Commentaries Dictionaries Concordances

Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Galatians 3:22

The scripture. — Slightly personified.

Hath concluded. — The same peculiar word occurs in Romans 11:32, with a similar sense. It means to “shut up,” “hem in,” “prevent from straying either to the right hand or to the left,” as a shepherd shuts up his flock in the fold.

All. — This is put in the neuter gender, but only to give a more complete universality to the statement. What is meant is “all mankind.”

The promise by faith of Jesus Christ. — The promise which originates in faith in Christ, which derives its fulfilment from faith, is due to faith.

Continues after advertising

See also Galatians 3:22 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 22. _BUT THE SCRIPTURE HATH CONCLUDED_] All the writings of the _prophets_ have uniformly declared that men are all _sinners_, and the _law_ declares the same by the continual _sacrifices_ whic...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    BUT THE SCRIPTURE - The Old Testament (see the note at John 5:39), containing the Law of Moses. HATH CONCLUDED ALL UNDER SIN - Has “shut up” (συνέκλεισεν sunekleisen) all under the condemnation of si...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    II. CONTRASTS BETWEEN LAW AND GRACE CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The gift of the Spirit not by the works of the law, but by hearing of faith. (Galatians 3:1)_ 2. Righteousness not bestowed by the law, but by fai...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    THE GIFT OF GRACE (Galatians 3:1-9)...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    Why, then, have the law at all? The law was added to the situation to define what transgressions are, until the seed should come, to whom the promise, which still holds good, had been made. That law w...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    CONCLUDED. See Romans 11:32. SIN. Greek. hamartia. App-128. Compare Romans 3:10. BELIEVE. App-150....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _But the Scripture_, &c. The impossibility (Theod. Mops.) of obtaining righteousness by legal obedience is proved by the plain testimony of Scripture. It is noteworthy that in this momentous argument...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    ἈΛΛᾺ. In contradiction to the hypothesis in Galatians 3:21 b, the statement of Scripture is otherwise. ΣΥΝΈΚΛΕΙΣΕΝ. Galatians 3:23; Romans 11:32;...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    19–22. _The true place and purpose of the Law. It was subordinate to the promise, and preparatory, by developing the sense of sin_ (Galatians 3:19) (If the inheritance is by the Promise, not by the La...

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΣΥΝΈΚΛΕΙΣΕΝ _aor. ind. act. от_ ΣΥΓΚΛΕΊΩ (G4788) запирать вместе, замыкать со всех сторон. Этот гл. указывает на невозможность побега (Guthrie), ΔΟΘΉ _aor. conj. pass. от_ ΔΊΔΩΜΙ (G1325) давать. _Con...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 2068 THE TRUE USE OF THE LAW Galatians 3:21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness sho...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    ALL— The words Τα παντα are used here for _all men._ In Romans 3:9; Romans 3:19 the Apostle expresses the same thing by παντας, _all men,_ and πας ο κοσμος, _all the world:_ but, speaking in the prese...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    TEXT 3:21, 22 (21) Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could make alive, verily righteousness would have been of the law. (22) But the scr...

