5<\/strong>. He therefore<\/em> ] St Paul, after a digression in which he rebukes their folly in reversing the true order of the soul’s progress ( Gal 3:3<\/em><\/span>) and in relinquishing the truth which they had embraced at the cost even of persecution ( Gal 3:4<\/em><\/span>) resumes the appeal of Gal 3:2<\/em><\/span> in another form. ‘He then, as I was saying, &c.’<\/p>\n The reference has hitherto been to the time when they first embraced the Gospel. It is now directed to that continued<\/em> supply of the spirit which God graciously bestowed upon His Church, as combined with, and manifested by the exercise of miraculous powers.<\/p>\n He ministereth<\/em> ] ‘He then (i.e. God) who graciously bestoweth on you, &c.’ The force of the word ‘ministereth’ (R.V. ‘supplieth’) may be understood by reference to the use of it elsewhere, e.g. 2Co 9:10<\/span>; Php 1:19<\/span>.<\/p>\n worketh miracles<\/em> ] For the different terms employed in N. T. to designate the supernatural operations of the Holy Ghost through human agency, see Trench On the Miracles<\/em>, chap. 1; esp. p. 6 for the term ‘powers’ used here.<\/p>\n among you<\/em> ] Perhaps, ‘in you’, both as more personal<\/em>, and as agreeing with 1Co 12:6<\/span>; Php 2:13<\/span>. See also Mat 14:2<\/span>, R.V.<\/p>\n by the works or by<\/em> ] Rather, ‘from the works or from’ &c. The preposition denotes rather the consequence or result, than the means.<\/p>\n He therefore that ministereth … – <\/B>This verse contains substantially a repetition of the argument in Gal 3:2<\/span>. The argument is, that the gift of the Holy Spirit to them was not imparted in consequence of the observance of the Law of Moses, but in connection with the preaching of the gospel. By the word he in this place, Clarke, Doddridge, Bloomfield, Chandler, Locke and many others, suppose that the apostle means himself Bloomfield says, that it is the common opinion of all the ancient commentators. But this seems to me a strange opinion. The obvious reference, it seems to me, is to God, who had furnished or imparted to them the remarkable influences of the Holy Spirit, and this had been done in connection with the preaching of the gospel, and not by the observance of the Law. If, however, it refers to Paul, it means that he had been made the agent or instrument in imparting to them those remarkable endowments, and that this had been done by one who had not enforced the necessity of obeying the Law of Moses, but who had preached to them the simple gospel.<\/P> <\/p>\n Gal 3:5<\/span><\/p>\n He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Moral inspiration<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>In ordinary Christians: regeneration; Christian energy moral influence.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>In extraordinary ministers, as apostles and prophets: miracles; tongues; prophecy. The latter form intermittent; the former permanent.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The intellectual inspiration of genius.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The emotional inspiration of rhapsody.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The evil inspiration of imposture.<\/p>\n On the lowest possible hypothesis the inspiration of Shakespeare, Mohammed, and Simon Magus must differ not only in degree but in kind from that of St. Paul.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Sufficient for<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> the age in which it works;<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> the purpose for which it is given.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>According to the capacity of the recipient.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Not the works of the law. The folly of this supposition may be seen by the endeavour to work for the inspiration of the poet; but poets are born, not made. So are apostles and Christians.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>By the hearing of faith. We do not call the genius a deserving man, but a gifted man; so is the apostle in working miracles, and the Christian in exerting his influence for good.<\/p>\n Inspiration, literary and moral<\/strong><\/p>\n The great, the sublime, is almost always something involuntary and unforeseen. The higher we rise in literary creation, the more it seems as though we get effaced, and no longer dispose of ourselves. The mediocre in our achievements is thoroughly our own. We feel this by our fatigue, our exhaustion. The great is given us. We write under dictation; we do not know the source, we cannot predict the arrival. It is ours, and yet not ours. What we are, then, we are by grace<\/em>; and thus all poets have spoken of their inspiration, of a God in us, of a mens divinior,<\/em> Remarkable testimony, and too little reflected upon! Oh, why will man, who in his artistic life so readily believes in grace and in the Spirit, in his moral life believe only in himself? Why not understand this confession of poets, and recognize in general that man is not the source but the channel and the organ of all that rises above the habitual level of his life; that he is <\/strong>then only a medium through which the Divine alternately appears and disappears. (Vinet.