* See an interesting passage in Plato, Lysis, 207, 208.
Cu. IID] THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 129
He now addresses the Galatians, who were mostly Gentiles, and includes all Christians, Jewish and Gentile. 2. The emphasis is on sons of God rather than on all; for his object is to show that, after the coming of faith, they are no more under the care of a guardian. ‘“Tvol signifies sons of full age (comp. ch. iv. 1) who have outgrown the surveillance of the guardian; so that sons is emphasised as against children. Paul describes Christians both as réxva @eod children of God (Rom. viii. 16, 21; ix. 8; Philip. ii. 15), and viol Oe0d sons of God (Rom. viii. 14,19; ix. 26). Both rékvov and vids signify a relation based on parentage. The common distinc- tion between téxvov as emphasising natural relationship, and vids as marking legal or ethical status, should not be pressed. In LXX both words are applied ethically to Israel as God’s beloved people. See Isa. xxx. 1; Wisd. xvi. 21; Joel ii. 23; Zech. ix. 138; and Isa. xlii. 6; Deut. xiv. 1; Wisd. ix. 7; xii. 19. John never uses vids to describe the relation of Christians toGod; but he attaches both the ethical relation and that of conferred privilege, as well as that of birth, to réxvov. Seeds las I) me bls ei 18 sSIO STs MLS! His Ds iv. 7; v. 1,4,18. Paul often regards the Christian relation from a legal point of view as vioGecia adoption, a word used only by him. See Rom. viii. 15, 23; Gal. iv. 5; Eph. i. 5; but in Rom. viii. 14,17, we have both viol and tékva, and both in the ethical sense. In Rom. viii. 21 réva has the legal sense. In Rom. ix. 8; Eph. v. 1, the ethical sense. 8. In Christ Jesus. Const. with faith. The article before. tictews faith may point back to the faith previously men- tioned, or may have, as so often, a possessive force, your faith.
27. Were baptized into Christ (eis Xpiotov éBarriaOnte). See on Matt. xxviii. 19. Not in relation to Christ (Meyer), but into spiritual union and communion with him. Comp. Rom. vi. 3 (see note); 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13, 27. Paul here conceives baptism, not as a mere symbolical transaction, but as an act in which believers are put into mystical union with, the crucified and risen Lord. Comp. Rom. vi. 3-11.
VOL. Iv.—9
130 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. III.
(You) put on Christ (Xpictov évedicacbe). The phrase only here and Rom. xiii. 14. The figurative use of the verb occurs only once in the Gospels, L. xxiv. 49, but often in Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 583; Eph, iv. 24; Col. i. 10, 12, ete. Chrysostom (Hom. xiii. on Ephesians) remarks, “ We say of friends, one puts on the other, meaning thereby much love and unceasing fellowship.” In LXX quite often in the figur- ative sense, as Judg. vi. 84; 1 Chron. xii. 18; 2 Chron. vi. 41; Job viii. 22; xxix. 14; Ps. evili. 18. Similarly in class., Plato, Rep. 620, of Thersites putting on the form of a monkey: Xen. Cyr. ii. 1, 18, of insinuating one’s self into the minds of hearers. So the Lat. induere: Cicero, De Off. iii. 10, 48, to assume the part of a judge: Tac. Ann. xvi. 28, to take on the part of a traitor or enemy. To put on Christ implies making his character, feelings and works our own. Thus Chrysostom: “If Christ is Son of God, and thou hast put him on, having the Son in thyself and being made like unto him, thou hast been brought into one family and one nature.” And again: “He who is clothed appears to be that with which he is clothed.”
28. With this putting on of Christ, the distinctions of your ordinary social relations —of nation, condition, sex — vanish. Comp. Rom. x. 12; 1 Cor. xii. 13; Col. iii. 11.