Galatians 3
DODDGalatians 3:1-14
The apostle reproves the Galatians for their instability with regard to the important doctrine of justification by faith; which he farther confirms from the instance of Abraham, who was thus justified, and in whose blessing we share, through the redemption Christ has wrought out for us. Gal. III. 1—14.
GAL. III. 1. OF FOOLISH Galatians, who THESE are the real sentiments of my heart which I have now laid before you, and you were formerly taught them at large. But O ye thoughtless Galatians, after all the instructions
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The Galatians reproved or not obeying the t
I have given you, how little do they prevail in your breasts? May I not even ask you, who hath by some fallacious fatal charm enchanted you,ᵃ and as it were dazzled the eyes of your mind with the vain glitterings of sophistry and delusive arts of evasion, that you should not go on to obey the truth so solemnly inculcated upon you; even you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ crucified hath been so evidently set forth and strongly delineated among you,ᵇ in the most affectionate representations of his word and ordinances? One would have imagined these lively views should for ever have secured your fidelity to him, and have fortified your hearts against every insinuation injurious to the honour of his cross. But methinks even now the matter might be brought to a short issue: and to this purpose, there is this only I would learn of you, Did ye receive the Spirit in its extraordinary operations in and upon you, by a regard to the works of the Mosaic law, or any other law on which you might depend for justification as a matter of legal claim? Or were you made partakers of it by the hearing of the gospel, proposing the method of justification by faith in the righteousness and grace of the Redeemer?ᶜ If any of the new teachers that are come among you can work such miracles in proof of their tenets, and confer such gifts on their followers, you will be
ᵃ Who hath enchanted you?] I know some would render εὐκαινία, Who hath envied your happiness? But as the Jewish zealots could not have any sense of the happiness of those Christians they endeavoured to disturb, it is not, I think, so natural to refer their attempts to envy; and it is well known the word also signifies to enchant. It strongly expresses the unreasonable turn their minds had taken, so that one would imagine they had been deprived of the regular use even of their natural faculties.
ᵇ Before whose eyes Jesus Christ crucified, &c.] There is no room to object that this is merely an argument to the passions; for in proportion to the affecting sense they had of the love of Christ in submitting to crucifixion for them, would be the rational sense of the obliations they were under to
him, to preserve his gospel pure, and his church free and happy
ᶜ Did ye receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?] There is no doubt but that it was on their becoming Christians that they received the Spirit; and therefore that it could not be ascribed to the law, which they were strangers to till afterwards, but must be owing to that faith in which they were instructed by the gospel on their embracing Christianity. Nor can it justly be objected that they still retained the Christianity by which the Spirit was received; for they were now perverted to a different system by their new teachers, and that which Paul had preached at first among them, when the received the Spirit, was a Christianity of which Judaism made no part.
’t was given, not by the law, but by the gospe.
more excusable in hearkening to them than in present circumstances you can possibly be.
But are you indeed so inconsiderate as to need being reminded in this manner? Where is the benefit you can propose by turning to the law? Having begun in the Spirit, having known the spirituality, power, and energy of the glorious gospel, are ye now seeking to be made perfect by the flesh? or have you any expectation of attaining to a superior degree of perfection and excellency, by a submission to those carnal ordinances of the law which at first view appear to be so much beneath it, and to be altogether insufficient for it? If you are tempted to so great a fall as this, let me remind you of the difficulties you have already borne for Christianity; many of which have been brought upon you by the instigation of the Jews, whose hatred is so violent against it. Say then, my brethren, have ye suffered so many things in vain?ᵈ Will you give up the benefit of all these sufferings, and lose, in a great measure at least, the reward of them, by relinquishing what is so material in that scheme of doctrine you have been suffering for? Shall all that you have endured be thus in vain? if indeed [it be] yet in vain, which I am willing to hope it is not entirely, and that however your principles may have been shaken, yet God will not permit them to be quite overthrown.
