Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 6:11
Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
11 18. Autograph postscript and Benediction
11. Ye see ] Better, imperative, ‘ see ’.
how large a letter ] Lit. ‘ in how large letters ’. Many ancient and most modern expositors take this to refer not to the length of the Epistle which is certainly not ‘large’ as compared with those to the Romans and Corinthians but to the nature of the characters employed. It is curious that the exact meaning of this word rendered ‘how large’ should have been so far overlooked as to suggest the explanation, ‘in how rude characters,’ as though the Apostle called attention to his want of skill in writing Greek. This view might have been left unnoticed, but for the distinguished name of Chrysostom, who among others maintains it. A second explanation supposes that St Paul, in calling attention to the large characters which he used, intended to hint at the cause, either general bodily ill-health, or local infirmity, such as weak eyesight. If this latter suggestion be adopted, it will confirm the hypothesis mentioned in the note on ch. Gal 4:13. But it is on the whole more probable that the largeness of the letters was intended to express the importance of the message to be conveyed. To those who have studied carefully the character of the great Apostle this view, suggested by the ablest of his early commentators and adopted by the greatest of modern expositors of his Epistles, will commend itself as in keeping with what we know of the man, and as congruous with any just estimate of the scope of the Epistle itself. In the verses which follow St Paul sums up the whole argument of the Epistle, a weighty argument on a cardinal doctrine, gathered up in a summary, weighty and powerful, and emphasised by the very characters in which it was written, ‘Golden words, proportionately transcribed.’
But do the words, ‘See in what large letters I write unto you with mine own hand,’ apply to the whole Epistle, or only to this concluding paragraph? It may be admitted that so far as the words employed in this verse are concerned, either alternative may be adopted. Alford is of opinion that ‘on account of the peculiar character of this Epistle, St Paul wrote it all with his own hand, as he did the Pastoral Epistles,’ and he finds ‘confirmation of this, in the partial resemblance of its style to those Epistles.’ Others with more probability regard the Apostle as having employed an amanuensis thus far, and at this verse to have taken the pen into his own hand. The reasons assigned for this conclusion are drawn from what we know of his practice in other Epistles. It seems from an expression in 2Th 2:2, where he cautions his converts against being unsettled ‘by epistle as from us,’ that letters had been forged purporting to have been written by him such forgeries were not uncommon in the subsequent history of the early Church and as a mark of genuineness he adopted the practice of adding at the end of his Epistles a few lines in his own hand, the rest having been written by Tertius, or some other amanuensis. Thus, 2Th 3:17, ‘The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every Epistle: so I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.’ Comp. Rom 16:22 foll.; 1Co 16:21-24; Col 4:18.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye see – This might be rendered see, in the imperative. So Tyndale renders it, Behold. But it is more commonly supposed that it should be rendered in the indicative. The sense is not materially different whichever translation is adopted. The object of the apostle is, to direct their attention to the special proof of his love, which he had manifested in writing such a letter.
How large a letter – Considerable variety has existed in regard to the interpretation of this phrase. The word used here and translated how large ( pelikos), means. properly, how great. Some have supposed that it refers to the size of the letters which Paul made in writing the Epistle – the length and crudeness of the characters which he used. Such interpreters suppose that he was not well versed in writing Greek, and that he used large letters. and those somewhat rudely made, like the Hebrew. So Doddridge and Whitby interpret it; and so Theodoret, Jerome, Theophylact, and some others. He might not, says Doddridge, have been well versed in the Greek characters; or this inaccuracy of his writings might have been owing to the infirmity or weakness of his nerves, which he had hinted at before. Jerome says, that Paul was a Hebrew, and that he was unacquainted with the mode of writing Greek letters; and that because necessity demanded that he should write a letter in his own hand, contrary to his usual custom, he was obliged to form his characters in this crude manner. According to this interpretation, it was:
- A pledge to the Galatians that the Epistle was genuine, since it bore the marks of his own handwriting; and,
- It was proof of special affection for them that he was willing to undergo this labor on their account.
Others suppose that he means to refer to the size of the Epistle which he had written. Such is the interpretation of Grotius, Koppe, Bloomfield, Clarke, Locke, Chandler, and is, indeed, the common interpretation, as it is the obvious one. According to this, it was proof of special interest in them, and regard for them, that he had written to them a whole letter with his own hand. Usually he employed an amanuensis, and added his name, with a brief benediction or remark at the close; see the Rom 16:22 note; 1Co 16:21 note. What induced him to depart from his usual custom here is unknown. Jerome supposes that he refers here to what follows from this verse to the end of the Epistle, as that which he had written with his own hand, but the word egrapsa, says Rosenmuller, refers rather to what he had written, than to that which he intended to write. On this verse, the reader may consult with advantage, Tholuck on the Life and Writings of Paul: German Selections, by Edwards and Park, Andover, 1839, pp. 35, 64, 65.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gal 6:11
Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
The personal element in Christian power
It has been supposed that some disorder of the eyes made it painful for the apostle to write. Earlier in this Epistle, where he tries to gain these childish Galatians by a recital of his own sorrows for them, he praises their affection by saying, I bear you record that if it had been possible ye would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me. In the adjoining sentence he speaks of the temptation in his flesh, for which they neither despised nor rejected him, but entertained him as an angel of God. Doubtless the use of the pen or style was costly to his comfort. All the better if it only helps in the least degree to draw them, through his Christlike sacrifice in their behalf, nearer to Christ Himself. Suppose he had not been so thoughtful; suppose he had just followed the custom and had dictated his letter to an amanuensis–every truth recorded, every appeal for fidelity, every part of the intellectual demonstration of the doctrine would have stood there just as it stands now. Nothing of the literal contents of the message he was bidden to deliver would have been lost. And yet one thing would not have been there. The Galatian reader, and we here, would have missed the sign-manual of personal interest and personal sympathy so vividly and yet so delicately stamped on the whole face of the manuscript in the painstaking writing of his own hand. There is the additional power of personal feeling and personal character. The secret value is not what we say in words; it is not in our specific actions, much less in our professions. Terms are not competent to define it. Science has never analyzed it. Yet there it is–the personal quality, a power that is perpetually and mightily at work wherever men are, for or against the Love and Truth of God. It is the thing, too, which more than all else makes people love one another, unites them in companionships, and colours society. Mere abstract truth is not sufficient to change mens motives, to rouse their hearts or to save their souls. The gospel is not delivered to us as a mere string of propositions, however striking, however true, however inspired–and we may be thankful it is not. For no such treatise, law-book, moral philosophy, Aids to Reflection, or Whole Duty of Man, call it a gospel or by any other name–would ever have led the race from darkness to light, or lifted it up from death to life. As a matter of history, that never happened. True enough, we have our gospel, our Christianity through a book. It is a Word of Life, but it is more. The Word is made flesh in the Person Christ. He is the gospel. It was not Christianity that regenerated mankind and changed the face of the earth; it was Christ. We have much more than a Book. We have even that through living men; it brings before us living characters–men whose personality was taken up by the Holy Ghost and made part of the vehicle of Revelation. I take it that what was personal to each one of the twelve men that were grouped about our Lord was put there in order to give the glad tidings of His life to mankind in a twelvefold shape, so that it would be twelve manner of fruits for the healing of many nations. Peters impulsiveness, Johns ardour, Philips curiosity, Matthew the publicans sagacity, the square-dealing of James, every peculiarity amongst them all was just as much a part of the apparatus of Revelation as the words of the Beatitudes, or the stone tables of the law. The Bible, all through it, is quick and brilliant with these personal tokens. There were occasions, too, in Christs intercourse with His followers when, beyond anything that could be described in words, His personal soul went into His manner, motions, glances, yielding marvellous effects. His Follow Me, His Daughter, be of good cheer, His look at Peter, His woes upon the Pharisees, His aspect before the trained soldiers of the imperial army, sent out to arrest Him, are instances. Since His ascension, in every land and period, Christian piety has been vigorous in preportion to the attachment and devotion to the Saviours person. It is the vital aroma of the best hymns of the ages. It sheds the holiest unction into the most memorable sermons. If there is a personal power like this in the faith of Christ at all, we are not Christs true followers till we have it and use it. Which of us has come in and goes out in a personal communion, face to face, with God, holding the promises, doing the service, with his own hand? Which of us will return this week, to business, to study, to housework, to society, with new personal purposes, more truly Christs follower, more thoroughly in earnest in keeping this world under foot, and so using it for God as to mount up by it to heavenly places? (Bishop F. D. Huntington.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. Ye see how large a letter] There is a strange diversity of opinions concerning the apostle’s meaning in this place. Some think he refers to the length of the epistle, others to the largeness of the letters in which this epistle is written, others to the inadequacy of the apostle’s writing. It appears plain that most of his epistles were written by an amanuensis, and simply subscribed by himself; but the whole of the Epistle to the Galatians was written by his own hand. To say that the apostle was unskilled in Greek, and especially in the Greek characters, is in my opinion absurd. He was born in Tarsus, a city which, according to Strabo, rivalled both Athens and Alexandria in philosophy, and in arts and sciences; and therefore he could not be ignorant of a tongue which must have been the very means of conveying all this instruction. As to writing it, there was in his time nothing difficult, because the uncial character was that which was alone in use in those days, and this character is as easily made as the capitals in the Roman alphabet, which have been taken from it. I conclude, therefore, that what the apostle says must be understood of the length of the epistle, in all probability the largest he had ever written with his own hand; though several, much larger, have been dictated by him, but they were written by his scribe or amanuensis.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Paul made use of the hands of others in the writing some others of the Epistles, as appears from Rom 16:22, and sometimes he himself only wrote the salutation, 1Co 16:21; but he tells them he wrote this Epistle to them wholly with his own hand, that he might thereby more commend his love to them and care over them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. Rather, “See in howlarge letters I have written.” The Greek istranslated “how great” in Heb7:4, the only other passage where it occurs in the New Testament.Owing to his weakness of eyes (Ga4:15) he wrote in large letters. So JEROME.All the oldest manuscripts are written in uncial, that is, capitalletters, the “cursive,” or small letters, being of morerecent date. Paul seems to have had a difficulty in writing, whichled him to make the uncial letters larger than ordinary writers did.The mention of these is as a token by which they would know that hewrote the whole Epistle with his own hand; as he did also thepastoral Epistle, which this Epistle resembles in style. He usuallydictated his Epistles to an amanuensis, excepting the concludingsalutation, which he wrote himself (Rom 16:22;1Co 16:21). This letter, he tellsthe Galatians, he writes with his own hand, no doubt in order thatthey may see what a regard he had for them, in contrast to theJudaizing teachers (Ga 6:12),who sought only their own ease. If English Version beretained, the words, “how large a letter (literally, ‘in howlarge letters’),” will not refer to the length of the Epistleabsolutely, but that it was a large one for him to havewritten with his own hand. NEANDERsupports English Version, as more appropriate to theearnestness of the apostle and the tone of the Epistle: “Howlarge” will thus be put for “how many.“
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye see how large a letter,…. Whether it be read as imperative, “see ye”, observe, take notice; or as indicative, “ye see”, ye do see, or you may see with your own eyes, it is of no great consequence: “how large a letter”, or “with what letters”; which some understand of the largeness of the characters he wrote in; others of the deformity of them, he not writing a good hand, being an Hebrew, and not used to writing Greek; others of the grand and sublime matter which it contained; though neither of these seem to be the apostle’s meaning; but he intends the length of the epistle, the prolixity of his writing; and which he mentions, as an instance and expression of his love to then, care of them, and concern for them: inasmuch as he took so much pains to write so long a letter to them, in order to set things right in their view, and recover them from error: not but that he had sent as long, or longer letters to other churches, as to the Romans, the Corinthians, and Hebrews: but then it is to be observed what follows,
I have written unto you with my own hand. The epistle to the Romans was written by Tertius, though dictated by the apostle, Ro 16:22 as very likely the others were by Timothy, or some other amanuensis. The apostle only put his name, and wrote his salutation, which was his token, in all his epistles, of the truth and genuineness of them; 2Th 3:17, but this was not only dictated by him, but wrote with his hand, which very probably the Galatians knew; and since it was not usual for him to do so, it was the greater proof of his affection for them; that amidst so much work, and such labours as he was employed in, he should sit down and write so long an epistle to them with his own hand, in order to expose the errors of the false teachers, and reclaim them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Character of Seducing Teachers; Efficacy of the Cross of Christ; Apostolical Benediction. | A. D. 56. |
11 Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. 12 As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. 14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. 17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. 18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
The apostle, having at large established the doctrine of the gospel, and endeavoured to persuade these Christians to a behaviour agreeable to it, seems as if he intended here to have put an end to the epistle, especially when he had acquainted them that, as a particular mark of his respect for them, he had written this large letter with his own hand, and had not made use of another as his amanuensis, and only subscribed his name to it, as he was wont to do in his other epistles: but such is his affection to them such his concern to recover them from the bad impressions made upon them by their false teachers, that he cannot break off till he has once again given them the true character of those teachers, and an account of his own contrary temper and behaviour, that by comparing these together they might the more easily see how little reason they had to depart from the doctrine he had taught them and to comply with theirs.
I. He gives them the true character of those teachers who were industrious to seduce them, in several particulars. As, 1. They were men who desired to make a fair show in the flesh, v. 12. They were very zealous for the externals of religion, forward to observe, and to oblige others to observe, the rites of the ceremonial law, though at the same time they had little or no regard to real piety; for, as the apostle says of them in the following verse, neither do they themselves keep the law. Proud, vain, and carnal hearts desire nothing more than to make a fair show in the flesh, and they can easily be content with so much religion as will help them to keep up such a fair show; but frequently those have least of the substance of religion who are most solicitous to make a show of it. 2. They were men who were afraid of suffering, for they constrained the Gentile Christians to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. It was not so much out of a regard to the law as to themselves; they were willing to sleep in a whole skin, and to save their worldly cargo, and cared not though they made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. That which they chiefly aimed at was to please the Jews, and to keep up their reputation among them, and so to prevent the trouble that Paul, and other faithful professors of the doctrine of Christ, lay open to. And, 3. Another part of their character was that they were men of a party spirit, and who had no further zeal for the law than as it subserved their carnal and selfish designs; for they desired to have these Christians circumcised, that they might glory in their flesh (v. 13), that they might say they had gained them over to their side, and made proselytes of them, of which they carried the mark in their flesh. And thus, while they pretended to promote religion, they were the greatest enemies of it; for nothing has been more destructive to the interest of religion than men-siding and party-making.
II. He acquaints us, on the other hand, with his own temper and behaviour, or makes profession of his own faith, hope, and joy; particularly,
1. That his principle glory was in the cross of Christ: God forbid, says he, that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, v. 14. By the cross of Christ is here meant his sufferings and death on the cross, or the doctrine of salvation by a crucified Redeemer. This was what the Jews stumbled at and the Greeks accounted foolishness; and the judaizing teachers themselves, though they had embraced Christianity, yet were so far ashamed of it that in compliance with the Jews, and to avoid persecution from them, they were for mixing the observance of the law of Moses with faith in Christ, as necessary to salvation. But Paul had a very different opinion of it; he was so far from being offended at the cross of Christ, or ashamed of it, or afraid to own it, that he gloried in it; yea, he desired to glory in nothing else, and rejected the thought of setting up anything in competition with it, as the object of his esteem, with the utmost abhorrence; God forbid, c. This was the ground of all his hope as a Christian: this was the doctrine which, as an apostle, he was resolved to preach and, whatever trials his firm adherence to it might bring upon him, he was ready, not only to submit to them, but to rejoice in them. Note, The cross of Christ is a good Christian’s chief glory, and there is the greatest reason why we should glory in it, for to it we owe all our joys and hopes.
2. That he was dead to the world. By Christ, or by the cross of Christ, the world was crucified to him, and he to the world; he had experienced the power and virtue of it in weaning him from the world, and this was one great reason of his glorying in it. The false teachers were men of a worldly temper, their chief concern was about their secular interests, and therefore they accommodated their religion thereunto. But Paul was a man of another spirit; as the world had no kindness for him, so neither had he any great regard to it; he had got above both the smiles and the frowns of it, and had become as indifferent to it as one who is dying out of it. This is a temper of mind that all Christians should be labouring after; and the best way to attain it is to converse much with the cross of Christ. The higher esteem we have of him the meaner opinion shall we have of the world, and the more we contemplate the sufferings our dear Redeemer met with from the world the less likely shall we be to be in love with it.
3. That he did not lay the stress of his religion on one side or the other of the contesting interests, but on sound Christianity, v. 15. There was at that time an unhappy division among Christians; circumcision and uncircumcision had become names by which they were distinguished from each other; for (Gal 2:9; Gal 2:12) the Jewish Christians are called the circumcision, and those of the circumcision. The false teachers were very zealous for circumcision; yea, to such a degree as to represent it as necessary to salvation, and therefore they did all they could to constrain the Gentile Christians to submit to it. In this they had carried the matter much further than others did; for, though the apostles connived at the use of it among the Jewish converts, yet they were by no means for imposing it upon the Gentiles. But what they laid so great a stress upon Paul made very little account of. It was indeed of great importance to the interest of Christianity that circumcision should not be imposed on the Gentile converts, and therefore this he had set himself with the utmost vigour to oppose; but as for mere circumcision or uncircumcision, whether those who embraced the Christian religion had been Jews or Gentiles, and whether they were for or against continuing the use of circumcision, so that they did not place their religion in it–this was comparatively a matter of little moment with him; for he very well knew that in Jesus Christ, that is, in his account, or under the Christian dispensation, neither circumcision availed any thing nor uncircumcision, as to men’s acceptance with God, but a new creature. Here he instructs us both wherein real religion does not and wherein it does consist. It does not consist in circumcision or uncircumcision, in our being in this or the other denomination of Christians; but it consists in our being new creatures; not in having a new name, or putting on a new face, but in our being renewed in the spirit of our minds and having Christ formed in us: this is of the greatest account with God, and so it was with the apostle. If we compare this text with some others, we may more fully see what it is that renders us most acceptable to God, and about which we should therefore be chiefly concerned. Here we are told that it is a new creature, and in ch. v. 6 that it is faith which worketh by love, and in 1 Cor. vii. 19 that it is the keeping of the commandments of God, from all which it appears that it is a change of mind and heart, whereby we are disposed and enabled to believe in the Lord Jesus and to live a life of devotedness to God; and that where this inward, vital, practical religion is wanting, no outward professions, nor particular names, will ever stand us in any stead, or be sufficient to recommend us to him. Were Christians duly concerned to experience this in themselves, and to promote it in others, if it did not make them lay aside their distinguishing names, yet it would at least take them off from laying so great a stress upon them as they too often do. Note, Christians should take care to lay the stress of their religion where God has laid it, namely, on those things which are available to our acceptance with him; so we see the apostle did, and it is our wisdom and interest herein to follow his example. The apostle having shown what was of chief consideration in religion, and what he laid the greatest stress upon, namely, not a mere empty name or profession, but a sound and saving change, in v. 16 he pronounces a blessing upon all those who walk according to this rule: And as many as walk according to this rule peace be upon them, and mercy upon the Israel of God. The rule which he here speaks of may signify more generally the whole word of God, which is the complete and perfect rule of faith and life, or that doctrine of the gospel, or way of justification and salvation, which he had laid down in this epistle, namely, by faith in Christ without the works of the law; or it may be considered as more immediately referring to the new creature, of which he had just before been speaking. The blessings which he desires for those who walk according to this rule, or which he gives them the hope and prospect of (for the words may be taken either as a prayer or a promise), are peace and mercy–peace with God and conscience, and all the comforts of this life as far as they are needful for them, and mercy, or an interest in the free love and favour of God in Christ, which are the spring and fountain of all other blessings. A foundation is laid for these in that gracious change which is wrought in them; and while they behave themselves as new creatures, and govern their lives and hopes by the rule of the gospel, they may most assuredly depend upon them. These, he declares, shall be the portion of all the Israel of God, by whom he means all sincere Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, all who are Israelites indeed, who, though they may not be the natural, yet are become the spiritual seed of Abraham; these, being heirs of his faith, are also heirs together with him of the same promise, and consequently entitled to the peace and mercy here spoken of. The Jews and judaizing teachers were for confining these blessings to such as were circumcised and kept the law of Moses; but, on the contrary, the apostle declares that they belong to all who walk according to the rule of the gospel, or of the new creature, even to all the Israel of God, intimating that those only are the true Israel of God who walk according to this rule, and not that of circumcision, which they insisted so much upon, and therefore that this was the true way to obtain peace and mercy. Note, (1.) Real Christians are such as walk by rule; not a rule of their own devising, but that which God himself has prescribed to them. (2.) Even those who walk according to this rule do yet stand in need of the mercy of God. But, (3.) All who sincerely endeavour to walk according to this rule may be assured that peace and mercy will be upon them: this is the best way to have peace with God, ourselves, and others; and hereupon, as we may be sure of the favour of God now, so we may be sure that we shall find mercy with him hereafter.
4. That he had cheerfully suffered persecution for the sake of Christ and Christianity, v. 17. As the cross of Christ, or the doctrine of salvation by a crucified Redeemer, was what he chiefly gloried in, so he had been willing to run all hazards rather than he would betray this truth, or suffer it to be corrupted. The false teachers were afraid of persecution, and this was the great reason why they were zealous for circumcision, as we see, v. 12. But this was the least of Paul’s concern; he was not moved at any of the afflictions he met with, nor did he count his life dear to him, so that he might finish his course with joy, and the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God, Acts xx. 24. He had already suffered much in the cause of Christ, for he bore in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus, the scars of those wounds which he had sustained from persecuting enemies, for his steady adherence to him, and that doctrine of the gospel which he had received from him. As from this it appeared that he was firmly persuaded of the truth and importance of it, and that he was far from being a favourer of circumcision, as they had falsely reported him to be, so hereupon, with a becoming warmth and vehemence, suitable to his authority as an apostle and to the deep concern of mind he was under, he insists upon it that no man should henceforth trouble him, namely by opposing his doctrine or authority, or by any such calumnies and reproaches as had been cast upon him; for as, both from what he had said and what he had suffered, they appeared to be highly unjust and injurious, so also those were very unreasonable who either raised or received them. Note, (1.) It may justly be presumed that men are fully persuaded of those truths in the defence of which they are willing to suffer. And (2.) It is very unjust to charge those things upon others which are contrary not only to their profession, but their sufferings too.
