CHAPTERV VERSE I. "With freedom did Christ set us free ; stand fast there fore. 1 " HAVE ye wrought your own deliverance, that ye run back again tothedominion yewere under before ? It is Another who hath redeemed you, it is Another who hath paid the ransom for you. Observe in how many ways he leads them away from the error of Judaism ; by showing, first, that it was the extreme of folly for those, who had become free instead of slaves, to desire to become slaves instead of free ; secondly, that theywouldbe convicted ofneglectand ingratitude to their Benefactor, in despising Him who had delivered, and loving him who had enslaved them- thirdly, that it was impossible. For Another having once for all redeemed all of us from it, the Law ceases to have any sway. By the word, stand fast," he indicates their vacillation. Ver. i. "And be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage." By the word " yoke" he signifies to them the burdensomeness of such a course, and by the word "again" he points out their utter sense lessness. Had ye never experienced this burden, ye would not have deserved so severe a censure, but for you who by trial have learnthow irksome this yoke is, again to subject yourself to it, is justly unpardonable. Ver. 2. "Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing." Lo, what a threat ! reasonably then did he anathematize even angels. How then shall Christ profit them nothing ? for he has not sup ported this by argument, but only declared it, the credence due to his authority, compensating, as it were, for all subsequent proof. Wherefore he sets out by saying, " Behold, I Paul say unto you, " which is the expression of one who has confidence in what he asserts. We will subjoin 1 ^The text of this verse is not settled. The textus receptus has TJJ e\ev0epia ovv jj xpitrros r)n<is ^AevSepoiere crTTJKere, etc. Chry- sostom has Tn yap eAevflepto 7} xptcrrbs u/xas e^Tjydpaffc, GTyittTc, etc. W. & H. have rij Av8pia rj^as Ypio-rb? rftevQepiuffiV <TTJ)ICT ovv Kal, etc., with Aleph, A. B. C. Rev. Ver. But W. & H. suspect there is some primitive error. Lightfoot joins Tf) eAewOepia with TTJ? eAeuOepa? of the preceding verse and retains the relative fj, making it read ; We are sons of the freewoman with the freedom wherewith Christ freed us. Cant, in loc. and Excursus p. 371. what we can ourselves as to how Christ shall profit nothing them who are circumcised. He that is circumcised is circumcised for fear of the Law, and he who fears the Law, distrusts the power of grace, and he who distrusts can receive no benefit from that which is distrusted. Or again thus, he that is circumcised makes the Law of force ; but thus considering it to be of force and yet transgressing it in the greater part while keeping it in the lesser, he puts himself again under the curse. But how can he be saved who submits himself to the curse, and repels the liberty which is of Faith ? If onemay say what seems a paradox, such an one believes neither Christ nor the Law, but stands between them, desiring to benefit both by one and the other, whereas he will reap fruit from neither. Having said that Christshall profit them nothing, he lays down the proof2 of it shortly and sententiously, thus : Ver. 3. "Yea, I testify again3 to every man that receiveth circumcision that he is a debtor to do the whole Law." That you may not suppose that this is spoken from ill-will4, I say notto you alone, he says, but to every one who receiveth circumcision, that he is a debtor to do the whole Law. The parts of the Law are linked one to the other. As he who from being free has enrolled himself as a slave, no longer does what he pleases, but is bound by all the laws of slavery, so in the case of the Law, if you take upon you a small portion of it, and submit to the yoke, you draw down upon yourself its whole domination. And so it is in a worldly inheritance : he who touches no part of it, is free from all matters which are conse quent on the heirship to the deceased, but if he takes a small portion, though not the whole, yet by that part he has rendered himself liable for every thing. And this occurs in the Law, 3 [The following verse does not introduce proof that Christ shall profit them nothing, but leads on to more detailed information and so is introduced by Se, autetn. So Meyer; though I ightfoot makes 5 adversative to the idea of ui(eAj<rei, and so Ellicutt. Rev. Ver. agrees with Meyer s view. G. A.} ["Again refers to I say in preceding sentences." Schaff, Light- foot, Ellicott. Meyer says, "It calls to the remembrance of his readers his last presence," (second visit.) G. A.]4 [" To every man stands in a climactic relation to foregoing vfj.lv remorselessly embracing all; that no onemay think himself excluded. Hence Chrysostom s view is wrong." Meyer. G. A.]