Miles de Libros Cristianos Gratis. Accede a nuestra Biblioteca Virtual

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 6:16

Para un estudio avanzado de: “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 6:16” utilice nuestra app.

And as many as walk according to this rule, peace [be] on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

16. as many as walk ] See note on ch. Gal 5:25. Some commentators attach to this verb a different sense, ‘as many as conform to this rule’. But the A.V. gives what is probably a correct rendering. The reading ‘ shall walk ’, adopted by R.V. is on the whole preferable on MSS. authority. At the time when the Epistle was written believers were comparatively few in number, but the blessing was a prophecy extending to all who in the long series of centuries, even to the end of the dispensation, should walk, that is, live by the same rule.

this rule ] This word originally meant a carpenter’s rod or rule for guiding and testing his work, or the tongue of a balance. Then, any standard by which to regulate procedure or conduct. The transition to the sense of a model or pattern was not difficult. It is of frequent occurrence in different applications in ecclesiastical literature. See Article ‘Canon’ in Dict. of Christian Antiquities, and Westcott On the Canon, App. A.

Here ‘this rule’ is the principle of justification through faith in the Atoning Blood, and the renewal of man’s nature by the Holy Ghost. ‘As many as walk by it’ whether circumcised or not in every age, in every clime male or female slave or free, without distinction of visible Church or sect. Surely this must be that ‘great multitude which no man can number’, of whom it is written ‘they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’, Rev 7:13.

peace be on them, and mercy ] This is probably a prayer, ‘May peace be on them’; though the original allows us to render, ‘Peace rests on them’. Peace in the soul, because of reconciliation with God. Peace with man through Him Who is ‘our peace’. But mercy also, as needed by sinners.

and upon the Israel of God ] Are ‘the Israel of God’ distinct from those who walk according to the Apostle’s rule, or are we to regard the particle ‘and’ as epexegetical, and equivalent to ‘ yea, upon &c.’? The answer will depend on the exact meaning which is attached to the expression, ‘the Israel of God’. If it means those ‘who are not of the circumcision only, but who walk in the steps’ of Abraham’s faith, i.e. Jews who have been really converted to Christianity, we must suppose St Paul to have had Gentile converted in his mind in the preceding verses. It seems better, however, to regard the expression as intended to sum up the ‘as many as’ in a phrase which is closely identified with the whole argument of the Epistle, ‘If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise’. These are ‘the Israel of God’, whether Jews or Gentiles, for ‘the Jew is he who is one inwardly in the spirit, not in the letter’. Rom 2:29. So that the blessing is invoked on all who walk according to the rule enunciated, and so in fact on the true Israel, not Israel after the flesh, but the Israel of the promise and of God.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And as many as walk – As many as live, for so the word walk is used in the Scriptures. According to this rule. Greek: This canon; see the word explained in the notes at 2Co 10:13.

Peace be on them – See the note at Rom 15:33.

And upon the Israel of God – The true church of God; all who are his true worshippers; see the note at Rom 2:28-29; Rom 9:6, note.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Gal 6:16

And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

The Christians walk and rule

1. Christianity is a walk; a free and voluntary motion, an uniform and even motion, a progressive motion, a constant motion.

2. This walk is a walk by rule. A Christian is not a lawless person to range up and down as fancy leads him.

3. The rule is the law of the new creature. The new creature, in the principles and workings of it, is made the ground, the pattern and direction of our obedience, and we frame and square all the actions of our lives according thereunto.

4. The blessed privileges belonging to those who thus walk–peace and mercy.

5. Such are the true Israel: a thousand times greater privilege than to be the children of Abrahams flesh. (W. Burkitt.)

The true canon of Christianity

This rule–

I. Does not consist in party watchwords.

II. Does consist in a spiritual change of the inner man (2Co 5:17).

III. Practically followed brings blessing. Peace and mercy. (Canon Vernon Hutton.)

Canonical obedience

I. The rule.

1. Glorying in the Cross.

2. The new life.

3. Called a rule of faith and practice because by it all doctrines and acts are to be examined.

4. We are to walk by it warily, circumspectly, in order and measure, without swerving, but making straight steps to our feet.

II. The blessedness of walking by this rule.

1. Peace.

(1) With God (Rom 5:1).

(2) With ourselves.

(3) With the world.

2. Mercy–all spiritual blessings flowing from the love and favour of God in Christ. (R. Cudworth.)

Peace and righteousness

Peace may be sought two ways. One way is as Gideon sought it when he built his altar in Ophrah, naming it God send peace, yet sought this peace that he loved as he was ordered to seek it, and the peace was sent, in Gods way: The country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon. And the other way of seeking peace is as Menahem sought it when he gave the king of Assyria a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him. That is, you may either win your peace or buy it–win it by resistance to evil; buy it by compromise with evil. You may buy your peace with silenced consciences; you may buy it with broken vows; buy it with lying words; buy it with base connivances; buy it with the blood of the slain, and the cry of the captive, and the silence of lost souls. (Ruskin.)

Christianity a rule of life

I. That Christianity is a rule of life. And as many as walk according to this rule.

1. Christianity is a Divine rule. Christianity is of God.

2. Christianity is a perfect rule. The law of the Lord is perfect.

3. Christianity is an unchangeable rule. The word of the Lord standeth for ever.

4. Christianity is a precious rule. The law of Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

5. Christianity is an influential rule. Converting the soul.

II. That conformity to Christianity as a rule of life imparts great blessings.

1. Harmony of soul. Peace be on them.

2. The favour of God. And mercy

3. Relation to the children of God. And upon the Israel of God. (J. O. Griffiths.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 16. As many as walk according to this rule] This canon; viz. what is laid down in the preceding verses, that redemption is through the sacrifice of Christ; that circumcision and uncircumcision are equally unavailable; and that none can be saved without being created anew. This is the grand canon or rule in Christianity.

Peace be on them] Those who act from this conviction will have the peace and mercy of God; for it is in this way that mercy is communicated and peace obtained.

The Israel of God.] The true Christians, called here the Israel of God, to distinguish them from Israel according to the flesh. See Clarke on Ro 2:29; “Ro 4:12“.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

And as many as walk according to this rule; he either meaneth the rule of Scripture, the whole word of God; or the doctrine which he had taught them throughout this Epistle, or what he had said in the words immediately going before, where the apostle had given them this rule, not to regard either circumcision or uncircumcision, or any thing in the flesh, but only the change of their hearts. To these he either prophesieth

peace and mercy, or he prayeth peace and mercy for them; under which large terms he comprehendeth all good things, whether internal or external.

Upon the Israel of God; upon the true Israelites, whom he calleth the Israel of God; hereby intimating and confirming the truth of what he had said, Rom 2:28,29, and what our Saviour had said of Nathanael, Joh 1:47, calling him an Israelite indeed, because in him was no guile; and establishing a distinction between such as were so really, and those who were only Israelites in name, because descended from Jacob, to whom God gave the name of Israel. Hereby also checking the vanity of the Jews, who gloried in the name of Israelites, and thought there could no water come out of the fountains of Israel which God would cast away. The apostle doth not promise, or prophesy, mercy and peace to all Israelites, but only to the Israel of God; that is, to believers, that received and embraced Jesus Christ offered in the gospel.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

16. as manycontrasting withthe “as many,” Ga 6:12.

ruleliterally, astraight rule, to detect crookedness; so a rule of life.

peacefrom God (Eph 2:14-17;Eph 6:23).

mercy (Ro15:9).

Israel of Godnot theIsrael after the flesh, among whom those teachers wish to enrol you;but the spiritual seed of Abraham by faith (Gal 3:9;Gal 3:29; Rom 2:28;Rom 2:29; Phi 3:3).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And as many as walk according to this rule,…. Or canon; meaning not the canon of the Scriptures in general, which is the perfect rule, and only standard of faith and practice; according to which we are to walk, believe, and act; but either the doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ, the subject of this epistle, the truth the apostle had been explaining, vindicating, and confirming; and which to depart from, is going out of the way of truth; and an abiding by it, is walking in it; and is a good rule and standard, by which to distinguish between truth and error; for whatever is contrary to that article of faith cannot be true: or else the rule delivered in the preceding verse, declaring circumcision and uncircumcision to be of no avail in salvation, but a new creature; and to walk according to this rule, is to renounce all trust in, and dependence upon any outward things; to believe alone in Christ, for righteousness and life; to live by faith upon him, and to walk in newness of life, under the influences of his Spirit and grace:

peace be on them, and mercy. This is the apostle’s godly wish, unfeigned desire, and hearty prayer for all such persons, be they who they will; Jews or Gentiles, circumcised or uncircumcised: by peace he means, a view of their peace with God, made by the blood of Christ; peace in their own consciences, which passes all understanding, and arises from a comfortable sense of justification by the righteousness of Christ, of pardon by his blood, and atonement by his sacrifice; and which is enjoyed in a way of believing; and also peace with one another, among themselves as brethren, which is a very desirable blessing: in short, it includes all prosperity and happiness, inward and outward, temporal, spiritual, and eternal: and by “mercy”, he designs the love and grace of God, to sinful miserable creatures in themselves, which is the spring and fountain of all peace and prosperity; and which is displayed in the covenant of grace, and all the blessings of it; in the mission and incarnation of Christ, and redemption by him; in regeneration, forgiveness of sin, and complete salvation; and intends a fresh discovery, manifestation, and application of the mercy of God to his children; who often stand in need thereof, being distressed with the guilt of sin, or are under desertions or afflictive providences, at which time to have mercy showed them, is exceeding suitable and agreeable: when the apostle wishes these to be “on” them, it signifies that these blessings come from above, as every good gift does; that they descend as a cloud, and rest upon them, and abide with them, refreshing, comforting, and protecting them: he adds,

and upon the Israel of God; which is a further description of the persons, for whom he prays for these blessings; and is not to be understood by way of distinction from them, but as an amplification of their character; and as pointing out the Israel, by way of emphasis, the Israel, or Israelites indeed, the spiritual Israel, as distinct from Israel according to the flesh; see 1Co 10:18. The “Israel of God”, or as the Arabic version reads it, “Israel the propriety of God”; which he has a right unto, and a claim upon; who are chosen by him, Israel his elect; who are redeemed by him, out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation; who are called by his grace, and are styled Israel his called; who are justified in his Son, and by his righteousness; and for whose sake he is exalted as a Prince and a Saviour, to give them repentance and remission of sin; and who are, or will be saved by him, with an everlasting salvation; and is a name that includes all God’s elect, whether Jews or Gentiles: though it may have a particular respect to such of the Israelites, or Jews, God had foreknown and reserved for himself; and who believed in Christ, and walked as new creatures, without confidence in the flesh. The Jews themselves own, that strangers, or proselytes, shall be called by the name of Israel; so they b explain Isa 44:5, latter part.

b Jarchi & Abarbinel in Isa. xliv. 5.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

By this rule ( ). For , see on 2Cor 10:13; 2Cor 10:15.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Rule [] . P o. See on 2Co 10:13, 16. 9 1 Emphasis on rule not this.

Peace be on them [ ] . The only instance of this formula in N. T. Commonly eijrhnh with the simple dative, peace unto you, as Joh 20:19, 21; Rom 1:7; 1Co 1:3; Gal 1:3, etc. In the Catholic Epistles, with plhqunqeih be multiplied. See 1Pe 1:2; 2Pe 1:2; Jude 1:2.

Mercy [] . In the opening salutations of the Pastoral Epistles with grace and peace; also in 2 John 3. In Jude 1:2 with peace and love. And upon the Israel of God. The kai and may be simply collective, in which case the Israel of God may be different from as many as walk, etc., and may mean truly converted Jews. Or the kai may be explicative, in which case the Israel of God will define and emphasize as many as, etc., and will mean the whole body of Christians, Jewish and Gentile. In other words, they who walk according to this rule form the true Israel of God. The explicative kai is at best doubtful here, and is rather forced, although clear instances of it may be found in 1Co 3:5; 1Co 14:38. It seems better to regard it as simply connective. Then osoi will refer to the individual Christians, Jewish and Gentile, and Israel of God to the same Christians, regarded collectively, and forming the true messianic community.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And as many as walk according to this rule,” (kai hosoi to kanoni touto stoichesousin) “And as many as will walk according to this principle;” the principle of love, a fruit of the new life creature, Gal 5:6; Gal 5:16; Gal 5:25; Eph 5:15-19; according to the Spirit, not the flesh, Php_3:16.

2) “Peace be on them, and mercy,” (eirene ep’autous kai eleos) “Peace and mercy upon them, (let be);” with this tender, persuasive, compassionate benediction and supplication, Paul brings his letter to an end. For betrayers of the cross he offered stern warnings of judgment. Toward those who were true to the faith a desire for mercy and peace to them flowed from his heart.

3) “And upon the Israel of God, (kai epi ton Israel tou theou) “And on the Israel (true man of God) of God,” in truth. Those who walk by the rule, principle of Spirit control are the true children of God, not those who trust in the keeping of law codes and rites, Rom 2:29; Rom 4:12; Gal 3:7; Gal 3:9; Gal 3:29; Rom 8:14-16.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

16. And as many as walk according to this rule. “May they enjoy all prosperity and happiness!” This is not merely a prayer in their behalf, but a token of approbation. His meaning therefore is, that those who teach this doctrine are worthy of all esteem and regard, and those who reject it do not deserve to be heard. The word rule denotes the regular and habitual course which all godly ministers of the gospel ought to pursue. Architects employ a model in the erection of buildings, to assist them in preserving the proper form and just proportions. Such a model ( κανόνα) does the apostle prescribe to the ministers of the word, who are to build the church “according to the pattern shewn to them.” (Heb 8:5.)

Faithful and upright teachers, and all who allow themselves to conform to this rule, must derive singular encouragement from this passage, in which God, by the mouth of Paul, pronounces on them a blessing. We have no cause to dread the thunders of the Pope, if God promises to us from heaven peace and mercy. The word walk may apply both to a minister and to his people, though it refers chiefly to ministers. The future tense of the verb, ( ὅσοι στοιχήσουσιν,) as many as shall walk, is intended to express perseverance.

And upon the Israel of God (101) This is an indirect ridicule of the vain boasting of the false apostles, who vaunted of being the descendants of Abraham according to the flesh. There are two classes who bear this name, a pretended Israel, which appears to be so in the sight of men, — and the Israel of God. Circumcision was a disguise before men, but regeneration is a truth before God. In a word, he gives the appellation of the Israel of God to those whom he formerly denominated the children of Abraham by faith, (Gal 3:29,) and thus includes all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, who were united into one church. On the contrary, the name and lineage are the sole boast of Israel according to the flesh; and this led the apostle to argue in the Epistle to the Romans, that “they are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children.” (Rom 9:6.)

(101) Ισραηλιτικὸν γὰρ τὸ ἀληθινὸν πνευματικὸν καὶ Ἰακὼβ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ ᾿Αβραὰμ τοῦ ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ ἐπὶ τὣ πίστει μερτυρηθέντος ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ εὐλογηθέντος καὶ πατρὸς πολλῶν κληθέντος ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν, οἱ διὰ τούτου σταυρωθέντος Χριστοῦ τῷ Θεῷ προσαχθώντες. “We, who have been brought to God by this crucified Christ are the true spiritual Israel, and the seed of Judah, and of Jacob, and of Isaac, and of Abraham, whose faith was attested, and who was blessed by God, and called the father of many nations, while he was in circumcision“ — Justin Martyr.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES

Gal. 6:16. As many as walk according to this rule.Of life: a straight rule to detect crookedness. Upon the Israel of God.Not the Israel after the flesh, but the spiritual seed of Israel by faith.

Gal. 6:17. I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.The Judaising teachers gloried in the circumcision marks in the flesh of their followers; St. Paul in the scars or brands of suffering for Christ in his own bodythe badge of an honourable servitude.

Gal. 6:18. Brethren.After much rebuke and monition, he bids them farewell with the loving expression of brotherhood as his last parting word, as if Greatheart had meant to say, After all, my last word is, I love you, I love you.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gal. 6:16-18

A Dignified and Touching Farewell

I. Supplicates the best blessings on the truly righteous.As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16). Jewish discipline and pagan culture are for ever discredited by the new creation of moral virtue. The rule of the renewed inward life supersedes the works of the condemned flesh. On all who seek to regulate their lives according to this rule the apostle invokes the peace and mercy of God. Peace is followed by the mercy which guards and restores it. Mercy heals backslidings and multiplies pardons. She loves to bind up a broken heart or a rent and distracted Church. For the betrayers of the cross he has stern indignation and alarms of judgment. Towards his children in the faith nothing but peace and mercy remains in his heart. As an evening calm shuts in a tempestuous day, so this blessing concludes the epistle so full of strife and agitation. We catch in it once more the chime of the old benediction, which through all storm and peril ever rings in ears attuned to its note: Peace shall be upon Israel (Psa. 125:5).

II. Pleads the brand of suffering for loyalty to Christ as conclusive proof of authority.From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus (Gal. 6:17). The apostle has sufficiently vindicated his authority by facts and arguments, and he would effectually silence all quibbles on this subject by triumphantly pointing to the marks of suffering on his own body received in his Masters service. These marks he carried wherever he went, like the standard-bearer of an army who proudly wears his scars. No man would have suffered as Paul did unless he was convinced of the importance of the truth he had received and of his supernatural call to declare the same. Suffering is the test of devotion and fidelity. For a picture of the harassed, battered, famished sufferer in the cause of Christ and His gospel read 2Co. 4:8-10; 2Co. 11:23-28. Marks of suffering are more eloquent than words. The highest eminence of moral perfection and influence cannot be reached without much suffering. It is a callous nature indeed that is not touched with the sight of suffering heroically endured. The calm bravery of the early Christians under the most fiendish persecution won many a convert to the truth.