III. The apostle, having now finished what he intended to write for the conviction and recovery of the churches of Galatia, concludes the epistle with his apostolical benediction, v. 18. He calls them his brethren, wherein he shows his great humility, and the tender affection he had for them, notwithstanding the ill treatment he had met with from them; and takes his leave of them with this very serious and affectionate prayer, that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be with their spirit. This was a usual farewell wish of the apostle’s, as we see, Rom 16:20; 1Co 16:23. And herein he prays that they might enjoy the favour of Christ, both in its special effects and its sensible evidences, that they might receive from him all that grace which was needful to guide them in their way, to strengthen them in their work, to establish them in their Christian course, and to encourage and comfort them under all the trials of life and the prospect of death itself. This is fitly called the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, as he is both the sole purchaser and the appointed dispenser of it; and though these churches had done enough to forfeit it, by suffering themselves to be drawn into an opinion and practice highly dishonourable to Christ, as well as dangerous to them, yet, out of his great concern for them, and knowing of what importance it was to them, he earnestly desires it on their behalf; yea, that it might be with their spirit, that they might continually experience the influences of it upon their souls, disposing and enabling them to act with sincerity and uprightness in religion. We need desire no more to make us happy than the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This the apostle begs for these Christians, and therein shows us what we are chiefly concerned to obtain; and, both for their and our encouragement to hope for it, he adds his Amen.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
With how large letters ( ). Paul now takes the pen from the amanuensis (cf. Ro 16:22) and writes the rest of the Epistle (verses 11-18) himself instead of the mere farewell greeting (2Thess 3:17; 1Cor 16:21; Col 4:18). But what does he mean by “with how large letters”? Certainly not “how large a letter.” It has been suggested that he employed large letters because of defective eyesight or because he could only write ill-formed letters because of his poor handwriting (like the print letters of children) or because he wished to call particular attention to this closing paragraph by placarding it in big letters (Ramsay). This latter is the most likely reason. Deissmann, (St. Paul, p. 51) argues that artisans write clumsy letters, yes, and scholars also. Milligan (Documents, p. 24; Vocabulary, etc.) suggests the contrast seen in papyri often between the neat hand of the scribe and the big sprawling hand of the signature.
I have written (). Epistolary aorist.
With mine own hand ( ). Instrumental case as in 1Co 16:21.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
How large a letter [ ] . More correctly, with how large letters. Grammata may mean an epistle, as Lat. literae, or epistles; but Paul habitually uses ejpistolh for an epistle. Grammasin means with characters, and phlikoiv refers to their size. It is claimed by some that the large characters are intended to call the attention of the readers to the special importance of the close of the letter. See below. I have written [] . The aorist may refer to the whole of the preceding letter, or to the concluding verses which follow. In either case it is probably an instance of the epistolary aorist, by which the writer puts himself at the time when his correspondent is reading his letter. To the correspondent, I write has changed itself into I wrote. Similarly the Lat. scripsi. Epemya I sent is used in the same way. See Act 23:30; Phi 2:28; Col 4:8; Phl 1:11.
With mine own hand [ ] . The aorist egraya is epistolary, and refers to what follows. The concluding verses emphasize the main issue of the letter, that the Judaising intruders are trying to win the Galatians over to the economy of circumcision which is opposed to the economy of the cross. It is therefore quite probable that Paul may have wished to call special attention to these verses. If so, this special call lies in the words with my own hand, and not in with how large letters, which would seem to have been added to call attention to the apostle ‘s handwriting as distinguished from that of the amanuensis. “Mark carefully these closing words of mine. I write them with my own hand in the large characters which you know.”
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Ye see how large a letter,” (Idete pelikois grammasin) “You all can behold in how large letters,” handwriting or printing; This indicates that the remainder of the book of Galatians was being written by Paul himself, in much infirmity of ophthalmia, while most of his letters were dictated, Rom 16:22; 2Th 3:17.
2) “I have written unto you,” Some hold that Paul wrote the whole book of Galatians with his own hand, but whether the whole of the letter or Gal 6:11-18, the structure of the statement reflects the writing of a near blind soul in personal defense of his gospel ministry and message, with fervor.
3) “With mine own hand,” (te erne Cheiri) “With my own, or in my own handwriting,” 2Th 2:2; 2Th 3:17. This was the token of validity of each of Paul’s letters. The salutations were written in his own handwriting, generally identified by the large letters of his own handwriting identity.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11. Ye see. The meaning of the Greek verb ἴδετε, is so far doubtful that it may be taken either in the imperative or indicative mood; but the force of the passage is little if at all affected. To convince the Galatians more fully of his anxiety about them, and at the same time to ensure their careful perusal, he mentions that this long Epistle had been written with his own hand. The greater the toil to which he had submitted on their account, the stronger were their inducements to read it, not in a superficial manner, but with the closest attention.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Gal. 6:11. Ye see how large a letter I have written with mine own hand.At this point the apostle takes the pen from his amanuensis, and writes the concluding paragraph with his own hand. Owing to the weakness of his eyesight he wrote in large letters. He thus gives emphasis to the importance of the subjects discussed in the epistle.
Gal. 6:12. Lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.They would escape the bitterness of the Jews against Christianity and the offence of the cross, by making the Mosaic law a necessary preliminary.
Gal. 6:13. For neither they themselves keep the law.So far are they from being sincere that they arbitrarily select circumcision out of the whole law, as though observing it would stand instead of their non-observance of the rest of the law. That they may glory in your flesh.That they may vaunt your submission to the carnal rite, and so gain credit with the Jews for proselytising.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Gal. 6:11-13
Apostolic Exposure of False Teachers.
I. The apostle gives special emphasis to his warning by concluding his epistle in his own handwriting.Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand (Gal. 6:11). The apostle usually dictated his epistles to an amanuensis, except the concluding salutation, which he wrote himself by way of authentication. At this point of the epistle to the Galatians he appears to have taken the pen from the hand of the amanuensis, and with his own hand written the concluding sentences in clear, bold characters, thus giving the utmost possible emphasis and solemnity to his words. They are a postscript, or epilogue, to the epistle, rehearsing with incisive brevity the burden of all that it was in the apostles heart to say to these troubled and shaken Galatians. He wishes to reimpress upon his emotional readers the warnings he had already expressed against the false teachers, to assure them of his intense regard for their welfare, and to lay additional stress upon the peril of their hesitating attitude. The more apparent and imminent the danger, the louder and more earnest is the warning expressed.
II. It is shown that the policy of the false teachers was to avoid the suffering connected with the ignominy of the cross of Christ.They constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. (Gal. 6:12). The false teachers were really cowards, though this accusation they would be the first indignantly to resent. They wanted to mix up the old faith with the new, to entangle the new Christian converts with Mosaic observances. If they succeeded in persuading the Gentile Christians to be circumcised, they would propitiate the anger of their Israelite kindred, and dispose them to regard the new doctrine more favourably. They would, with heartless recklessness, rob the believer of all his privileges in Christ in order to make a shield for themselves against the enmity of their kinsmen. Cowards at heart, they were more afraid of persecution than eager to know and propagate the truth. If a man will be a Christian, he cannot avoid the cross; and to attempt to avoid it will not release from suffering. It is a craven fear indeed that refuses to espouse the truth because it may bring pain. No servant of Christ, says Augustine, is without affliction. If you expect to be free from persecution, you have not yet so much as begun to be a Christian.
III. The insincerity of the false teachers was apparent in their not keeping the law themselves, but in boasting of the number of their converts to its external observance.For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh (Gal. 6:13). The Judaists were not only cowardly, but insincere. It was not the glory of the law they were concerned about, but their own success. If they had tried to convert the heathen, however imperfect might be their creed, they would have merited some respect; but, like some religious troublers to-day, they selected for their prey those who were already converted. They practised their wiles on the inexperience of young believers, as they expected to gather from that class the greater number of proselytes of whom to make their boast. Their policy was dishonourable both in spirit and in aim. They were false to Christ in whom they professed to believe, and to the law which they pretended to keep. They were facing both ways, studying the safest not the truest course, anxious in truth to be friends at once with the world and Christ. Their conduct has found many imitators, in men who make godliness a way of gain, whose religious course is dictated by considerations of worldly self-interest. Business patronage, professional advancement, a tempting family alliance, the entre into some select and envied circlesuch are the things for which creeds are bartered, for which men put their souls and the souls of their children knowingly in peril.
Lessons.
1. The false teacher may be the occasion of much mischief and spiritual loss.
2. He succumbs in the presence of suffering.
3. He is more anxious for public success than for the spread of the truth.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Gal. 6:12. The Odium of the Cross of Christ.
I. The history of the cross.It is a history of sin on our part, and of suffering on the part of Christ. What a change has been produced in the moral aspect of the universe by the preaching of the cross!
II. The odium connected with the cross.There is odium and suffering connected with the cross still; in some shape we shall suffer persecution for it. If we will lead a holy life, then suffering, persecution, reproach, hatred and ill-will, sarcasm, wit, ridicule, and obloquy will be cast upon us. It was said by one, when several were expelled from one of our universities, that if some are expelled for having too much religion, it is high time to begin to inquire whether there are not some who have too little. If we speak of the reproach of the cross, what should that reproach be? Not that you have too much religion, but that you have too little, and that many of you have none at all.
III. As to those who suffer persecution for the cross, it is the greatest possible honour to be laughedat, mocked, and insulted for the sake of the Saviour. If the spirit of the martyrs influenced us, there would be no shunning of persecution on account of the cross, but suffering would be welcomed with joy.The Pulpit.
Christianity and Persecution.
I. We should suspect ourselves that our hearts are not sound, nor our practice sincere, when all men speak well of us.
II. We must not be discouraged though there be never so many that make opposition, or so mighty that raise persecution against us.
III. That we think it not strange when we find affliction or meet with persecution. The gospel and persecution go hand in hand, or follow one another inseparably.Perkins.
Gal. 6:13. Empty Boasting
I. When professed teachers do not practise the virtues they enforce on others.
II. When zeal for the observance of outward rites disguises the lack of personal godliness.
III. When success is sought simply to be able to boast of success.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
TEXT 6:1113
(11) See with how large letters I write unto you with mine own hand. (12) As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they compel you to be circumcised; only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. (13) For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the law; but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
PARAPHRASE 6:1113
11 Ye see how large a letter I have written to you with my own hand. By this ye may understand my anxiety to preserve you in the true faith of the gospel.
12 As many of your teachers as wish to appear fair in the eyes of their unbelieving brethren, by their attachment to the law, these strongly persuade you to be circumcised, not because they think circumcision necessary to salvation, but only that they may not be persecuted by the unbelieving Jews, for preaching salvation through a crucified Messiah.
13 These hypocrites do not enjoin circumcision on any conscientious motives; for not even do the circumcised themselves keep the law of Moses; but they wish you to be circumcised, merely that they may boast, among the unbelieving Jews, of having persuaded you to receive that rite in your flesh.
COMMENT 6:11
See with how large letters I write unto you with mine own hand
1.
The closing words written in his own handwriting would prove its authorship.
2.
Some think large refers to the length and not the size of the letters.
3.
The motives of the Judaizers compared with that of the Apostles. Gal. 6:12-16
COMMENT 6:12
As many as desire to make a fair show
1.
Jewish religion carried some respectability.
2.
It didnt demand very muchChristianity was so strict.
3.
If they had presented the Cross with its simplicity, they would have offended their unbelieving countrymen.
only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ
1.
Catholic Bible: That they may not suffer persecution for the Cross.
2.
It would be a temptation to the weak Christian to swing over to Judaism to escape the persecution.
3.
This would make him credited among his brethren.
COMMENT 6:13
For neither they who are circumcised keep the law
1.
They professed Judaismnot from a desire to conform to the will of God but because Judaism was popular.
2.
These are the kind of teachers you have, they do not keep the lawall of it.
but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh
1.
It is not for the sake of their righteousness, although that impression is given.
2.
They force it on them that they may glory in their submission.
3.
The false teachers persuaded them from insincere motives.
STUDY QUESTIONS 6:1113
993.
Did Paul make a mistake when he spoke of largeness in Gal. 6:11 and then wrote a small letter to the Galatians?
994.
Did it refer to the length of the letter or the size of his handwriting?
995.
Why did Paul want them to see his own handwriting?
996.
What is meant by fair show?
997.
Was early Christianity interested in respectability as are the major denominations today?
998.
What would a fleshly show refer to?
999.
What is meant by constrain?
1000.
Would weak Christians give over to a false teaching to avoid persecution or pressure?
1001.
Were those who demanded circumcision faithful to all the law?
1002.
Were the show-offs persuaded that circumcision was essential for salvation?
1003.
What accusation does Paul make here?
1004.
Why would they want some to keep part of it when they were not enthusiastic enough to keep all of it?
1005.
How would their troublemakers glory in the flesh of their proselytes?
1006.
Could it mean that they would glory in their submission?
1007.
If we submit to false teaching with sincere motives, does that make it right?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(11) Ye see.Rather, See. The Apostle calls the attention of his readers to the handwriting of these concluding paragraphs.
How large a letter.Rather, in what large letters: i.e., characters. The exact significance of these words is somewhat enigmatic, and can only be matter of conjecture. Two points, however, are clear:(1) The latter part of the Greek phrase means in or with lettersi.e., characters of hand-writingand not a letter, an epistle, as it is taken in the Authorised version; (2) The former half of the phrase means how large, strictly in respect of size. The Apostle, for some reason or other, points out that the characters in which he is writing are larger than usual. What is his reason? It is hard to say. Some have thought that the reference was to the shapelessness of the letters, whether as due to the fact that the Apostle himself was not accustomed to the manual work of writing, or possibly to physical weakness from the hardships that he had undergone. The idea of shapelessness, however, is not necessarily included in that of size. It seems, on the whole, most probable that the size of the characters express the emphasis and authority with which the Apostle is writing. He adds to the Epistlewhich had so far been written by an amanuensisa few bold incisive strokes in his own hand, trenchantly exposing the motives of the Judaising faction, and re-asserting his own position.
I have written.Must this be so taken: I have written? or may it be idiomatically translated: I write? In other words, does it refer to the whole previous portion of the Epistle, or only to these concluding paragraphs? The question turns upon a nice point of Greek scholarship, on which such authorities as Bishop Ellicott and Dr. Lightfoot take different sides. It will only be possible in a Commentary like this to express a general conclusion, without going into the arguments on which it is based. That conclusion would be that the Greek may, quite fairly and tenably, be translated: I write; and that being so, considerations of exegesis would seem to tell somewhat decidedly in the same direction. The whole character of this concluding section is very much what we should expect if St. Paul followed his usual custom of taking the pen from the amanuensis to write it, and its brief weighty summarising style would correspond well with the largo letters in which he says that it was written. If this description is to be applied to the whole Epistle, it must remain a riddle to which there is no clue.
With mine own hand.It was the Apostles custom to make use of an amanuensis, and only to add a few final words in proof of the genuineness of the writing. (See especially 2Th. 3:17; and comp. also Rom. 16:22; 1Co. 16:21; Col. 4:18.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(11-18) Concluding section of the Epistle, written in the Apostles own hand. These Judaising teachers only wish to have you circumcised as a matter of outside show, in order to disguise their own professed Christianity from their fellow Jews, and so escape persecution. They show that they really care nothing for circumcision, for they freely break the rest of the Law to which they affect to give in their adhesion. Their true object is to make capital out of their influence over you, to boast publicly of your submission to the rite. I, too, will boast, but of something very different. My boast is in the cross of Christ. When I attached myself to the crucified Messiah, from that moment the world became nothing to me. Circumcision and uncircumcision matter not. The essential point is that total change which such a relation implies. On all who take this for their rule I can invoke a blessing, for they are the true Israel. Enough. I have a right to claim exemption from these attacks. The scars that I bear upon me are marks of the place I hold in my Masters service.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
c. Autographic summary of the epistle and closing benediction, Gal 6:11-18 .
“At this point the apostle takes the pen from his amanuensis, and the concluding paragraph is written with his own hand. From the time when letters began to be forged in his name (2Th 2:2; 2Th 3:17) it seems to have been his practice to close with a few words in his own handwriting as a precaution against such forgeries. Frequently he confined himself to adding the final benediction, (2Th 3:17-18,) with perhaps a single sentence of exhortation, as, ‘If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ,’ etc., (1Co 16:21-24,) or, ‘Remember my bonds.’ Col 4:18. In the Epistle to the Romans he seems to have appended the ascription of praise, which reads like a postscript.
Rom 16:25-27. In the present case he writes a whole paragraph, summing up the main lessons of the epistle in terse, eager, disjointed sentences. He writes it, too, in large characters, that his handwriting may reflect the energy and determination of his soul.” Prof. Lightfoot.
11. Ye see how large a letter I have written More accurately, Behold ye, in what large letters I wrote to you with my own hand. “Letters” is the alphabetic characters; and it is unquestionable that he refers to their size, not to their unshapeliness, as some think. It may be, as Professor Lightfoot says, that the largeness of their size was intended by Paul to indicate the firmness of his purpose. So we have been inclined to think that John Hancock’s large signature on the Declaration of American Independence was intended as a manly defiance of the ignominious death he dared by it. But we are rather inclined to think that St. Paul calls the attention of the Galatians to the distinctive point between his handwriting and that of his amanuensis. The rapid professional writer, doubtless, wrote in the smaller and lighter hand. Yet both purposes may have blended.
I have written The term called the epistolary aorist I wrote. The writer speaks as at the standpoint, or rather timepoints of the reader’s perusal, and says, I wrote thus and so to you.
The summary of the epistle which follows seems intended, in some degree, for the same purpose as his autograph, namely, for identification. It is an after-piece adjustable to this epistle only. There is a triumphant tone in this entire peroration. Paul lays bare the motives of his opponents, and contrasts their cowardly courting the foe with his own heroic proclamation of the cross, 12-14. He pronounces the nothingness of circumcision, and this efficacy of the cross as the blessed canon of the true Israel; and sweeps away every obstacle as himself bearing the true mark of Jesus, 15-17.
‘See with how large letters I have written to you with my own hand.’
Having laid out for them the full position with regard to what the Gospel is, and the failure of those who preach otherwise, he wants to stress his conclusion. Thus he writes by his own hand and He writes in large letters.
The Final Summary – What the Christian Should Glory In ( Gal 6:11-15 ).
Having summarised Christian behaviour Paul now turns their attention to what they should be glorying in. Here Paul takes the letter from his secretary who is writing it for him, and writes in large letters so as to stress his conclusion.
Conclusion – Paul closes his letter to the Galatians with a final reminder of his apostleship over them (Gal 6:11-18). He reveals to them the selfish motive of his adversaries (Gal 6:12-13) and compares it to his selfless motive (Gal 6:14). He then gives a one sentence summary of his epistle by telling them that the important issue is not whether one is circumcised or not, but whether he is being molded and transformed into the image of Christ as a new creature (Gal 6:15). He gives a final blessing to those who adhere to his doctrine (Gal 6:16) and a final witness of his apostolic authority over them (Gal 6:17) before his benediction prayer (Gal 6:18).
Gal 6:11 Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
Gal 6:11 1Co 16:21, “The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand.”
Col 4:18, “The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you. Amen.”
2Th 3:17, “The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write.”
He may have written entire epistles as indicated in Phm 1:19. When he did take the pen in his hand and add a few words, Goodspeed notes that they must have “looked large and awkward beside the swift, regular hand of the professional letter-writer,” as implied in Gal 6:11. [117]
[117] Edgar J. Goodspeed, An Introduction to the New Testament (Chicago, Illinois: University Press, 1937) [on-line]; accessed 25 July 2003; available from http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/goodspeed; Internet, 5.
Phm 1:19, “I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.”
Gal 6:11, “Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.”
Regarding Paul’s phrase “how large a letter” in Gal 6:11, he may not be referring to the size of the letters, but rather to the fact that he wrote most or all of this epistle himself. However, there are indications in six of his epistles that Paul used an amanuensis to write most of his letters.
Rom 16:22, “I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.”
Gal 6:12 As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
Gal 6:12 Gal 6:13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
Gal 6:13 Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Gal 6:14 Illustration – Shortly after the news media exposed his sin and after he repented, Jimmy Swaggart wrote his supporters and said that the Lord told him, “The cross is not for trophies, or victories, or winners, or success. The cross is for losers, for the sick, the suffering, the hurting, the sinful, the wicked. I will accept the wreckage, and I will put it back together, and I will mold it and make it in the image I desire.” [118]
[118] Jimmy Swaggart, “Monthly Partner Newsletter,” February 1988 (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Jimmy Swaggart Ministries).
Let me hear the testimony of Corrie ten Boom, who lost her family in the Jewish Holocaust and learned to forgive those same German officers who killed them; [119] or, tell me about Mother Teresa who sacrificed a life of marriage to minister to dying children for decades in a poor country. [120] When Dave Roever stands up to speak and I see his war-ravaged face which was partially destroyed when a phosphorus grenade blew up in his hand, I want to listen to his testimony of how he overcame this tragedy. [121] When a man called Terry Waites speaks, people listen, not because of the humanitarian projects he has accomplished, but rather, because he spent five years (1987-1991) as a hostage in Lebanon because of his commitment to his cause. [122] These are the testimonies that move us to listen.
[119] Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place (New York: Random House, Inc., 1982).
[120] Kathryn Spink, Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography (New York: HarperCollins, 1997).
[121] Dave Roever, Roever and Associates, Fort Worth, Texas [on-line]; accessed 25 June 2010; available from http://www.daveroever.org; Internet.
[122] Trevor Barnes, Terry Waite: Man with a Mission (London: Collins Fontana, 1987).
Gal 6:14 “by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” Comments Note the translation of BBE, “But far be it from me to have glory in anything, but only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which this world has come to an end on the cross for me, and I for
it .”
Gal 6:14 Comments – Listen to a poem about the cross written by Flossie Peterson Everett, [123]
[123] Flossie Peterson Everett, How Do We Let Our Light Shine? (Wausau, Florida: unpublished poem, given to Gary Everett on 24 December 1982).
“And how do we let our light shine that others may see the way?
It’s only through the reflection of the Cross that we carry.
And yet, we pray, ‘Oh Lord, take away this burden from me,
And give me my this and my that.’
But it all belongs to You, the whole earth and the fullness thereof.
And what we have is only lent to us.
For naked we came into this world and naked we shall return.
And so if anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother have need,
There is a woe passed upon him.
The whole world is looking to see the Cross, let it be seen in me.”
Note these insightful words from Sadhu Sundar Singh regarding the Cross.
“The cross is like a walnut whose outer rind is bitter, but the inner kernel is pleasant and invigorating. So the cross does not offer any charm of outward appearance, but to the cross-bearer its true character is revealed, and he finds in it the choicest sweets of spiritual peace.” [124]
[124] Sadhu Sundar Singh, At the Master’s Feet, translated by Arthur Parker (London: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1922) [on-line], accessed 26 October 2008, available from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/singh/feet.html; Internet, “V The Cross and the Mystery of Suffering,” section 1, part 6.
Gal 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Gal 6:14-15 Gal 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
Gal 6:16 Rom 9:6-9, “Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed . For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.”
