---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Galatians 3"
description: "CHAPTER 3   :-. REPROOF OF THE
GALATIANS FOR ABANDONING
FAITH FOR LEGALISM.
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH
VINDICATED: THE
LAW SHOWN
TO BE SUBSEQUENT
TO THE PROMI"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/galatians/3"
---

CHAPTER 3

. REPROOF OF THE
GALATIANS FOR ABANDONING
FAITH FOR LEGALISM.
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH
VINDICATED: THE
LAW SHOWN
TO BE SUBSEQUENT
TO THE PROMISE:
BELIEVERS ARE
THE SPIRITUAL SEED
OF ABRAHAM, WHO
WAS JUSTIFIED
BY FAITH. THE
LAW WAS
OUR SCHOOLMASTER
TO BRING US
TO CHRIST, THAT WE
MIGHT BECOME
CHILDREN OF GOD
BY FAITH.

**1. that ye should not obey the
truth**—omitted in the oldest manuscripts.
**bewitched**—fascinated
you so that you have lost your wits. THEMISTIUS
says the Galatians were naturally very acute in intellect. Hence,
Paul wonders they could be so misled in this case.
**you**—emphatical. "You,
before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been graphically set forth
(literally, *in writing,* namely, by vivid *portraiture* in
preaching) among you, crucified" (so the sense and *Greek*
order require rather than *English Version*). As Christ was
"crucified," so ye ought to have been by faith "*crucified*
with Christ," and so "dead to the law" ([Galatians 2:19](../../../kjv/galatians/2/19);
[Galatians 2:20](../../../kjv/galatians/2/20)). Reference to the
"eyes" is appropriate, as *fascination* was supposed
to be exercised through the eyes. The sight of Christ crucified ought
to have been enough to counteract all fascination.

**2.** "Was it by the works of
the law that ye received the Spirit (manifested by outward miracles,
[Galatians 3:5](../../../kjv/galatians/3/5); [Mark 16:17](../../../kjv/mark/16/17);
[Hebrews 2:4](../../../kjv/hebrews/2/4); and by spiritual graces,
[Galatians 3:14](../../../kjv/galatians/3/14); [Galatians 4:5](../../../kjv/galatians/4/5);
[Galatians 4:6](../../../kjv/galatians/4/6); [Ephesians 1:13](../../../kjv/ephesians/1/13)),
or by the hearing of faith?" The "only" implies, "I
desire, omitting other arguments, to rest the question on *this
alone*"; I who was your *teacher,* desire now to "learn"
this one thing from you. The epithet "Holy" is not prefixed
to "Spirit" because that epithet is a joyous one, whereas
this Epistle is stern and reproving [BENGEL].
**hearing of faith**—Faith
consists not in *working,* but in *receiving* ([Romans 10:16](../../../kjv/romans/10/16);
[Romans 10:17](../../../kjv/romans/10/17)).

**3. begun**—the Christian life
([Philippians 1:6](../../../kjv/philippians/1/6)).
**in the Spirit**—Not
merely was Christ crucified "graphically set forth" in my
preaching, but also "the Spirit" confirmed the word
preached, by imparting His spiritual gifts. "Having thus begun"
with the receiving His *spiritual* gifts, "are ye now *being*
made perfect" (so the *Greek*), that is, are ye *seeking*
to be made perfect with "fleshly" ordinances of the law?
[ESTIUS]. Compare [Romans 2:28](../../../kjv/romans/2/28);
[Philippians 3:3](../../../kjv/philippians/3/3); [Hebrews 9:10](../../../kjv/hebrews/9/10).
Having begun in the Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit ruling your
spiritual life as its "essence and active principle"
[ELLICOTT], in contrast to
"the flesh," the element in which the law works [ALFORD].
Having begun your Christianity in the Spirit, that is, in the divine
life that proceeds from faith, are ye seeking after something higher
still (the perfecting of your Christianity) in the sensuous and the
earthly, which cannot possibly elevate the inner life of the Spirit,
namely, outward ceremonies? [NEANDER].
No doubt the Galatians thought that they were going more deeply into
the Spirit; for the flesh may be easily mistaken for the Spirit, even
by those who have made progress, unless they continue to maintain a
pure faith [BENGEL].

**4. Have ye suffered so many
things**—namely, persecution from Jews and from unbelieving
fellow countrymen, incited by the Jews, at the time of your
conversion.
**in vain**—*fruitlessly,
needlessly,* since ye might have avoided them by professing
Judaism [GROTIUS]. Or,
shall ye, by falling from grace, lose the reward promised for all
your sufferings, so that they shall be "in vain" ([Galatians 4:11](../../../kjv/galatians/4/11);
[1 Corinthians 15:2](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/15/2); [1 Corinthians 15:17-19](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/15/17-19);
[1 Corinthians 15:29-32](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/15/29-32); [2 Thessalonians 1:5-7](../../../kjv/2-thessalonians/1/5-7);
[2 John 1:8](../../../kjv/2-john/1/8))?
**yet**—rather, "If it
be *really* (or 'indeed') in vain" [ELLICOTT].
"If, as it must be, what I have said, 'in vain,' is really the
fact" [ALFORD]. I
prefer understanding it as a mitigation of the preceding words. I
hope better things of you, for I trust you will return from legalism
to grace; if *so,* as I confidently expect, you will not have
"suffered so many things in vain" [ESTIUS].
For "God has given you the Spirit and has wrought mighty works
among you" ([Galatians 3:5](../../../kjv/galatians/3/5); [Hebrews 10:32-36](../../../kjv/hebrews/10/32-36))
[BENGEL].

