All nations (rdvra ra é6vn). From Gen. xviii. 18; comp. Gen. xxii. 18, LXX. Gen. xii. 8 reads macae ai dural all the tribes. Ta é0vn was the collective term by which all non-Jews were denoted, and is more suitable to Paul’s Gen- tile audience.
Shall be blessed (évevrAoynOyjcovrar). In N. T. only here. LXX, Gen. xii. 8; xviii. 18; xxii. 18; xxvi. 4; Sir. xliv. 21. The blessing is the messianic blessing of which the Gentiles are to partake — the imparting of the Spirit as the new life-principle and the pledge of future blessedness in Christ. This blessing Abraham shared on the ground of his faith, and believers shall share it as the true spiritual chil- dren of Abraham.
In thee (év col). Not, through thy posterity, Christ, but in the fact that thou art blessed is involved the blessedness of
Cu. IIL] THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 117
the Gentiles through faith, in so far as they shall be justified by faith, and through justification receive the Holy Spirit.
9. With (ovv). Not=like or as, but in fellowship with. Believers are regarded as homogeneous with Abraham, and as thus sharing the blessing which began in him.
Faithful (ricr@). Or believing, as Acts xvi. 1; 2 Cor. vi. 15; 1 Tim. v. 16. Those who are of the faith are one in blessing with him whose characteristic was faith.
10. Under the curse (imo cardpav). Better, wnder curse. There is no article. The phrase is general=accursed. Comp. up apuaptiav under sin, Rom. iii. 9. The specific character of the curse is not stated. It is not merely the wrath of God as it issues in final destruction (Meyer); but it repre- sents a condition of alienation from God, caused by violation of his law, with all the penalty which accrues from it, either in this life or the next.
Cursed (émixatdpatos). Only here and ver. 18. °Class. In LXX, see Gen. iii. 14, 17; Deut. xxvii. 16-20; Isa. Ixv. 20; Wisd. ili. 12; xiv. 8, etc.
Continueth — in (éupéver). The expression is figurative, the book of the law being conceived as a prescribed district or domain, in which one remains or out of which he goes. Comp. continue in the faith, Acts xiv. 22; in the covenant, Heb. viii. 9; in the things which thou hast learned, 2 Tim. ii. 14.
11. But (dé). Better, now. The 6é continues the argu- ment, adding the scripture testimony.
By the law (év vdum). Rather, in the sphere of the law; thus corresponding with continueth in, ver. 10.
The just shall live by faith (6 dicavos éx miotews Sjcerar). Better, the righteous. Quoted from Hab. ii. 4, and appears
118 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. III.
in Rom. i. 17, and Heb. x. 38. The LXX has pot my, either after Sikazos, “ my righteous one shall live, etc.,” or after wic- tews, “by my faith or faithfulness.” *
18. Hath redeemed (éénycpacev). P°. Better redeemed. ~ Comp. Gal. iv. 5; Eph. v. 16; Col. iv. 5. In LXX once, Dan. ii. 8. See on Col. iv. 5.
Us. Referring specially to Jews.
Being made a curse (yevopuevos xatdpa). Better, having become. See on ch. ii. 20.
It is written. From LXX of Deut. xxi. 23, with the omission of td Ged by God after cursed. Paul, as Light- foot justly says, instinctively omits these words, since Christ was in no sense accursed by God in his crucifixion. The statement does not refer to Christ’s enduring the curse in our stead, but solely to the attitude in which the law placed Christ by subjecting him to the death of a malefactor. The law satisfied its demand upon him, and thus thrust him out of the pale of the legal economy. We, by our fellowship with him, are likewise cast out, and therefore are no longer under curse.
Upon a tree (él EvAov). Originally wood, timber. In later Greek, a tree. In Class. used of a gallows (Aristoph. Frogs, 736). Often of the stocks (Aristoph. Clouds, 592; Lysistr. 680; Knights, 367). So Acts xvi. 24. Of the cross, Acts v. 30; x. 89; 1 Pet. ii. 24. Ignatius (Smyrn. i.) says that Christ was nailed up for our sakes —of which fruit are we. That is, the cross is regarded as a tree, and Christians as its fruit. Comp. TZrall. ii. See the interesting remarks of Lightfoot on the symbolism of the tree of life in Paradise (Apostolic Fathers, Part II., Vol. II., p. 291).