Scripture. T~us S~ Paul argues from the history of Abraham (eh. iii. 6) before making use of the typical significance of Hagar. I. BOTH SARAH AND HAGAR WERE OF TllE BOUSEIIOLD OF ABnAIIAM. The very honours conferred upon Hagar led to her ultimate rejection from the home through the spirit of insubordination they bred in her. The Law was given by God, We must not assume that all things of Divine origin possess equal value, nor be(l.use a thing is only intended for some lower use aud is set aside when that use has been made of it that it is therefore inherently bad and cannot have come from God. ' II. HAGAR WAS ONLY A BONDWOMAN, WHILE SARAH WAS A WIFE AND A FllEEWOMAN. Herein is a type of the fundamental distinction between the Law and the gospel. I. The Law imposes bonda.ge (l) to constraint and compulsion; (2) to definite precepts and frksome details; and (3) to the burden of past transgression and omissions. 2. The gospel brings freedom (1) in forgiveness of the past and fustification by faith for the future; (2) in revealing general principles of righteousness and giving us liberty to apply them for ourseh·es; and (3) in iufusiug love as the motive of obedience. III. ISHMAEL WAS A SLAVE, WHILE IsAAo WAS FREE. The children took the status of their mothers. We enjoy only the privileges of the religion nuder which we live. 'fhe Law cannot develop liberty. As it is a system of bondage, all who follow it lose their freedom, whether they will or no. The gospel confers liberty on all who accept it--even on those who at first have not faith, or hope, or desire to be free. IV. ISAAC o~"LY RECEIVED THE PROMISE. God's blessing comes to the free soul. If we cling to our fetters we lose the grace of God. Liberty is the parent of innumer- able good things, politically, socially, religiously. As we free ourselves from super- stition and needless restraints we rise into the healthy atmosphere where the largest Di vine blessings flourish. V. ISHMAEL w.as FINALLY CAST OUT. The Law, having done its part, is discarded. The Jews lost their peculiar position as the central spiritual light of their age when their mission ,ms completed. The tutelage of Law may be useful for a time, but to dwell_ in it per1ietually will be to become ultimately castaways.-W. F. A,
~XPOSITION. the 1repn·lµ.VTJCT6e of the Textue Receptus is CHAPTER V. replaced by recent editors by 1r,p,-rµ.716fi,-,, Ver. 1.-(See p. 209.) which is better suited to the posture of mind Ver. 2.-Behold, I l'aul say unto you (Vi,, of those Pharisee Christians who had in }-yw n«ii}l.os }1..--yu, vµiv); lo, I Paul say unto view the abhorrent uncleanness attaching, you. The e.dverbial exclamation 15,, found as they considered, to those described as l,.,cpo- in St. Pan1's writings only here (in Rom. f,uu-riav lxov-res (Acts xi. 3); upon whom ii. 17 it shon1d be el 1le), seems to be more themselves the Jews fastened the epithet abrupt than l1So6, pointing to the immense of l,..,pof,ur,,-{a., not as a mere colourless anti- importance and yet possibly unexpected theton to .,,.p,-roµ.1,, but as a selected term of character of what follows. The Galatians reproach as objects of offence and disgust. miirht be surprised to hear it; but that The apostle, on the other hand, is here not which they seemed disposed to take in hand thin.king of outward corporeal condition; for was fraught with utter ruin. "I, Paul:" he presently (ver. 6) affirms that in Christ he thus puts forward hie personality, as Jesus it mattered nothing whether a man s0lemnly gaging l.iis whole credit and re- were in 1rep1-roµ.¾, or in lr.1<pof,ur,,-/a, as indeed sponsibility upon the truth of that which be proved to· be his feeling by circumcising he is about to affirm. The tum of thought Timothy ( Acts xvi. 3). It is the posture of is somewhat different in 2 Cor. x. 1 and Eph. mind that the apostle is thinking of exclu- iii. 1. 1'here is no reason to suppose that , sively. What was this? The very warning he is glancing at the use which might have of this verse shows, that, in wishing for CU'· already beeu made or might be made of cumeieion, these Galatians did not intend to the fact of his having himself circumcised withdraw from Christ; and it appears from Timothy. That if ye be ciroumcised (/fr, ,av the next verse that they did not, either, con- 1r,p,r,µ.n1u6,); that if ye set about having template the doing of the whole Law. But youraeives cirm,,mcil;e,d,. The present tense then,too, thefourth verse, iu which apparently is usc,d also in the next verse and in eh. vi. the apostle means to explain a~d justify the 12, 13; l Cor. vii. 18. Compare the present assertion of this second verse, md1cates that tense, liin«wiiuB,, ill ver. 4. In Acts xv. 1 they sought circumcision with the view ot CH. v. 1-26.J 'l'HE EPIS'fLE TO THE GALATIANS. 239