10-The Last Section from Galatians
The Last Section from Galatians (Chapter 6:11-end) The writer now passes for a time from questions of doctrine to questions of practical life. Freedom is of the essence of the Christian life, but Christian ‘freedom’-in accordance with the fundamental paradox of Christ-involves (yes, even is) ‘slavery,’ the slavery of love. This love the Galatians were very far from having realised. They were fighting among themselves. Such contention, the Apostle admits, is highly natural, but it is wholly unspiritual. One can’t have it both ways. The ‘flesh’ is one thing, the ‘spirit’ another. To follow ‘natural’ desire is to be un-spiritual. And it is only ‘spirit life’ which is really free. v. 18 would seem to be parenthetical. It does not state the essence of ‘spirit life,’ but only a consequence of it.
“And if ye are led by spirit” (says the Apostle) “then is there no ‘law’ for you.” Where the Spirit is, Love is; and where Love is, law vanishes. The last part of chap. 5 is taken up with the list of typical ‘products’ (ἔργα) of the ‘flesh,’ and the corresponding list of the things which proceed without effort from the presence of the Spirit in a man. These various virtues and graces are denominated καρπός. The latter member of v. 23 presents, in another form, the absolute ‘freedom’ of the spirit life. “In face of these” (κατὰ τῶν τοιούτων) “Law” (in any of its forms) “does not exist.” But the operation of the Spirit and its influence on men is not wholly automatic. In vv. 24 and 25 we are brought up against the solid fact of the need of human effort. “If we owe our life to spirit, let our acts too correspond.” Something like this, I suppose, is the meaning of v. 25. The sixth chapter, in its earlier portion, deals with mutual help in the Church, the need of the life of service, and, more particularly, with the claims of generous giving. The latter half of the chapter I should like to paraphrase.
6:11-12 “See, with what huge characters I write, with my owe hand!” And (apparently) he writes the next sentence in capitals-writes it himself, not employing, as usually, a friend as amanuensis:
“All that want to make a fair show outwardly, Seek To Force You To Circumcision. Only Because They Want To Avoid The Persecution Entailed By The Cross Of Christ.” That is to say, St Paul affirms, with all the emphasis he can command (typified by enormous letters), that the ‘circumcision party’ were solely influenced by lack of moral courage. They shrank from the reproach of their countrymen. That was all. They found that if they submitted to circumcision, or rather persuaded others to submit to circumcision (for they were, ex hypothesis, already circumcised themselves), they could disarm all Israelite enmity. They might believe exactly what they liked and teach exactly what they liked, provided they accepted that rite, which placed them under the Old Covenant. Their zeal for circumcision was just to ‘save their face.’ They did not realise-they shut their eyes to the fact-that it was flat treason to the New Covenant. On the other hand, they did not trouble themselves, nor would anyone outside trouble them, to keep the whole of the Law. It was enough, for Jewish zealots, that they should accept the one rite that counted.
6:13. “Why, not even the circumcisers themselves trouble about keeping the Law. No, they want you circumcised that they may win glory for themselves over your external submission.”
“Not so I! God forbid that I seek glory, save in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ! whereby the world is ‘crucified’ for me, and I for the world.”
Οἱ περιτεμνόμενοι is St Paul’s convenient term (coined on true Attic principles) for the circumcision party. We are not to conclude that, so far, these weak-kneed brethren had prevailed in Galatia. They had not as yet ‘Judaised’ the bulk of the Galatian Church. Only they were trying hard, and the danger was imminent. ‘Glory’ was what they wanted-the credit of standing well with men. ‘Glory’ the Apostle also wants, but his glory stands in his ‘shame’-the reproach of the Cross of Christ he has embraced with heart and soul. All else is dead for him (for ‘crucifixion’ connotes death) and he for all else. The two terms ‘world’ and ‘flesh’ have, of course, a good deal in common. Circumcision, in the light of the revelation of Christ, was ‘fleshly,’ was also ‘worldly.’ The Apostle would have none of it. To be sure, he had been circumcised: but to that he now attached no importance whatsoever. So he continues:
6:15. “In Christ Jesus circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing. A man is a new being.” As I have said already, I hold it probable that ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ represents τοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. The translation of ἀλλὰ καινὴ κτίσις is not an easy matter. The choice seems to be between “but a new creation is everything” (as in 1 Corinthians 3:7) and the version I have given. The general effect is much the same, whichever we believe to be the Apostle’s meaning Καινὴ κτίσις (one would gather from Lightfoot’s statement) is more likely to have reference to an individual believer.
6:16. “And all that are going to walk by this standard, peace be on them and mercy-aye, on the Israel of God!” The phrase στοιχεῖν κανόνι appears to be unexampled. What is the κανών in question? Probably ‘Christ and Christ only.’ The person St Paul regards as a genuine Christian, as one of the ‘Israel of God,’ is the man who has taken Christ for ‘all in all.’ That is the man St Paul can regard as a genuine brother. The last καί (in v. 16) is a καί of identity. The general sense of v. 17 would appear to be that on this point the Apostle himself is unassailable: it is no use troubling him. He is ‘Christ’s man’ altogether, as anyone can detect who sees him face to face. What the figure underlying the στίγματα may be, it is hard to tell. I suspect tattooing rather than branding. It may be the thought of an ordinary slave, or of an hierodule, or of a soldier that he has before him. In his case the marks of allegiance were somehow visibly stamped. Why they are called, by a usage far from common in St Paul, “the marks of Jesus” is a difficult problem. The brief expression of blessing in v. 18 is notable for three things; for the pathetic appeal in ἀδελφοί, with which it ends; for the reminder in the word χάρις of the way δικαιοσύνη comes; and for the significant hint (μετὰ τοῦ πνεύματος ὑμῶν) that Christianity is, in essence, an inward, not an outward thing.