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Inspiration to be respected<\/strong><\/p>\n Let, us respect in each man, whether he be poet or no, the moment–so well named that of inspiration–when he says more than he knows, does more than he can, and becomes more than he is; that mysterious moment when he ceases to comprehend himself, when he honours himself not in what he himself is, but in the word he has just pronounced, the act he has just accomplished; when, perhaps, he trembles at the unforeseen height on which that effort has placed him, because well aware that his own strength cannot sustain him there. It is the Titan raising himself beneath the mountain that crushes him, or some imprisoned god that sighs within our breast. (Vinet.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The use of miracles<\/strong><\/p>\n Miracles, says Fuller, are the swaddling-clothes of the infant churches; and, we may add, not the garments of the full-grown. They were as the proclamation that the king was mounting his throne; who, however, is not proclaimed every day, but only at his accession. When he sits acknowledged on his throne, the proclamation ceases. They were as the bright clouds which gather round and announce the sun at his first appearing: his midday splendour, though as full, and fuller indeed, of light and heat, knows not those bright heralds and harbingers of his rising. Or they may be likened to the framework on which the arch is rounded, which framework is taken down as soon as that is completed. (R. C. Trench.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Miracles of to-day<\/strong><\/p>\n Miracles are like candles lit up until the sun rises, and then blown out. Therefore, I am amused when I hear sects and Churches talk about having evidence of Divine authority, because they have miracles. Miracles in our time are like candles in the street at midday. We do not want miracles. They are to teach men how to find out truths themselves; and, after they have learned this, they no more need them than a well man needs a staff, or than a grown-up child needs a walking-stool. They are the educating expedients of the early periods of the world. As such, they are divinely wise. After they have served their purpose as such, it is humanly foolish for persons to pretend to have them. There is no teaching in Scripture of a stated providence of miracles. They are not daily helps. They do not even belong to the mere economic relations of men. In secular things, God helps the men that help themselves. (H. W. Beecher.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Verse 5<\/span>. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit<\/B><\/I>] The apostle means himself: he had been the means of conveying the Holy Spirit to them, and by that Spirit<\/I> he wrought miracles among them; and he did all this, not as a Jew<\/I>, (for as such<\/I> he had no power<\/I>,) but he did all as a believer in Christ<\/I>. The word , which we translate ministereth<\/I>, is very emphatic, and signifies leading up the chorus<\/I>, bringing up one after another, adding grace<\/I> to grace, benefit to benefit<\/I>; so that it appears that they had not only some, but many<\/I> benefits; God, by means of his apostle, having greatly enriched them with various spiritual blessings.<\/P><\/p>\n He had asked them, Gal 3:2<\/span>, whether they had received the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing the gospel? Some think what he saith here to be a continuation of the same argument, but it rather seems a new one: there he spake of their receiving the Spirit, here he speaks of the ministration of the Spirit. Some understand it of God, who gives his Holy Spirit to them that ask him, and who was the Author of those miraculous operations wrought by the Spirit. I should rather understand it of the ministers of the gospel, to whom God hath committed the ministration of the Spirit; and to some of whom God, in the primitive times, gave a power to work miracles. <\/P> Doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?<\/B> Doth God concur with our ministry upon our preaching the law, or upon our preaching the gospel? So that though there be a great cognation between the apostles arguing, Gal 3:2<\/span>, and his arguing in this verse, yet there is some difference; the apostle there arguing from the success of preaching the gospel, here from the ministration itself. <\/P> <\/p>\n 5. He . . . that ministereth<\/B>or”supplieth,” God (2Co9:10<\/span>). He who supplied and supplies<\/I> to you the Spiritstill,<\/I> to the present time. These miracles do not prove graceto be in the heart (Mar 9:38<\/span>;Mar 9:39<\/span>). He speaks of thesemiracles as a matter of unquestioned notoriety<\/I> among thoseaddressed; an undesigned proof of their genuineness (compare 1Co12:1-31<\/span>). <\/P> worketh miracles amongyou<\/B>rather, “INyou,” as Gal 2:8<\/span>; Mat 14:2<\/span>;Eph 2:2<\/span>; Phi 2:13<\/span>;at your conversion and since [ALFORD].