I know that your favourite teachers have many arts of address with which they endeavour to soothe you, and to conciliate your regards to themselves, while they would alienate them from me: but when you come to the most solid and authentic proofs of a Divine mission, have you not seen them wrought
ᵈ Have ye suffered so many things in vain?ᵉ Should it be said, “that, notwithstanding the Galatians were for adding the observation of the law to the gospel, it would not necessarily destroy their hopes as Christians, nor deprive them of the reward of that courage they had hitherto shewn in its defence:” yet it must be allowed that some degree of their reward might be lost, as it might derogate from their future glory, to have been through inconsideration, and prejudices rashly admitted, accessory to the corruption
tion and consequent obstruction of the gospel: and also, that as much persecution might be declined by admitting this mixture of Judaism, there was reason to fear that it was a regard to their own present ease and convenience that led them to it; (compare Chap. v. 11, and vi. 12;) which was in a manner cancelling the good effect of their former resolution; and indeed any thing that looked like a sinful temporizing in those who had before been confessors for the truth, might occasion peculiar scandal, and endanger many more.
Abraham was justified by faith:
among you, in confirmation of the doctrine I delivered to you? He therefore that ministereth to you an extraordinary supply of the Spirit by the laying on of his hands, and that worketh other evident and uncontrouled miracles among you, [doeth he it] by the works of the law, and in virtue of any commission he had received from God to inculcate the observation of the Mosaic precepts? or is it by the hearing of faith that he doeth it? Is it not evidently by that gospel which you have heard me preach, and which exhorts you to seek justification and salvation by faith? And will you then forsake a doctrine which has been so signally attested, and exchange it for one, the teachers of which have no such attestations to produce?
And this method which the gospel proposeth is agreeable to the example which you have in the great father of the faithful: for even as you read of Abraham, (Gen. xv. 6,) long before he was circumcised, “that he believed God, relying on the promise that he made him, and it was imputed to him for righteousness;” it was set down to his account, as an evidence of his being a righteous person: Know ye therefore, and infer from hence, that as faith was the brightest part of the character of this illustrious patriarch, so all they who [are] of faith, all that have the same principle working in their hearts, and engaging them to receive the gospel dispensation, the same are, and shew themselves by a like disposition to be, the children of Abraham, and may expect to inherit the same blessings with him, as by embracing the gospel they manifest the same principle and temper.
And again, the Holy Spirit, by whose inspiration the scripture was written, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles, when he should call them by his grace, in the same manner as he justified Abraham, only through faith, did
a Worketh miracles among you.] It is a just and important observation of Mr. Baxter here, that it was a great display of Divine Wisdom to suffer such contentions to arise thus early in the church as should make it necessary for the apostles to appeal to the miracles wrought before, 118. and upon those who were afterwards in some degree alienated from them; that future ages might be convinced of the certainty of these miracles as matters of fact beyond all possibility of contradiction. See Baxter’s Practical Works, Vol. II. p.
The law pronounces a curse on every branch of it:
in effect before the revelation of it to the world’s preach the glad tidings of the gospel unto Abraham himself, [saying] once and again, (Gen. xii. 3; xviii. 18; xxii. 18,) “In thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed;” that is to say, By their faith in that glorious Person who is to descend from thee, all persons whatsoever shall be blessed, of whatever nation they be, who learn to resemble thee in their readiness to receive every message from God with an entire submission and obedience. So then it appears, that they who are really partakers of the grace of faith, and seek to be justified by it; they who have an unfeigned principle of faith in their hearts, and shew it by giving due credit to this great and indubitable testimony which God hath borne to his Son; they are blessed with believing Abraham, and shall inherit the promises made to him, though they are, as he was when he first received these promises, in a state of uncircumcision.
