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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>G A L A T I A N S.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. I.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter, after the preface or introduction
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:1-5">ver. 1-5</A>),
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the apostle severely reproves these churches for their defection from
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the faith
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:6-9">ver. 6-9</A>),
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and then proves his own apostleship, which his enemies had brought them
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to question,
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I. From his end and design in preaching the gospel,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:10">ver. 10</A>.
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II. From his having received it by immediate revelation,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:11,12">ver. 11, 12</A>.
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For the proof of which he acquaints them,
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1. What his former conversation was,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:13,14">ver. 13, 14</A>.
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2. How he was converted, and called to the apostleship,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:15,16">ver. 15, 16</A>.
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3. How he behaved himself afterwards,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:16-24">ver. 16, to the end</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ga1_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Introductory Address.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 56.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus
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Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
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2 And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of
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Galatia:
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3 Grace <I>be</I> to you and peace from God the Father, and <I>from</I>
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our Lord Jesus Christ,
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4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from
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this present evil world, according to the will of God and our
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Father:
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5 To whom <I>be</I> glory for ever and ever. Amen.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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In these verses we have the preface or introduction to the epistle,
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where observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. The person or persons from whom this epistle is sent--from Paul <I>an
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apostle,</I> &c., <I>and all the brethren that were with him.</I>
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1. The epistle is sent from Paul; he only was the penman of it. And,
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because there were some among the Galatians who endeavoured to lessen
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his character and authority, in the front of it he gives a general
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account both of his office and of the manner in which he was called to
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it, which afterwards, in this and the following chapter, he enlarges
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more upon. As to his office, he was an apostle. He is not afraid to
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style himself so, though his enemies would scarcely allow him this
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title: and, to let them see that he did not assume this character
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without just ground, he acquaints them how he was called to this
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dignity and office, and assures them that his commission to it was
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wholly divine, for he was an apostle, <I>not of man, neither by
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man;</I> he had not the common call of an ordinary minister, but an
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extraordinary call from heaven to this office. He neither received his
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qualification for it, nor his designation to it, by the mediation of
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men, but had both the one and the other directly from above; for he was
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an apostle <I>by Jesus Christ,</I> he had his instructions and
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commission immediately from him, and consequently from <I>God the
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Father,</I> who was one with him in respect of his divine nature, and
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who had appointed him, as Mediator, to be the apostle and high priest
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of our profession, and as such to authorize others to this office. He
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adds, <I>Who raised him from the dead,</I> both to acquaint us that
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herein God the Father gave a public testimony to Christ's being his Son
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and the promised Messiah, and also that, as his call to the apostleship
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was immediately from Christ, so it was after his resurrection from the
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dead, and when he had entered upon his exalted state; so that he had
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reason to look upon himself, not only as standing upon a level with the
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other apostles, but as in some sort preferred above them; for, whereas
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they were called by him when on earth, he had his call from him when in
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heaven. Thus does the apostle, being constrained to it by his
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adversaries, magnify his office, which shows that though men should by
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no means be proud of any authority they are possessed of, yet at
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certain times and upon certain occasions it may become needful to
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assert it. But,
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2. He joins all the brethren that were with him in the inscription of
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the epistle, and writes in their name as well as his own. By <I>the
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brethren that were with him</I> may be understood either the Christians
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in common of that place where he now was, or such as were employed as
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ministers of the gospel. These, notwithstanding his own superior
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character and attainments, he is ready to own as his brethren; and,
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though he alone wrote the epistle, yet he joins them with himself in
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the inscription of it. Herein, as he shows his own great modesty and
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humility, and how remote he was from an assuming temper, so he might do
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this to dispose these churches to a greater regard to what he wrote,
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since hereby it would appear that he had their concurrence with him in
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the doctrine which he had preached, and was now about to confirm, and
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that it was no other than what was both published and professed by
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others as well as himself.</P>
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<P>
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II. To whom this epistle is sent--<I>to the churches of Galatia.</I>
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There were several churches at that time in this country, and it should
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seem that all of them were more or less corrupted through the arts of
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those seducers who had crept in among them; and therefore Paul, on whom
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<I>came daily the care of all the churches,</I> being deeply affected
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with their state, and concerned for their recovery to the faith and
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establishment in it, writes this epistle to them. He directs it to all
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of them, as being all more or less concerned in the matter of it; and
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he gives them the name of <I>churches,</I> though they had done enough
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to forfeit it, for corrupt churches are never allowed to be churches:
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no doubt there were some among them who still continued in the faith,
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and he was not without hope that others might be recovered to it.</P>
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<P>
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III. The apostolical benediction,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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Herein the apostle, and the brethren who were with him, wish these
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churches <I>grace and peace from God the Father, and from the Lord
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Jesus Christ.</I> This is the usual blessing wherewith he blesses the
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churches in the name of the Lord--<I>grace and peace.</I> Grace
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includes God's good-will towards us and his good work upon us; and
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peace implies in it all that inward comfort, or outward prosperity,
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which is really needful for us; and they come from God the Father as
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the fountain, through Jesus Christ as the channel of conveyance. Both
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these the apostle wishes for these Christians. But we may observe,
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First grace, and then peace, for there can be no true peace without
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grace. Having mentioned the Lord Jesus Christ, he cannot pass without
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enlarging upon his love; and therefore adds
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
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<I>Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver,</I> &c. Jesus
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Christ gave himself for our sins, as a great sacrifice to make
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atonement for us; this the justice of God required, and to this he
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freely submitted for our sakes. One great end hereof was <I>to deliver
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us from this present evil world;</I> not only to redeem us from the
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wrath of God, and the curse of the law, but also to recover us from the
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corruption that is in the world through lust, and to rescue us from the
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vicious practices and customs of it, unto which we are naturally
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enslaved; and possibly also to set us free from the Mosaic
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constitution, for so <B> <I>aion houtos</I></B> is used,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+2:6,8">1 Cor. ii. 6, 8</A>.