<\/P> doeth he it by the works ofthe law<\/B>that is, as a consequence resulting from<\/I> (so theGreek<\/I>) the works of the law (compare Ga3:2<\/span>). This cannot be because the law was then unknown to you whenyou received those gifts of the Spirit.<\/P><\/p>\n He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit<\/strong>,…. By whom he means not himself, nor any other minister of the Gospel, in whose power it does not lie to minister the Spirit, either the ordinary or the extraordinary gifts of it unto men; but either God or Christ who had ministered, and still continued to minister the grace of the Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel; or rather the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, which were manifested at the first preaching of the Gospel to them for the confirmation of it, and which they were still supplied with, as the following words show:<\/p>\n and worketh miracles among you<\/strong>; so that this is a distinct argument from that in Ga 3:2<\/span> and a further proof and aggravation of the folly and stupidity of the members of this church, who had not only received through the Gospel the Spirit, as a spirit of regeneration, at least many of them, but had seen the Gospel confirmed by the extraordinary gifts, signs, and wonders of the Holy Ghost, and which were still among them; and yet they were departing from this Gospel, through which all this was done: for it is asked,<\/p>\n doth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith<\/strong>? and the apostle’s meaning is, that these extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, and these miracles done among them, did not attend the preaching of the law, or the doctrine of justification by works, taught by the false apostles, but the doctrine of faith, of justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ, delivered by him and others, for the truth of which he appeals to themselves; and therefore they must be guilty of the most egregious folly, once to think of, or take anyone step towards a departure from that doctrine. The Alexandrian copy reads here, as in Ga 3:2<\/span>, “received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”<\/p>\n Supplieth <\/B> (<\/SPAN><\/span>). It is God. See on 2Co 9:10<\/span> for this present active participle. Cf. Phil 1:19<\/span>; 2Pet 1:5<\/span>.<\/P> Worketh miracles <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). On the word <\/SPAN><\/span> see 1Thess 2:13<\/span>; 1Cor 12:6<\/span>. It is a great word for God’s activities (Php 2:13<\/span>). “In you” (Lightfoot) is preferable to “among you” for <\/SPAN><\/span> (1Cor 13:10<\/span>; Matt 14:2<\/span>). The principal verb for “doeth he it” (<\/SPAN><\/span>) is not expressed. Paul repeats the contrast in verse 2<\/span> about “works of the law” and “the hearing of faith.” <\/P> <\/p>\n Therefore [] <\/SPAN><\/span>. Resumes the thought of verse 2 (lv. 3, 4<\/span> being, practically, parenthetical), in order to adduce the example of Abraham as a proof of justification by faith. The thought of verse 2 is further emphasized. The gift of the Spirit, and the bestowment of miraculous powers, is a purely divine operation in believers, which is not merited by legal works, but can be received and experienced only through the message of faith. <\/P> He that ministereth [ ] <\/SPAN><\/span>. Or supplieth. See 2Co 9:10<\/span>; Col 2:19<\/span>; 2Pe 1:5<\/span>. The idea of abundant supply (Lightfoot), if conveyed at all, resides, not in the preposition ejpi, which indicates direction, but in the simple verb, which is used of abundant, liberal supply. He that ministereth is God. <\/P> Worketh [] <\/SPAN><\/span>. See on 1Th 2:13<\/span>. <\/P> Miracles [] <\/SPAN><\/span>. See on Mt 11:20<\/span>. Either miracles, as Mr 6:2<\/span>; 1Co 12:10<\/span>, or miraculous powers, as 1Co 12:6<\/span>; Phi 2:13<\/span>; Eph 2:2<\/span>. The analogy of these latter passages favors the second meaning. <\/P> Among you [ ] <\/SPAN><\/span>. So, if dunameiv is explained as miracles. If miraculous powers, render in you.<\/P> <\/p>\n 1) “He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit,”<\/strong> (ho oun epichoregon humin to pneuma) “The one therefore supplying to you all the spirit,” equipping you to service in a liberal manner, 2Co 3:8<\/span>; 2Co 3:11<\/span>.<\/p>\n 2) “And worketh miracles among you “<\/strong> (kai energon dunameis en humin) “and working dynamic deeds (things) among you all;” This indicates that God supernaturally empowered and Imparted special strength and forces to various members of the churches of Galatia, while more numerous spiritual gifts existed, Act 9:17-18<\/span>; Act 10:44<\/span>.<\/p>\n 3) “Doeth he it by the works of the law,”<\/strong> (eks ergon nomou) “Is it out of (as a result of) works of law (the Mosaic law)?” Does God minister dynamic powers and supernatural forces through the operation of the Law of Moses, because you all keep the law rites?<\/p>\n 4) “Or by the hearing of faith?”<\/strong> (e eks akoes pisteos); “or by (the) hearing of faith?” or does God impart these gifts and supernatural powers through faith, the hearing or obedience to Jesus Christ and the Gospel? It is as if Paul were challenging “draw your own conclusions” 2Co 3:5-6<\/span>; 2Co 3:17<\/span>.