Now it is evident that this blessing must be received by the gospel; for as many as are of that covenant which relates only to the works of the law, and have no higher views and expectations than a legal dispensation could give, are indeed under a curse, and by every breach of that law become obnoxious to it. And of this, with respect to the Mosaic law, we have as express a proof as can be imagined; for it is written, with regard to all that are under it, (Deut. xxvii. 26,) “Cursed [is] every one who confirmeth not all the words of this law, that is, who continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” It
“In thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed.] It may perhaps be asked, “What evidence there is that this promise meant the converting Jews and Gentiles to Christianity, rather than converting the Gentiles to Judaism, and so blessing them with a participation of the privileges originally granted to the natural seed of Abraham.” But besides what the apostle afterwards says for clearing up this point, it may be answered, That the Mosaic economy was so constituted that it could never be an universal thing; and that when it was considered
what sort of a person Christ in fact was, there would appear reason to believe that this promise referred to him, even separate from the authority of the apostle in asserting it, and how dubious soever the sense of the oracle might appear till it was illustrated by the event.
“Are under a curse.] Dr. Whitby proves, (in his note on ver. 13,) that the law of Adam was attended with a curse as well as that of Moses; and that it is the more general curse which is here intended, as illustrated by what Moses expressed as the sanction of his institutions.
But Christ has delivered us from the curse of the law,
is therefore a perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience to every one of its injunctions, which the law requires: and as every man’s conscience must tell him that he hath not performed this, he must see the dreadful denunciation levelled at himself, and dooming him to death and misery.
And that no man is justified in the sight of God by the performance of the law, or by his own obedience to it, [is] farther evident from God’s appointment of another way of justification; for, (as the prophet saith, Habak. ii. 4.) “The just, or righteous man, that is, he who shall finally be treated by God as such, shall live by faith:“h he shall be justified and saved by trusting in the mercy of an almighty God through Christ, and resting on the promise he hath graciously made of pardon and salvation even to sinful creatures, who shall by faith apply to him for righteousness and life. Now it is manifest that the law is not of faith, nor doth it allow of such a way of justification; but puts it on another and most rigorous footing, insisting on exact obedience to all its commands, and declaring, (Lev xviii. 5.) “that the man that doeth them, shall live in or by them:” he who perfectly conforms himself to these precepts shall have a right to happiness in consequence of them; but he that breaks them must bear the penalty without any farther assistance from a law which, being in one instance violated, must for ever condemn the transgressor.
But ever adored be the riches of Divine grace, Christ hath redeemed us who believe in his name from the terrible curse of the law, and
h The just shall live by faith.] As the postle shews in the next verse that there was no obtaining life by the law without perfect personal obedience, faith, which stands here in opposition to it, must signify a firm belief of the promise of God, and acting according to it in a dependence upon Christ for righteousness; which is the way of justification that the gospel has revealed. Compare note 4, on Rom. i. 17, Vol. IV. p. 16
h Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.] The curse of the law from which Christ has redeemed us was that
which doomed us to eternal misery; from whence it hath been very plausibly inferred that the law of Moses was established on the sanction of future punishments. But perhaps it may be solidly answered, that the apostle, arguing concerning the law of God in general, the breach of which did certainly render obnoxious to future punishments, may mention the circumstance of the Mosaic law leaving every presumptuous offender to die under a curse, as an intimation of those melancholy prospects with respect to futurity which we must grant it certainly gave, even though we
e might receive the promise of the Spirit.
bought us off from that servitude and misery to which it inexorably doomed us, by being himself made a curse for us, and enduring the penalty which our sins had deserved: for such was the death which he bore in our stead; not only when considered as a capital punishment, which universally implies something of this, but as thus stigmatized by the express declaration of the law against every one in such a particular circumstance; for it is written, (Deut. xxi. 23,) “Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree” now Christ, as you well know, was hung upon a tree; he expired on the cross, and his dead body hung for some time upon it. And this, in his adorable condescension, he submitted to for us and our salvation; that the curse having been borne by him in our room, the blessing of Abraham in all its extent of spiritual benefits, and that adoption which was given in him, might come, not only on believing Jews, but on the Gentiles also, through Christ Jesus the great anointed Saviour; and particularly, that we, even the whole church of Christian converts, might, through the exercise of a living and sincere faith in him, receive the promise of the Spirit as the seal of our adoption,ᵏ both in the effusion of its miraculous gifts, so far as they may conduce to the edification of the church, and in the rich abundance of its saving graces.
