would I learn from you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing 25 of faith.” Ye have received, he says, the Holy Spirit, ye have done many mighty works, ye have effected miracles in raising the dead, in cleansing lepers, in prophesying, in speaking with tongues,—did the Law confer this great power upon you? was it not rather Faith, seeing that, before, ye could do no such things? Is it not then the height of madness for these who have received such benefits from Faith, to abandon it, and desert back to the Law which can offer you nothing of the same kind? Ver. 3. “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh?” Here again he seasonably interposes a rebuke; time, he says, should have brought im- provement; but, so far from advancing, ye have even retrograded. Those who start from small beginnings make progress to higher things; ye, who began with the high, have relapsed to the low. Even had your outset been carnal, your advance should have been spiritual, but now, after starting from things spiritual, ye have ended your journey in that which is carnal; for to work miracles is spiritual, but to be circumcised is carnal. And after miracles ye have passed to circumcision, after having apprehended the truth ye have fallen back to types, after gazing on the sun ye seek a candle, after having strong meat ye run for milk. He says, “made perfect,”79 which means not “initiated” merely, but “sacrificed,” signifying that their teachers took and slew them like animals, while they resigned themselves to suffer what those teachers pleased. As if some captain, or distinguished man, after a thousand victories and trophies, were to subject himself to infamy as a deserter, and offer his body to be branded at the will of others. Ver. 4. “Did ye suffer so many things in vain?80 if it be indeed in vain.” This remark is far more piercing than the former, for the remembrance of their miracles would not be so powerful as the exhibition of their contests and endurance of sufferings for Christ’s sake. All that you have endured, says he, these men would strip you of, and would rob you of your crown. Then, lest he should dismay and unnerve, he proceeds not to a 79 [This distinction between τελέω and ἐπιτελέω was not in the mind of the Apostle. The contrast with ἐναρξάμενοι, ‘having begun,’ shows that ἐπ τελεῖσθεsimply means ‘are ye made perfect,’ “the compound involving the idea of bringing to a ‘complete and perfect’ end.” (Ellicott.) There may be a slight tinge of irony in the com- pound word.—G.A.] 80 [“As we know nothing of persecutions endured by Galatians, it seems preferable to take the word in a neutral sense embracing all spiritual experiences (blessings and benefits as well) of the Galatians. (Comp. v. 3 and 6.)”—Schaff. Lightfoot refers it to the persecutions endured by the Galatians from Jews citing Gal. v. 11; and says “the ἐί γεleaves a loophole for doubt which the καί, following, widens.” So Ellicott. Meyer says, “It refers to everything which the false apostles in their Judaistic zeal had troubled and burdened the Galatians with. The εἰκῆ then means “and all to no profit, all in vain,” if indeed it be only (καί) in vain and not to the positive risk of your Messianic salvation that ye have suffered.”—G.A.] 51 Galatians 3:1