Earlier in this epistle to the Galatians, Paul compares Isaac’s child of promise to Hagar’s child of the flesh (Gal 4:28-31).
Gal 4:23, “But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.”
Note the Old Testament reference that refers to the promise and the bondwoman:
Gen 21:12, “And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman ; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called .”
Gal 6:17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
Gal 6:17 Paul discusses some of the occasions of receiving these scars in his second epistle to the Corinthians.
2Co 11:23-27, “Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”
In his book The Final Quest, Rick Joyner is told that in heaven we will be able to see the wounds of Jesus, and not only His wounds, but the scars that all of His chosen ones have taken for His sake. These are the medals of honor in heaven. He is told that we will carry these glorious scars forever, as Jesus does. It shows that all who carry them love God and His truth more than their own lives. He goes on to say that true leaders of God’s people, who carry genuine spiritual authority, will first prove their devotion in this way, through suffering for His name sake. [125]
[125] Rick Joyner, The Final Quest (Charlotte, North Carolina: Morning Star Publications, 1977), 80.
It is also interesting to note that under the Mosaic Law, a slave bore the marks inflicted by his master as an outward sign of an inward commitment to that master (Exo 21:5-6, Deu 15:16-17).
Exo 21:5-6, “And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.”
Deu 15:16-17, “And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee; Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.”
Gal 6:18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Gal 6:18 Mat 10:13, “And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.”
This practice of speaking blessings upon God’s children may have its roots in the Priestly blessing of Num 6:22-27, where God instructed Moses to have the priests speak a blessing upon the children of Israel. Now Paul closes his epistle to the Galatians by restating the blessing that he opened his epistle with in Gal 1:3.
Comments (2) – In Gal 6:18 Paul basically commends them into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, in much the same way that he did in the book of Acts. We find this statement at the end of all of Paul’s epistles.
Act 14:23, “And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.”
Act 20:32, “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.”
Gal 6:18 “Amen” Comments – In the Textus Receptus the word “Amen” is attached to the end of all thirteen of Paul’s epistles, as well as to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, and to the General Epistles of Hebrews , 1 and 2 Peter , 1 and 2 John, and to the book of Revelation. However, because “Amen” is not supported in more ancient manuscripts many scholars believe that this word is a later liturgical addition. For example, these Pauline benedictions could have been used by the early churches with the added “Amen.”
Concluding Remarks.
Paul’s love in contrast to the behavior of the false teachers:
v. 11. Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
v. 12. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ.
v. 13. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the Law, but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh.
v. 14. But God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.
v. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
The apostle here calls attention to a special evidence of his love for the Galatian Christians: See with what large letters I write to you with my own hand! As a rule, Paul dictated his letters, affixing only the conclusion or his personal greeting with his own hand, as a proof of the epistle’s authenticity, 1Co 16:21; Col 4:18; 2Th 3:17. In this case, however, the apostle seems to have written the entire letter personally, and with large characters, which seems to have been a mark of unusual favor and respect.
But even as the love of Paul appeared in his every move, so the intrigues of his opponents stood out prominently, if one but drew the right conclusions from their actions: As many as wish to please in matters of the flesh, these constrain you to be circumcised, only that they should not suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ. The Judaizing agitators were not sincere; they wanted to make a show before men to gratify their own carnal vanity; they were trying to gain followers in order to boast of their popularity. In this sense only did they insist upon circumcision, not because they actually believed the rite to be necessary for salvation. At the same time (and here another carnal reason appears) they followed this course in order not to be persecuted by, or on account of, the Cross of Christ; they did not want to embrace the cause of the Cross of Christ because a plain Gospel-confession brought persecution. So they escaped persecution on the part of the Jews, and in most cases also on the part of the Gentiles, by this questionable method. But Paul lays bare their hypocrisy: For not even they themselves, although circumcised, keep the Law, but they desire that you be circumcised in order to boast in your flesh. The Jewish teachers, with all their bragging of being circumcised, were not concerned for the Law on its own account. They were like the scribes and Pharisees to whom the Lord addressed Himself, Mat 23:25-28. It was not their interest in the Law or in the spiritual welfare of the Galatians that prompted the Judaizing teachers to preach the necessity of circumcision, but merely their desire to boast of converts, of more persons gained for their own views and obedient to their wishes.
The position of Paul had nothing in common with such selfishness: But let it be far from me to glory but in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world. That is the significance which the Cross has for him, that is the effect which it has had upon him and upon his entire way of thinking. He boasts of the triumph of the Cross of Christ, which overcame his own flesh, which effectually overcame the power of the world over him and his former carnal love for the world and its lures, whether of honor, pleasure, or wealth. He knows that justification and salvation have come to him through Christ Crucified, that atonement has been made for him by his Lord’s Passion and death. That is his one exultant boast. He has, therefore, forever severed fellowship with Jewish rites and Gentile vanities, which are an empty, hollow mockery to him. He knows, moreover: Neither circumcision has any value nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. See chap. 5:6. He that is a Jew by birth and religion for that reason cannot claim acceptance on the part of God, just as he that is a Gentile cannot for that reason hope to be more acceptable to the Lord. These conditions are mere accidents of outward circumstance, and have nothing to do with justification before God. The new creation, the regeneration of the heart through the power of God in the means of grace, that alone places a person into the right relation with God. That is the glorious comfort of all believers.
Gal 6:11. Ye see how large a letter, &c. The original has been taken in different senses by interpreters, both ancient and modern. The Vulgate has it, with what letters; Castalio, with how many letters; Erasmus, how large a letter; and Beza, how long a letter. St. Paul mentions his writing with his own hand, as an argument of his great regard for the Galatians. And, as it was not usual for him to write his Epistles with his own hand, excepting the conclusion, or some importantsentence, he might very well say, that, in comparison with his usual custom, he had written a very large letter, and might urge the largeness of the letter as a proof of his sincere regard for their interest.
Gal 6:11 . Not “an odd verse,” the purport of which is “a singular whim ” (Usteri): on the contrary, in accordance with his well-known manner in other passages (1Co 16:21 ; Col 4:18 ; 2Th 3:17 ), Paul adds to the letter, which up to this point he had dictated (comp. Rom 16:22 ), the conclusion from Gal 6:11 onward in his own handwriting . 1 [259] By means of these autograph endings the epistles indicated their authentic character. See 2Th 2:2 ; 2Th 3:17 . But this close of our epistle , as stringently comprehending all its main points once more, was intended to catch the eyes of the readers as something so specially important, that from Gal 6:12 to the end the apostle wrote it with very large letters , [260] just as we, in writing and printing, distinguish by letters of a larger size anything that we wish to be considered as peculiarly significant. To this point, and consequently to the quite special importance of the addition now made at the end, not by the hand of the amanuensis, but by his own hand in large writing, Paul calls the attention of his readers, and says: “ See with how great letters I have written (the sequel, from Gal 6:12 ) to you with my own hand! ” Neither (in opposition to Rckert and Schott) nor (in opposition to Usteri) is at variance with the reference to what follows; for Paul, following the custom of letter-writers, has in his mind not the present point of time, when he is just about to write, but the point of time, when his readers have received the letter and consequently see what and how he has written (Phm 1:19 ; Phm 1:21 ; 1Jn 2:14 ; 1Jn 2:21 ; Act 15:27 ; Act 23:30 , Rom 16:22 ; Thuc. 1. 1 in.; Isocr. ad Demonic. in. ). Just in the same way in Phm 1:19 , points to what follows . In keeping with this is the similarly common use of , “respectu habito temporis, quo alter donum accipiebat;” Khner, ad Xen. Anab . i. 9. 25; comp. Krger, 53. 10. 1. Holsten, Voemel, Matthias, Windischmann, Reithmayr, agree with our view. Grotius also (“sua manu scripsit omnia, quae jam sequuntur”), Studer, and Laurent refer the words to what follows. Grotius, however, contrary to the usus loquendi , explains as how much , thus making Paul call attention to the length of his autograph conclusion; and Studer understands it as referring to the unshapeliness of the letters (in opposition to this, see below); whilst Laurent (in the Stud. u. Krit . 1864, p. 644 ff., and in his neut. Stud . p. 125. 5), against the signification of the word, adheres to the qualibus of the Vulgate, and is of opinion that Paul wrote this conclusion of the letter in the cursive character. Usually, however (as also by Ewald, Wieseler, Hofmann), Gal 6:11 is referred to the whole epistle , which Paul had written with his own hand, [261] being explained (with Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Cajetanus, Estius, Winer, Rckert, Usteri, Hilgenfeld) as referring to the unshapeliness of the letters , [262] arising from want of practice in writing Greek; or . . being explained as: what a large letter I have written to you. So most expositors, including de Wette and Hofmann. But against this latter view although the epistle, notwithstanding 1Pe 5:12 , Heb 13:22 , would no doubt be long enough for an autograph one may be urged the very use which it assumes of for , [263] since Paul elsewhere always calls an epistle (1Co 5:9 ; 1Co 16:3 ; 2Co 3:1 f., 2Co 10:10 ; 2Th 2:2 ; 2Th 3:14 ; 2Th 3:17 ); and, on the other hand, he just as constantly uses the word , in the singular (Rom 2:27 ; Rom 2:29 ; Rom 7:6 ; 2Co 3:6 ) and plural (2Co 3:7 ), to express the idea of a letter of the alphabet; and also the decisive consideration that the employment of the dative ( instrum .) instead of the accusative (Act 23:25 ; Rom 16:22 ; 2Pe 3:1 ) would be quite in opposition to all usage. [264] The dative would only be suitable if, instead of , perhaps, or some suitable word, followed. Against the former interpretation, which refers the word to the unshapeliness of the letters, it may be urged that the idea of is arbitrarily introduced into , as this quality is by no means an essential characteristic of large letters; secondly, that the charge of want of practice in writing Greek cannot be proved. The native of Tarsus and Roman citizen, who from his youth had enjoyed a learned training in Jerusalem, where the Greek language was very current among the Jews (see Hug, Einl . II. 10) the man who handled with so much delicacy and skill the Greek literary language, who was familiar with the works of the Greek poets (see on Act 17:28 ), and who was in constant intercourse with Greek Jews and Gentiles, is it to be thought that such an one should not have possessed even the humble attainment of writing Greek without making the letters of an unshapely size? In Wieseler’s view, the large letters were very legible (for the public reading of the epistle); and in calling attention to this circumstance, Paul desires to bring into prominence his great love for his readers, which shuns no trouble on their account. But even thus the matter would amount only to a trifle. The Galatians were in possession of far greater proofs of his love than the size of the characters in his own handwriting, which, besides, might be something very different from legibility.
[259] 1 From 2Th 3:17 it is to be assumed that Paul closed all his epistles with his own hand, even when he does not expressly say so .
[260] The principal emphasis is on the word , which is therefore placed apart; the secondary stress lies on . It may, however, be doubtful whether Paul wrote merely ver. 12 with larger letters, and the sequel with his own hand but in his ordinary mode of writing, or whether he continued the large characters down to ver. 16 or to ver. 18. The internal connection of vv. 12 16, the uniform solemn tone of these verses down to their solemn conclusion, and the abrupt character of ver. 17, all unite in inducing us to adopt the second view.
[261] In adopting this view various grounds have been guessed for its autograph composition. Pelagius: “that Paul desired to show that he was not afraid! ” Ambrosiaster, comp. Augustine and Michaelis: “that he desired to prove the genuineness of the epistle .” Chrysostom (who, moreover, assumes in addition the cause assigned by Pelagius), Luther, Calvin, Calovius, and many others: “that his intention was to show the Galatians his earnest care for them, to make them attentive in reading, and the like.” Hilgenfeld: “that he attached so much importance to the epistle.” Ewald: “that Timothy had not been with him just at the time when he composed the epistle; and he thus wished, in the postscript written at a somewhat later period, to make excuse for the large inelegant letters in which the epistle had been written.” Hofmann: “that the autograph writing was intended to bring the apostle as it were vividly before the eyes of his readers .” Hofmann is also of opinion that Paul had not elsewhere written with his own hand, that he might not needlessly curtail the time for procuring his bodily maintenance. As if the dictating to the pen of another would not have involved just as much loss of time! Tertius and Timothy were hardly shorthand writers. Or is Paul supposed to have been occupied in tent-making during the time when he was dictating his letters, which presuppose so much abstraction and concentration of mental labour?
[262] This is not, as is often stated, the view of Jerome, who, on the contrary, specifies this view only to reject it, and assumes that down to ver. 11 the epistle was written by the amanuensis, but after ver. 11 by Paul himself in very large characters, in order that his readers should recognise his genuine handwriting and at the same time his solicitous care for them. Jerome therefore comes nearest to our view, but introduces into the purposes which have no natural connection with the largeness of the characters, and could not, without further intimation, have been understood by the reader. Theodore of Mopsuestia explains it better, likewise understanding correctly ( ), and specifying as Paul’s object that he, , wished to intimate that he neither .
[263] Taking the word by itself, there can be no doubt that ( scriptum , 2Ti 3:15 , Joh 5:47 ) may, according to the context, mean epistle , so that in the plural it would denote epistolae (Act 28:21 , and often in Greek authors), but may also apply to a single epistle. Thus, for instance, Thuc. vii. 8. 3, where is used shortly before; Xen. Cyr . iv. 5. 26, where occurs immediately after; Xen. Eph 2:5 and Locella in loc . Comp. also Luk 16:6 ; 1Ma 4:10 ; 1Ma 4:14 ; Ignat. Rom 8 , ad Polyc . 7.
[264] Quite irrelevantly Hofmann compares the usage of combining a verb with the abstract noun derived from it in the dative (Buttmann, neut. Gr . p. 159); and just as irrelevantly the expresssion , Mat 8:8 (see on this passage), Luk 7:7 . Not even that use of , in which it may denote to deliver as an orator (Krger on Thuc . i. 22. 1), would here be analogous. Only such phrases as, e.g ., , to write with golden letters , Lucian. Alex . 43; . , to write down in large letters, Gymn . 22; , Luk 23:38 , Elz.; ., Soph. Fragm . 460 D, really correspond.
Gal 6:11-18 . Final section of the epistle in the apostle’s own handwriting. The main points of controversy are here briefly summed up: then in Gal 6:17 a repetition of molestations is deprecated, and Gal 6:18 concludes with the farewell blessing.
CONCLUSION OF THE EPISTLE
Written by the Apostle with his own hand. He portrays himself in contrast with the False Teachers. An entreaty for future quiet out of regard to his sufferings. Benedictions.
Gal 6:11-18
11Ye see how large a letter I have written [See in how large letters I have written, or with what letters I write]12 unto you with mine own hand. 12As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should [that they should not]13 suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 13For neither they themselves [not even do they] who are circumcised14 keep the law [themselves]; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. 14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world15. 15For in Christ Jesus [omit in Christ Jesus]16 neither circumcision availeth17 anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 16And as many as walk [shall walk]18 according to this rule, peace 17be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From [omit From] henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord [omit the Lord]19 Jesus. 18Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit [The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren]. Amen.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Gal 6:11. See with what letters I write [or in what large letters I have written (see below)R.] unto you with mine own hand.Paul as a rule dictated his Epistles; but attested them by adding at least the conclusion in his own hand (comp. 2Th 3:17). So also in this Epistle. But as it is the first letter which he has written to the Galatians, he begs them to notice20 his handwriting. This is the sense of , which is therefore simply = with what sort of letters. , according to the familiar epistolary usage; the aorist does not therefore refer back to the portion already written, but Paul means what he is just beginning to write in conclusion. So Laurent, zur Kritik der Briefe des Apostles Paulus, in the Studien und Kritiken, 1864 H. 4, p. 643 sq.His interpretation seems to have more in its favor than that of Wieseler (adopted in the 1st edition of this work), who renders it: See with how great letters, etc., referring the words to the whole Epistle, in this sense, that he means to give his readers a token of his special love in having written to them in quite large, and therefore unusually legible, characters, and that, not through an amanuensis, as ordinarily, but with his own hand. Against this Laurent remarks: How is it conceivable that immediately after so profound and earnest a discourse, the Apostle should have reviewed the characters he had already written, and have made so trivial a remark about their appearance? Besides the letters were not at all large; not much larger than ours. In Pauls day cursive writing was already in use. While therefore the amanuensis probably wrote in uncial letters, Paul himself wrote cursively[!?]21But his purpose in adding the conclusion with his own hand was in this case not merely to attest the Epistle. For the conclusion is unusually long. Paul was also impelled to write by the desire of impressing more deeply on the minds of the Galatians a notice respecting his own person in opposition to the false teachers.
[Two questions arise in the interpretation of this verse: 1. to what does the Apostle call attention; 2. to how much does he refer. The answer to the first question turns upon the meaning of , that to the second mainly, though not exclusively, upon the force of . 1. We may determine with comparative certainty the meaning of . , occurring only here and in Heb 7:3 (where the reference is to magnitude, though in an ethical sense), is not synonymous with , how many; hence how many letters=how large a letter, is incorrect; nor does the plural mean letter, for which Paul invariably uses . Besides the phrase , in the sense of write a letter, is nowhere found. Nor is identical with (so Schmoller and others), what kind; Ellicott justly characterizes this interpretation as arbitrary. It means how large, referring to the size, implying that, for some cause, what Paul himself wrote was written in larger characters than usual (or perhaps than an amanuensis was in the habit of using). There is no necessity for finding a reference to shapelessness. It is no valid objection to say that this reference was trivial, for other things that Paul has written may be thus spoken of with equal propriety (comp. 2Ti 4:13). See Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, Wordsworth and Lightfoot. 2. To how much does he refer? In other words, did Paul write the whole Epistle with his own hand, or only these concluding verses. The aorist indicates the former, unless it be an epistolary aorist. But the burden of proof rests with those who maintain this. Besides if the reference be exclusively to what follows, it seems singular that the epistolary aorist should be chosen. We cannot perhaps decide the question from this word alone, but there are other considerations which may be urged in favor of the autographic character of the whole Epistle, a) Attention may have been called to the size of the letters, as a proof that Paul had written the whole, not using an amanuensis, who would probably have written more rapidly, hence in smaller characters, and this would be a proof of his earnestness and affection. b) The Epistle is largely a personal vindication, and hence was more likely to be an autograph, c) Alford finds a similarity, in style and in use of words, between this and the Pastoral Epistles (which he regards as autographs), see Vol. III. New Testament Prolegg. pp. 4, 79 sq. d) Wordsworth refers to the passage in Habakkuk cited in this Epistle, (Gal 3:11), and finds in the injunction to the prophet to write the just shall live by faith in large characters, an implication that this Epistle on the same theme was written in similar characters. (This however is not of much weight.) Although the use of is not decisive, yet taken in connection with the meaning of , and whatever of weight attaches to the considerations mentioned above, it is much safer to assume that Paul wrote the whole letter; the probabilities are strongly in favor of this view. (So Alford, Ellicott and Wordsworth most decidedly.) There is a conjecture that the size or shapelessness of the letters arose from Pauls weakness of vision, but it must be regarded as only a conjecture. Comp. Gal 4:15. Paul could not have been unskilful in writing Greek.R.]
Gal 6:12. As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh.In condensed sharp language the Apostle (Gal 6:12-13) characterizes the intrigues of the false teachers. They are people who want to have a good repute (), but for all that live in the flesh, according to the lusts of the flesh,22 and shun suffering. Therefore they constrain you to be circumcised.( = are busied with forcing a circumcision upon you.) For this is done only that they should not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. not: on account of the cross, but: by the cross; the cross of Christ is itself represented as the persecutora significant image for these peoples fear of the cross, because it brings persecution. But the cross of Christ brings with it such persecution, sc. on the part of the Jews, only when it is preached and confessed as the sole condition of salvation, which is not done when circumcision is regarded as a condition of salvation. Therefore they insist upon this, in order to escape persecution. [It seems better to take as the dative of the ground or occasion (so Meyer, Alford, Ellicott and many others). Schmoller actually presents this view in his explanatory remark. It cannot mean with the sufferings of the cross (Winer). The objection to both is that the cross of Christ means the atoning death of Christ upon the cross (Brown), and this meaning will not admit of these interpretations.R.]
Gal 6:13. Paul immediately explains the strong , only (Gal 6:12). They have in this no other view than the one assignedthe purely egoistic onethey are not concerned for the law on its own account; for not even do they who are circumcised keep the law themselves.Of the circumcised, or those who receive circumcision, [the reference being to the Judaizing party; the perfect would perhaps point more to the leaders, the present to the party as one which was then enforcing this rite,R.] with all their zeal for circumcision, it might be expected that they kept the law. But their conduct is hypocritical. When they desire to have you circumcised, it is not in the interest of the law, but only that they may glory in your flesh, that they may be able to boast themselves; and it is moreover the of the Galatians, that is to be the subject of their boasting: to be taken either physically, with reference to the circumcision to be performed in their flesh; or in a sense similar to Gal 6:12, because if the Galatians should receive circumcision, they would follow the and its suggestions, would display a carnal weakness and pliability of which these men would then boast as their own work. [The latter view is preferable.R.]
Gal 6:14. But God forbid that I should glory.To this sinful boasting of the false teachers, to whom the cross of Christ is more or less a scandal, and who are unwilling to suffer any persecution for its sake, Paul opposes his own boasting, whose subject is this very cross of Christ.Save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.Meyer incorrectly supposes that Paul wishes to mention the subject of his official glorying over against the official vauntings of the false teachers, and hence understands the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ of the preaching of the cross of Christ, not of the fact itself. [In the 4th Ed. Meyer says: Only the cross of Christ should be the subject of his , viz.: that nothing other than the Redemption accomplished on the cross by Christ was the ground, contents and Divine assurance of his faith, life, hope, labor, etc.Surely this is not open to Schmollers objection.R.] Wieseler:Paul will, in contrast with these Judaizers, not boast at all of what he is or has or does, and therefore also not of his official labors, but of the cross of Christ.By whom or which. is then most naturally referred to the main idea, cross, not to our Lord Jesus Christ. [The meaning is evidently the same, whether the relative be referred to one or the other; by which would mean through the cross of Christ; by whom, through Christ crucified. Still there is much force in the suggestion, that the subject immediately preceding, so fully and triumphantly expressed, so important and so emphasized, throws the other word into the shade. (It is not necessary to suppose that in this case we would find .) Besides, the idea of sundered fellowship with the world, which follows, seems to imply here more of a fellowship with Christ than with the cross. See Meyer, Alford and Ellicott, and on the other side Calvin, Bengel, Brown and Lightfoot.R.]
