became the curse, which we were, in our stead, that we might cease to be a curse. — yiypaKrai, it is written) Deut. xxi. 23, xsxarqpa/Asvoc U-TTO &sou rfas xps/Ad/Atvog swi ^uXoi». — Jcr/ ^i/Xou, on a tree) between heaven and earth. Our mother-tongue calls it the gallows. The apostles, in treating of redemption, mention the cross, rather than the agony on the Mount of Olives, 1 Pet. ii. 24. Had not the punishment of the cross been long ago abo lished, the stupendous power of the cross of Christ would be more obviously before our eyes.
14. "Ivot, — ha, that- — that) The first that corresponds to, being made (a curse), the last to, hath redeemed us ; comp. that occur ring twice, iv. 5, note. — e/$ ra tQvri) on the Gentiles, who were afar off, ver. 8. — rqv sTrayyt\ia,v ro\j Kvtvftarog, the promise of the Spirit) Luke xxiv. 49, note. — Xa(3u/Mv, we might receive) we Jews, nearly related in Christ to the blessing. The nature of faith is expressed by this word ; the promise and faith stand in relation to each other. — dia r%g irforeus, by faith) not of works, for faith depends on the promise alone. " The Spirit from without kindles within us some spark of faith, whereby we lay hold of Christ, and even the Spirit Himself, that He may dwell within us." — Flacius.
15. "O/AWS) yet; although it be only a maris testament or covenant, from which the comparison is taken. — avOpuirov, of a man) whose purpose it is of far less importance to maintain. — xexvpup'svriv, confirmed) when once all things have been ratified, for example, by the death of the testator, Heb. ix. 16. So %ai sxvpuQTi o aypbs, Dp*1!, Gen. xxiii. 20. — ovdsig) no man, not even the author himself, unless some unexpected cause either in his own mind or from without should happen (such a cause as can not occur to God) : much less any other person [since he is here indeed speaking of a point of equity (the matter of right), for in point of fact testaments or bequests made by men are sooner or later infringed not without incurring heavy guilt. — V. g.] ; and to that other person the law corresponds in the Apodosis. For o v6fto$, the law, is here considered also, as a second person dis tinct from the promise of God, as it were by personification, in the same way that sin and the law are opposed to God, Rom. vi. 13, viii. 3 ; and Mammon, as if it were a master, is opposed to God, Matt. vi. 24 : and the elements of the world are compared
24 GALATIANS 111. in.
with the tutors, and the law is called a schoolmaster, presently after, ver. 24, cli. iv. 2, 3. The promise is looked upon as more ancient, and as spoken by God : the law, as more recent, and as distinguished from God the lawgiver ; because the promise more peculiarly belongs to God ; the law is, as it were, some thing more extraneous; see ver. 17, 18, 21, 22. — MtnTn sKidia- rdoffsrai, disannuls or adds to it) in whole or in part : by abolish ing, taking away legacies, or adding new charges or conditions. Makes of none effect, ver. 17, corresponds to both words.
16. 'Eppsfyffav, were spoken) a weighty expression. — a/ kvay- yeXiai, the promises ) In the plural ; the promise frequently re peated [ver. 17, 18] : and it was twofold, of things on earth and things in heaven ; of the land of Canaan, and of the world, and of all the good things of God, Rom. iv. 13. But the law was given once for all. — xa/, and) Gen. xiii. 15, xii. 7, xv. 18, xvii 8. — X'tyti, He says) God. — ug kni -roXXwv, as of many) as if there was one seed before the law, another under the law. — us If' evbs, as of one) See how Paul draws a conclusion of great wreight from the grammatical accident, number ; and this is the more wonderful, because jnt is never put in the plural, unless in 1 Sam. viii. 15, where it however denotes lands, not seeds. Indeed, in the LXX. Int. the force of the singular number is more apparent. Moreover, Paul has not here determined that seed denotes one single offspring alone, and that seeds, and they alone [i.e. that it is the plural alone, which must], signify a numer ous offspring : for seed in the singular very often implies a multitude ; but he means to say this, that there is one seed, i.e. one posterity, one family, one race of the sons of Abraham, to all of whom the inheritance falls by promise, [after Moses, as well as before Moses ; of the uncircumcision not less than of the circumcision. — V. g.] not to some by promise, to others by the law, Rom. iv. 16. But you will do well to distinguish between the promise of the blessing and the promise of the inheritance of the world or of the earth ; in the former, not in the latter, the appellation, seed, has regard to Christ. For the blessing is ac complished in Abraham, not by or in himself (per se), inasmuch as he died before the Gentiles obtained the blessing, but inas much as he has the seed ; and it is accomplished in the seed of Abraham, not because that seed is innumerable ; for Abraham