The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 203

U is still needed to hold np before ua higher ideas of righteousness. It is still needed to work in 1?8 deeper conviction of sin. It is still needed t,o keep us to the true souroe of o:u~ secU:lty. But what thus disciplin~s us, is the Law as it has received its highest exh1b1hon m the cross of Christ. From 1t, as connected with the Mosaic institution, we are freed. 2. Ohristian sonship. (1) The relation described. "For ye are all sons of God." Gentiles as well as Jews are sons of God. We are not in the relation of slaves, without any feeling of freedom. Neither are we in the relation of servants, with such freedom as belongs to them. But we are in the freest relation of sons of God. Neither a.re we mere children, but we are sons that have come of age. That does not mean that we are to leave our Father's house. "The servant goeth away; the son ~bideth ever." We are independent, not in being liberated from our Father's control,.but in having our Father's will so much within our heart that we act according to it without the need of rules being imposed on us. (2) How the relation is formed. "Through faith." We are not sons of God by virtue of our living in a Ohristi'an l,and. Multi- tudinism is alien to Christianity. We cannot be Christians merely in the mass. The state, whatever it has to do with religion, cannot relieve us of the responsibility of acting for ourselves. We are not sons of God by virtue of our connection with godly parents. There is a certain law of heredity in religion. "The unfeigned faith that is in thee; which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and, I am persuaded, in thee also." The promise is to us and to our children; therefore there is encouragement to use the means. Still, all that parents can do is to act upon their children by good advice and example and prayer. 'fbey cannot relieve their children, any more than the state its subjects, of the responsibility of thinking and acting for themselves. We are not sons of God by virtue of 001· having been baptized. Baptism, as we shall presently see, is an important Christian rite. It should be attended with regenerating grace. Only, when there is no evidence of regeneration in the life, it is vain to be satisfied with baptism. It should be used simply as an argument for taking action in accordance with it. We are not sons of God by virtue of our being members of a Ohristian (Jhurch. There bas been, in this case, examination by a representative of the Church, and admission has been granted; but this is not to be rested upon. Man is not the lord of onr conscience. Every one must judge for himself as to the evidences of his being a child of God. And if he was not a child of. God before admission, the fact of bis admission will not make him one. He is just presuniably what he was before. The Church has oo magical virtue. It can assist men. in becoming children of God, but it cannot do more than assist. And when Church connection does not benefit, it will certainly add to condemnation. B•ri,t we are sons of God through faith. This is the instrument by which we become sons of God. We take action for ourselves. Our souls lay hold upon Christ. We place our dependence on his finished work, and we are not only justified, but are adopted into the family of God. (3) Causal element in which our sonship subsists. "In Christ Jesus." Christ alone can make us sons of God. Our rulers cannot make us sons of Gad. Our parents cannot make us sons of God. A rite like baptism cannot make us sons of God. Even the Church cannot make us sons of God. Christ alone can. Hfl is not the means, but the efficient cause. It is in him that our sonship is originated and is maintained. (4) Sign of our sonship. " For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ." By insisting on faith the apostle has supplied a counteractive to superstitious ideas of baptism. Hut this shows how much importance he attached to it. Baptized into Christ, they did put on Christ. And from the connection it is to be understood that they so put on Christ in baptism a.s to stand in the same relation to God in which Christ stands to God. 3. Christian equality. (1) What it is. It sometimes matters very essentially in whose bands is the advocacy of a doctrine. In the hands of the communists, who have the modem intellectual activity without any hold upon the everfa.sting principles of religion, there is no more dangerous doctrine than that of equality. As used hy them, it would lead to complete anarchy, disturbing altogether the present order and putting no stable order in its stead. It is already, in one or other of its phases, producing a feeling of insecurity among the supporters of_ old institutions, extending to that of monarchy. Paul, also, is an advocate of equality; but he was held by everlasting truth and love. And, in bis hands, equality is a safe doctrine, which would indeed l,e the salvation of society, curing present canker and alienation, and OH, III, 1-29,] THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 169