that it contained an of such punishments; that it any where does, he learned Mr. War-oved that it doth not, that the course of the here implies, that all deemed from the curse; that he speaks of a curse, were liable; where-g under no obligation all, could not possibly by its curse, nor could acted by it, otherwise in which we have ex-
ᵏ That we might receive the promise of the Spirit.] It is justly observed learned Diodate here, that the plea effusion of the Holy Spirit of God has so frequently promised by the prop the great blessing of the latter day, is here used as synonymous to the ble Abraham. And Mr. Howe very pr argues from hence the great import the Spirit, since the imparting it is sent as the great blessing by which curse is removed; from whence (s: it follows that the withdrawing and holding it is the great calamity which upon men by their apostasy from See Howe’s Works, Vol. I. p. 237.
Reflections on the deliverance from the curse by Christ.
IMPROVEMENT.
v. 1 THROUGH the amazing goodness of God to us we share with the Galatians in this great privilege, that Jesus Christ crucified is evidently set forth among us. Let us make the object familiar to our view, to our hearts: and O that we may all feel its powerful influence, to engage us to obey the truth, and to comply with the practical design of the gospel! O that none of the enchantments of this vain world may be able to draw us aside from a becoming regard to it! May those especially, who have begun in the Spirit, and perhaps have suffered many difficulties already in the cause of religion, be concerned that they may not suffer so many things in vain, and after all their pretensions and hopes make an end in the flesh, by forsaking that excellent cause! 3, 4 6, 7 That we may be deemed the children of Abraham, let us have the same faith with him; that believing in God as he did, and trusting in the promised Messiah, we may attain that righteousness which it is impossible to obtain by the deeds of the law, which insists upon perfect obedience, and passes sentence upon every one that has transgressed it. Nothing can be more important than to endeavour to impress our souls with this great and fundamental truth, that if we are of the works of the law, and trust in these for justification, we are under a curse. O that God may graciously thunder that curse in the ears of sleeping sinners, and make them sensible of their guilt and danger; that as prisoners of justice, yet in some measure prisoners of hope, (Zech. ix. 12,) they may flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them in the gospel. (Heb. vi. 18.) 13 We need not go far for help. No sooner are we wounded (as it were) in one verse, than we find provision for our healing in another. For Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law; and this in a method never sufficiently to be admired, even by making himself a ransom, yea and becoming a curse for us; submitting, not only to great infamy and wretchedness in his life, but to an ignominious and accursed death, being slain and hung upon a tree. (Acts v. 30; x. 39.) To him let us apply, that the curse may be removed; and with humble confidence in him, let us lift up our eyes in cheerful expectation, that though by birth we are Gentiles, the blessing of Abraham will come upon us, and that through faith we shall receive the promise of the Spirit. And what promise can be more valuable than this? what blessing more desirable, than, to be enlightened, to be quickened, to be sanctified, to be comforted by the Spirit? As the just, may we live by faith; and make it our daily request at the throne of grace, that God will implant and increase that Divine principle in our hearts, even such a faith as shall work by love, and prove a genuine principle of sincere and universal obedience.
he stability of the covenant of promise.
Galatians 3:15
er illustrates the stability and importance of the with Abraham as the father of believers, which nant could not infringe, and to an application to est severities were intended to lead. Gal. III.
GALATIANS III. 15.
I HAVE been speaking, brethren, of the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, and have shewn, that, according to the original tenor of it, all his believing seed, whether they be or be not circumcised, must be entitled to many very valuable privileges. And herein I speak after the manner of men, and reason on the principles of common equity, according to what is the allowed rule of all human compacts; for though it be but the covenant of a man with his fellow creature, yet if it be once legally confirmed by mutual promise and seal, no honest man concerned afterwards cancellet what was agreed to by it, or addeth any thing to it which should alter the terms of it, without the consent of the other stipulating party.
