See with what large letters I write to you with my own hand.
Parallel Translations
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See with what large letters I write to you with my own hand.
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Beholde how large a letter I have written vnto you with myne awne honde.
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Ye see how large a letter I haue written vnto you with mine owne hand.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to Galatians 6:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Corinthians 16:21-23 This greeting is by me, Paul, with my own hand. If any man doesn’t love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be cursed. Come, Lord! The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
- Romans 16:22 I, Tertius, who write the letter, greet you in the Lord.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (28 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Martin Luther 1535 · Public Domain VERSE 11. Ye see how large a letter I…
VERSE 11. Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
With these words the Apostle intends to draw the Galatians on. "I never," he says, "wrote such a long letter with my own hand to any of the other churches." His other epistles he dictated, and only subscribed his greetings and his signature with his own hand.
Martin Luther — Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (1535), English translation by Theodore Graebner (Zondervan, 1939) — public domain (U.S. copyright not renewed). Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 11. Ye see. The meaning of the Greek verb…
11. Ye see. The meaning of the Greek verb ἴδετε, is so far doubtful that it may be taken either in the imperative or indicative mood; but the force of the passage is little if at all affected. To convince the Galatians more fully of his anxiety about them, and at the same time to ensure their careful perusal, he mentions that this long Epistle had been written with his own hand. The greater the toil to which he had submitted on their account, the stronger were their inducements to read it, not in a superficial manner, but with the closest attention.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The fourth and last part of the Epistle, wherein…
The fourth and last part of the Epistle, wherein he returneth to his principal end and purpose: to wit, that the Galatians should not suffer themselves to be led out of the way by the false apostles: and he pointeth out those false apostles in their colors, reproving them of ambition, as men that do not that which they do, for any affection and zeal they have to the Law, but only for this purpose, that they may purchase themselves favor amongst their own sort, by the circumcision of the Galatians.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 11 Ye see how large a letter I have…
11 Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
Ver. 11. How large a letter] Gr. with what good great text letters. I have written unto you with mine own hand (no fair hand; the greatest clerks are not always the best scribes), and not by any Tertius, or other amanuensis, Rom 16:22, to show his love, and prevent imposture, 2Th 2:2. (Chrysost. Theophylact.)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Paul made use of the hands of others in…
Paul made use of the hands of others in the writing some others of the Epistles, as appears from Rom 16:22, and sometimes he himself only wrote the salutation, 1Co 16:21; but he tells them he wrote this Epistle to them wholly with his own hand, that he might thereby more commend his love to them and care over them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain It is very probable that St. Paul ordinarily did…
It is very probable that St. Paul ordinarily did only dictate, and that some other person wrote his epistles, as that to the Romans Rom 16:22, wrote by Tertius. Sometimes he only wrote the salutation, and subscribed the epistle with his own hand, 1Co 16:21 but here he tells the Galatians that he wrote this epistle to them all with his own hand, having never wrote so large an epistle wholly with his own hand to any church as he did to them.
This he did for two reasons, 1. To testify the fervency of his affection towards them, and to insinuate how much he loved them.
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2. To evidence the sincerity of his endeavours for their present and future happiness: to accomplish these ends, he judged no pains too great.
From whence learn, 1. That the faithful ministers of Christ will stick at no pains, but encounter with all difficulties, to advance the good of souls in general, and to reduce an erroneous and wandering people in particular, to the obedience of the gospel.
Thus this great apostle, though he had upon him the care of all the churches, and consequently a multiplicity of business, many avocations, and a multitude of distractions; yet, in order to the reclaiming of these Galatians, who were deeply tinctured with error, as well as dangerously tainted with sin, he redeems time for, and undergoes the fatigue and trouble of, writing this whole epistle to them with his own hand: You see how large a letter I have written with mine own hand.
Learn, 2. That it neither savours of pride nor vain-glory in the ministers of the gospel, if upon occasion, though sparingly, they make known to the world the great pains they have taken for promoting the good of their people, that so they may be excited the more to bring forth fruit answerable to the cost and culture which the ministers of Christ have expended upon them. St. Paul here sticks not to tell the Galatians, and the whole world, the pains he had been at in writing this large epistle with his own hand to them; yet it was not to commend himself, but to excite and encourage them.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain The apostle, having at large established the doctrine of…
The apostle, having at large established the doctrine of the gospel, and endeavoured to persuade these Christians to a behaviour agreeable to it, seems as if he intended here to have put an end to the epistle, especially when he had acquainted them that, as a particular mark of his respect for them, he had written this large letter with his own hand, and had not made use of another as his amanuensis, and only subscribed his name to it, as he was wont to do in his other epistles: but such is his affection to them such his concern to recover them from the bad impressions made upon them by their false teachers, that he cannot break off till he has once again given them the true character of those teachers, and an account of his own contrary temper and behaviour, that by comparing these together they might the more easily see how little reason they had to depart from the doctrine he had taught them and to comply with theirs.
I. He gives them the true character of those teachers who were industrious to seduce them, in several particulars. As, 1. They were men who desired to make a fair show in the flesh, Gal 6:12. They were very zealous for the externals of religion, forward to observe, and to oblige others to observe, the rites of the ceremonial law, though at the same time they had little or no regard to real piety; for, as the apostle says of them in the following verse, neither do they themselves keep the law. Proud, vain, and carnal hearts desire nothing more than to make a fair show in the flesh, and they can easily be content with so much religion as will help them to keep up such a fair show; but frequently those have least of the substance of religion who are most solicitous to make a show of it. 2. They were men who were afraid of suffering, for they constrained the Gentile Christians to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. It was not so much out of a regard to the law as to themselves; they were willing to sleep in a whole skin, and to save their worldly cargo, and cared not though they made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. That which they chiefly aimed at was to please the Jews, and to keep up their reputation among them, and so to prevent the trouble that Paul, and other faithful professors of the doctrine of Christ, lay open to. And, 3. Another part of their character was that they were men of a party spirit, and who had no further zeal for the law than as it subserved their carnal and selfish designs; for they desired to have these Christians circumcised, that they might glory in their flesh (Gal 6:13), that they might say they had gained them over to their side, and made proselytes of them, of which they carried the mark in their flesh. And thus, while they pretended to promote religion, they were the greatest enemies of it; for nothing has been more destructive to the interest of religion than men-siding and party-making.
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II. He acquaints us, on the other hand, with his own temper and behaviour, or makes profession of his own faith, hope, and joy; particularly,
1. That his principle glory was in the cross of Christ: God forbid, says he, that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, Gal 6:14. By the cross of Christ is here meant his sufferings and death on the cross, or the doctrine of salvation by a crucified Redeemer. This was what the Jews stumbled at and the Greeks accounted foolishness; and the judaizing teachers themselves, though they had embraced Christianity, yet were so far ashamed of it that in compliance with the Jews, and to avoid persecution from them, they were for mixing the observance of the law of Moses with faith in Christ, as necessary to salvation. But Paul had a very different opinion of it; he was so far from being offended at the cross of Christ, or ashamed of it, or afraid to own it, that he gloried in it; yea, he desired to glory in nothing else, and rejected the thought of setting up anything in competition with it, as the object of his esteem, with the utmost abhorrence; God forbid, etc. This was the ground of all his hope as a Christian: this was the doctrine which, as an apostle, he was resolved to preach; and, whatever trials his firm adherence to it might bring upon him, he was ready, not only to submit to them, but to rejoice in them. Note, The cross of Christ is a good Christian's chief glory, and there is the greatest reason why we should glory in it, for to it we owe all our joys and hopes.
2. That he was dead to the world. By Christ, or by the cross of Christ, the world was crucified to him, and he to the world; he had experienced the power and virtue of it in weaning him from the world, and this was one great reason of his glorying in it. The false teachers were men of a worldly temper, their chief concern was about their secular interests, and therefore they accommodated their religion thereunto. But Paul was a man of another spirit; as the world had no kindness for him, so neither had he any great regard to it; he had got above both the smiles and the frowns of it, and had become as indifferent to it as one who is dying out of it. This is a temper of mind that all Christians should be labouring after; and the best way to attain it is to converse much with the cross of Christ. The higher esteem we have of him the meaner opinion shall we have of the world, and the more we contemplate the sufferings our dear Redeemer met with from the world the less likely shall we be to be in love with it.
3. That he did not lay the stress of his religion on one side or the other of the contesting interests, but on sound Christianity, Gal 6:15. There was at that time an unhappy division among Christians; circumcision and uncircumcision had become names by which they were distinguished from each other; for (Gal 2:9, Gal 2:12) the Jewish Christians are called the circumcision, and those of the circumcision. The false teachers were very zealous for circumcision; yea, to such a degree as to represent it as necessary to salvation, and therefore they did all they could to constrain the Gentile Christians to submit to it. In this they had carried the matter much further than others did; for, though the apostles connived at the use of it among the Jewish converts, yet they were by no means for imposing it upon the Gentiles. But what they laid so great a stress upon Paul made very little account of. It was indeed of great importance to the interest of Christianity that circumcision should not be imposed on the Gentile converts, and therefore this he had set himself with the utmost vigour to oppose; but as for mere circumcision or uncircumcision, whether those who embraced the Christian religion had been Jews or Gentiles, and whether they were for or against continuing the use of circumcision, so that they did not place their religion in it - this was comparatively a matter of little moment with him; for he very well knew that in Jesus Christ, that is, in his account, or under the Christian dispensation, neither circumcision availed any thing nor uncircumcision, as to men's acceptance with God, but a new creature. Here he instructs us both wherein real religion does not and wherein it does consist. It does not consist in circumcision or uncircumcision, in our being in this or the other denomination of Christians; but it consists in our being new creatures; not in having a new name, or putting on a new face, but in our being renewed in the spirit of our minds and having Christ formed in us: this is of the greatest account with God, and so it was with the apostle. If we compare this text with some others, we may more fully see what it is that renders us most acceptable to God, and about which we should therefore be chiefly concerned. Here we are told that it is a new creature, and in Gal 5:6 that it is faith which worketh by love, and in Co1 7:19 that it is the keeping of the commandments of God, from all which it appears that it is a change of mind and heart, whereby we are disposed and enabled to believe in the Lord Jesus and to live a life of devotedness to God; and that where this inward, vital, practical religion is wanting, no outward professions, nor particular names, will ever stand us in any stead, or be sufficient to recommend us to him. Were Christians duly concerned to experience this in themselves, and to promote it in others, if it did not make them lay aside their distinguishing names, yet it would at least take them off from laying so great a stress upon them as they too often do. Note, Christians should take care to lay the stress of their religion where God has laid it, namely, on those things which are available to our acceptance with him; so we see the apostle did, and it is our wisdom and interest herein to follow his example. The apostle having shown what was of chief consideration in religion, and what he laid the greatest stress upon, namely, not a mere empty name or profession, but a sound and saving change, in Gal 6:16 he pronounces a blessing upon all those who walk according to this rule: And as many as walk according to this rule peace be upon them, and mercy upon the Israel of God. The rule which he here speaks of may signify more generally the whole word of God, which is the complete and perfect rule of faith and life, or that doctrine of the gospel, or way of justification and salvation, which he had laid down in this epistle, namely, by faith in Christ without the works of the law; or it may be considered as more immediately referring to the new creature, of which he had just before been speaking. The blessings which he desires for those who walk according to this rule, or which he gives them the hope and prospect of (for the words may be taken either as a prayer or a promise), are peace and mercy - peace with God and conscience, and all the comforts of this life as far as they are needful for them, and mercy, or an interest in the free love and favour of God in Christ, which are the spring and fountain of all other blessings. A foundation is laid for these in that gracious change which is wrought in them; and while they behave themselves as new creatures, and govern their lives and hopes by the rule of the gospel, they may most assuredly depend upon them. These, he declares, shall be the portion of all the Israel of God, by whom he means all sincere Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, all who are Israelites indeed, who, though they may not be the natural, yet are become the spiritual seed of Abraham; these, being heirs of his faith, are also heirs together with him of the same promise, and consequently entitled to the peace and mercy here spoken of. The Jews and judaizing teachers were for confining these blessings to such as were circumcised and kept the law of Moses; but, on the contrary, the apostle declares that they belong to all who walk according to the rule of the gospel, or of the new creature, even to all the Israel of God, intimating that those only are the true Israel of God who walk according to this rule, and not that of circumcision, which they insisted so much upon, and therefore that this was the true way to obtain peace and mercy. Note, (1.) Real Christians are such as walk by rule; not a rule of their own devising, but that which God himself has prescribed to them. (2.) Even those who walk according to this rule do yet stand in need of the mercy of God. But, (3.) All who sincerely endeavour to walk according to this rule may be assured that peace and mercy will be upon them: this is the best way to have peace with God, ourselves, and others; and hereupon, as we may be sure of the favour of God now, so we may be sure that we shall find mercy with him hereafter.