**5. He . . . that ministereth**—or
"supplieth," God (). He who *supplied and supplies* to you the Spirit
*still,* to the present time. These miracles do not prove grace
to be in the heart ([Mark 9:38](../../../kjv/mark/9/38);
[Mark 9:39](../../../kjv/mark/9/39)). He speaks of these
miracles as a matter of *unquestioned notoriety* among those
addressed; an undesigned proof of their genuineness (compare [Mark 9:39](../../../kjv/mark/9/39)).
**worketh miracles among
you**—rather, "IN
you," as [Galatians 2:8](../../../kjv/galatians/2/8); [Matthew 14:2](../../../kjv/matthew/14/2);
[Ephesians 2:2](../../../kjv/ephesians/2/2); [Philippians 2:13](../../../kjv/philippians/2/13);
at your conversion and since [ALFORD].
**doeth he it by the works of
the law**—that is, as a consequence *resulting from* (so the
*Greek*) the works of the law (compare [Philippians 2:13](../../../kjv/philippians/2/13)). This cannot be because the law was then unknown to you when
you received those gifts of the Spirit.

**6.** The answer to the question in
[Galatians 3:5](../../../kjv/galatians/3/5) is here taken for
granted, *It was by the hearing of faith:* following this up, he
says, "Even as Abraham *believed,*" c. ([Genesis 15:4-6](../../../kjv/genesis/15/4-6)
[Romans 4:3](../../../kjv/romans/4/3)). God supplies unto you
the Spirit as the result of faith, not works, just as Abraham
obtained justification by faith, not by works ([Galatians 3:6](../../../kjv/galatians/3/6);
[Galatians 3:8](../../../kjv/galatians/3/8); [Galatians 3:16](../../../kjv/galatians/3/16);
[Galatians 4:22](../../../kjv/galatians/4/22); [Galatians 4:26](../../../kjv/galatians/4/26);
[Galatians 4:28](../../../kjv/galatians/4/28)). Where justification
is, there the Spirit is, so that if the former comes *by faith,*
the latter must also.

**7. they which are of faith**—as
the source and starting-point of their spiritual life. The same
phrase is in the *Greek* of .
**the same**—*these, and
these alone,* to the exclusion of all the other descendants of
Abraham.
**children**—*Greek,*
"sons" ([Galatians 3:29](../../../kjv/galatians/3/29)).

**8. And**—*Greek,*
"Moreover."
**foreseeing**—One great
excellency of Scripture is, that in it all points liable ever to be
controverted, are, with prescient wisdom, decided in the most
appropriate language.
**would justify**—rather,
"justifieth." Present indicative. It is now, and at all
times, God's *one* way of justification.
**the heathen**—rather,
"the Gentiles"; or "the nations," as the same
*Greek* is translated at the end of the verse. God justifieth
the *Jews,* too, "by faith, not by works." But he
specifies *the Gentiles* in particular here, as it was *their*
case that was in question, the Galatians being Gentiles.
**preached before the
gospel**—"announced beforehand the Gospel." For the
"promise" was substantially the Gospel by anticipation.
Compare [John 8:56](../../../kjv/john/8/56); [Hebrews 4:2](../../../kjv/hebrews/4/2).
A proof that "the old fathers did not look only for transitory
promises" [Article VII, Church of England]. Thus the Gospel, in
its essential germ, is older than the law though the full development
of the former is subsequent to the latter.
**In thee**—not "in
thy seed," which is a point not here raised; but strictly "in
thee," as followers of thy faith, it having first shown the way
to justification before God [ALFORD];
or "in thee," as Father of the promised seed, namely,
Christ ([Galatians 3:16](../../../kjv/galatians/3/16)), who is the
Object of faith ([Genesis 22:18](../../../kjv/genesis/22/18);
[Psalms 72:17](../../../kjv/psalms/72/17)), and imitating thy
faith (see on [Galatians 3:9](../../../kjv/galatians/3/9)).
**all nations**—or as
above, "all *the Gentiles*" ([Genesis 12:3](../../../kjv/genesis/12/3);
[Genesis 18:18](../../../kjv/genesis/18/18); [Genesis 22:18](../../../kjv/genesis/22/18)).
**be blessed**—an act of
grace, not something earned by works. The blessing of justification
was to Abraham by faith in the promise, not by works. So to those who
follow Abraham, the father of the faithful, the blessing, that is,
justification, comes purely by faith in Him who is the subject of the
promise.

**9. they**—and they alone.
**of faith**—(See on , beginning).
**with**—together with.
**faithful**—implying what
it is in which they are "blessed together with him,"
namely, faith, the prominent feature of his character, and of which
the result to all who like him have it, is justification.