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From this we may note,
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1. This present world is an evil world: it has become so by the sin of
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man, and it is so on account of the sin and sorrow with which it
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abounds and the many snares and temptations to which we are exposed as
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long as we continue in it. But,
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2. Jesus Christ has died to deliver us from this present evil world,
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not presently to remove his people out of it, but to rescue them from
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the power of it, to keep them from the evil of it, and in due time to
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possess them of another and better world. This, the apostle informs
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us, he has done <I>according to the will of God and our Father.</I> In
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offering up himself a sacrifice for this end and purpose, he acted by
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the appointment of the Father, as well as with his own free consent;
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and therefore we have the greatest reason to depend upon the efficacy
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and acceptableness of what he has done and suffered for us; yea, hence
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we have encouragement to look upon God as our Father, for thus the
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apostle here represents him: as he is the Father of our Lord Jesus, so
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in and through him he is also the Father of all true believers, as our
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blessed Saviour himself acquaints us
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+20:17">John xx. 17</A>),
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when he tells his disciples that he was ascending to his Father and
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their Father.</P>
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<P>
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The apostle, having thus taken notice of the great love wherewith
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Christ hath loved us, concludes this preface with a solemn ascription
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of praise and glory to him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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<I>To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.</I> Intimating that on
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this account he is justly entitled to our highest esteem and regard. Or
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this doxology may be considered as referring both to God the Father and
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our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom he had just before been wishing grace
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and peace. They are both the proper objects of our worship and
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adoration, and all honour and glory are perpetually due to them, both
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on account of their own infinite excellences, and also on account of
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the blessings we receive from them.</P>
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<A NAME="Ga1_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Apostle's Concern at Their Defection.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 56.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you
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into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
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7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and
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would pervert the gospel of Christ.
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8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
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gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let
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him be accursed.
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9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any <I>man</I> preach
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any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be
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accursed.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here the apostle comes to the body of the epistle; and he begins it
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with a more general reproof of these churches for their unsteadiness in
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the faith, which he afterwards, in some following parts of it, enlarges
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more upon. Here we may observe,</P>
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<P>
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I. How much he was concerned at their defection: <I>I marvel,</I> &c.
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It filled him at once with the greatest surprise and sorrow. Their sin
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and folly were that they did not hold fast the doctrine of Christianity
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as it had been preached to them, but suffered themselves to be removed
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from the purity and simplicity of it. And there were several things by
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which their defection was greatly aggravated; as,
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1. That they were <I>removed from him that had called them;</I> not
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only from the apostle, who had been the instrument of calling them into
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the fellowship of the gospel, but from God himself, by whose order and
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direction the gospel was preached to them, and they were invited to a
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participation of the privileges of it: so that herein they had been
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guilty of a great abuse of his kindness and mercy towards them.
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2. That they had been <I>called into the grace of Christ.</I> As the
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gospel which had been preached to them was the most glorious discovery
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of divine grace and mercy in Christ Jesus; so thereby they had been
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called to partake of the greatest blessings and benefits, such as
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justification, and reconciliation with God here, and eternal life and
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happiness hereafter. These our Lord Jesus has purchased for us at the
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expense of his precious blood, and freely bestows upon all who
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sincerely accept of him: and therefore, in proportion to the greatness
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of the privilege they enjoyed, such were their sin and folly in
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deserting it and suffering themselves to be drawn off from the
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established way of obtaining these blessings.