The world is crucified unto me.By this Paul does not mean to state, for instance, why he cannot any longer boast of anything else, viz., because nothing else exists for him (Meyer), but he gives in a few yet pregnant words a glimpse into the significance which the cross has for him, on account of its operation. It is of course only because the cross is for me the object of faith, because I stand by faith in inward fellowship therewith (comp. Gal 2:19), [or, better, with Christ Himself as the Crucified OneR.], that a crucifixion has been accomplished in my case also. Paul, however, is here speaking not simply of the fact that he or his old Ego has been crucified. Recognizing as he does his old Ego as one entangled with the world, and recognizing this entanglement with the world as its distinguishing character, he says, that the world, to which it clung, has been crucified to him, i. e., the world had become in his eyes condemned, yea dead = had utterly lost all significance, all attractive power for him, and that therefore his fellowship with it had been wholly broken off. Of course Pauls fellowship of faith with the cross of Christ [or Christ crucifiedR.] involved no direct action upon the world itself, but only upon it so far as it appertained to him, i. e., upon his fellowship with it.And I to the world.And even so had he been crucified to the world. A crucifixion of him had naturally been the consequence of his fellowship of faith with the cross of Christ (comp. Gal 2:19), but calling to mind his former entanglement with the world, he declares himself crucified to the world, says, that in its eyes also he is one dedicated to death, yea, a dead man, so that he has no longer any attraction for the world, that the world will have nothing more to do with him, that its fellowship with him is also fully dissolved. This double statement thus expresses in the strongest manner, the absolute dissolution of every bond between him and the world. To him this result appeared a gain, and he saw in this a new reason, for glorifying in the cross of Christ. The second clause, , appears to imply also the positive statement, that not only does the world no longer regard him as one of its own, but also hates and persecutes him, and thus does precisely that which his adversaries seek to avoid (Gal 6:12); yet Paul accounts it as nothing, but glories in the cross of Christ, although it brings these consequences with it; so highly does he value the gain, which he has from it.
Gal 6:15. For.He immediately gives the reason for his determination to boast exclusively of the cross of Christ (not for the , Meyer).Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.Everything depends on the last, nothing on the first. But it is the cross of Christ which leads to this new creation, and that through the operation of it described by Gal 6:14. This reciprocal crucifixion of the world and the old man to each other is the death of the old man and the beginning of a new one. [ is probably passive, the thing created, resulting from a new creation on the part of God.R]
Gal 6:16. And as many as shall walk according to this rule.In Gal 6:15 Paul stated a principle; here he designates this as the standard, according to which one should walk. Upon all who shall thus walk (the future applies to the time from the receipt of the Epistle thenceforward; Paul hopes that the Epistle will have a converting and confirming effect upon the readers) he invokes peace23 (see on Gal 1:3) and mercy, thereby indicating the high importance of this standard. As this belongs to the conclusion, it is best to take it as a benediction; others understand it as a statement, supplying .The correct interpretation of and upon the Israel of God is the explicative one = that is [for they are the Israel of God.R.] For there is here no reason for bringing the Jewish Christians into especial prominence; besides, the comprehensive does not admit of a national distinction being now first made in addition, and others named, who, it would even appear, had not to walk according to this standard. On the other hand, the designation of all those, who walk according to this Anti-Judaistic standard, as the Israel of God, the true theocratic people, at this solemn close, is, as it were, the triumph of the whole Epistle.Meyer. [Ellicott doubts whether can have so strong an explicative force, and prefers to take it as copulative, as if the Apostles thought turned to his kindred according to the flesh; but the exegetical objections to this view are great, and the other interpretation is so suitable that it must be adopted.R.]
Gal 6:17. Henceforth let no man trouble me, i. e., by still listening to the false teachers; for I ( and not the persecution-shunning false teachers) bear in my body the marks of Jesus, the stigmata of Jesus, i. e., the proofs, that I am a real servant of Jesus ( with reference to the marks which masters had branded upon their slaves), namely, in all the traces, scars, wounds, and the like, of the maltreatments and persecutions, which I have endured in my apostolic calling. [of Jesus, i. e. my Master, Captain, God, for slaves, soldiers and votaries bore such marks. See Wordsworth and Lightfoot in loco.R.]
Gal 6:18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. ; we are not to understand a special intention in his not writing the simple ; yet we should not overlook what is significant in the expression. Grace operates and is meant to operate upon the of the man; only so does it operate truly and fully, and just such a full, truly salutary operation of grace does he wish for them.Brethren.: The Epistle, so severe in its prevailing tone, concludes with this address, in which unaltered brotherly love expresses itself. Meyer. [Bengel: Ita mollitur totius epistol severitas.R.]Amen.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
Christs cross is the touchstone of true Christianity. What Paul says in this section of the Judaistic teachers, applies strikingly mutatis mutandis, to the great mass of nominal Christians.24 They by no means wish to keep the law in its whole extent, that is much too burdensome for them; on the contrary they appeal to the fact that they forsooth believe on Christ, and therefore are free from the yoke of the law. But now on the other hand they have as little mind to believe on Christ in the whole extent of faith; what is inconvenient in this, they leave behind, and that is the cross of Christ, i. e., so far as it is a means of quieting the conscience, it is willingly accepted, but so far as it includes a dying of the old man, and the entering into a fellowship of the cross with Christ, they will none of it. Instead of this men turn rather to the otherwise despised law, and arbitrarily make the law to consist in this or that particular, some practice, some abstinence, and imagine themselves there to be satisfying all the severer requirements of God, while yet they are far from this utterance: The world is crucified to me and I unto the world!Christs cross is the touchstone of true Christianity; it is in this, that salvation and comfort is to be sought, and so far it would not be so very hard to glory in the cross of Christ, which many are willing to do. But salvation and consolation are to be sought exclusively in that, no longer in the world, no longer in ones self, everything else is to be accounted loss, and on the other hand the fellowship with the cross of Christ is to be counted no loss; in brief, there must come into being a new creature. This is the Canon (Gal 6:16) for a Christian; only he who guides himself according to this becomes and is in truth a Christian. This is hard and yet not impossible. God will help therein by the pedagogy of his law, and will lead to faith, and to faith will give the Spirit, which helps through to the new creature.Comp. also Roos: Paul shows, that it is not so completely indifferent, what a man thinks of Christ and His cross. Now-a-days, as many of the people say: I pray, read, hear, and am none of the worst. A clever man of the world says: I do much evil, but I have a good heart with it all, and between my evil works I also do some good ones. God will look at me on my good side. What now shall we make of Jesus of Nazareth? Here the world boggles. At last it says: Let Him pass for a good teacher, who has told us, that God is not the God of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, and that He loves such virtuous persons as we. Let Him be also an example for imitation. Finally, let Him be also, if one will so have it, the Redeemer, who has acquired for us freedom to hasten on a broad and easy way, with a trifle of virtue, light-mindedly to eternity, and notwithstanding our wickedness to fear no punishment. Now consider, whether this is the gospel of Paul, and whether he so preached Christ. Can such a man say that he boasts only of the cross of Christ, and that through it the world is crucified to him and he unto the world? Has he experienced a new creation? Is the culture, which age, office, intercourse with men, has given him, worthy of this lofty name? Is he in Christ Jesus? Has he the confidence, as he is, to stand before the holy God? Let him, in moments of reflection, put this question to himself and hear concerning it the answer of God and the Bible. Perhaps God will be so gracious as yet to reveal to him the gospel which Paul preached, and if this is so, he will be astonished to find that before this, he, without his knowledge, had a false religion. Mercy and peace be upon every one that is thus brought right.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Gal 6:12. Rieger:In every age there are points in which the world insists upon being yielded to, agreeing then to leave other points untouched. And whoever does not consent to this impure commingling, must not only suffer persecution, but also bear the reproach, that he himself is to blame, that he suffers only on account of his own self-will.Hedinger:How many thousand brethren have ye, ye clerical placemen, in Galatia? The handful of barley, the merry countenance, the assured friendliness, the favorable patron your comfort; flattery and trimming the sails, you think, will bring a man on. I do not agree with you. Moses course and choice is the best. Christs reproach before the purple of Egypt.Starke:Love must, indeed, cover and excuse a neighbors faults, but from hypocrites and seducers one must, for a warning, tear away the mask; especially should those do it to whose office it appertains.Spener:The doctrine of Christ preaches Christs cross, and brings a cross to him who preaches it.
Gal 6:13. Hedinger:To preach to others and be ones self a reprobate, to lade others with burdens, and not ones self to touch them with a finger, what hypocrisy!Starke:It is an attribute of false teachers and zealots for religion, who are only concerned with the outside, to proselytize a man to the religion, let him believe afterwards as he will. This is a carnal zeal with abundant craving for notoriety.
Gal 6:14. In Starke:Christians must not be ashamed of the cross of Christ, but rather glory in being justified and saved by that alone. Faith in Christ, the Crucified One, brings commonly such a fellowship of suffering with Him, that one has to bear his cross after the Lord Christ.As soon as the union of a soul with Christ through faith takes place, so soon is the tie which holds it to the sin prevailing in the world, loosed.A Christian may have much which even the world esteems, but the heart must not rest upon it.Luther:The world is crucified to me, i. e., I account, that the world is damned; and even so am I in turn crucified unto the world, i. e., it accounts, that I am damned. Thus we condemn one another. I anathematize all its human righteousness, doctrine, and work, as the very devils poison, and it in return anathematizes also my doctrine and work, counts me for a mischievous man, etc.
Gal 6:15. Luther:A new creature does not mean, that one clothes himself differently, and puts on a different air, from before, but it means the renewal of the mind, which is brought about by the Holy Ghost. From that there follows an alteration of the outer life. For where the heart through the gospel obtains a new light, there it never fails that the outward senses also are altered. The ears have there no longer pleasure, in hearing human dreams and fools tidings, but Gods word alone. The mouth no longer boasts of a mans own works, righteousness and monastic rule, but of Gods compassion in Christ Jesus. This then is an alteration, which consists not in words, but in work and in power.
Gal 6:16. [Burkitt: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.R.]Rieger:Even if one cannot accept the ungodly peace offered by those who make a fair show in the flesh, yet one by steadfast abiding within the limits of his faith, has the enjoyment of a Divine peace, and mercy is shown us in recompense of what many a one will lay upon us with an unrighteous judgment.
Gal 6:17. In Starke:The burdened servant of the Lord has a claim to be unmolested.It is not necessary to be ever anew entering into argument with unprofitable chatterers in defence of the truth, especially where it has been once and again vindicated against them.Luther:Because I am Christs servant and walk after the right rule, i. e., because I publicly confess, that out of Christ no man can attain to salvation, therefore also must I wear my Lords livery, which does not consist in marks and scars that I have inflicted in will worship as presumption on myself, like Francis, but such as are without my thanks or will inflicted on me by the world and Satan for Jesus sake.
Gal 6:18. In Starke:Grace is the beginning, middle and end in Pauls writings. As the beginning of religion is grace, so does its progress depend upon grace. Dost thou, O Christian, in thy solicitations from men, find neither grace nor comfort? Be not dismayed! The grace of thy Lord Jesus remains assured to thee.Let every one see to it, that he be and remain a dear brother of Paul, i. e., a true child of God; so may he also appropriate to himself the wish that Gods grace may remain with him, with a believing Amen.[Brown:Thus does the Apostle conclude this admirable Epistle, and show us, by his example, what it is to do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by him.R.]
Fleeing the cross, or boasting of the cross? The decisive question in religion.In Lisco:The incomparable worthiness of the cross of Christ to be gloried in: 1. That a man can only refuse to acknowledge this out of unworthy motives. a) That such a refusal exists; b) why many refuse: a) because one will only make a fair show in the flesh, ) because one is not willing to be persecuted with the cross of Christ, y) because one will have glorying for himself and by means of himself. 2. On what account the cross of Christ is thus solely worthy to be gloried in: a) for the sake of that, which came to pass thereon; b) for the sake of the fruit which the cross of Christ bears in the hearts and lives of His people: a) as respects their demeanor toward the world, ) as respects their temper towards others: they cherish warm love towards those of like mind; they contemn the assaults of those, that are not so minded; they wish that all may become and remain sharers in His grace.
[The Apostle had first vindicated his apostle-ship, then his gospel, but was it for his own glory? Nay, in one sense Gal 6:14 is a summing up of the whole Epistle; all this defence, this earnestness, this boldness, this tenderness, was but a glorying in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.Many see the cross, some trust in it, not all of these glory in it. Why not? Because their fellowship with Christ is not yet such, that the world is crucified to them and they to the world.Those who gloried in the cross of Christ have gotten glory to Christ and His cross.Among the many celebrated sermons on Gal 6:14 may be mentioned those of Bishops Atterbury and Beveridge, also of McLaurin, Summerfield and McCheyne.R.]
[12]Gal 6:11.[The E. V. is obviously incorrect both in rendering ye see and how large a letter; the two interpretations offered to our choice are given above. See Exeg. Notes. The aorist must be rendered: I have written, if it is not un epistolary aorist; I wrote (Am. Bib. Un.) is verbally correct, but is not in any case a proper English dress for the Apostles idea.R.]
[13]Gal 6:12.[ is misplaced in Rec. after . It should follow . is the reading of . B. D. E., adopted by Griesbach, Scholz, Lachmann, Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, Wordsworth. Tischendorf (with A. C. F. G. K. L.), ; an improbable solecism, arising from the frequent interchange of and .R.]
[14]Gal 6:13.Rec. ; the reading is, however, recommended by Griesbach, and adopted by Lachmann and Scholz. With right; the perfect is absolutely necessary, since the Judaistic teachers are meant. The present was introduced by the transcribers, who had just written and perhaps were reminded of Gal 6:3. Meyer. [If the perfect be the correct reading, we must render, who have been circumcised, or simply the circumcised; but the present is not only lectio difficilior, but is supported by preponderant external authority (. A. C. D. E. K., many versions); it is therefore adopted by Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, Wordsworth.R.]
[15]Gal 6:14. is omitted by Lachmann on important authorities. [. A. B. etc.; Alford, Lightfoot omit the article. There is great room for doubt, since the omission may be readily accounted for both by the similarity of the preceding syllable and the desire to conform with the anarthrous ; Meyer, Tischendorf, Ellicott, Wordsworth retain it.A careful examination of all the proposed emendations leaves the impression that the rendering of this verse in the E. V. ought not to be altered in the least particular.R.]
[16]Gal 6:15. is probably an explanatory gloss from Gal 6:6, though . has it. We should read simply: . [The MSS. authority for the longer reading is very great, but so many old versions follow the shorter one, and the probability of an importation from Gal 6:6 is so great, that Tischendorf and almost all editors adopt it.R.]
[17]Gal 6:15.; Elz. and Matth. [and Rec.] have (from Gal 6:6) against decisive authorities.
[18]Gal 6:16.. The reading is approved by Griesbach, put in the margin by Lachmann, and adopted by Tischendorf. Meyer asks with right: What reason could the transcribers have had for changing it into the future? [The authorities for the future are weighty; the change to the present is more explicable; the future is slightly more difficult. Adopted by Meyer, Alford, Lightfoot, Wordsworth; hence shall walk.R.]
[19]Gal 6:17. is omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf, [Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, on the authority of A. B. C.R.]; probably imported from Gal 6:18, but . has . [Wordsworth, with his usual conservative tendencies, follows the Rec.R.]
[20][ is imperative; see not ye see as E. V.R.]
[21][It does not appear whether this statement is made by Schmoller, on his own authority, or that of Laurent. There seems to be no other authority for it. The very reverse is more probable.R.]
[22][Or perhaps, make a fair shew in things which appertain to a mere fleshly life.R.]
[23][Wordsworth remarks that this is the only place in the New Testament where is placed before .R.]
[24][True where this commentary was written, but partially true everywhere.R.]
(11) Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. (12) As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. (13) For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. (14) But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (15) For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. (16) And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. (17) From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. (18) Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
It should seem, from the manner of expression which Paul here useth, of having written this letter with, his own hand, that it was not the usual method with the Apostle to write his Epistles himself, but by the hand of others. That to the Romans, was written by Tertius. Rom 16:22 . Though from a passage in his second Epistle to the Thessalonians, we have authority to conclude, that Paul signed everyone that bears his name, as a token of his Apostolic commission. 2Th 3:17 . I do not presume to decide upon this subject, but I venture to suppose, that when at any time Paul felt the divine influence of the Holy Ghost upon him, inclining his mind to send an Epistle to the Church, he availed himself of someone near him; that as the Prophet of old dictated while one wrote from his mouth, so the same Lord the Spirit guided Paul. Jer 36:17-18Jer 36:17-18 .
The Apostle, in the close of his Epistle, still harps on his favorite subject, the folly, and sin, of observing circumcision. His great design was, to wean from everything, in order to fix their whole soul on Christ. And Reader! I cannot but hope, if under divine teaching, but that from the earnestness with which the Apostle follows up this doctrine in every part of his preachings and writings, you will be led to see the folly, and sin also, of mingling anything with Christ. If Paul totally rejected all carnal ordinances, all self righteousness, both gifts and labors, watchings and prayings, ministrations and services; if all were nothing, yea, worse than nothing in the Apostle’s view, for he counted the whole but dung and dross to win Christ and be found in him; what a folly must it be in those who fall so far short of Paul in spiritual attainments, to look off Jesus even for a moment, and fancy that there can be anything in the creature to recommend to God?
I pray the Reader to pause a moment, and observe with me, the blessedness of Paul’s expression, concerning the one, and only one object, of all his glorying and his joy. He speaks with a kind of holy indignation and abhorrence, at the bare idea, of a ransomed soul like his, looking at anything, but his Redeemer. God forbid (said he) that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! By the cross, he means, the Person of Jesus. For faith hath for its one object, the Person of Christ. And, by the cross, he includes the whole of Christ’s offices, and characters, in redeeming his Church, during the present time-state of her continuance on earth, from all iniquity. Here was Paul’s sole glory. And so is it, and so must it be, in the view of all regenerated souls. Salvation consists not in our attainments. It hath nothing to do with our apprehension of things. It is not what our views are, but what Christ, as the Church’s Head, is, in God’s view. And this we know, by a voice repeatedly heard from heaven, that God is well pleased in him; that is, in His Person, and His work, as His people’s Representative: and therefore, well pleased with Him, and with them in Him. This was Paul’s glorying. And, as such, he cries out with abhorrence, at whatever else beside, should be proposed. Reader! what do you say upon the same occasion? Remember, you and I, are as highly concerned as Paul, in the same faith. Are we then founded in the same views, and established in the same confidence? How shall we know? The thing is easily known. The Apostle saith, by those views he had of Christ the world was crucified unto him, and he unto the world. By the world, he includes everything of an opposite tendency. Not barely the pleasures of the world, or the persecutions of the world; but what the people of God sometimes find a bitterer cross than either: self, in self-righteousness, and self-corruption. Oh! what a long, painful, lingering death, is the old man of sin, in sinful self, or righteous self, a dying? It is indeed death like that of the cross. And never totally dead, till the body itself is dead. How often may a child of God find himself taking comfort from somewhat in self, and without an immediate eye to Christ. Whereas the fact is, that salvation is wholly in Christ, and totally abstracted from ourselves. Yea, our very faith, considered as the action of our mind upon Christ, and not always remembered, that Christ is, the Author and Giver of faith; hath nothing to do, in the account. It is not our faith, our regeneration, our life in Christ, our experience, our joy in believing, our peace, and the like; these are no party causes, but elects. Salvation is wholly out of ourselves, and wholly in Christ. Reader! do attend to this distinction; for it is important. Some men are at a loss for it, and are continually questioning about the application of Christ, and his benefits. But their error lies in this, in not simply attending to what God the Holy Ghost teacheth concerning it. There is no such a thing spoken of in the work of God, as to the application of Christ, and his benefits. It is not scriptural, Christ’s words are, when speaking of God the Holy Ghost making known Christ, to the soul: He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. Joh 16:14 . And this the Holy Ghost doth, most sweetly, and completely, and blessedly, when, as in the instance of Paul, he so holds forth Christ, in his fullness, suitableness, and all-sufficiency, that we renounce, as Paul did, everything beside. All self-attainments, all supposed preparations, every idea of anything to recommend a poor sinner, is lost sight of forever; Christ, and Christ alone, is a portion to live upon, in time, and to all eternity. Reader! can you join the Apostle’s triumphant song, and say, from the heart, as he did: God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
It were devoutly to be desired, that Paul’s observation, on the inutility of circumcision, or uncircumcision, was better understood, and more closely attended to. In the Church of Christ, ordinances are so far profitable, or the contrary, as they are under the unction of the Almighty Minister of the Church, the Holy Ghost. Christ’s vision is forever done away. And the new creature by regeneration, is the only infallible mark of belonging to Christ. Ordinances, therefore, to souls that are regenerate, are profitable. But nothing is profitable, where regeneration is not. Baptism of infants, or baptism of riper years, where the baptism of the Holy Ghost accompanieth, are both blessed; for so the Lord Jesus himself hath said: He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved. Believing, and being baptized, Christ joins together. Here it is made a standing ordinance of Christ. But he that believeth not, the Lord adds, shall be damned. It is the belief which flows from regeneration, that makes it blessed. The Lord doth not say, he that is baptized not, but he that believeth not, shall be damned. The new creature, is the only infallible mark of grace. Mar 16:16 . And the Apostle very, blessedly pronounceth the benediction of grace, on all of this description.
I admire what Paul saith, in allusion to his scars and marks, as a faithful soldier of Christ. In taking leave of the Church, he appeals to his exercises, in proof of the truths he had preached to them. And seems to intimate thereby, that if the earnestness of his labors, and his sufferings for Jesus, added to the clear account he had set before them, of justification wholly by Christ, had no effect upon their minds; he requested that he might be troubled no more. And, perhaps, Paul might also intimate, that as it would be an heart-breaking business to hear, that after all his labors for them, that they might be established in the faith, they were still in error: let me not know it, saith Paul, and let not my soul be further troubled, on the occasion. It is my happiness, and mercy, that I am forever bearing about in my body, the dying of the Lord Jesus! Reader! it is a sweet relief to a faithful minister’s mind, that, be the event what it may, as it relates to the Church, he can, and doth, appeal to the testimonies of the Lord’s Spirit, in confirmation of his ministry. If the Reader wishes to see a lovely Portrait of a faithful Pastor, he may find it drawn in vivid colors, 1Th 2:3 to the end.
How affectionately Paul closeth his Epistle. What could he, what ought he to have said, beyond it? Grace, and the grace of the Lord Jesus, is among the highest of all blessings, in the present time-state of the Church, until grace is swallowed up in everlasting glory. Reader! what a thought is it to, refresh the Church, that Christ’s grace, is suited for all and sufficient for all his people. Jesus hath every grace, and every suited grace, as shall best correspond to their wants, and his glory. May all the brethren know it enjoy it, live upon it, and live up to it, in all their warfare, for the Redeemer’s name’s sake, and their happiness, in the full assurance of faith, and covenant mercies, in Christ Jesus. Amen.
