The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 61

transmitted maxims e.nd nsages e.lso which spirit e.t the time of his first receiving the a.re described in the Gospels (of. Matt. v.; gospel. The Saul of those days, he so.ye, xv.; xxiii.; Me.rk vii.) as things se.id "by" we.a e.nime.ted by the sentiment of bitter or "to" them of old time, or e.s " the tre.• hostility to the faith; by o. stern resolve- ditions of the elders; " the particular in• the dictate, e.s he thought, of oonscience-if stances of such which a.re specified in the possible to extirpate the Ohurch. Was it Gospels being only sa.mples taken out of a supposable tho.t o. mind possessed with suoh a very large cln.se (Me.rk vii. 4). Our Lord an abhorrence of the Nazarenes was never- bim8elf. it is true, me.de a distinction be- theless accessible to voices and teachings tween these two classes of religious doctrines coming to him out of their society ? Again, or observances, rebuldng specifice.lly me.ny an earnestly religious man e.ocording to his of the latter cle.ss, e.nd discountenancing the lights, S1ml's spirit wn.s absorbed by devotion whole class in general when enforced on to Judaism-to the eager carrying oat in men ·s consciences as a religious obligation; practice, e.nd to the vindication, of those in contrast with " the Word of God," these, modes of religious life which the revered he insisted, were "commandments" or e.nd fondly cherished traditions of his people "traditions of men" (Mark vii. 7-13). Bnt recommended to him. We.a it credible the.t a J ttdaist wonld hardly have been disposed he could for a moment have given a favour- to me.ke the same distinction. Rather, it able hearing to statements, whether of would be the habit of hie mind to blend matters of fact or of religions belief, which and confound the two together as forming proceeded from e. sect of latitudinarians one entire system of formal religion; re- such e.s these, whoee·tee.cher had notoriously garding those of the latter class simply e.11 been foremost both in trampling down the explanatory of the former, or as e. fitting fences of Pharisaism in his own practice and suppletion required to give to the former due in loudly denouncing alike its principles and coherency e.nd entireness. He would be its representatives? Why, anything which disposed to consider that portion of the those men could he.ve said would to hie view whole tradition which in reality was of purely be at once self-condemned because simply of human device e.11 invested with the like the quarter from which it issued. It may obligatoriness e.s that other portion which be objected that words which he he.d heard, could truly plee.d the sanction of Divine we may confidently believe, from the martyr nnthoriza.tion. It is plain tbe.t this we.a Stephen, who, in the controversy between the cue with those Jndai.l!te with whom, .Jude.ism e.nd Christianity, may be regarded in the Gospels, our Lord is seen contending. e.11 in a certain degree Paul's own forerunner, And in all the references which St. Pe.ul and very snpposably from many another con- makes to Judaism, whether as pa.rt of his fessor of the faith of less enlightenment own former life, or e.11 con.fronted by him in than St. Stephen, though at the time re- hie apostolic agency, nowhere, either, is he pelled from his acceptance through his e.11- found making any distinction between the e.bsorbing Phariss.ism, me.y nevertheless two certs.inly distinguishable elements which have deposited Jin his mind pregnant seeds composed it. There were, however, different of thought and iustruction e.fterwe.rde to schools of thought in Jnde.ietic tre.ditione.1- be fully developed. To this objection it ism, some stricter, some more le.x. We must, appears a sufficient reply the.t the gospel therefore, further define our view of the par- of the grace of God to all mankind, untre.m• ticular branch of" paternal traditions" which melled by any Jude.ice.I restriction what- the apostle here refers to by remembering ever, which we.a the gospel entrusted to that, as he said in his speech from the stairs St. Paul, e.nd which e.t this present hour of (Acts xxii 3), he had been" instructed ac- conflict in Ge.le.tie. he we.11 more specifically cording to the strict manner of the Le.w of concerned to me.inte.in, had e.t the time their fathers; " trained, that is, to construe of his conversion been e.s yet most imper- the requirements of the Le.w as these were fectly disclosed even to the most advanced interpreted by the strictest of e.J 1 the schools ; disciples of the faith. This more perfectly e.s he said before Agrippa, "After the developed form of the gospel it was not stre.itest sect of our religion I lived a Phari- possible that he should have heretofore see" (Acts xxvi. 5). Here the inquiry hee.rd from e.ny Christian martyr or from presents itself-In whe.t way does the sub- e.ny Christian teacher; for e.t that time it 11te.nce of these two verses (13, 14) help to was still e. mystef'!/, not patent as yet to the bear out the apostle's statement in ver. 12, eyes of even apostles themselves (see Eph. that the gospel which he preached was iii 1-7). altogether derived from God's own imme- Ver. 15.-But when it pleaaed God (II-re diate revelation to himself ? The whole II~ •u5o,c71 0'fll 6 e.&s); and when it wa., the complexion of the passage shows the.t the good pleawre of God. The Authorized point which the apostle is here concerned Version and the Revised Version have "but to indicate relates to the posture of his own when." To determine the exaci force here at!. I, 1-24.J THE EPISTLE TO THE GALA'rIA.NS. 25