**10.** Confirmation of . They who depend on the works of the law cannot share the
blessing, for they are under the curse "written," , *Septuagint.* PERFECT
*obedience* is required by the words, "in all things."
CONTINUAL *obedience*
by the word, "continueth." No man renders this obedience
(compare [Romans 3:19](../../../kjv/romans/3/19); [Romans 3:20](../../../kjv/romans/3/20)).
It is observable, Paul quotes Scripture to the Jews who were
conversant with it, as in Epistle to the Hebrews, as *said* or
*spoken;* but to the Gentiles, as *written.* So Matthew,
writing for Jews, quotes it as "said," or "spoken";
Mark and Luke, writing for Gentiles, as "written" ([Matthew 1:22](../../../kjv/matthew/1/22);
[Mark 1:2](../../../kjv/mark/1/2); [Luke 2:22](../../../kjv/luke/2/22);
[Luke 2:23](../../../kjv/luke/2/23)) [TOWNSON].

**11. by the law**—*Greek,*
"IN the law."
Both *in* and *by* are included. The syllogism in this
verse and [Galatians 3:12](../../../kjv/galatians/3/12), is,
according to Scripture, "The just shall live by faith." But
the law is not of faith, but of doing, or works (that is, does not
make faith, but works, the conditional ground of justifying).
Therefore "in," or "by the law, no man is justified
before God" (whatever the case may be *before men,* [Galatians 3:12](../../../kjv/galatians/3/12)) —not even if he could, which he cannot, keep the law,
because the Scripture element and conditional mean of justification
is *faith.*
**The just shall live by faith**—
([Romans 1:17](../../../kjv/romans/1/17); [Habakkuk 2:4](../../../kjv/habakkuk/2/4)).
Not as BENGEL and ALFORD,
"He who is just by faith shall live." The *Greek*
supports *English Version.* Also the contrast is between "live
*by faith*" (namely, as the ground and source of his
justification), and "live *in them,*" namely, in his
doings or works ([Galatians 3:12](../../../kjv/galatians/3/12)), as
the *conditional element wherein* he is justified.

**12. doeth**—Many depended on the
law although they did not keep it; but without doing, saith Paul, it
is of no use to them ([Romans 2:13](../../../kjv/romans/2/13);
[Romans 2:17](../../../kjv/romans/2/17); [Romans 2:23](../../../kjv/romans/2/23);
[Romans 10:5](../../../kjv/romans/10/5)).

**13.** Abrupt exclamation, as he
breaks away impatiently *from* those who would involve us again
in the curse of the *law,* by seeking justification in it, *to*
"*Christ,*" who "has redeemed us from its curse."
The "us" refers primarily to the Jews, to whom the law
principally appertained, in contrast to "the Gentiles" (; compare [Galatians 4:3](../../../kjv/galatians/4/3);
[Galatians 4:4](../../../kjv/galatians/4/4)). But it is not
*restricted* solely to the Jews, as ALFORD
thinks; for these are the representative people of the world at
large, and their "law" is the embodiment of what God
requires of the whole world. The curse of its non-fulfilment affects
the Gentiles through the Jews; for the law represents that
righteousness which God requires of all, and which, since the Jews
failed to fulfil, the Gentiles are equally unable to fulfil. [Galatians 4:4](../../../kjv/galatians/4/4), "As many as are of the works of the law, are under the
curse," refers plainly, not to *the Jews only,* but to all,
even Gentiles (as the Galatians), who seek justification by the law.
The Jews' law represents the universal law which condemned the
Gentiles, though with less clear consciousness on their part ([Galatians 4:4](../../../kjv/galatians/4/4)). The revelation of God's "wrath" by the law of
conscience, in some degree prepared the Gentiles for appreciating
redemption through Christ when revealed. The curse had to be removed
from off the heathen, too, as well as the Jews, in order that the
blessing, through Abraham, might flow to them. Accordingly, the "we,"
in "that *we* might receive the promise of the Spirit,"
plainly refers to both Jews and Gentiles.
**redeemed us**—*bought
us off* from our former bondage ([Galatians 4:4](../../../kjv/galatians/4/4)), and "from the curse" under which all lie who
trust to the law and the works of the law for justification. The
Gentile Galatians, by putting themselves under the law, were
involving themselves in the curse from which Christ has redeemed the
Jews primarily, and through them the Gentiles. The ransom price He
paid was His own precious blood ([1 Peter 1:18](../../../kjv/1-peter/1/18);
[1 Peter 1:19](../../../kjv/1-peter/1/19); compare [Matthew 20:28](../../../kjv/matthew/20/28);
[Acts 20:28](../../../kjv/acts/20/28); [1 Corinthians 6:20](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/20);
[1 Corinthians 7:23](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/7/23); [1 Timothy 2:6](../../../kjv/1-timothy/2/6);
[2 Peter 2:1](../../../kjv/2-peter/2/1); [Revelation 5:9](../../../kjv/revelation/5/9)).
**being made**—*Greek,*
"having become."
**a curse for us**—Having
become what we were, *in our behalf,* "a curse," that
we might cease to be a curse. Not merely *accursed* (in the
concrete), but *a curse* in the abstract, *bearing the
universal curse of the whole human race.* So [Revelation 5:9](../../../kjv/revelation/5/9), "Sin for us," not *sinful,* but bearing the
whole sin of our race, regarded as *one* vast aggregate of sin.
See Note there. "Anathema" means "set apart to God,"
to His glory, but to the person's own destruction. "*Curse,*"
an execration.
**written**— ([Revelation 5:9](../../../kjv/revelation/5/9)). Christ's bearing the *particular* curse of hanging
on the tree, is a sample of the "general" curse which He
representatively bore. Not that the Jews put to death malefactors by
hanging; but *after* having put them to death otherwise, in
order to brand them with peculiar ignominy, they *hung* the
bodies on a tree, and such malefactors were accursed by the law
(compare [Acts 5:30](../../../kjv/acts/5/30); [Acts 10:39](../../../kjv/acts/10/39)).
God's providence ordered it so that to fulfil the prophecy of the
curse and other prophecies, Jesus should be crucified, and so *hang*
on the tree, though that death was not a Jewish mode of execution.
The Jews accordingly, in contempt, call Him *Tolvi,* "the
*hanged* one," and Christians, "worshippers of the
hanged one"; and make it their great objection that He died the
accursed death [TRYPHO, in
*Justin Martyr,* p. 249] ([Acts 10:39](../../../kjv/acts/10/39)). Hung between heaven and earth as though unworthy of
either!

