following_:--:Chryso~tom; . ,lc:foDlo; .l T4e9(io~~~; ?al:vin'~ 'Oom.wentarius • ' E.stius, ' In Ep1stolas ; ' ;Cornelius .a Lap1de.; Grotius (m Pol~ Synopsis); Be~gel's ' Gnonion ; ' …
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2. That the Jews employed it exclusively to designate persons deputed by some eminent authority, and not to describe a mere ordinary messenger. 3. That it was applied exclusively to persons whose mission related to matters connected with religion; so that the term was invested in the minds of those who used it with s…
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or mediately through man standing connected with them and recognized by them, was this gospel to be proclaimed, and the Church community which was founded upon this gospel to be organized and established. 3. They were gifted with an accumulation of miraculous powers, which both were their credentials as Ohrist's dele…
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The chief point of discussion, however, in relation to this passage lies in the worde 1 "or not~ [or,' distinction'] among the apostles." Their most obvious sense is that they were apostles distinguished among others who were s1<1ch; the form of e,xpression being like" blessed among women,"" among those born of women n…
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our sacred-books, but its honorific complexion is also in most instances quite distinctly re~gnizable.. •• Very, clearly- may we feel this to be the case in the passage which I before bad occa- sion to cite from the Hebrews (iii. 1). For.both must it have seemed to the writer of that Epistle that the designation of…
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xii. 11), ofthllt pbr&Se of withcring scorn," Those who are so super-exoeasively°lpbstlea ( ~o~r ~P -''..,, &.1roa-ro-'ovs)." It seems strange, by the way, that many interpret:erJ, i ,rluding c-,en l~hrysc>stom, should ha,e supposed that St. Pt\ul is in tllese ,vorde refer• rin,: tD s,,me of the twel~. In these thre…
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as this genitive means in 1 Cor. iii. 23 an l in Mark ix. 41-the next verse shows thAt they did not refer subjectively to their own spiritua.l devotion to Christ, nor to their being os individual believers accepted with Christ, but to their official character as men acting in Christ's employ, and in their office aut…
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world by Bryennius, Metropoli~n of Nicomedia., a tract in Greek of the early Churcl;i which perhaps qualifies their import. This traet is entitled, 'Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles.' It is, in effect, a brief manual of moral instruction, and of 'dir_eotions as to the e.dministra.tion of the two sacraments, and a few ot…
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previously occupied: "They tarried no little time with the disciples," ta.ken up, that ia to say, with the ministering 88 before among the Antiochian believers (Acts xiv, 28; xv. 35). All this, making it clear, as it does, that the sacred historian has very distinctly present to his mind the character of special en…
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leaven of truth, however frankly it may have been admitted into the soul, still requires time for the full modification of former habits of thought and feeling; and this, we may suppose, was the case with St. Barnabas; nay, perhaps, even with St. Peter himself. It was not St. Ba.rnnba.s, then, but St. Paul, who wa.s t…
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the rejection of Mnrk as a fellow-labourer in the wotk before them, is best a~countet! for on the supposition that he conld not as yet discern in the young·man this complete eml\ncipation from the prejudices of a Jew. ''·' '•-- • •·' : Separation of Barnabas and Paul. After the painful rupture which ensued betweiln …
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nized as being pillars, gave to me end BarnabM the right hands of partMrship, that we should go to [or, 'work for'] the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision" (eh. ii. 9). •This public formal act of the "pillars " of Christ's Church both metropolitan and • universal, embodie~ in the shaking of hands in the presence (…
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him countenance and 11upport. Thus, so to speak, clustering around him, they would be likely, especially would they be likely if they were old assooiates of his at Jerusalem or high in Church estimation at home, to bring to bear upon his mind, with reference to the relations between the circumcision and the uncircum…
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our view, But or Silas It may be remarked that, while staying at Antioch BB hie hee.d- que.rt.ere, and while moving about, as to carry out the busineee entrusted to him he no doubt did, both. in company with Paul and apart from him, among the Christians in those parts, in Syria and Cilicia in general as well e.s in the…
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"Paul and Silvanus and Timothem. 0 , We Spall, however, ,be better prepared (or entering into the spirit of what St. Paul writes in 1. Thess. ii. 6, 6 when we he.ve t.aken note of certain particulars in the _account which St. Luke gives us in the Acts (xvii.) of the.t very sojourn at Thessalonica which . the apo~tle…
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(1 These. ii. 7-11). Timothy, no doubt, took his part in the work as is shown by sucn passages as Acts xvii. 14 and 1 Thess. iii. 2 ; but nowhere is Timothy spoken of in this section of the history as standing on e.. level with them in ministerial position, or involved in like sufferings, or as threatened by the like d…
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to his fimt journey taken with Barnabas, by 1 Cor. bt. 8, 15; in reference to the third~' by Acts xx. 34; 2 Cor. xi. 10, xii. 14. Nor is this statement contravened by the fact that, in this very first visit of his to Thessalonica to which be is here referring, he received gifts pressed upon his acceptance· by gener…
