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Faith, and to preserve it when obtained came not from Circumcision but from Grace. On
this account he concluded his exhortation with a prayer, reminding them of grace and the
Spirit, and at the same time addressing them as brethren, and supplicating God that they
might continue to enjoy these blessings, thus providing for them a twofold security. For
both prayer and teaching, tended to the same thing and together became to them as a double
wall. For teaching, reminding them of what benefits they enjoyed, the rather kept them in
the doctrine of the Church; and prayer, invoking grace, and exhorting to an enduring con-
stancy, permitted not the Spirit to depart from them. And He abiding in them, all the error
of such doctrines as they held was shaken off like dust.166
166 [Dr. Schaff strikingly says: “The last sentence of this polemic Epistle is a benediction and the last word is
a word of affection, ‘brethren.’ (The word ἀδελφοί stands last in the true text, as the Rev. Version has it.) It takes
the sting out of the severity. Thus concludes this Epistle so full of polemic fire and zeal, yet more full of grace—free
sovereign grace, justifying sanctifying grace, and full of forgiving love even to ungrateful pupils; an Epistle for
the time and an Epistle for all times.”—Popular Commentary, in loco.—G.A.]
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Galatians 6:1