PART II.

CHAPTER THE TWELFTH.

OF THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS.

I. Date of this Epistle.—11. Design and Substance of it. I. THE HE Country of Galatia was part of Asia Minor, and derived its name from the Gauls, who, about 240 years before Christ, took possession of it by force of arms, and settled there.

There is great difference of opinion among the learned concerning the date of this Epistle, some supposing that it was written as early as the year 52, and others as late as the year 58. There is, however, an expression in the beginning, which appears to fix its date with a considerable degree of probability: "I marvel," says the Apostle," that ye are so soon removed from him, that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another Gospel." This passage seems to prove, that the Epistle was written soon after the Galatians were converted to Christianity. We have seen in the history of St. Paul, that he preached in Galatia

in the year 51, in the course of his second apostolical journey; and again in the year 53, in his third journey. No mention is made in this Epistle of St. Paul having been twice in Galatia, and therefore I conclude that it was written in the interval between his two visits, and most probably in the year 52, while he was at Corinth; or it might have been written, as Michaelis thinks, in Macedonia, before Paul went to Corinth.

II. Not long after St. Paul had converted the Galatians to the belief of the Gospel, some Judaizing Christians endeavoured, with considerable success, to persuade them of the necessity of being circumcised, and of observing the law of Moses; for this purpose they urged, though without any foundation, the authority of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem; they represented Paul as having only an inferior commission, derived from the church at Jerusalem, and that even he, in certain cases, had allowed of circumcision. The object of this Epistle, which is written in a strain of angry complaint, was to counteract the impression made by these false teachers, and to re-establish the Galatians in the true Christian faith and practice.

St. Paul begins, after a salutation in the name, of himself and all the brethren who were with

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him, by asserting his apostolical mission; he shews from a brief history of his life, that he learnt the Gospel not from man, but by immediate revelation from God; and that he entered upon his ministry by divine appointment, without receiving any instruction or authority from those who were apostles before him, or at first holding any communication with them; that he afterwards conferred with the heads of the church at Jerusalem, and was by them, upon the fullest conviction, acknowledged to be an apostle through the especial grace of God. St. Paul having thus proved the independency and divine original of his mission, and that he was "not a whit behind the very chiefest of the apostles (a)," proceeds to refute the imputation of inconsistency with which he had been charged, by stating that he had not compelled his convert and companion Titus, who was a Greek, to be circumcised, and by shewing that he had uniformly resisted the Judaizing Christians, and in particular that he had withstood and reproved Peter at Antioch, who, through fear of the Jewish Christians, had refused to associate with heathen converts; he contends, that he had always maintained that the Gospel was alone able to save those who believe it, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ (b);

(a) 2 Cor. c. 11. V. 5. (b) C. I and 2.

he

he expostulates with the Galatians for having suffered themselves to be seduced by false teachers from the doctrines which he had taught them, and brings to their recollection, that upon their embracing the Gospel, and not the Law, they had received the Holy Ghost (c); he then pursues the main subject of the Epistle at considerable length, and proves that the obligation of the ritual part of the Mosaic law is completely abolished, both with respect to Jews and Gentiles (d); and in the course of his argument he contrasts the present defection of the Galatians with their former zeal and affection towards him, and expresses a fear lest he should have preached to them in vain; he earnestly exhorts them to stand fast in the liberty with which Christ had made them free, and not to suffer themselves again to be entangled with the bondage of legal ordinances; he points out the moral and spiritual nature of the Gospel, in opposition to outward observances (e); and concludes with a variety of directions and precepts, all tending to the cultivation of practical virtue (ƒ).

St. Paul wrote this Epistle with his own hand, although it was his common practice to make use of an amanuensis.

(c) C. 3. v. I to 5.

(d) C. 3. v. 6 to the end of c. 4.

(e) C. 5.

(f) C. 6.

It

It may be proper to remark, that the doctrine contained in this Epistle goes farther than the decree of the council at Jerusalem, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. In this Epistle, St. Paul maintains, that no persons, whether Jews or Gentiles, after they had embraced the Gospel, ought to consider the observance of the Mosaic Law as essential to their salvation, or as contributing to a greater degree of perfection; and he says to the Galatian Christians, "Christ is become of no effect to you, whosoever of you are justified by the law;" that is, whoever relies upon legal ordinances, as the means of his justification, will lose all the benefits to which he would otherwise be entitled from the profession of the Gospel : whereas the decree only decided, that it was not necessary for Gentile converts to Christianity to be circumcised, or to conform to the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic institution (g).

(g) It has always been thought a point of considerable difficulty to account for St. Paul's not appealing to this decree in his Epistle to the Galatians. Those who wish to see the best reasons which can be assigned for that omission, may consult Dr. Paley's Hor. Paul. page 197.