<\/p>\n 5. He therefore that ministereth. He is not now speaking of the grace of regeneration, but of the other gifts of the Spirit; for a subject different from the preceding one is manifestly introduced. He warns them that all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in which they excelled, are the fruits of the gospel, of that gospel which had been preached among them by his own lips. Their new teachers deprived them of those gifts when they left the gospel, and fled to another kind of doctrine. In proportion to the value which they attached to those gifts, to which the apostle here adds miracles, they ought the more carefully and resolutely to adhere to the gospel. <\/p>\n (5) The appeal by which the Apostle sought to check the defection of his thoughtless converts was not only an appeal to their past experience, when first they listened to his own preaching, but also to their present experience of facts that they saw actually going on among them. The first great outpouring of the Spirit, both in its miraculous and non-miraculous forms, though checked, had not entirely ceased; and the Galatians might thus see, simply by looking around them, that the channel which God chose for conveying His gifts was not that upon which the Judaisers insistedthe Lawbut rather the preaching of faith. Where the faith implanted by the Apostles preaching still showed signs of vital growth, there the gifts of the Spirit were seen in connection with it; but not amongst the Judaisers and their party.<\/p>\n Therefore.<\/strong>This word takes up again the question which had been started in Gal. 3:2<\/span>, but brings it down, as it were, to the present time. The opposition between the effects of faith, on the one hand, and works, on the other, was conspicuous when the Galatians were first converted; it is as conspicuous still. The argument is the same, whichever standpoint is assumed.<\/p>\n Ministereth.<\/strong>The notion contained in this word is not only that of supply, but of liberal<\/em> supply. At Athens it was the custom for wealthy citizens to bear the cost of bringing out the choruswhich was practically equivalent to putting a play upon the stageat the great public feasts. The word translated ministereth was the technical term for this. The same word is used in 2Co. 9:10<\/span>; Col. 2:19<\/span>; 2Pe. 1:5<\/span>; 2Pe. 1:11<\/span>. In three out of the four places it is rendered by the same word minister; in 2Pe. 1:5<\/span> it appears in the phrase add<\/em> to your faith virtue (rather, furnish<\/em> forth in your faith virtue<\/em>i.e.,<\/em> let your faith prompt you to abundant acts of virtue). He that ministereth is, of course, God.<\/p>\n Worketh miracles among you.<\/strong>The Greek means not so much causes miracles to be wrought in your midst as implants in you miraculous powers. The power to work miracles is regarded as a special faculty bestowed by God upon individual Christians. The means by which they become receptive of it is that enthusiastic condition aroused in them by faith. Mere formal obedience to a written law had no such efficacy.<\/p>\n The Abrahamic faith-covenant<\/strong> is superior to law, which works curse<\/strong>, Gal 3:5-14<\/span>.<\/p>\n 5<\/strong>. <\/strong> He<\/strong> God. <\/p>\n Ministereth<\/strong> Abundantly supplies. <\/p>\n Worketh miracles<\/strong> Rather, inworketh within you miraculous powers. <\/em> Endoweth you with the power of performing miracles. This assumes that the Galatians had performed miracles, but not as Judaizers. <\/p>\n Faith<\/strong> In its various uses in the Bible the word faith <\/strong> ranges through the various meanings of belief, trust, fidelity, trustworthiness. And in the Christian signification of justification, these four ideas are embraced; though in particular cases some one of the four may be most prominent. And true faith, beginning with belief, <\/em> runs through and includes the other three. The man who has this faith in God is in sympathy with God. And in special ages of divine dispensation that sympathy becomes the medium of supernatural intercourse, and so, as in the apostolic age, even with these Galatians there were the inworkings of miraculous powers. And Paul here appeals to them to say whether these were not the result of faith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n ‘He therefore who supplies to you the Spirit, and works powerful works among you (or ‘within you’), does he do it by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.’<\/p>\n The example of Abraham is now cited as evidence that God’s gifts come in response to faith. How did Abraham become a participant in God’s blessing? It was by ‘believing God’, and taking Him at His word. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness (Gen 15:6<\/span>). This would confirm that the ‘hearing of faith’ here means the response of faith to God’s words. God had supplied them with the Spirit and worked ‘powerful works’ among them. But what had been the basis of this? Certainly not their observing of the Law for they had not had time for that. It was clearly their response of faith, just as in the case of Abraham.