The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 51

he savc-d, and he that disbelieved it should 'as tne 'Jlat,t ,lzid·.&ej'b~ ~ hF.so (or, lmd' ai be roudemned" (Mark· xvi. 16). Wherein ' ;now) I am saying ag~in; Tho oomploxion'. <lops "being ano.thema" differ from "being 1of the sentence, especially in tho Greek, Ji C'ondem'ned"? And "if the disbelieving good deal resembles tha.t'in 2 ·cor. xiii. :I," I " shall be condemned," can a less guiltin()sS , have sl\id beforehand, and I do say before- he supposed to nttach to one who not only hand (7rpo,!p711CCJ ""l wpo'Al-yo,), as when I disbelieved the gospel himself, but was also was present the second time, so now being plucking it out of the heR.rts of other~ and absent." In this latter pn.sso.ge, the perfect, 1,nlming off upon them instead a fa]s() gospel " I have said befotehaud," points to the which wns no sal vntion? "But could St. time indicated in the words, "as when I was Paul, being such a lover of souls as he was, present the second time." The resemblance imprecate a doom of perdition to fall upon between the two passages, notwithstanding any soul of man?" Absolutely, we may the somewhat different senses in which the say he could not; but conditionally,. he verb ( ,rpoll.l-y«v) is used in them, suggests might, and that in perfect consistency with the view that here likewise in tho first his usual habits of feeling-conditionally, clause the verb refers to some former occa- on the supposition, that is, that the sin was sion on which the apostle w~s personally not repented of and forsaken. It was his present with those he is writing to. The very lorn of souls that would impel him thus Greek verb (,rpo'Al-y,w), "say before," is to speuk, not only on behalf of the souls sometimes equivalent to "forewarn," ne which the bringer-in of a false doctrine I Thess. iv. 6; eh. v. 21 ; and 2 Cor. xiii. 2 rni!:'.hl destroy, but on behalf of the deceiver's (twice). Sometimes it means "say on a ow'ii self. He pronounces the doom iu order former occasion," as I Cor. vii. 3, o.nd most to deter and thus save. We have to remem- probably here. The first clause has by ber. too, that the apostle is not, at the dictate somo been supposed to refer to the preceding of his own passionate zeal for the truth, verse. But recent critics generally agree in constituting either a new sin or a new feeling that both the verb "we ho.ve said measure of p2nalty. He simply, as prophet before" and the adverb "now" suggest the nnil apostle, utters forth the mind of him who sense of a wider interval of time. The use is Lawgiver and Judge. This last consider- of the verb in 2 Cor. vii. 3 has been cit@i on ation suggests the limits within which only behalf of the other view. But oven if the can tlie apostle's action in this matter be somewhat doubtful idea. be admitted that 2 Cor. vii. 3 points back to the twelfth verse f;~:~j : ~! ~:Off:, !~r tti~~~~h ~} of the preceding chapter, it would still fail England speaks in her Commination Office, to furnish en adequate parallel. For not " the general sentences of God's cUising only is it parted from the earlier passage by a.;ainst impenitent sinners gathered out of the number of verses which intervene, but Scripture "-and by" general sentences" we also by e. succession of varying moods of are to understand sentences pronounced feeling and diverse styles of address. Ac- upon classes of offenders, not sentences upon count has to be taken of the change of indi,idual persons, to whom we may con- number between "we have said before" jecture them to be applicable. It is lawful and "I am saying again." The only alw to us individually and right, that we probable explanation is that the "we" sLould add to the utterance of each sentence recites the same persons as in the words" we our hearty" Amen," and thus take part with preached" in ver. 8; whereas Paul, o.s now God nnd his Law, not only against sins writing (probably) with his own. he.nd, committed by our neighboUis, but most presents himself individually as reitere.ting especially and abo,e all against wilful trans- that solemn affirmation. The words, " now gressions of oUI own. But beyond this, also I am saying again," as marking o. time none who are not special organs of inspiration contrasted with that earlier one referred to, may venture to go, whether acting indi- contemplate the asseveration made in tho ,idually or in any corporate capacity. An eighth verse as well as in this. In tho anathema is a bolt of doom each as the "now" the apostle indicates, not so much .Almighty alone ea? fas~ion or m~k~ opera- the moment of his writing, as the just then tive; and we are rnvadmg the Divine pre- subsisting juncture of circumstances in rogative and working mischief and peril for Galatia, which called for the renewal of his ourselves if, on the one hand, we venture cornmination. Its earlier utterance referred to· enlarge and make more specific tha_n h~ to may have occurred either in the second has done his "general sentences of cursing, visit to Galatia, mentioned in Acts xviii. 23, or, on the other, dilute the force of these or in the first, mentioned in Acts xvi. 6. solemn warnings of his, and treat them When ta.king leave of his disciples on with disregard. either occasion he may have been led to thus Ver. 9.-A.s we said before, so say I now emphatically insist upon the sacred, inviol- again (ws .,,.po,.pfi,caµ.,v, "'" 11.pn 7ra.ll.w ll.l-yr,,); able character of the gospel, by his observa..• OH, I. 1-24.] THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 15