Commentary on Galatians

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Andrew Galatians CC Galatians SP Galatians and African American Experience The Freedom of God's Sons: Studies in Galatians Studies in Galatians 0 Gromacki, Robert G. Stand Fast in Liberty: Galatians 0 Witmer, John A. Howard; Travis, Stephen H. Letters and Revelation v. Reading Galatians, Philippians, and 1 Thessalonians: Galatians 0 Mills, Watson E.

Acts and Pauline Writings: Wayne Galatians and Ephesians: The Interpretation of St. A Commentary Runge, Steven E. Van Voorst, Robert E. Vanhoye, Albert; Williamson, Peter S. The Epistle to the Galatians. The Message of Galatians. A Commentary on Paul's Letter to the Galatians.

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Explorations in Exegetical Method. Galatians - Paul's Charter of Christian Freedom. Galatians Through the Centuries. The Letter to the Galatians. EmbraceHim, and forget about the nature of God. But these fanatics who exclude ourMediator in their dealings with God, do not believe me. Did not Christ Himselfsay: Without Christ there is no access to the Father, but futile rambling; no truth, but hypocrisy;no life, but eternal death.

When you argue about the nature of God apartfrom the question of justification, you may be as profound as you like. But whenyou deal with conscience and with righteousness over against the law, sin,death, and the devil, you must close your mind to all inquiries into the natureof God, and concentrate upon Jesus Christ, who says, "Come unto me, all yethat labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

We are to hear Christ, who has been appointedby the Father as our divine Teacher. At the same time, Paul confirms our creed,"that Christ is very God. He hates our faith. He knows thatit is the victory which overcometh him and the world. That Christ is very God isapparent in that Paul ascribes to Him divine powers equally with the Father, asfor instance, the power to dispense grace and peace.

This Jesus could not dounless He were God. To bestow peace and grace lies in the provinceof God, who alone can create these blessings. The apostlescould only distribute these blessings by the preaching of the Gospel. Inattributing to Christ the divine power of creating and giving grace, peace,everlasting life, righteousness, and forgiveness of sins, the conclusion isinevitable that Christ is truly God.

John concludes from theworks attributed to the Father and the Son that they are divinely One. Hence,the gifts which we receive from the Father and from the Son are one and thesame. Otherwise Paul should have written: I stress this on account of the many errorsemanating from the sects. The Arians were sharp fellows. Admitting that Christ had two natures, and thatHe is called "very God of very God," they were yet able to deny Hisdivinity. The Arians took Christ for a noble and perfect creature, superior evento the angels, because by Him God created heaven and earth.

Mohammed also speakshighly of Christ. But all their praise is mere palaver to deceive men. Paul sticks to his theme. He never loses sightof the purpose of his epistle. He does not say, "Who received ourworks," but "who gave. Not gold, or silver, orpaschal lambs, or an angel, but Himself. Not for a crown, or akingdom, or our goodness, but for our sins. These words are like so manythunderclaps of protest from heaven against every kind and type of self-merit. Underscore these words, for they are full of comfort for sore consciences. How may we obtain remission of our sins? For if our sins could be removed by our own efforts, whatneed was there for the Son of God to be given for them?

Since Christ was givenfor our sins it stands to reason that they cannot be put away by our ownefforts. This sentence also defines our sins as great,so great, in fact, that the whole world could not make amends for a single sin. The greatness of the ransom, Christ, the Son of God, indicates this. The viciouscharacter of sin is brought out by the words "who gave himself for oursins.

When we reflect that the one little word "sin" embraces the wholekingdom of Satan, and that it includes everything that is horrible, we havereason to tremble. But we are careless. We make light of sin. We think that bysome little work or merit we can dismiss sin. This passage, then, bears out the fact thatall men are sold under sin. Sin is an exacting despot who can be vanquished byno created power, but by the sovereign power of Jesus Christ alone.

All this is of wonderful comfort to aconscience troubled by the enormity of sin. Sin cannot harm those who believe inChrist, because He has overcome sin by His death. Armed with this conviction, weare enlightened and may pass judgment upon the papists, monks, nuns, priests,Mohammedans, Anabaptists, and all who trust in their own merits, as wicked anddestructive sects that rob God and Christ of the honor that belongs to themalone.

Note especially the pronoun "our"and its significance. You will readily grant that Christ gave Himself for thesins of Peter, Paul, and others who were worthy of such grace.