III. Concludes with an affectionate benediction.Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen (Gal. 6:18). Placing the word brethren at the end of the sentence, as in the Greek, suggests that, after much rebuke and admonition, the apostle bids his readers farewell with the warm-hearted expression of brotherhood. Notwithstanding fickleness on their part, his love towards them remains unchanged. He prays that the grace of Christ, the distinctive and comprehensive blessing of the new covenant, may continue to rest upon them and work its renewing and sanctifying power upon their spirit, the place where alone it can accomplish its most signal triumphs. Forgiveness for their defection and confidence in their restoration to the highest Christian privileges and enjoyment, are the last thoughts of the anxious apostle. Between them and moral bankruptcy is the prayerful solicitude of a good man.

Lessons.

1. When argument is exhausted prayer is the last resource.

2. Prayer links divine blessing with human entreaty.

3. Last words have about them a solemn and affecting efficacy.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

Gal. 6:16. The True Israel of God

I. Are those who personally enjoy the inward righteousness that comes through faith.

II. Who live consistently with their spiritual profession and the truth they have embraced.

III. Enjoy the divine benedictions of mercy and peace.

Gal. 6:17. Marks of the Lord Jesus.

I. The word-picture here presented.

1. The figureslave-brands, .

2. The factsPauls historic experiences (1Co. 4:9-15; 2Co. 11:23-30).

3. The challengeLet no man trouble me.

II. The suggestion the picture makes.

1. He who follows the Lord Jesus must expect some will try to trouble him.
2. He whose marks are most conspicuous will be troubled the least.
3. He who has marks may take comfort in knowing how much his Master paid for him.
4. He who is owned may remember that his Master owns and recognises the marks also.
5. He that has no marks is either a better or a poorer Christian than the apostle Paul.
6. Satan outwits himself when he gives a believer more marks.
7. A sure day is coming when the marks will be honourable, for the body of humiliation will be like the glorious body of Christ.Homiletic Monthly.

Marked Men.

I. Ill-marked men.Think of the marks left on men by sickness, intemperance, impurity, crime, sin of any kind. Evil will always leave its mark.

II. Well-marked men.

1. Christian marksthe marks of Christ. Paul was the slave of Christ. Some of his marks for Christ were literal, as the weals caused by the rods of the Roman Csars, the red lines caused by scourging in Jewish synagogues, the scars caused by repeated stonings. The marks of the Christian are mainly spiritualmarked by trustfulness, gentleness, purity, unselfishness.

2. Distinct marks.Marked that he may be recognised. If you have the marks of Jesus, confess and obey Him.

3. Deep marks.Branded on the body, not lines that can easily be removed, but going down to the flesh. Our Christian life is often feeble because it is not deep.

4. Personal marks.The marks of Jesus of no avail unless you possess them. No man can really trouble you if you bear branded on your body the marks of Jesus.Local Preachers Treasury.

Suffering for Jesus.

I. The scars of the saints for the maintenance of the truth are the sufferings, wounds, and marks of Christ Himself, seeing they are the wounds of the members of that body whereof He is the Head.

II. They convince the persecutors that they are the servants of Christ who suffer thus for righteousness sake.

III. If men be constant in their professionin faith and obediencethe marks of their suffering are banners of victory.No man ought to be ashamed of them, no more than soldiers of their wounds and scars, but rather in a holy manner to glory of them. Constantine the Great kissed the holes of the eyes of certain bishops who had them put out for their constant profession of the faith of Christ, reverencing the virtue of the Holy Ghost which shined in them.

1. By suffering bodily afflictions we are made conformable to Christ.
2. They teach us to have sympathy with the miseries of our brethren.
3. Our patient enduring of affliction is an example to others and a means of confirming them in the truth.
4. They serve to scour us from the rust of sin.Perkins.

Gal. 6:18. Concluding Benediction.

I. The apostle invokes the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

1. Because He is the fountain of it.
2. Because He is the conduit or pipe by which it is conveyed to us.

II. Christ is called our Lord

1. By right of creation.
2. Of inheritance.
3. Of redemption.
4. Of conquest.
5. Of contract and marriage.

III. Observe the emphasis with which the apostle concludes the epistle.

1. Opposing Christ, the Lord of the house, to Moses, who was but a servant.
2. The grace of Christ to inherent justice and merit of works.
3. The spirit in which he would have grace to be seated, to the flesh in which the false teachers gloried so much. 4. Brotherly unity one with anotherimplied in the word brethrento the proud and lordly carriage of the false teachers.Ibid.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(16) According to this rule.The word for rule is the same that afterwards received a special application in the phrase, Canon of Scripture. It meant originally a carpenters rule, or the line that a carpenter works byhence, a rule or standard; and, from that, the list of books coming up to a certain standardnot (as might be thought) which themselves supplied a standard.

The Apostle confines his benediction to those who hold the fundamental truths of Christianityi.e., here more especially, the doctrine of justification by faith and the spiritual view of Christianity connected with it, as opposed to the merely external and mechanical system of the Judaisers.

And upon the Israel of God.The benediction is addressed, not to two distinct sets of persons (those who walk by this rule and the Israel of God), but to the same set of persons described in different ways. And is therefore equivalent to namely: Yea, upon the Israel of God. By the Israel of God is here meant the spiritual Israel; not converts from Judaism alone, but all who prove their real affinity to Abraham by a faith like Abrahams. (Comp. Gal. 3:7-9; Gal. 3:14; Gal. 3:29; Rom. 4:11-12; Rom. 9:6-8.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

16. Rule , that is, canon. Dr. Westcott, in his work on the Canon, says, “The original meaning of (connected with , , , canno, [ canalis, channel, ] cane, canon) is a straight rule; as a ruler, or, rarely, the beam of a balance; and this with the secondary notion, either (1) of keeping any thing straight, or (2) testing straightness, as a carpenter’s rule, and even, improperly, a plumb-line.” From this the acknowledged books of the Bible are called the canon, and canonical. St. Paul lays down the principle of the last verse, and pronounces a benediction on all who walk (or, a better reading, shall walk) according to this canon.

Israel of God In distinction from the Israel of the flesh. In this terse phrase Paul triumphantly embodies his great doctrine that the theocracy has left the old ritual and gone with the new Church of the Spirit.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and on the Israel of God.’

His letter is finished. He has made clear his Gospel. And now on those of the Galatians who walk by ‘this rule’, (that the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is all and that neither circumcision matters, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation) he prays for peace and mercy. For they alone will have both.

The combination of peace and mercy in such close conjunction in a blessing occurs nowhere in Judaism, but it is partially found in Psa 85:10 (Psa 84:11 in the LXX) and in Isa 54:10. The latter is especially appropriate, ‘neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, says Yahweh Who has mercy on you.’

‘And (namely) on the Israel of God.’ Throughout his letter he has demonstrated that the old unbelieving Israel is finished with. Their rites no longer apply, their submission to the Law is now futile, they are no longer the true sons of Abraham or heirs of the promise made to him (Gal 3:18; Gal 3:28-29). They are the sons of the slave woman who is after the flesh (Gal 4:23), they are children of Hagar who have been brought into bondage (Gal 4:24). They are children of the old Jerusalem which is in bondage (Gal 4:25). They are as such to be cast out (Gal 4:30).

But now there is a new Israel. They are, like Isaac, the children of promise (Gal 4:28). They are the children of the free-woman (Gal 4:31). They are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise (Gal 3:29). They are adopted as sons and heirs of God (Gal 4:5-7). They are reckoned as righteous by faith, just as their father Abraham was (Gal 3:6-7). They have received the promise of the Spirit through faith (Gal 3:14). They are children of the new Jerusalem which is in Heaven (Gal 4:26). They are born after the Spirit (Gal 4:29). They are the new people of God. And they consist of believing ex-Jews and believing ex-Gentiles (Gal 3:28). They are ‘the congregation (church) of God’ (Gal 1:13), the Israel of God.

Thus Paul extends his blessing to cover not only the faithful among the Galatians ‘those (of you) as shall walk by this rule’ but also the faithful worldwide, the Israel of God’. The close connection with the new creation in the previous verse confirms this interpretation. They are the new creation, the new Israel.

Some suggest ‘the Israel of God’ means only believing Jews. But the whole of Galatians has rid them of the idea that Jews are different from Gentiles, and the lack of difference is what he has been at pains to point out (Gal 3:28). Would he now so distinguish believing Jews as the Israel of God separately from the believing Gentiles, thus again splitting ‘the one new man’ (Eph 2:15)? Especially as this last passage is summarising what has gone before. It is inconceivable. The ‘Israel of God’ includes either all or none.

Indeed the sentence I so worded that if we make the Israel of God separate from what has gone before we suggest that ‘those who walk according to this rule’ are different from the Israel of God. But that would be foolish. All walk according to the rule that circumcision matters no more. All who are His are a part of Israel, with or without circumcision.