**14.** The intent of "Christ
becoming a curse for us"; "To the end that upon the
Gentiles the blessing of Abraham (that is, *promised to*
Abraham, namely, justification by faith) might come in Christ Jesus"
(compare [Galatians 3:8](../../../kjv/galatians/3/8)).
**that we might receive the
promise of the Spirit**—the promised Spirit ([Joel 2:28](../../../kjv/joel/2/28);
[Joel 2:29](../../../kjv/joel/2/29); [Luke 24:49](../../../kjv/luke/24/49)).
This clause follows not the clause immediately preceding (for *our
receiving the Spirit* is not the result of the *blessing of
Abraham coming on the Gentiles*), but "Christ hath redeemed
us," &c.
**through faith**—not by
works. Here he resumes the thought in [Luke 24:49](../../../kjv/luke/24/49). "The Spirit from without, kindles within us some spark
of faith Whereby we lay hold of Christ, and even of the Spirit
Himself, that He may dwell within us" [FLACIUS].

**15. I speak after the manner of
men**—I take an illustration from a merely human transaction of
everyday occurrence.
**but a man's covenant**—whose
purpose it is far less important to maintain.
**if it be confirmed**—when
once it hath been ratified.
**no man disannulleth**—"none
setteth aside," not even the author himself, much less any
second party. None does so who acts in common equity. Much less would
the righteous God do so. *The law* is here, by personification,
regarded as a second person, distinct from, and subsequent to, *the
promise of God. The promise* is everlasting, and more peculiarly
belongs to God. *The law* is regarded as something extraneous,
afterwards introduced, exceptional and temporary ([Galatians 3:17-19](../../../kjv/galatians/3/17-19);
[Galatians 3:21-24](../../../kjv/galatians/3/21-24)).
**addeth**—None addeth new
conditions "making" the covenant "of none effect"
([Galatians 3:17](../../../kjv/galatians/3/17)). So legal Judaism
could make no alteration in the fundamental relation between God and
man, already established by the promises to Abraham; it could not add
as a new condition the observance of the law, in which case the
fulfilment of the promise would be attached to a condition impossible
for man to perform. The "covenant" here is one of free
grace, a *promise* afterwards carried into effect in the Gospel.

