The design of this chapter is, to show the effect of being under the Law, and the inconsistency of that kind of bondage or servitude with the freedom which is vouchsafed to the true children of God by the gospel. It is, in accordance with the whole drift of the Epistle, to recall the Galatians to ju... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW I SAY - He had before said Galatians 3:24 that while they were under the Law they were in a state of minority. This sentiment he proceeds further to illustrate by showing the true condition of one who was a minor. THAT THE HEIR - Any heir to an estate, or one who has a prospect of an inheritanc... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IS UNDER - Is subject to their control and direction. TUTORS - The word tutor with us properly means instructor. But this is not quite the sense of the original. The word (επίτροπος epitropos); properly means a steward, manager, agent; Matthew 20:8; Luke 8:3. As used here, it refers to one - u... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN SO WE - We who were Jews - for so I think the word here is to be limited, and not extended to the pagan, as Bloomfield supposes. The reasons for limiting it are: * That the pagans in no sense sustained such a relation to the Law and promises of Gad as is here supposed; * Such an interpretat... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHEN THE FULNESS OF THE TIME WAS COME - The full time appointed by the Father; the completion (filling up, πλήρωμα plērōma,) of the designated period for the coming of the Messiah; see the Isaiah 49:7 notes; 2 Corinthians 6:2 note. The sense is, that the time which had been predicted, and whe... [ Continue Reading ]
TO REDEEM THEM - By his death as an atoning sacrifice; see the note at Galatians 3:13. THEM THAT WERE UNDER THE LAW - Sinners, who had violated the Law, and who were exposed to its dread penalty. THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE ADOPTION OF SONS - Be adopted as the sons or the children of God; see John 1... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BECAUSE YE ARE SONS - As a consequence of your being adopted into the family of God, and being regarded as his sons. It follows as a part of his purpose of adoption that his children shall have the spirit of the Lord Jesus. THE SPIRIT OF HIS SON - The spirit of the Lord Jesus; the spirit which a... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE - In consequence of this privilege of addressing God as your Father. THOU ART NO MORE - You who are Christians. A SERVANT - In the servitude of sin; or treated as a servant by being bound under the oppressive rites and ceremonies of the Law; compare the note at Galatians 4:3 BUT A SON -... [ Continue Reading ]
HOWBEIT - But, ἀλλὰ alla. The address in this verse and the following is evidently to the portion of the Galatians who had been pagan. This is probably indicated by the particle ἀλλὰ alla, but denoting a transition. In the previous verses Paul had evidently had the Jewish converts more particula... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NOW ... - The sense is, that since they had been made free from their ignoble servitude in the worship of false gods, and had been admitted to the freedom found in the worship of the true God, it was absurd that they should return again to that which was truly slavery or bondage, the observance... [ Continue Reading ]
YE OBSERVE - The object of this verse is to specify some of the things to which they had become enslaved. DAYS - The days here referred to are doubtless the days of the Jewish festivals. They had numerous days of such observances, and in addition to those specified in the Old Testament, the Jews had... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM AFRAID OF YOU ... - I have fears respecting you. His fears were that they had no genuine Christian principle. They had been so easily perverted and turned back to the servitude of ceremonies and rites, that he was apprehensive that there could be no real Christian principle in the case. What pa... [ Continue Reading ]
BRETHREN, I BESEECH YOU, BE AS I AM ... - There is great brevity in this passage, and no little obscurity, and a great many different interpretations have been given of it by commentators. The various views expressed may be seen in Bloomfield’s Crit. Dig. Locke renders it, “Let you and I be as if we... [ Continue Reading ]
YE KNOW HOW - To show them the folly of their embracing the new views which they had adopted, he reminds them of past times, and particularly of the strength of the attachment which they had evinced for him in former days. THROUGH INFIRMITY OF THE FLESH - Greek “Weakness” (ἀσθένειαν astheneian);... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MY TEMPTATION - “My trial,” the thing which was to me a trial and calamity. The meaning is, that he was afflicted with various calamities and infirmities, but that this did not hinder their receiving him as an angel from heaven. There is, however, a considerable variety in the mss. on this verse... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE IS THEN THE BLESSEDNESS - Margin, “What was” - in accordance with the Greek. The words “ye spake of” are not in the Greek, and should have been printed in italics. But they obscure the sense at any rate. This is not to be regarded as a question, asking what had become of the blessedness, imply... [ Continue Reading ]