11 Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
Ver. 11. How large a letter ] Gr. with what good great text letters. I have written unto you with mine own hand (no fair hand; the greatest clerks are not always the best scribes), and not by any Tertius, or other amanuensis, Rom 16:22 , to show his love, and prevent imposture, 2Th 2:2 . (Chrysost. Theophylact.)
11 end.] POSTSCRIPT AND BENEDICTION.
11 .] See in how large letters (in what great and apparently unsightly characters: see note on next verse. will not bear the rendering (1) ‘ how many ,’ , or (2) ‘ what sort ,’ : but only (3) how great (reff.). Nor can (3) be made to mean (1) by taking for ‘Epistle,’ a sense unknown to St. Paul) I wrote (not strictly the epistolary scribebam , nor referring to the following verses only: but the aorist spoken as at the time when they would receive the Epistle, and referring I believe to the whole of it, see also below) with my own hand . I do not see how it is possible to avoid the inference that these words apply to the whole Epistle. If they had reference only to the passage in which they occur, would not have been used, as in 2Th 3:17 ? Again, there is no break in style here, indicating the end of the dictated portion, and the beginning of the written, as in Rom 16:25 ; 2Th 3:17 al. I should rather believe, that on account of the peculiar character of this Epistle, St. Paul wrote it all with his own hand, as he did the pastoral Epistles: and I find confirmation of this, in the partial resemblance of its style to those Epistles. (See Prolegomena, as above on Gal 6:9 .) And he wrote it, whether from weakness of his eyes, or from choice, in large characters.
Gal 6:11-18 . THE APOSTLE WRITES THE PERORATION WITH HIS OWN HAND, DENOUNCING THE MOTIVES OF THE PHARISAIC PARTY. AFFIRMING HIS OWN ABSOLUTE RELIANCE ON THE CROSS AND THE NEW LIFE OF THE SPIRIT, AND CONCLUDING WITH A PERSONAL APPEAL AND FINAL BLESSING.
Gal 6:11 . The Greek text admits but one meaning. The use of the instrumental dative precludes the rendering, See how large a letter I write , which would require : so that the verse obviously calls attention to the large letters employed by the writer from this point onwards. The statement in 2Th 3:17 , that he regularly dictated the body of his Epistles ( cf. also Rom 16:22 ), merely attaching his signature by way of attestation, explains this appeal. The size of the letters attested the difficulty which he found in writing with his imperfect sight, and the effort he was now making on their behalf proved his anxiety for the welfare of his Galatian disciples. They were evidently well aware of his infirmity, and needed no explanation of this pathetic allusion to his blindness. It may, therefore, be reasonably read in connexion with Gal 4:15 . Probably the prolonged attack of ophthalmia which had threatened the destruction of his sight had seriously impaired it, and they who had watched his sufferings with such tender sympathy would now be quick to feel for the privation which the attack had entailed upon him. : I write . The epistolary aorist is constantly used to denote personal acts of the writer at the time (2Co 9:3 , Eph 6:22 , Col 4:8 , Phm 1:19 ; Phm 1:21 ).
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Gal 6:11-16
11See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. 12Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. 14But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. 16And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
Gal 6:11 “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand” This is an aorist active imperative. Paul dictated his letters to a scribe (cf. Rom 16:22). Some see these final words in Paul’s own handwriting as Paul’s way of verifying his true letters, in light of 2Th 2:2. We know from several of Paul’s letters that he wrote the concluding sentences in his own hand (cf. 1Co 16:21; Col 4:18; 2Th 3:17 and Phm 1:19). Since I believe that Paul’s thorn in the flesh was Oriental ophthalmia, this is an added evidence of his need to write, not in the small, concise writing of a scribe, but with the scrawling hand of a man who was partially blind.
Gal 6:12
NASB”Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh”
NKJV”As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh”
NRSV”It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh”
TEV”Those who want to show off and brag about external matters”
NJB”It is only self-interest”
The Judaizers were more concerned with the outer aspects of religion (cf. Col 2:16-23); they wanted a religious show (cf. Gal 4:17)! Convincing the Galatians to be circumcised would be a “feather in their caps” (cf. Gal 6:13 c). The false teachers wanted self-affirmation at the expense of the Galatian believers.
For “flesh” see Special Topic at Gal 1:16.
“try to compel you to be circumcised” Gal 6:12-16 are a summary of the entire letter which focuses on the inappropriate emphasis of the false teachers on human effort as a means of being saved or of being fully matured. This is a recurrent danger in the modern church as believers demand service, enthusiasm, ritual, attendance, Bible knowledge, prayer, or any of the good discipleship techniques as a means of being complete in Christ. Paul’s great truth was that believers are complete in their standing with God when they have trusted Jesus Christ by faith. In light of this new, full acceptance, believers then must yield themselves in gratitude to God and service to others (i.e., Jas 2:14-26).
“simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ” This may refer to
1. Jewish persecution (cf. Act 13:45; Act 13:50; Act 14:2; Act 14:5; Act 14:19); the Judaizers by their insistence on the Law of Moses would not be rejected as strenuously as Paul’s teaching of free grace in Christ alone
2. Roman persecution because Christianity was not a legal, recognized religion as was Judaism
The synagogue instituted its curse formula, which was a rabbinical way of forcing Christians out of the synagogue because they would not and could not say “Jesus is accursed” (cf. Joh 9:22; Joh 9:35; Joh 12:42; Joh 16:2).
Gal 6:13 “For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves” The subject of this sentence is ambiguous, which could be (1) the false teachers or (2) aggressive converts within the churches of Galatia. The men who argued circumcision as a means of being right with God could not even keep the whole Law themselves (cf. Rom 2:17-29). If you break the Law one time (after the age of moral responsibility), in one way, then Jas 2:10 (and Gal 5:3) is a truth to be reckoned with!
Gal 6:14 “But may it never be” See note at Gal 2:17.
“that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” Paul, of all people, knew what it was to be redeemed out of an undeserving life, zealous though it may be (cf. Php 3:2-16). Human boasting is excluded when human merit is excluded (cf. Jer 9:23-26; Rom 3:27-28; 1Co 1:26-31). See SPECIAL TOPIC: BOASTING at Gal 6:4.
“through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” This is the continuing metaphor throughout Galatians which speaks of believers’ death to the Law and their being alive to God in Christ. This is a perfect passive indicative, which emphasizes a continuing state accomplished by an outside agent, here, the Spirit. This metaphor is used in Gal 2:19; Gal 5:24, and here expressing how all things become new when believers identify with Christ’s death on the cross. They are now free from the Law in order to live for God (cf. Rom 6:10-23).
For “world” see Special Topic: “Kosmos” at Gal 4:3.
Gal 6:15 “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” Paul has already mentioned that circumcision is not the issue (cf. Gal 5:6; Rom 2:28-29; 1Co 7:18-19). The issue is salvation, if believers try to make themselves acceptable to God by human effort, either pagan or Jew, they are totally cut off from the absolutely free gift of God in Jesus Christ. There are two mutually exclusive ways of being right with God.
1. the free gospel of Christ through repentance and faith
2. human effort
Paul restates that circumcision is not really the issue (nor food laws, cf. 1 Corinthians 8; 1Co 10:23-26), but how one pursues right standing with God by perfectly fulfilling the law.
Several early Greek manuscripts add “in Christ Jesus” after “For neither” (MSS , A, C, D, F, G, and most minuscules and versions (cf. NKJV). However, most modern English versions leave it out because it is absent in MSS P40 and B. The UBS4 rates its exclusion as “A” (certain). It probably was a scribal assimilation from Gal 5:6.
“but a new creation” This is the New Covenant; believers are brand new people in Jesus Christ! All old things have passed away and everything is new (cf. Rom 6:4; Rom 8:19-22; 2Co 5:17; Eph 2:15; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10).
Gal 6:16 “And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them” This may be a loose quotation from Psa 125:5; Psa 128:6. From the Greek word “rule” (kanoni) the English word “canon” is derived. This was a construction term used for a measuring reed. It is used here to refer to the gospel (Jesus’ yoke, cf. Gal 6:2). Notice believers are to walk in it, not just affirm it (cf. Jas 1:22).
“the Israel of God” Significantly Paul calls the Church “the Israel of God.” In his writings he has emphasized that Abraham’s true seed is not by racial descent but by faith descent (cf. Gal 3:7; Gal 3:9; Gal 3:29; Rom 2:28-29; Rom 9:6; Php 3:3). The gospel is about Jesus, not national Israel! Believers in Christ are the true “people of God”!
see. Greek. eidon. App-133.
how large, &c. = with how large letters. This refers to his handwriting.
have written = write. Epistolary aorist, as Phm. Gal 1:19. 1Pe 5:12.
11-end.] POSTSCRIPT AND BENEDICTION.
Gal 6:11. , see) The conclusion.- ) in how large letters, i.e. how large a letter; just as long letters [long liter] is the expression used for a long epistle; the quantity is not to be referred to the single letters, but to them when joined together. The Epistle to the Hebrews is longer, which however is said to be short, Heb 13:22; but this is said to be long, because it was on one subject, by the hand of Paul himself, and on a point regarding which the Galatians ought to have been long ago well established. Also the former is compared to hortatory, the latter to polemic theology.[63] He had not heretofore written a longer epistle.
[63] And as compared respectively with their subjects, the Epistle to the Hebrews was short, that to the Galatians long.-ED.
Gal 6:11
Gal 6:11
See with how large letters I write unto you with mine own hands.-At this point the apostle, who usually employed an amanuensis for the writing of his epistles (Rom 16:23), and had doubtless done so in the case of this epistle, also took the pen in hand to authenticate the epistle (1Co 16:21; Col 4:18; 2Th 3:17) and write the concluding words. [This led him to write larger characters than his amanuensis had employed; the size of the letters would have somewhat the effect of bold-face type in a modern book, and since Paul himself called attention to it, it would impress not only the one person who might be reading the epistle to a congregation, but the listeners also. Precisely how far he continued to use the large characters we have no certain means of ascertaining, but probably to the close.]
Glorying in the Cross Alone
Gal 6:11-18
Paul usually dictated his letters, but this was written with his own hand. The characters were large and clear, Gal 6:11, r.v. Perhaps this was due to the trouble with his eyesight referred to in Gal 4:15. But the Apostle gloried in the scars that suffering had left upon his frame, because they seemed to him the brand-marks of the happy slavery of Jesus, Gal 6:17. If Judaizing teachers gloried in their brand-marks, how much more did he in his! The Cross had cut him off from the world. He was indifferent to worldly praise or blame; he took his marching-orders from Christ alone. This is the third time in his Epistle that Paul names the reflex influence of the Cross. See Gal 2:20; Gal 5:24; Gal 6:14. Compare Gal 6:15 with 1Co 7:19.
Notice the breadth of the Apostles benediction, Gal 6:16. When we have been created anew in Christs likeness and are walking by that rule, we find ourselves at once introduced into a family of kindred spirits, who have passed through the same radical change and are united beneath the gracious canopy of mercy and peace. Such are Gods Israel. See Gal 3:7.
Lecture 16
Glorying In The Cross
Gal 6:11-18
Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. (vv. 11-18)
There is something about verse 11 that I think lets us right into the heart of the apostle Paul. He was some distance away from Galatia when word came to him that Judaizing teachers had come in among the different assemblies, and were teaching the believers that unless they were circumcised and kept the law they could not be saved. He saw that this meant to step down from the truth of grace altogether. The believer does not obey in order to be saved, but because he is saved. He delights to glorify the One who has redeemed him, and his obedience springs from a heart filled with gratitude to that One who gave His life for him. He does not try to make himself fit or to keep himself fit for heaven. The apostle was so much disturbed by what he heard that he sat right down and penned this letter. It glows with the white heat of his burning zeal for the gospel of God. As we have already remarked, it was not a usual thing for men to write their own letters in those days. Letter-writing was a distinct occupation, as it is still in the different cities of the East, and if a man had a good deal to do he would engage one of these professional letter-writers just as here and now a man who has much correspondence engages a stenographer. He would not attempt to handle it all himself. And so ordinarily the apostle dictated his letters to various persons. They wrote them out, and he signed them and sent them on. But in this case apparently he had no amanuensis close at hand, and he was so stirred in his spirit that he felt he could not lose a moment in getting a letter off, and so sat right down and wrote it himself. He refers to this in verse 11, Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. It is not really a large letter. Compared with the epistle to the Romans this is a very short one. It is not more than one-third the length of 1 Corinthians, and only about one-half the length of 2 Corinthians. Compared with other writings in the New Testament it is brief indeed, but we get help here if we consult a more critical translation. It should read, You see with what large characters I have written unto you with mine own hand. And that indicates not only that he was not used to letter-writing, but we gather besides that he had some kind of affliction with his eyes, and was not able to see well. You remember the time he was on trial in Jerusalem, and the high priest commanded him to be smitten on the mouth, and indignantly he shouted out, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall (Act 23:3), and somebody said, Do you speak evil of Gods high priest? At once he apologized and said, I did not know that he was the high priest. He ought to have known, for there Ananias stood, doubtless in his priestly robes, but if Paul were at the other end of the room with poor eyesight he might not have recognized the man. And then there are other Scripture passages that give similar suggestions. He had already said in this letter, I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me (Gal 4:15). They would not have wanted to do that unless his sight were poor. So I take it that possibly this was the affliction which he had to endure for many years, and therefore when he sat down to write he was like a half-blind person writing in big sprawling letters. And realizing that he was not sending a neat manuscript such as an amanuensis would have prepared, he apologized for it by saying, You see with what large characters I have written unto you with mine own hand. I think that manuscript with its large letters ought to have touched the hearts of those Galatians, and should have made them realize how truly he loved them, how concerned he was about them, that he could not wait to write them in the ordinary way, but must send off this epistle as quickly as it could be produced.
Then he concludes with these words, As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. If it could have been possible to keep the Christians within the fold of Judaism and make of them one more Jewish sect, they would have been saved from a great deal of persecution they had to suffer. And so the apostle says, These emissaries from Jerusalem going about among you have not your good at heart, but they want to make a fair show in the flesh; they want to show a great many adherents to what they teach, but do not take the place of separation to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I could go with them and make a fair show in the flesh, too, and would not have to suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. That cross was not only the place where the Lord Jesus suffered for our sins but is the symbol of separation. It told out the worlds hatred of the Son of God, and Paul had identified himself with the One whom the world spurned, and therefore he gloried in that cross.
When people take legal ground and tell you that salvation is by human effort, they themselves never live up to their own profession. You may have heard some say, I do not think people have to be saved by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ; I think if everybody does the best they can, that is all that can be expected. Did you ever see a man who did the best he could do? Have you always done the best you knew? You know you have failed over and over again, even in those things that you knew to be right, things you did not do that you should have done, and things you did that you knew you should not have done. Therefore, to talk about being saved by doing the best you can is absurd. No man has ever done his best, except, of course, our holy, spotless Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Somebody says, It is gospel enough for me to follow the Sermon on the Mount. That is saying a good deal. Did you ever see a man who did that, or have you done it? Test yourself by it. Read Matthew 5-7, and just test yourself honestly; check yourself, and see how far you fall short of the precious precepts of this wonderful address given by the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no question but that you and I ought to live up to it. It indicates the type of life that should characterize every believer. But if you have not lived up to the Sermon on the Mount, either as a matter of attaining or maintaining salvation, at once you put yourself out of court. You have not lived it out, and I am afraid you never will, and therefore you can be very thankful indeed that God is saving poor sinners by grace. Someone else says, I believe if we keep the law God gave at Sinai (it is holy, just, and good, the apostle himself tells us), it is all that God or man could require of us. So far as actual living is concerned, I suppose it is; but again I put the question, Have you kept it? Do you know of any one who has ever kept it? Let us keep in mind the words, Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (Jam 2:10). So on this ground there is no hope for any of us. If we fail, some say, God has provided the sacraments. But those who talk in that way are never certain that they are keeping the sacraments correctly. How do you know that you are keeping them perfectly? You may fail in purity of purpose as you take the Lords Supper or in baptism. Even they who count on being saved through self-effort do not keep the law perfectly. We all fail, and therefore we need to recognize the fact that salvation is only through the free, matchless grace of God.
They would like to have you follow on in their ways in order that they might glory in your flesh, says the apostle. Men like to get a following, they like to have people join with them in any particular stand they take. It ministers to the pride of the natural heart to be able to head up a large group.
In opposition to all this human effort Paul sets the cross of our blessed Savior: But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. When he said these words he was not thinking just of the wooden instrument on which Jesus died, and he certainly was not thinking of a cross on a steeple of a church, or on an altar of a church, nor yet of a cross dangling from a chain at the waist or throat, or worn as an ornament. When he wrote of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, he was thinking of all that is involved in the crucifixion of the blessed Savior on that tree. The cross of Christ is the measure of mans hatred to God. Think of it! God sent His Son into the world! Millions of people talk about it at the Christmas season, and the merchants today are encouraging people to observe His birth so that they may sell more goods. You will find that even a Jewish merchant will wish you a merry Christmas if you purchase something from him. But remember this, the world has already told us what it thinks of Christ. It may celebrate His birth by gifts one to another, they may put on glorious concerts and have great festivals in the name of the Christ born in Bethlehem, but this world has shown what it thinks of Jesus by hurrying Him to a Roman cross. When Pilate asked, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? they cried out with one accord, Let him be crucified (Mat 27:22), and that is the Christ they profess to worship today, the Christ they have crucified. They will even celebrate Christmas in the taverns of our cities, celebrate the birth of Christ by drinking and carousing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and they will call that keeping the birth of Jesus. But the Christ of Bethlehem is the Christ of the cross, and the world has given its sentence concerning Him. They said, We will not have this man to reign over us. Well, the apostle says, I glory in siding with the Man whom the world rejected. When he says, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is just another way of saying, My boast, my joy, my delight is in the One whom the world has crucified.
Then the cross of Christ was the place where God has told out His love in utmost fullness. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1Jn 4:10). When man did his worst, God did His best. When man said, Away with him, crucify him! God accepted Him as the substitute for sinners, and the judgment that our sins deserved fell on Him. God made His soul an offering for our sin. And so when Paul says, I glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus, he means, I glory in the love that gave Jesus to die for me, a sinner.
But he has shown that Christs death is my death and I am to take my place with Him, recognizing His death as mine. In 2:20 we read, I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. When Paul says, I glory in the cross of Christ, he means this then: I accept the cross of Christ as my cross; I accept His death as my death; I take my place with Him as one who has died to the world, to sin, and to self, and henceforth I am not under law but under grace. Law crucified my Savior. He met its claims upon that cross, and now, having satisfied all its demands, I am delivered from its authority and am free to walk before God in grace, seeking to glorify Him in a life of happy obedience because I love the One who died there to put away my sin. All this, and much more, is involved in the expression, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom, he says, the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Christian, have you taken that stand? Do you realize that Christs cross means absolute separation from the world that rejected Him? That is what we confess in our baptism; that is what Christian baptism means. I have heard of many a believer who pondered a long time before taking the step of being buried in baptism because he was afraid he would not be able to live out what was set forth in this beautiful ordinance, and, of course, apart from Christ we could not. But what is involved? A recognition that I have died with Him, that I have been buried with Him, and that this is an end of me as a man after the flesh. Therefore, I have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life.
I remember some brethren who were talking about a Christians relationship to oath-bound secret societies. (This Book tells me concerning the Lord Jesus that He said, In secret have I said nothing [Joh 18:20], therefore I know that He never was inside of an oath-bound secret order, and He has called upon me to be a follower of Him.) One of these brethren said to the other, You belong to such-and-such an order.
Oh, no, he said, I do not.
Why, you do; I was there the night you were initiated, and once a member of that you are a member until death.
Exactly; I quite admit what you say, but I buried the lodge member in Lake Ontario.
He meant that in his baptism the old order came to an end.
I have heard of a dear young woman once a thorough worldling, but at last she was brought to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Her friends came on her birthday one evening to give her a surprise party and wanted to take her with them to a place of ungodly worldly amusement. She said, It is good of you to think of me, but I could not go with you; I never go to those places.
Nonsense, they said, you have often gone with us.
But, she said, I have buried the girl that used to go to those places. Not I, but Christ liveth in me.
Christian baptism should speak of separation from the world that crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Israel. They had been slaves to Pharaoh, and there is old Pharaoh on the other side of the sea, shouting, You come back here and serve me; put your necks under the yoke of bondage again. And I think I hear them say, Good-bye, Pharaoh; the Red Sea rolls between us; we have been crucified to Egypt and Egypt to us. That is it, I [have been] crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And so the world is crucified to me and I to the world. Let me say a word of warning here. Many a Christian has judged the vile, filthy, corrupt, polluted things of the world who has never judged the brilliant, cultured, esthetic world. But the brilliant, cultured world is just as vile in the sight of God as the corrupt, disgusting, filthy world that many walked with, in days before they were converted. You can get out of fellowship with God by association with the cultured world, as truly as by going down into the worlds base and ungodly places of vulgar amusement.
Oh, Christian, keep close to the footsteps of the flock of Christ, and do not let them meet you in any other field. Here is real circumcision. Circumcision was an ordinance that signified the death of the flesh. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, or, literally, a new creation. And that is the whole thing. You and I through the cross have passed out of the old creation, if saved, and are now in the new creation of which Christ is the glorified Head. See to it that in your associations, in your pleasure, in your amusement, in your religious life, you keep in that sphere where Christ is owned as Head and Lord.
And then he adds, And as many as walk according to this rule-what rule? He has not laid down any rule. Yes, he has said we are a new creation. That is the way to test everything that may be put before me. Is it of the new creation or is it of the old? If it is of the old, it has nothing for me. I belong to the new and am to walk according to this rule. As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, for they will always need mercy. They will never attain perfection in this life, but God never forgets His own. Sometimes we may drift so far that we forget Him, we may even feel as though our hearts are utterly dead toward Him, as though He has forsaken us, but remember what He says, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee (Heb 13:5). There is a double negative in the original, it is, I will never, never leave thee, nor forsake thee. It is unthinkable that the blessed Lord should ever give up one who has put his trust in Jesus, and so He always deals with us in mercy, restoring our souls when we fail.
Then the apostle uses a very peculiar expression, And upon the Israel of God. Who does he mean by the Israel of God? I do not think he is referring to the church as such, for he has just referred to that when speaking of the new creation. I think he recognizes as the true Israel those of Gods earthly people who really accept the testimony of God and who own their sin and trust the Savior whom God has provided. They are not all Israel, which are of Israel (Rom 9:6). That a man happens to be born of the seed of Abraham does not make him a son of Abraham. Because a man happens to be born of Israel this does not make him an Israelite. He must have the faith of Abraham to be blessed with faithful Abraham, and he must receive the Savior who came through Israel if he is going to be a true Israelite.
