The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 124

uenBl with him, well-nigh to wreck the gram- (2 Cor. v. 7). I live by the faith of the Bon mnticl\l couetmction. A method, indeed, of God (iv 1rf0'1'EI (w -rfi 'TOV vloii 1'0V 0,av); ho.e been proposed by critics of dispoeing 1 live by faith, the faith which is in the S011. this clo.uee with reepcct to the preceding in of God. By faith, not by works of the such a manner ae to moke the eentence run Levitical Law. It was by faith in Christ quite emoothly; thus: Zw a~ 0~1dn i-ydi, (ii that I first became partaker of this life; it ai iv lµol Xp<0'1'os: that ie, ae given in the ie by faith in Christ that I continue to par• margin of the Revieed Englieh Version, "I take of it; Jetting go my faith in Christ, I ho.ve been crucified with Christ; and it ie partake of the life no longer. The especial no longer I tho.t live, but Christ liveth in relevancy of this statement of the apostle's, me." But not only doee this method of whether with respect to the matters 11,gi- construing altogether efface the apostle's te.ted 11,t Antioch, or with respect to any such assertion of his being alive notwithetanding revival of Levitice.l notions of acceptable• the Law's malediction-an aeeertion which ness .with God 11,s wae now perplexing the agrees eo thoroughly with the defiant tone Churchmen of Galatia, is the warning which of the argument, but the abruptneee of the it implicitly conveys that, to revert to Levi- construction aa presented in the ordinary tical notions of uncleanness or of righteous- reading of the paseage is its very recom- ness, was to ein against faith in Christ, 11,nd mendation; for such uncouthness of style therewith against the very essence of 11, is wont to show itself in St. Paul's more Christian's epiritnal life. It was the strong eager, im po.ssioned passages. " No longer sense which the apostle had of the abso- I; " a.a in those old days when I prided lutely fatal tendency of ench relapses to- myself on being an especial favourite of wards Judaism that inspired the deep Heaven, eminently righteous through meri- pathos which here tinges his language. torious doings of my own, through my punc- Hence the magnificent title by which he tilious observance in particular of all that recites Christ's personality, "the Son of the Law prescribes for gaining and maintain- God;" possessing as such an absolutely ing ceremonial sanctity (comp. Phil. iii. 4, commanding claim to his people's adherence, 6). "In those days it was I that was alive; which they dare not decline. Hence, too, it is not eo now." The fyw ((ow, "I we.a the words which follow. Who loved me, alive," of Rom. vii. 9, serves again ae a and gave himself for me (1'oii a.-ya.7n)O'av1'6s perfect ill ustre.tion of the phraseology of the µ,, KO.l ,rapa.ooVTOS foV1'hV {n,,p ,µov); who present passage ; only we have still to bear loved me, and ga'lle himself up for me. in mind that the apostle is at present con- Fain would the reader realize to his mind templating the ceremonial aspect of his old the fervid, thrilling tones o.nd accent of life, rather than, as in the Romans, the voice in which the apostle, while uttering moral; the two being no doubt, however, in these words, would give vent to the senti- hie former Pharisee scheme of religion, ment which so powerfully swayed hie whole eeeentially conjoined. The in-being of life, o.nd which he so vividly describes in Christ is to be understood as blending in writing to the Corinthians: "The love of one the two notions, of Chl'ist as tho ground Christ constraineth us; because we thus of our nccepte.bleness before God and of our judge, that one died for all, therefore a.II beir.g alive unto God, and of Christ o.s the died [no.mely, to all but him]; and he motive spring of true practical well-doing died for all, th11,t they which live should no (Rom. viii. 10). The two things, though longer live unto themselves, but unto him notionally distinct, cannot exist npo.rt, but who for their sakes died and rose again " the former ie the more prominent idea here. (2 Cor. v. H, 15). The same appropriation And the life whioh I now live in the 11.eeh of Christ's love to his own indi vid ua.l self (?, 6, vvv (w ,v O'a.pKl). "Life" still denotes which the apostle here gives utterance to, his spiritual state of being, and not hie "who loved me, and gave himself up for morn.I activity, though by inference in- me," mo.y every human creo.ture nlso ex- volving this latter; as if it were "the life press in whom only is the faith which which I now possess." The construction of takes hold of his love. In fact, the apostlo & (w is paralleled by the & a.,d8a.v,, "the spe11,ks thus for the very purpose of prompt- deo.th that he died, he died," and the & (ff, ing every individual believer who hears "the life that he liveth, he liveth," of him to feel 11,nd say the same. This, he Rom. vi. 10. "Now,'' ne well 11,e "no indicates, should be their feeling just as longer," sto.nds in contra.at with his old life much as his; I\ sentiment jnst as irre- in Judnism. But, on the other ho.nd, "in sistibly regulotive of their life. Why not? the 11.eeh,'' viewed in conjunction with ( iv Do they not also owe to him all their hope ,rl0'1'u) " in foith,'' or "by fo.ith," must be on behalf of their souls? l<'or the expres- taken as in Phil. i. 22, tho.t is, o.s contrasted sion, "gave himself up," comp. eh. i. 4 and with the future life; while we are in the note. The Greek verb 1ra.pi,66V1"os is di~- fiesh "we walk by faith, not by sight" tingnished from the simple 6ovT"s, "g1n1t  00 THE EPISTLE TO THE G.ALA'l'IANS. [CH. II, 1-21,