4. That he had cheerfully suffered persecution for the sake of Christ and Christianity, Gal 6:17. As the cross of Christ, or the doctrine of salvation by a crucified Redeemer, was what he chiefly gloried in, so he had been willing to run all hazards rather than he would betray this truth, or suffer it to be corrupted. The false teachers were afraid of persecution, and this was the great reason why they were zealous for circumcision, as we see, Gal 6:12. But this was the least of Paul's concern; he was not moved at any of the afflictions he met with, nor did he count his life dear to him, so that he might finish his course with joy, and the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God, Act 20:24. He had already suffered much in the cause of Christ, for he bore in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus, the scars of those wounds which he had sustained from persecuting enemies, for his steady adherence to him, and that doctrine of the gospel which he had received from him. As from this it appeared that he was firmly persuaded of the truth and importance of it, and that he was far from being a favourer of circumcision, as they had falsely reported him to be, so hereupon, with a becoming warmth and vehemence, suitable to his authority as an apostle and to the deep concern of mind he was under, he insists upon it that no man should henceforth trouble him, namely by opposing his doctrine or authority, or by any such calumnies and reproaches as had been cast upon him; for as, both from what he had said and what he had suffered, they appeared to be highly unjust and injurious, so also those were very unreasonable who either raised or received them. Note, (1.) It may justly be presumed that men are fully persuaded of those truths in the defence of which they are willing to suffer. And (2.) It is very unjust to charge those things upon others which are contrary not only to their profession, but their sufferings too.
III. The apostle, having now finished what he intended to write for the conviction and recovery of the churches of Galatia, concludes the epistle with his apostolical benediction, Gal 6:18. He calls them his brethren, wherein he shows his great humility, and the tender affection he had for them, notwithstanding the ill treatment he had met with from them; and takes his leave of them with this very serious and affectionate prayer, that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be with their spirit. This was a usual farewell wish of the apostle's, as we see, Rom 16:20, Rom 16:24, and Co1 16:23. And herein he prays that they might enjoy the favour of Christ, both in its special effects and its sensible evidences, that they might receive from him all that grace which was needful to guide them in their way, to strengthen them in their work, to establish them in their Christian course, and to encourage and comfort them under all the trials of life and the prospect of death itself. This is fitly called the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, as he is both the sole purchaser and the appointed dispenser of it; and though these churches had done enough to forfeit it, by suffering themselves to be drawn into an opinion and practice highly dishonourable to Christ, as well as dangerous to them, yet, out of his great concern for them, and knowing of what importance it was to them, he earnestly desires it on their behalf; yea, that it might be with their spirit, that they might continually experience the influences of it upon their souls, disposing and enabling them to act with sincerity and uprightness in religion. We need desire no more to make us happy than the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This the apostle begs for these Christians, and therein shows us what we are chiefly concerned to obtain; and, both for their and our encouragement to hope for it, he adds his Amen.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain As many as desire to make a fair show…
As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh,.... By whom are meant the false apostles, who are here described, and their views, aims, and ends, opened and exposed. These were very desirous to carry a good face of things outwardly, of appearing outwardly righteous before men, and to be accounted so by them; and therefore did all they to be seen of them, and gain applause from them. They were such, as the Syriac version renders the words, as desired "to glory in the flesh"; their carnal descent and privileges, in their being Hebrews, the seed of Abraham, of the stock of Israel; and in the circumcision of their flesh; or in their external gifts, their natural parts, acquired abilities, learning, eloquence, and the like: moreover, as the Vulgate Latin version reads, "they were willing to please in the flesh": to please carnal men, Israel after the flesh, in carnal and fleshly things; they sought not to please God or Christ, but men, and so were not the servants of either. They were desirous, as the Arabic version renders the words, "that honour should be done them in" "the flesh"; they sought external glory from men, and to be outwardly and publicly honoured by them; and all their religion was a mere outward show, a piece of pageantry; which lay in the observation of carnal ordinances, such as respected meats and drinks, circumcision in the flesh, and other carnal commandments:
they constrain you to be circumcised; not by using any outward force and violence; but either by their example, which had great influence, as that has both with respect to the embracing of evil principles, and giving in to bad practices: or by their doctrine; the arguments they made use of to persuade them to it, being formed and managed with great art and subtlety, wrought strongly upon them: or rather by overawing them, with threatenings of hell and damnation; affirming, that unless they were circumcised, they could not be saved: and their end was,
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only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ, or "by the cross of Christ"; meaning either the manner in which persecution might be suffered, as by being reproached, ill used, and suffering death as Christ did; or by bearing the cross of affliction and tribulation Christ has appointed for, and calls his followers to; or else the object for which it is endured, the preaching of the cross, or the Gospel of salvation by a crucified Christ; for this doctrine, and the preaching and professing of it, and living a life answerable to it, always bring persecution with them: and that persecution, which is more especially here regarded, was what came from the Jews, who in general were greatly offended at the preaching of a crucified Christ; and particularly from the professing part among them, who though they believed in Christ, and were not displeased at preaching in his name; yet were greatly affronted at, and highly resented, and as much as in them lay, by reproaches and hard censures, and the like, persecuted those who opposed circumcision, and the ceremonies of the law; and to avoid the ill will, contempt, and persecution of these, the false teachers preached up circumcision, and obliged their people to submit to it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Ye see how large a letter - St. Paul…
Ye see how large a letter - St. Paul had not yet wrote a larger to any church. I have written with my own hand - He generally wrote by an amanuensis.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. Ye see how large a letter] There…
Verse 11. Ye see how large a letter] There is a strange diversity of opinions concerning the apostle's meaning in this place. Some think he refers to the length of the epistle, others to the largeness of the letters in which this epistle is written, others to the inadequacy of the apostle's writing. It appears plain that most of his epistles were written by an amanuensis, and simply subscribed by himself; but the whole of the Epistle to the Galatians was written by his own hand. To say that the apostle was unskilled in Greek, and especially in the Greek characters, is in my opinion absurd. He was born in Tarsus, a city which, according to Strabo, rivalled both Athens and Alexandria in philosophy, and in arts and sciences; and therefore he could not be ignorant of a tongue which must have been the very means of conveying all this instruction. As to writing it, there was in his time nothing difficult, because the uncial character was that which was alone in use in those days, and this character is as easily made as the capitals in the Roman alphabet, which have been taken from it. I conclude, therefore, that what the apostle says must be understood of the length of the epistle, in all probability the largest he had ever written with his own hand; though several, much larger, have been dictated by him, but they were written by his scribe or amanuensis.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gal 6:11. Ye see how large a letter —…
Gal 6:11. Ye see how large a letter — St. Paul had not yet written a larger to any church; I have written with my own hand — In testimony of my great affection for you, and concern for your spiritual welfare. He generally wrote by an amanuensis. The original expression here used, πηλικοις γραμμασιν, which we render how large a letter, is, by Whitby, Doddridge, and some others, following Jerome, Chrysostom, and Theophylact, translated, with what kind of, or with what large letters I have written unto you, supposing it to be an apology for the in elegance of the writing. For from the apostle’s making use of an amanuensis in his other letters, they infer that he was not accustomed to write Greek. “The inference, however,” says Macknight, “does not follow. Eminent men, much engaged in affairs, commonly employ others to write for them, notwithstanding they are able to write very well themselves. I therefore prefer the translation in our Bibles, which represents the apostle as informing the Galatians that he wrote this large epistle with his own hand, to show how anxious he was to reclaim them from their errors, and to give them the fullest assurance of the truth of the doctrines contained in it; and that he uniformly preached the same doctrines everywhere.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Ye see - This might be rendered see, in…
Ye see - This might be rendered see, in the imperative. So Tyndale renders it, “Behold.” But it is more commonly supposed that it should be rendered in the indicative. The sense is not materially different whichever translation is adopted. The object of the apostle is, to direct their attention to the special proof of his love, which he had manifested in writing such a letter.
How large a letter - Considerable variety has existed in regard to the interpretation of this phrase. The word used here and translated “how large” (πηλίκος pēlikos), means. properly, “how great.” Some have supposed that it refers to the size of the letters which Paul made in writing the Epistle - the length and crudeness of the characters which he used. Such interpreters suppose that he was not well versed in writing Greek, and that he used large letters. and those somewhat rudely made, like the Hebrew. So Doddridge and Whitby interpret it; and so Theodoret, Jerome, Theophylact, and some others. He might not, says Doddridge, have been well versed in the Greek characters; or “this inaccuracy of his writings might have been owing to the infirmity or weakness of his nerves, which he had hinted at before.” Jerome says, that Paul was a Hebrew, and that he was unacquainted with the mode of writing Greek letters; and that because necessity demanded that he should write a letter in his own hand, contrary to his usual custom, he was obliged to form his characters in this crude manner. According to this interpretation, it was:
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A pledge to the Galatians that the Epistle was genuine, since it bore the marks of his own handwriting; and, It was proof of special affection for them that he was willing to undergo this labor on their account.
Others suppose that he means to refer to the size of the Epistle which he had written. Such is the interpretation of Grotius, Koppe, Bloomfield, Clarke, Locke, Chandler, and is, indeed, the common interpretation, as it is the obvious one. According to this, it was proof of special interest in them, and regard for them, that he had written to them a whole letter with his own hand. Usually he employed an amanuensis, and added his name, with a brief benediction or remark at the close; see the Rom 16:22 note; 1Co 16:21 note. What induced him to depart from his usual custom here is unknown. Jerome supposes that he refers here to what follows from this verse to the end of the Epistle, as that which he had written with his own hand, but the word ἔγραψα egrapsa, says Rosenmuller, refers rather to what he had written, than to that which he intended to write. On this verse, the reader may consult with advantage, Tholuck on the Life and Writings of Paul: German Selections, by Edwards and Park, Andover, 1839, pp. 35, 64, 65.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain What a letter I have written....with my own hand.…
What a letter I have written....with my own hand. St. Jerome understands this of what he is now beginning to write, the rest being written by the hand of another. Others understand the whole letter. (Witham) --- St. John Chrysostom, Theophylactus, and Theodoret, suppose that the apostle wrote the whole epistle with his own hand, and here excuses himself for writing so ill the Grecian letters, which were so very different from those of his native language. But St. Jerome understands, that he wrote only this latter part of the epistle, as a testimony that the whole came from him. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain Written by the Apostle with his own hand. He…
CONCLUSION OF THE EPISTLE
Written by the Apostle with his own hand. He portrays himself in contrast with the False Teachers. An entreaty for future quiet out of regard to his sufferings. Benedictions.
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Gal_6:11-18
11Ye see how large a letter I have written [See in how large letters I have written, or with what letters I write]12 unto you with mine own hand. 12As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should [that they should not]13 suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 13For neither they themselves [not even do they] who are circumcised14 keep the law [themselves]; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. 14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world15. 15For in Christ Jesus [omit in Christ Jesus]16 neither circumcision availeth17 anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 16And as many as walk [shall walk]18 according to this rule, peace 17be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From [omit From] henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord [omit the Lord]19 Jesus. 18Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit [The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren]. Amen.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Gal_6:11. See with what letters I write [or in what large letters I have written (see below)—R.] unto you with mine own hand.—Paul as a rule dictated his Epistles; but attested them by adding at least the conclusion in his own hand (comp. 2Th_3:17). So also in this Epistle. But as it is the first letter which he has written to the Galatians, he begs them to notice20 his handwriting. This is the sense of πηλίκοις γράμμασιν, which is therefore simply = with what sort of letters. Ἔγραψα, according to the familiar epistolary usage; the aorist does not therefore refer back to the portion already written, but Paul means what he is just beginning to write in conclusion. So Laurent, zur Kritik der Briefe des Apostles Paulus, in the Studien und Kritiken, 1864 H. 4, p. 643 sq.—His interpretation seems to have more in its favor than that of Wieseler (adopted in the 1st edition of this work), who renders it: “See with how great letters,” etc., referring the words to the whole Epistle, in this sense, that he means to give his readers a token of his special love in having written to them in quite large, and therefore unusually legible, characters, and that, not through an amanuensis, as ordinarily, but with his own hand. Against this Laurent remarks: How is it conceivable that immediately after so profound and earnest a discourse, the Apostle should have reviewed the characters he had already written, and have made so trivial a remark about their appearance? Besides the letters were not at all large; not much larger than ours. In Paul’s day cursive writing was already in use. While therefore the amanuensis probably wrote in uncial letters, Paul himself wrote cursively[!?]21—But his purpose in adding the conclusion with his own hand was in this case not merely to attest the Epistle. For the conclusion is unusually long. Paul was also impelled to write by the desire of impressing more deeply on the minds of the Galatians a notice respecting his own person in opposition to the false teachers.