It is one of the emphases of the New Testament that the church is the true Israel, the Israel of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob/Israel. They are the true seed of Abraham (Gal 3:29), they are the true sons of Abraham (Gal 3:7), they are engrafted into the olive tree of Israel (Rom 11:17-21), and unbelieving Israel is broken off from it (Rom 11:17; Rom 11:20). They are the Jerusalem which is above which is their mother (Gal 3:26) and are like Isaac, true sons of promise, in contrast with unbelieving Jews who have proved themselves to be like Ishmael and thus not sons of promise (Gal 4:22-31). They are children of Abraham through Sarah (Gal 4:31).

To be separated from Christ is to be alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and to be strangers to the covenants of promise, but now they have been brought near and have been made one by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:12-13), so that they are no longer strangers and sojourners (non-Israelites), but fellow-citizens with God’s holy ones, God’s separated people, and they are of the household of God. They are built on Jesus Christ, Who in Himself represents Israel, and on the Apostles, chosen by Him to judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Mat 19:28), that is the people of God, and on the Prophets of Israel.

It is noteworthy that Paul, in arguing against circumcision, never argues that the church is not Israel and therefore is not subject to circumcision. Rather he claims that circumcision has been superseded (Col 2:11-13), and that we are the true circumcision (Php 3:3) precisely because the church is the new Israel. Furthermore his reply to the Judaisers was not that they should not treat the church as though it were Israel. His arguments always assume that at least in that the Judaisers were right. Where they went wrong was in failing to recognise that through Christ and His death and resurrection God’s requirements of the true Israel were now different.

The whole basis of Hebrews is that the church is now the true Israel, looking to Jesus as its High Priest, they are the seed of Abraham (Gal 2:16). Indeed our hope lies in exactly that, that the church is the result of the promise to Abraham that his seed will be multiplied (Gal 6:13-18). He sees the church as coming to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb 11:22) as their home.

James of Jerusalem wrote to the churches as ‘the twelve tribes of the Dispersion’ )(Jas 1:1). That he meant the church as a whole is clear from the fact that there is no hint anywhere in his letter of a distinction from Gentile Christians in a context that would have demanded it if he had been aware of such a distinction. If he was writing only to Jewish Christians in a Gentile world how could he possibly not have mentioned their relationships with their Gentile brethren when speaking so strongly about moral behaviour, if that was how he had seen things? To have ignored Gentile Christians altogether would have been a studied insult. He writes as though such distinctions did not exist. In Christ there was neither Jew nor Greek. All were Israel.

Peter writes to ‘the elect among the sojourners of the Dispersion’ (1Pe 1:1), and the same applies as with James. In his letter ‘Gentiles’ are always non-Christians, contrasted with his readers (Gal 2:12; Gal 4:3). He refers to God’s people as ‘an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation’ all signifying Israel as it should be (1Pe 2:9 compare Exo 19:5-6). So both James and Peter saw the church as Israel. And John does the same when he depicts the church as ‘one hundred and forty four thousand’ (total completeness) out of every tribe of the house of Israel, which turn out to be ‘a great multitude which no man could number’ (Revelation 7).

So the church was God’s true Israel. We should recognise that this transition of the church to being Israel was not the difficulty for the ancients that it is to us. Incorporation into ‘Israel’, becoming sons of Israel, was always possible for anyone of any nation who was willing to enter into the covenant (and exclusion resulted from rejecting the covenant). The ‘children of Israel’ from the start included foreign servants and their children. They were joined by a mixed multitude (Exo 12:38) officially incorporated into Israel at Sinai. Names of Israelites like Uriah the Hittite bear witness to this continual influx. Later a welcome would be offered to proselytes, Gentiles who wished to become Israelites. But all had to be circumcised (e.g. Exo 12:48). That is why circumcision was such a big issue in the early church. And that raised the question, ‘How could the church be Israel if all its influx of members were not required to be circumcised?’ Paul’s answer was that they were circumcised in the death of Christ (Col 2:11-13).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Conclusion:

v. 16. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

v. 17. From henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

v. 18. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Crucified to the world, but alive to Christ and in Christ, that is the condition of the believers that have become new creatures by the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit. And therefore Paul, in a calm, but triumphant statement, calls out: And as many as shall walk according to this rule: peace upon them and mercy, yea, upon the Israel of God. All believers accept the principle formulated by Paul in

v. 15. it is the standard according to which they regulate their lives. And upon all such, as upon the true Israel of God, the apostle invokes peace and mercy. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, which assures them of the right relation to God, Php_4:7 , the peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom 5:1, is the blessing which follows belief in the Gospel. For it has been made possible by the mercy of God, shown to us poor sinners for the sake of His Son, by which He forgives us all our sins and accepts us as His dear children.

Having thus finished his exposition of the truth, Paul has only one wish: Henceforth let no one cause me distresses, wearisome annoyances. He expects it of the Galatians, and feels sure that they will heed his appeal, that they will pay no more attention to the Judaizing teachers. For as for him, he was hearing the marks, or stigmata, of the Lord Jesus in his body. Such marks were branded upon the body for various reasons, the reference here probably being to the brand of freedom placed upon the slave when he was sold to the temple and thus liberated from his master. Paul bore such marks on his body, all the traces, scars, wounds, and welts of the various persecutions which he had been obliged to endure in his apostolic calling. Also herein he had become like his great Master.

And so he concludes: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. The grace which was merited by the atoning work of Christ is the highest gift which God can bestow, and it is Paul’s prayer that it may fill their spirit, their mind, with the calm certainty of salvation, a certainty which neither false teachers nor all the forces of the world could take from them. The very last word of the epistle proper is the kind and appealing address “brethren. ” The severity of the entire letter is mitigated by this one word, in which unaltered brotherly love is expressed.

Summary

The apostle warns against self-exaltation and every show of selfishness, pictures his love in contrast to the hypocrisy of the false teachers, and begs the Galatians to return to the proper spirit of peace in order that they may enjoy the mercy of the Lord.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Gal 6:16. And as many as walk, &c. St. Paul having asserted, in the foregoing verse, that it is the new creation alone which qualifies men to be proper members of the kingdom of Christ, and puts them into the possession of the privileges thereof, this verse may be understood also as assertory,peace shall be on them, rather than as a prayer, unless there werea verb which expressed it;especially considering that he writes this Epistle to encourage them to refuse circumcision.To which end, the assuring them that those who do so shall have peace and mercy from God, is of more force than to tell them, he prays that they may have peace and mercy. And for the same reason I understand the Israel of God to be the same with those who walk by this rule, though joined with them by the copulative , and; which is no very unusual way of speaking.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Gal 6:16 . The heart, full of the great truth in Gal 6:15 , has now a wish of blessing for all who follow it in their conduct. The simple and , carrying on the train of thought and linking it with Gal 6:15 , serves to express this wish. A reference to Gal 6:14 , so as to connect our verse with the wish therein contained (Hofmann), is not required by , and is forbidden by the importance of Gal 6:15 , which would in that case have to be reduced to a mere parenthetical insertion.

The emphasis lies not on , but on (comp. on 1Co 15:19 ); for it is the very canonical character of the saying in Gal 6:15 which has to be brought out: “who shall walk according to the guiding line , which is herein given.” We are prohibited from assigning to the non-literal meaning rule, maxim (as is usually done; see Schott in loc .), by the figurative , which requires the literal meaning guiding line (2Co 10:13 ff.), that is, in this passage, a line defining the direction of the way; as such, the maxim expressed in Gal 6:15 is placed before them. As to , comp. on Gal 5:25 . The anacoluthic nominative . . . has rhetorical emphasis, directing the whole attention of the readers first to the subject in itself which is under discussion. Comp. on Mat 7:24 ; Mat 10:14 ; Joh 1:12 ; Act 7:40 . The future . (comp. Gal 5:10 ) applies to the time of receiving the letter (comp. , Gal 6:17 ). Paul hopes that the letter will have a converting and strengthening effect upon many readers, but makes the question, who should be warranted in applying to himself the concluding blessing, depend on the result.

] sc . , [270] welfare ( ; see on Eph 6:23 ; Joh 14:27 ) on them, and mercy (Tittm. Synon . p. 69 f). Comp. 1Ti 1:2 ; 2Ti 1:2 ; Jud 1:2 ; 2Jn 1:3 , in which passages stands first . Here it follows after , not because Paul intended at first to write only (so, arbitrarily, Olshausen), nor because in he had specially in view the day of judgment (Hofmann), which indeed is expressly added in 2Ti 1:18 , but because he has thought of the effect produced before the producing cause. What welfare it is that Paul wishes namely, all Messianic welfare is obvious of itself. The peace of reconciliation forms a part of it. is, moreover, to be considered as neuter , because Paul throughout so uses it (even in Tit 3:5 it is neuter, according to decisive testimony); although the neuter form, which very often occurs in the LXX., is but very rarely found in classical authors. See Dindorf, ad Diod . iii. 18; Khner, I. p. 396, c. Exo 2 .