**16.** This verse is parenthetical.
The covenant of promise was not "spoken" (so *Greek*
for "made") to Abraham alone, but "to Abraham and his
seed"; to the latter especially; and this means Christ (and that
which is inseparable from Him, the *literal Israel,* and *the
spiritual,* His body, the Church). Christ not having come when the
law was given, the covenant could not have been then fulfilled, but
awaited the coming of Him, the Seed, to whom it was spoken.
**promises**—plural,
because the same promise was often repeated ([Genesis 12:3](../../../kjv/genesis/12/3);
[Genesis 12:7](../../../kjv/genesis/12/7); [Genesis 15:5](../../../kjv/genesis/15/5);
[Genesis 15:18](../../../kjv/genesis/15/18); [Genesis 17:7](../../../kjv/genesis/17/7);
[Genesis 22:18](../../../kjv/genesis/22/18)), and because it
involved many things; earthly blessings to the literal children of
Abraham in Canaan, and spiritual and heavenly blessings to his
spiritual children; but both promised to Christ, "the Seed"
and representative Head of the literal and spiritual Israel alike. In
the spiritual seed there is no distinction of Jew or *Greek;*
but to the literal seed, the promises still in part remain to be
fulfilled ([Romans 11:26](../../../kjv/romans/11/26)). The
covenant was not made with "many" seeds (which if there had
been, a pretext might exist for supposing there was one seed before
the law, another under the law; and that those sprung from one seed,
say the Jewish, are admitted on different terms, and with a higher
degree of acceptability, than those sprung from the Gentile seed),
but with the one seed; therefore, the promise that in Him "all
the families of the earth shall be blessed" ([Romans 11:26](../../../kjv/romans/11/26)), joins in this one Seed, Christ, Jew and Gentile, as fellow
heirs on the same terms of acceptability, namely, by grace through
faith ([Romans 4:13](../../../kjv/romans/4/13)); not to some by
promise, to others by the law, but to all alike, circumcised and
uncircumcised, constituting but one seed in Christ ([Romans 4:13](../../../kjv/romans/4/13)). The law, on the other hand, contemplates the Jews and
Gentiles as distinct seeds. God makes a covenant, but it is one of
promise; whereas the law is a covenant of works. Whereas the law
brings in a mediator, a third party ([Galatians 3:19](../../../kjv/galatians/3/19);
[Galatians 3:20](../../../kjv/galatians/3/20)), God makes His covenant
of promise with the one seed, Christ ([Galatians 3:20](../../../kjv/galatians/3/20)), and embraces others only as they are identified with, and
represented by, Christ.
**one . . . Christ**—not in
the exclusive sense, the man Christ *Jesus,* but "Christ"
(*Jesus* is not added, which would limit the meaning), including
*His people* who are *part of Himself,* the Second Adam,
and Head of redeemed humanity. [Galatians 3:28](../../../kjv/galatians/3/28);
[Galatians 3:29](../../../kjv/galatians/3/29) prove this, "Ye are
all ONE in Christ Jesus"
(Jesus is added here as the person is indicated). "And *if*
ye be Christ's, ye are Abraham's SEED,
heirs according to *the promise.*"

**17. this I say**—"this is
what I mean," by what I said in .
**continued . . . of
God**—"ratified by God" ().
**in Christ**—rather, "unto
Christ" (compare [Galatians 3:16](../../../kjv/galatians/3/16)).
However, *Vulgate* and the old Italian versions translate as
*English Version.* But the oldest manuscripts omit the words
altogether.
**the law which was**—*Greek,*
"which came into existence four hundred thirty years after"
([Exodus 12:40](../../../kjv/exodus/12/40); [Exodus 12:41](../../../kjv/exodus/12/41)).
He does not, as in the case of "the covenant," add "enacted
*by God*" ([John 1:17](../../../kjv/john/1/17)).
The dispensation of "the promise" began with the call of
Abraham from Ur into Canaan, and ended on the last night of his
grandson Jacob's sojourn in Canaan, the *land of promise.* The
dispensation of the law, which engenders bondage, was beginning to
draw on from the time of his entrance into Egypt, the land of
bondage. It was to Christ in him, as in his grandfather Abraham, and
his father Isaac, not to him or them as persons, the promise was
spoken. On the day following the last repetition of the promise
orally ([Genesis 46:1-6](../../../kjv/genesis/46/1-6)), at
Beer-sheba, Israel passed into Egypt. It is from the end, not from
the beginning of the dispensation of promise, that the interval of
four hundred thirty years between it and the law is to be counted. At
Beer-sheba, after the covenant with Abimelech, Abraham called on the
everlasting God, and the well was confirmed to him and his seed as an
everlasting possession. Here God appeared to Isaac. Here Jacob
received the promise of the blessing, for which God had called
Abraham out of Ur, repeated for the last time, on the last night of
his sojourn in the land of promise.
**cannot**—*Greek,*
"doth not disannul."
**make . . . of none effect**—The
promise would become so, if the power of conferring the inheritance
be transferred from it to the law ([Genesis 46:1-1](../../../kjv/genesis/46/1-1)).

**18. the inheritance**—all the
blessings to be inherited by Abraham's literal and spiritual
children, according to the promise made to him and to his Seed,
Christ, justification and glorification ([Galatians 4:7](../../../kjv/galatians/4/7);
[Romans 8:17](../../../kjv/romans/8/17); [1 Corinthians 6:9](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/9)).
**but God,** &c.—The
*Greek* order requires rather, "But to Abraham it was by
promise that God hath given it." The conclusion is, *Therefore
the inheritance is not of,* or *from the law* ([1 Corinthians 6:9](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/6/9)).