[Two questions arise in the interpretation of this verse: 1. to what does the Apostle call attention; 2. to how much does he refer. The answer to the first question turns upon the meaning of πηλίκοις γράμμασιν, that to the second mainly, though not exclusively, upon the force of ἔγραψα. 1. We may determine with comparative certainty the meaning of πηλίκοις γράμμασιν. Πηλίκος, occurring only here and in Heb_7:3 (where the reference is to magnitude, though in an ethical sense), is not synonymous with πόσος, “how many;” hence “how many letters”=how large a letter, is incorrect; nor does the plural γράμματα mean “letter,” for which Paul invariably uses ἐριστολή. Besides the phrase γράφεῖν γράμμασιν, in the sense of “write a letter,” is nowhere found. Nor is πηλίκος identical with ποῖος (so Schmoller and others), “what kind;” Ellicott justly characterizes this interpretation as arbitrary. It means “how large,” referring to the size, implying that, for some cause, what Paul himself wrote was written in larger characters than usual (or perhaps than an amanuensis was in the habit of using). There is no necessity for finding a reference to shapelessness. It is no valid objection to say that this reference was trivial, for other things that Paul has written may be thus spoken of with equal propriety (comp. 2Ti_4:13). See Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, Wordsworth and Lightfoot. 2. To how much does he refer? In other words, did Paul write the whole Epistle with his own hand, or only these concluding verses. The aorist indicates the former, unless it be an epistolary aorist. But the burden of proof rests with those who maintain this. Besides if the reference be exclusively to what follows, it seems singular that the epistolary aorist should be chosen. We cannot perhaps decide the question from this word alone, but there are other considerations which may be urged in favor of the autographic character of the whole Epistle, a) Attention may have been called to the size of the letters, as a proof that Paul had written the whole, not using an amanuensis, who would probably have written more rapidly, hence in smaller characters, and this would be a proof of his earnestness and affection. b) The Epistle is largely a personal vindication, and hence was more likely to be an autograph, c) Alford finds a similarity, in style and in use of words, between this and the Pastoral Epistles (which he regards as autographs), see Vol. III. New Testament Prolegg. pp. 4, 79 sq. d) Wordsworth refers to the passage in Habakkuk cited in this Epistle, (Gal_3:11), and finds in the injunction to the prophet to write “the just shall live by faith” in large characters, an implication that this Epistle on the same theme was written in similar characters. (This however is not of much weight.) Although the use of ἔγραψα is not decisive, yet taken in connection with the meaning of πηλίκοις, and whatever of weight attaches to the considerations mentioned above, it is much safer to assume that Paul wrote the whole letter; the probabilities are strongly in favor of this view. (So Alford, Ellicott and Wordsworth most decidedly.) There is a conjecture that the size or shapelessness of the letters arose from Paul’s weakness of vision, but it must be regarded as only a conjecture. Comp. Gal_4:15. Paul could not have been unskilful in writing Greek.—R.]
Gal_6:12. As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh.—In condensed sharp language the Apostle (Gal_6:12-13) characterizes the intrigues of the false teachers. They are people who want to have a good repute (εὐπροσωπῆσαι), but for all that live in the flesh, according to the lusts of the flesh,22 and shun suffering. Therefore they constrain you to be circumcised.—(Ἀναγκάζουσιν ὑμᾶςπεριτέμνεσθαι= “are busied with forcing a circumcision upon you.”) For this is done only that they should not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.—Τῷ σταυρῷ not: on account of the cross, but: by the cross; the cross of Christ is itself represented as the persecutor—a significant image for these people’s fear of the cross, because it brings persecution. But the cross of Christ brings with it such persecution, sc. on the part of the Jews, only when it is preached and confessed as the sole condition of salvation, which is not done when circumcision is regarded as a condition of salvation. Therefore they insist upon this, in order to escape persecution. [It seems better to take τῷ σταυρῷ as the dative of the ground or occasion (so Meyer, Alford, Ellicott and many others). Schmoller actually presents this view in his explanatory remark. It cannot mean “with the sufferings of the cross” (Winer). The objection to both is that “the cross of Christ” means “the atoning death of Christ upon the cross” (Brown), and this meaning will not admit of these interpretations.—R.]
Gal_6:13. Paul immediately explains the strong μόνον, “only” (Gal_6:12). They have in this no other view than the one assigned—the purely egoistic one—they are not concerned for the law on its own account; for not even do they who are circumcised keep the law themselves.—Of the circumcised, or those who receive circumcision, [the reference being to the Judaizing party; the perfect would perhaps point more to the leaders, the present to the party as one which was then enforcing this rite,—R.] with all their zeal for circumcision, it might be expected that they kept the law. But their conduct is hypocritical. When they desire to have you circumcised, it is not in the interest of the law, but only that they may glory in your flesh, that they may be able to boast themselves; and it is moreover the σάρξ of the Galatians, that is to be the subject of their boasting: to be taken either physically, with reference to the circumcision to be performed in their flesh; or in a sense similar to Gal_6:12, because if the Galatians should receive circumcision, they would follow the σάρξ and its suggestions, would display a carnal weakness and pliability of which these men would then boast as their own work. [The latter view is preferable.—R.]
Gal_6:14. But God forbid that I should glory.—To this sinful boasting of the false teachers, to whom the cross of Christ is more or less a scandal, and who are unwilling to suffer any persecution for its sake, Paul opposes his own boasting, whose subject is this very cross of Christ.—Save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.—Meyer incorrectly supposes that Paul wishes to mention the subject of his official glorying over against the official vauntings of the false teachers, and hence understands “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” of the preaching of the cross of Christ, not of the fact itself. [In the 4th Ed. Meyer says: Only the cross of Christ should be the subject of his καυχᾶσθαι, viz.: that nothing other than the Redemption accomplished on the cross by Christ was the ground, contents and Divine assurance of his faith, life, hope, labor, etc.”—Surely this is not open to Schmoller’s objection.—R.] Wieseler:—Paul will, in contrast with these Judaizers, not boast at all of what he is or has or does, and therefore also not of his official labors, but of the cross of Christ.—By whom or which.—Διʼ οὖ is then most naturally referred to the main idea, “cross,” not to “our Lord Jesus Christ.” [The meaning is evidently the same, whether the relative be referred to one or the other; “by which” would mean through the cross of Christ; “by whom,” through Christ crucified. Still there is much force in the suggestion, that the subject immediately preceding, “so fully and triumphantly expressed, so important and so emphasized, throws the other word into the shade.” (It is not necessary to suppose that in this case we would find ἐν ᾦ.) Besides, the idea of sundered fellowship with the world, which follows, seems to imply here more of a fellowship with Christ than with the cross. See Meyer, Alford and Ellicott, and on the other side Calvin, Bengel, Brown and Lightfoot.—R.]
The world is crucified unto me.—By this Paul does not mean to state, for instance, why he cannot any longer boast of anything else, viz., because nothing else exists for him (Meyer), but he gives in a few yet pregnant words a glimpse into the significance which the cross has for him, on account of its operation. It is of course only because the cross is for me the object of faith, because I stand by faith in inward fellowship therewith (comp. Gal_2:19), [or, better, with Christ Himself as the Crucified One—R.], that a crucifixion has been accomplished in my case also. Paul, however, is here speaking not simply of the fact that he or his old Ego has been crucified. Recognizing as he does his old Ego as one entangled with the world, and recognizing this entanglement with the world as its distinguishing character, he says, that the world, to which it clung, has been crucified to him, i. e., the world had become in his eyes condemned, yea dead = had utterly lost all significance, all attractive power for him, and that therefore his fellowship with it had been wholly broken off. Of course Paul’s fellowship of faith with the cross of Christ [or Christ crucified—R.] involved no direct action upon the world itself, but only upon it so far as it appertained to him, i. e., upon his fellowship with it.—And I to the world.—And even so had he been crucified to the world. A crucifixion of him had naturally been the consequence of his fellowship of faith with the cross of Christ (comp. Gal_2:19), but calling to mind his former entanglement with the world, he declares himself crucified “to the world,” says, that in its eyes also he is one dedicated to death, yea, a dead man, so that he has no longer any attraction for the world, that the world will have nothing more to do with him, that its fellowship with him is also fully dissolved. This double statement thus expresses in the strongest manner, the absolute dissolution of every bond between him and the world. To him this result appeared a gain, and he saw in this a new reason, for glorifying in the cross of Christ. The second clause, κἀγὼ τῷ κόσμῳ, appears to imply also the positive statement, that not only does the world no longer regard him as one of its own, but also hates and persecutes him, and thus does precisely that which his adversaries seek to avoid (Gal_6:12); yet Paul accounts it as nothing, but glories in the cross of Christ, although it brings these consequences with it; so highly does he value the gain, which he has from it.
Gal_6:15. For.—He immediately gives the reason for his determination to boast exclusively of the cross of Christ (not for the δι’ οὖ, Meyer).—Neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.—Everything depends on the last, nothing on the first. But it is the cross of Christ which leads to this new creation, and that through the operation of it described by δι’ οὖ Gal_6:14. This reciprocal crucifixion of the world and the old man to each other is the death of the old man and the beginning of a new one. [Καινὴ κτίσις is probably passive, the thing created, resulting from a new creation on the part of God.—R]
Gal_6:16. And as many as shall walk according to this rule.—In Gal_6:15 Paul stated a principle; here he designates this as the standard, according to which one should walk. Upon all who shall thus walk (the future applies to the time from the receipt of the Epistle thenceforward; Paul hopes that the Epistle will have a converting and confirming effect upon the readers) he invokes peace23 (see on Gal_1:3) and mercy, thereby indicating the high importance of this standard. As this belongs to the conclusion, it is best to take it as a benediction; others understand it as a statement, supplying ἔσται.—The correct interpretation of and upon the Israel of God is the explicative one = that is [for they are the Israel of God.—R.] For there is here no reason for bringing the Jewish Christians into especial prominence; besides, the comprehensive ὅσοι does not admit of a national distinction being now first made in addition, and others named, who, it would even appear, had not to walk according to this standard. On the other hand, “the designation of all those, who walk according to this Anti-Judaistic standard, as the Israel of God, the true theocratic people, at this solemn close, is, as it were, the triumph of the whole Epistle.”—Meyer. [Ellicott doubts whether καί can have so strong an explicative force, and prefers to take it as copulative, as if the Apostle’s thought turned to his kindred according to the flesh; but the exegetical objections to this view are great, and the other interpretation is so suitable that it must be adopted.—R.]
Gal_6:17. Henceforth let no man trouble me, i. e., by still listening to the false teachers; for I (ἐγώ and not the persecution-shunning false teachers) bear in my body the marks of Jesus, the stigmata of Jesus, i. e., the proofs, that I am a real servant of Jesus (στίγματα with reference to the marks which masters had branded upon their slaves), namely, in all the traces, scars, wounds, and the like, of the maltreatments and persecutions, which I have endured in my apostolic calling. [“of Jesus,” i. e. my Master, Captain, God, for slaves, soldiers and votaries bore such marks. See Wordsworth and Lightfoot in loco.—R.]
Gal_6:18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.—Μετὰ τοῦ πνεύματος ὑμῶν; we are not to understand a special intention in his not writing the simple μεθ’ ὑμῶν; yet we should not overlook what is significant in the expression. Grace operates and is meant to operate upon the πνεῦμα of the man; only so does it operate truly and fully, and just such a full, truly salutary operation of grace does he wish for them.—Brethren.—Ἀδελφοί: “The Epistle, so severe in its prevailing tone, concludes with this address, in which unaltered brotherly love expresses itself.” Meyer. [Bengel: Ita mollitur totius epistolæ severitas.—R.]—Amen.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
Christ’s cross is the touchstone of true Christianity. What Paul says in this section of the Judaistic teachers, applies strikingly mutatis mutandis, to the great mass of nominal Christians.24 They by no means wish to keep the law in its whole extent, that is much too burdensome for them; on the contrary they appeal to the fact that they forsooth believe on Christ, and therefore are free from the yoke of the law. But now on the other hand they have as little mind to believe on Christ in the whole extent of faith; what is inconvenient in this, they leave behind, and that is the cross of Christ, i. e., so far as it is a means of quieting the conscience, it is willingly accepted, but so far as it includes a dying of the old man, and the entering into a fellowship of the cross with Christ, they will none of it. Instead of this men turn rather to the otherwise despised law, and arbitrarily make the law to consist in this or that particular, some practice, some abstinence, and imagine themselves there to be satisfying all the severer requirements of God, while yet they are far from this utterance: The world is crucified to me and I unto the world!—Christ’s cross is the touchstone of true Christianity; it is in this, that salvation and comfort is to be sought, and so far it would not be so very hard to glory in the cross of Christ, which many are willing to do. But salvation and consolation are to be sought exclusively in that, no longer in the world, no longer in one’s self, everything else is to be accounted loss, and on the other hand the fellowship with the cross of Christ is to be counted no loss; in brief, there must come into being a new creature. This is the “Canon” (Gal_6:16) for a Christian; only he who guides himself according to this becomes and is in truth a Christian. This is hard and yet not impossible. God will help therein by the pedagogy of his law, and will lead to faith, and to faith will give the Spirit, which helps through to the new creature.—Comp. also Roos: “Paul shows, that it is not so completely indifferent, what a man thinks of Christ and His cross. Now-a-days, as many of the people say: I pray, read, hear, and am none of the worst. A clever man of the world says: I do much evil, but I have a good heart with it all, and between my evil works I also do some good ones. God will look at me on my good side. What now shall we make of Jesus of Nazareth? Here the world boggles. At last it says: Let Him pass for a good teacher, who has told us, that God is not the God of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, and that He loves such virtuous persons as we. Let Him be also an example for imitation. Finally, let Him be also, if one will so have it, the Redeemer, who has acquired for us freedom to hasten on a broad and easy way, with a trifle of virtue, light-mindedly to eternity, and notwithstanding our wickedness to fear no punishment. Now consider, whether this is the gospel of Paul, and whether he so preached Christ. Can such a man say that he boasts only of the cross of Christ, and that through it the world is crucified to him and he unto the world? Has he experienced a new creation? Is the culture, which age, office, intercourse with men, has given him, worthy of this lofty name? Is he in Christ Jesus? Has he the confidence, as he is, to stand before the holy God? Let him, in moments of reflection, put this question to himself and hear concerning it the answer of God and the Bible. Perhaps God will be so gracious as yet to reveal to him the gospel which Paul preached, and if this is so, he will be astonished to find that before this, he, without his knowledge, had a false religion. Mercy and peace be upon every one that is thus brought right.”
