Bibelkommentare

Ga 3:1-29.

REPROOF OF THE GALATIANS FOR ABANDONING FAITH FOR LEGALISM. JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH VINDICATED: THE LAW SHOWN TO BE SUBSEQUENT TO THE PROMISE: BELIEVERS ARE THE SPIRITUAL SEED OF ABRAHAM, WHO WAS JUSTIFIED BY FAITH. THE LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER TO BRING US TO CHRIST, THAT WE MIGHT BECOME CHILDREN OF GOD BY FAITH.

1. that ye should not obey the truth--omitted in the oldest manuscripts.

bewitched--fascinated you so that you have lost your wits. THEMISTIUS says the Galatians were naturally very acute in intellect. Hence, Paul wonders they could be so misled in this case.

you--emphatical. "You, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been graphically set forth (literally, in writing, namely, by vivid portraiture in preaching) among you, crucified" (so the sense and Greek order require rather than English Version). As Christ was "crucified," so ye ought to have been by faith "crucified with Christ," and so "dead to the law"

(Ga 2:19, 20).

Reference to the "eyes" is appropriate, as fascination was supposed to be exercised through the eyes. The sight of Christ crucified ought to have been enough to counteract all fascination.

2. "Was it by the works of the law that ye received the Spirit (manifested by outward miracles,

Ga 3:5; Mr 16:17; Heb 2:4;

and by spiritual graces,

Ga 3:14; Ga 4:5, 6; Eph 1:13),

or by the hearing of faith?" The "only" implies, "I desire, omitting other arguments, to rest the question on this alone"; I who was your teacher, desire now to "learn" this one thing from you. The epithet "Holy" is not prefixed to "Spirit" because that epithet is a joyous one, whereas this Epistle is stern and reproving [BENGEL].

hearing of faith--Faith consists not in working, but in receiving

(Ro 10:16, 17).

3. begun--the Christian life

(Php 1:6).

in the Spirit--Not merely was Christ crucified "graphically set forth" in my preaching, but also "the Spirit" confirmed the word preached, by imparting His spiritual gifts. "Having thus begun" with the receiving His spiritual gifts, "are ye now being made perfect" (so the Greek), that is, are ye seeking to be made perfect with "fleshly" ordinances of the law? [ESTIUS]. Compare

Ro 2:28; Php 3:3; Heb 9:10.

Having begun in the Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit ruling your spiritual life as its "essence and active principle" [ELLICOTT], in contrast to "the flesh," the element in which the law works [ALFORD]. Having begun your Christianity in the Spirit, that is, in the divine life that proceeds from faith, are ye seeking after something higher still (the perfecting of your Christianity) in the sensuous and the earthly, which cannot possibly elevate the inner life of the Spirit, namely, outward ceremonies? [NEANDER]. No doubt the Galatians thought that they were going more deeply into the Spirit; for the flesh may be easily mistaken for the Spirit, even by those who have made progress, unless they continue to maintain a pure faith [BENGEL].

4. Have ye suffered so many things--namely, persecution from Jews and from unbelieving fellow countrymen, incited by the Jews, at the time of your conversion.

in vain--fruitlessly, needlessly, since ye might have avoided them by professing Judaism [GROTIUS]. Or, shall ye, by falling from grace, lose the reward promised for all your sufferings, so that they shall be "in vain"

(Ga 4:11; 1Co 15:2, 17-19, 29-32; 2Th 1:5-7; 2Jo 8)?

yet--rather, "If it be really (or 'indeed') in vain" [ELLICOTT]. "If, as it must be, what I have said, 'in vain,' is really the fact" [ALFORD]. I prefer understanding it as a mitigation of the preceding words. I hope better things of you, for I trust you will return from legalism to grace; if so, as I confidently expect, you will not have "suffered so many things in vain" [ESTIUS]. For "God has given you the Spirit and has wrought mighty works among you"

(Ga 3:5; Heb 10:32-36)

[BENGEL].

5. He . . . that ministereth--or "supplieth," God

(2Co 9:10).

He who supplied and supplies to you the Spirit still, to the present time. These miracles do not prove grace to be in the heart

(Mr 9:38, 39).

He speaks of these miracles as a matter of unquestioned notoriety among those addressed; an undesigned proof of their genuineness (compare

1Co 12:1-31).

worketh miracles among you--rather, "IN you," as

Ga 2:8; Mt 14:2; Eph 2:2; Php 2:13;

at your conversion and since [ALFORD].

doeth he it by the works of the law--that is, as a consequence resulting from (so the Greek) the works of the law (compare

Ga 3:2).

This cannot be because the law was then unknown to you when you received those gifts of the Spirit.

6. The answer to the question in

Ga 3:5

is here taken for granted, It was by the hearing of faith: following this up, he says, "Even as Abraham believed," &c.

(Ge 15:4-6; Ro 4:3).

God supplies unto you the Spirit as the result of faith, not works, just as Abraham obtained justification by faith, not by works

(Ga 3:6, 8, 16; Ga 4:22, 26, 28).

Where justification is, there the Spirit is, so that if the former comes by faith, the latter must also.

7. they which are of faith--as the source and starting-point of their spiritual life. The same phrase is in the Greek of

Ro 3:26.

the same--these, and these alone, to the exclusion of all the other descendants of Abraham.

children--Greek, "sons"

(Ga 3:29).

8. And--Greek, "Moreover."

foreseeing--One great excellency of Scripture is, that in it all points liable ever to be controverted, are, with prescient wisdom, decided in the most appropriate language.

would justify--rather, "justifieth." Present indicative. It is now, and at all times, God's one way of justification.

the heathen--rather, "the Gentiles"; or "the nations," as the same Greek is translated at the end of the verse. God justifieth the Jews, too, "by faith, not by works." But he specifies the Gentiles in particular here, as it was their case that was in question, the Galatians being Gentiles.

preached before the gospel--"announced beforehand the Gospel." For the "promise" was substantially the Gospel by anticipation. Compare

Joh 8:56; Heb 4:2.

A proof that "the old fathers did not look only for transitory promises" [Article VII, Church of England]. Thus the Gospel, in its essential germ, is older than the law though the full development of the former is subsequent to the latter.

In thee--not "in thy seed," which is a point not here raised; but strictly "in thee," as followers of thy faith, it having first shown the way to justification before God [ALFORD]; or "in thee," as Father of the promised seed, namely, Christ

(Ga 3:16),

who is the Object of faith

(Ge 22:18; Ps 72:17),

and imitating thy faith (see on

Ga 3:9).

all nations--or as above, "all the Gentiles"

(Ge 12:3; 18:18; 22:18).

be blessed--an act of grace, not something earned by works. The blessing of justification was to Abraham by faith in the promise, not by works. So to those who follow Abraham, the father of the faithful, the blessing, that is, justification, comes purely by faith in Him who is the subject of the promise.