Now, to apply this to the case before us, the promises relating to the justification of believers were spoken by God at first to Abraham, and to his seed, who are expressly mentioned as making a party with him in the covenant. And here by the way you will observe, that he saith not, “And to seeds,” in the plural number, as speaking of many; but in the singular number, as of one, “And to thy seed;” not extending it to a variety of seeds, which might descend from him, but limiting what he says to one,
He saith not, “And to seeds,” as of mary, &c.] One would not easily allow that the apostle founds his argument on a presumption, that seed cannot signify a plurality of persons; since, (not to mention a thousand other texts,) in that very covenant with Abraham to which he refers, God said, Gen. xv. 5, So shall thy seed be; that is, It shall be as numerous as the stars of heaven. Nor can any instance be produced
in which the greatest number of persons to descend from any one are called his seeds. Therefore, with Bishop Burnet, (in his Four Discourses, p. 66,) I take it to be only the apostles saying, in bad Greek I confess, but with good sense and reason, that the promises made to Abraham are not only appropriated to one line of his descendants, that is, to those by Isaac; but centre in one illustrious person, with regard to
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he law was added because of transgressions which is all to centre in Christ; out of regard to whom that branch of Abraham’s family from which he was to spring was in so remarkable a manner separated from the rest. And this I say further, on the principles laid down above, [that] the covenant which was long before confirmed by the promise of God with respect to Christ, as the illustrious Seed referred to, and the great universal blessing exhibited in the promise, the law which was given at mount Sinai four hundred and thirty years after the date of it cannot disannul, [so] that it should make the promise void and ineffectual; which it must have done if the observation of that law had been for the future the necessary means of justification and happiness. For if the inheritance of Abraham’s blessing [be] suspended on such a condition as not to be obtained but by the observation of the law, it must then follow that [it is] no more the effect of the promise, which is indeed quite abrogated by such a clog: but it is evident that God freely gave [it] to Abraham by promise; and therefore it must be left in such a state as that the honour of the promise may be secure, which otherwise would be abolished and disgraced. (Rom. iv. 13. 14.) But it may be objected, If justification and eternal life cannot be obtained by this means, to what purpose then [serveth] the law, or what significance hath it? I answer, That it was added after the promise was made, because of transgressions; that the Jews might either be whom the rest are made partakers of the Great blessing exhibited in the Abrahamic covenant. And this interpretation I greatly prefer to theirs who suppose that Christ here signifies the mystical body of Christ, or the aggregate of all believers; which interpretation will no more afford an argument from these words than the preceding. And if we suppose it merely a remark by way of illustration, I think no sense so easy as this which is favoured by ver. 19. Four hundred and thirty years after.] To make out this computation, Dr. Whitby and several other commentators proceed thus. The first celebrated promise was made to Abraham, when he was seventy five years old; (Gen. xii. 3. 4.) and from this date of it to the birth of Isaac, when Abraham was an hundred years old, (Gen. xxi. 5.) was 25 years: Isaac was 60 when Jacob was born. (Gen. xxv. 26.) Jacob went into Egypt at 130. (Gen. xlvii. 9.) And the Israelites sojourned there (according to the Septuagint, Exod. xii. 40) 215 years, which completes the number. Compare note, on Acts vii. 6, Vol. III. p. 82. It was added because of transgressions.] As the law that was given by Moses neither did, nor could disannul the covenant made with Abraham, to which the Jews undoubtedly had a claim, the design of that law must therefore have been to engage those of his descendants that came under it to see their need of that covenant, and more effectually to recommend it
es was mediator when the law was given ;
preserved from idolatry and other crimes, or that they might be convicted of their guilt in committing them, and so be taught to seek after a more effectual method of obtaining pardon, with an earnestness proportionable to the discovery it made of the malignity of their guilt : and with this view it was to continue till the illustrious Seed should come, even the Messiah, to whom the promise was made ; into whom both Jews and Gentiles being ingrafted by faith, when the gospel dispensation took place, should become without distinction the spiritual seed of Abraham, and be entitled to the blessings of the promise. Accordingly the law was given in a way agreeable to this design of it ; [and it was] ordained and promulgated by the ministration of angels at mount Sinai, and put in the hand of Moses, who was then appointed by God to act the part of a mediator between him and the people of Israel, and was authorized to attest (as it were) their mutual and reciprocal obligations to each other ; whereas the promise needed no mediator, but was immediately deposited by God in the hand of Abraham to whom it was made. Now we know that a mediator is not merely [the mediator] of one party, but at least of two, between
omise to them. And as the writings of the book of Genesis gave them a farther account of it than tradition had preserved, the law might be said to be added to that account because of transgressions ; as their transgressions, not only of the ceremonial but of the moral precepts, would appear more exceedingly sinful and dangerous, in proportion to the perspicuity of these precepts, and the awful solemnity with which they were delivered.