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Gal_6:12. Rieger:—In every age there are points in which the world insists upon being yielded to, agreeing then to leave other points untouched. And whoever does not consent to this impure commingling, must not only suffer persecution, but also bear the reproach, that he himself is to blame, that he suffers only on account of his own self-will.—Hedinger:—How many thousand brethren have ye, ye clerical placemen, in Galatia? The handful of barley, the merry countenance, the assured friendliness, the favorable patron your comfort; flattery and trimming the sails, you think, will bring a man on. I do not agree with you. Moses’ course and choice is the best. Christ’s reproach before the purple of Egypt.—Starke:—Love must, indeed, cover and excuse a neighbor’s faults, but from hypocrites and seducers one must, for a warning, tear away the mask; especially should those do it to whose office it appertains.—Spener:—The doctrine of Christ preaches Christ’s cross, and brings a cross to him who preaches it.
Gal_6:13. Hedinger:—To preach to others and be one’s self a reprobate, to lade others with burdens, and not one’s self to touch them with a finger, what hypocrisy!—Starke:—It is an attribute of false teachers and zealots for religion, who are only concerned with the outside, to proselytize a man to the religion, let him believe afterwards as he will. This is a carnal zeal with abundant craving for notoriety.
Gal_6:14. In Starke:—Christians must not be ashamed of the cross of Christ, but rather glory in being justified and saved by that alone. Faith in Christ, the Crucified One, brings commonly such a fellowship of suffering with Him, that one has to bear his cross after the Lord Christ.—As soon as the union of a soul with Christ through faith takes place, so soon is the tie which holds it to the sin prevailing in the world, loosed.—A Christian may have much which even the world esteems, but the heart must not rest upon it.—Luther:—The world is crucified to me, i. e., I account, that the world is damned; and even so am I in turn crucified unto the world, i. e., it accounts, that I am damned. Thus we condemn one another. I anathematize all its human righteousness, doctrine, and work, as the very devil’s poison, and it in return anathematizes also my doctrine and work, counts me for a mischievous man, etc.
Gal_6:15. Luther:—“A new creature” does not mean, that one clothes himself differently, and puts on a different air, from before, but it means the renewal of the mind, which is brought about by the Holy Ghost. From that there follows an alteration of the outer life. For where the heart through the gospel obtains a new light, there it never fails that the outward senses also are altered. The ears have there no longer pleasure, in hearing human dreams and fools’ tidings, but God’s word alone. The mouth no longer boasts of a man’s own works, righteousness and monastic rule, but of God’s compassion in Christ Jesus. This then is an alteration, which consists not in words, but in work and in power.
Gal_6:16. [Burkitt:—1. Christianity is a walk: a free and voluntary motion, an uniform and even motion, a progressive motion, a constant motion. 2. This walk is a walk by rule. A Christian is not a lawless person to range up and down as fancy leads him. 3. The rule is the law of the new creature. The new creature, in the principles and workings of it, is made the ground, the pattern and direction of our obedience, and we frame and square all the actions of our lives according thereunto. 4. The blessed privileges belonging to those who thus walk: peace and mercy. 5. Such are the true Israel: a thousand times greater privilege than to be the children of Abraham’s flesh.—R.]—Rieger:—Even if one cannot accept the ungodly peace offered by those who make a fair show in the flesh, yet one by steadfast abiding within the limits of his faith, has the enjoyment of a Divine peace, and mercy is shown us in recompense of what many a one will lay upon us with an unrighteous judgment.
Gal_6:17. In Starke:—The burdened servant of the Lord has a claim to be unmolested.—It is not necessary to be ever anew entering into argument with unprofitable chatterers in defence of the truth, especially where it has been once and again vindicated against them.—Luther:—Because I am Christ’s servant and walk after the right rule, i. e., because I publicly confess, that out of Christ no man can attain to salvation, therefore also must I wear my Lord’s livery, which does not consist in marks and scars that I have inflicted in will worship as presumption on myself, like Francis, but such as are without my thanks or will inflicted on me by the world and Satan for Jesus’ sake.
Gal_6:18. In Starke:—Grace is the beginning, middle and end in Paul’s writings. As the beginning of religion is grace, so does its progress depend upon grace. Dost thou, O Christian, in thy solicitations from men, find neither grace nor comfort? Be not dismayed! The grace of thy Lord Jesus remains assured to thee.—Let every one see to it, that he be and remain a dear brother of Paul, i. e., a true child of God; so may he also appropriate to himself the wish that God’s grace may remain with him, with a believing Amen.—[Brown:—Thus does the Apostle conclude this admirable Epistle, and show us, by his example, what it is to do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by him.—R.]
Fleeing the cross, or boasting of the cross? The decisive question in religion.—In Lisco:—The incomparable worthiness of the cross of Christ to be gloried in: 1. That a man can only refuse to acknowledge this out of unworthy motives. a) That such a refusal exists; b) why many refuse: a) because one will only make a fair show in the flesh, β) because one is not willing to be persecuted with the cross of Christ, y) because one will have glorying for himself and by means of himself. 2. On what account the cross of Christ is thus solely worthy to be gloried in: a) for the sake of that, which came to pass thereon; b) for the sake of the fruit which the cross of Christ bears in the hearts and lives of His people: a) as respects their demeanor toward the world, ß) as respects their temper towards others: they cherish warm love towards those of like mind; they contemn the assaults of those, that are not so minded; they wish that all may become and remain sharers in His grace.
[The Apostle had first vindicated his apostle-ship, then his gospel, but was it for his own glory? Nay, in one sense Gal_6:14 is a summing up of the whole Epistle; all this defence, this earnestness, this boldness, this tenderness, was but a glorying in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.—Many see the cross, some trust in it, not all of these glory in it. Why not? Because their fellowship with Christ is not yet such, that the world is crucified to them and they to the world.—Those who gloried in the cross of Christ have gotten glory to Christ and His cross.—Among the many celebrated sermons on Gal_6:14 may be mentioned those of Bishops Atterbury and Beveridge, also of McLaurin, Summerfield and McCheyne.—R.]
[12]Gal_6:11.—[The E. V. is obviously incorrect both in rendering “ye see” and “how large a letter;” the two interpretations offered to our choice are given above. See Exeg. Notes. The aorist ἔγραψα must be rendered: “I have written,” if it is not un epistolary aorist; “I wrote” (Am. Bib. Un.) is verbally correct, but is not in any case a proper English dress for the Apostle’s idea.—R.]
[13]Gal_6:12.—[Μ ή is misplaced in Rec. after ἵνα. It should follow Χριστοῦ. Διώκωνται is the reading of א. B. D. E., adopted by Griesbach, Scholz, Lachmann, Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, Wordsworth. Tischendorf (with A. C. F. G. K. L.), διώκονται; an improbable solecism, arising from the frequent interchange of ω and ο.—R.]
[14]Gal_6:13.—Rec. περιτεμνόμενοι; the reading περιτετμημένοι is, however, recommended by Griesbach, and adopted by Lachmann and Scholz. “With right; the perfect is absolutely necessary, since the Judaistic teachers are meant. The present was introduced by the transcribers, who had just written περιτέμνεσθαι and perhaps were reminded of Gal_6:3.” Meyer. [If the perfect be the correct reading, we must render, “who have been circumcised,” or simply “the circumcised;” but the present is not only lectio difficilior, but is supported by preponderant external authority (א. A. C. D. E. K., many versions); it is therefore adopted by Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, Wordsworth.—R.]
[15]Gal_6:14.—Τῷ is omitted by Lachmann on important authorities. [א. A. B. etc.; Alford, Lightfoot omit the article. There is great room for doubt, since the omission may be readily accounted for both by the similarity of the preceding syllable and the desire to conform with the anarthrous κόσμος; Meyer, Tischendorf, Ellicott, Wordsworth retain it.—A careful examination of all the proposed emendations leaves the impression that the rendering of this verse in the E. V. ought not to be altered in the least particular.—R.]
[16]Gal_6:15.—Ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ is probably an explanatory gloss from Gal_6:6, though א. has it. We should read simply: οὔτε—γάρ. [The MSS. authority for the longer reading is very great, but so many old versions follow the shorter one, and the probability of an importation from Gal_6:6 is so great, that Tischendorf and almost all editors adopt it.—R.]
[17]Gal_6:15.—Ἐστίν; Elz. and Matth. [and Rec.] have ἰσχύει (from Gal_6:6) against decisive authorities.
[18]Gal_6:16.—Στοιχήσουσιν. The reading στοιχοῦσιν is approved by Griesbach, put in the margin by Lachmann, and adopted by Tischendorf. Meyer asks with right: “What reason could the transcribers have had for changing it into the future?” [The authorities for the future are weighty; the change to the present is more explicable; the future is slightly more difficult. Adopted by Meyer, Alford, Lightfoot, Wordsworth; hence “shall walk.”—R.]
[19]Gal_6:17.—Κυρίου is omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf, [Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, on the authority of A. B. C.—R.]; probably imported from Gal_6:18, but א. has τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. [Wordsworth, with his usual conservative tendencies, follows the Rec.—R.]
[20][“Ἴδετε is imperative; “see” not “ye see” as E. V.—R.]
[21][It does not appear whether this statement is made by Schmoller, on his own authority, or that of Laurent. There seems to be no other authority for it. The very reverse is more probable.—R.]
[22][Or perhaps, “make a fair shew in things which appertain to a mere fleshly life.”—R.]
[23][Wordsworth remarks that this is the only place in the New Testament where εἰρήνη is placed before ἔλεος.—R.]
[24][True where this commentary was written, but partially true everywhere.—R.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Rather, "See in how large letters I have written."…
Rather, "See in how large letters I have written." The Greek is translated "how great" in Heb 7:4, the only other passage where it occurs in the New Testament. Owing to his weakness of eyes (Gal 4:15) he wrote in large letters. So JEROME. All the oldest manuscripts are written in uncial, that is, capital letters, the "cursive," or small letters, being of more recent date. Paul seems to have had a difficulty in writing, which led him to make the uncial letters larger than ordinary writers did. The mention of these is as a token by which they would know that he wrote the whole Epistle with his own hand; as he did also the pastoral Epistle, which this Epistle resembles in style. He usually dictated his Epistles to an amanuensis, excepting the concluding salutation, which he wrote himself (Rom 16:22; Co1 16:21). This letter, he tells the Galatians, he writes with his own hand, no doubt in order that they may see what a regard he had for them, in contrast to the Judaizing teachers (Gal 6:12), who sought only their own ease. If English Version be retained, the words, "how large a letter (literally, 'in how large letters')," will not refer to the length of the Epistle absolutely, but that it was a large one for him to have written with his own hand. NEANDER supports English Version, as more appropriate to the earnestness of the apostle and the tone of the Epistle: "How large" will thus be put for "how many."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain c. Autographic summary of the epistle and closing benediction,…
c. Autographic summary of the epistle and closing benediction, Gal_6:11-18.
“At this point the apostle takes the pen from his amanuensis, and the concluding paragraph is written with his own hand. From the time when letters began to be forged in his name (2Th_2:2; 2Th_3:17) it seems to have been his practice to close with a few words in his own handwriting as a precaution against such forgeries. Frequently he confined himself to adding the final benediction, (2Th_3:17-18,) with perhaps a single sentence of exhortation, as, ‘If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ,’ etc., (1Co_16:21-24,) or, ‘Remember my bonds.’ Col_4:18. In the Epistle to the Romans he seems to have appended the ascription of praise, which reads like a postscript.
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Rom_16:25-27. In the present case he writes a whole paragraph, summing up the main lessons of the epistle in terse, eager, disjointed sentences. He writes it, too, in large characters, that his handwriting may reflect the energy and determination of his soul.”—Prof. Lightfoot.
11. Ye see how large a letter I have written—More accurately, Behold ye, in what large letters I wrote to you with my own hand. “Letters” is the alphabetic characters; and it is unquestionable that he refers to their size, not to their unshapeliness, as some think. It may be, as Professor Lightfoot says, that the largeness of their size was intended by Paul to indicate the firmness of his purpose. So we have been inclined to think that John Hancock’s large signature on the Declaration of American Independence was intended as a manly defiance of the ignominious death he dared by it. But we are rather inclined to think that St. Paul calls the attention of the Galatians to the distinctive point between his handwriting and that of his amanuensis. The rapid professional writer, doubtless, wrote in the smaller and lighter hand. Yet both purposes may have blended.
I have written— The term called the epistolary aorist I wrote. The writer speaks as at the standpoint, or rather timepoints of the reader’s perusal, and says, I wrote thus and so to you.
The summary of the epistle which follows seems intended, in some degree, for the same purpose as his autograph, namely, for identification. It is an after-piece adjustable to this epistle only. There is a triumphant tone in this entire peroration. Paul lays bare the motives of his opponents, and contrasts their cowardly courting the foe with his own heroic proclamation of the cross, 12-14. He pronounces the nothingness of circumcision, and this efficacy of the cross as the blessed canon of the true Israel; and sweeps away every obstacle as himself bearing the true mark of Jesus, 15-17.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11–18. Autograph postscript and Benediction
11–18. Autograph postscript and Benediction
11. Ye see] Better, imperative, ‘see’.
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how large a letter] Lit. ‘in how large letters’. Many ancient and most modern expositors take this to refer not to the length of the Epistle—which is certainly not ‘large’ as compared with those to the Romans and Corinthians—but to the nature of the characters employed. It is curious that the exact meaning of this word rendered ‘how large’ should have been so far overlooked as to suggest the explanation, ‘in how rude characters,’ as though the Apostle called attention to his want of skill in writing Greek. This view might have been left unnoticed, but for the distinguished name of Chrysostom, who among others maintains it. A second explanation supposes that St Paul, in calling attention to the large characters which he used, intended to hint at the cause, either general bodily ill-health, or local infirmity, such as weak eyesight. If this latter suggestion be adopted, it will confirm the hypothesis mentioned in the note on ch. Gal_4:13. But it is on the whole more probable that the largeness of the letters was intended to express the importance of the message to be conveyed. To those who have studied carefully the character of the great Apostle this view, suggested by the ablest of his early commentators and adopted by the greatest of modern expositors of his Epistles, will commend itself as in keeping with what we know of the man, and as congruous with any just estimate of the scope of the Epistle itself. In the verses which follow St Paul sums up the whole argument of the Epistle, a weighty argument on a cardinal doctrine, gathered up in a summary, weighty and powerful, and emphasised by the very characters in which it was written, ‘Golden words, proportionately transcribed.’