Now that these Judaizers have made so much of a distinguishing mark upon the body through an ordinance and have said that a man that did not bear that mark was unclean and unfit for Christian fellowship, Paul says, I have a better mark than anything you may talk about. From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. What did he mean by that? His very body had been wounded many times for Jesus sake, when those cruel stones fell on him at Lystra, when beaten with stripes his body was branded; but he glories in these things and says, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Someone has said, When we get home to heaven God is not going to look us over for medals but for scars. I wonder whether we have received any scars for Jesus sake. Many of them are not physical scars, they are scars of the heart, but it is a great thing to have the brand-marks of the Lord Jesus.
And now Paul closes this epistle without any salutations. Most of his letters contain a great many salutations to various people, but here he does not send any special message to any of them because, you see, they were playing fast and loose with the things of God, and he would not, after giving them this stern message, placate them by sending cordial salutations to the brethren in Christ as though nothing had happened to hinder fellowship. So he merely says, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. God grant that every one of us may enjoy that grace!
Chapter 35
Glorying in the Cross
Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Gal 6:11-18
In these final verses of this tremendous Epistle the Apostle Paul seems determined to leave his readers with their hearts and minds fixed resolutely upon the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout these chapters, he has been showing us that it is in the cross of Christ that the law of God finds its fulfillment and end, that it is Mt. Calvary and not Mt. Sinai that saves, and that all the blessings of grace, righteousness, salvation, and eternal life flow to sinners only by the merits of the cross. His message throughout this Epistle (throughout all his Epistles) is set before us in this one dogmatic assertion. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Pauls Concern
Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand (Gal 6:11). Paul wrote much longer epistles than this (Romans , 1 st and 2nd Corinthians, and Hebrews), but some of those epistles to the various churches were dictated by him to others (Rom 16:22). This epistle was written with his own hand. He calls attention to this fact as an expression of great affection for the saints at Galatia. He cared deeply for them and was very concerned for their well-being. The errors to which they had been exposed, and the fact that many had fallen by Satanic deception into the errors of the legalists, caused him great grief. Oh, for a heart that cares for others and that is broken when their peace is threatened by error or sin!
False Teachers
In Gal 6:12-13 Paul identifies the false teachers he has been exposing throughout this epistle and states plainly what the motives of such men are. They are hypocrites, motivated by their own personal interests, and not the glory of God and the good of mens souls. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ (Gal 6:12). They do what they do to be seen of men. Their religion is nothing but an outward show by which they seek the approval and applause of men (Mat 6:1-5). By force of influence, doctrine, church creeds, and the opinions of others like themselves, they try to constrain believers to be regulated by the rule of law and observe religious ceremonies, holy days, and customs, rather than living as those who have been made free in Christ.
They sway men and women to adopt their legalists rules, lest they suffer persecution from the religious people who are offended by the simplicity that is in Christ and the preaching of the total sufficiency and efficacy of Christ as our Savior. Christ crucified is our atonement. Christs obedience is our righteousness. Our works contribute nothing to our acceptance with God. We are complete in him.
For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh (Gal 6:13). These religious teachers, who preach the law, teach the law, and boast of their regard for the law are nothing but hypocrites. They do not keep the law themselves; and they know it (Gal 3:10). Yet, they require others to do what they cannot do, so that they can boast before men about the number of people who follow them, and how holy they are. Henry Mahan observes that, Every religious person glories or rejoices in something. These false teachers glory in the flesh, in the outward form, in the noise they make, in the work they do and in the souls they have won.
The Cross
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world (Gal 6:14). True faith brings needy sinners to Christ, puts on Christ, and walks in Christ. Faith brings sinners to the cross and glories only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto us and we unto the world. Though faith is not righteousness, it is the believers connection to righteousness. Faith finds in Christ and enjoys in Christ the assurance of perfect, indestructible righteousness before God through the merits of Gods own Son. Faith in Christ assures the believing sinner of eternal life and everlasting righteousness in the ages to come, depending upon the perpetuity of that righteousness which can never change. We shall never put off that Christ whom we put on when we believed (Rom 12:14; Gal 3:27). The garments of salvation shall never wear thin. The robe of righteousness in which the Lord God has clothed us shall never wax old. The beauty our Savior has put upon us (his own beauty) is a beauty that fadeth not away.
Faith abides ever at the cross. It never takes us away from the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, to which at first it led us. Many seem to think that believers quickly get beyond the cross and leave it behind. Like the legalists at Galatia, they never openly do so, but their subtle doctrine is that the cross has done all it can for us once we believe the gospel, and teaches that once we believe we are to abandon the cross and go forward, that to remain always at the cross is to be babes, not men of faith. Nonsense!
What is the cross? Paul is not talking about the historic fact that Christ died upon the cross. The knowledge of that fact, though it is necessary to salvation, is not salvation. Neither is Paul referring to the literal, wooden cross upon which Christ died. He was not an idolater, a worshipper of religious relics. He knew that there is no superstitious, spiritual value in that piece of wood. And he certainly is not suggesting that we glory in some sign, symbol, representation, or form of the cross.
When Paul speaks of the cross, he is talking about the glorious, soul saving doctrine of the cross, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is talking about blood atonement (Rom 5:6-11), legal propitiation (Rom 3:24-26), substitutionary redemption (2Co 5:18-21), and free justification (Rom 5:19).
As it is used here in Gal 6:14, and as it is commonly used in the Epistles of the New Testament, the word cross refers to the gospel of Christ. Pagans glory in religious relics. Idolaters glory in religious images, signs, and symbols. Ignorant people glory in religious feelings, emotions, and experiences. Gods people glory in the gospel of Christ, not in the old rugged cross sentimentalists sing about, but the old, old story of redeeming blood. We glory in that which is the revelation of the glory of God. We can no more part with that than we can part with life eternal. In this sense, to turn our back upon the cross would be turning our back upon Christ crucified. It would be giving up our connection with the Lamb of God slain upon the cursed tree! This we cannot, must not, and shall not do!
All that Christ did and suffered from the manger to his resurrection glory forms one glorious whole. No part of our Redeemers work shall ever become needless or obsolete. To forsake any part of his work is to forsake him. I rejoice in the incarnation of Christ. Yet, I know that the incarnation cannot save. I delight to follow my Master into Gethsemane. Yet, I know that his agony there was not the finished work. I glory in the cross. My face is always toward it. My eye is ever on the crucified One. I am convinced that the sacrifice there was completed once for all. I never cease to look into the empty tomb with delight. I rejoice to know that it is the risen, ascended, exalted, reigning Christ who gives eternal life to this needy sinner. Leaving nothing behind, I trust the whole Christ and the whole of his work for all my righteousness, justification, forgiveness, acceptance, and everlasting salvation.
Glory in the Cross
The word glory means to exalt, to boast of, and to rejoice in. Paul exalted, boasted of, and rejoiced in the sin atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cursed tree. He exalted the doctrine of the cross as the only theme of Holy Scripture and the singular subject of his preaching (1Co 2:2; 1Co 9:16). He saw Christ crucified as the whole counsel of God, the message of all the types, promises, and prophecies of the Old Testament, the basis of hope for sinners, the motive of all godliness, and the message he was sent to proclaim.
He rejoiced in the cross, the gospel of Christ, as the only grounds of his confident hope before God. He trusted Christ alone as his Savior (Php 3:3; 1Co 1:30). He counted all his religious works, knowledge, and experiences to be nothing but dung that he might be found in Christ, robed in his righteousness and washed in his blood.
And he preached the cross, boasting of Christs death as the only means of reconciliation to and acceptance with God, the only means of salvation for guilty sinners (Gal 2:21). If righteousness cannot be gained by mans obedience to the law of God (And it cannot!), then no man can be saved by anything else he might do. Nothing can save a mans soul, nothing can bring a sinner to God, nothing can make a sinner acceptable in the sight of God, but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ that makes it possible for the holy Lord God to be both a just God and a Savior. It is the cross of Christ that makes it possible for God to be both just and Justifier. Sinners have hope before God only because of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, saved sinners rejoice to say with the Apostle, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Crucified
By which the world is crucified unto me (Gal 6:14). Faith in Christ, the assurance of redemption by Christ, caused the Apostle Paul to look upon the world as a thing crucified. He knew that he had no more reason to fear his most implacable enemies in this world than a man would to fear someone crucified and dead. Happy is that person who learns this! Because our Lord Jesus Christ, by his death upon the cross as our Substitute and Redeemer, has overcome the world, conquered Satan (the prince of this world) and cast him out, and vanquished death, hell and the grave, since he has put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself, we are more than conquerors in him (Rom 8:32-39). We have nothing to fear in this world or from this world. As the children of Israel looked upon Pharaoh and the Egyptian army slain by God in the Red Sea and sang praise to him, so we ought to look upon all that opposes us in this world as dead and sing praise to God our Savior who has triumphed gloriously. Let us neither love the world, nor the things that are in the world, but look upon them as dead things. The gospel of the grace of God experienced in the soul teaches us to despise the riches, honors, and applause of the world.
The profits, pleasures, and praises of dead men are as worthless as dung. That is exactly how they are to be looked upon and counted by all who seek Christ (Php 3:7-15). But, as Paul uses the term world here in the book of Galatians, he is specifically referring to the weak and beggarly elements of the world (Gal 4:3-9), the carnal ordinances and ceremonies of the law. He is declaring that since Christ is the end of the law (Rom 10:4), the laws sabbath days, sacrifices, and services are to be looked upon by us as dead things. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Rom 6:15; Rom 7:4; Gal 2:19-20). Our all-glorious Redeemer took the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, out of the way, nailing it to his cross (Col 2:14).
The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. As the world had no more attraction for Paul than a dead corpse, so he had no attraction for the world, but was despised by it for Christs sake. So it shall ever be with those who follow Christ. As the law was dead to him and had no power over him, so he was dead to the law by the sacrifice of Christ. He had nothing to do with those weak and beggarly elements of bondage.
A New Creature
Here is the reason why we must have nothing to do with legal, works religion, why we must look to, trust, and glory only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature (Gal 6:15). Circumcision and the carnal ordinances of the law are utterly meaningless, being totally abolished by Christ. Being uncircumcised is no barrier to the blessings of the gospel and all the privileges of the children of God.
It must be stated that Paul is not here suggesting that baptism, or the refusal to confess Christ in believers baptism are meaningless things. Those who give such a perverse interpretation of Pauls words here ignore the teaching of Scripture regarding gospel ordinances. John Gill wrote
Though baptism is of no avail in the business of salvation, yet it cannot be said of it, as of circumcision, that it avails not anything as a command; for it is a standing ordinance of Christ; or as an emblem and sign, for it is significative of the death and burial, and resurrection of Christ; or as a privilege, for it is of use to lead the faith of Gods people to his blood and righteousness for pardon and justification; for he that believes, and is baptized, shall be saved; and it is necessary to church communion. And, on the other hand, it cannot be said that non-baptism avails not; it is a bar to church fellowship; and a neglect of baptism in those who are the proper subjects of it, is resented by Christ, and is a rejecting of the counsel of God against themselves; which was the case of the Pharisees, in the time of John the Baptist.
That which is significant and meaningful, the only thing that is, is a new creature, or a new creation (2Co 5:17). This new creation is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col 1:27), the hidden man of the heart which is not corruptible (1Pe 3:4). This new creation is that work of God performed for us at Calvary when Christ made all things new, putting away our sins and giving us his perfect righteousness, reconciling us to God in justification (2Co 5:17). It is also that which God performs in us, causing us to be reconciled to God in regeneration, faith, and conversion (2Pe 1:4; 1Jn 3:9). Again, John Gills explanation is excellent.
This is a new creature, in opposition to the old man; and because it is a principle in man, which never was there before. It consists of a new heart and spirit, of new eyes, ears, hands, and feet, expressive of new principles and actions, of new light, life, love, desires, joys, comforts, and duties. Now this is of avail. It is a branch of the new covenant of grace, which God has therein promised to bestow on his people. It is an evidence of interest in Christ, the new and living way to the Father, and eternal life. Such are newborn babes, regenerated persons, and have a right and meetness for the kingdom of God. They shall possess the new Jerusalem, shall dwell in the new heavens and new earth. They are called by the Lords new name, the adopted children of God; and have a new song put into their mouths, which none but redeemed and newborn souls can sing; and shall drink the new wine of endless joys and everlasting pleasures with Christ, in his Fathers kingdom.
By virtue of our union with Christ in his death and resurrection and by the power and grace of God the Holy Spirit, all who are born of God are new creatures in Christ. We are no longer under the sentence of condemnation, but entirely free from the law, free in Christ, having past from spiritual death to spiritual life, in Christ we possess eternal life. We now live in the Spirit, are led by the Spirit, and shall never come into condemnation (Rom 8:1-17). All merely outward religion is utterly meaningless. True Christianity is the work of God in us, transforming us into the sons of God (Joh 4:24; Php 3:3). It is the life of God in you, Christ in you, being made partakers of the divine nature. That cannot be accomplished by outward ceremonies, or by the will and choice of a man, but by the creative power of God alone. In this work of the new creation all things are of God (2Co 5:18).
The Israel of God
In Gal 6:16 Paul pronounces a blessing of peace and mercy upon all the Israel of God. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. No blessing of grace is conveyed to anyone because of his physical descent (Joh 1:12-13). The Israel of God does not refer to the physical nation of Israel (Abrahams physical seed), but to the church of Gods elect (Abrahams spiritual seed), made up of all believers. All the Israel of God shall be saved by Christ (Rom 11:25-27). Peace and mercy shall be theirs forever.
Who are these people, this holy nation, these chosen heirs of eternal life? Who can rightfully claim this promise of peace and mercy in Christ? Only those who walk by this rule: the rule of faith. This is the rule of every believers life: not law but love (2Co 5:14-15), not works but faith (1Jn 3:23). Those who are Gods elect are those who renounce all confidence in, dependence upon, and trust in themselves, and any thing done or experienced by them (Php 3:3), believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as their only and all-sufficient Savior (1Co 1:30-31), glorying only in the cross of our Redeemer.
From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus (Gal 6:17) Those who make merchandise of the souls of men boast of their works and the works they get others to do, just as the Judaizers at Galatia gloried in circumcision, sabbath keeping, and carnal ceremonies. Paul cared for none of those things. He was determined not to be troubled by those who trouble Gods churches with their false doctrine. He counted their enemies his enemies, and washed his hands of them.
He bore in his body the scars of Christ. Paul was stigmatized in reputation as a preacher of Christ, his cross, and Gods free grace to sinners without works. He bore the stigma gladly. He bore it not only in his constantly maligned reputation, but in his very body, in the scars he bore in his body as the result of the things he had suffered for the preaching of the gospel (2Co 6:4-10; 2Co 11:13-33). He holds them before us as a soldier might hold up the stub of an arm lost in battle as the only argument needed to prove his bravery and devotion. All the claims of those false prophets of success and authority in the preaching of legal works and will worship, Paul hereby mocks as hypocrisy and deceit. His obedience to his Master was made obvious by the things he suffered in his Masters cause. With that, he closes the epistle, expressing his love for Gods people as his brothers and sisters in Christ, desiring for them the boundless blessing of Gods manifest grace in Christ. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
large
(Greek – ).. .mine own hand.” The apostle was, it appears from many considerations, afflicted with ophthalmia, a common disease in the East, to the point almost of total blindness (e.g.) Gal 4:13-15. Ordinarily, therefore, he dictated his letters. But now, having no amanuensis at hand, but urged by the spiritual danger of his dear Galatians, he writes, we cannot know with what pain and difficulty, with his own hand, in the “large letters” his darkened vision compelled him to use.
written: Rom 16:22, 1Co 16:21-23
Reciprocal: Jer 29:1 – of the letter Phm 1:19 – I Paul Heb 13:22 – for
Gal 6:11. Now follows what is virtually a postscript, which glances at some points already advanced, characterizes in a new light the Judaizing teachers, gives fervent utterance in contrast to his own great and unchanging resolves, touches on the absorbing spirituality of the gospel and his relation to the Master and His cross, and ends with earnest benediction. Thus it begins somewhat abruptly-
-Ye see, or look ye with how large letters I have written to you with mine own hand. There are two marked divisions of opinion as to the meaning of , and two also as to the reference in . The idea of the English version, that the first words assert the length or size of the epistle, is maintained by many, as Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, Beza, a-Lapide, Bengel, Borger, Schott, Olshausen, Neander, Baumgarten-Crusius, Hofmann, and Turner; and they, of course, hold in general that the entire epistle was written by his own hand. The Authorized Version, how large a letter, follows some of its predecessors, as Tyndale, Cranmer, and the Genevan. Wycliffe has with what manner of letters. To sustain the Authorized Version, it may be said that , something written, may be rendered epistle, as the Latin literae. 1Ma 5:10; Act 28:21; Ignat. ad Rom. viii. It may denote not only writings, letters or despatches, but a single letter or epistle-Thucydides, 1:30, where is identified with in the preceding paragraph, and 7:8, where a similar identification occurs. So, too, in Hebrew, , writings, 2Ki 19:14, rendered in our version a letter, is followed first by a plural suffix, agreeing with it in form, and then by a singular suffix, agreeing with it in sense. In the parallel passage, Isa 37:14, both the suffixes are singular, and the Septuagint renders in the singular, . . . . The rabbinical expositors needlessly explain the use of the plural in different ways, Kimchi giving it a distributive meaning, and Luzzato supposing that it was customary to send duplicates of the same epistle. See Keil on the passage in Kings, and Alexander on that in Isaiah. But there are objections to taking the noun in this sense here. For, 1. The apostle never once employs with this meaning, but uses no less than seventeen times. This place, therefore, can scarcely be regarded as an exception; at least there is nothing to induce us to suppose that in his choice of the term there is a solitary deviation from his usual style. 2. The accusative, were such the meaning, would naturally be expected. The cognate dative , like , is not found in Paul’s writings. 3. The meaning assigned to this unusual idiom-eine hhere Innigkeit und Starke-is not to be recognised, especially in a clause which has two other datives of person and instrument. The uncommon construction with a dative, and the selection of the term , lead us therefore to conclude that the apostle means to say something more than that he has written a letter. 4. With the admission the may not mean epistle, but a thing written, an alphabetic letter, the same signification may be ascribed to the clause: with how many letters, is virtually, how long or large a letter. Hesychius defines by , . Laurent adopts this definition, qualibus literis, as in the Vulgate: mark you with what kind of letters I have written; simply calling attention to the handwriting of his first letter to them (Neutest. Studien, p. 5, Gotha 1866). But is not , and means, not how many, but of what size; for it applies not to number or character, or, as Ellicott expresses it, it denotes geometrical, not numerical magnitude. Sept. Zec 2:2, ; Heb 7:4, , -used in the same sense, though with an ethical application. Compare Plato, Men. p. 82, D, where often occurs in the question, as ? whereas refers to the whole length of a line so measured: similarly do. p. 83, E, 85, A. 5. Nor can the epistle be really or absolutely called a long one, unless in connection with the emphatic clause, with mine own hand. The Syriac omits the epithet altogether. The phrase in the dative seems then to mean, with how large letters or characters,- being used as in Luk 23:38, 2Co 3:7. Why the apostle should have employed so large characters, whether it were from the necessity of age, or from infirmity, or from want of habit in writing Greek, it is impossible to say.
Inferential meanings have been superimposed upon the words. Thus Chrysostom and his followers suppose the allusion to be to the misshapen aspect of the letters, and so Estius, Winer, Rckert, Usteri, Hilgenfeld, and Alford. Chrysostom says: , , , . But does not mean , and size and awkwardness are different things, though perhaps to those who wrote a smaller hand elegance might appear to be incompatible with largeness. Nor can it be averred, with Chrysostom and Jerome, that the apostle did not know how to write Greek well; his early education at Tarsus forbids the supposition. At all events, the words do not of themselves convey such an idea; and though the great size of the letters would differ from ordinary handwriting, it might not present sprawling and unsightly characters. Why, then, did he call their attention to the size of the characters which he employed? Theodore of Mopsuestia says: , -an opinion virtually acquiesced in by Lightfoot. But it does not follow that boldness of handwriting is any natural or undeniable proof of distinct and unabashed statement. Pelagius puts it thus: Intelligite quod non timeam qui literas manu mea nuper scripsi. Jerome gives another view: Ne aliqua suppositae epistolae suspicio nasceretur. Such a guard against forgery not only implies that his handwriting was already known to them, but the same purpose might have been served by a brief salutation.-Meyer, who restricts the reference to Gal 6:12, or to 12-16 or 18, puts down the large letters to the apostle’s desire to impress his readers with the importance of the statements so written. But the sentiments in the conclusion of the epistle are not more momentous than those which occur in the body of it. Any amanuensis also, as Wieseler remarks, could easily have used such large characters, if so instructed.
