The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 146

of the Law shall no flesh be justified." Three times is the word" justified" used here, three .times a.re the works of the Law disclaimed as the ground of justification, and thre,e times are we se.id to be justified by faith in Christ, Paul proceeds on the fact that they (and he includes himself) were Jews. The Gentiles were sinners (actually); hence the ne€d for a barrier being raised against Gentilism. The Jews were privileged. '!'here was much in the distinction, apart from the self-righteousness that might be put into it, and which Paul here meets with a touch of irony. But there was nothing in it for justification. To be justified is to be regarded as having met the requirements of Law. They, Jews, saw two things with regard to justification. They saw that a man is not /ustified by th,e worlcs of the Law. 'l'he requirements of the Law are briefly that we love the Lord our God with all our soul, with all oor strength, aud with all our mind; and that we love our neighbours as ourselves. This love should be exhibited in our works. But, as they fall far short of such a standard, they are not the source out of which we can be justified. They saw also that a man is J°ustified through faith in Jesus Christ. '!'hey saw where justification was not to be found; they, beyond that, saw where. it was to be found. Not seeing it in themselves, in their own works, they saw it in Christ. He has met all the requirerr.ents of Law. His work can carry a favourable sentence. And we are justified by means of faith in him ; not because of the nature or degree of our faith, but simply because of our faith bringing us into a relationship to Christ as our Surety, in which we a.re regarded as having met all the requlrements of Law. Seeing these two things with regard to justification, they, Je,vs, acted upon them. They believed on Christ Jesus not otherwise than the Gentiles. They sought to be justified, not on the ground of their own works, but on the ground of Christ's work. They saw that works could not be the ground from their own Scriptures, in which they read, "By the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified." 3. Paul repudiates an inference from Jews needing to take up the position of sinners along with Gentiles, in order to be iustified in Ghrist. "But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a minister of sin? God forbid." He is proceeding upon the former statement. They, Jews, were not justified by the works of the Law,-that was equivalent to their being found sinners. This name, jarring to the ear, had formerly been applied to the Gentiles. Were they, then, to be classed as sinners with the Gentiles in order to be justified in Christ'! Wall that not (some might say) making Christ a minister of sin? Such an inference with all his heart he repudiates. God forbid. It is no more making Christ a minister of sin than one who comes with the means of escape to a man who is unconsciously perishing is the minister of danger to him. The first ministry that man needs is the ministry of conviction. We must be roused out of our self-pleasing dreams to see that we a.re sinners. ~d Christ is doing us a. loving service when, even in his offer of salvation, he convicts us of sins. 4. He is rather proved the transgressor who builds up after pulling down. "For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor." The connection is that, instead of Christ being the minister of sin, he himself would be proved the transgressor. While not using Peter's name, he puts Peter's case. Peter had pulled down, in bec9ming a. Christian believer ; he had abandoned Law-righteous- ness. Now he was building up again, in giving the Law e. place for justificatioU: If he, Paul, did that, he would be proved a. transgressor. He would certainly be a trans- gressor between the time of his pulling it down and the time of his building it up again. 5. His own experience carried him beyond the Law. "For I through the Law died unto the Law, that I might live unto God." The Law was the instrument by which there was effected his death to the Law. It showed him to be a sinner, but that led to his seeing how the curse was removed, how all the claims of Law were for ever met; so that he became a <lead man to the Law, placed for ever beyond its power. He WW! e. dead man to the Law, that he might be a living man to God-in his having his covenant standing secured, but also in his having his being vitalized by God and drawn towards God. 6. He presents in himself a threefold contrast. (1) Crucified, and yet he lives. "I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live." The contrast has already been presented; here (if we adopt the punctuation, to which there is no decisive objec- tion) it is made to stand out. How he became a dead man to the Law was by sharing death with Christ as his representative, even the particular form of death, viz. cruci- fixion. The contrast was startling (to the disciples 1u1d to tho murderers) when Christ  112 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. (err. n. 1-21.