Commentaries on Galatians

But feeling low,you find it hard to believe that Christ gave Himself for your sins. Our feelingsshy at a personal application of the pronoun "our," and we refuse tohave anything to do with God until we have made ourselves worthy by good deeds. This attitude springs from a false conceptionof sin, the conception that sin is a small matter, easily taken care of by goodworks; that we must present ourselves unto God with a good conscience; that we must feel no sin before we may feel thatChrist was given for our sins.

Commentaries for the book of Galatians

This attitude is universal and particularlydeveloped in those who consider themselves better than others. Such readilyconfess that they are frequent sinners, but they regard their sins as of no suchimportance that they cannot easily be dissolved by some good action, or thatthey may not appear before the tribunal of Christ and demand the reward ofeternal life for their righteousness.

Meantime they pretend great humility andacknowledge a certain degree of sinfulness for which they soulfully join in thepublican's prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner. The genius of Christianity takes the words ofPaul "who gave himself for our sins" as true and efficacious. We arenot to look upon our sins as insignificant trifles. On the other hand, we arenot to regard them as so terrible that we must despair. Learn to believe thatChrist was given, not for picayune and imaginary transgressions, but formountainous sins; not for one or two, but for all; not for sins that can bediscarded, but for sins that are stubbornly ingrained.

Practice this knowledge and fortify yourselfagainst despair, particularly in the last hour, when the memory of past sinsassails the conscience. If I had no sin I should not needChrist. No, Satan, you cannot delude me into thinking I am holy. The truth is, Iam all sin. My sins are not imaginary transgressions, but sins against the firsttable, unbelief, doubt, despair, contempt, hatred, ignorance of God, ingratitudetowards Him, misuse of His name, neglect of His Word, etc. Granted that I have not committed murder, adultery,theft, and similar sins in deed, nevertheless I have committed them in the heart, and therefore I am a transgressor of all thecommandments of God.

Let us equip ourselves against the accusationsof Satan with this and similar passages of Holy Scripture. If he says,"Thou shalt be damned," you tell him: In accusing me of being a damnable sinner, you arecutting your own throat, Satan. You are reminding me of God's fatherly goodnesstoward me, that He so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son thatwhosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Incalling me a sinner, Satan, you really comfort me above measure. Paul also presents a true picture ofChrist as the virgin-born Son of God, delivered into death for our sins. Toentertain a true conception of Christ is important, for the devil describesChrist as an exacting and cruel judge who condemns and punishes men. Tell himthat his definition of Christ is wrong, that Christ has given Himself for oursins, that by His sacrifice He has taken away the sins of the whole world.

Make ample use of this pronoun"our. Do not permit yourself to be robbed of this lovelyconception of Christ.

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Christ is no Moses, no law-giver, no tyrant, but theMediator for sins, the Giver of grace and life. Yet in the actual conflict withthe devil, when he scares us with the Law, when he frightens us with the veryperson of the Mediator, when he misquotes the words of Christ, and distorts forus our Savior, we so easily lose sight of our sweet High-Priest.

For this reason I am so anxious for you to gain a true picture of Christ out ofthe words of Paul "who gave himself for our sins. He does not tramplethe fallen but raises them. He comforts the broken-hearted. Otherwise Paulshould lie when he writes "who gave himself for our sins. I do not bother my head with speculationsabout the nature of God. I simply attach myself to the human Christ, and I findjoy and peace, and the wisdom of God in Him. These are not new truths. I amrepeating what the apostles and all teachers of God have taught long ago.

Wouldto God we could impregnate our hearts with these truths. Paul calls this present world evil becauseeverything in it is subject to the malice of the devil, who reigns over thewhole world as his domain and fills the air with ignorance, contempt, hatred,and disobedience of God. In this devils's kingdom we live. As long as a person is in the world he cannotby his own efforts rid himself of sin, because the world is bent upon evil.

Thepeople of the world are the slaves of the devil. If we are not in the Kingdom ofChrist, it is certain we belong to the kingdom of Satan and we are pressed intohis service with every talent we possess.

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Take the talents of wisdom and integrity. Without Christ, wisdom is double foolishness and integrity double sin, becausethey not only fail to perceive the wisdom and righteousness of Christ, buthinder and blaspheme the salvation of Christ. Paul justly calls it the evil orwicked world, for when the world is at its best the world is at its worst. Thegrossest vices are small faults in comparison with the wisdom and righteousnessof the world. These prevent men from accepting the Gospel of the righteousnessof Christ.

The white devil of spiritual sin is far more dangerous than the blackdevil of carnal sin because the wiser, the better men are without Christ, the more they are likely to ignore andoppose the Gospel. With the words, "that he might deliverus," Paul argues that we stand in need of Christ. No other being canpossibly deliver us from this present evil world.

