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

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