But what is the reference of ? The verb is what is called the epistolary aorist-I have written, and it is used in reference to the point of time when the epistle should be received and read: -as if the letter were in their hands, and before their eyes-Look you with what large characters I have written. The phrase may either characterize the postscript only, or it may comprehend the whole epistle. The verb itself will scarcely decide the question. Generally it is used of what precedes in a document, and it naturally occurs at its virtual conclusion, as in Rom 15:15, 1Pe 5:12. It is employed also in reference to the previous portion of a letter, as in 1Co 9:15, Phm 1:19; Phm 1:21, 1Jn 2:14; 1Jn 2:21; 1Jn 2:26; 1Jn 5:13. The instances of its reference, with its proper sense, to some former communication, are of course not in point. 1Co 5:9; 2Co 2:3-4; 2Co 2:9; Winer, 40, 5, b. 2. That might refer to what follows, is not to be denied-the mind of the writer not looking, indeed, to what he is to write, but specially to the period of the reception of his letter by those for whom he is writing; as in the instance cited from the Martyrdom of Polycarp, x. 1, in which the church of Smyrna say, , which, occurring just after the opening salutation, refers to the subsequent sections of the epistle. Patres Apostol. p. 392, ed. Dressel. Compare Thucydides, Gal 1:1; Poppo in loc. Similarly, too, we have , Act 23:30. Compare , Xen. Anab. 1.9, 25, Gal 2:4; Gal 2:16, on the first of which places Khner remarks, Aoristus positus est respectu habito temporis quo alter donum accipiebat. 2Co 9:3; Eph 6:22; Col 4:8. The phrase , occurring also in other epistles, shows that the apostle usually employed an amanuensis; and especially after letters had been forged and circulated in his name, he attached some autographic sentence at the close, frequently a benediction or salutation- , 2Th 3:17. Compare Rom 16:21-22; Rom 16:25; 1Co 16:21; Col 4:18. The Ambrosian Hilary notes in loc.: Ubi enim holographa manus est falsum dici non potest, ne forte circumventi excusarent de epistola, quasi aut falsa esset, aut non esset apostoli, nolentes se reprehendi. Augustine gives the meaning as cave ne quisquam sub nomine Epistolae ejus fallat incautos. While the body of the epistle was written by a secretary, the apostle subjoined with his own hand some concluding sentence; and it has been argued that such is the case in the epistle before us-an opinion held by Jerome, Grotius, Meyer, Bisping, Jowett, Lightfoot, and Bagge. Admitting the possibility of the exegesis, we are inclined to deny its probability. For, 1. What may be called the natural reference of is to the previous portion of the epistle. The present appears to be used in such a case, and in reference to what is immediately under hand, as in 1Co 4:14; 1Co 14:37, 2Co 13:10, 2Th 3:17, 1Jn 2:12-13; Winer, 40, 5, b. 2. 2. Nor is there any indication of any breach, or pause, or change, as in Rom 16:24-25, and in 2Th 3:17. Instead then of saying, with Lightfoot, that at this point the apostle took the pen from his amanuensis, we are inclined rather to say, that at this point the apostle pauses, and reading what he has written, the form of the handwriting struck him, and he adds abruptly the words of the verse before us. 3. The comes in naturally, too, on the same supposition: mei pectoris apud vos index (Erasmus). He had not dictated the epistle to another, but he had written it himself; no one came between him and them, not even a secretary. 4. It would also be odd if a sentence calling attention to the handwriting should be the first specimen of it, and the asyndetic nature of the construction is in favour of the same view. 5. The has in this way a special significance, from the fact that he had written all the epistle with his own hand, and not merely a few concluding clauses. Thus the entire letter seems to have been written by the apostle himself; such a deviation from his wont being adduced apparently as a proof of his earnest regard for them, and of his profound anxiety about them in the present perilous crisis. The large characters would convey to their minds, who knew him so well with his habits and infirmities, something perhaps which we may not be able to recognise. He puts himself to the trouble of framing those great characters from personal interest in them, and the document was meant as a circular for all the Galatian churches. See under , Gal 4:13. Utinam, adds Pareus, apostoli nobis habere et videre liceret. Compare what is said in Eusebius 6:24 of the of Origen, and the note in Heinichen, vol. 2.221; and also another note to Gal 5:20, do. p. 98. It is needless to inquire into the kind of letter, uncial or cursive, which the apostle employed on this occasion, or whether the material was papyrus (2Jn 1:12) or vellum (2Ti 4:13)-the former being the more difficult to write upon, and that perhaps generally used (3Jn 1:13).
Gal 6:11. According to several lexicons, the original word for letter has two meanings; first, the size of the characters that make up an alphabet; second, the size or length of a composition formed by the letters. There is nothing in the connection here to indicate that Paul was making any point out of the size of the characters he was using, hence the conclusion is that he uses the second meaning. As a rule the apostle dictated his epistles and then signed them to make them authentic (2Th 3:17); but because of his great concern for the interests of the Galatian brethren, he wrote this entire epistle with his own hand. Considering_ the rule of not doing the writing of the body of his letters, it would make the present one comparatively large. Robinson defines the original for the last word as meaning “of dignity.” Strong defines it, “figuratively, in dignity.” Thayer defines it, “how distinguished.”
Gal 6:11. See in what large letters (or characters) I write unto you with mine own hand. Not how large a letter (E. V.), This would require the accusative in Greek, not the dative (with or in what large letters). It refers to the handwriting, not to the contents. Some understand it of awkward, ill-formed characters, and trace them to Pauls inexperience in Greek (?), or to want of mechanical skill, or to defective eyesight, or to bodily suffering at the time. But the Greek ( ) refers to large size only, and may indicate the emphasis laid on these concluding sentences (corresponding to our use of underscoring), or a habitual bold hand which is often expressive of energy and strong conviction. We have no autographs of the Apostles; the oldest manuscripts date from the fourth century, and are written in large or uncial characters. Paul employed usually an amanuensis or copyist (as Tertius, who wrote the Epistle to the Romans from dictation, Rom 16:22), but added with his own hand a closing benediction, or some sentences as a special mark of affection, or as a precaution against forgers of letters in his name (2Th 2:2; 2Th 3:17-18; 1Co 16:21-24; Col 4:18; Rom 16:25-27). I write (lit I wrote or have written) is often used in epistolary style from the standpoint of the recipient. It may refer to the concluding part only, or to the whole Epistle. The former is more probable from his habit of dictating or sending a copy of his letters.
It is very probable that St. Paul ordinarily did only dictate, and that some other person wrote his epistles, as that to the Romans Rom 16:22, wrote by Tertius. Sometimes he only wrote the salutation, and subscribed the epistle with his own hand, 1Co 16:21 but here he tells the Galatians that he wrote this epistle to them all with his own hand, having never wrote so large an epistle wholly with his own hand to any church as he did to them.
This he did for two reasons, 1. To testify the fervency of his affection towards them, and to insinuate how much he loved them.
2. To evidence the sincerity of his endeavours for their present and future happiness: to accomplish these ends, he judged no pains too great.
From whence learn, 1. That the faithful ministers of Christ will stick at no pains, but encounter with all difficulties, to advance the good of souls in general, and to reduce an erroneous and wandering people in particular, to the obedience of the gospel.
Thus this great apostle, though he had upon him the care of all the churches, and consequently a multiplicity of business, many avocations, and a multitude of distractions; yet, in order to the reclaiming of these Galatians, who were deeply tinctured with error, as well as dangerously tainted with sin, he redeems time for, and undergoes the fatigue and trouble of, writing this whole epistle to them with his own hand: You see how large a letter I have written with mine own hand.
Learn, 2. That it neither savours of pride nor vain-glory in the ministers of the gospel, if upon occasion, though sparingly, they make known to the world the great pains they have taken for promoting the good of their people, that so they may be excited the more to bring forth fruit answerable to the cost and culture which the ministers of Christ have expended upon them. St. Paul here sticks not to tell the Galatians, and the whole world, the pains he had been at in writing this large epistle with his own hand to them; yet it was not to commend himself, but to excite and encourage them.
Gal 6:11. Ye see how large a letter St. Paul had not yet written a larger to any church; I have written with my own hand In testimony of my great affection for you, and concern for your spiritual welfare. He generally wrote by an amanuensis. The original expression here used, , which we render how large a letter, is, by Whitby, Doddridge, and some others, following Jerome, Chrysostom, and Theophylact, translated, with what kind of, or with what large letters I have written unto you, supposing it to be an apology for the in elegance of the writing. For from the apostles making use of an amanuensis in his other letters, they infer that he was not accustomed to write Greek. The inference, however, says Macknight, does not follow. Eminent men, much engaged in affairs, commonly employ others to write for them, notwithstanding they are able to write very well themselves. I therefore prefer the translation in our Bibles, which represents the apostle as informing the Galatians that he wrote this large epistle with his own hand, to show how anxious he was to reclaim them from their errors, and to give them the fullest assurance of the truth of the doctrines contained in it; and that he uniformly preached the same doctrines everywhere.
See with how large letters I write unto you with mine own hand. [There is no indication that Paul had ever before written to the Galatians, and they were probably not familiar with his handwriting. To call attention, therefore, to the fact that the amanuensis has now turned over the stylus, or pen, to him, and that he is putting his own closing lines as an autograph to the Epistle, he bids them note the difference in the letters. They were much larger than those of the amanuensis. This large lettering is taken by some as an additional evidence that Paul’s thorn in the flesh was defective eyesight.]
Gal 6:11-16. Autograph postscript. Large letters need not be literally meant in late Greek; but what else can the word mean here? How large a letter (AV) is not a legitimate translation. Probably the reason is bad sight (cf. Gal 4:15), possibly desire for emphasis; as we print in italics or capitals. A very unfavourable estimate of the moral character of the Judaizers is added. They are not really in earnest in their campaign. They are far from being strict Jews personally, but they pride themselves on making proselytes. The true Christian glories in no flattering successesonly in that cross of Christ which brings our old life to a close and separates us for ever from the world. Those thus crucified with Christ and new-created in His resurrection are Gods true Israel (cf. Psa 73:1) whether they be Jew or Gentile.
SECTION 23. THE ADVERSARIES ARE INSINCERE.
CH. 6:11-16.
See with how large letters I have written to you with my own hand. So many as wish to look well in the flesh, these are commanding you to receive circumcision; only in order that they may not, through the cross of Christ, be persecuted. For neither do they who are receiving circumcision themselves keep law. But they wish you to receive circumcision, in order that in your flesh they may exult. But far from me be it to exult except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; through which to me the world is crucified, and I crucified to the world. For neither circumcision is anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And so many as walk by this rule peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
Gal 6:11. With how large letters: so R.V. This rendering is determined by the Greek dative which denotes the instrument with which Paul wrote, viz. large characters, not the epistles written; by the word rendered large which denotes not number but size, whereas a long epistle would involve merely the number of characters used; and by Pauls constant use (17 times) of another word, the Greek original of our word epistle, to denote a written communication. That Gal 6:11 refers to Gal 6:11-18, and not to the foregoing Epistle, is suggested by Pauls custom of adding to each Epistle ( 2Th 3:17; 1Co 16:21; Col 4:18) a short autograph, as a mark of genuineness and perhaps also as an expression of warm friendship. If so, the past tense, I-have-written, may have been suggested to Paul by the four preceding words lying already written before him while writing this word; and by easy transition of thought to his readers point of view. Cp. sent, in Act 15:27; Act 23:30. But we cannot safely quote Phm 1:19; Phm 1:21 as examples: for these refer in each case to foregoing words. The general usage of the Greek language forbids us to accept the word I-have-written as proof that the whole Epistle was written in large characters by Pauls own hand. And his custom suggests that only this closing paragraph was so written. The size of the letters used proclaims, like capitals in modern printing, the earnestness of this concluding summary of the foregoing Epistle.
Gal 6:12. To-look-well: literally to-put-on-a-good-face; cp. Gal 2:6; 2Co 5:12; 2Co 10:7; Mat 16:3.
In-the-flesh: in outward bodily life, the element of the desired good appearance.
Are-commanding-you: so Gal 2:3 : by proclaiming (Act 15:1) that in order to be saved you must be circumcised; and by a personal influence which the Galatian Christians seemed unable to resist. [The Greek presents in Gal 6:12-13 direct attention to a process going on, but which Paul hopes to stay. So Gal 1:6; Gal 3:3; Gal 5:3-4.]
That they may not be persecuted: their only aim.
For the cross of Christ: on the ground that they preach a crucified Messiah. A close parallel in Gal 5:11. It implies that the seducers were professed Christians; that of Christian teaching the death of Christ was an essential and conspicuous element; and that this element (cp. 1Co 1:23) was the professed ground of the Jews hostility to the Gospel. But that the seducers hoped to escape persecution on this ground by proclaiming the necessity of circumcision, suggests that the real ground of the Jews opposition was that the Gospel overturned the exclusive spiritual prerogatives claimed by them under the Old Covenant, of which covenant circumcision was a conspicuous element; and that their scorn of the Crucified One was chiefly a means of pouring contempt on those who were breaking down, by a Gospel free for all men, the Jewish wall of partition. And we can well conceive the mass of the Jews looking with indifference or with favour on a profession of Christianity which did not interfere with, but rather exalted, their fancied spiritual pre-eminence. Possibly, the early success of the Gospel at Jerusalem (Act 2:41; Act 4:4; Act 6:1) was aided by oversight on the part of all concerned, of the logical consequence of the Gospel so boldly preached by Jews and so numerously accepted.
The word only implies that the men referred to cared nothing for circumcision in itself, (or for the Old Covenant,) that their apparently eager advocacy of it was only a means by which they hoped to escape persecution while yet remaining members of the Church of Christ. To believe in Him while preaching circumcision, was thus a safe and cheap form of religion. Such an aim Paul properly calls a desire to make a good appearance in outward bodily life, i.e. in that side of life which is under the eyes of men around. And since their aim was to avoid, while yet believing the Gospel and thus as they vainly thought securing the blessings of the life to come, the bodily hardship and peril which otherwise, Jewish hostility might cause them; their conduct was really a sowing for the flesh, and their actions were works of the flesh. For, protection of the body was to them a guiding principle. Paul thus reveals the secret and unworthy thought of the seducers, and brings to bear upon it (hence the word flesh) the teaching of 21, 22. And this personal and skilful application reveals still further the appropriateness and value of that teaching.
The men referred to here were probably Jewish Christians chiefly. For such were most likely to press Gentile converts to be circumcised, and to look upon this as a way of escape from persecution by non-Christian Jews. But, since even Gentile Christians may have been exposed to the same persecution, some circumcised Gentiles may have joined their Jewish brethren in eagerness for the rite as a means of escape from Jewish hostility.
Gal 6:13. Proof of the foregoing unworthy motive.
They who receive circumcision: Gentile converts made from time to time by the false teachers.
Not even do these themselves keep prescriptions of law: although they are enrolling themselves among the people of the Old Covenant. Whether this refers to ritual or moral prescriptions, is not stated: and it does not affect the argument; for both elements had the same authority. It implies that some of these Gentile converts to Judaism lived in evident disregard of Jewish legal restrictions, or possibly of morality. And that their seducers tolerated this neglect proves that regard for the Law was not the motive of this zealous advocacy of circumcision.
But they wish: including probably the seducers and referring chiefly to them. For, to them chiefly refers the same word wish in Gal 6:12 : they are the chief matter of Gal 6:12-13, their converts being introduced only casually in proof of the motive of the seducers: and theirs chiefly must have been this desire and exultation, though shared by their Gentile converts. The change of subject between Gal 6:13 a and 13b is but an easy return to the chief matter of the paragraph. And it would be the more easy because the class referred to in Gal 6:13 b included some, or most, of those referred to in Gal 6:13 a; for Gentiles undergoing circumcision would themselves wish other Gentiles to follow their example, feeling that each fresh circumcision was a tribute to their recently adopted principles. Thus all the Christians in Galatia eager for circumcision, whether Jews or Gentiles, would form practically one body in opposition to the teaching of Paul.
The reading in the R.V. text, they who receive (or are receiving) circumcision, is preferred by all editors since Lachmann, and has rather better documentary evidence than that in the R.V. margin, who have been circumcised. And this latter looks suspiciously like a correction by copyists who could not understand the other reading. The above exposition gives to the reading adopted its most natural meaning. Certainly it is easier to suppose a return, after the parenthesis of Gal 6:13 a, to Pauls chief matter than to expound they who receive circumcision as the advocates of circumcision.
In order that, etc.: selfish purpose of the seducers.
Exult: see under Rom 2:17; 1Co 1:29.
Your flesh: your circumcised bodies. These were the sought for element of exultation. They wished to point in triumph to the visible mark of proselyting success, as a tribute to their personal influence and to the grandeur of Jewish privileges; and to use this mark as a shelter for themselves against Jewish persecution. The word flesh, instead of body, reminds us that the matter of their triumph belonged to the outward and perishing and seductive side of human life. Cp. 2Co 11:18, boast according to flesh; and Php 3:3 f, confidence in the flesh. Thus, as in Gal 6:12, this word keeps before us the teaching of 21, 22.
Gal 6:14. Me: in emphatic contrast to those who boast in circumcision; literally, to me let there be no exultation.
In the cross: a marked contrast to in your flesh. Various matters, e.g. those quoted in 2Co 11:22; Php 3:4 ff, and Pauls matchless mental and moral power, might have aroused in him emotions of confidence and joy. But to him all these were nothing. Yet the heart which was indifferent to them was kindled into a glow of emotion by a symbol of his nations degradation, (for the cross was a Roman punishment,) by the cross on which his beloved Master died a death of pain and shame.
The above wonderful statement, Gal 6:14 b explains. Paul cannot boast except in the cross of Christ because on that cross himself has been crucified.
Through which, or whom: each rendering grammatically correct; and certain decision impossible. But since these words evidently explain Pauls exultation, of which not Christ but the cross of Christ is the specific and astounding element here, this is probably his precise reference. By means of the cross on which Christ died the world itself has been crucified.
Crucified: as in Gal 2:20; Gal 5:24. It gives vividness to the mode of Christs death, and declares that in some real sense both the world and Paul have shared that death.
The world: the entire realm of men and things around. [The absence twice of the Greek article bids us look at the world qualitatively, i.e. in view of its magnitude, variety, and power: to Paul a world has been crucified.] The world was once to him a living and vast and tremendous reality, Upon its smile hung all his hopes: its frown was ruin. Consequently, he was the worlds servant and slave: and the world was his absolute and imperious and cruel lord. This service was hopeless and degrading bondage. But now, through the death of Christ upon the cross, it has utterly and for ever passed away. The world can no longer terrify or beguile him. Thus Paul is free. Just so, around the corpse of Henry VIII., his courtiers felt themselves to be for the first time free; and breathed more freely because those lips and that brow and arm were henceforth silent and still and powerless. Also through death came Pauls freedom; through Christs death upon the cross, which had brought about the death of Pauls tremendous tyrant. But the world was dead relatively, not absolutely. To thousands it was still, and is now, a master possessing irresistible power.
Only to those joined to Christ Crucified is the world dead. Hence the word to me, thrust to the front for conspicuous emphasis.
And I to the world: added to remind us that, although it is the world which through Christs death has lost its vital power and may therefore be said to be crucified, yet the real change has taken place in Paul. By union with the Crucified his own past life of bondage and sin has come to an end. By his own, as well as by his Masters death the captive has become free. Thus we have a triple crucifixion. Christ has set up His cross between Paul and the world: and they are separated completely and for ever. This triple crucifixion and its mysterious instrument evoke joy and a shout of liberty. And they forbid all other boasting: for all else belongs to a world which has been crucified. Thus the astounding statement of Gal 6:14 a is explained by the more astounding statement of Gal 6:14 b.
Gal 6:15. Gal 6:14 is practically a refusal to boast in any way about circumcision. This refusal Paul now supports by again saying that circumcision is neither gain nor loss. Since it can (Gal 5:6) do nothing, it is (cp. 1Co 7:19) worth nothing. And therefore Paul cannot boast in it.
New creature, or new creation: see under 2Co 5:17; cp. Eph 2:10; Eph 4:24. So utterly lost is man that nothing less than a new putting forth of creative power can save him.
This verse implies that circumcision was not a condition of the putting forth by God of this creative power; as it was a condition (Gen 17:10) of the covenant with Abraham. That it was a condition also of the New Covenant, the false teachers evidently asserted. And of this Better Covenant Baptism and the Lords Supper, also outward rites, are conditions: for they were expressly ordained by Christ, and therefore refusal of them is disobedience to Him: cp. Gal 3:27; Rom 6:4; 1Co 10:16; 1Co 11:25. But circumcision belonged to the earlier and now abrogated Covenant. To assert its perpetual obligation was to set up again the Mosaic Covenant which made the favour of God contingent on obedience to a multitude of moral and ritual prescriptions. No such obligation was involved in the requirement of Baptism. In the baptism of converts Paul might justly exult, as a triumph of the Gospel and such exultation would be an exulting in God. So might others in earlier days exult in the circumcision of born heathens, as a turning to the God of Israel. That to Paul circumcision is nothing, proves how completely in his view the Old Covenant had passed away. Thus these words are a summing up, at the close of the Epistle, of its chief argument, which, by their similarity to Gal 5:6 at the close of that argument, they recall.
Gal 6:16. Walk: same word in Gal 5:25; Rom 4:12. Thus, just as Gal 6:15 sums up the argument of DIV. II., so Gal 6:16, which bids us make the principle asserted in Gal 6:15 our rule of conduct, recalls the summary in Gal 5:25 of the argument of DIV. III.
Rule: literally, canon: see under 2Co 10:13. It keeps up the metaphor suggested by the word walk. The principle in Gal 6:15 was a marked out line along which Pauls readers should direct their steps.
Shall walk: throughout all future time.
Peace: as in Rom 1:7, where see notes; cp. Eph 6:23; 2Th 3:16. It is a profound calm and rest, a consciousness of absolute security, derived from the presence and smile of God; the opposite of discord and of fear.
Upon them: for this peace comes down from heaven.
Mercy: Eph 2:4; 1Ti 1:2 : that which prompts help to the helpless. That we need mercy, implies that we cannot save ourselves from wretchedness. Pauls thought rises from the peace which fills and keeps our hearts to the mercy of God from which it flows.
The Israel of God: that which God recognises as His chosen people: either the entire Church of God, or the Jewish part of it. The latter exposition would mark out (cp. and in Mar 1:5; Mar 16:7) the Jewish Christians as being specially objects of this good wish: the former would imply that they who accept the principle announced in Gal 6:15 occupy now the place of honour granted of old to the sacred nation. And this latter is probably Pauls meaning. For it is most unlikely that in this farewell blessing he would separate the Jewish Christians from, and raise them above, their Gentile brethren, when it has been the purpose of the whole Epistle to place Jews and Gentiles on the same level as equally children and heirs of Abraham: see Gal 3:7; Gal 3:9; Gal 3:14; Gal 3:28; Gal 4:31; cp. Rom 4:11; Rom 4:16 f. Whereas, to speak of uncircumcised Gentile believers as the Israel of God, is a triumphant practical application, at the close of the Epistle, of its chief argument which has just been summed up in the assertion of Gal 6:15. And it is a suitable conclusion of 23 which is specially directed against Jewish opponents.
These words recall Psa 125:5; Psa 128:6.
After proving by the arguments of this Epistle that the teaching of the disturbers is false, Paul now covers them with confusion by revealing the secret and unworthy motives of their apparent loyalty to the Law of Moses. Indeed, the proved falsity of the teaching prepares us to find that the teachers are insincere. Paul says that their professed loyalty is for the sake of appearances, a means of shielding themselves against persecution from the acknowledged enemies of the Crucified One. Such fear of men he disowned for himself utterly in Gal 1:10, before he began the argument of the Epistle, as though indicating beforehand the secret source of the teaching he was about to combat. And to this way of escape from persecution he referred again in Gal 5:11 at the close of his chief argument. A proof that this is his opponents real motive, Paul finds in the conduct of the Gentiles who from time to time receive circumcision. For, as matter of fact, they do not keep the Law. Consequently, desire that the Law be kept cannot be the motive of those who are so eager for the circumcision of Gentiles. Another motive for this eagerness is the tribute to the spiritual prerogatives of Israel, and to the personal influence of the proselyters, involved in the reception of the rite by fresh converts from heathenism. Probably, Gal 6:12-13 would come to all parties concerned with an overwhelming force which we cannot now appreciate. For, doubtless, Pauls charge would be confirmed in various ways unknown to us. His outspoken accusation would explain conduct otherwise inexplicable. For unworthy motives, however carefully concealed, reveal themselves in a multitude of casual indications.