d By the ministration of angels at mount Sinai.] That the law was given by the ministration of angels, is apparent from many passages of scripture ; (compare Psal. lxviii. 17 ; Acts vii. 53 ; and Heb. i. 2 ;) though the Logos did undoubtedly reside among them, and it was in his name that the proclamation was made by angels, as his heralds and attendants.
• In the hand of a mediator.] It is a singular notion of Mr. Pierce on Heb. vii. 22,
that the mediator here spoken of is the order of Jewish high priests, who succeeding one another, were by virtue of their office mediator between God and the people. He pleads, “that the law is here represented as left in the hands of a mediator till the promised seed should come.” But the clause ἀχρὶς κ οὐδὲ τὸ στίγμα, till the Seed should come, will make very good sense if it be taken in connection with the preceding word ἀχοσίτιδο, and referred to what is said immediately before of the law being added ; as appears in the paraphrase. And the apostle’s argument will be much better supported by referring this to Moses, who was particularly authorized by the Jewish people, as well as constituted by God, to mediate in the affair of receiving the law, which he transacted once for all. It is so unusual and unnatural a manner of speaking, to call a succession of men a mediator, that one would not willingly be forced on such an inconvenient interpretation.
But he transacted nothing for the Gentiles.
which he must pass, and by the nature of his office is to transact for both : but God is only one.
Gal iii. 20 one party in that covenant made with Abraham of which we have been speaking, and Abraham and his seed, including all that believe, both Jews and Gentiles, are the other. As Moses therefore, when the law was given, stood at that time between the Lord and Israel, (Deut. v. 5,) and did not pass between the whole collective body of Abraham’s seed and the blessed God; so nothing was transacted by him with relation to those for whom he did not appear; and consequently nothing in that covenant wherein he did mediate could disannul the promise, or affect the right accruing to any from a prior engagement, in which the Gentiles were concerned as well as the Israelites: for no covenant can be altered but by the mutual consent of both parties; and in what was done at mount Sinai by the mediation of Moses, there was none to appear for the Gentiles; so that this transaction between God and the Israelites could have no force to abrogate the promise which extended likewise to the Gentiles, or to vacate a covenant that was made between parties of which one only was there.
And shall it now be said, [Is] the law then against the promises of God? And so far as the law takes place with regard to those who are under it, doth it not seem at least to implead in some measure, and to infringe upon that better state in which they who are brought into
A mediator is not [the mediator] of one; but God is one.] I have followed Mr. Locke’s interpretation of this difficult passage, not without attentively comparing a variety of others. The learned Dr. Jenkins (in his Remarks on four Books, p. 136) interprets it, “This mediator is not a mediator of one and the same covenant with the former; but God is still one and the same, an unchangeable Being, who will therefore adhere faithfully to his prior engagements.” But this changing the sense of the word one, and putting so unusual an interpretation upon it, is a difficulty one would choose, if possible, to avoid. Nor can it be understood as if it were said, “Where a mediator is appointed to interpose his office, it is a sign the parties are a
variance;” but God is now reconciled: for neither does it appear that there was any controversy between God and Israel when Moses was appointed a mediator; nor does God’s being one properly signify being at peace. I shall mention but one other explication, which makes the sense of it as if it had been said, “Moses is not a mediator one, of the one seed, to whom the promise was made; and therefore could not act so as to give up his right, or that of the persons whose guardian and representative he was.” But this would suppose a very unwarrantable change in the signification of one when applied to God, and takes it for granted, I think very unreasonably, that Christ was not concerned in giving the law from mount Sinai.