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nuthorized to sta.nd upon our dignity, and to throw the burden of our maintenance entirely upon you." 1 Now, there are two distinct propositions implied in the last clause of this verse, namely, that Christ's apostles were entitled to claim maintenance at the hands of those who received their teaching; and that the pe…
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since we have, in the greeting of the First Epistle to the Corinthians," Paul, called to be M apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother," where certainly such close partnership cannot bci assumed, Nevertheless, the conjunctioll or the three names, with no words interposed to mark dis…
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the p11rts near Derbe and Ly~trn, a "disciple named Timothe)lll "-a. convert, it should seem, won in the former missionary journey with. Ba.rne.b!Le-!' who wa.s very highly spoken .of by the brethren at Lystra a.nd Iconium ; " that, "he conceived the wish (~BIA71u<1,) that .be should go forth with him," sha.ribg the sa…
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him thllt the gift was oonferred in conjunction with C,.n-cl, not lltd) the !!lying on of the bands of the eldership.1 This last circumstance of the 81\Cred rite illustrated tAe hlgb character of the commission then entrusted to him. It marked him out, in fact, 11s being in that ministration on whioh he was then goi…
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titne when in the Acts the method of bis ministerial agency begins to be more clearly portrayed to us, we perceive him, first, brought into ministerial activity at Antioch by Barne.bas, who himself had been deputed from Jerusalem to visit the Gentile converts in that city e.nd he.d gone across from that place to Tarsus…
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DISSERTATION n ·TBE CmCUMBTABCEB WHICH AT TmS Tnm LED ST. PAUL DISTmOTLY Al!ID PUBLICLY TO ANNOUNCE TO THE CHURCH BIB PBoPEBLY APosTOLIO CoMMISBION. The religion of (Jhrist essentuilly 'IVTl,trammelled by out'!#Md forms of manifestation. Among the most distinctively evangelical elements of the gospel may be ranked t…
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their very inmost heart believe and feel that their circumcision ll.nd all their careful observan.:e of Mosaic ceremonies and rites-ceremonies and rites which were designed to separate them, as in fact they did markedly separate them, from other races-inferred, after all, in the new economy no real distinction, and …
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advocacy; and ho bad drawn forth from the Christian consciousness of the twelve apostles and of James and of the elders and general body of the Jerusalemite believers, that letter of theirs registered in the Acts of the Apostles, which has been not inaptly styled the Magna Charta of the Gentile Church's freedom. Not lo…
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lwo his occasions at the moment made the more convenient. But whatever his doc- trine reRlly was, it came with no authority. Such apostleship as he had at all came at last from Jerusalem, and Jerusalem disowned him! Such was the tenor of the wildest form of oppoucncy which confronted him. Se. Paul obliged w asse1·t op…
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PAUL TO THE GALATIANS. EXPOSITION. to those he is addressing, he at once pro- CHAPTER I. ceeds, in ver. 6, to assail his readers with Vers. 1-5.-The introductory greeting. words of indignant reproach. The style of this greeting, compared with Ver. 1.-l'anl, an apostle (Ilav;\or lt1r6- those found in St. Paul's othe…
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found elsewhere. indicate that it was through • of men, deputed to oonvey to others I\ Jesus Obrist raised from the dead that this message of theirs f or wns he nn envoy particular volition of God was declared e.nd commissioned immediately by Christ to 'brought to effect. The formula referred to, convey to the world…
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The time Bnd _tM· lnffflner '.fn• w-htclt tha foot an· ·apostle ;th:rffll"gh· ~he• a~l!y 'Of' JeBU!I wns to become mmnifeet to others he would Obrist; be was not lffi •11,postle tlttough the seetn, in a spitit of tlomplio.nt 6bedienoe, to agency·of a human being;· thus nega,th•ing, ht1ve left to •the •ordering ~ his …
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oonl!equent upon hie reaurreotion in the others, "auggested itself in anticipation ol apostle's words relative to his apoetolio the clause, • through Jesus Christ,' which appointment in Rom. i. 4, 5; where the we.a to follow." In the expression, "God Jesus Christ through whom "he had the Father,'' the addition of th…
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■ome words marking the high dignity which widened the sense proper to it in ordinary attached to the communities he is addrese- Greek into the more comprehensive import ing. He is too much displeaeed to do this of the ahaMm, which it we.a regularly em- now. The plurality oftheGa.latian Ohurchee, ployed to represent. J!…
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in Rom. viii. ~2, "He that spared not [i.e. Thel!s. i. 2, "We g{vo thanks to God for you •kept not baok '] his own Son, but ge.ve him all ; " Rom. i. S, "I thank my God for (Be, 11p('"'1''6"'1m• aurov) for us all." 'l'he addi- eeptus, v1r~p] you all," The ·use of 1repl in tion, in Matt. xxvi. 45, of the words, " int…
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evil world (1/,ru,r l!b,11-ra, -1,µar ;" -roii a//;;vor 88 one of immortality, in which processes -rou lv,tr-r@-ro1 1rov11poii. Buch is the reading of reproduction are found no more. But in of L. T, Tr. Rev, ; while the Textus Re- Lnke xvi. 8 " the children of this awn " are oeptus h11s l/1r,..r l!b,.,,..,., /iµu, l…
