Gal 3:2-6 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 2. This only would I learn of you . I would ask this of you: retaining still the language of severe reproof. The design here, and in the following verses, is to prove to them that the views which they had at first embraced were correct, and that the views which they now cherished were false. To show them this, he asks them the simple question, by what means they had obtained the exalted privileges which they enjoyed? Whether they had obtained them by the simple gospel, or whether by the observance of the law? The word "only" here, μονον, implies that this was enough to settle the question. The argument to which he was about to appeal was enough for his purpose, he did not need to go any further. They had been converted. They had received the Holy Spirit. They had had abundant evidence of their acceptance with God; and the simple matter of inquiry now was, whether this had,occurred as the regular effect of the gospel, or whether it had been by obeying the law of Moses? Received ye the Spirit . The Holy Spirit. He refers here, doubtless, to all the manifestations of the Spirit which had been made to them, in renewing the heart, in sanctifying the soul, in comforting them in affliction, and in his miraculous agency among them. The Holy Spirit had been conferred on them at their conversion, ; and this was to them proof of the favour of God, and of their being accepted by him. By the works of the law . By obeying the law of Moses or of any law. It was in no way connected with their obeying the law. This must have been so clear to them that no one could have any doubt on the subject. The inestimably rich and precious gift of the Holy Spirit had not been conferred on them in consequence of their obeying the law. Or by the hearing of faith ? In connexion with hearing the gospel, requiring faith as a condition of salvation. The Holy Spirit was sent down only in connexion with the preaching of the gospel. It was a matter of truth, and which could not be denied, that those influences had not been imparted under the law, but had been connected with the gospel of the Redeemer. Comp. . The doctrine taught in this verse is, that the benefits resulting to Christians from the gift of the Holy Spirit are enough to prove that the gospel is from God, and therefore true. This was the case with regard to the miraculous endowments communicated in the early ages of the church by the Holy Spirit; for the miracles which were wrought, the knowledge of languages imparted, and the conversion of thousands from the error of their ways, proved that the system was from heaven; and it is true now. Every Christian has had ample proof, from the influences of the Spirit on his heart and around him, that the system which is attended with such benefits is from heaven. His own renewed heart; his elevated and sanctified affections; his exalted hopes; his consolations in trial; his peace in the prospect of death, and the happy influences of the system around him in the conversion of others, and in the intelligence, order, and purity of the community, are ample proof that the religion is true. Such effects do not come from any attempt to keep the law; they result from no other system.. No system of infidelity produces them; no mere system of infidelity can produce them. It is only by that pure system which proclaims salvation by the grace of God, which announces salvation by the merits of the Lord Jesus, that such effects are produced. The Saviour promised the Holy Spirit to descend after his ascension to heaven to apply his work; and everywhere, under the faithful preaching of the simple gospel, that Spirit keeps up the evidence of the truth of the system by his influences on the hearts and lives of men. (a) "Received" (b) "or by"

Galatians 3:2-6

Verse 2. This only would I learn of you. I would ask this of you: retaining still the language of severe reproof. The design here, and in the following verses, is to prove to them that the views which they had at first embraced were correct, and that the views which they now cherished were false. To show them this, he asks them the simple question, by what means they had obtained the exalted privileges which they enjoyed? Whether they had obtained them by the simple gospel, or whether by the observance of the law? The word "only" here, μονον, implies that this was enough to settle the question. The argument to which he was about to appeal was enough for his purpose, he did not need to go any further. They had been converted. They had received the Holy Spirit. They had had abundant evidence of their acceptance with God; and the simple matter of inquiry now was, whether this had,occurred as the regular effect of the gospel, or whether it had been by obeying the law of Moses?

Received ye the Spirit. The Holy Spirit. He refers here, doubtless, to all the manifestations of the Spirit which had been made to them, in renewing the heart, in sanctifying the soul, in comforting them in affliction, and in his miraculous agency among them. The Holy Spirit had been conferred on them at their conversion, Acts 10:44, 11:16; and this was to them proof of the favour of God, and of their being accepted by him.

By the works of the law. By obeying the law of Moses or of any law. It was in no way connected with their obeying the law. This must have been so clear to them that no one could have any doubt on the subject. The inestimably rich and precious gift of the Holy Spirit had not been conferred on them in consequence of their obeying the law.

Or by the hearing of faith? In connexion with hearing the gospel, requiring faith as a condition of salvation. The Holy Spirit was sent down only in connexion with the preaching of the gospel. It was a matter of truth, and which could not be denied, that those influences had not been imparted under the law, but had been connected with the gospel of the Redeemer. Comp. Acts 2. The doctrine taught in this verse is, that the benefits resulting to Christians from the gift of the Holy Spirit are enough to prove that the gospel is from God, and therefore true. This was the case with regard to the miraculous endowments communicated in the early ages of the church by the Holy Spirit; for the miracles which were wrought, the knowledge of languages imparted, and the conversion of thousands from the error of their ways, proved that the system was from heaven; and it is true now. Every Christian has had ample proof, from the influences of the Spirit on his heart and around him, that the system which is attended with such benefits is from heaven. His own renewed heart; his elevated and sanctified affections; his exalted hopes; his consolations in trial; his peace in the prospect of death, and the happy influences of the system around him in the conversion of others, and in the intelligence, order, and purity of the community, are ample proof that the religion is true. Such effects do not come from any attempt to keep the law; they result from no other system.. No system of infidelity produces them; no mere system of infidelity can produce them. It is only by that pure system which proclaims salvation by the grace of God, which announces salvation by the merits of the Lord Jesus, that such effects are produced. The Saviour promised the Holy Spirit to descend after his ascension to heaven to apply his work; and everywhere, under the faithful preaching of the simple gospel, that Spirit keeps up the evidence of the truth of the system by his influences on the hearts and lives of men.