Righteousness and life could not be had by the law,
subjection to it, would otherwise have been? God forbid, that we should insinuate any thing of that kind! On the contrary, it was intended to be subservient to the promise, and the design of it in its remoter consequences, if rightly attended to and applied, was to lead the thoughts and hearts of those who are under it to an higher and better dispensation. For if indeed there had been a law given, which could have given life, if any law, considered in itself alone, could have been to sinful creatures a sufficient means of justification and eternal happiness, then assuredly, righteousness should have been by the Mosaic law,⁸ than which there is not any law more holy, excellent, and good. But so far is the law from introducing any justifying righteousness, that the scripture in revealing it hath plainly shut up all, both Jews and Gentiles, under sin, as so many condemned malefactors; for it hath stated the rule of duty in such a manner, that every man’s conscience must, on considering and understanding that rule, certainly charge himself with sin. And it is wisely ordered in this manner, that they who are so convinced of guilt and misery, might look beyond it to be delivered from their lost condition, and that the promise of righteousness and life by faith in Jesus Christ, as the only means of justification, might be given and appropriated to them that truly believe in him for pardon and salvation; and thus the seeming severity of the sentence was intended so much the more to illustrate the grace of the promise.
The law then, which condemns every transgression, was designed to be preparatory for the discovery which the gospel makes of the way of being justified by faith: but before this faith came to be exhibited, as the method of acceptance with God, we that were under the law stood on the foot of our own obedience before him; and having become obnoxious to Divine justice, and liable to death, the punishment of sin, were kept under the bond of the law, as condemned malefactors are guarded in close
⁸ Righteousness should have been by the have done that honour, if he would have Mosaic law.] This was the law by way of done it to any eminence, to which therefore God would
Which was our schoolmaster to bring us to
ustody, shut up as prisoners under sentence, h nto the faith which in due time should afterwards be revealed; there being no possibility of scape, till the Messiah came, and brought the appy tidings of a way to be justified and accepted, though we were before most justly contemned. So that the law, while it continued its authority over us, and held us under the ligour of its discipline, was as it were our schoolmaster, or the instructor of our childhood, to teach us our own sinfulness and the necessity of a better righteousness than our own; and so [to lead us] unto Christ, and to engage us, as condemned by the law, to have recourse to him who is the end of the law for righteousness, (Rom. x. 4.) that we might thus be justified by faith in him, and so obtain the benefit of the promise.
But when this faith once came to be fully revealed by the gospel dispensation, we then passed over to a more liberal and happy state; and being instructed in the knowledge of Christ, we are no longer under the discipline of a schoolmaster as children in a state of minority, and have no such need of the law, as we had formerly, to direct us to him. For having believed in Christ, as he is discovered in the gospel, ye are all, without distinction, Gentiles as well as Jews, the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and are now as it were brought into an adult state, in which you have a claim to higher privileges, and to greater freedom, than you had before. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, and so have taken upon you the solemn profession of his religion, may thus
h Shut up as prisoners under sentence.] The apostle having shewn in the preceding verse, that all were shut up under sin, what he now adds of the Jews being shut up, does not so much refer to the fatigue of ceremonies (though some have explained it so) as to the condemnation under which the violation of the law brought the transgressors of it; according to the grand argument so largely insisted upon by St. Paul in his epistle to the Romans, chap. iii. 9-23.
h The sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.] It may perhaps be objected. “We might
have been the children or the sons of God, though we had still continued under a schoolmaster:” but we should not then have appeared under the character of such, as the apostle argues in the beginning of the next chapter. But perhaps the particle may here signify now; and so it may introduce the following application of the premises laid down before in more general terms. It seems that there is significance such a master or governor as hath power of restraining and correcting children in a manner that suits only an infant state, or that of early childhood.
