The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 82

simplici!Y that_ is in Christ (2 Cor. xi. 3). The ~alatians had begun to grow weary of souna doctnne-perhaps from tho rooted r.nnuty of the carnal mind to spiritual things, and error once received into a mind that has ueparted from the freshness of first love, takes firmer root than truth, because it is more in affinitv with our lower nwo<ls. ~~sides, there is something in error to recommend it to the curiosity, or pride, or supcrstlt10n of unstable natures. Ill. 'l'HE SERIOUS ASPECT OF TRE DEFECTION. It was not only in its incipiency as the apostle signi ties, but it was ir, real process of development. It had. a double asp:ict. 1. It was defection from a person. "F_rom him ~ho called you." 'l'his was not the apostle lllm~elf, for he does not usually give prommence to his own labours, but rather ascnbes the successes of the gospel to the grace and Spirit of God. It was a defection from G_od the Father, to whom the calling is uniformly ascribed (Rom. viii. 30 ; ix. 24 ; 1 Cor. 1. 9). A.s such, tho apostasy had all the character of ingratitude. But this apostasy, in its completed aspect, is a crucifying of Christ afresh, a fresh immolation of the Redeemer. 2. It was drfectionfrom the system of grace. They were called "into the grace of Christ." They had their standing in the dispensation of grace: for the call of God works only in that sphere (Rom. v.15), and the Judaist emissaries sinned by attempting to draw them off from their true standing-ground (Rom. v. 2). Thus the Galatians rr.ade a double mistake, pregnant with the worst results-they forgot that conversion is G(1<l's work, not man's, and that the covenant under which the blessing is realized is not of works, but of grace. l \·. 'l'HE "TERMINUS AD QUEM" OF TIIE DEFECTION, "To a different gospel." The apostle does not concede that the Jewish teachers taught the gospel, even in a. per- verted form, though it might be called a gospel by its teachers. Luther says, "No heretic ever cometh under the title of errors or of the devil." The apostle's phrase, enpov, points to a difference in kind which is not involved in aMo, 'l'he gospel, in fact, lost its true character by the perverting additions of the Judaists. V. THE DANGER OF APOSTASY. The forcible language of the apostle implies the fearful risks involved in the perversions of the false teachers. Of all falls those of apostates are the most melancholy. They fall from a great height of privilege. They lose all their past pains and sacrifices in the cau8e of religion. They deliberately part with all the hopes of mercy and glory in the world to come. Ver. 7.-The true character of the perverters. The apostle says that the "different gospel" to which they were verging was really not another (a.V,o)-not a second gospel. He abruptly corrects his phraseology so as to forbid the idea of the possibility of another gospel. ThCTe is only one gospel-" the gospel of Christ." The gospel of the Judaists, though it formally accepted Christianity, revealed a different way of justification. If it is a gospel at all. it is only in this sense, that it is an attempt to pervert the gospel of Christ. The passage suggests- L THAT THE PEBVERTERS WERE WELL-KNOWN PERSONS, "Certain persons." The allusion is not to their fewness or their insignificance. He speaks of them in this manner without conferring any celebrity upon them, or exciting personal animosity against them. They may well rest in oblivion. IL IT SUGGESTS TWO CHABACTERISTI0 QUALITIES IN THEm CAREER. 1. Their unsettling influence. "They trouble you." They <listurbed the minds of quiet and honest Christians by unhinging doubts. They disturbed the peace of Churches by the cleavage of new doctrines. They created schisms and rivalries that led to the weakening of Christian love, and ultimately made way for Christians "biting and devouring one another" ( eh. v. 15). 2. Their downright perversions of the gospel. " They would pervert the gospel of Christ. So far as the Galatians were concerned, it had not become a case of actual perversion. But there could be no doubt about the tendency of the Judaist teachincr, It was a reversal of the gospel, not merely by mingling law and gospel, but by p~actically neutralizing all the merit of Christ which is the great cha- racteristic fact of the gospel.