<\/p>\n ‘He therefore who supplies to you the Spirit.’ The ‘He’ must mean God or Christ. The present tense indicates a continual supply. Paul is speaking of the continual supply and activity of the Spirit. The Lord continues daily to supply them with the continuing experience of His Holy Spirit, not necessarily in a way that can be felt, but certainly in a way that can be experienced and be effective in their lives. As they face each day they can drink continually of the Spirit, and know that out of their innermost being will flow rivers of living water (Joh 7:38-39<\/span>).<\/p>\n (Some have seen ‘he’ as referring to Spirit-filled men – compare Act 8:17<\/span>; Act 19:6<\/span> – but this would not really affect the argument. However, it is very questionable whether Peter or anyone else would have described themselves as ‘supplying the Spirit’, and certainly not as supplying the Spirit continually. What they ‘did’ in those two examples was identify themselves with those to whom they had gone. It was God Himself Who sent the Spirit on them. What they did was something that was once for all not something that they could do for believers continually, But it was not actually they who did anything. It was God Who did it. The wind blows where it wills, and no man can say ‘here it comes’ or ‘there it goes’. So is every one who is born of the Spirit – Joh 3:7<\/span>).<\/p>\n ‘Works miracles (or powerful works) among you.’ Again he is speaking about a continual activity, which was apparently still occurring. The Greek means literally ‘powers’ but it regularly means ‘miracles’ wrought by the power of God in the New Testament. The period of the early church was one in which outward miracles abounded. This revealed that God was among them in power. But they appear to have happened spontaneously and immediately, not in the long drawn out way of many so-called healers today, and they are not generally cited as a reason why men should turn to God. Jesus had no confidence in those who believed because of miracles (Joh 2:23-25<\/span>).<\/p>\n However it is probable that here inner miracles are also to be seen as being in mind, by translating as, ‘He works powerful works within you’. Consider how on Paul’s visit to them Luke speaks of them as being ‘filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit’ (Act 13:52<\/span>) as evidence of His working. That was an inner miracle. And in Gal 5:22-23<\/span> the fruit of the Spirit is declared to be the evidence of the Spirit’s working in the inner miracles of love, joy, peace, and so on. These are equally miraculous, indeed one may say more miraculous. So the miracles were both outward and inward.<\/p>\n ‘Even as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.’ This is cited from Gen 15:6<\/span>. Abraham took God at His word and this pleased God and He responded accordingly. It made Abraham totally acceptable to Him as a ‘righteous’ man, one who looked to Him, depended on Him, and was ready to obey Him. This too, says Paul, is the basis on which Christians should approach Him.<\/p>\n The mention of Abraham is important. The Judaisers no doubt laid great stress on the fact that they were children of Abraham, and this comes out in their stress on circumcision. But here Abraham’s faith, and its resulting response from God, is seen to have come prior to him being circumcised. It was clearly therefore primary (Rom 3:10<\/span>). Circumcision was not even thought of at the time. That was something that was added later for a totally different reason, as a seal of the later covenant, a seal now replaced by the ‘seal of the Spirit’ (2Co 1:22<\/span>; Eph 1:13<\/span>) and our participation in Christ’s crucifixion, through the bloodshedding of Christ.<\/p>\n Gal 3:5<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>He that ministereth, <\/em><\/strong>&c.<\/strong> The person meant here by he that ministereth, <\/em>and ch. Gal 1:6<\/span> by him that called, <\/em>is plainly St. Paul himself; though, out of modesty, he declines making use of his own name. It was certainly a great display of the divine wisdom to suffer <\/em>such contentions to arise early in the church, as should make it necessary for the apostles to appeal to the miracles <\/em>wrought before <\/em>and upon <\/em>those who were afterwards, in some degree, alienated from them, that future ages might be convinced of the certainty of those miracles, as matters of fact, beyond all possibility of contradiction. <\/p>\n Gal 3:5<\/span> . After the logical parenthesis (Gal 3:3-4<\/span> ), resumes (Hartung, Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>Its nature. The supernatural power of the Holy Spirit in man.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Its origin. Divine, and therefore to be distinguished from–<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>Its measure.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>The means of its enjoyment.<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n