**19.** "Wherefore then serveth
the law?" as it is of no avail for justification, is it either
useless, or contrary to the covenant of God? [CALVIN].
**added**—to the original
covenant of promise. This is not inconsistent with , "No man addeth thereto"; for there the kind of
*addition* meant, and therefore denied, is one that would add
*new conditions,* inconsistent with the grace of the covenant of
promise. The law, though misunderstood by the Judaizers as doing so,
was really added for a different purpose, namely, "because of
(or as the *Greek,* 'for the sake of') the transgressions,"
that is, to bring out into clearer view *the transgressions* of
it ([Romans 7:7-9](../../../kjv/romans/7/7-9)); to make
men more fully conscious of their "sins," by being
perceived as *transgressions of the law,* and so to make them
long for the promised Saviour. This accords with [Galatians 3:23](../../../kjv/galatians/3/23);
[Galatians 3:24](../../../kjv/galatians/3/24); [Romans 4:15](../../../kjv/romans/4/15).
The meaning can hardly be "*to check* transgressions,"
for the law rather stimulates the corrupt heart to disobey it
([Romans 5:20](../../../kjv/romans/5/20); [Romans 7:13](../../../kjv/romans/7/13)).
**till the seed**—*during
the period up to the time when the* seed came. The law was a
preparatory dispensation for the Jewish nation ([Romans 7:13](../../../kjv/romans/7/13); *Greek,* "the law came in *additionally* and
*incidentally*"), intervening between the promise and its
fulfilment in Christ.
**come**—(Compare "faith
*came,*" [Galatians 3:23](../../../kjv/galatians/3/23)).
**the promise**— ([Galatians 3:23](../../../kjv/galatians/3/23)).
**ordained**—*Greek,*
"constituted" or "disposed."
**by angels**—as the
*instrumental enactors* of the law [ALFORD]
God delegated the law to angels as something rather alien to Him and
severe ([Acts 7:53](../../../kjv/acts/7/53); [Hebrews 2:2](../../../kjv/hebrews/2/2);
[Hebrews 2:3](../../../kjv/hebrews/2/3); compare [Hebrews 2:3](../../../kjv/hebrews/2/3), "He came with ten thousands of saints," that is,
angels, [Psalms 68:17](../../../kjv/psalms/68/17)). He reserved
"the promise" to Himself and dispensed it according to His
own goodness.
**in the hand of a
mediator**—namely, Moses. [Deuteronomy 5:5](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/5/5),
"I stood *between* the Lord and you": the very
definition of a mediator. Hence the phrase often recurs, "By the
hand of Moses." In the giving of the law, the "angels"
were representatives of God; Moses, as mediator, represented the
people.

**20.** "Now a mediator cannot
be of one (but must be of *two* parties whom he mediates
between); but God is one" (not two: owing to His essential *unity*
not admitting of an intervening party between Him and those to be
blessed; but as the ONE
Sovereign, His own representative, giving the blessing *directly*
by *promise* to Abraham, and, in its fulfilment, to Christ, "the
Seed," without new condition, and without a mediator such as the
law had). The conclusion understood is, *Therefore a mediator
cannot appertain to God;* and consequently, the law, with its
inseparable appendage of a mediator, cannot be the normal way of
dealing of God, the one, and unchangeable God, who dealt with Abraham
by *direct* promise, as a sovereign, not as one forming a
compact with another party, with conditions and a mediator attached
thereto. God would bring man into immediate communion with Him, and
not have man separated from Him by a mediator that keeps back from
access, as Moses and the legal priesthood did ([Exodus 19:12](../../../kjv/exodus/19/12);
[Exodus 19:13](../../../kjv/exodus/19/13); [Exodus 19:17](../../../kjv/exodus/19/17);
[Exodus 19:21-24](../../../kjv/exodus/19/21-24); [Hebrews 12:19-24](../../../kjv/hebrews/12/19-24)).
The law that thus interposed a mediator and conditions between man
and God, was an exceptional state limited to the Jews, and
parenthetically preparatory to the Gospel, God's normal mode of
dealing, as He dealt with Abraham, namely, *face to face directly;*
by *promise* and *grace,* and not conditions; *to all
nations united* by faith *in the one seed* ([Ephesians 2:14](../../../kjv/ephesians/2/14);
[Ephesians 2:16](../../../kjv/ephesians/2/16); [Ephesians 2:18](../../../kjv/ephesians/2/18)),
and not to one people to the exclusion and severance from the ONE
common Father, of all other nations. It is no objection to this view,
that the Gospel, too, has a mediator ([Ephesians 2:18](../../../kjv/ephesians/2/18)). For Jesus is not a mediator separating the two parties in
the covenant of promise or grace, as Moses did, but ONE
in both nature and office with both *God* and *man*
(compare "God in Christ," [Ephesians 2:18](../../../kjv/ephesians/2/18)): representing the whole universal manhood ([1 Corinthians 15:22](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/15/22);
[1 Corinthians 15:45](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/15/45); [1 Corinthians 15:47](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/15/47)),
and also bearing in Him "all the fulness of the Godhead."
Even His mediatorial office is to cease when its purpose of
reconciling all things to God shall have been accomplished ([1 Corinthians 15:47](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/15/47)); and God's ONENESS
([Zechariah 14:9](../../../kjv/zechariah/14/9)), as "all in
all," shall be fully manifested. Compare [Zechariah 14:9](../../../kjv/zechariah/14/9), where the two mediators—Moses, the severing mediator of
legal conditions, and Jesus, the uniting mediator of grace—are
contrasted. The Jews began their worship by reciting the *Schemah,*
opening thus, "Jehovah our God is ONE
Jehovah"; which words their Rabbis (as JARCHIUS)
interpret as teaching not only the unity of God, but the future
*universality of His Kingdom* on earth ([Zechariah 14:9](../../../kjv/zechariah/14/9)). Paul ([Romans 3:30](../../../kjv/romans/3/30)) infers
the same truth from the ONENESS
of God (compare [Ephesians 4:4-6](../../../kjv/ephesians/4/4-6)).
He, as being One, unites all believers, without distinction, to
Himself ([Galatians 3:8](../../../kjv/galatians/3/8); [Galatians 3:16](../../../kjv/galatians/3/16);
[Galatians 3:28](../../../kjv/galatians/3/28); [Ephesians 1:10](../../../kjv/ephesians/1/10);
[Ephesians 2:14](../../../kjv/ephesians/2/14); compare [Ephesians 2:14](../../../kjv/ephesians/2/14)) in direct communion. The unity of God involves the unity of
the people of God, and also His dealing directly without intervention
of a mediator.

