The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 257

Vers. 1-11.-Majority and, minority. I. 'l'HE CIIILD COMING TO ms MAJORITY. Analogy. "But I say that BO long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a bond-servant, though be is lord of all; but is under guardians and stewards until the term appointed of,the father." At the close of the preceding chapter Christians were described as Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise. It is. with regard to this that the apostle now makes use of an analogy. It is a very simple and well-known case on which he .founds. It is that of an heir, while he is a child or is a minor, as we say, i.e. has the paternal control yet exercised over him. He may be the heir of a kingdom; but, so long :as he is in ,his nonage, he differeth nothing from a bond-servant, though he is lord of all. He is better in some respects, but not. better in respect of subjection to control. He is under guardians of his person and stewards of his property. When the Prince of Wales in his childhood on one occasion refused submission to his governess, appealing to his· dignity as heir of the throne, Prince Albert very pertinently reacl him this passage out of the New. Testament. The supposition is that a minor has not yet wisdom to guide him;, his will therefore, meanwhile, is a cipher. He can only act through guardians; and stewards, who are understood to carry out the father's will This a~rangement continues in force until the term appointed of the father. It has been a question. whether Paul contemplates ·the father here as dead. It is enough to say that he is regarded as in the background, while his will is operative. In the case to which the analogy applies the Father is alive. Objection has been taken to Paul describing the limit of dependence as appointed of. the father, when in most countries it is fixed by statute. 'l'he infancy of a Roman child ended at seven; he donned the virile g'own at seventeen; he was not entirely emancipated from tutelage until he was twenty-£ ve. There is this to :be said, that the limit was not necessarily fixed by statute; that. when. it was ,so fixed it was in .name of the father, and that there was discretionary power within the statute. 1, The <Jhurch's minority. "So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world." The minor here is generally supposed to be both Jews and Gentiles. But it is scarcely a Pauline idea that the heathen compared with Christians were as children compared with men, heirs in their minority compared with heirs come to full rights. Certainly their religions were :not the rudiments which God taught them. The reference is to be determined by the way in which the analogy is introduced by the apostle. He points back to his description of Christians as Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise. He must be understood, therefore, as pointing now to those who were formerly Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise. These were the children over whom God placed guardians and stewards. The instruction he gave them was of a rudimentary nature. They were not taught religion in its perfect form (which is Christianity), but only the rudiments. These were true so far as they went; still, they were only religion in a form suitable for children. They were rudiments of the world, i.e. of the outward and sensible; for the world in an evil sense cannot be brought into connection with the Father teaching his children. It is by the outward and sensible that abstract truth is intro- duced into the minds of children. So, while the Church was in its childhood, God carried forward its education by outward services and sensible representations. This was inconceivably better than being left to themselves, as the heathen were; but it was bondage in comparison with the spirituality which was to be brought in with a full revelation. "It was a yoke," said Peter, "which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear." 'l'he amount of bodily service required by Jews, in their frequent wnshiug~ and journeys to Jerusalem, was very great, And even the types, in their keeping b.1cl,  224 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALA'l'IANS. LCll, IV. 1-31.