Vers. 28--31.-0onclusion of the whok ma;tter, The apostle points to a fui'thei· coincidence between the type and the antitype. . I. MARK THE HISTORIC FACT, "He that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born a.ftcr the Spirit." He refers to Ishmael's mockery of Isaac. As the elder son, with the right of primogeniture, he ridiculed the feast given in honour of Isaac as the heir. The spirit of persecution was in that mockery that sprang out of jealousy and ill feeling. II. MARK ITS ALLF.GORIO SIGNIFICANCE. "Even so it is now." The persecutors of Paul were Judaists "born after the flesh," for they claimed to inherit the b~essings of the covenant by virtue of carnal ordinances. They were adroit :in all .the arts of cruel mockery. Scripture tells the vivid story of persecution directed against the Christianity of the first age by the fanaticism of the Jews. , The apostle might well say in his first epistolary writing concerning the Jews, ~• who both killed the Lord Jesus, and the prophets, and drove out us; and please not God, and are. contrary to. all :men" (l Thess. ii. 15). · .. III. TnE INHERITANCE Al< EXCLUSIVE POSSESSION. "Nevertheless what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of.the bondwoman shall in no wise be heir with the son .of the freewoman." The apostle adopts the words of Sarah addressed to Abraham; not giving any hint of the nearness of the destruction of Jerusalem and its whole ecclesiastical polity, but emphasizing the importani:e of the Galatians standing clear of the doomed system. As there could be no joint heirship between Ishmael and Isaac, so there could be no fusion or amalgamation of Law and gospel. Juda.ism could not be combined with ChriRtia.nity. It was to be utterly cast out, though it then tenaciously held its ground side by side with Chri~tianity even within the Church of God itself. , • IV. INFERENCE FROM THIS WHOLE ALLEGORIC LESSON. "So then~ bret):ireii; we are not children of a bond women, but of the free." "We, as Isaac was, are children of promise." Let us, therefore, recognize our true position with it;il bl~ssed ini-munities and privileges. Let us forsake the dangerous fellowship of those who are childr.en of the bondwoman. The Galatian tendency was false and evil; for it involved their losing what they had and getting nothing better in its place, 'l'heir true ·attitude wa.s that of freedom.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-7.-Mafority tl.rough the gospel. Paul, having spoken. of the ·Law-school in the preceding sections, and of the participation of believing Gentiles in the P!ivi- leges of the Abrahamic family, proceeds in the present section to sp~a],r. of the times before Christ's advent as infantile, of the advent a.s. ,the fulness of t1!31es, and o( the majority which is realized by believers through the gospel. Four leadmg thoughts are thus presented. . I. THE IlrlPERFECT TIMES. (Vers. l-3.) The Old Testament times represent the experience of all men before the reception of the gospel. They were the ruinori~y of humanity. The soul was then like a child who is placed under stewards and, guardian&, and is not allowed to take charge of itself. It lived by law and rule, and bad, n?t entered upon proper self-government and independence. Now, all the. :worl_d ~as ID this legal condition as well as the Jews. Nay, we are all before convers1?n m it; we are legalists by nature, we do what is prescribed with more or Jess fidelity, an~ con- grat,liate ourselves upon the doing of it. It is the "infantile" stage•.. It is t~e imperfect times, as contrasted with the fiper experience the gospel brings. And yet it is better that the soul should be at the schoo1 of Law than wandering waywardly after its own devices. Better be under restraint than be utterly spoiled by getting our owa. way. We ought not to under-estimate the discipline whi?h the L~w-sch?ol secured•. IL 'l'HE ADVENT OF THE SoN. (Vers. 4, 5.) It was Christ's coming which brought lll the fulness of times. He came to put an end to the world's minority iln? to secure the world's redemption. He did so by being "born of a woman}' by _being "born under the Law," and undertakin" all bis brethren's responsibilities. Having obeyed the Law in its penalty of death fo~ disobedience as well as in its precepts, he redeemed men Ott, IV, 1-31.] THE EPISTLE TO THE GALA.TIANS. 210