But do the words, ‘See in what large letters I write unto you with mine own hand,’ apply to the whole Epistle, or only to this concluding paragraph? It may be admitted that so far as the words employed in this verse are concerned, either alternative may be adopted. Alford is of opinion that ‘on account of the peculiar character of this Epistle, St Paul wrote it all with his own hand,—as he did the Pastoral Epistles,’ and he finds ‘confirmation of this, in the partial resemblance of its style to those Epistles.’ Others with more probability regard the Apostle as having employed an amanuensis thus far, and at this verse to have taken the pen into his own hand. The reasons assigned for this conclusion are drawn from what we know of his practice in other Epistles. It seems from an expression in 2Th_2:2, where he cautions his converts against being unsettled ‘by epistle as from us,’ that letters had been forged purporting to have been written by him—such forgeries were not uncommon in the subsequent history of the early Church—and as a mark of genuineness he adopted the practice of adding at the end of his Epistles a few lines in his own hand, the rest having been written by Tertius, or some other amanuensis. Thus, 2Th_3:17, ‘The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every Epistle: so I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.’ Comp. Rom_16:22 foll.; 1Co_16:21-24; Col_4:18.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) Ye see.—Rather, See. The Apostle calls the attention…
(11) Ye see.—Rather, See. The Apostle calls the attention of his readers to the handwriting of these concluding paragraphs.
How large a letter.—Rather, in what large letters: i.e., characters. The exact significance of these words is somewhat enigmatic, and can only be matter of conjecture. Two points, however, are clear:—(1) The latter part of the Greek phrase means “in” or “with” letters—i.e., characters of hand-writing—and not “a letter,” “an epistle,” as it is taken in the Authorised version; (2) The former half of the phrase means “how large,” strictly in respect of size. The Apostle, for some reason or other, points out that the characters in which he is writing are larger than usual. What is his reason? It is hard to say. Some have thought that the reference was to the “shapelessness” of the letters, whether as due to the fact that the Apostle himself was not accustomed to the manual work of writing, or possibly to physical weakness from the hardships that he had undergone. The idea of “shapelessness,” however, is not necessarily included in that of size. It seems, on the whole, most probable that the size of the characters express the emphasis and authority with which the Apostle is writing. He adds to the Epistle—which had so far been written by an amanuensis—a few bold incisive strokes in his own hand, trenchantly exposing the motives of the Judaising faction, and re-asserting his own position.
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I have written.—Must this be so taken: I have written? or may it be idiomatically translated: I write? In other words, does it refer to the whole previous portion of the Epistle, or only to these concluding paragraphs? The question turns upon a nice point of Greek scholarship, on which such authorities as Bishop Ellicott and Dr. Lightfoot take different sides. It will only be possible in a Commentary like this to express a general conclusion, without going into the arguments on which it is based. That conclusion would be that the Greek may, quite fairly and tenably, be translated: I write; and that being so, considerations of exegesis would seem to tell somewhat decidedly in the same direction. The whole character of this concluding section is very much what we should expect if St. Paul followed his usual custom of taking the pen from the amanuensis to write it, and its brief weighty summarising style would correspond well with the “largo letters” in which he says that it was written. If this description is to be applied to the whole Epistle, it must remain a riddle to which there is no clue.
With mine own hand.—It was the Apostle’s custom to make use of an amanuensis, and only to add a few final words in proof of the genuineness of the writing. (See especially 2Th_3:17; and comp. also Rom_16:22; 1Co_16:21; Col_4:18.)
(11-18) Concluding section of the Epistle, written in the Apostle’s own hand. These Judaising teachers only wish to have you circumcised as a matter of outside show, in order to disguise their own professed Christianity from their fellow Jews, and so escape persecution. They show that they really care nothing for circumcision, for they freely break the rest of the Law to which they affect to give in their adhesion. Their true object is to make capital out of their influence over you, to boast publicly of your submission to the rite. I, too, will boast, but of something very different. My boast is in the cross of Christ. When I attached myself to the crucified Messiah, from that moment the world became nothing to me. Circumcision and uncircumcision matter not. The essential point is that total change which such a relation implies. On all who take this for their rule I can invoke a blessing, for they are the true Israel. Enough. I have a right to claim exemption from these attacks. The scars that I bear upon me are marks of the place I hold in my Master’s service.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Ye see how large a letter I have written…
Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand (idete phlikoiv uJmin grammasin egraya th ejmh ceiri); see with what large pieces of writing (or, with what large letters) I have written (or, I write) unto you with mine own hand. There can be hardly any doubt that the rendering "ye see" of the Authorized Version, supposing, as it seems to do, that this is meant as an indicative, must be wrong (cf. Joh_4:29; 1Jn_3:1) The idete of the Textus Receptus indete. Php_1:30 is replaced by recent editors with one consent by ei Each one of the four next Greek words, phlikoiv uJmin grammasin egraya, has been subjected to a variety of interprerations. What appears to the present writer the most probable view he must explain as briefly as he is able. The interrogative phlikov means "how great," as in Zec_2:2 (Septuagint) Heb_7:4. Accordingly, po kaika in Polyb., 1:2, 8 (cited in Liddell and Scott"s "Lexicon") means "how many and how large." Many, as e.g. Chrysostom, have supposed that the word includes a reference to clumsiness, ungainliness, as attaching to the apostle"s handwriting ("with what big letters!"). But no example of the word being used in this sense of "ungainliness" has been adduced; and it seems safer not to import into its rendering this additional shade of meaning. The dative uJmin Bishop Lightfoot proposes to connect closely with plhikoiv as moi and soi are often used in familiar style, with the sense mark you! But there is no instance of this use of the dative pronoun in the Greek Testament (see Winer, "Gram. N. T.," 7, Anna. 2, p. 140); and here surely it more naturally connects itself with egrayay. It is not uncommon with St. Paul to insert some word or words between a substantive and its adjective or dependent,genitive, as here between phlikoiv and grammasin. (see Gal_2:9 Gal_3:15; Php_4:15, etc.) In the instances now cited there appears no more logical occasion for such a seeming disarrangement of the words than there does here. The verb egraya is used with no objective accusative following, as in Rom_15:15; mmas in 1Pe_5:12; the substantive gra) being in the dative, because the apostle is referring merely to the form of the medium of communication, and not to the substance of the communication itself. The rendering of the Authorized Version, "how large a letter I have written," cannot be defended as a literal translation, though it may be allowed on one view of the passage to give the sense rightly. But though the plural noun grammata, in ordinary Greek, like literae in Latin, sometimes occurs in the sense of a single epistle or letter, it is never so used by St. Paul, who always employs the word ejpistolh to express this notion, which he does no less than seventeen times. In mma Act_28:21 it is rendered "letters," in the plural number; being properly "communications in writing." The noun gra) was the word ordinarily employed in Greek to designate a letter of the alphabet. It also denotes "a writing," as when in the plural we read in Joh_5:47, "if ye believe not his writings," and in 2Ti_3:15," the sacred writings," or Scriptures. In mmata Luk_16:6, 7 "take thy bill" is literally, "take thy writings" (gra being the now accepted reading in the Greek text). in 2Co_3:7, "the ministration of death in writings," the word probably refers to the ten commandments, each forming one writing; though it may mean "in characters of writing." In ordinary Greek it sometimes denotes a passage of a treatise or book (Liddell and Scott, under the word, 2:4). Next
(1) the verb egraya ("I have written") may be understood, as in Rom_15:15, "I have written the more boldly unto you," etc., with reference to the entire letter, now nearly complete, as it lies before him. In that case the apostle"s words may be rendered, "See, with what long writings or, "pieces of writing I have written unto you with mine own hand." Through some cause or other, we know not what the cause was, writing with his own hand was not a welcome employment to him; so far unwelcome that he generally devolved the actual penning of his letters upon an amanuensis, merely authenticating each letter as his own by a postscript added in his own hand. (see 2Th 3. fin.) Perhaps Philemon forms the only" exception (see ver. 19), apart from this letter to the Galatians. We may, therefore, imagine the apostle as painfully and laboriously penning one portion after another of the Epistle; often pausing weariedly in the work as he came to the end of each gramma, that is, to the end of each section of his argument, each seeming to him a long and toilsome effort. And now at last he exclaims," Look, what long, laborious performances of handwriting I have achieved in writing to you! And from that learn how deeply I am concerned on your behalf, and how grave your present spiritual peril appears to me to be!" Ordinarily it was only a brief "piece of writing" that he wrote with his own hand; here, long pieces, added one after another with painful effort. Or
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(2) the verb "I have written" may be referred to what the apostle is now beginning to pen, not merely because the epistolary style of the ancients, Greek and Roman, was wont to place the writer of a letter in the temporal standing-point of its recipient, as when Cicero dates his letters scribebam Id., etc., but because under some circumstances it is natural that the writer should thus refer himself to the view of his correspondent. Thus ingraya Phm_1:19, "I Paul have written it (e) with mine own hand, I will repay it." It would be quite obvious to ourselves to express our meaning in the same manner. So far, then, as such considerations reach, it appears quite supposable that the apostle, having employed an amanuensis as usual as far as the end of ver. 10, then himself took up the pen for the customary addition of an authenticating postscript; and that, for the purpose of adding especial emphasis to the postscript which he here thought advisable to add, he made his handwriting most unusually large, and that it is to this emphatic style of penmanship that he here draws attention. Many modern critics have acquiesced in this explanation; and if grammasin means letters," that is, characters of the writing, it seems the most probable; for it does not seem likely that the whole Epistle was written in letters of an extraordinary size; while, if the characters were those of his ordinary style of penmanship, the remark would be too trivial to come from him. The present writer inclines to the former method of interpretation.
A personal postscript,
see in what large letters I write with mine own hand." There is a mystery about these large characters. It is conjectured that they may have been due to age, or to infirmity, or to weakness of eyes, or to the want of habit in writing Greek. But it is more interesting to see that, unlike other Epistles, which were written by an amanuensis, this one was written entirely with his own hand.
I TO SHOW HIS LOVE FOR THE GALATIANS. The autograph would be a precious possession to them. It is the largest Epistle he ever wrote with his own band.
II TO PREVENT IMPOSTURE. Letters were sometimes forged in his. (2Th_2:2 2Th_3:17) But his handwriting, being probably already known to them, would prevent misunderstanding as to the authorship.
III TO GIVE GREATER WEIGHT TO THE EPISTLE. It showed his profound anxiety on their account at a most critical moment.
Vers. 11-18.
Glorying in the cross.
Paul has been urging the Galatians to do good to all men, for now is the seed-time of philanthropy, and the harvest will be afterwards. And now he appeals to them by the "large letters" of this unique Epistle, which seems to have been the only one which was a complete autograph. Though penmanship was a trouble to him, he was yet anxious to do for these Galatians what good he could in the spirit he has been enforcing. But philanthropy has its counterfeits. Consequently he warns them once again against those teachers of ceremonialism, who would have the heathen converts to try to save themselves by Jewish ceremonies. These are merely making tools of them to save themselves. They wish to escape persecution for Christianity. Paul, on the other hand, glories in the cross, and carries in his body the marks of the Crucified One. The following thoughts are here suggested:
I THE TOLERATION EXTENDED BY THE HEATHEN WORLD TO JUDAISM. The heathen world was largely latitudinarian. The idea was comprehensive. All gods were to be put in the Pantheon. But among the idolatries of the East, Judaism, a spiritual worship, got a footing. Its synagogues were built side by side with the heathen temples, and they were allowed to worship without molestation. Their proselytism was trifling; their missionary enterprise was unworthy of the name. The heathen could not fear them. Hence their immunity from persecution.
II THE JEWISH TEACHERS THOUGHT THAT, IF THEY MADE ALL CHRISTIAN CONVERTS JEWISH PROSELYTES, THEY WOULD SECURE CHRISTIANITY FROM PERSECUTION. They did not want to be persecuted for the cross. They wanted to avail themselves of the toleration of Judaism and merge Christianity in it. An emasculated Christianity might escape the persecution which, in its naked simplicity, it was fitted to secure. It was a policy of compromise, begotten of cowardice and fear. Pride went along with it. It would be a grand thing to count up so many converts to Judaism and glory in the growth of circumcision. It was a selfish stroke under the guise of philanthropy.