**21.** "Is the *law*
(which involves a mediator) against the promises of God (which are
without a mediator, and *rest on God* alone and immediately)?
God forbid."
**life**—The law, as an
externally prescribed rule, can never internally impart spiritual
life to men naturally dead in sin, and change the disposition. If the
law had been a law capable of giving *life,* "verily (in
very reality, and not in the mere fancy of legalists) righteousness
would have been by the law (for where life is, there righteousness,
its *condition,* must also be)." But the law does not
*pretend* to give life, and therefore not righteousness; so
there is no opposition between the law and the promise. Righteousness
can only come through the promise to Abraham, and through its
fulfilment in the Gospel of grace.

**22. But**—as the law cannot give
life or righteousness [ALFORD].
Or the "But" means, So far is *righteousness* from
being of the law, that the *knowledge of sin* is rather what
comes of the law [BENGEL].
**the scripture**—which
began to be written after the time of the promise, at the time when
the law was given. The *written* letter was needed SO as
PERMANENTLY to convict man
of disobedience to God's command. Therefore he says, "the
Scripture," not the "Law." Compare , "Scripture," for "the God of the Scripture."
**concluded**—"shut
up," under condemnation, as in a prison. Compare , "As prisoners gathered in the pit and shut up in the
prison." Beautifully contrasted with "the liberty wherewith
Christ makes free," which follows, [Galatians 3:7](../../../kjv/galatians/3/7);
[Galatians 3:9](../../../kjv/galatians/3/9); [Galatians 3:25](../../../kjv/galatians/3/25);
[Galatians 3:26](../../../kjv/galatians/3/26); [Galatians 5:1](../../../kjv/galatians/5/1);
[Isaiah 61:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/61/1).
**all**—*Greek*
neuter, "the universe of things": the whole world, man, and
all that appertains to him.
**under sin**— ([Romans 3:9](../../../kjv/romans/3/9);
[Romans 3:19](../../../kjv/romans/3/19); [Romans 11:32](../../../kjv/romans/11/32)).
**the promise**—*the
inheritance promised* ([Galatians 3:18](../../../kjv/galatians/3/18)).
**by faith of Jesus Christ**—that
is which is by faith in Jesus Christ.
**might be given**—The
emphasis is on "given": that it might be a free *gift;*
not something earned by the works of the law ([Galatians 3:18](../../../kjv/galatians/3/18)).
**to them that believe**—to
them that have "the faith of (in) Jesus Christ" just spoken
of.

**23. faith**—namely, that just
mentioned ([Galatians 3:22](../../../kjv/galatians/3/22)), of which
Christ is the object.
**kept**—*Greek,*
"kept in ward": the effect of the "shutting up"
([Galatians 3:22](../../../kjv/galatians/3/22); [Galatians 4:2](../../../kjv/galatians/4/2);
[Romans 7:6](../../../kjv/romans/7/6)).
**unto**—"with a view
to the faith," c. We were, in a manner, morally forced to it, so
that there remained to us no refuge but faith. Compare the phrase, [Romans 7:6](../../../kjv/romans/7/6), *Margin* [Psalms 31:8](../../../kjv/psalms/31/8).
**which should afterwards,**
&c.—"which was afterwards to be revealed."

**24.** "*So that* the law
*hath been* (that is, hath *turned out to be*) our
schoolmaster (or "tutor," literally, "pedagogue":
this term, among the Greeks, meant a faithful servant entrusted with
the care of the boy from childhood to puberty, to keep him from evil,
physical and moral, and accompany him to his amusements and studies)
to guide us unto Christ," with whom we are no longer "shut
up" in bondage, but are freemen. "Children"
(literally, *infants*) need such *tutoring* ().
**might be**—rather, "that
we *may* be justified by faith"; which we could not be till
Christ, the object of faith, had come. Meanwhile the law, by
outwardly checking the sinful propensity which was constantly giving
fresh proof of its refractoriness—as thus the consciousness of the
power of the sinful principle became more vivid, and hence the sense
of need both of forgiveness of sin and freedom from its bondage was
awakened—the law became a "schoolmaster to guide us unto
Christ" [NEANDER].
The *moral* law shows us what we ought to do, and so we learn
our inability to do it. In the *ceremonial* law we seek, by
animal sacrifices, to answer for our not having done it, but find
dead victims no satisfaction for the sins of living men, and that
outward purifying will not cleanse the soul; and that therefore we
need an infinitely better Sacrifice, the antitype of all the legal
sacrifices. Thus delivered up to the *judicial* law, we see how
awful is the doom we deserve: thus the law at last leads us to
Christ, with whom we find righteousness and peace. "*Sin, sin!*
is the word heard again and again in the Old Testament. Had it not
there for centuries rung in the ear, and fastened on the conscience,
the joyful sound, "grace for grace," would not have been
the watchword of the New Testament. This was the end of the whole
system of sacrifices" [THOLUCK].