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3. That they were <I>so soon removed.</I> In a very little time they
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lost that relish and esteem of this grace of Christ which they seemed
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to have, and too easily fell in with those who taught justification by
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the works of the law, as many did, who had been bred up in the opinions
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and notions of the Pharisees, which they mingled with the doctrine of
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Christ, and so corrupted it; and this, as it was an instance of their
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weakness, so it was a further aggravation of their guilt.
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4. That they were removed to <I>another gospel, which yet was not
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another.</I> Thus the apostle represents the doctrine of these
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judaizing teachers; he calls it another gospel, because it opened a
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different way of justification and salvation from that which was
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revealed in the gospel, namely, by works, and not by faith in Christ.
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And yet he adds, "<I>Which is not another</I>--you will find it to be
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no gospel at all--not really another gospel, but the perverting of the
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gospel of Christ, and the overturning of the foundations of
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that"--whereby he intimates that those who go about to establish any
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other way to heaven than what the gospel of Christ has revealed are
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guilty of a gross perversion of it, and in the issue will find
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themselves wretchedly mistaken. Thus the apostle endeavours to impress
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upon these Galatians a due sense of their guilt in forsaking the gospel
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way of justification; and yet at the same time he tempers his reproof
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with mildness and tenderness towards them, and represents them as
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rather drawn into it by the arts and industry of some that troubled
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them than as coming into it of their own accord, which, though it did
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not excuse them, yet was some extenuation of their fault. And hereby he
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teaches us that, in reproving others, as we should be faithful, so we
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should also be gentle, and endeavour <I>to restore them in the spirit
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of meekness,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+6:1"><I>ch.</I> vi. 1</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. How confident he was that the gospel he had preached to them was
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the only true gospel. He was so fully persuaded of this that he
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pronounced an anathema upon those who pretended to preach any other
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gospel
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
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and, to let them see that this did not proceed from any rashness or
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intemperate zeal in him, he repeated it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
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This will not justify our thundering out anathemas against those who
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differ from us in minor things. It is only against those who forge a
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new gospel, who overturn the foundation of the covenant of grace, by
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setting up the works of the law in the place of Christ's righteousness,
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and corrupting Christianity with Judaism, that Paul denounces this. He
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puts the case: "Suppose we should preach any other gospel; nay, suppose
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an angel from heaven should:" not as if it were possible for an angel
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from heaven to be the messenger of a lie; but it is expressed so the
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more to strengthen what he was about to say. "If you have any other
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gospel preached to you by any other person, under our name, or under
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colour of having it from an angel himself, you must conclude that you
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are imposed upon: and whoever preaches another gospel lays himself
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under a curse, and is in danger of laying you under it too."</P>
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<A NAME="Ga1_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_18"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_19"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_20"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_21"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_22"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_23"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ga1_24"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Apostle's Integrity.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 56.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please
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men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of
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Christ.
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11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was
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preached of me is not after man.
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12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught <I>it,</I>
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but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the
|
|
Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church
|
|
of God, and wasted it:
|
|
14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in
|
|
mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions
|
|
of my fathers.
|
|
15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
|
|
womb, and called <I>me</I> by his grace,
|
|
16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the
|
|
heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
|
|
17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles
|
|
before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto
|
|
Damascus.
|
|
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter,
|
|
and abode with him fifteen days.
|
|
19 But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's
|
|
brother.
|
|
20 Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I
|
|
lie not.
|
|
21 Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;
|
|
22 And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judæa which
|
|
were in Christ:
|
|
23 But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in
|
|
times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
|
|
24 And they glorified God in me.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
What Paul had said more generally, in the preface of this epistle, he
|
|
now proceeds more particularly to enlarge upon. There he had declared
|
|
himself to be an apostle of Christ; and here he comes more directly to
|
|
support his claim to that character and office. There were some in the
|
|
churches of Galatia who were prevailed with to call this in question;
|
|
for those who preached up the ceremonial law did all they could to
|
|
lessen Paul's reputation, who preached the pure gospel of Christ to the
|
|
Gentiles: and therefore he here sets himself to prove the divinity both
|
|
of his mission and doctrine, that thereby he might wipe off the
|
|
aspersions which his enemies had cast upon him, and recover these
|
|
Christians into a better opinion of the gospel he had preached to them.
|
|
This he gives sufficient evidence of,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. From the scope and design of his ministry, which was <I>not to
|
|
persuade men, but God,</I> &c. The meaning of this may be either that
|
|
in his preaching the gospel he did not act in obedience to men, but
|
|
God, who had called him to this work and office; or that his aim
|
|
therein was to bring persons to the obedience, not of men, but of God.