III THE ANTAGONISM INDICATED BY THE CROSS. NOW, the cross of Christ is the expression of the antagonism of the world to the self-sacrificing Philanthropist who thus perished. It could not and would not tolerate the person who would not save himself when he had the power. It believes only in those who can take care of number one. As soon, then, as a man like Paul gets into unison with the crucified Christ, as soon as the cross becomes an experience within, and a self-sacrificing spirit takes hold of a man for the sake of doing good to others, that moment the world and he become antagonistic. They cannot get on together. The world is crucified to the person and he to the world. Each wishes to put the other out of the way, and as contemptuously as possible. As soon, therefore, as the world discovered what Christianity meant, that it meant a brotherhood of self-sacrificing philanthropy, it took alarm, for it saw that, if Christianity were not put down, it would put worldliness down. Hence the drawback of persecution attaching to the Christian faith.
IV IN THIS UNWORLDLY CROSS PAUL GLORIED. He appreciated its efficacy. He recognized its claims. He allowed it to make him unworldly. Hence he made it the sum and substance of his teaching. He preached "Christ crucified" continually. Circumcision was nothing in which to glory. It was a carnal ordinance which might be very carnally administered, and a mere stepping-stone for pride. But the cross of Jesus was an object in which to glory. Its spirit was so unworldly, so self-sacrificing, so noble, that nothing in this world was so worthy of our interest and glorying.
V HE HAD CHRIST"S HAND UPON HIS BODY. Now, if a man goes in for self-sacrifice, as Paul did, under the spell of Christ"s cross, his body will soon show it. There can be no pampering of the flesh. A spiritual soul soon makes the tenement enshrining it to transmit some of its glory. Paul shows the marks of self-sacrifice upon his person. Christ had made him his slave, and put the brand upon him. As Christ"s prisoner, he had the seals of office in his person. Consequently, no man need trouble him or try to move him away from his standard, the cross. It is a noble ending to this fine Epistle. May it make all its students to glory in the cross also! R.M.E.
Vers. 11-18.
Parting words.
I HIS HANDWRITING. "See with how large letters I have written unto you with mine own hand." He seems to intimate that not merely the following words, but, against his usual custom, the whole Epistle, was in his own handwriting. This was to be interpreted as a manifestation of his interest in them in connection with the importance of the occasion. He also intimates that he used large characters. It cannot be imagined that his intention in doing so, and in calling attention to it, was to emphasize his instructions. It was rather to be interpreted as an appeal to them in connection with his defective vision which necessitated the use of large characters.
II THE SPIRIT OF THE JUDAIZING TEACHERS.
1. They desired to appear well for their own interest. "As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh they compel you to be circumcised; only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ." He does not mention the Judaizing teachers by name, but he graphically describes them. They did not care for reality; what they cared for was to make a fair show. And, though it was to make a fair show in religion, that did not remove it from the sphere of the flesh. It was still self that was the actuating principle. If they had presented the cross of Christ in its simplicity, as the apostle seems to imply they were free in their conscience to have done, they would have offended their unbelieving countrymen, and would have been subjected to persecution from them. The carnal, self-interested way in which they got over the offence of the cross was to insist on the circumcision of the Gentile converts.
2. Their false glorying. "For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the Law; but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh." They were the party of the circumcision, not merely because they were circumcised themselves, but because they made circumcision a prominent article in their teaching. They had not the zeal that might have been expected of them for the Law; for they were faulty in their own keeping of it, feeling it to be burdensome to their flesh. They displayed their zeal in proselytizing. They hoped to hold themselves up to the admiration of their countrymen in the numbers, not that had undergone a saving change, but that, through their influence, had received the mark of circumcision in their flesh.
III HIS SPIRIT AS CONTRASTED WITH THAT OF THE JUDAIZERS.
1. His glorying. "But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
(1) He gloried in the cross. By the cross we are to understand the atoning death of our Lord Jesus Christ. By glorying in the cross we are to understand that he not only trusted in it for his own salvation, and admired it himself, but that he held it up for the trust and admiration of others. The cross is to be gloried in as a marvellous exhibition of the Divine love. It was God not sparing his Son, but delivering him up for the salvation of men. If love is to be measured by sacrifice, then it was a love that made infinite sacrifice. The cross is to be gloried in as a marvellous exhibition of the Divine righteousness. In default of man being able to make satisfaction for his sin unless in his own destruction, it was God coming forward in Christ and making satisfaction for sin by paying its utmost penalty. The cross is to be gloried in as a marvellous exhibition of the Divine power. It was God in Christ conquering the kingdom of Satan, showing himself stronger than the evil of man"s heart. The cross is to be gloried in as a marvellous exhibition of the Divine wisdom. It was God showing how he could be just, and yet the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus; showing how he could attract the sinner to himself, and yet condemn his sin.
(2) He gloried especially in the cross because of its effecting changed relations to the world. By the world we are to understand the sphere in which the principles of the flesh find their manifestation. The cross crucified the world to him. He condemned it and tore himself from it because of its antagonism to God. He was independent of its favours and pleasures, for he had better within himself, in the love and approval of God, and in all the joys of sonship. The cross crucified him to the world. It condemned him in turn, and stood aloof from him as a lost man, and only thought of him to hate him and persecute him. In this cross, then, with all that it entailed, he gloried, and in this alone. Far be it from him to hold up anything else for the trust and admiration of men.
2. His regard for reality. "For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." To him it was of no importance that men should be outwardly marked. What was of importance was that they should be inwardly changed, Numbers he would have rejoiced in if they represented saved men.
IV AS HIS SPIRIT WAS SO HE BLESSED. "And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." He invokes blessing on all who would walk by the rule laid down, i.e. who would glory only in the cross of Christ, and would seek reality and not appearances. He invokes blessing on them in the usual form, only putting peace before mercy. All such, and not those whom the Judaizers blessed, were to be regarded as the Israel of God.
V His CLAIM TO BE UNMOLESTED. "From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus." A general who has seen long service and has received many scars may reasonably claim to be relieved from future service. That was not Paul"s claim. Hard service had a singular charm for him. But he thought that he had received scars enough to place his relationship to Christ as his servant and apostle henceforth beyond all doubt. The slave had branded on his body the name of the Master to whom he belonged. So in his past hardships he had as it were the name of Jesus branded on him. Henceforth, whatever men might do to him, let them not molest him by raising doubt as to the Master to whom he belonged.
VI HIS SPECIAL AND FINAL BLESSING FOR THE GALATIANS. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen" He blesses them from the centre of their being. He was so charged with indignation when he commenced the Epistle that he was long before he could address them as brethren. Now he is so charged with affection that, putting" brethren" into an unusual position, he makes it the last word that shall linger in their memory when they have completed the reading of the Epistle.
We have no evidence of the immediate effect which this Epistle had upon the Galatians. It is painful to read of heresies which, at a subsequent period, were rife among them. It is, however, pleasing to know that in the Diocletian persecution in the beginning of the fourth century, and in the "attempt to galvanize the expiring form of heathen devotion in Galatia," by Julian the apostate, there were not s few Galatian martyrs. It cannot be said that there is at the present day within the district any representation of Pauline Christianity. The Christian Church has yet to show its indebtedness for this Epistle by going forth in the spirit of the great preacher of the cross to reconquer Galatian soil for Christ. R.F.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Ye see how large a letter I have written…
Gal_6:11
Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
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The personal element in Christian power
It has been supposed that some disorder of the eyes made it painful for the apostle to write. Earlier in this Epistle, where he tries to gain these childish Galatians by a recital of his own sorrows for them, he praises their affection by saying, I bear you record that if it had been possible ye would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me. In the adjoining sentence he speaks of the temptation in his flesh, for which they neither despised nor rejected him, but entertained him as an angel of God. Doubtless the use of the pen or style was costly to his comfort. All the better if it only helps in the least degree to draw them, through his Christlike sacrifice in their behalf, nearer to Christ Himself. Suppose he had not been so thoughtful; suppose he had just followed the custom and had dictated his letter to an amanuensis--every truth recorded, every appeal for fidelity, every part of the intellectual demonstration of the doctrine would have stood there just as it stands now. Nothing of the literal contents of the message he was bidden to deliver would have been lost. And yet one thing would not have been there. The Galatian reader, and we here, would have missed the sign-manual of personal interest and personal sympathy so vividly and yet so delicately stamped on the whole face of the manuscript in the painstaking writing of his own hand. There is the additional power of personal feeling and personal character. The secret value is not what we say in words; it is not in our specific actions, much less in our professions. Terms are not competent to define it. Science has never analyzed it. Yet there it is--the personal quality, a power that is perpetually and mightily at work wherever men are, for or against the Love and Truth of God. It is the thing, too, which more than all else makes people love one another, unites them in companionships, and colours society. Mere abstract truth is not sufficient to change mens motives, to rouse their hearts or to save their souls. The gospel is not delivered to us as a mere string of propositions, however striking, however true, however inspired--and we may be thankful it is not. For no such treatise, law-book, moral philosophy, Aids to Reflection, or Whole Duty of Man, call it a gospel or by any other name--would ever have led the race from darkness to light, or lifted it up from death to life. As a matter of history, that never happened. True enough, we have our gospel, our Christianity through a book. It is a Word of Life, but it is more. The Word is made flesh in the Person Christ. He is the gospel. It was not Christianity that regenerated mankind and changed the face of the earth; it was Christ. We have much more than a Book. We have even that through living men; it brings before us living characters--men whose personality was taken up by the Holy Ghost and made part of the vehicle of Revelation. I take it that what was personal to each one of the twelve men that were grouped about our Lord was put there in order to give the glad tidings of His life to mankind in a twelvefold shape, so that it would be twelve manner of fruits for the healing of many nations. Peters impulsiveness, Johns ardour, Philips curiosity, Matthew the publicans sagacity, the square-dealing of James, every peculiarity amongst them all was just as much a part of the apparatus of Revelation as the words of the Beatitudes, or the stone tables of the law. The Bible, all through it, is quick and brilliant with these personal tokens. There were occasions, too, in Christs intercourse with His followers when, beyond anything that could be described in words, His personal soul went into His manner, motions, glances, yielding marvellous effects. His Follow Me, His Daughter, be of good cheer, His look at Peter, His woes upon the Pharisees, His aspect before the trained soldiers of the imperial army, sent out to arrest Him, are instances. Since His ascension, in every land and period, Christian piety has been vigorous in preportion to the attachment and devotion to the Saviours person. It is the vital aroma of the best hymns of the ages. It sheds the holiest unction into the most memorable sermons. If there is a personal power like this in the faith of Christ at all, we are not Christs true followers till we have it and use it. Which of us has come in and goes out in a personal communion, face to face, with God, holding the promises, doing the service, with his own hand? Which of us will return this week, to business, to study, to housework, to society, with new personal purposes, more truly Christs follower, more thoroughly in earnest in keeping this world under foot, and so using it for God as to mount up by it to heavenly places? (Bishop F. D. Huntington.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Chapter 28
Chapter 28
THE FALSE AND THE TRUE GLORYING.
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Gal_6:11-14
THE rendering of Gal_6:11 in the Authorised Version is clearly erroneous (see how large a letter). Wickliff, guided by the Latin Vulgate-with what maner lettris-escaped this error. It is a plural term the Apostle uses, which occasionally in Greek writers denotes an epistle, {as in Act_28:21} but nowhere else in Paul. Moreover the noun is in the dative (instrumental) case, and cannot be made the object of the verb.
Paul draws attention at this point to his penmanship, to the size of the letters he is using and their autographic form. "See," he says, "I write this in large characters, and under my own hand." But does this remark apply to the whole Epistle, or to its concluding paragraph from this verse onwards? To the latter only, as we think. The word "look" is a kind of nora bene. It marks something new, designed by its form and appearance in the manuscript to arrest the eye. It was Pauls practice to write through an amanuensis, adding with his own hand a few final words of greeting or blessing, by way of authentication. Here this usage is varied. The Apostle wishes to give these closing sentences the utmost possible emphasis and solemnity. He would print them on the very heart and soul of his readers. This intention explains the language of Gal_6:11; and it is borne out by the contents of the verses that follow. They are a postscript, or Epilogue, to the Epistle, rehearsing with incisive brevity the burden of all that it was in the Apostles heart to say to these troubled and shaken Galatians.
The past tense of the verb (literally, I have written: εργαθα) is in accordance with Greek epistolary idiom. The writer associates himself with his readers. When the letter comes to them, Paul has written what they now peruse. On the assumption that the whole Epistle is autographic it is hard to see what object the large characters would serve, or why they should be referred to just at this point.
Gal_6:2 is in fact a sensational heading. The last paragraph of the Epistle is penned in larger type and in the Apostles characteristic hand, in order to fasten the attention of these impressionable Galatians upon his final deliverance. This device Paul employs but once. It is a kind of practice easily vulgarised and that loses its force by repetition, as in the case of "loud" printing and declamatory speech.
In this emphatic finale the interest of the Epistle, so powerfully sustained and carried through so many stages, is raised to a yet higher pitch. Its pregnant sentences give us - first, another and still severer denunciation of "the troublers" (Gal_6:12-13); secondly, a renewed protestation of the Apostles devotion to the cross of Christ (Gal_6:14-15); thirdly, a repetition in animated style of the practical doctrine of Christianity, and a blessing pronounced upon those who are faithful to it (Gal_6:15-16). A pathetic reference to the writers personal sufferings, followed by the customary benediction, brings the letter to a close. The first two topics of the Epilogue stand in immediate contrast with each other.
1. The glorying of the Apostles adversaries. "They would have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh" (Gal_6:12).