**25.** "But *now that*
faith is come," &c. Moses the lawgiver cannot bring us into
the heavenly Canaan though he can bring us to the border of it. At
that point he is superseded by Joshua, the type of Jesus, who leads
the true Israel into their inheritance. The law leads us to Christ,
and there its office ceases.

**26. children**—*Greek,*
"sons."
**by**—*Greek,*
"*through* faith." "Ye all" (Jews and
Gentiles alike) are no longer "children" requiring a *tutor,*
but SONS emancipated and
walking at liberty.

**27. baptized into Christ**— ().
**have put on Christ**—Ye
*did, in that very act* of being baptized into Christ, *put
on,* or clothe yourselves with, Christ: so the *Greek*
expresses. Christ is to you the *toga virilis* (the Roman
garment of the full-grown man, assumed when ceasing to be a child)
[BENGEL]. GATAKER
defines a Christian, "One who has put on Christ." The
argument is, By baptism ye have put on Christ; and therefore, He
being the Son of God, ye become sons by adoption, by virtue of His
Sonship by generation. This proves that baptism, *where it answers
to its ideal,* is not a mere empty sign, but a means of spiritual
transference from the state of legal condemnation to that of living
union with Christ, and of sonship through Him in relation to God (). Christ alone can, by baptizing with His Spirit, make the
inward grace correspond to the outward sign. But as He promises the
blessing in the faithful use of the means, the Church has rightly
presumed, in charity, that such is the case, nothing appearing to the
contrary.

**28.** There is in this sonship by
faith in Christ, no class privileged above another, as the Jews under
the law had been above the Gentiles ([Romans 10:12](../../../kjv/romans/10/12);
[1 Corinthians 12:13](../../../kjv/1-corinthians/12/13); [Colossians 3:11](../../../kjv/colossians/3/11)).
**bond nor free**—Christ
alike belongs to both by faith; whence he puts "bond"
*before* "free." Compare *Note,* see on [Colossians 3:11](../../../kjv/colossians/3/11); [Colossians 3:11](../../../kjv/colossians/3/11).
**neither male nor
female**—rather, as *Greek,* "there is *not* male
*and* female." There is no distinction into male and
female. Difference of sex makes no difference in Christian
privileges. But under the law the male sex had great privileges.
Males alone had in their body circumcision, the sign of the covenant
(contrast *baptism* applied to male and female alike); they
alone were capable of being kings and priests, whereas all of either
sex are now "kings and priests unto God" ([Colossians 3:11](../../../kjv/colossians/3/11)); they had prior right to inheritances. In the resurrection
the relation of the sexes shall cease ([Colossians 3:11](../../../kjv/colossians/3/11)).
**one**—*Greek,* "one
man"; masculine, not neuter, namely "one new man" in
Christ ([Ephesians 2:15](../../../kjv/ephesians/2/15)).

**29. and heirs**—The oldest
manuscripts omit "and." Christ is "Abraham's seed"
([Galatians 3:16](../../../kjv/galatians/3/16)): ye are "one in
Christ" ([Galatians 3:28](../../../kjv/galatians/3/28)), and one
with Christ, as having "put on Christ" ([Galatians 3:28](../../../kjv/galatians/3/28)); therefore YE
are "Abraham's seed," which is tantamount to saying (whence
the "and" is omitted), ye are "heirs according to the
*promise*" (not "by the *law,*" [Galatians 3:28](../../../kjv/galatians/3/28)); for it was to Abraham's seed that the inheritance was
promised ([Galatians 3:16](../../../kjv/galatians/3/16)). Thus he
arrives at the same truth which he set out with ([Galatians 3:16](../../../kjv/galatians/3/16)). But one new "seed" of a righteous succession
could be found. One single faultless grain of human nature was found
by God Himself, the source of a new and imperishable seed: "the
seed" ([Psalms 22:30](../../../kjv/psalms/22/30)) who
receive from Him a new nature and name ([Genesis 3:15](../../../kjv/genesis/3/15);
[Isaiah 53:10](../../../kjv/isaiah/53/10); [Isaiah 53:11](../../../kjv/isaiah/53/11);
[John 12:24](../../../kjv/john/12/24)). In Him the lineal
descent from David becomes extinct. He died without posterity. But He
lives and shall reign on David's throne. No one has a legal claim to
sit upon it but Himself, He being the only living direct
representative ([Ezekiel 21:27](../../../kjv/ezekiel/21/27)).
His spiritual seed derive their birth from the travail of His soul,
being born again of His word, which is the incorruptible seed
([John 1:12](../../../kjv/john/1/12); [Romans 9:8](../../../kjv/romans/9/8);
[1 Peter 1:23](../../../kjv/1-peter/1/23)).

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