AM I THEREFORE BECOME YOUR ENEMY ... - Is my telling you the truth in regard to the tendency of the doctrines which you have embraced, and the character of those who have led you astray, and your own error, a proof that I have ceased to be your friend? How apt are we to feel that the man who tells u... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ZEALOUSLY AFFECT YOU - See 1 Corinthians 12:31 (Greek); 1 Corinthians 14:39. The word used here (Ζηλόω Zēloō), means to be “zealous” toward, that is, for or against any person or thing; usually, in a good sense, to be eager for. Here it means, that the false teachers made a show of zeal towa... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IT IS GOOD TO BE, ZEALOUSLY AFFECTED - The meaning of this is, “Understand me: I do not speak against zeal. I have not a word to say in its disparagement. In itself, it is good; and their zeal would be good if it were in a good cause.” Probably, they relied much on their zeal; perhaps they maint... [ Continue Reading ]
MY LITTLE CHILDREN - The language of tender affection, such as a parent would use toward his own offspring; see the note at 1 Corinthians 4:15; compare Matthew 18:3; Joh 13:33; 1 John 2:1, 1 John 2:12; 1 John 4:4; 1 John 5:21. The idea here is, that Paul felt that he sustained toward them the relati... [ Continue Reading ]
I DESIRE TO BE PRESENT WITH YOU NOW - They had lost much by his absence; they had changed their views; they had in some measure become alienated from him; and he wishes that he might be again with them, as he was before. He would hope to accomplish much more by his personal presence than he could by... [ Continue Reading ]
TELL ME ... - In order to show fully the nature and the effect of the Law, Paul here introduces an illustration from an important fact in the Jewish history. This allegory has given great perplexity to expositors, and, in some respects, it is attended with real difficulty. An examination of the diff... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IT IS WRITTEN - Genesis 16; Genesis 21. ABRAHAM HAD TWO SONS - Ishmael and Isaac. Abraham subsequently had several sons by Keturah after the death of Sarah; Genesis 26:1. But the two sons by Hagar and Sarah were the most prominent, and the events of their lives furnished the particular illustra... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE WHO WAS OF THE BONDWOMAN WAS BORN AFTER THE FLESH - In the ordinary course of nature, without any special promise, or any unusual divine interposition, as in the case of Isaac. BUT HE OF THE FREE WOMAN ... - The birth of Isaac was in accordance with a special promise, and by a remarkable divi... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH THINGS - The different accounts of Ishmael and Isaac. ARE AN ALLEGORY - May be regarded allegorically, or as illustrating great principles in regard to the condition of slaves and freemen; and may therefore be used to illustrate the effect of servitude to the Law of Moses compared with the fre... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THIS AGAR IS MOUNT SINAI - This Hagar well represents the Law given on Mount Sinai. No one can believe that Paul meant to say that Hagar was literally Mount Sinai. A great deal of perplexity has been felt in regard to this passage, and Bentley proposed to cancel it altogether as an interpolation... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT JERUSALEM WHICH IS ABOVE - The spiritual Jerusalem; the true church of God. Jerusalem was the place where God was worshipped, and hence, it became synonymous with the word church, or is used to represent the people of God. The word rendered “above,” (ἄνω anō) means properly “up above,” that w... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IT IS WRITTEN - This passage is found in Isaiah 54:1. For an exposition of its meaning as it occurs there, see my notes at Isaiah. The object of the apostle in introducing it here seems to be to prove that the Gentiles as well as the Jews would partake of the privileges connected with the heaven... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW WE, BRETHREN - We who are Christians. ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE PROMISE - We so far resemble Isaac, that there are great and precious promises made to us. We are not in the condition of Ishmael, to whom no promise was made.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT AS THEN HE THAT WAS BORN AFTER THE FLESH - Ishmael; see Galatians 4:23. PERSECUTED HIM THAT WAS BORN AFTER THE SPIRIT - That is, Isaac. The phrase, “after the Spirit,” here, is synonymous with “according to the promise” in the previous verse. It stands opposed to the phrase “after the flesh,” an... [ Continue Reading ]
NEVERTHELESS - But Ἀλλὰ (Alla). WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURE? - What does the Scripture teach on the subject? What lesson does it convey in regard to the bondman? CAST OUT THE BONDWOMAN AND HER SON - This was the language of Sarah, in an address to Abraham, requesting him to cast out Hagar and Ishmae... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THEN, BRETHREN - It follows from all this. Not from the allegory regarded as an argument - for Paul does not use it thus - but from the considerations suggested on the whole subject. Since the Christian religion is so superior to the Jewish; since we are by it freed from degrading servitude, and... [ Continue Reading ]