all one in Christ, and heirs of the promise.
e said to have put on Christ,ᵏ and to be clothed s with his character and covered with his rightousness ; and by the interest you have in him y faith, are so united to him as to appear one ii with him in his state of liberty and felicity. So 2 hat now the distinctions, which were before so much regarded, are in a manner done away, and ave an end put to them, by this happy union ; nd there is neither Jew nor Greek, but the latter as the same privileges with the former, and the ormer may without offending God use the same reedom in approaching to him with the latter : here is neither bond nor free, but slaves are now the Lord’s freemen, and freemen the Lord’s servants ; and this consideration makes the free humble, and the slave cheerful, and swallows up in a great measure the sense of his servitude : there is neither male nor female, but all are now admitted to that initiatory ordinance of baptism which comes in the place of circumcision that was appropriated to the males ; and this happy state of equality, into which, with respect to spiritual privileges, both sexes are brought, may justly prevent that tyranny over the weaker which in some places hath so shamefully prevailed : for ye are all one in Christ Jesus, and are all equally accepted in him ; and being made one body in him, believers, of whatever nation, or sex, or condition they be, are all cemented in the bonds of holy friendship, and animated with the views of the same happiness. And if ye [be] Christ’s, and are by faith united to him, who is the promised Seed, in whom all nations shall be blessed, then are ye the true seed of Abraham, and equally are so, whether ye are circumcised or not ; and, in consequence of this, ye are heirs in virtue of the promise, and may look upon the best blessings promised to that holy patriarch as your own, though you have no inheritance in the land of Canaan, and pretend to claim nothing by virtue of a natural descent.
ᵏ Have put on Christ.] Mr. Locke here all over with him, as a man is with th observes, that by their putting on Christ clothes he has put on. And hence, i it is implied, “that to God, now look- the next verse, it is said, they are all one i ing on them, there appears nothing but Christ Jesus, as if there were but that o Christ : They are, as it were, covered person.”
Reflections on our claim to the promise in Christ.
IMPROVEMENT.
Let us rejoice in those spiritual privileges to which all true Christians are now equally entitled; and charge our souls with those obligations which necessarily attend them. Let us look upon ourselves as the children of Abraham, as entitled to the noblest of those promises which God made to that excellent saint; even to that great and comprehensive promise, (which is all the salvation, and all the desire, of every true child of Abraham,) namely, that God will be a God to us. (Gen. xvii. 7, 8.) Let us approve ourselves his genuine offspring by imitating his faith; and always remember, that, having been baptized into Christ, we have so put on Christ, as to be obliged to resemble him in his temper and character. 23 If we desire to share the blessings and glories of that one body of which Christ is the great and glorious Head, let us not lay a disproportionate stress upon any thing by which one Christian may be distinguished from another; but endeavour, as one in Christ Jesus, to be one in affection and friendship to each other: and let those who seem to have the greatest advantages, condescend to them that seem most their inferiors. 21 Giving up all expectations of life from any law, since that of Moses could not give it, let us look for glory, honour, and immortality by the gospel; and be very thankful for the knowledge we have of the Mediator of a better covenant than that in which Moses was appointed to mediate. And as the law was given, not to dis- 17 annul the covenant of promise, but with a view to be subservient to it, and to point out Christ, let us apply to him for righteous- 16 ness and life; and in him, as that one Seed of Abraham in whom all the families, all the nations of believers were to be blessed, let us centre our hopes, and be very solicitous that we by faith may be united to him, and so may have a claim to all the privileges of the promise under him. 24 Thus let us continue to make use of the law, not as the foundation of our hope towards God, but as our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ by the discovery it has given of our need of him: 22, 23 and, being sensible that it hath shut up all under sin, from which we cannot be delivered but by the faith the gospel hath revealed, may we be led to seek the benefit of the promise, that, being the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus, we may be heirs of eternal life and blessedness.
The Jews, as children, were in a state o ndage :