In is implied the idea that welfare and mercy come down upon them from heaven. Comp. Luk 2:25 ; Luk 2:40 ; Luk 4:18 ; 2Co 12:9 ; Mar 1:10 ; Act 19:6 , et al .

] That this is a reminiscence of Psa 125:5 ; Psa 128:6 (Theophylact, Erasmus, and others; also Rckert, Schott, de Wette, Reiche), could only be assumed without dealing arbitrarily, if, instead of . , Paul had written: ! which, after the instruction given by him in Gal 4:21 ff., he might have written without any danger of misunderstanding. Still less can the expression be referred to Psa 73:1 ; for which purpose Hofmann employs an impossible interpretation of the Hebrew text of the passage. The Israel of God , that is, as contrasted with Jacob’s bodily descendants as such (comp. Rom 9:6 ; 1Co 10:18 ; Phi 3:3 ), the Israelites who belong to God as His own , and therefore form the real people of God ideally viewed (comp. also Joh 1:48 ), are at any rate the true Christians . [271] But according as is taken either as explanatory or as conjunctive , we may understand either the true Christians in general, Jewish and Gentile Christians (Chrysostom, Theodoret, Luther, Calvin, Pareus, Cornelius a Lapide, Calovius, Baumgarten, Koppe, Rosenmller, Borger, Winer, Paulus, Olshausen, Baumgarten-Crusius, Wieseler, and others), or the truly converted Jews (Ambrosiaster, Beza, Grotius, Estius, Schoettgen, Bengel, Rckert, Matthies, Schott, de Wette, Ewald, Reithmayr, and others; Usteri does not decide). If we adopt the latter interpretation, we must either (with Grotius, Schott, Bengel, Ewald) refer the foregoing and to the Gentile Christians, a view which is, however, decisively at variance with the universal , and with the description excluding any national reference, . or (with Rckert, Matthies, de Wette, Reithmayr, and others) we must explain the train of thought as follows: “Salvation be upon all true Christians, and more especially (to mention these in particular; see on Mar 1:5 ; Mar 16:7 ) on all true Jewish Christians!” But however near Paul’s fellow-countrymen were to his heart (Rom 9:1 ), he not only had no ground in the context for bringing them forward here so specially; but any such distinction would even be quite improperly introduced especially in the deeply-impassioned close of the letter in presence of churches which consisted principally of Gentile Christians and had been involved by Jewish interference in violent controversies. And even apart from this, no reader to whom the teaching of the apostle as to the true Israelites was familiar (and see Gal 3:7 , Gal 4:21 ff.) could think that . referred to Jewish Christians only; this would be opposed to the specific conception of Paul on this point. We must adhere, therefore, to the explicative view of as the correct one (1Co 3:5 ; 1Co 8:12 ; 1Co 15:38 ; Joh 1:16 ), and indeed, namely , so that it introduces an appropriate, more precise description (Hartung, Partikell . I. p. 145 f.; Winer, p. 407 [E. T. 545 f.]) of the subjects previously characterized. Hofmann is wrong in objecting that the epexegetical is always climactic ; see Hermann ad Viger . p. 838. Moreover, the designation of all those, who shall walk according to that entirely anti-Jewish rule of conduct, as the Israelites of God , forms as it were the final triumph of the whole epistle over the Judaistic practices, the very aim of which was to assert the title of the to the heritage of salvation. Hofmann is entirely mistaken in his view that is even , and that the Israel of God are the Jew-Christians , so that Paul expresses the idea that he desired to include even these in his wish. It was, indeed, obvious that in they could not be, and were not intended to be, excluded; but Paul was neither so unwise nor so devoid of tact as expressly to state that self-evident point, as if there could possibly be any doubt about it. By adding this last word, he would only have offended the theocratical point of honour (Rom 1:16 ). Lastly, Matthias also is wrong in supposing that . begins the new sentence (Gal 6:17 ): “ And concerning the Israel of God henceforth let no man ,” etc. This interpretation ought to have been prevented by the solemn repetition of the preposition, which indeed on the second occasion would acquire quite a different sense ( concerning ).

[270] Taken as a wish of blessing, the thought harmonizes more naturally with the conclusion of the epistle, than if it is taken as an affirmation (de Wette, or ). Chrysostom and Theophylact appear to have supplied ; but Theodoret takes it as wish: . .

[271] Not the Jews (Morus), nor even the pious Jews , those, namely, who have not rejected the gospel out of stubbornness, and permit the hope of their coming to recognise the rule expressed in ver. 15 (Reiche, p. 97 f.). The apostle, according to his whole system, could not understand under the ideal Israel of God any others than believers (Gal 3:7 ; Gal 3:29 , Gal 4:26 ; Rom 9:6-8 ). To him the in ver. 15 was not conceivable otherwise than as necessarily conditioned by faith (Gal 3:28 ; Eph 2:10 ); hence he could not expect of any Jew not yet converted, however pious he might be as an observer of the law, that he would walk according to the canon of ver. 15.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Ver. 16. According to this rule ] viz. Of the new creature. Or the doctrine of this Epistle.

Peace be on them ] Not only in them, or with them, but “on them,” maugre the malice of earth and hell.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

16 .] And as many (reference to the of Gal 6:12 ; and in to the . and .? see above) as shall walk by this rule (of Gal 6:15 . is a ‘straight rule,’ to detect crookedness: hence a norma vivendi . The dative is normal ), peace be (not ‘ is :’ it is the apostolic blessing, so common in the beginnings of his Epistles: see also Eph 6:23 ) upon them (come on them from God; reff., and Luk 2:25 ; Luk 2:40 al. freq.) and (and indeed, ‘ und zwar :’ the explicative, as it is called: see reff.) upon the Israel of God (the subject of the whole Epistle seems to have given rise to this expression. Not the Israel after the flesh, among whom these teachers wish to enrol you, are blessed: but the ISRAEL OF GOD, described ch. 3. ult., , . Jowett compares, though not exactly parallel, yet for a similar apparent though not actual distinction, 1Co 10:32 ).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Gal 6:16 . . Men need a rule to guide their lives as the surveyor or the carpenter for the right adjustment of his work. This rule was supplied to the Jew by the Law in a code of morals, but the Spirit quickens in Christians a new life whereby the conscience is enlightened to discern good and evil for the regulation of their lives. : yea upon the Israel of God . is not properly copulative here, but intensive. Those who walk by the rule of the Spirit are declared to be indeed the true Israel of God, not the Jews who have the name of Israel, but are really only children of Abraham after the flesh.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

1 Corinthians

FORMS VERSUS CHARACTER

1Co 7:19 . – Gal 5:6 . – Gal 6:16 .

The great controversy which embittered so much of Paul’s life, and marred so much of his activity, turned upon the question whether a heathen man could come into the Church simply by the door of faith, or whether he must also go through the gate of circumcision. We all know how Paul answered the question. Time, which settles all controversies, has settled that one so thoroughly that it is impossible to revive any kind of interest in it; and it may seem to be a pure waste of time to talk about it. But the principles that fought then are eternal, though the forms in which they manifest themselves vary with every varying age.

The Ritualist-using that word in its broadest sense-on the one hand, and the Puritan on the other, represent permanent tendencies of human nature; and we find to-day the old foes with new faces. These three passages, which I have read, are Paul’s deliverance on the question of the comparative value of external rites and spiritual character. They are remarkable both for the identity in the former part of each and for the variety in the latter. In all the three cases he affirms, almost in the same language, that ‘circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing,’ that the Ritualist’s rite and the Puritan’s protest are equally insignificant in comparison with higher things. And then he varies the statement of what the higher things are, in a very remarkable and instructive fashion. The ‘keeping of the commandments of God,’ says one of the texts, is the all-important matter. Then, as it were, he pierces deeper, and in another of the texts I take the liberty of varying their order pronounces that ‘a new creature’ is the all-important thing. And then he pierces still deeper to the bottom of all, in the third text, and says the all-important thing is ‘faith which worketh by love.’

I think I shall best bring out the force of these words by dealing first with that emphatic threefold proclamation of the nullity of all externalism; and then with the singular variations in the triple statement of what is essential, viz. spiritual conduct and character.

I. First, the emphatic proclamation of the nullity of outward rites.

‘Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing,’ say two texts. ‘Circumcision availeth nothing, and uncircumcision availeth nothing,’ says the other. It neither is anything nor does anything. Did Paul say that because circumcision was a Jewish rite? No. As I believe, he said it because it was a rite ; and because he had learned that the one thing needful was spiritual character, and that no external ceremonial of any sort could produce that. I think we are perfectly warranted in taking this principle of my text, and in extending it beyond the limits of the Jewish rite about which Paul was speaking. For if you remember, he speaks about baptism, in the first chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, in a precisely similar tone and for precisely the same reason, when he says, in effect, ‘I baptized Crispus and Gaius and the household of Stephanas, and I think these are all. I am not quite sure. I do not keep any kind of record of such things; God did not send me to baptize, He sent me to preach the Gospel.’

