GALATIANS, EeisTLE TO THE. The Pau line origin of this epistle is attested not only by the superscription which it bears (i. 1), but also by frequent allusions in the course of it to the great Apostle of the Gentiles (comp. i. 13-23 ; 1-4), and by the unanimous testimony of the ancient church (Lardner, fVorks, vol. ii. 8vo). It is cor roborated also by the style, tone, and contents of the epistle, which are perfectly in keeping with those of the apostle's other writings.
The parties to whom this epistle was addressed are described in the epistle itself as the churches of Galatia ' (1. 2; comp. iii. 1). Into this dis trict the Gospel was first introduced by Paul himself (Acts xvi. 6 ; Gal. i. 8 ; iv. 13, 19). Churches were then also probably formed ; for on revisiting this district some time after his first visit it is mentioned that he strengthened the disciples ' (Acts xviii. 23). These churches seem to have been composed principally of con verts directly from Heathenism, but partly, also, of Jewish converts, both pure Jews and proselytes. Unhappily, Judaizing teachers had visited these churches, and had succeeded in infecting them with a zealous desire to incorporate the rites and cere monies of Judaism with the spiritual truths and simple ordinances of Christianity. So active had this party been in disseminating their views on this head through the churches of Galatia, that the majority at least of the members had been se duced to adopt them (i. 6; iii. 1, etc.) To this result it is probable that the previous religious conceptions of the Galatians contributed ; for, accustomed to the worship of Cybele, which they had learned from their neighbours the Phrygians, and to the theosophistic doctrines with which that worship was associated, they would be the more readily induced to believe that the fulness of Christianity could alone be developed through the symbolical adumbrations of an elaborate ceremo nial (Neander, Apostol. Zeitalter, s. 400, 2te Aufl.) From some passages in this epistle (e. gr. i. 11-24; 1-21) it would appear also that insinuations had been disseminated among the Galatian churches to the effect that Pant was not a divinely-com missioned apostle, but only a messenger of the church at Jerusalem ; that Peter and he were at variance upon the subject of the relation of the Jewish rites to Christianity; and that Paul himself was not at all times so strenuously opposed to those ritei: as he had chosen to be among the Galatians.
Of this state of things intelligence having been con veyed to the apostle, he wrote this epistle for the purpose of vindicating- his own pretensions and con duct, of counteracting the influence of these false views, and of recalling the Galatians to the simpli city of the Gospel which they had received. The importance of the case was probably the reason why the apostle put himself to the great labour of writing this epistle with his own hand (vi. I).
The epistle consists of three parts. In the first part (i.-ii.), after his usual salutations, Paul vindi cates his own apostolic authority and independence as a directly-commissioned ambassador of Christ to men, and especially to the Gentile portion of the race ; asserting that the Gospel which he preached was the only Gospel of Christ—expressing his surprise that the Galatians had allowed themselves to be so soon turned from him who had called them to a different Gospel—denouncing all who had thus seduced them as troublers of the church, perverters of the doctrine of Christ, and deserving, even had they been angels from heaven, to be placed under an anathema instead of being fol lowed—maintaining the divine origin of his apos tolic commission, which he illustrates by the history of his conversion and early conduct in the service of Christ—and declaring that, so far from being inferior to the other apostles, he had ever treated with them on equal terms, and been welcomed by them as an equal. Having in the close of this part
of the epistle been led to refer to his zeal for the great doctrine of salvation by the grace of God through faith in Christ, he enters at lar,ge, in the second part (iii.-iv.), upon the illustration and de fence of this cardinal truth of Christianity. He appeals to the former experience of the Galatians as to the way in which they had received the Spirit, to the case of Abraham, and to the testimony of Scripture in support of his position that it is by faith and not by the works of the law that men are accepted of God (iii. 1-9). He proceeds to remind them that the law has brought a curse upon men because of sin, a curse which it has no power to remove, and from which the sinner can be re deemed only through the substitutionary work of Christ, by whose means the blessing of Abraham COITICS upon the Gentiles. And lest any should ob ject that the law being of more recent origin than the covenant must supersede it, he shews that this cannot be the case, but that the covenant must be perpetual, whilst the law is to be regarded only in the light of a temporary and intercalary arrange ment, the design of which was to forward the ful filment of the promise in Christ (ro-29). The relation of the Jewish church to the Christian is then illustrated by the case of an heir under tutors and governors as contrasted with the case of the same person when he is of age and has become master of all ; and the Galatians are exhorted not willingly to descend from the important and dig nified position of sons to that of mere servants in God's house—an exhortation which is illustrated and enforced by an allegorical comparison of_the Jewish church to Ishmael, the son of Hagar, and of the Christian to Isaac, the son of Sarah, and the Child of Promise (iv. 1-31). The third part of the epistle (v. -vi.) is chiefly hortatory and admoni tory : it sets forth the necessity of steadfast adher ence to the liberty of the Gospel in connection with obedience to the moral law as a rule of duty, the importance of mutual forbearance and love among Christians, and the desirableness of main taining a firm adherence to the doctrine of Christ and Him crucified. The epistle concludes with benedictions and prayers.