Galatians 1

Notes

Ver. 1. Whatever your false teachers suggest to the contrary, I avow myself an inspired messenger of Jesus Christ, appointed to plant Christian churches in the world—who indeed have received my commission by the instrumentality of no man, but immediately from Christ himself, and by the express commandment of God, who raised him up from the dead, in testimony of his having completely met the demands of the broken law, and brought in an everlasting righteousness for the justification of all that believe in him. 2, 3. And with the hearty consent of my fellow-preachers and Christians here, I send this admonitory letter to your lately planted and yet sadly degenerated Christian assemblies in Galatia—earnestly wishing that the riches of his free, undeserved, and forfeited favour may be extended to you, and all the blessings of spiritual peace and prosperity be bestowed upon you from God the Father, the first mover in the whole method of our redemption, and from Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God and men, and the purchaser and dispenser of all the benefits of grace and glory to us: 4. Who in his infinite condescension and love freely surrendered his soul and body, as personally united to his divine nature, to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins, who deserved nothing but eternal destruction—that by his righteousness as the means, and by his love as the real cause, he might pluck us as brands out of the burning, and rescue us from the men, the vanities, sins, and tribulations of this evil world, and from all the dangerous snares and depraved customs of this present age, and even from the now exceedingly corrupted Jewish constitution, and in due time transport us to the heavenly state—and all according to the eternal compassion and good will of God our reconciled Father in him, who, in Christ, loves and deals with us as his children: 5. To whom be all possible and highly exalted honour, glory, and praise, through all the ages of time or eternity, for his unparalleled work of redemption, in which infinite wisdom, power, justice, holiness, mercy, and truth shine forth with the most united and endearing lustre. —6. When I reflect on the delightful and transcendent glory of this wonderful salvation, and on its suitableness, high importance, and absolute necessity to lost sinners, I cannot but be amazed and pained to hear that some of you who but so lately were instructed in the truths of the gospel, and seemed to receive them into your hearts, should be already carried away in your sentiments, affections, and practice, not only from me, who was instrumental in calling you to the fellowship of the gospel, but from God and Christ, who by me called you to partake of all the gracious benefits of redemption which are discovered and freely offered in the gospel; and that even to quite another system of doctrine, representing the justification of sinners as, at least in part, by the works of the law: 7. Which indeed really is no gospel, no glad tidings of acceptance and salvation at all, as it represents them obtainable only upon impracticable and impossible terms; but your judaizing teachers, who are verily a plague to you, set themselves to overturn that blessed gospel of which Jesus Christ is the author, subject, and end, and to transform it into a new covenant of works, in which our own obedience must be the necessary condition of justification and eternal life; and they even pretend that Peter and other apostles are of their mind. 8. But I am bold to aver, that if any apostle, or even an angel from heaven, could preach to you any other system of doctrine relative to the salvation of sinful men contrary to or even different from that which I, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, delivered to you, he should, as an accursed person, be rejected of God, and devoted to eternal destruction. 9. I deliberately and solemnly repeat it, as a matter of infinite importance and infallible certainty, that if any man or angel preach any other system of doctrine concerning the salvation of sinful men than what ye, when I was among you, professed to receive in faith and love, he is to be disdained and rejected as one abandoned by God, and richly deserving of excommunication—nay, of everlasting ruin. 10. Can you imagine that, after being so long converted and employed in the ministry, and suffering so many things for Christ, my great aim is to persuade people to embrace the doctrines of men rather than the gospel of God, or to ingratiate myself with the Jewish zealots, or any others of mankind? No; I abhor the thought. Did I, as in the days of my unregeneracy, seek the favour of men, and study to serve their corrupt humours or designs, I had never enlisted in the service of Christ, nor could I be his faithful servant, as I profess and labour to be. 11. And by all the signs of apostleship I manifest that the gospel of men's salvation, through the glorious sacrifice of Christ, which I have constantly preached, is neither formed according to the natural taste or tempers of men, nor originates from their authority, contrivance, or dictates, nor tends to promote their carnal honours or interests. 12. For I neither received my knowledge of it, nor my commission to preach it, by the instrumentality of apostles, or any other mere men, but by immediate revelation from Jesus Christ, God-man, some time after his exaltation to his heavenly kingdom. 13, 14. For ye cannot but have heard that I was once a furious zealot for the Jewish manner of worship, and outrageously persecuted the Christians, and compelled them to renounce their Lord, under pain of imprisonment, banishment, or death; and that, having an uncommon knowledge of the Jewish rites and ceremonies, I observed them with the greatest strictness, and with uncommon zeal propagated them everywhere. 15, 16. It cannot therefore be supposed that without some extraordinary call and influence I should abandon my darling and deep-rooted sentiments, tempers, and manner of life to embrace Christ and the gospel, in direct opposition thereto, and to all my secular interests; but when God, who of his infinite love, without regard to any foreseen natural goodness, had set me apart to his service before I was born, did, by an extraordinary miraculous appearance and voice from heaven, and by a powerful and efficacious illumination on my heart, make to me a clear and full discovery of Jesus Christ, his dear Son, in all the glory of his person, offices, relations, righteousness, and grace—that I might know and embrace him for the salvation of my own soul, and preach him to Gentiles as well as Jews—I did not stand to consult the inclinations, ease, or comfort of my outward man, nor the dictates of human policy, relative to honour, interest, reproach, or danger; nor did I advise with any mortal about my duty, which was so plainly prescribed me by God. 17. Neither did I so much as go up to Jerusalem to receive further instructions or authority from them that had been called to the apostleship before me; but, fully satisfied with the instructions and commission which I had immediately received from Christ, I began to preach the gospel at Damascus in Syria, where I had been converted and called. Thence I went into the adjacent parts of Arabia and preached it, where no apostles had ever been, and where I had no opportunity of conversing with them; and thence I returned back to Damascus. 18, 19. Three years after my conversion I took a journey to Jerusalem, not to receive any further instruction or commission, but merely to make a brotherly visit to Peter, that great apostle of the Jewish converts, that we might confer together of what the Lord had done by our ministrations. And being introduced by Barnabas, I was readily received as a faithful minister of Christ, and abode with him about fifteen days, without seeing any other of the apostles except James the Less, a kinsman of our Lord according to the flesh. Thus I received no instruction or commission from the apostolic college there. 20. And as these hints are of great importance for vindicating my doctrine and authority, which have been traduced among you, I solemnly appeal to God himself, who knows all things, and to whom I must give a final account, that all that I have said is strictly true. 21. Returning from Jerusalem, I travelled northward into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia, attended by some brethren from Jerusalem as far as Cesarea, from whence I was sent to Tarsus, in Cilicia, my native city. 22. But all this time I remained personally unknown to most of the Christian assemblies in Judea which had joined together in the faith and fellowship of the gospel before me, and so could receive neither instruction nor commission from them. 23. All that they knew concerning me was, that Saul, the furious persecutor of Christians, had become a noted preacher of that very gospel which he had before laboured to suppress, and a helper of that very faith for which he had endeavoured to destroy others; 24. Which made them heartily praise and thank God for his marvellous grace to me the chief of sinners, and for the rich advantages that accrued to the church by my remarkable conversion.