The thing that produced the spiritual result was not the rite, but the truth, and therefore he felt that his function was to preach the truth and leave the rite to be administered by others. Therefore we can extend the principle here to all externalisms of worship, in all forms, in all churches, and say that in comparison with the essentials of an inward Christianity they are nothing and they do nothing.

They have their value. As long as we are here on earth, living in the flesh, we must have outward forms and symbolical rites. It is in Heaven that the seer ‘saw no temple.’ Our sense-bound nature requires, and thankfully avails itself of, the help of external rites and ceremonials to lift us up towards the Object of our devotion. A man prays all the better if he bow his head, shut his eyes, and bend his knees. Forms do help us to the realisation of the realities, and the truths which they express and embody. Music may waft our souls to the heavens, and pictures may stir deep thoughts. That is the simple principle on which the value of all external aids to devotion depends. They may be helps towards the appreciation of divine truth, and to the suffusing of the heart with devout emotions which may lead to building up a holy character.

There is a worth, therefore-an auxiliary and subordinate worth-in these things, and in that respect they are not nothing, nor do they ‘avail nothing.’ But then all external rites tend to usurp more than belongs to them, and in our weakness we are apt to cleave to them, and instead of using them as means to lift us higher, to stay in them, and as a great many of us do, to mistake the mere gratification of taste and the excitement of the sensibilities for worship. A bit of stained glass may be glowing with angel-forms and pictured saints, but it always keeps some of the light out, and it always hinders us from seeing through it. And all external worship and form have so strong a tendency to usurp more than belongs to them, and to drag us down to their own level, even whilst we think that we are praying, that I believe the wisest man will try to pare down the externals of his worship to the lowest possible point. If there be as much body as will keep a soul in, as much form as will embody the spirit, that is all that we want. What is more is dangerous.

All form in worship is like fire, it is a good servant but it is a bad master, and it needs to be kept very rigidly in subordination, or else the spirituality of Christian worship vanishes before men know; and they are left with their dead forms which are only evils-crutches that make people limp by the very act of using them.

Now, my dear friends, when that has happened, when men begin to say, as the people in Paul’s time were saying about circumcision, and as people are saying in this day about Christian rites, that they are necessary, then it is needful to take up Paul’s ground and to say, ‘No! they are nothing!’ They are useful in a certain place, but if you make them obligatory, if you make them essential, if you say that grace is miraculously conveyed through them, then it is needful that we should raise a strong note of protestation, and declare their absolute nullity for the highest purpose, that of making that spiritual character which alone is essential.

And I believe that this strange recrudescence-to use a modern word-of ceremonialism and aesthetic worship which we see all round about us, not only in the ranks of the Episcopal Church, but amongst Nonconformists, who are sighing for a less bare service, and here and there are turning their chapels into concert-rooms, and instead of preaching the Gospel are having ‘Services of Song’ and the like-that all this makes it as needful to-day as ever it was to say to men: ‘Forms are not worship. Rites may crush the spirit. Men may yield to the sensuous impressions which they produce, and be lapped in an atmosphere of aesthetic emotion, without any real devotion.’

Such externals are only worth anything if they make us grasp more firmly with our understandings and feel more profoundly with our hearts, the great truths of the Gospel. If they do that, they help; if they are not doing that, they hinder, and are to be fought against. And so we have again to proclaim to-day, as Paul did, ‘Circumcision is nothing,’ ‘but the keeping of the commandments of God.’

Then notice with what remarkable fairness and boldness and breadth the Apostle here adds that other clause: ‘and uncircumcision is nothing.’ It is a very hard thing for a man whose life has been spent in fighting against an error, not to exaggerate the value of his protest. It is a very hard thing for a man who has been delivered from the dependence upon forms, not to fancy that his formlessness is what the other people think that their forms are. The Puritan who does not believe that a man can be a good man because he is a Ritualist or a Roman Catholic, is committing the very same error as the Ritualist or the Roman Catholic who does not believe that the Puritan can be a Christian unless he has been ‘christened.’ The two people are exactly the same, only the one has hold of the stick at one end, and the other at the other. There may be as much idolatry in superstitious reliance upon the bare worship as in the advocacy of the ornate; and many a Nonconformist who fancies that he has ‘never bowed the knee to Baal’ is as true an idol-worshipper in his superstitious abhorrence of the ritualism that he sees in other communities, as are the men who trust in it the most.

It is a large attainment in Christian character to be able to say with Paul, ‘Circumcision is nothing, and my own favourite point of uncircumcision is nothing either. Neither the one side nor the other touches the essentials.’

II. Now let us look at the threefold variety of the designation of these essentials here.

In our first text from the Epistle to the Corinthians we read, ‘Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.’ If we finished the sentence it would be, ‘but the keeping of the commandments of God is everything.’

And by that ‘keeping the commandments,’ of course, the Apostle does not mean merely external obedience. He means something far deeper than that, which I put into this plain word, that the one essential of a Christian life is the conformity of the will with God’s-not the external obedience merely, but the entire surrender and the submission of my will to the will of my Father in Heaven. That is the all-important thing; that is what God wants; that is the end of all rites and ceremonies; that is the end of all revelation and of all utterances of the divine heart. The Bible, Christ’s mission, His passion and death, the gift of His Divine Spirit, and every part of the divine dealings in providence, all converge upon this one aim and goal. For this purpose the Father worketh hitherto, and Christ works, that man’s will may yield and bow itself wholly and happily and lovingly to the great infinite will of the Father in heaven.

Brethren! that is the perfection of a man’s nature, when his will fits on to God’s like one of Euclid’s triangles superimposed upon another, and line for line coincides. When his will allows a free passage to the will of God, without resistance or deflection, as light travels through transparent glass; when his will responds to the touch of God’s finger upon the keys, like the telegraphic needle to the operator’s hand, then man has attained all that God and religion can do for him, all that his nature is capable of; and far beneath his feet may be the ladders of ceremonies and forms and outward acts, by which he climbed to that serene and blessed height, ‘Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of God’s commandments is everything.’

That submission of will is the sum and the test of your Christianity. Your Christianity does not consist only in a mere something which you call faith in Jesus Christ. It does not consist in emotions, however deep and blessed and genuine they may be. It does not consist in the acceptance of a creed. All these are means to an end. They are meant to drive the wheel of life, to build up character, to make your deepest wish to be, ‘Father! not my will, but Thine, be done.’ In the measure in which that is your heart’s desire, and not one hair’s-breadth further, have you a right to call yourself a Christian.

But, then, I can fancy a man saying: ‘It is all very well to talk about bowing the will in this fashion; how can I do that?’ Well, let us take our second text-the third in the order of their occurrence-’For neither circumcision is anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.’ That is to say, if we are ever to keep the will of God we must be made over again. Ay! we must! Our own consciences tell us that; the history of all the efforts that ever we have made-and I suppose all of us have made some now and then, more or less earnest and more or less persistent-tells us that there needs to be a stronger hand than ours to come into the fight if it is ever to be won by us. There is nothing more heartless and more impotent than to preach, ‘Bow your wills to God, and then you will be happy; bow your wills to God, and then you will be good.’ If that is all the preacher has to say, his powerless words will but provoke the answer, ‘We cannot. Tell the leopard to change his spots, or the Ethiopian his skin, as soon as tell a man to reduce this revolted kingdom within him to obedience, and to bow his will to the will of God. We cannot do it.’ But, brethren, in that word, ‘a new creature,’ lies a promise from God; for a creature implies a creator. ‘It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves.’ The very heart of what Christ has to offer us is the gift of His own life to dwell in our hearts, and by its mighty energy to make us free from the law of sin and death which binds our wills. We may have our spirits moulded into His likeness, and new tastes, and new desires, and new capacities infused into us, so as that we shall not be left with our own poor powers to try and force ourselves into obedience to God’s will, but that submission and holiness and love that keeps the commandments of God, will spring up in our renewed spirits as their natural product and growth. Oh! you men and women who have been honestly trying, half your lifetime, to make yourselves what you know God wants you to be, and who are obliged to confess that you have failed, hearken to the message: ‘If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away.’ The one thing needful is keeping the commandments of God, and the only way by which we can keep the commandments of God is that we should be formed again into the likeness of Him of whom alone it is true that ‘He did always the things that pleased’ God.

And so we come to the last of these great texts: ‘In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.’ That is to say, if we are to be made over again, we must have faith in Christ Jesus. We have got to the root now, so far as we are concerned. We must keep the commandments of God; if we are to keep the commandments we must be made over again, and if our hearts ask how can we receive that new creating power into our lives, the answer is, by ‘faith which worketh by love.’

