The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 126

or ten yea.re later the.n this Epistle, and to disregard; the Pharisees being repeatedly nrlclressed also in pa.rt to the so.me Go.le.tio.n so enraged at these trans,,.ressions of tbe Churohes; in whioh he not only weo.ves traditions e.s to endeavoulin consequence into his language not a few expressions o.nd to take ~is life. The fastings enjoined by turns of thought which have all the appear- tho tmcl1tions, he and his disciples likewise ance of being.borrowed from Epistles of St. offondccl the Pharisees by takin~ no account Paul, but also in the second of them makes of. The traditions of especially one popular direct mention of those Epistles, speaking school of teaching allowed so great a facility of them ns standing on the footing of "tbe of divorce as eerved to disguise a. fri,,.htful other Script.urea," nnd of their author as excess of licentiousness, in which m;ny of "our beloved brother Pnul; " notwithstand- the Pharisees were themselves implicated; ing that one of those very writings contains in npposition to 'l\"hich Christ was wont the extremely plain-spoken account of that publicly to declare tllat connections formed sad fall of his o.t Antioch, which we have after divorces not justified by adultery were here been considering. (On St. Paul's later themselves adulterous. Continually was the relations with St. Barnabas, see above on Lord warning his followers against the ver. 13.) leaven of Pharisaism, to wit, its ostenta• tion in religious observanoes; its laying so much stress npon the outward act, in neglect ADDITIONAL NOTE, of the inward motive and the posture of the Ver. 12.-The Judaism of the tarliest spirit; its draining away the forces of moro.l Pentecostal Church not rabbinical. Any earnestness from tbe prosecution of justice, one who will be at the pains of reviewing mercy, and trnth, to squander them upon the contents of the four Gospels with an eye scrupulous and vigilant devotion to the to this particular subject, cannot fail to be veriest trifles of formalism; the consequent ·struck by the frequency with which Christ hollowness and hypocrisy of the religious in his own conduct placed himself in even cho.ro.cter of its votaries; their love of the sharpest antagonism to the "trnditions money ; their eagerness for social distinc- of the elders," and encouraged his disciples tion; their cruelty to the poor amid all in likewise setting them at nought. And their ostentations o.lmsgiving; their hard- ·tllis he did in cases in which the contrast heartedness to the fallen; their intense, of his behaviour to the abject submission to devilish hatred of real piety. All the four those traditions paraded by the Pharisees Gospels abound in indications of that anti- must have been most striking, and have pathy to Pharisaism e.nd traditionalism 'jo.rred, no doubt, very often even painfully, which Christ both enterto.ined himself o.nd upon the ill-instructed religious sensibilities we.a co.reful' to instil into the minds of his of those, who hnd grown up in the belief disciples. It cannot, therefore, be ques- that to observe the tmditions was both tioned the.t the disciples who formed the seemly nnd pious o.nd to neglect them first nucleus of the Christinn community, unseemly and schismo.tical. For example, especially the twelve and the brethren of in do.ily life, neither he nor his disciples the Lord, were e.nimnted by similo.r senti- would "be.ptize" themselves when coming ments of e.nti-Pho.riso.ism ; e.nd so also the home from the market, nor even apply Pentecostal Church at JeruBll!em as moulded lustre.I we.ter to their he.nds before to.king a under their influence. The Law of Moses, men!, though there before their eyes stood no doubt, they continued to obey, BS their the vessels filled with water which had been Master had done-the Law of Moses, how• provided for the guests e.nd which the other ever, as construed in the more hume.ne and guosts were punctual in using. It we.a not spiritual sense put upon it by the Sermon on without significance the.tin his first miracle tile lllount, o.nd not o.s stiffened nnd hardened he withdrew the water which ho.d been set into intolero.ble cruelty by the r11bbinism apart for such lustro.tions from one use of it which the Phnrisees insisted upon. Such, which he would pronounce to be utterly we me.y feel certain, had been the attitude frivolous o.nd vain, to apply it to one which of St. Peter's mind in reference to the Law should reo.lly be serviceu.ble and beneficent. when, yenrs before u.t J oppo., he had received Aguin, mo.ny were the restrictions whioh the summons to go and visit Comelins at the traditions imposed upon men's actions Croso.ren. It was with constro.int put upon ou the se.bbo.th-restrictions which not only his own hitherto cherished tastes thnt he were e.ddition11! to those enjoined by the submitted to the call; and when he entered Lo.w, but also in many cases contravened the Gentile's house, the fibre of Israelitism the co.Us of me1·cy and benevolence. Such in his soul is seen quivering, shrinking buck restrictions Christ very frequently, and in from the step which he wo.s compelled to the most public and pointed manner, so as take. "Ye yourselves know," he said to to directly ch1.Lllenge attention to what he the oompe.ny of unciroumciscd men u.moug did, broko through, o.nd tnught his disciples whom ho found himself, "that it is Bll  'l'HE EPISTLE 'i'O TlIE GALA'l'IANS. tos. u. 1-21.