The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 346

r!owfng term& Bl!KI in Epb. i. 17-ii. 10. In the Th8981\1oni&na fot that Gu their conver- the pre!18nt Jl61!11&ge the particle " for" soome sion they proved themaelvea 1mite.tore of hi111 to point back. not exclusively to ver. 14, but (l '!he~e. i. 6).. When_ diacourelng to the TO the genen.l tenor of the 11·hole puu.ge in Oonnth1ans of hl8 mamfold afflictions and 'f'el'II. 12-14, BBrebukingtb&tgm&tadoabout of his self-humbling, men-loving dlll:noonour circumcision which the innontora refernicl undel' them a.II, he besought them to be iml• to were makin,-:- in the GftlBtie.n Churc,hes, te.tors of hirn (I Cor. iv. 9-16), whioh en• t.heroby diverting t.be minds of those that treaty he renews with a similar reference in listened to I.hem from the Christi&n'e true ix. 1. So he exhorts the Philipple.n■ to busiuel!I!. Thie sense of the particle me.y unite with one &nether in imite.ting him, and seem l!Omewhat looee ; but it suits well the to fix their regards upon such as walked aa mpill, decisive, llllmme.rizing strain with they had him and those with him for a which the apostle ie now closing up his pattern (Phil. iii. 17), and ag&in repeats to letter. The supreme concern. he means, for them (iv. 9), "Those things which ye, everv one who wishes to be a member of moreover, learned, and received, and heard, Go,fs kingdom is that he she.JI realize in and 88W in me, do,"-all which clauses refer his own experience the " new creation ; " to his own character and doings e.s seen by Blike in the freedom and joy of adoption themselves or as reported to them·by otheni which e.pperte.ins thereto (eh. iv.), e.nd also (see Alford, in l.oc.). This purpose,. of pro- in that wall.-ing of the Spirit which includes pounding his sentiments and course of action the crucifixion of the ftesh (eh. v. 16-25). as a model for the guidance of hie converts, On this point we may oompa.re Eph. iv. 23, no doubt nnderlies very many of those 24 and Rom. xii. 2. passages in which he so frankly and (we Ver. 16.-And aa many u walk aooordiDg might but for this be tempted to think) so to this rule ( 1<al lla-o, .,.,;; .,.,.,.i.,, .,.o{n-q, .,..,.,,.xft- selt~e.pprovingly dilates . upon them. In. a-ouu,v); and a, many a, shall be tMl,king by those days we must remember ,there was no thi.s rule. The word ,,,.,,~.,, properly e. work- "Canon" of New Testament Scripture which man's nile, according to Liddell end Scott, ' might serve for the guide.nee of the newly, but acoording to Bishop Lightfoot, who, re- gained converts from heathenism; for proc- fers to Dr. Westcott, • On the Canon,' App. ticel guide.nee in the Cbristian life, besides A, the carpenter's or surveyor's Zim by which the Old Testament Scriptures (2 Tim. iii. 11 direction is token, ie used in 2 Cor. x. 13, 15-17), they had, perforce, to be referred 15, 16 of the measurements and delimitation pa.rtly to their own more.I sense, partly to the of districts; here, with reference apparently inward teBChings of the Holy Spirit, and to a surveyor's measuring-line, as marking pa.rtly, and this to a. very important extent, out a path or road. So that .,.,; ,,...,,s.,, .,.o{n-q, to the living examples of eminently Spirit- O"ro<x••" meuns "walking on orderly" (see tenght men. 'l'his purpose, of propounding note on .,..,.o,x••v, cl.t. v. 25) in the line marked himself BB an example, evidently underle.y out by what hSB now been said. The future the writing of var. 14; and it is the con- tense appears to point forward to what should sciousness that it was so that now leads him be the case among the Galatians when the to use the phrase, "by this rule," in refer- letter now going to them should have had ence, e.s seems most probable, to that very time to do its work. But what in the pre- description of his own life. It is noticeable eeding context does the apostle refer to as that, after having exhorted the Philippiana supplying "this rule"? Many think that to do all the things which they had seen he point.ii to the aphorism in ver. 15, affirm- and known him to do, he &dds (Phil. iv. 9), ing the utter indi.fferency of circumcision or " And the God of peace sh"Jl be with you; " uucircumcieion, and the ell-importance of a just as he here B&ys, "As many as shall be "new creBture;" in which CBBe the stress walking orderly by this rule, pee.ce upon would lie Inllinly upon the latter point, the them, and mercy I " . We are now brought all-importance of a "new creature," which into e. position to see clearly the force of the wll.B of perpetual interest, mther than on the conjunction "and," with which he intro- indi1ferency of circumcision which in itself duces this veree. It connects it closely with was a matter of but passing concern. It may ver. 14. "I myself glory in the cross of be fairly questioned, however, whether the Christ, and to that cross have sacrificed all lipostle does not rather point to the descrip- I held dear; and for all that she.II be found tion which in ver. 14 he has given of the walking iu that same path-upon them shall mauner in which he himself regarded the rest my hearty sympathy and my pastoral cross of Christ, as e. pattern to the Gale.tian benedietion." It ill further deserving of Churchmen of the manner in which they all!O notice that in Phil. ill., when presenting tiliould be affected by it. It was customary himself to the Philippfuns as their example.r, with the apostle to present himself to his the apostle speaks of "many "-no doubt comel'U! as the model to which they should with inclusive reference to those Jud&iziog eunlorm themselves. Thus he eommends 8d vacates of cireumcision whose circumcilliou  THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 313