Paul did not believe that external rites could make men partakers of a new nature, but he believed that if a man would trust in Jesus Christ, the life of that Christ would flow into his opened heart, and a new spirit and nature would be born in him. And, therefore, his triple requirements come all down to this one, so far as we are concerned, as the beginning and the condition of the other two. ‘Neither circumcision does anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love,’ does everything. He that trusts Christ opens his heart to Christ, who comes with His new-creating Spirit, and makes us willing in the day of His power to keep His commandments.

But faith leads us to obedience in yet another fashion, than this opening of the door of the heart for the entrance of the new-creating Spirit. It leads to it in the manner which is expressed by the words of our text, ‘worketh by love.’ Faith shows itself living, because it leads us to love, and through love it produces its effects upon conduct.

Two things are implied in this designation of faith. If you trust Christ you will love Him. That is plain enough. And you will not love Him unless you trust Him. Though it lies wide of my present purpose, let us take this lesson in passing. You cannot work yourself up into a spasm or paroxysm of religious emotion and love by resolution or by effort. All that you can do is to go and look at the Master and get near Him, and that will warm you up. You can love if you trust. Your trust will make you love; unless you trust you will never love Him.

The second thing implied is, that if you love you will obey. That is plain enough. The keeping of the commandments will be easy where there is love in the heart. The will will bow where there is love in the heart. Love is the only fire that is hot enough to melt the iron obstinacy of a creature’s will. The will cannot be driven. Strike it with violence and it stiffens; touch it gently and it yields. If you try to put an iron collar upon the will, like the demoniac in the Gospels, the touch of the apparent restraint drives it into fury, and it breaks the bands asunder. Fasten it with the silken leash of love, and a ‘little child’ can lead it. So faith works by love, because whom we trust we shall love, and whom we love we shall obey.

Therefore we have got to the root now, and nothing is needful but an operative faith, out of which will come all the blessed possession of a transforming Spirit, and all sublimities and noblenesses of an obedient and submissive will.

My brother! Paul and James shake hands here. There is a ‘faith’ so called, which does not work. It is dead! Let me beseech you, none of you to rely upon what you choose to call your faith in Jesus Christ, but examine it. Does it do anything? Does it help you to be like Him? Does it open your hearts for His Spirit to come in? Does it fill them with love to that Master, a love which proves itself by obedience? Plain questions, questions that any man can answer; questions that go to the root of the whole matter. If your faith does that, it is genuine; if it does not, it is not.

And do not trust either to forms, or to your freedom from forms. They will not save your souls, they will not make you more Christ-like. They will not help you to pardon, purity, holiness, blessedness. In these respects neither if we have them are we the better, nor if we have them not are we the worse. If you are trusting to Christ, and by that faith are having your hearts moulded and made over again into all holy obedience, then you have all that you need. Unless you have, though you partook of all Christian rites, though you believed all Christian truth, though you fought against superstitious reliance on forms, you have not the one thing needful, for ‘in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

walk = shall walk. Greek. stoicheo. See Gal 5:25.

according to = by. No preposition. Dative case.

rule. Greek. kanon. See 2Co 10:13,

on. Greek. epi. App-104.

upon. Same as “on”.

Israel of God. The antithesis of Israel after the flesh (1Co 10:18). Compare Rom 9:6. Php 1:3, Php 1:3.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

16.] And as many (reference to the of Gal 6:12; and in to the . and .? see above) as shall walk by this rule (of Gal 6:15. is a straight rule, to detect crookedness: hence a norma vivendi. The dative is normal), peace be (not is: it is the apostolic blessing, so common in the beginnings of his Epistles: see also Eph 6:23) upon them (come on them from God; reff., and Luk 2:25; Luk 2:40 al. freq.) and (and indeed, und zwar: the explicative, as it is called: see reff.) upon the Israel of God (the subject of the whole Epistle seems to have given rise to this expression. Not the Israel after the flesh, among whom these teachers wish to enrol you, are blessed: but the ISRAEL OF GOD, described ch. 3. ult., , . Jowett compares, though not exactly parallel, yet for a similar apparent though not actual distinction, 1Co 10:32).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Gal 6:16. , rule) This refers chiefly to teachers.-, peace) May it be, and it shall be. On peace, comp. Eph 2:14-17.- , on them) In antithesis to the uncircumcision [those uncircumcised, viz. the unbelieving Gentiles].- , and mercy) Rom 15:9.- , and on the Israel of God) In antithesis to the circumcision [the Jews]. The Israel of God are believers of the circumcision, or Jewish nation [Php 3:3]. The meaning of the apostle, which is by no means Jewish, has beautifully seized on an expression inconsistent with the idiom of the people; for the Hebrews do not say, Israel of God; nor do they even use the proper name in the construct state.[67]

[67] i.e. They do not put two proper names together in such a construction as the Israel of God.-ED.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Gal 6:16

And as many as shall walk by this rule,-This rule is the rule that is to govern the new creature in Christ. [This rule is the principle just stated (verse 15) that everything depends on a new creation in Christ Jesus; and the necessity of abiding in the truth and acting in harmony with it, and continue to the end in such a course.]

peace be upon them,-Peace with God and with themselves, the precious fruit of being in Christ, which the world can neither give nor take away. (Joh 14:27).

and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.-This expression sums up as many as in a phrase which is closely identified with the whole argument of the epistle: If ye be Christs, then are ye Abrahams seed, and heirs according to the promise. These are the Israel of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, for he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. (Rom 2:29). So that the blessing is invoked on all who walked according to the rule enunciated, and so, in fact, on the true Israel, not on Israel after the flesh, but the Israel of the promise and of God.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

walk: Gal 5:16, Gal 5:25, Psa 125:4, Psa 125:5, Phi 3:16

peace: Gal 1:3, Num 6:23-27, 1Ch 12:18, Psa 125:5, Joh 14:27, Joh 16:33, Rom 1:7, Phi 4:7

the Israel: Gal 3:7-9, Gal 3:29, Psa 73:1, Isa 45:25, Hos 1:10, Joh 1:47, Rom 2:28, Rom 2:29, Rom 4:12, Rom 9:6-8, Phi 3:3, 1Pe 2:5-9

Reciprocal: Gen 50:17 – servants Exo 35:29 – the Lord Psa 50:23 – to him Psa 118:2 – General Psa 119:165 – Great Isa 44:5 – the name Jer 31:31 – with Jer 33:21 – that he Luk 1:33 – the Rom 4:11 – father Rom 6:4 – even Rom 14:18 – in 1Co 10:18 – Israel 2Co 1:2 – General Eph 6:23 – Peace

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Gal 6:16. or -And as many as are walking, or shall walk, by this rule. For the present we have A, C1, D, F, Clarom., Syriac, Gothic, Cyril, Jerome, and Augustine. The future has in its favour B, C2, K, L, , the Vulgate (secuti fuerint), Chrysostom, and Theodoret. As there was a temptation to change to the future, Ellicott holds by the present with Tischendorf. Alford says, on the other hand, the correction has been to the present, and adds, no reason can be given why the future should be substituted. So also Lightfoot and Meyer. The future is certainly the more difficult, and looks forward to the time when the epistle should be received, and they should read and understand what is meant by . Besides, they were scarcely walking by it just now, but he hoped better things of them. The two in the verb might also originate a various reading. The nominative , standing absolute for the sake of prominence, necessitates a broken construction. Winer, 63, 1, d. The are in contrast to in Gal 6:12, as many as desire to make a fair show. The is in harmony with the verb, it is a line drawn; and the dative is that of norm, as in Gal 5:16, Walk by the Spirit. The figure of walk falls so far into the background, and the idea remains of course of life. This rule is plainly that laid down in Gal 5:15 : as many as live under the guidance of this great leading principle-that what is outer is nothing, and what is inner is everything; that to be a Jew or Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, matters not, is neither privilege nor barrier, while a spiritual change is inclusive of all blessing for eternity,-peace be on all those who adopt this norma vivendi.

-peace be on them and mercy-a benediction-, not or , being understood. The position and order make the whole clause emphatic. The common words are , as in Gal 1:3 -all blessing. See under Eph 1:2. Here the result is put first, not as if he did not intend to add any other blessing, but he emphasizes peace as being the distinctive and prominent theocratic gift suggested by the term Israel and in close connection with it. Peace and compassion, or mercy, now, and mercy of the Lord in that day. 2Ti 1:18. The blessing comes–on them from above. The prayer is probably a reminiscence of Psa 125:5, Peace shall be upon Israel, and of Psa 128:6, Yea, thou shalt see thy children’s children, and peace upon Israel.

-and on the Israel of God. The meaning turns on the sense assigned to . If it be only copulative and, then the Israel of God is an additional body to the , and would mean Jewish believers. But if be explicative, signifying to wit, then the Israel of God is the same body with the , and is the whole believing community, comprising alike Jews and Gentiles. The one view, that the phrase means Jewish believers, is held by Ambrosiaster, Beza, Grotius, Estius, Schoettgen, Bengel, Schott, Matthies, De Wette, Brown, Ellicott, Trana, and apparently Jowett. The other opinion is held by names as great: Chrysostom, Theodoret, Luther, Calvin, Calovius, Borger, Winer, Olshausen, Meyer, Sardinoux, Lightfoot, Alford. Justin Martyr twice calls believers generally ; and affirming that Christ is the true Israel or wrestler, he calls all who flee for refuge through Him the blessed Israel. Dial. c. Tryph. 11, 125, 135, Opera, ii. pp. 42, 418, 446, 446, ed. Otto.