|
|
As he professed to act by a commission from God; so that which he
|
|
chiefly aimed at was to promote his glory, by recovering sinners into a
|
|
state of subjection to him. And as this was the great end he was
|
|
pursuing, so, agreeably hereunto, <I>he did not seek to please men.</I>
|
|
He did not, in his doctrine, accommodate himself to the humours of
|
|
persons, either to gain their affection or to avoid their resentment;
|
|
but his great care was to approve himself to God. The judaizing
|
|
teachers, by whom these churches were corrupted, had discovered a very
|
|
different temper; they mixed works with faith, and the law with the
|
|
gospel, only to please the Jews, whom they were willing to court and
|
|
keep in with, that they might escape persecution. But Paul was a man of
|
|
another spirit; he was not so solicitous to please them, nor to
|
|
mitigate their rage against him, as to alter the doctrine of Christ
|
|
either to gain their favour or to avoid their fury. And he gives this
|
|
very good reason for it, that, <I>if he yet pleased men, he would not
|
|
be the servant of Christ.</I> These he knew were utterly inconsistent,
|
|
and that no man could serve two such masters; and therefore, though he
|
|
would not needlessly displease any, yet he dared not allow himself to
|
|
gratify men at the expense of his faithfulness to Christ. Thus, from
|
|
the sincerity of his aims and intentions in the discharge of his
|
|
office, he proves that he was truly an apostle of Christ. And from this
|
|
his temper and behaviour we may note,
|
|
|
|
1. That the great end which ministers of the gospel should aim at is to
|
|
bring men to God.
|
|
|
|
2. That those who are faithful will not seek to please men, but to
|
|
approve themselves to God.
|
|
|
|
3. That they must not be solicitous to please men, if they would
|
|
approve themselves faithful servants to Christ. But, if this argument
|
|
should not be thought sufficient, he goes on to prove his
|
|
apostleship,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. From the manner wherein he received the gospel which he preached to
|
|
them, concerning which he assures them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:11,12"><I>v.</I> 11, 12</A>)
|
|
|
|
that he had it not by information from others, but by revelation from
|
|
heaven. One thing peculiar in the character of an apostle was that he
|
|
had been called to, and instructed for, this office immediately by
|
|
Christ himself. And in this he here shows that he was by no means
|
|
defective, whatever his enemies might suggest to the contrary. Ordinary
|
|
ministers, as they receive their call to preach the gospel by the
|
|
mediation of others, so it is by means of the instruction and
|
|
assistance of others that they are brought to the knowledge of it. But
|
|
Paul acquaints them that he had his knowledge of the gospel, as well as
|
|
his authority to preach it, directly from the Lord Jesus: the gospel
|
|
which he preached was not <I>after man; he neither received it of man,
|
|
nor was he taught it by man,</I> but by immediate inspiration, or
|
|
revelation from Christ himself. This he was concerned to make out, to
|
|
prove himself an apostle: and to this purpose,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He tells them what his education was, and what, accordingly, his
|
|
conversation in time past had been,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:13,14"><I>v.</I> 13, 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
Particularly, he acquaints them that he had been brought up in the
|
|
Jewish religion, and <I>that he had profited in it above many his
|
|
equals of his own nation</I>--that <I>he had been exceedingly zealous
|
|
of the traditions of the elders,</I> such doctrines and customs as had
|
|
been invented by their fathers, and conveyed down from one generation
|
|
to another; yea, to such a degree that, in his zeal for them, <I>he had
|
|
beyond measure persecuted the church of God, and wasted it.</I> He had
|
|
not only been a rejecter of the Christian religion, notwithstanding the
|
|
many evident proofs that were given of its divine origin; but he had
|
|
been a persecutor of it too, and had applied himself with the utmost
|
|
violence and rage to destroy the professors of it. This Paul often
|
|
takes notice of, for the magnifying of that free and rich grace which
|
|
had wrought so wonderful a change in him, whereby of so great a sinner
|
|
he was made a sincere penitent, and from a persecutor had become an
|
|
apostle. And it was very fit to mention it here; for it would hence
|
|
appear that he was not led to Christianity, as many others are, purely
|
|
by education, since he had been bred up in an enmity and opposition to
|
|
it; and they might reasonably suppose that it must be something very
|
|
extraordinary which had made so great a change in him, which had
|
|
conquered the prejudices of his education, and brought him not only to
|
|
profess, but to preach, that doctrine, which he had before so
|
|
vehemently opposed.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. In how wonderful a manner he was turned from the error of his ways,
|
|
brought to the knowledge and faith of Christ, and appointed to the
|
|
office of an apostle,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:15,16"><I>v.</I> 15, 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
This was not done in an ordinary way, nor by ordinary means, but in an
|
|
extraordinary manner; for,
|
|
|
|
(1.) God had <I>separated him hereunto from his mother's womb:</I> the
|
|
change that was wrought in him was in pursuance of a divine purpose
|
|
concerning him, whereby he was appointed to be a Christian and an
|
|
apostle, before he came into the world, or had done either good or
|
|
evil.
