/ am glad, therefore, on your hehalf ; hut yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. That is,
* Simplicity (an unsuspecting docility) is indeed g-ood ; but I would have you not only simple but prudent. You must not only avoid doing evil, but be careful that j^'ou do not suffer evil.' Grotius' explanation is pe- culiarly happy, ' so prudent as not to be deceived ; and so good as not to deceive.' The word simple means unmixed, pure, and then harmless.
* Wise as to good, but simple as to evil ;' or, ' wise so that good may result, and simple so that evil may not be done.' This latter is proba- bly the meaning. Paul would have them so wise as to know how to take care of themselves ; and yet harmless.
(20) ^nd the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ he with you. Amen. As the evils produced by the false teachers were divisions and scandals, the apostle, in giving them the assurance of the effectual aid of God, calls him the God of -peace, i. e. God who is the author of peace in the comprehen- sive scriptural sense of that term. Shall hruise is not a prayer, but a consolatory declaration that Satan should be trodden under foot. As Satan is constantly represented as " working in the children of disobe- dience," the evil done by them is sometimes referred to him as the insti- gator, and sometimes to the immediate agents who are his willing in- struments. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ he with you. This is a prayer for the favour and aid of Christ, and of course is an act of worship, and a recognition of the Saviour's divinity.
(21 — 24) These verses contain the salutations of the apostle's com- panions to the Roman Christians, and a repetition of the prayer just mentioned. / Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord, Tertius was Paul's amanuensis. The apostle seldom wrote his epistles with his own hand ; hence he refers to the fact of having himself written the letter to the Galatians as something unusual; Gal. 6: 11, "Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand." In order to authenticate his epistles, he generally wrote himself the saluta- tion or benediction at the close; 1 Cor. 16: 21, "The salutation of me Paul, with mine own hand ;" 2 Thess. 3 : 17, " The salutation of Paul with mine own hand ; which is the token in every epistle : so I write." Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, i. e. Gains, who not only entertains me, but Christians generally ; or, in whose house the congregation is accustomed to assemble. Erastus the chamberlain of the city (^oikov6ho^), the treasurer of the city, the quaestor.
(25 — 27) These verses contain the concluding doxology. Now to him that is of power to establish you, according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, &c. To him that is able to establish you, i. e. to render you firm and constant, to keep you from falling. According to my gospel. The word rendered according to may be variously explained. It is by many taken for /w, ' establish you in my gospel ;' but this the proper meaning of the