Do not let the fact disturbyou that a great many people enjoy excellent reputations without Christ. Remember what Paul says, that the world with all its wisdom, might, andrighteousness is the devil's own. God alone is able to deliver us from theworld. Let us praise and thank God for His mercy indelivering us from the captivity of Satan, when we were unable to do so by ourown strength.

Let us confess with Paul that all our work-righteousness is lossand dung. Let us condemn as filthy rags all talk about free will, all religiousorders, masses, ceremonies, vows, fastings, and the like. In branding the world the devil's kingdom ofiniquity, ignorance, error, sin, death, and everlasting despair, Paul at thesame time declares the Kingdom of Christ to be a kingdom of equity, light,grace, remission of sin, peace, saving health, and everlasting life into whichwe are translated by our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever.

In this passage Paul contends against thefalse apostles for the article of Justification. Christ, says Paul, hasdelivered us from this wicked kingdom of the devil and the world according tothe good will, the pleasure and commandment of the Father. Hence we are notdelivered by our own will, or shrewdness, or wisdom, but by the mercy and loveof God, as it is written, I John 4: Another reason why Paul, like John, emphasizesthe Father's will is Christ's habit of directing attention to the Father.

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ForChrist came into the world to reconcile God with us and to draw us to theFather. Not by curious inquiries into the nature ofGod shall we know God and His purpose for our salvation, but by taking hold ofChrist, who according to the will of the Father has given Himself into death for our sins. When we understand this to bethe will of the Father in Christ, then shall we know God to be merciful, and notangry. We shall realize that He loved us wretched sinners so much indeed that Hegave us His only-begotten Son into death for us.

The pronoun "our" refers to both Godand Father. He is our God and our Father. Christ's Father and our Father are oneand the same. Hence Christ said to Mary Magdalene: Hebrew writing is interspersed withexpressions of praise and gratitude. This peculiarity can be traced in theapostolic writings, particularly in those of Paul. The name of the Lord is to bementioned with great reverence and thanksgiving. How patiently Paul deals with his seducedGalatians!

He does not pounce on them but, like a father, he fairly excusestheir error. With motherly affection he talks to them yet he does it in a waythat at the same time he also reproves them. On the other hand, he is highlyindignant at the seducers whom he blames for the apostasy of the Galatians. Hisanger bursts forth in elemental fury at the beginning of his epistle. He might have addressed the Galatians afterthis fashion: Your ingratitude grieves me. I am angry with you. With this purpose in his mind he speaks very gently to them. He could not havechosen a milder expression than this, "I marvel.

Paul minds the rule which he himself lays downin a later chapter where he says: Over againstthe devil and his missionaries, the authors of false doctrines and sects, weought to be like the Apostle, impatient, and rigorously condemnatory, as parentsare with the dog that bites their little one, but the weeping child itself theysoothe. The right spirit in Paul supplies him with anextraordinary facility in handling the afflicted consciences of the fallen.

ThePope and his bishops, inspired by the desire to lord it over men's souls, crackout thunders and curses upon miserable consciences. They have no care for thesaving of men's souls. They are interested only in maintaining their position. Paul deplores the fact that it is difficultfor the mind to retain a sound and steadfast faith. A man labors for a decadebefore he succeeds in training his little church into orderly religion, and thensome ignorant and vicious poltroon comes along to overthrow in a minute thepatient labor of years.

By the grace of God we have effected here in Wittenbergthe form of a Christian church. The Word of God is taught as it should be, theSacraments are administered, and everything is prosperous. This happy condition,secured by many years of arduous labors, some lunatic might spoil in a moment. This happened in the churches of Galatia which Paul had brought into life in spiritual travail. Soon after his departure, however, these Galatian churcheswere thrown into confusion by the false apostles.

The church is a tender plant. People hear a couple of sermons, scan a few pages of Holy Writ, andthink they know it all. They are bold because they have never gone through anytrials of faith. Void of the Holy Spirit, they teach what they please as long asit sounds good to the common people who are ever ready to join something new.

We have to watch out for the devil lest hesow tares among the wheat while we sleep. No sooner had Paul turned his back onthe churches of Galatia, than the false apostles went to work. Therefore, let uswatch over ourselves and over the whole church. Again the Apostle puts in a gentle word. Hedoes not berate the Galatians, "I marvel that ye are so unsteady,unfaithful.

He speaks to them as people who havesuffered great loss. He condemns those who removed them rather than theGalatians. At the same time he gently reproves them for rather themselves to beremoved. The criticism is implied that they should have been permitting a littlemore settled in their beliefs.