(a) "Received" Eph 1:13 (b) "or by" Rom 10:17 Verse 3. Are ye so foolish? Can it be that you are so unwise? The idea is, that Paul hardly thought it credible that they could have pursued such a course. They had so cordially embraced the gospel when he preached to them, they had given such evidences that they were under its influence, that he regarded it as hardly possible that they should have so far abandoned it as to embrace such a system as they had done.

Having begun in the Spirit. That is, when the gospel was first preached to them. They had commenced their professedly Christian life under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and with the pure and spiritual worship of God. They had known the power and spirituality of the glorious gospel. They had been renewed by the Spirit; sanctified in some measure by him; and had submitted themselves to the spiritual influences of the gospel.

Are ye now made perfect. Tindal renders this, "ye would now end." The word here used επιτελεω, means, properly, to bring through to an end, to finish; and the sense here has probably been expressed by Tindal. The idea of perfecting, in the sense in which we now use that word, is not implied in the original. It is that of finishing, ending, completing; and the sense is, "You began your Christian career under the elevated and

spiritual influences of Christianity, a system so pure

and so exalted above the carnal ordinances of the Jews.

Having begun thus, can it be that you are finishing your

Christian course, or carrying it on to completion by the

observance of those ordinances, as if they were more pure

and elevating than Christianity? Can it be that you

regard them as an advance on the system of the gospel?"

By the flesh. By the observance of the carnal rites of the Jews--- for so the word here evidently means. This has not been an uncommon thing. Many have been professedly converted by the Spirit, and have soon fallen into the observance of mere rites and ceremonies, and depended mainly on them for salvation. Many churches have commenced their career in an elevated and spiritual manner, and have ended in the observance of mere forms. So many Christians begin their course in a spiritual manner, and end it "in the flesh" in another sense. They soon conform to the world. They are brought under the influence of worldly appetites and propensities. They forget the spiritual nature of their religion; and they live for the indulgence of ease, and for the gratification of the senses. They build themselves houses, and they "plant vineyards," and they collect around them the instruments of music, and the bowl and the wine is in their feasts, and they surrender themselves to luxury of living; and it seems as if they intended to perfect their Christianity by drawing around them as much of the world as possible. The beautiful simplicity of their early piety is gone. The blessedness of those moments when they lived by simple faith has fled. The times when they sought all their consolation in God are no more; and they now seem to differ from the world only in form. I dread to see a Christian inherit much wealth, or even to be thrown into very prosperous business. I see in it a temptation to build himself a splendid mansion, and to collect around him all that constitutes luxury among the people of the world. How natural for him to fed that if he has wealth like others, he should show it in a similar manner! And how easy for the most humble and spiritually-minded Christian, in the beginning of his Christian life, to become conformed to the world, (such is the weakness of human nature in its best forms;) and having begun in the Spirit, to end in the flesh !

(c) "begun" Gal 4:9 (d) "perfect" Heb 9:10 Verse 4. Have ye suffered so many things in vain? Paul reminds them of what they had endured on account of their attachment to Christianity, he assures them, that if the opinions on account of which they had suffered were false, then their sufferings had been in vain. They were of no use to them--for what advantage was it to suffer for a false opinion? The opinions for which they had suffered had not been those which they now embraced. They were not those connected with the observance of the Jewish rites. They had suffered on account of their having embraced the gospel--the system of justification by a crucified Redeemer; and now, if those sentiments were wrong, why their sufferings had been wholly in vain. See this argument pursued at much greater length in 1Cor 15:18,19,29-32.

If it be yet in vain. That is, "I trust it is not in vain. I hope you have not so far

abandoned the gospel, that all your sufferings in its

behalf have been of no avail. I believe the system is

true; and if true, and you are sincere Christians, it

will not be in vain that you have suffered in its behalf,

though you have gone astray. I trust, that although your

principles have been shaken, yet they have not been

wholly overthrown, and that you will yet reap the reward

of your having suffered so much on account of the

gospel."

(1) "so many" "great" (e) "in vain" 2Jn 1:8 (*) "it be yet" "Indeed" Verse 5. He therefore that ministereth, etc. This verse contains substantially a repetition of the argument in ver. 2. The argument is, that the gift of the Holy Spirit to them was not imparted in consequence of the observance of the law of Moses, but in connexion with the preaching of the gospel. By the word "he," in this place, Clarke, Doddridge, Bloomfield, Chandler, Locke, and many others, suppose that the apostle means himself. Bloomfield says that it is the common opinion of" all the ancient commentators." But this seems to me a strange opinion. The obvious reference, it seems to me, is to God, who had furnished or imparted to them the remarkable influences of the Holy Spirit; and this had been done in connexion with the preaching of the gospel, and not by the observance of the law. If, however, it refers to Paul, it means that he had been made the agent or instrument in imparting to them those remarkable endowments, and that this had been done by one who had not enforced the necessity of obeying the law of Moses, but who had preached to them the simple gospel. Verse 6. Even as Abraham believed God, etc. See this passage fully explained Rom 4:3. The passage is introduced here by the apostle to show that the most eminent of the patriarchs was not saved by the deeds of the law. He was saved by faith, and this fact showed that it was possible to be saved in that way, and that it was the design of God to save men in this manner. Abraham believed God, and was justified, before the law of Moses was given. It could not, therefore, be pretended that the law was necessary to justification; for if it had been, Abraham could not have been saved. But if not necessary in his case, it was in no other; and this instance demonstrated that the false teachers among the Galatians were wrong even according to the Old Testament.

(b) "Abraham believed" Gen 15:6 (1) "was accounted" "imputed" (*) "righteous" "in order to"