CHAPTER I.] COMMENTARY ON GALATIANS. by God the Lord of all. He says, if "any man" preach another Gospsl to you than that which we have preached, not " if this or that man: " and herein appears his prudence, and care of giving offence, for what needed there still any mention of names, when he had used such extensive terms as to embrace all, both in heaven and earth ? In that he anathemized evangelists and angels, he included every dig nity, and his mention of himself included every intimacy and affinity. "Tell me not," he exclaims, "that my fellow-apostles and col leagues have so spoken ; I spare not myself if I preach such doctrine." And he says this not as condemning the Apostles for swerving from the message they were commissioned to deliver; far from it, ( for he says, whether we or they thus preach;) but to show, that in the discuss ion of truth the dignity of persons is not to be considered. Ver. 10. " For l am I now persuading men or God ? " or am I seeking to please men ? if I were still pleasing men, I should not be a ser vant of Christ." Granting, says he, that I might deceive you by these doctrines, could I deceive God, who knows my yet unuttered thoughts, and to please whom is my unceasing endeavor ? See here the Apostolical spirit, the Evangelical loftiness ! So too he writes to the Corinthians, "For we are not again commending ourselves unto you, but speak as giving you occasion of glorying ;" (2 Cor. v: 12.) and again, " But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man s judgment." (i Cor. iv: 3.) For since he is compelled to justify himself to his disciples, being their teacher, he submits to it ; but he is grieved at it, not on account of chagrin, far from it, but on account of the instability of the minds of those led away and on account of not being fully trusted by them. Wherefore Paul now speaks, as it were, thus: Is my account to be rendered to you? Shall I be judged by men? My account is to God, and all my acts are with a view to that inquisition, nor am I so miserably abandoned as to pervert my doctrine, seeing that I am to justify what I preach before the Lord of all. He thus expressed himself, as much with a view of withstanding their opinions, as in self- defence ; for it becomes disciples to obey, not to judge, their master. But now, says he, that the order is reversed, and ye sit as judges, know that I am but little concerned to defend myself before you ; all, I do for God s sake, and in order that I may answer to Him concern ing my doctrine. He who wishes to persuade 1 [" I speak thus strongly, for my language shall not be miscon strued. Will any one now say that careless of winning the favor ot God, I seek to ingratiate myselfwithmen ?" Lightfoot. O. A.J men, is led to act tortuously and insincerely, and to employ deceit and falsehood, in order to engage the assent of his hearers. But he who addresses himself to God, and desires to please Him, needs simplicity and purity of mind, for God cannot be deceived. Whence it is plain that I have thus written to you not from the love of rule, or to gain disciples, or to receive honor at your hands. My endeavor has been to please God, not man. Were it otherwise, I should still consort with the Jews,2 still persecute the Church. I who have cast off my country altogether, my companions, rny friends, my kindred, and all my reputation, and taken in exchange for these, persecution, enmity, strife, and daily-impending death, have given a signal proof that I speak not from love of human applause. This he says, being about to narrate his former life, and sudden conversion, and to demonstrate clearly that it was sincere. And that they might not be elevated by a notion that he did this by way of self-vindication to them, he premises, " For do I now persuade men? " He well knew how, on a fitting occasion, to correct his disciples, in a grave and lofty tone : assuredly he had other sources whence "to demonstrate the truth of his preaching, by signs and miracles, by dangers, by prisons, by daily deaths, by hunger and thirst, by naked ness, and the like. Now however that he is speaking not of false apostles, but of the true, who had shared these very perils, he employs another method. For when his discourse was pointed towards false apostles, he institutes a comparison by bringing forward his endurance of danger, saying, "Are they ministers of Christ ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more ; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft." (2 Cor. xi : 23.) But now he speaks of his former manner of life and says, Ver. it, 12. "For3 ! make known to you, brethren, as touching the Gospel which was preached by me that it is not after man. For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through revelation of Jesus Christ." You observe how sedulously he affirms that he was taught of Christ, who Himself, without human intervention, condescended to reveal to him all knowledge. And if he were asked for his proof that God Himself thus immediately revealed to him these ineffable mysteries, he would instance his former manner of life, argu ing that his conversion would not have been so 5 [" vpiffTou SouAos should not be taken in an historical sense, as Chrysostom. This would be feebleand lacking in depth of thought. No it is to be taken in its ethical character." Meyer. G. A.] 3 [The reading y<ip (Rev. Ver. W. H.) gives a reason for what is implied in the sentence preceding, while Si, an inferior reading, means but, (now to enter more particularly on the subject of my letter) "I make known to you." So Meyer. G. A.]