The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 157

'Vel'. ~.-He therefore that minietereth to d,toijt 1rltrnwr;) in ooMeqUence of tcor1,s of yon the Spi.iit, and worketh miraoles among the Law or of the hearing of faith 1 With the yon ( d oil,, l1r1xaprryfii11 {)µ,v ...~ nv,vµa, K<Zl eparingnese of words nbove noted the npoetle '"'Pi'"'" liu,,tf,u«s '" oµi'v); he then that rnp• barely jots d°'vn·, so to spea.k, the substanoe pUeth to you the Spirit ,amd wo,-keth powert ?f the interrogative dile_mma,. mthout filling in !/011,, or, mfraoles among you. The "then " m the form of the question, The euppletion marks the tR.king np afresh of the topic would naturally be that of our version, brong-ht forw11-rd in ..-er. 2, with especial "doeth he it." The 1mbst11nce of the prominence gi..-en here tn the miraculous argument apparently required no more manifestR.tions of the Spirit's presence. The than, as before, the question-Was it in nrgnmentfl.tive treatment of this topic of the consequence of works of the Law or of the gift of the Spirit was interrupted in vers. 3 hearing of faith that the Spirit and hie 11nd 4 by curt, strongly emotional inter- \VOnder-working powers were received? rogatories, darted forth upon the apostle's But instead of putting it so, St. Po.ul inter- recollecting the animated spirituality which poses the personality of the great God marked those early days of their discipleship. himself aa imparting these great gifts, The impassioned desultoriness of his lan- making his sentence thereby the more stately f!Uage here, tngether with its abrupt, and impressive : it is with God in the might 11iggardly wording, is paralleled by eh. iv. of his working that these co1Tupters of the l 0-20. Perhaps these features in the form gospel have to reckon. The impartation of the composition were in part occasioned of the Spirit and the charisma evidenced hy the circumstance that he was writing God's complacency in the recipients. On this Epistle with his own hand and not what was that complacency founded? on through an amanuensis; such manual exer- their earning it by ceremonial performances, tion being, it should seem, unusual with or on their simply opening their hearts to him, and from some cause even laborious and receive his love? It was a question which p:iin fnl : and eo from time to time he appears, the Galatian Churchmen might, if they as it were, laying down the pen, to rest, to would, see the answer to in experiences of quell emotion, to reflect. The compound their own. Among themselves these powers verb /1r,xoPT1i'''"• supply, differs probably had appeared, and no doubt were still opera- from the simple form X"PTli'''" only by indi- tive. "Well, then," says the apostle, "look cating profusion in the supply ; but this. and see: are they not operative in those qualification of its meaning is too slight to only of you who had received them upon be representable in tran;;l.ation. Besides 2 the mere acceptance of righteousness Pet. i. 5, 11, we find it in 2 Cor. ix. 10, "He offered them through faith in Christ simply, that supplieth (o lrr,xoPT/i'fiiv) seed •.. shall without having given any heed to Mosaic supply (xop.,-yfi,re,) and multiply your seed ceremoni.alism? Have any of you received for sowing;" Col. ii. 19, "From whom all them after taking up with such ceremonial- the body . . . being supplied; " 1 Pet. iv. ism?" '.rhe apostle, it will be observed- 11, "As of the 11trength which God sup- and the remark is one of no email impor- plieth." And with similar application tance-makes an appeal to simple matters the substantive "supply" (lrr,x•PTti'la) in of fact, founded upon hie and their own PhiL i. 19, "Snpply of the .Spirit of familiar acq1mintance with the facts, and Jesus Christ;" Eph. iv. 16, "Through defying contradiction. We may be sure, e..-ery joint of the supply." These p~se.11:e,~ therefo1·e, that the facts were as he indicates, make it clear that " he that suppheth ho.waver small. the extent. may be to which is no other than GoJ. And this con- we, with our imperfect knowledge of the clusion is borne out by the comparing of circumstances, o.re olll'selves able to verify the other clause, " worketh powers in you," his statement. In some degree, however, with 1 Cor. xii. 6, "It is the same God (6 we can. Besides the striking illustration Jv,p-ywv) who worketh all in all" (referring afforded by what occurred in the house of to the charismata)-wb..ich passage shows Cornelius (Acts x. 44), we see that such that " powers" (Svva.µ,ir) are not "miracles" charismata were bestowed, and in some themselves as in Matt. vii 22 and xi. 20, and instances, oe, e.g. at Corinth, in exceeding often, but power to work mir:i,cles, the great profusion, in the train of St. Paul's plural number pointing_totbe vari~?-9 forms evangelizing ministrations; and how remote of its manifestation, as rn 1 Cor. xu. 10, 28, those ministrations were from the inculca- 29. The apostle uses the present p~r~iciples tion, or even the admission, among Gentile l1rix•P'li'"'" and /;v,p-yfiiv as descr1b~ng an converts of Mosaic ceremoni.ali.sm we know &gency which the Almighty wo.s contmually perfectly. putting forth among believers in general, Ver. 6.-Even as Abraham belioved God, including the Galatian Churches themselvea. and it was acoounted to him for righteous- Doeth he it by the works of the Law, or by ne88 (,ca.8~m 'A/Jpa.u.µ. lrrlo-..-•ucr• ..-,;; 0e1;, ,co:i the hearing of faith 1 ( l( '1,-,,,,,, voµou ~ 'E J>,u-ylcr91j ab..-tj ,Is li1,cc,.1acr6v1w); wa, reokonml OIi, IIT, 1-20.] THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS, 123