|
|
|
|
(2.) he was <I>called by his grace.</I> All who are savingly converted
|
|
are called by the grace of God; their conversion is the effect of his
|
|
good pleasure concerning them, and is effected by his power and grace
|
|
in them. But there was something peculiar in the case of Paul, both in
|
|
the suddenness and in the greatness of the change wrought in him, and
|
|
also in the manner wherein it was effected, which was not by the
|
|
mediation of others, as the instruments of it, but by Christ's personal
|
|
appearance to him, and immediate operation upon him, whereby it was
|
|
rendered a more special and extraordinary instance of divine power and
|
|
favour.
|
|
|
|
(3.) He had Christ <I>revealed in him.</I> He was not only revealed to
|
|
him, but in him. It will but little avail us to have Christ revealed to
|
|
us if he is not also revealed in us; but this was not the case of Paul.
|
|
It pleased God <I>to reveal his Son in him,</I> to bring him to the
|
|
knowledge of Christ and his gospel by special and immediate revelation.
|
|
And,
|
|
|
|
(4.) It was with this design, that he should preach him among the
|
|
heathen; not only that he should embrace him himself, but preach him to
|
|
others; so that he was both a Christian and an apostle by
|
|
revelation.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. He acquaints them how he behaved himself hereupon, from
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>,
|
|
|
|
to the end. Being thus called to his work and office, <I>he conferred
|
|
not with flesh and blood.</I> This may be taken more generally, and so
|
|
we may learn from it that, when God calls us by his grace, we must not
|
|
consult flesh and blood. But the meaning of it here is that he did not
|
|
consult men; he did not apply to any others for their advice and
|
|
direction; <I>neither did he go up to Jerusalem, to those that were
|
|
apostles before him,</I> as though he needed to be approved by them, or
|
|
to receive any further instructions or authority from them: but,
|
|
instead of that, he steered another course, and <I>went into
|
|
Arabia,</I> either as a place of retirement proper for receiving
|
|
further divine revelations, or in order to preach the gospel there
|
|
among the Gentiles, being appointed to be the apostle of the Gentiles;
|
|
and thence <I>he returned again to Damascus,</I> where he had first
|
|
begun his ministry, and whence he had with difficulty escaped the rage
|
|
of his enemies,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+9:20-25">Acts ix</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was not till <I>three years after</I> his conversion that <I>he went
|
|
up to Jerusalem, to see Peter;</I> and when he did so he made but a
|
|
very short stay with him, no more than <I>fifteen days;</I> nor, while
|
|
he was there, did he go much into conversation; for <I>others of the
|
|
apostles he saw none, but James, the Lord's brother.</I> So that it
|
|
could not well be pretended that he was indebted to any other either
|
|
for his knowledge of the gospel or his authority to preach it; but it
|
|
appeared that both his qualifications for, and his call to, the
|
|
apostolic office were extraordinary and divine. This account being of
|
|
importance, to establish his claim to this office, to remove the unjust
|
|
censures of his adversaries, and to recover the Galatians from the
|
|
impressions they had received to his prejudice, he confirms it by a
|
|
solemn oath
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+1:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
declaring, as in the presence of God, that what he had said was
|
|
strictly true, and that he had not in the least falsified in what he
|
|
had related, which, though it will not justify us in solemn appeals to
|
|
God upon every occasion, yet shows that, in matters of weight and
|
|
moment, this may sometimes not only be lawful, but duty. After this he
|
|
acquaints them that <I>he came into the regions of Syria and
|
|
Cilicia:</I> having made this short visit to Peter, he returns to his
|
|
work again. He had no communication at that time with the <I>churches
|
|
of Christ in Judea,</I> they had not so much as <I>seen his face; but,
|
|
having heard that he who persecuted them in times past now preached the
|
|
faith which he once destroyed, they glorified God</I> because of him;
|
|
thanksgivings were rendered by many unto God on that behalf; the very
|
|
report of this mighty change in him, as it filled them with joy, so it
|
|
excited them to give glory to God on the account of it.</P>
|
|
|
|
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