  • Combined Bible Commentary

    _VERSE 22. BUT THE SCRIPTURE HATH CONCLUDED ALL UNDER SIN._ Where? First in the promises concerning Christ in Genesis 3:15 and in Genesis 22:18, which speak of the seed of the woman and the seed of Ab...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. BUT - So far is righteousness from being of the law, that, etc., Roma...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    3 Paul now appeals to the experience of the Galatians themselves. Before the Judaisers came they received the Spirit of God, and suffered for the evangel, and did mighty works quite apart from the law...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    CONCLUDED ALL] RV 'shut up all things.' The OT. teaches what the Gospel teaches, that all need a gracious salvation. Both Law and Gospel contemplate the same ultimate end. 'The connexion of the argume...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    JUSTIFICATION IS BY FAITH, NOT WORKS 1-14. The Apostle upbraids the Galatians with their speedy change from faith to legal observances, reminding them of the fact that their reception of the Spirit h...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    CHRIST HAS MADE US FREE GALATIANS _HELEN POCOCK_ CHAPTER 3 LIVE BY GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT, NOT BY YOUR OWN EFFORTS V1 You Galatians are foolish. You behave as if someone has used magic powers to lead...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    People in the world are not free. Their strong desire to *sin controls them. *Sin is like a prison. People cannot be free from their *sin even if they try very hard. But Jesus Christ can free people f...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 14 THE DESIGN OF THE LAW. Galatians 3:19 "WHAT then is the law?" So the Jew might well exclaim. Paul has been doing nothing but disparage it.-"You say that the Law of Moses brings no righteo...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    The real function of the Law was not to justify but to convict of sin, that men might the more readily turn in humble faith to Christ for relief from the burden of an accusing conscience. ἡ γραφὴ. The...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    THE LAW WAS A TEMPORARY ENACTMENT ORDAINED TO DEAL WITH THE OFFENCES WHICH IT DENOUNCES UNTIL THE COMING OF THE PROMISED SEED. THE GOD FROM WHOM IT PROCEEDED WAS THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, BUT HE PROMULGATED...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE LAW LEADS TO CHRIST Galatians 3:20 The Mosaic law was not designed to be the final code of the religious life, but to prepare the soil of the human heart to receive Jesus Christ in all the fullne...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Here begins the second division of the epistle, in which Paul deals with the doctrine of liberty. He begins with the exclamation, "O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you?" He then inquired, Did they...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    But the (s) scripture hath concluded (t) all under sin, that the (u) promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. (s) By this word "scripture" he means the Law. (t) All mank...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Hath concluded all under sin; i.e. hath declared all to be under sin, from which they could not be delivered but by faith in Jesus Christ, the promised seed. (Challoner) --- The law was not given to...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (21) Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. (22) But the scripture ha...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    Galatians 1:1-24. We saw the second of Corinthians characterized by the most rapid transitions of feeling, by a deep and fervent sense of God's consolations, by a revulsion so much the more powerful i...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    _GOD’S GIFTS AND MAN’S FAITH_ ‘The promise by faith of Jesus Christ … given to them that believe.’ Galatians 3:22 It would be difficult to say what portion of Holy Scripture can be of more vital mo...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    22._The Scripture hath concluded_. By the word Scripture is chiefly intended the law itself. It “hath concluded all under sin,” and therefore, instead of giving, it takes away righteousness from all....

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    What a loss, dreadful and irreparable, to lose such a Christ, as we, under grace, have known Him; such a righteousness; such a love; the Son of God our portion, our life; the Son of God devoted for us...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    BUT THE SCRIPTURE HATH CONCLUDED ALL UNDER SIN,.... By the "Scripture" is meant, either the writing of the law in particular, the killing letter, or the whole Scripture, or God in it; and who by and i...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Ver. 22. _But the Scripture_] The law and the prophets. _ Hath conclude...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Is the law then_ Which requires perfect obedience, and subjects all that in any respect violate it, to the curse, _against_, or contrary to, _the promises of God_ Wherein he declares that he will jus...

  • Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament (1851)

    HATH CONCLUDED; declared all to be shut up under sin and condemnation, so that there is no way of escape except by faith in Christ....

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    BUT THE SCRIPTURE HATH CONCLUDED ALL UNDER SIN, THAT THE PROMISE BY FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST MIGHT BE GIVEN TO THEM THAT BELIEVE. The apostle here meets an objection which the opponents might make. If th...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    PROOFS FOR THE LIBERTY OF A CHRISTIAN FROM THE NATURE AND MEANING OF THE LAW. The secondary office of the Law:...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    FAITH IS THE ONE PRINCIPLE OF BLESSING (vs.1-9) "0 foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?" (v.1). Little wonder, as Paul considers the principles and tremendous issues involved, that he speaks out...

  • Manly Luscombe Commentary on New Testament

    All have sinned. Romans 3:23 God's promise is to all who have shown obedient faith....

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    19-22 If that promise was enough for salvation, wherefore then serveth the law? The Israelites, though chosen to be God's peculiar people, were sinners as well as others. The law was not intended to...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    BUT THE SRIPTURE HATH CONCLUDED ALL UNDER SIN: it pleased God to give a law, which, if Adam had continued in his estate of innocence, might have given life; but considering man in his lapsed state, th...

  • McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries

    But the scripture shut up all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. [The apostle now undertakes to show the inferiority of the law to the gos...

  • NT Verse References in the Ante-Nicene Fathers

    Tertullian Against Marcion Book V His own antagonist! For this (I suppose it was, that) the law of the Creator had "concluded all under sin,"[632]...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Galatians 3:22 But G235 Scripture G1124 confined G4788 (G5656) all G3956 under G5259 sin G266 that G2443 promise...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    WHAT THEN WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW? (GALATIANS 3:19). He now raises the question as to what the purpose of the Law is....

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘But the Scripture has shut up (concluded) all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.' Indeed the Scripture declares that through the Law's te...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    _The Educational Mission of the Law_. Paul now assumes a milder tone, and reasons with the Galatians from the common dealings of men. Even a human covenant is sacred and cannot be set aside, much more...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    Galatians 3:22. THE SCRIPTURE, the whole Old Testament, including the law. It is here personified as in Galatians 3:8, and stands for the author of the Scripture. The Apostle may have had in mind a sp...

  • Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

    HATH SHUT UP (συνεκλεισεν). Did shut together. First aorist active indicative of συνκλειω, old verb to shut together, on all sides, completely as a shoal of fish in a net (Luke 5:6). So verse Galati...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?_ These Galatians thought that...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Galatians 3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I lea...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Galatians 3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you,_ Paul writes as if they had come under some kind of witchcraft, and been deluded by it. This seemed to astonish the apostle, so he cries o...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Paul, writing, to those changeable Galatians, who had so soon deserted the faith, says to them in this chapter Galatians 3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Gift of Spirit by faith apart from law-works. Man under law-works is under the law curse. Christ bears the law curse that we might have the faith blessing. The true intent of the law. CHARA...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Galatians 3:1. _Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you:_ εβασκανε, who hath fascinated, beguiled, or seduced you by subtlety and cunning, and sought by ingenious malice to draw you from the trut...

  • The Bible Study New Testament

    BUT THE SCRIPTURE. "The scripture shows that all the people of earth, both Jew and Gentile, are held as slaves by sin and are under God's curse. The only way out of this curse, is through the promised...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin._ A CHARGE OF SIN I. The scripture statement of man’s natural condition. And what now do you expect to hear? That man, though fallen and frail, has nev...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    GALATIANS—NOTE ON GALATIANS 3:22 The law (THE SCRIPTURE), instead of giving “life” (v. Galatians 3:21) with God, imprisoned everything under

  • The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide

    CHAPTER 3 SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER S. Paul proceeds to prove by five reasons that we are justified not by the law, or the works of the law, but by Christ. I. The first proof is drawn (ver. 2) from e...

  • The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide

    _But the scripture hath concluded all under sin._ This Scripture is cited in Romans 3:9. VER. 23. _Before faith came._ Like slaves under the stern discipline of the law, we were kept as though by wall...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES_ Galatians 3:22. THE SCRIPTURE HATH CONCLUDED ALL UNDER SIN.—The written letter was needed so as permanently to convict man of disobedience to God’s command. He is shu...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION GALATIANS 3:1 O FOOLISH GALATIANS (ὦ ἀνόητοι Γαλάται). In thus apostrophizing them, the apostle brands their present behaviour, not any lack of intelligence on their part in general...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Shall we turn now in our Bibles to Galatians chapter three. Background: Paul the apostle had been in the area of Galatia. Galatia was a general area like a county or a state. It was not a city. There...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 John 2:25; 1 John 3:23; 1 John 3:24; 1 John 5:11; 1 John 5:13;...

  • Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament (4 Volume Set)

    But it is not true that the law gives life, for the law, according to scripture, condemned all alike. The scripture [η γ ρ α φ η]. Scripture is personified. See on verse 8. Hath concluded [σ υ ν ε κ λ...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE CROSS AND ITS OBJECTIVES Galatians 3:10; Galatians 4:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS The Cross must ever stand forth in the limelight of Bible and spiritual study. Apart from Christ's Calvary work we have...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    But, on the contrary, the scripture wherein that law is written hath concluded all under sin — Hath shut them up together, (so the word properly signifies,) as in a prison, under sentence of death, to...

Continues after advertising