The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 172

it wae yet not intended to supersede the of him who arranged it all, that the Law previously ratified covenant, but rather to should lost only BO long, and was to come prepare for its being completely carried out. to an end when the seed came. To whom It was added beoa.nse of transgressions (Tfiw the promise was made (;; e,rfi'YY•>-Tcz<) ; to ,ra.pa./J6.<T,.,v x6.pw .,,po<Tnl811); on account of whom the promise hath been ma.de. The transgressions it was superadr/ed. As xdpw perfect tense of the verb, as in the case of denotes the.t ao-e.nd-so is done in consider- Kexd.p1<TTa1, in ver. 18, points to the still con- ation of this or the.t; this latter me.y be tinuing validity of the promise. The either some antecedent fact furnishing "seed" is " Christ;" the historical Christ, ground for subsequent action, as in 1 John indeed, bnt still viewed collectively as iii. 12; Eph. iii. 1 ; Luke vii. 47, or some summing up in himself all who should be prospective result, which the action signified united to him. And it was ordained by in the verb is intended to forward, as Jude angels in the hand of a mediator (01ciu7e!s 16. Here it intimates that the Law 6,' U'}")'ell.0,11, l11 x«pl µe<TiTov) ;_being Mdained wae given from a regard to men's sinful through angels by the hand of a mediat<Yr. actions, with an implied contrast with the The verb "ordain" (6tciT4<T<T«v), being most covenant of Christ's gospel, which was commonly used for "command," "order," concerned with men's justification and bene- as Luke viii. 55; l Cor. vii. 17, is introduced diction. The province of the Law is to in preference to 6o9eis ( comp. ver. 20 e.nd expose sine, rebuke theru, pronounce God's John i. 17; vii. 19), as making more pro- curse upon them, coerce and restrain them minent the notion of imperative action on by the discipline of a system of outward rites the part of the Divine Lawgiver. The and ceremonies. The office of the Law, as whole passage is tinctured with the feeling dealing with sinners as continuing sinful, that the giving of the Law, as contrasted while unable to make them new creatures, with the dispensation of the Messiah, was is indicated by St. Paul in 1 Tim. i. 9, marked by distance, sternness, alienation. where, after saying, "The Law is not made This is the meaning of the mention of for a righteous man, but for the lawless and "angels" as the medium of communication unruly, for the ungodly and sinners," he on the side of Heaven, and of" a mediator" proceeds to add a catalogue of offenders as the selected medium of reception on the chargeable with tbe grossest form of cri- side of Israel (compare the contrast be- minality; which furnishes a most apt tween the two dispensations in Heh. xii. illnetration of the word ,ra.pa./Jo.<Tm (" trans- 18-24). This representation of the Law gressions") which he here uses, and which as given through angels is unmistakably marks sins in their most wilful and most made again in the Epistle to the Hebrews, condemnable character. What was spiri- in the words, "The word spoken through tually the outcome of the Law's action upon angels" (ii. 2), where also it is placed in men's sinful nature, in making their "sin the same contrast with the gospel as spoken exceeding sinful," the apostle has vividly by the Lord Jesus, which here is plainly portrayed in the seventh chapter of the implied, if indeed it is not expressly allurled Romans. Thie last point, however, is pro- to, in the enigmatic words, "but God is one," bably not even glanced at here; and it is in the next verse. This view of the Law as only by straining the sense of xd.pw that communicated through the medium of some commentators, notably Meyer, find the au gels is distinctly referrecl to by St. Stephen apostle to be here ate.ting that the Law was as the accepted belief of the Jewish theo- added for the behoof of transgressions, as it logians before whom he spoke: "Ye who were in their interest, to increase and in- received the Lnwas the ordinancesofangels" tensify them, as in Rom. v. 20, thnt the tres- (Acts vii. 53), where the phrase, 61a.-rcz7a• pass might abound. This, however, is not a'Y)'<Ao,v, forms a remarkable pe.ro.llel to the naturally found in the present passage. All words, 61ciTa.7,ls 61' a'}")'ei\0111, now before us. that the apostle here states is that the Law The same view is put forth by Josephus merely dealt with sins, having no function (' Ant.,' xv. 5, 3), "We having learned the in relation to life and righteousness. The most excellent of our doctrines and the article before 'll'a.pa./Jd.<Teo,v indicates the whole most holv pa1-t of our Law through angels class of objects referred to, as e.g. in Toi• from God." Such, then, was incontestably a.v9pC:,,ro .. (Heb. ix. 27). This" superaclded" the current belief of the Jewish people, (1rpoue-rl&r,) is not inconsistent with the both Christian and non-Christian. '!'he o~6' lm61a.TU<T<T<Ta.1, "nor addeth thereto," of Hebrew theologians directed a great deal of ver. 15 ; inasmuch as it points to a Di vine attention upon the doctrine of angels, of ordinance, which stood, so to speak, in a which the " boundless genealogies" spoken different plane from the covenant of grnce, of by St. Pnul (1 Tim. i. 4:; comp. Col. ii. 1g) and in no way interfered with it. Till the wne certainly one diseased branch. We may seed'. should oome (ifXP" oi (>-9r, TO <T1r<pJJA). without improbability suppose that their The form of expression indicates the purpose exegetical sagacity, not unaiL!Cll by tho  138 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALA'l'IANS. [cu. III, 1-29,