If they had taken better hold of the Word theycould not have been removed so easily. Jerome thinks that Paul is playing upon the name Galatians, deriving it from the Hebrewword Galath, which means fallen or carried away, as though Paul wanted to say,"You are true Galatians, i. There may besomething to that. For the Germans are not unlike the Galatians in their lack ofconstancy. At first we Germans are very enthusiastic, but presently our emotionscool and we become slack.

When the light of the Gospel first came to us many were zealous, heard sermons greedily, and held the ministry of God'sWord in high esteem. But now that religion has been reformed, many who formerlywere such earnest disciples have discarded the Word of God, have becomesow-bellies like the foolish and inconsistent Galatians.

The reading is a little doubtful. Thesentence may be construed to read: This reading alsopreserves the implied criticism that the Galatians withdrew themselves from thatChrist who had called them not unto the law, but unto grace. With Paul we decrythe blindness and perverseness of men in that they will not receive the messageof grace and salvation, or having received it they quickly let go of it, inspite of the fact that the Gospel bestows all good things spiritual: Why does the world abhor the glad tidings ofthe Gospel and the blessings that go with it? Because the world is the devil's.

Under his direction the world persecutes the Gospel and would if it could nailagain Christ, the Son of God, to the Cross although He gave Himself into deathfor the sins of the world. The world dwells in darkness. The world is darkness. Paul accentuates the point that the Galatianshad been called by Christ unto grace. Will you allow yourselves tobe carried away so easily from the living fountain of grace and life? Note the resourcefulness of the devil. Heretics do not advertise their errors. Murderers, adulterers, thieves disguisethemselves. So the devil masquerades all his devices and activities.

He puts onwhite to make himself look like an angel of light. He is astoundingly clever tosell his patent poison for the Gospel of Christ. Knowing Satan's guile, Paulsardonically calls the doctrine of the false apostles "anothergospel," as if he would say, "You Galatians have now another gospel,while my Gospel is no longer esteemed by you.

We infer from this that the false apostleshad depreciated the Gospel of Paul among the Galatians on the plea that it wasincomplete. Their objection to Paul's Gospel is identical to that recorded inthe fifteenth chapter of the Book of Acts to the effect that it was not enoughfor the Galatians to believe in Christ, or to be baptized, but that it wasneedful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses, for"except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot besaved. Today the Anabaptists and others, finding itdifficult to condemn us, accuse us Lutherans of timidity in professing the wholetruth.

They grant that we have laid the foundation in Christ, but claim that wehave failed to go through with the building. In this way these perverse fanaticsparade their cursed doctrine as the Word of God, and, flying the flag of God'sname, they deceive many. The devil knows better than to appear ugly and black.

He prefers to carry on his nefarious activities in the name of God. When the devil sees that he cannot hurt thecause of the Gospel by destructive methods, he does it under the guise of correcting and advancing the cause of the Gospel. He would like best ofall to persecute us with fire and sword, but this method has availed him littlebecause through the blood of martyrs the church has been watered.

Unable toprevail by force, he engages wicked and ungodly teachers who at first makecommon cause with us, then claim that they are particularly called to teach thehidden mysteries of the Scriptures to superimpose upon the first principles ofChristian doctrine that we teach. This sort of thing brings the Gospel intotrouble. May we all cling to the Word of Christ against the wiles of the devil,"for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, againstspiritual wickedness in high places.

Here again the apostle excuses the Galatians,while he blames the false apostles for disturbing their consciences and forstealing them out of his hand. How angry he gets at these deceivers! He callsthem troublemakers, seducers of poor consciences. This passage adduces further evidence thatthe false apostles defamed Paul as an imperfect apostle and a weak and erroneouspreacher. They condemn Paul, Paul condemns them. Such warfare of condemnation isalways going on in the church.

The papists and the fanatics hate us, condemn ourdoctrine, and want to kill us. We in turn hate and condemn their curseddoctrine. In the meanwhile the people are uncertain whom to follow and which wayto turn, for it is not given to everybody to judge these matters. But the truthwill win out. So much is certain, we persecute no man, neither does our doctrinetrouble men. On the contrary, we have the testimony of many good men who thankGod on their knees for the consolation that our doctrine has brought them.

LikePaul, we are not to blame that the churches have trouble. The fault lies with theAnabaptists and other fanatics. Every teacher of work-righteousness is atrouble-maker. Has it never occurred to you that the pope, cardinals, bishops,monks, and that the whole synagogue of Satan are trouble-makers? The truth is,they are worse than false apostles. The files apostles taught that in additionto faith in Christ the works of the Law of God were necessary unto salvation.

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