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and this fact should me.ke that redemption ordering of "our God "-and hi, sovereign welcome t.o us. Simile.rly, in 1 Pet. i.18 the "will" who of us she.11 dare to oontravene P epithet" handed from your fathers ( ,ra,,.powa.pa.• -and also thwarting the operation of his i,,-,.oii)," added after" your vain manner of fa…
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B11cription or proiee as an affirmation that converlll, once 10 cordial and affectionate, to God belongs or is due the glory of our have possibly been so misled? As be reflects performing oar several duties with reference on the case, whatever feeling of resentment to this end. In like manner in the (most mingled with …
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awsy from graoe ; " Rom. v. 2, '' Tbrongh exp~seea himself in lcmguo.go, the gram• whom we have also he.d onr aooe11e by faith mat1cal analysis of which is obscure and into this grace wherein we at.and." The in some degree unoertl\in. For (1) the genitive, "of Christ," denotes the Author, as relative "whioh " may be…
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meriting strong censure, or (in Col., f.oe. cit.) brethren, prompt him not unfreqnently to B8 persons to be carefully guimle, I 11gainst. veil his own individuality by aBsociating in Who these troublers were 11nd where they this woy with himself those who were wont came frotn is uncertain (eee note on ver. 2). to share…
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supposed oose be the only proper one to times much discussion ae to the bearing oftlie pronounce upon "e.n angel from heaven," pasBRge before us upon our controversy with it most certe.inly fast.ens JIIOn e.ny buman Romanists respecting tradition. If whnt being guilty of the eadll offence. The has been above ste.ted…
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Here the apostle, no doubt, refers to the as these : " May we be anathema if we taste manner in which the nnbelieving Jews al- anght till we have killed Paul I " with lowed themselves, already then, to speak which we may conjoin Mark xiv. 71, "He of our Lord. Oloorly they meant thereby began to pronounce a 01use (a.vm8…
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he savc-d, and he that disbelieved it should 'as tne 'Jlat,t ,lzid·.&ej'b~ ~ hF.so (or, lmd' ai be roudemned" (Mark· xvi. 16). Wherein ' ;now) I am saying ag~in; Tho oomploxion'. <lops "being ano.thema" differ from "being 1of the sentence, especially in tho Greek, Ji C'ondem'ned"? And "if the disbelieving good deal …
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tion on the one hand of the fickleness and written under a vivid sense of how brief the impressionableness which cbe.rncterized this interval is which separates the present state people, e.nd on the other by tho frequency of things from that of the life to come. with which perversions of Ohristie.n doctrine I Pet. i. 8…
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pemue.de tbc k-ing." The verb is need here, close or the following chapter, he distinctly Min 2 Cor. v. 11, "Knowing the foe.r of the propounds himself, as io this respoct a Lord, we persuade men." In that pe.sSRge Obrist-like pattern, for their imitation," Even the apostle ate.tea it to be his practice to [hewrites…
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fidelity to the gospel which he hae com- sively tame; (3) as thus explained, it would mitted to my trust? They scoflingly eay I not harmonize with the apostle's explicit love to • please men;' and I thank God I and repeo.ted declaration that, in ihe dis- have been wont to • plellee men' to the very charge of his high o…
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oft.en benrs_when th_e writer is passing on to man, neither was I taught it (ou8~ -yo.p /-y,I, a fresh ~eotion of d1scourne. Tims, in par- ,ra.pii &v8pd,,rou ,ra.ph,a.13ov aliT&, o~.,.. i811ldx81w); ticular, the oonjun<'tion is fonnd with " I for ~eitli_er at the hand o.f man did I m11Be~f mnlre known (-yvwpl(w)," i…
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rego,rded, in the one co.ea, llll II kincl of tincti vely to present to view either o:ic of objective creed or form of doctrine,"received" these Divine personalities, As has been re- by a man 011 its being put before him, in marked above with reference to the words ill consideration of the authority with which it ver. …
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plicitly named therewith. But we have bume.n in its cho.racter, because that he had t.o observe that in every other passage in not received it from mo.n nor been taught it whioh the Apostle Paul uses a genitive by man, but only "thro11t9h. the revelation oj with the noun "revelation" (d,ro1ed..\v"1«), Je= Ohrut." Th…
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tbie exalted Jeeos bore to iodividoe.1 human of our being, a. miracle; and 1111 such the souls, in particule.r to Saul's own soul; and apostle himself manifestly regarded it. It further, of the relation which he bore to the is he.rd to believe but that he would have dispensations or God e.s dee.ling with his repudia…
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to his life before his conversion ; and thht "devnstntc," " hrtrry; " and in clnsoieal the accounts which thev had l'eoeived of it Greek is used with refei·euco to towns, had oome through nnfriendly informants, oounti-ies, and the like, being applied to These may have been either unbeliev• persons only in the poetical …
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conscious of the presence of the Gentiles to And this latter element of thought, the vindi- whom he is writing. For the like reason ce.tory, is frequently the more prominent of ho uses the singular possessive pronoun, the two, in the use of tho word "zeal " and " my people ( -rb tOvos µov) " in his nddress to its de…
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.