The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 39

found elsewhere. indicate that it was through • of men, deputed to oonvey to others I\ Jesus Obrist raised from the dead that this message of theirs f or wns he nn envoy particular volition of God was declared e.nd commissioned immediately by Christ to 'brought to effect. The formula referred to, convey to the world a messnge which Iilrn- "through the will of God," was apparently wise was received immediately from Christ? introduced with the view of confronting Those who disputed his statements of reli- those who were disposed to question his gious doctrino might o.dmit that he bad right to claim this supreme form of apostle- been deputed to preach the gospel by ship, with the mgis of Divine authorization: Christ!an Ohlll'ches or by eminently repre- they had God to reckon with. The like is the sentative leaders of the Church, while they purport of the substituted words in 1 Tim. i. 1, nevertheless asserted that he had misre- "According to the commandment of God our presented, or perhaps misapprehended, the Saviour, and Christ Jesus our Hope." Not message entrusted to him. At all events, of men, neither by ma.n (0/11, ibr' a.v0pw..-,,w, o,',~/; they would be at liberty to affirm that the 6t' a.v0pw..-ov) ; not from men, neither through. statements he made in delivering his mes- a man. The preposition "from" (a...-/,) . sage were subject to an appeal on the part points to the primary fountain of the dele- of his hearers to the human authorities who gation referred to; "through" (6,?.) to the had delegated him. If he owed alike his medinm through which it was conveyed. commission and his message to (say) the The necessity for this twofold negation Church of Antioch, or to the Chlll'ch at arose from the fact that the word "apostle," Jerusalem, or to the twelve, or to James the as I have had occasion fully to set forth Lord's brother, or. to other leaders whomso- elsewhere, was frequently among Christians ever of the venerable mother Church, then it applied to messengers deputed by Churches, followed that he was to be' held amenable to or, probably, even by some important repre- their overruling judgment in the discharge sentative officer in the Church, whether on of this apostleship of his. What he taught a mission for the propagation of the gospel had no force if this higher court of appeal or for the discharge at some distant place withheld its sanction. Now, this touched of ma.tters of business connected with the no mere problematical contingency, but was Christian cause. St. Paul had himself a practical issue which, just at this time, frequently served in this lower form of was one of even vital importance. It had apostleship, both as commissioned by the an intimate connection with the fierce Church to carry abroad the message of the antagonism of contending parties in the gospel, and also as deputed to go to e.nd fro Church, then waged over the dying body of between Churches on errands of charity or the Levitical Law. St. Paul's mission as an for the settlement of controversies. In apostle is most. reasonably considered to either case he as well as others acting in date from the time when, as he stated in his the like capacity, would very naturally and defence before King Agrippa (Acts xxvi. 16, properly be spoken of as an "apostle" by 17), the Lord Jesus said to him, " To this others, as we actually find him to have been; end have I appeared unto thee, to appoint as also he would appear to have been ready on thee a minister and a witness [61M1pfr11v 1<al this same account so to designate himself.' µa.pTvpa: comp. auT01rTai 1«:d V11"1/pETa1, Luke That he was e.n " apostle '' in this sense i. 2 and Acts i. 2, 3, 8, 22] both of the none probably would have been minded to things wherein thou hast seen me, and of dispute. Why should they? His having, the things wherein I will appear unto thee; even repeatedly, held this kind of subordi- delivering thee from the people [,\aoii, sc. nate commissiou did not of itself give him Israel], and from the Gentiles, unto whom I a greater importance than attached to many myself send thee [els oOs 1-yw a.1rotrTb,,\w tr<: others who had held the same. Neither did thus L.-T. Tr. Rev.; the Textus Receptus it invest hill statements of religious truth reads ,ls oOs viiv tre a.1rotrTIAM•]" (comp. with a higher sanction than theirs. This Acts xxii.14, 15; 1 Cor. ix. 1). But though last was the point which, in St. Paul's his appointment was in reality coeval with his own estimation, gave the question of the conversion, it was only in course of tiine and real natlll'e of his apostleship its whole by slow degrees that his properly apostolic significance. Was be a commissioned envoy function became signalized to the conscious- ness of the Church. Nevertheless, there is 1 For the proof of these statements, the no reason for doubting that to his own con- reader is referred to the following passages : sciousness his vocation as apostle was clearly -Phil. ii 25; 2 Cor. viii. 23; Rom. xvi. 7; manifested from the very first. The prompt ·2 Cor. xi. 5, 13; xiL 11; Rev. ii. 2; Acts and independent manner in which he at ;xiv. 4, 14; I These. ii. 7; and to the dis- once set himself to preach the gospel, whioh cussion of the import and bearing of them itself, he tells the Galatians in this chapter, ,severally, in the essay on "Apostles" found he had received immediately from heaven, lil the Introduction. betokens his having this oonsciousness. OH, I, 1-24.] THE '.EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 3