Ver. 6. Removed from him. By 'him that called you,' the apostle most probably means himself as the instrument of their calling, as the words ἐν χάριτι should be translated 'by' or 'through' rather than 'into the grace of Christ.' See Scott, Kappe, and Winer. C.

Ver. 10. Am I now endeavouring to gain the favour of men, or approve myself to God? 'or do I seek to please men,' by adapting the gospel to their prejudices? C.

Ver. 13. The conversion of Paul the persecutor, who not only forsook kindred, country, office, emolument, and honour, but who forsook also his habits, and, as it were, his very nature, for Christ, forms an incontrovertible proof of his sincerity, and of the divine origin and sovereign power of the gospel. C.

Ver. 16. In me is to be preferred to either 'to me' or 'by me,' and describes the illumination of the apostle's understanding by him in whom 'was light,' and the formation of Christ in his affections, the power of life and 'hope of glory,' Col. 1. 27. C.

Ver. 17. I went into Arabia. This journey is not mentioned by Luke in the Acts, because he did not accompany Paul.—Note, The object of the apostle in this narrative is to show that he did not receive the gospel from men, but directly from Jesus Christ himself. C.

Reflections.—With entire satisfaction may we receive the gospel delivered by the apostles, since they received it immediately from Christ. And delightfully, jointly, and equally all church authority and spiritual blessings proceed from him and his Father. Infinitely important and beneficial is his death for us; and his resurrection clearly manifests the acceptableness and efficacy of it. And what deliverance from sin, Satan, and an evil world, and what grace and peace, may we not pray and hope for through it? It is detestable and dangerous to apostatize from or pervert the gospel of Christ. And it is no wonder that the doctrine of men's justification by their own works never reforms the world, but increases unto more ungodliness, when it has the curse of God lying on it and its preachers. Ministers have need to be faithful in declaring the truths of God without regard to any carnal consideration. And no man nor minister can at once please Christ and the world—serve God and mammon. Astonishing are the effects of God's grace on the hearts of sinners. Gloriously it enlightens the ignorant, attracts the perverse, subdues the obstinately furious, and renders Jesus' inveterate enemies his loving friends and faithful servants. And it is a great comfort distinctly to perceive and feel its operations, and for Christians to hear of its going forth conquering and to conquer.