This is the climax of his reproach against them. It gives us the key to their character. The boast measures the man. The aim of the Legalists was to get so many Gentiles circumcised, to win proselytes through Christianity to Judaism. Every Christian brother persuaded to submit himself to this rite was another trophy for them. His circumcision, apart from any moral or spiritual considerations involved in the matter, was enough of itself to fill these proselytisers with joy. They counted up their "cases"; they rivalled each other in the competition for Jewish favour on this ground. To "glory in your flesh-to be able to point to your bodily condition as the proof of their influence and their devotion to the Law-this," Paul says, "is the object for which they ply you with so many flatteries and sophistries."
Their aim was intrinsically low and unworthy. They "want to make a fair show (to present a good face) in the flesh." Flesh in this place (Gal_6:12) recalls the contrast between Flesh and Spirit expounded in the last chapter. Paul does not mean that the Judaisers wish to "make a good appearance in outward respects, in human opinion": this would be little more than tautology. The expression stamps the Circumcisionists as "carnal" men. They are "not in the Spirit," but "in the flesh"; and "after the flesh" they walk. It is on worldly principles that they seek to commend themselves, and to unspiritual men.
What the Apostle says of himself in Php_3:3-4, illustrates by contrast his estimate of the Judaisers of Galatia: "We are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." He explains "having confidence in the flesh" by enumerating his own advantages and distinctions as a Jew, the circumstances which commended him in the eyes of his fellow-countrymen -" which were gain to me," he says, "but I counted them loss for Christ" (Gal_6:7). In that realm of fleshly motive and estimate which Paul had abandoned, his opponents still remained. They had exchanged Christian fidelity for worldly favour. And their religion took the colour of their moral disposition. To make a fair show, an imposing, plausible appearance in ceremonial and legal observance, was the mark they set themselves. And they sought to draw the Church with them in this direction, and to impress upon it their own ritualistic type of piety.
This was a worldly, and in their case a cowardly policy. "They constrain you to be circumcised, only that for the cross of Christ they may not suffer persecution" (Gal_6:12). This they were determined by all means to avoid. Christ had sent His servants forth "as sheep in the midst of wolves." The man that would serve Him, He said, must "follow Him, taking up His cross."
But the Judaists thought they knew better than this. They had a plan by which they could be the friends of Jesus Christ, and yet keep on good terms with the world that crucified Him. They would make their faith in Jesus a means for winning over proselytes to Judaism. If they succeeded in this design, their apostasy might be condoned. The circumcised Gentiles would propitiate the anger of their Israelite kindred, and would incline them to look more favourably upon the new doctrine. These men, Paul says to the Galatians, are sacrificing you to their cowardice. They rob you of your liberties in Christ in order to make a shield for themselves against the enmity of their kinsmen. They pretend great zeal on your behalf; they are eager to introduce you into the blessings of the heirs of Abraham: the truth is, they are victims of a miserable fear of persecution.
The cross of Christ, as the Apostle has repeatedly declared (comp. chapters 12, and 21), carried with it in Jewish eyes a flagrant reproach; and its acceptance placed a gulf between the Christian and the orthodox Jew. The depth of that gulf became increasingly apparent the more widely the gospel spread, and the more radically its principles came to be applied. To Paul it was now sorrowfully evident that the Jewish nation had rejected Christianity. They would not hear the Apostles of Jesus any more than the Master. For the preaching of the cross they had only loathing and contempt. Judaism recognised in the Church of the Crucified its most dangerous enemy, and was opening the fire of persecution against it all along the line. In this state of affairs, for a party of men to compromise and make private terms for themselves with the enemies of Christ was treachery. They were surrendering, as this Epistle shows, all that was most vital to Christianity. They gave up the honour of the gospel, the rights of faith, the salvation of the world, rather than face the persecution in store for those "who will live godly in Christ Jesus."
Not that they cared so much for the law in itself. Their glorying was insincere, as well as selfish: "For neither do the circumcised themselves keep the law.-These men who profess such enthusiasm for the law of Moses and insist so zealously on your submission to it, dishonour it by their own behaviour." The Apostle is denouncing the same party throughout. Some interpreters make the first clause of Gal_6:13 a parenthesis, supposing that "the circumcised" (participle present: those being circumcised) are Gentile perverts now being gained over to Judaism, while the foregoing and following sentences relate to the Jewish teachers. But the context does not intimate, nor indeed allow such a change of subject. It is "the circumcised" of Gal_6:13 a who in ver. 13 b wish to see the Galatians circumcised, "in order to boast over their flesh,"-the same who, in Gal_6:12, "desire to make a fair show in the flesh" and to escape Jewish persecution. Reading this in the light of the previous chapters, there seems to us no manner of doubt as to the persons thus designated. They are the Circumcisionists, Jewish Christians who sought to persuade the Pauline Gentile Churches to adopt circumcision and to receive their own legalistic perversion of the gospel of Christ. The present tense of the Greek participle, used as it is here with the definite article, has the power of becoming a substantive, dropping its reference to time; for the act denoted passes into an abiding characteristic, so that the expression acquires the form of a title. "The circumcised" are the men of the circumcision, those known to the Galatians in this character.
The phrase is susceptible, however, of a wider application. When Paul writes thus, he is thinking of others besides the handful of troublers in Galatia. In Rom_2:17-29 he levels this identical charge of hypocritical law-breaking against the Jewish people at large: "Thou who gloriest in the law," he exclaims, "through thy transgression of the law dishonourest thou God?" This shocking inconsistency, notorious in contemporary Judaism, was to be observed in the conduct of the legalist zealots in Galatia. They broke themselves the very law which they tried to force on others. Their pretended jealousy for the ordinances of Moses was itself their condemnation. It was not the glory of the law they were concerned about, but their own.
The policy of the Judaisers was dishonourable both in spirit and in aim. They were false to Christ in whom they professed to believe; and to the law which they pretended to keep. They were facing both ways, studying the safest, not the truest course, anxious in truth to be friends at once with the world and Christ. Their conduct has found many imitators, in men who "make godliness a way of gain," whose religious course is dictated by considerations of worldly self-interest. A little persecution, or social pressure, is enough to "turn them out of the way." They cast off their Church obligations as they change their clothes, to suit the fashion. Business patronage, professional advancement, a tempting family alliance, the entree into some select and envied circle-such are the things for which creeds are bartered, for which men put their souls and the souls of their children knowingly in peril. Will it pay?-this is the question which comes in with a decisive weight in their estimate of matters of religious profession and the things pertaining to God. But "what shall it profit?" is the question of Christ.
Nor are they less culpable who bring these motives into play, and put this kind of pressure on the weak and dependent. There are forms of social and pecuniary influence, bribes and threats quietly applied and well understood, which are hardly to be distinguished morally from persecution.
Let wealthy and dominant Churches see to it that they be clear of these offences, that they make themselves the protectors, not the oppressors, of spiritual liberty. The adherents that a Church secures by its worldly prestige do not in truth belong to the "kingdom that is not of this world." Such successes are no triumphs of the cross. Christ repudiates them. The glorying that attends proselytism of this kind is, like that of Pauls Judaistic adversaries, a "glorying in the flesh."
2. "But as for me," cries the Apostle, "far be it to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal_6:14). Paul knows but one ground of exultation, one object of pride and confidence - his Saviours cross.
Before he had received his gospel and seen the cross in the light of revelation, like other Jews he regarded it with horror. Its existence covered the cause of Jesus with ignominy. It marked Him out as the object of Divine abhorrence. To the Judaistic Christian the cross was still an embarrassment. He was secretly ashamed of a crucified Messiah, anxious by some means to excuse the scandal and make amends for it in the face of Jewish public opinion. But now this disgraceful cross in the Apostles eyes is the most glorious thing in the universe. Its message is the good news of God to all mankind. It is the centre of faith and religion, of all that man knows of God or can receive from Him. Let it be removed, and the entire structure of revelation falls to pieces, like an arch without its keystone. The shame of the cross was turned into honour and majesty. Its foolishness and weakness proved to be the wisdom and the power of God. Out of the gloom in which Calvary was shrouded there now shone forth the clearest light of holiness and love.
Paul gloried in the cross of Christ because it manifested to him the character of God. The Divine love and righteousness, the entire range of those moral excellences which in their sovereign perfection belong to the holiness of God, were there displayed with a vividness and splendour hitherto inconceivable. "God so loved the world," and yet so honoured the law of right that "He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all." How stupendous is this sacrifice, which baffles the mind and overwhelms the heart! Nowhere in the works of creation, nor in any other dispensation of justice or mercy touching human affairs, is there a spectacle that appeals to us with an effect to be compared with that of the Sufferer of Calvary.
Let me look, let me think again. Who is He that bleeds on that tree of shame? Why does the Holy One of God submit to these indignities? Why those cruel wounds, those heart-breaking cries that speak of a soul pierced by sorrows deeper than all that bodily anguish can inflict? Has the Almighty indeed forsaken Him? Has the Evil One sealed his triumph in the blood of the Son of God? Is it Gods mercy to the world, or is it not rather Satans hate and mans utter wickedness that stand here revealed? The issue shows with whom victory lay in the dread conflict fought out in the Redeemers soul and flesh. "God was in Christ"-living, dying, rising. And what was He doing in Christ?-"reconciling the world unto Himself."
Now we know what the Maker of the worlds is like. "He that hath seen Me," said Jesus on Passion Eve, "hath seen the Father. From henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him." What the world knew before of the Divine character and intentions towards man was but "poor, weak rudiments." Now the believer has come to Peniel; like Jacob, he has "seen the face of God." He has touched the centre of things. He has found the secret of love.
Moreover, the Apostle gloried in the cross because it was the salvation of men. His love for men made him boast of it, no less than his zeal for God. The gospel, burning in his heart and on his lips, was "Gods power unto salvation, both to Jew and Greek." He says this not by way of speculation or theological inference, but as the testimony of his constant experience. It was bringing men by thousands from darkness into light, raising them from the slough of hideous vices and guilty despair, taming the fiercest passions, breaking the strongest chains of evil, driving out of human hearts the demons of lust and hate. This message, wherever it went, was saving men, as nothing had done before, as nothing else has done since. What lover of his kind would not rejoice in this?
We are members of a weak and suffering race, groaning each in his own fashion under "the law of sin and death," crying out ever and anon with Paul, "O wretched man that I am!" If the misery of our bondage was acute its darkness extreme, how great is the joy with which we hail our Redeemer! It is the gladness of an immense relief, the joy of salvation. Arid our triumph is redoubled when we perceive that His grace brings us not deliverance for ourselves alone, but commissions us to impart it to our fellow-men. "Thanks be to God," cries the Apostle, "who always leadeth us in triumph, and maketh known the savour of His knowledge by us in every place". {2Co_2:14}
The essence of the gospel revealed to Paul, as we have observed more that once, lay in its conception of the office of the cross of Christ. Not the Incarnation-the basis of the manifestation of the Father in the Son; not the sinless life and superhuman teaching of Jesus, which have moulded the spiritual ideal of faith and supplied its contents; not the Resurrection and Ascension of the Redeemer, crowning the Divine edifice with the glory of life eternal; but the sacrifice of the cross is the focus of the Christian revelation This gives to the gospel its saving virtue. Round this centre all other acts and offices of the Saviour revolve, and from it receive their healing grace. From the hour of the Fall of man the manifestations of the Divine grace to him ever looked forward to Calvary; and to Calvary the testimony of that grace has looked backward ever since. "By this sign" the Church has conquered; the innumerable benefits with which her teaching has enriched mankind must all be laid in tribute at the foot of the cross.
The atonement of Jesus Christ demands from us a faith like Pauls, a faith of exultation, a boundless enthusiasm of gratitude and confidence. If it is worth believing in at all, it is worth believing in heroically. Let us so boast of it, so exhibit in our lives its power, so spend ourselves in serving it, that we may justly claim from all men homage toward the Crucified. Let us lift up the cross of Christ till its glory shines world-wide, till, as He said, it "draws all men unto Him." If we triumph in the cross, we shall triumph by it. It will carry the Church to victory.
And the cross of Jesus Christ is the salvation of men, just because it is the revelation of God. It is "life eternal," said Jesus to the Father, "to know Thee." The gospel does not save by mere pathos, but by knowledge-by bringing about a right understanding between man and his Maker, a reconciliation. It brings God and man together in the light of truth. In this revelation we see Him, the Judge and the Father, the Lord of the conscience and the Lover of His children; and we see ourselves- what our sins mean, what they have done. God is face to face with the world. Holiness and sin meet in the shock of Calvary, and flash into light, each illuminated by contrast with the other. And the view of what God is in Christ-how He judges, how He pities us-once fairly seen, breaks the heart, kills the love of sin. "The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," sitting on that thorn-crowned brow, clothing that bleeding Form rent with the anguish of Mercys conflict with Righteousness on our behalf-it is this which "shines in our hearts" as in Pauls, and cleanses the soul by its pity and its terror.
But this is no dramatic scene, it is Divine, eternal fact. "We have beheld and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. We know and have believed the love that God hath to us". {1Jn_4:14; 1Jn_4:16}
Such is the relation to God which the cross has established for the Apostle. In what position does it place him toward the world? To it, he tells us, he has bidden farewell. Paul and the world are dead to each other. The cross stands between them. In Gal_2:20 he had said, "I am crucified with Christ; "in Gal_5:24, that his "flesh with its passions and lusts" had undergone this fate; and now he writes, "Through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ the world is crucified to me, and I to the world."
