The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 121

"Yon Cephas," he says, "e.nd I were living been led to think thus t1nd to act thus; in e.s do the Jews ; no unclean sinners of other words, by Christ himself. Would it Gentiles were we 1 And both you e.nd I not, then, follow the.t Christ WB8 a ministor have been me.de righteous. And how? to them, not of righteousness, but of sin, of Not through those works of the Law, but damning guilt? The pe.rtioiple "seeking" through believing in Christ Jesus. And does not merely me.rk the time o.t which these Gentile brethren, from whom you are they were found to be sinners, but e.lso o.nd now shrinking be.ck as if they were not indeed much more, the course of conduct by good enough for us to associate with,-they which they proved themselves such. The believe in Christ e.s truly as we do ; they are words, "iu Christ," o,re not equivcJent to therefore e.s truly righteous e.s we are. It " through Christ," though the former idea is absurd for you to try to thrust upon them includes the latter; the preposition is used those works of the Law; by the works of the in the so.me sense o.s in the sentences, '' In Law can neither they be made righteous nor God the Father o.ud the Lord Jesus Christ" ;ret we. So neither, on tho other hand, by (1 Thess. i. 1); "Of him are ye in Christ disregarding the works of the Law can Jesus " (1 Cor. i. 30) ; " So.nctified in Christ either they or we be made sinners." This Jesus" (1 Cor. i. 2). It denotes e. sto.te of last position, that the neglect of the works intimo.te o.ssocio.tion, union, with Christ, of the Law does not disqualify a fellow- involving justifico.tiou by necessary conse- Christian for brotherly recognition, is quence. Comp. Phit iii. 9, "Tho.t I may plainly essential to his present argument. be found in him, not ho.ving o. righteousness But this is true only of the neglect of the of mine own, oven that which is of the Lo.w, positfre Levitical proccpts of the Le.w; the but the.t which is through faith in Christ." neglect of its moral precepts does disqualify We ourselves e.lso e.re found sinners (,~pJ671- him (1 Cor. v. 11). Does it not seem a just µ.,v ,cal c,~,-ol a.µ.d.p,-o,}1.01); we ourselves also inference from this course of argument, the.t wei·e found sinn,n-s. The word "found" no man whom we have reason to believe to hint~ a certain measure of surprise ( comp. be justified by faith in Christ is to be Matt. i. 18; Acts viii. 40; Rom. vii. 21: refused either Christio.n association or 2 Cor. x. 12; xii. 20). Cephas was behaving Church fellowship? now as if to his painful surprise he he.d Ver. 17.-llut if, while we seek to be found himself to have been previously acting jJ.Sti.lied by Christ (,lg, (71.,.oiiv,-,s g.,,a,o,9,iva, in a most guilty manner. The word "'sin- •• XpuT'T<i,); but if while seeking to be jm- ners" appears to denote more than the state tijied in Christ. The present participle, of ceremonial uncleanness incurred by vio- "while seeking," that is,•• while we sought," lating the prescriptions of Levitico.l purity: is referred back to the time indicated in the indeed, it meant more even as u,etl ·by words, '' we believed," of the preceding thorough-going ceremonio.lists ( as in ver. verse--the time, the.t is, when, made aware 15); it points to the gross outrage which that works of the Law conld not justify, they, would in the case supposed have been put Cephas and Po.ul, severally set themselves upon the majesty of God's Law. In the to find righteousness in Christ. At that next verse "transgressor" is used as e. con- time they in heart utterly renounced the vertible term. "Ourselves also "-o.s truly notion that "works of the Law" he.d any o.s any Gentile of them e.11. There is a effect upon e. man's standing before God; touch of sarrasm in the clause, having a they saw that hie doing them could not covert reference to St. Peter having turned m'.l.ke him righteous, e.s well ns that hie not his back upon his Gentile brethren e.s unfit doing them would not me.ke him a sinner for him to o.ssocie.te with; be thereby was (see Matt. xv. 10-20). This we.s an essen- treating them as "sinners." Is therefore tial feature of their state of mind in seeking Christ the minister of ein 1 (ilpa XpuTTbs righteousness in Christ. They distinguished a.µ.ap-rt,n li,&.,cavos ;) ; is Christ a mini•ter of Levitical purity and pollution from spiritual sin? T Apa ie found iu the New 'l'esto.ment and relll Ancl the principle was not only besides only in Luke xviii. 8 and Acts viii. embraced in their hearts, but, in course of 30, in both which passages it simply pro- time, it embodied itself also, as occasion pounds e. question, without indicating served, in outward deed. They, both Paul whether the answer is expected to be nega- and Cephas himself, were bold to" live after tive or affirmative. So Soph,, • <Ed. T.,' ilp' the manner of Gentiles" (ver. 14), and with rq,vv l<al<OS; a.p' ouxl ,ras liVC&)'JIOS; 'l'he in- Gentiles to freely associate. If thie was ference here is so shocking that the apostle wrong, it we.s most heinously wrong; for it ie unwilling to put it forward except as a would be nothing short of a presumptuous question that might fairly be asked upoo 11tttiug e.t nought of God's own Law by such premisses. 'l'his gives the sentence a which they flagrantly proved themselves to less repulsive tone the.n the reading, which. be, in e. futal and damning sense, ,inner,. without e.n interrogative puts it thus: "Apa. }jut it wu by the gospel the.t they had Xp11,.,.b, l&JM•p,-ta.r o,d,covos. God forbid (}'¾/ Cll, II, 1-21.] THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 87