Can be really explicative? Ellicott says that Meyer’s examples do not seem conclusive (1Co 3:5; 1Co 8:12; 1Co 15:38), nor do they. Still it is to be found in this sense, which Winer ( 53, 3) calls epexegetical, introducing the same thing under another aspect. But there is no case so peculiarly distinctive in sense as this would be. And,

1. In the quotations commonly adduced to prove this position, that Israel means believers, Gentiles as well as Jews, as Rom 2:28-29; Rom 9:6-8, Gal 4:28; Gal 4:31, it is Jews by blood who are spoken of or referred to in connection with the appellation.

2. The simple copulative meaning is not to be departed from, save on very strong grounds; and there is no ground for such a departure here, so that the Israel of God are a party included in, and yet distinct from, the .

3. The apostle is not in the habit of calling the church made up of Jews and Gentiles-Israel. Israel is used eleven times in Romans, but in all the instances it refers to Israel proper; and so do it and in every other portion of the New Testament. In the Apocalypse, the 144,000 sealed of Israel stand in contrast to the great multitude which no man can number, taken out of the Gentile or non-Israelitish races. Rev 7:9. The Israelite indeed is also one by blood. Joh 1:47; comp. 1Co 10:18. The may not be Gentile believers as such, and opposed to Jewish believers, but the entire number who walk according to this rule; while Paul finds among them a certain class to whom his heart turns with instinctive fondness-the Israel of God. Jatho’s distinction is baseless-the one party being those who, warned by this epistle, should renounce their error and walk according to this rule; and the other, those who had uniformly held the sacred and evangelical doctrine. It may be said indeed, on the one hand, that the apostle has been proving that the Jew, as a Jew, has no privilege above the Gentiles, that both Jew and Gentile are on a level, so that both believing Jews and Gentiles may therefore be called Israel. It may be replied, however, that the apostle never in any place so uses the name, never gives the grand old theocratic name to any but the chosen people.

4. To the apostle there were two Israels-they are not all Israel which are of Israel,-and he says here, not Israel , but the Israel of God, or the true believing Israel; his own brethren by a double tie-by blood, and especially by grace. Was it unnatural for the apostle to do this, especially after rebuking false Israel-the wretched Judaizers-who certainly were not the Israel of God?

Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians

Gal 6:16. This rule means the one stated in the preceding verse, namely, being a new creature in Christ Jesus. The Israel of God. None but those who believe in Christ Jesus would walk according to the rule mentioned, hence the first consideration is given the Gentiles who have accepted the Gospel. That places the italicized phrase with the believing Jews. The Jews were formerly the people of God before Christ was offered to the world, hence they are referred to here as being the Israel of God in this special sense. (See Jas 1:1.)

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Gal 6:16. And as many as shall walk according to this rule, etc. Rising above all earthly distinctions to the height of Christian contemplation, Paul pronounces a benediction to all who walk according to the rule indicated in Gal 6:15. The Greek term for rule (canon) is the same which is now used for the Sacred Scriptures as the rule of the Christian faith and practice.

Peace be on them and mercy, Peace with God and with themselves, the precious fruit of the atonement and the greatest Christian blessing, which the world cannot give nor take away (Joh 14:27). Mercy is coupled with peace (1Ti 1:2; 2Ti 1:2; 2Jn 1:3). In the other Pauline Epistles we have grace and peace in the salutation.

And (namely) upon the Israel of God, the true children of Israel, the people of God, as distinct from the mere carnal descendants. The believing Christians generally (not the Jewish Christians exclusively) are meant (comp. Gal 3:29; Gal 4:26; Rom 9:6-8).

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. The nature of Christianity described: it is a walk. Now a walk is a motion, a free and voluntary motion, an uniform and even motion: it is a progressive motion, and a constant motion.

Observe, 2. The condition of this walk, and that is regularity: it is a walk by rule; a Christian is not a lawless person, to range and ramble, and run up and down, as fancy leads him: but he walks by rule, by the rule of scripture, by the rule of charity.

Observe, 3. The determination of that rule which a Christian is to walk by: it must be according to this rule. What rule? The foregoing verse declares it is regeneration, and the law of the new creature. As many as walk according to that rule; when the new creature in the principles and workings of it is made the ground, the pattern, and direction, of our obedience, and we frame and square all the actions of our lives according thereunto.

Observe, 4. The blessed privileges belonging to them that thus walk: Peace be into them, and mercy: that is, there shall be peace and mercy to them; these shall be their portion; nay, they shall be upon them; that is, in a large and plentiful manner vouchsafed to them.

Observe lastly, The honourable mention which the apostle makes of them that thus walk by scripture rule, according to the law of the new creature, written in the heart: he calls them the true Israel of God, the spiritual seed of Abraham, the children of his faith; which was a thousand times greater privilege than to be the children of his flesh: these are the persons interested in his blessings.

Learn hence, That true and inward peace, great and lasting peace, peace with God, and peace with conscience, is the assured portion, and shall be the possession, of all and only those who walk according to the law of God, the rule of the creature. As many as walk according to this rule.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. [Upon all who walk by the rule which I have just stated–the rule which rejects carnal ordinances, and accepts a regenerated life–upon them, even upon the Israel of God, be peace and mercy. The word translated “and” often means “even,” and it has that force here, for it was Paul’s constant contention that Christians were the true Israel of God, the bona-fide sons of Abraham.]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

And as many as walk according to this rule, peace [be] on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Paul seeks peace and mercy for all that are in Christ. He adds an interesting phrase. “And upon the Israel of God.” What does he mean by that? Is he suggesting some link back to Israel? Only the link that Christ is the blessing promised, He is the peace and He is only peace because of His mercy upon us.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace [be] on them, and mercy, and upon the {n} Israel of God.

(n) Upon the true Israel, whose praise is from God and not from men; Rom 2:29 .

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Paul wished for God’s peace and mercy for all who walked by the rule he had expounded, namely, faith apart from works.

"It is interesting that he goes on: according to this rule, for he has been opposing people who subjected believers to strict rules. But rule (= ’straight rod’, BAGD) points us to the authentic way, the one right path on which to walk." [Note: Morris, p. 190. BAGD is Walter Bauer’s A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Teatament and Other Early Christian Literature, revised and augmented by William F. Arndt, F. Wilbur Gingrich and Frederick W. Danker (5th ed., 1979).]

"This conditional blessing at the end of the letter stands in marked contrast to the conditional curse with which Paul opened his epistle (Gal 1:6-9)." [Note: George, p. 439.]

Especially he wished this for the "Israel of God." This unusual title refers to saved Jews. It describes a second group in the verse, not the same group. Note the repetition of "upon" that makes this distinction. Also "Israel" always refers to physical Jews everywhere else in the New Testament (65 times). So we would expect that meaning here unless clues to a different meaning were present, which they are not. Furthermore it would be natural for Paul to single out Christian Jews for special mention since in this epistle he sounded almost anti-Semitic. Therefore it is better to take this phrase in its regular usage rather than as a unique designation for the church as a whole, as many non-dispensationalists do. [Note: See S. Lewis Johnson Jr., "Paul and ’The Israel of God’: An Exegetical and Eschatological Case-Study," in Essays in Honor of J. Dwight Pentecost, pp. 181-96; Saucy, The Case . . ., pp. 198-202; Harrison, p. 1298. For the covenant theology position that equates Israel and the church, see Thomas R. Schreiner, "The Church As the New Israel and the Future of Ethnic Israel in Paul," Studia Biblica et Theologica 3:3 (April 1983):17-38.]

"Strong confirmation of this position [i.e., that "Israel" refers to Jews in the New Testament] comes from the total absence of an identification of the church with Israel until A.D. 160; and also from the total absence, even then, of the term ’Israel of God’ to characterize the church." [Note: Peter Richardson, Israel in the Apostolic Church, p. 83, n. 2.]

"The conclusion is that the church is never called a ’spiritual Israel’ or a ’new Israel.’ The term Israel is either used of the nation or the people as a whole, or of the believing remnant within. It is never used of the church in general or of Gentile believers in particular. In fact, even after the Cross there remains a threefold distinction. First, there is a distinction between Israel and the Gentiles as in 1Co 10:32 and Eph 2:11-12. Second, there is a distinction between Israel and the church in 1Co 10:32. Third, there is a distinction between Jewish believers (the Israel of God) and Gentile believers in Rom 9:6 and Gal 6:16." [Note: Fruchtenbaum, p. 126.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Disfruta de miles de canciones cristianas en exclusiva sólo en Bibles