Literally, a world-a whole world was crucified for Paul when his Lord died upon the cross. The world that slew Him out an end to itself, so far as he is concerned. He can never believe in it, never take pride in it, nor do homage to it any more. It is stripped of its glory, robbed of its power to charm or govern him. The death of shame that old "evil world" inflicted upon Jesus has, in Pauls eyes, reverted to itself; while for the Saviour it is changed into a life of heavenly glory and dominion. The Apostles life is withdrawn from it, to be "hid with Christ in God."
This "crucifixion" is therefore mutual. The Apostle also "is crucified to the world." Saul the Pharisee was a reputable, religious man of the world, recognised by it, alive to it, taking his place in its affairs. But that "old man" has been "crucified with Christ." The present Paul is in the worlds regard another person altogether-"the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things," no better than his crucified Master and worthy to share His punishment. He is dead "crucified" to it. Faith in Jesus Christ placed a gulf, wide as that which parts the dead and living, between the Church of the Apostles and men around them. The cross parted two worlds wholly different. He who would go back into that other world, the world of godless self-pleasing and fleshly idolatry, must step over the cross of Christ to do it.
"To me, " testifies Paul, "the world is crucified." And the Church of Christ has still to witness this confession. We read in it a prophecy. Evil must die. The world that crucified the Son of God has written its own doom. With its Satanic Prince it "has been judged". {Joh_12:31; Joh_16:11} Morally, it is dead already. The sentence has passed the Judges lips. The weakest child of God may safely defy it, and scorn its boasting. Its visible force is still immense; its subjects multitudinous; its empire, to appearance, hardly shaken. It towers like Goliath confronting "the armies of the living God." But the foundation of its strength is gone. Decay saps its frame. Despair creeps over its heart. The consciousness of its impotence and misery grows upon it.
Worldliness has lost its old serenity irrecoverably. The cross incessantly disturbs it, and haunts its very dreams. Antichristian thought at the present time is one wide fever of discontent. It is sinking into the vortex of pessimism. Its mockery is louder and more brilliant than ever; but there is something strangely convulsive in it all; it is the laughter of despair, the dance of death.
Christ the Son of God has come down from the cross, as they challenged Him. But coming down, He has fastened there in His place the world that taunted Him. Struggle as it may, it cannot unloose itself from its condemnation, from the fact that it has killed its Prince of Life. The cross of Jesus Christ must save-or destroy.
The world must be reconciled to God, or it will perish. On the foundation laid of God in Zion men will either build or break themselves for ever. The world that hated Christ and the Father, the world that Paul cast from him as a dead thing, cannot endure. It "passeth away, and the lust thereof."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 11–14. Ye see how large a letter. Rather as…
11–14. Ye see how large a letter. Rather as in the Revision. Paul used an amanuensis in letter writing, but the superscriptions were written in his own hand to show the genuineness of his epistles. See Rom. 16:22, and Col. 4:18. Some have supposed that his “thorn in the flesh” was a weakness of the eyes which rendered it difficult for him to write.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Gal_6:11. Ye see how large a letter I have…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Gal_6:11. Ye see how large a letter I have written with mine own hand.—At this point the apostle takes the pen from his amanuensis, and writes the concluding paragraph with his own hand. Owing to the weakness of his eyesight he wrote in large letters. He thus gives emphasis to the importance of the subjects discussed in the epistle.
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Gal_6:12. Lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.—They would escape the bitterness of the Jews against Christianity and the offence of the cross, by making the Mosaic law a necessary preliminary.
Gal_6:13. For neither they themselves keep the law.—So far are they from being sincere that they arbitrarily select circumcision out of the whole law, as though observing it would stand instead of their non-observance of the rest of the law. That they may glory in your flesh.—That they may vaunt your submission to the carnal rite, and so gain credit with the Jews for proselytising.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gal_6:11-13
Apostolic Exposure of False Teachers.
I. The apostle gives special emphasis to his warning by concluding his epistle in his own handwriting.—“Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand” (Gal_6:11). The apostle usually dictated his epistles to an amanuensis, except the concluding salutation, which he wrote himself by way of authentication. At this point of the epistle to the Galatians he appears to have taken the pen from the hand of the amanuensis, and with his own hand written the concluding sentences in clear, bold characters, thus giving the utmost possible emphasis and solemnity to his words. They are a postscript, or epilogue, to the epistle, rehearsing with incisive brevity the burden of all that it was in the apostle’s heart to say to these troubled and shaken Galatians. He wishes to reimpress upon his emotional readers the warnings he had already expressed against the false teachers, to assure them of his intense regard for their welfare, and to lay additional stress upon the peril of their hesitating attitude. The more apparent and imminent the danger, the louder and more earnest is the warning expressed.
II. It is shown that the policy of the false teachers was to avoid the suffering connected with the ignominy of the cross of Christ.—“They constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.” (Gal_6:12). The false teachers were really cowards, though this accusation they would be the first indignantly to resent. They wanted to mix up the old faith with the new, to entangle the new Christian converts with Mosaic observances. If they succeeded in persuading the Gentile Christians to be circumcised, they would propitiate the anger of their Israelite kindred, and dispose them to regard the new doctrine more favourably. They would, with heartless recklessness, rob the believer of all his privileges in Christ in order to make a shield for themselves against the enmity of their kinsmen. Cowards at heart, they were more afraid of persecution than eager to know and propagate the truth. If a man will be a Christian, he cannot avoid the cross; and to attempt to avoid it will not release from suffering. It is a craven fear indeed that refuses to espouse the truth because it may bring pain. “No servant of Christ,” says Augustine, “is without affliction. If you expect to be free from persecution, you have not yet so much as begun to be a Christian.”
III. The insincerity of the false teachers was apparent in their not keeping the law themselves, but in boasting of the number of their converts to its external observance.—“For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh” (Gal_6:13). The Judaists were not only cowardly, but insincere. It was not the glory of the law they were concerned about, but their own success. If they had tried to convert the heathen, however imperfect might be their creed, they would have merited some respect; but, like some religious troublers to-day, they selected for their prey those who were already converted. They practised their wiles on the inexperience of young believers, as they expected to gather from that class the greater number of proselytes of whom to make their boast. “Their policy was dishonourable both in spirit and in aim. They were false to Christ in whom they professed to believe, and to the law which they pretended to keep. They were facing both ways, studying the safest not the truest course, anxious in truth to be friends at once with the world and Christ. Their conduct has found many imitators, in men who make godliness a way of gain, whose religious course is dictated by considerations of worldly self-interest. Business patronage, professional advancement, a tempting family alliance, the entrée into some select and envied circle—such are the things for which creeds are bartered, for which men put their souls and the souls of their children knowingly in peril.”
Lessons.—
1. The false teacher may be the occasion of much mischief and spiritual loss.
2. He succumbs in the presence of suffering.
3. He is more anxious for public success than for the spread of the truth.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Gal_6:12. The Odium of the Cross of Christ.
I. The history of the cross.—It is a history of sin on our part, and of suffering on the part of Christ. What a change has been produced in the moral aspect of the universe by the preaching of the cross!
II. The odium connected with the cross.—There is odium and suffering connected with the cross still; in some shape we shall suffer persecution for it. If we will lead a holy life, then suffering, persecution, reproach, hatred and ill-will, sarcasm, wit, ridicule, and obloquy will be cast upon us. It was said by one, when several were expelled from one of our universities, that “if some are expelled for having too much religion, it is high time to begin to inquire whether there are not some who have too little.” If we speak of the reproach of the cross, what should that reproach be? Not that you have too much religion, but that you have too little, and that many of you have none at all.
III. As to those who suffer persecution for the cross, it is the greatest possible honour to be laughedat, mocked, and insulted for the sake of the Saviour. If the spirit of the martyrs influenced us, there would be no shunning of persecution on account of the cross, but suffering would be welcomed with joy.—The Pulpit.
Christianity and Persecution.
I. We should suspect ourselves that our hearts are not sound, nor our practice sincere, when all men speak well of us.
II. We must not be discouraged though there be never so many that make opposition, or so mighty that raise persecution against us.
III. That we think it not strange when we find affliction or meet with persecution. The gospel and persecution go hand in hand, or follow one another inseparably.—Perkins.
Gal_6:13. Empty Boasting—
I. When professed teachers do not practise the virtues they enforce on others.
II. When zeal for the observance of outward rites disguises the lack of personal godliness.
III. When success is sought simply to be able to boast of success.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain See with how large letters I write unto you…
See with how large letters I write unto you with mine own hand. [There is no indication that Paul had ever before written to the Galatians, and they were probably not familiar with his handwriting. To call attention, therefore, to the fact that the amanuensis has now turned over the stylus, or pen, to him, and that he is putting his own closing lines as an autograph to the Epistle, he bids them note the difference in the letters. They were much larger than those of the amanuensis. This large lettering is taken by some as an additional evidence that Paul's thorn in the flesh was defective eyesight.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (Greek - αὑτου̑).. .mine own hand." The apostle was,…
large
(Greek - αὑτου̑).. .mine own hand." The apostle was, it appears from many considerations, afflicted with ophthalmia, a common disease in the East, to the point almost of total blindness (e.g.) Gal 4:13-15. Ordinarily, therefore, he dictated his letters. But now, having no amanuensis at hand, but urged by the spiritual danger of his dear Galatians, he writes, we cannot know with what pain and difficulty, with his own hand, in the "large letters" his darkened vision compelled him to use.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Concluding Remarks.
Concluding Remarks.
Paul’s love in contrast to the behavior of the false teachers:
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v. 11. Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
v. 12. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ.
v. 13. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the Law, but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh.
v. 14. But God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.
v. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
The apostle here calls attention to a special evidence of his love for the Galatian Christians: See with what large letters I write to you with my own hand! As a rule, Paul dictated his letters, affixing only the conclusion or his personal greeting with his own hand, as a proof of the epistle’s authenticity, 1Co 16:21; Col 4:18; 2Th 3:17. In this case, however, the apostle seems to have written the entire letter personally, and with large characters, which seems to have been a mark of unusual favor and respect.
But even as the love of Paul appeared in his every move, so the intrigues of his opponents stood out prominently, if one but drew the right conclusions from their actions: As many as wish to please in matters of the flesh, these constrain you to be circumcised, only that they should not suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ. The Judaizing agitators were not sincere; they wanted to make a show before men to gratify their own carnal vanity; they were trying to gain followers in order to boast of their popularity. In this sense only did they insist upon circumcision, not because they actually believed the rite to be necessary for salvation. At the same time (and here another carnal reason appears) they followed this course in order not to be persecuted by, or on account of, the Cross of Christ; they did not want to embrace the cause of the Cross of Christ because a plain Gospel-confession brought persecution. So they escaped persecution on the part of the Jews, and in most cases also on the part of the Gentiles, by this questionable method. But Paul lays bare their hypocrisy: For not even they themselves, although circumcised, keep the Law, but they desire that you be circumcised in order to boast in your flesh. The Jewish teachers, with all their bragging of being circumcised, were not concerned for the Law on its own account. They were like the scribes and Pharisees to whom the Lord addressed Himself, Mat 23:25-28. It was not their interest in the Law or in the spiritual welfare of the Galatians that prompted the Judaizing teachers to preach the necessity of circumcision, but merely their desire to boast of converts, of more persons gained for their own views and obedient to their wishes.
The position of Paul had nothing in common with such selfishness: But let it be far from me to glory but in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world. That is the significance which the Cross has for him, that is the effect which it has had upon him and upon his entire way of thinking. He boasts of the triumph of the Cross of Christ, which overcame his own flesh, which effectually overcame the power of the world over him and his former carnal love for the world and its lures, whether of honor, pleasure, or wealth. He knows that justification and salvation have come to him through Christ Crucified, that atonement has been made for him by his Lord’s Passion and death. That is his one exultant boast. He has, therefore, forever severed fellowship with Jewish rites and Gentile vanities, which are an empty, hollow mockery to him. He knows, moreover: Neither circumcision has any value nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. See chap. 5:6. He that is a Jew by birth and religion for that reason cannot claim acceptance on the part of God, just as he that is a Gentile cannot for that reason hope to be more acceptable to the Lord. These conditions are mere accidents of outward circumstance, and have nothing to do with justification before God. The new creation, the regeneration of the heart through the power of God in the means of grace, that alone places a person into the right relation with God. That is the glorious comfort of all believers.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
As Paul closes this letter, he gives one more reminder that the law does not save and that they should remember the cross of Christ.
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large letters
This can mean that Paul wants to emphasize 1) the statements that follow or 2) that this letter came from him.
with my own hand
Possible meanings are 1) Paul probably had a helper who wrote most of this letter as Paul told him what to write, but Paul himself wrote this last part of the letter or 2) Paul wrote the whole letter himself.
make a good impression
"cause others to think well of them" or "cause others to think that they are good people"
in the flesh
"with visible evidence" or "by their own efforts"
to compel
"to force" or "to strongly influence"
only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ
"so that the Jews will not persecute them for claiming that the cross of Christ alone is what saves people"
the cross
The cross here represents what Christ did for us when he died on the cross. AT: "the work Jesus did on the cross" or "the death and resurrection of Jesus" (See: Metonymy)
they want
"those people who are urging you to be circumcised want"
so that they may boast about your flesh
"so that they may be proud that they have added you to the people who try to keep the law"
translationWords
flesh
circumcise
cross
Christ
law
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 6:11-18 Paul took up the pen from his amanuensis…
6:11-18 Paul took up the pen from his amanuensis (secretary) and added a postscript in his own handwriting to show that the letter was authentically his and to make a final appeal.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.