These hidden and base aims, thus brought to light, Paul puts utterly to shame by pointing to the Cross of Christ as his only ground of boasting; and to the total separation from the world, from its allurements and its terrors, which that Cross has wrought in him. And this exultation rests on the doctrines advocated throughout the Epistle. Upon all who hold them and make them their rule of life, Paul pronounces a rich blessing from God.
In 21, 22 we learn that the Holy Spirit given to believers is designed to save them from the rule of the flesh. The word flesh twice in 23 brings this teaching to bear upon the disturbers in Galatia. For, their unworthy motives belong altogether to the domain of bodily life. They exult in a merely outward rite deprived now of all inward and spiritual significance, because it offers them deliverance from the bodily affliction with which they are threatened by the enemies of Christ. Consequently, their eagerness for circumcision is but a sowing for the flesh.
Week Thirteen: 6:11-18 We Walk In Freedom Because Of Christ (Review/Overview)
Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
We all know that Paul had some physical impairment that caused him trouble over many years. It was not only a source of trial for him, but it is also a source of proof that the gift of healing was inactive even in His lifetime. He could not heal himself even though many were healed by the simple touch of a handkerchief that had been from him. Act 19:12 “So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.”
Timothy was told to take a little wine for his stomach sake, thus there was a lack of healing with both men. 1Ti 5:23 “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.”
Paul also left Trophimus unhealed in 2Ti 4:20 “but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.”
I have discussed this with people that believe in the gift of healing and they have never brought forth an argument for this. It may be that I usually tie this with the fact that in Mark, tongues is lumped with snakes and drinking poison, and since tongues and healing are normally joined at the hip little is suggested to counter the comments. Well, it might relate some to the invitation that I usually give at the end of my comments – to come to my city and empty the hospitals if they really have this gift. (Mar 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.)
It seems he gives a last call to them to realize the reality of his effort, the depth of his love and the strength of his character as he attempts to draw them away from the false teaching and back to the truth of grace.
The word translated “large” relates to bigness more than to numbers, it relates to largeness geometrically as opposed to largeness arithmetically. A simpler way to say it would be volume as opposed to number of pages. I used to print very small before my computering days. I could jam more information on a page than most small font typewriters. I could do volume rather than numbers. When writing for myself, “volume” was my talent, when it was the ten page term paper due the next day, I could do “numbers” very well with my huge handwriting.
Paul has given his very best effort to convince them, he has even handwritten this large letter to them – most likely at the cost of great difficulty for those he was very concerned about.
Some quibble about what this large letter idea means, one translator makes it “See what large letters” to indicate the individual letter size rather than the whole of the letter. This will be covered a little more later.
6:11 {9} Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
(9) The fourth and last part of the epistle, in which he returns to his principal end and purpose: that is, that the Galatians should not allow themselves to be led out of the way by the false apostles. And he points out what those false apostles are really like, reproving them of ambition, as men who do not act because of any affection and zeal they have for the Law, but only for this purpose, that they may purchase themselves favour amongst their own sort, by the circumcision of the Galatians.
V. CONCLUSION 6:11-18
In this section Paul summarized some of his more important points. He also appealed to his readers again urging them to follow through and to put into practice what he had taught them.
"Before concluding his letter Paul returns once more to the antithesis of cross and circumcision, setting them forth this time as representing respectively the true and the false ground of boasting, and thus carrying a stage further his polemic against the Judaizers and their way of legal observance (cf. Gal 5:2-12)." [Note: Fung, p. 300.]
". . . the subscription [Gal 6:11-18] provides important clues for understanding the issues discussed throughout Galatians, particularly those having to do with the judaizing threat brought into the churches by certain legalistically oriented Jewish Christians, for it not only summarizes the main points dealt with earlier in the letter but also allows us to cut through all of the verbage [sic] and see matters in their essence as Paul saw them." [Note: Longenecker, p. 301.]
Evidently Paul wrote the rest of this letter himself. He probably dictated the former verses to a scribe (cf. 1Co 16:21; Col 4:18; 2Th 3:17). The "large letters" were probably capitals used for the sake of emphasis and to distinguish Paul’s handwriting from his secretary’s.
Betz observed that what Paul wrote with his own hand "contains the interpretive clues to the understanding of Paul’s major concerns in the latter as a whole and should be employed as the hermeneutical key to the intentions of the Apostle." [Note: Betz, pp. 312-13.]
Chapter 28
THE FALSE AND THE TRUE GLORYING.
Gal 6:11-14
THE rendering of Gal 6:11 in the Authorised Version is clearly erroneous (see how large a letter). Wickliff, guided by the Latin Vulgate-with what maner lettris-escaped this error. It is a plural term the Apostle uses, which occasionally in Greek writers denotes an epistle, {as in Act 28:21} but nowhere else in Paul. Moreover the noun is in the dative (instrumental) case, and cannot be made the object of the verb.
Paul draws attention at this point to his penmanship, to the size of the letters he is using and their autographic form. “See,” he says, “I write this in large characters, and under my own hand.” But does this remark apply to the whole Epistle, or to its concluding paragraph from this verse onwards? To the latter only, as we think. The word “look” is a kind of nora bene. It marks something new, designed by its form and appearance in the manuscript to arrest the eye. It was Pauls practice to write through an amanuensis, adding with his own hand a few final words of greeting or blessing, by way of authentication. Here this usage is varied. The Apostle wishes to give these closing sentences the utmost possible emphasis and solemnity. He would print them on the very heart and soul of his readers. This intention explains the language of Gal 6:11; and it is borne out by the contents of the verses that follow. They are a postscript, or Epilogue, to the Epistle, rehearsing with incisive brevity the burden of all that it was in the Apostles heart to say to these troubled and shaken Galatians.
The past tense of the verb (literally, I have written: ) is in accordance with Greek epistolary idiom. The writer associates himself with his readers. When the letter comes to them, Paul has written what they now peruse. On the assumption that the whole Epistle is autographic it is hard to see what object the large characters would serve, or why they should be referred to just at this point.
Gal 6:2 is in fact a sensational heading. The last paragraph of the Epistle is penned in larger type and in the Apostles characteristic hand, in order to fasten the attention of these impressionable Galatians upon his final deliverance. This device Paul employs but once. It is a kind of practice easily vulgarised and that loses its force by repetition, as in the case of “loud” printing and declamatory speech.
In this emphatic finale the interest of the Epistle, so powerfully sustained and carried through so many stages, is raised to a yet higher pitch. Its pregnant sentences give us – first, another and still severer denunciation of “the troublers” (Gal 6:12-13); secondly, a renewed protestation of the Apostles devotion to the cross of Christ (Gal 6:14-15); thirdly, a repetition in animated style of the practical doctrine of Christianity, and a blessing pronounced upon those who are faithful to it (Gal 6:15-16). A pathetic reference to the writers personal sufferings, followed by the customary benediction, brings the letter to a close. The first two topics of the Epilogue stand in immediate contrast with each other.
1. The glorying of the Apostles adversaries. “They would have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh” (Gal 6:12).
This is the climax of his reproach against them. It gives us the key to their character. The boast measures the man. The aim of the Legalists was to get so many Gentiles circumcised, to win proselytes through Christianity to Judaism. Every Christian brother persuaded to submit himself to this rite was another trophy for them. His circumcision, apart from any moral or spiritual considerations involved in the matter, was enough of itself to fill these proselytisers with joy. They counted up their “cases”; they rivalled each other in the competition for Jewish favour on this ground. To “glory in your flesh-to be able to point to your bodily condition as the proof of their influence and their devotion to the Law-this,” Paul says, “is the object for which they ply you with so many flatteries and sophistries.”
Their aim was intrinsically low and unworthy. They “want to make a fair show (to present a good face) in the flesh.” Flesh in this place (Gal 6:12) recalls the contrast between Flesh and Spirit expounded in the last chapter. Paul does not mean that the Judaisers wish to “make a good appearance in outward respects, in human opinion”: this would be little more than tautology. The expression stamps the Circumcisionists as “carnal” men. They are “not in the Spirit,” but “in the flesh”; and “after the flesh” they walk. It is on worldly principles that they seek to commend themselves, and to unspiritual men.
What the Apostle says of himself in Php 3:3-4, illustrates by contrast his estimate of the Judaisers of Galatia: “We are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” He explains “having confidence in the flesh” by enumerating his own advantages and distinctions as a Jew, the circumstances which commended him in the eyes of his fellow-countrymen -” which were gain to me,” he says, “but I counted them loss for Christ” (Gal 6:7). In that realm of fleshly motive and estimate which Paul had abandoned, his opponents still remained. They had exchanged Christian fidelity for worldly favour. And their religion took the colour of their moral disposition. To make a fair show, an imposing, plausible appearance in ceremonial and legal observance, was the mark they set themselves. And they sought to draw the Church with them in this direction, and to impress upon it their own ritualistic type of piety.
This was a worldly, and in their case a cowardly policy. “They constrain you to be circumcised, only that for the cross of Christ they may not suffer persecution” (Gal 6:12). This they were determined by all means to avoid. Christ had sent His servants forth “as sheep in the midst of wolves.” The man that would serve Him, He said, must “follow Him, taking up His cross.”
But the Judaists thought they knew better than this. They had a plan by which they could be the friends of Jesus Christ, and yet keep on good terms with the world that crucified Him. They would make their faith in Jesus a means for winning over proselytes to Judaism. If they succeeded in this design, their apostasy might be condoned. The circumcised Gentiles would propitiate the anger of their Israelite kindred, and would incline them to look more favourably upon the new doctrine. These men, Paul says to the Galatians, are sacrificing you to their cowardice. They rob you of your liberties in Christ in order to make a shield for themselves against the enmity of their kinsmen. They pretend great zeal on your behalf; they are eager to introduce you into the blessings of the heirs of Abraham: the truth is, they are victims of a miserable fear of persecution.
The cross of Christ, as the Apostle has repeatedly declared (comp. chapters 12, and 21), carried with it in Jewish eyes a flagrant reproach; and its acceptance placed a gulf between the Christian and the orthodox Jew. The depth of that gulf became increasingly apparent the more widely the gospel spread, and the more radically its principles came to be applied. To Paul it was now sorrowfully evident that the Jewish nation had rejected Christianity. They would not hear the Apostles of Jesus any more than the Master. For the preaching of the cross they had only loathing and contempt. Judaism recognised in the Church of the Crucified its most dangerous enemy, and was opening the fire of persecution against it all along the line. In this state of affairs, for a party of men to compromise and make private terms for themselves with the enemies of Christ was treachery. They were surrendering, as this Epistle shows, all that was most vital to Christianity. They gave up the honour of the gospel, the rights of faith, the salvation of the world, rather than face the persecution in store for those “who will live godly in Christ Jesus.”
Not that they cared so much for the law in itself. Their glorying was insincere, as well as selfish: “For neither do the circumcised themselves keep the law.-These men who profess such enthusiasm for the law of Moses and insist so zealously on your submission to it, dishonour it by their own behaviour.” The Apostle is denouncing the same party throughout. Some interpreters make the first clause of Gal 6:13 a parenthesis, supposing that “the circumcised” (participle present: those being circumcised) are Gentile perverts now being gained over to Judaism, while the foregoing and following sentences relate to the Jewish teachers. But the context does not intimate, nor indeed allow such a change of subject. It is “the circumcised” of Gal 6:13 a who in ver. 13 b wish to see the Galatians circumcised, “in order to boast over their flesh,”-the same who, in Gal 6:12, “desire to make a fair show in the flesh” and to escape Jewish persecution. Reading this in the light of the previous chapters, there seems to us no manner of doubt as to the persons thus designated. They are the Circumcisionists, Jewish Christians who sought to persuade the Pauline Gentile Churches to adopt circumcision and to receive their own legalistic perversion of the gospel of Christ. The present tense of the Greek participle, used as it is here with the definite article, has the power of becoming a substantive, dropping its reference to time; for the act denoted passes into an abiding characteristic, so that the expression acquires the form of a title. “The circumcised” are the men of the circumcision, those known to the Galatians in this character.
The phrase is susceptible, however, of a wider application. When Paul writes thus, he is thinking of others besides the handful of troublers in Galatia. In Rom 2:17-29 he levels this identical charge of hypocritical law-breaking against the Jewish people at large: “Thou who gloriest in the law,” he exclaims, “through thy transgression of the law dishonourest thou God?” This shocking inconsistency, notorious in contemporary Judaism, was to be observed in the conduct of the legalist zealots in Galatia. They broke themselves the very law which they tried to force on others. Their pretended jealousy for the ordinances of Moses was itself their condemnation. It was not the glory of the law they were concerned about, but their own.
The policy of the Judaisers was dishonourable both in spirit and in aim. They were false to Christ in whom they professed to believe; and to the law which they pretended to keep. They were facing both ways, studying the safest, not the truest course, anxious in truth to be friends at once with the world and Christ. Their conduct has found many imitators, in men who “make godliness a way of gain,” whose religious course is dictated by considerations of worldly self-interest. A little persecution, or social pressure, is enough to “turn them out of the way.” They cast off their Church obligations as they change their clothes, to suit the fashion. Business patronage, professional advancement, a tempting family alliance, the entree into some select and envied circle-such are the things for which creeds are bartered, for which men put their souls and the souls of their children knowingly in peril. Will it pay?-this is the question which comes in with a decisive weight in their estimate of matters of religious profession and the things pertaining to God. But “what shall it profit?” is the question of Christ.
Nor are they less culpable who bring these motives into play, and put this kind of pressure on the weak and dependent. There are forms of social and pecuniary influence, bribes and threats quietly applied and well understood, which are hardly to be distinguished morally from persecution.
Let wealthy and dominant Churches see to it that they be clear of these offences, that they make themselves the protectors, not the oppressors, of spiritual liberty. The adherents that a Church secures by its worldly prestige do not in truth belong to the “kingdom that is not of this world.” Such successes are no triumphs of the cross. Christ repudiates them. The glorying that attends proselytism of this kind is, like that of Pauls Judaistic adversaries, a “glorying in the flesh.”
2. “But as for me,” cries the Apostle, “far be it to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14). Paul knows but one ground of exultation, one object of pride and confidence – his Saviours cross.
Before he had received his gospel and seen the cross in the light of revelation, like other Jews he regarded it with horror. Its existence covered the cause of Jesus with ignominy. It marked Him out as the object of Divine abhorrence. To the Judaistic Christian the cross was still an embarrassment. He was secretly ashamed of a crucified Messiah, anxious by some means to excuse the scandal and make amends for it in the face of Jewish public opinion. But now this disgraceful cross in the Apostles eyes is the most glorious thing in the universe. Its message is the good news of God to all mankind. It is the centre of faith and religion, of all that man knows of God or can receive from Him. Let it be removed, and the entire structure of revelation falls to pieces, like an arch without its keystone. The shame of the cross was turned into honour and majesty. Its foolishness and weakness proved to be the wisdom and the power of God. Out of the gloom in which Calvary was shrouded there now shone forth the clearest light of holiness and love.
Paul gloried in the cross of Christ because it manifested to him the character of God. The Divine love and righteousness, the entire range of those moral excellences which in their sovereign perfection belong to the holiness of God, were there displayed with a vividness and splendour hitherto inconceivable. “God so loved the world,” and yet so honoured the law of right that “He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.” How stupendous is this sacrifice, which baffles the mind and overwhelms the heart! Nowhere in the works of creation, nor in any other dispensation of justice or mercy touching human affairs, is there a spectacle that appeals to us with an effect to be compared with that of the Sufferer of Calvary.
Let me look, let me think again. Who is He that bleeds on that tree of shame? Why does the Holy One of God submit to these indignities? Why those cruel wounds, those heart-breaking cries that speak of a soul pierced by sorrows deeper than all that bodily anguish can inflict? Has the Almighty indeed forsaken Him? Has the Evil One sealed his triumph in the blood of the Son of God? Is it Gods mercy to the world, or is it not rather Satans hate and mans utter wickedness that stand here revealed? The issue shows with whom victory lay in the dread conflict fought out in the Redeemers soul and flesh. “God was in Christ”-living, dying, rising. And what was He doing in Christ?-“reconciling the world unto Himself.”
Now we know what the Maker of the worlds is like. “He that hath seen Me,” said Jesus on Passion Eve, “hath seen the Father. From henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him.” What the world knew before of the Divine character and intentions towards man was but “poor, weak rudiments.” Now the believer has come to Peniel; like Jacob, he has “seen the face of God.” He has touched the centre of things. He has found the secret of love.
Moreover, the Apostle gloried in the cross because it was the salvation of men. His love for men made him boast of it, no less than his zeal for God. The gospel, burning in his heart and on his lips, was “Gods power unto salvation, both to Jew and Greek.” He says this not by way of speculation or theological inference, but as the testimony of his constant experience. It was bringing men by thousands from darkness into light, raising them from the slough of hideous vices and guilty despair, taming the fiercest passions, breaking the strongest chains of evil, driving out of human hearts the demons of lust and hate. This message, wherever it went, was saving men, as nothing had done before, as nothing else has done since. What lover of his kind would not rejoice in this?
We are members of a weak and suffering race, groaning each in his own fashion under “the law of sin and death,” crying out ever and anon with Paul, “O wretched man that I am!” If the misery of our bondage was acute its darkness extreme, how great is the joy with which we hail our Redeemer! It is the gladness of an immense relief, the joy of salvation. Arid our triumph is redoubled when we perceive that His grace brings us not deliverance for ourselves alone, but commissions us to impart it to our fellow-men. “Thanks be to God,” cries the Apostle, “who always leadeth us in triumph, and maketh known the savour of His knowledge by us in every place”. {2Co 2:14}
The essence of the gospel revealed to Paul, as we have observed more that once, lay in its conception of the office of the cross of Christ. Not the Incarnation-the basis of the manifestation of the Father in the Son; not the sinless life and superhuman teaching of Jesus, which have moulded the spiritual ideal of faith and supplied its contents; not the Resurrection and Ascension of the Redeemer, crowning the Divine edifice with the glory of life eternal; but the sacrifice of the cross is the focus of the Christian revelation This gives to the gospel its saving virtue. Round this centre all other acts and offices of the Saviour revolve, and from it receive their healing grace. From the hour of the Fall of man the manifestations of the Divine grace to him ever looked forward to Calvary; and to Calvary the testimony of that grace has looked backward ever since. “By this sign” the Church has conquered; the innumerable benefits with which her teaching has enriched mankind must all be laid in tribute at the foot of the cross.
The atonement of Jesus Christ demands from us a faith like Pauls, a faith of exultation, a boundless enthusiasm of gratitude and confidence. If it is worth believing in at all, it is worth believing in heroically. Let us so boast of it, so exhibit in our lives its power, so spend ourselves in serving it, that we may justly claim from all men homage toward the Crucified. Let us lift up the cross of Christ till its glory shines world-wide, till, as He said, it “draws all men unto Him.” If we triumph in the cross, we shall triumph by it. It will carry the Church to victory.
And the cross of Jesus Christ is the salvation of men, just because it is the revelation of God. It is “life eternal,” said Jesus to the Father, “to know Thee.” The gospel does not save by mere pathos, but by knowledge-by bringing about a right understanding between man and his Maker, a reconciliation. It brings God and man together in the light of truth. In this revelation we see Him, the Judge and the Father, the Lord of the conscience and the Lover of His children; and we see ourselves- what our sins mean, what they have done. God is face to face with the world. Holiness and sin meet in the shock of Calvary, and flash into light, each illuminated by contrast with the other. And the view of what God is in Christ-how He judges, how He pities us-once fairly seen, breaks the heart, kills the love of sin. “The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” sitting on that thorn-crowned brow, clothing that bleeding Form rent with the anguish of Mercys conflict with Righteousness on our behalf-it is this which “shines in our hearts” as in Pauls, and cleanses the soul by its pity and its terror.
But this is no dramatic scene, it is Divine, eternal fact. “We have beheld and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. We know and have believed the love that God hath to us”. {1Jn 4:14; 1Jn 4:16}
Such is the relation to God which the cross has established for the Apostle. In what position does it place him toward the world? To it, he tells us, he has bidden farewell. Paul and the world are dead to each other. The cross stands between them. In Gal 2:20 he had said, “I am crucified with Christ; “in Gal 5:24, that his “flesh with its passions and lusts” had undergone this fate; and now he writes, “Through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Literally, a world-a whole world was crucified for Paul when his Lord died upon the cross. The world that slew Him out an end to itself, so far as he is concerned. He can never believe in it, never take pride in it, nor do homage to it any more. It is stripped of its glory, robbed of its power to charm or govern him. The death of shame that old “evil world” inflicted upon Jesus has, in Pauls eyes, reverted to itself; while for the Saviour it is changed into a life of heavenly glory and dominion. The Apostles life is withdrawn from it, to be “hid with Christ in God.”
This “crucifixion” is therefore mutual. The Apostle also “is crucified to the world.” Saul the Pharisee was a reputable, religious man of the world, recognised by it, alive to it, taking his place in its affairs. But that “old man” has been “crucified with Christ.” The present Paul is in the worlds regard another person altogether-“the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things,” no better than his crucified Master and worthy to share His punishment. He is dead “crucified” to it. Faith in Jesus Christ placed a gulf, wide as that which parts the dead and living, between the Church of the Apostles and men around them. The cross parted two worlds wholly different. He who would go back into that other world, the world of godless self-pleasing and fleshly idolatry, must step over the cross of Christ to do it.
“To me, ” testifies Paul, “the world is crucified.” And the Church of Christ has still to witness this confession. We read in it a prophecy. Evil must die. The world that crucified the Son of God has written its own doom. With its Satanic Prince it “has been judged”. {Joh 12:31; Joh 16:11} Morally, it is dead already. The sentence has passed the Judges lips. The weakest child of God may safely defy it, and scorn its boasting. Its visible force is still immense; its subjects multitudinous; its empire, to appearance, hardly shaken. It towers like Goliath confronting “the armies of the living God.” But the foundation of its strength is gone. Decay saps its frame. Despair creeps over its heart. The consciousness of its impotence and misery grows upon it.
Worldliness has lost its old serenity irrecoverably. The cross incessantly disturbs it, and haunts its very dreams. Antichristian thought at the present time is one wide fever of discontent. It is sinking into the vortex of pessimism. Its mockery is louder and more brilliant than ever; but there is something strangely convulsive in it all; it is the laughter of despair, the dance of death.
Christ the Son of God has come down from the cross, as they challenged Him. But coming down, He has fastened there in His place the world that taunted Him. Struggle as it may, it cannot unloose itself from its condemnation, from the fact that it has killed its Prince of Life. The cross of Jesus Christ must save-or destroy.
The world must be reconciled to God, or it will perish. On the foundation laid of God in Zion men will either build or break themselves for ever. The world that hated Christ and the Father, the world that Paul cast from him as a dead thing, cannot endure. It “passeth away, and the lust thereof.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary