Ver. 21. In view of the continuity of divine providence the suggestion that the Law contravened or nullified the previous covenant of God with Abraham and the patriarchs is dismissed as monstrous. It was incompatible with the faithfulness of God to His pledged word, and is therefore repudiated with the customary formula μὴ γένοιτο. The apparent sanction given by the Law to a new method of justifica- tion (viz., by works) could lead to no actual result, unless it had at the same time the er which it lacked of quickening spiritual Π{ε.-- τοῦ Θεοῦ. These words are omitted in some MSS., but the preponderance of authority is in favour of their retention. The sense is the same whether they be expressed or understood. The addition may perhaps be due to a marginal comment which found its way into the text.
Ver. 22. The real function of the Law was not to justify but to convict of sin, that men might the more readily turn in humble faith to Christ for relief from the
20 —24.
173
ὄντως ἐκ νόμου ἦν ἂν] ἡ δικαιοσύνη" 22. ἀλλὰ συνέκλεισεν ἡ γραφὴ
’ ~ -“ τὰ πάντα ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν, ἵνα ἡ ἐπαγγελία ἐκ πίστεως ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ
δοθῇ τοῖς πιστεύουσι.
23. Πρὸ τοῦ δὲ ἐλθεῖν τὴν πίστιν, ὑπὸ νόμον
ἐφρουρούμεθα συγκλειόμενοι 2 εἰς τὴν μέλλουσαν πίστιν ἀποκαλυφ-
θῆναι " 24. ὥστε 6 νόμος παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν γέγονεν εἰς Χριστὸν, ἵνα
lex νομου ην av ΜΑΒΟ 3, εἴς. ; om. ην av FG; av ex νομου ην D?EKLP, μου η & η μου η
2 συνκλειομενοι ΝΑΒΡΙΕΡ 17, εἰς. ;
burden of an accusing conscience.—y γραφὴ. The Old Testament was always designated by the plural γραφαί in apo- stolic times, for the several books were preserved in separate rolls and did not form a single whole. Here, therefore, 4 γραφή points to some particular passage of the Law to which the author has already drawn attention as embodying its spirit. The passage of Deut. xxvii. 26 quoted in νετ, 10 answers this description, for it imprecates a curse on all who fell short of perfect ορεάϊεπςε.--συνέκλεισεν .. . τὰ πάντα. The figure here presented of prisoners under sentence, condemned to pay the penalty of sin, makes it clear that the object of συνέκλεισεν is persons, not things: and accordingly these prisoners are described in ver. 23 as συγκλειόμενοι (masc.). A neuter plural substantive must therefore be understood with τὰ πάντα which is applicable to persons. Hence 1 infer that by τὰ πάντα is meant τὰ πάντα σπέρματα, i.c., all the families of Abraham after the flesh, in other words the whole Jewish nation.—tva... The design of the Law was to pave the way for the eventual fulfilment of the promise to all that believe by faith in Christ.
Vv. 23, 24. THE POSITION OF THE TRUE CHILDREN OF GOD BEFORE THE COMING OF CHRIST IS ILLUSTRATED BY ΤΗΕ CONTROL EXERCISED OVER CHILDREN IN THEIR FATHER’S HOUSE BY MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. These verses ex- plain the position of the faithful under the Law. They are here associated with Christians by the use of the first person plural; for they too were in their genera- tion believers in God, they belonged to the same blessed family and inherited the original promise. Yet since all Israel from the time of Moses to the Advent were subjected to the control of the Law, they too were subject to bondage. But this was really due to the watchful love of their Heavenly Father, who thus pro- vided needful shelter and guidance, just as an earthly father places his young children during years of weakness and inexperience under the charge of house-
συνκεκλεισμενοι CD°EKL.
hold servants.—tnyv πίστιν. The article, though ignored in our versions, is essen- tial to the sense. By the coming of the faith is meant the historic fact of the Christian religion, the spread of the Gos- pel on earth. The term has the same objective sense as in i. 23, ili. 25, Acts vi. 7,and Rom. iii. 30, where also a clear distinction is drawn between πίστεως, faith in the abstract, and τῆς πίστεως, the faith of Christ. Obviously faith did not come with Christ, it was the most conspicuous virtue of the Jewish Church, and Abraham was but the first of many splendid examples of it.—ovyxAevdpevor. MS. authority is strongly in favour of the present participle, which is also more appropriate than the perfect ovyxe- κλεισμένοι for describing the continuous process of legal condemnation which pre- vailed from generation to generation.— παιδαγωγὸς. No English equivalent for this term can convey its real force, for it has no exact counterpart in an English home. The position of a nurse towards young children approaches more nearly than that of schoolmaster or tutor to the office of the παιδαγωγός, for he was a confidential dependent, usually a slave, neither qualified to instruct, nor invested with authority to control his young master, but appointed to attend on him, to safeguard him, and to report to his father any disorderly or immoral habits on which it might be necessary for the father to place a check. The Law in like manner regulated outward habits, enforced order and decency, and main- tained a certain standard of morality among Israelites until in due time they became ripe for spiritual freedom. It was not the function of the Law to address itself directly to the conscience like the Prophets, or to claim spiritual authority over the whole man, but to impose a check on the open tyranny of evil, to enforce on the community a higher standard of morals, and so to foster indirectly the growth of spiritual life. Vv. 25-29. BuT NOW WE ARE NO LONGER CHILDREN. YE ARE ALL SONS