Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us freer and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1 The freedom of the Christian J. Vaughan, M. A. It is necessary that we first see generally what that "liberty" is, "wherewith Christ maketh His people free." I cannot hold any one "free," so long as his own conscience locks him up into the fear of death and punishment. The mind which has places which it is afraid to touch, can never expatiate every. where; and the mind which cannot go anywhere, never is "free." It is the sense of pardon which is that man's emancipation. Have we not all felt the difference. — to work that we may be loved, and to work because we are loved; to have a motive from without, or to have a motive from within; to be guided by a fear, or to be attracted by an affection? But, again, to obey any one isolated law, however good that law may be, and however we may admire and love the Lawgiver, may still carry with it a sense of confining and contraction. To do, not this or that command, but the whole will, because it is the will of one we love — to have caught His mind, to breathe His spirit, to be bound up with His glory — that has in it no littleness; there are no circumscribing confines there; and these are the goings out of the unshackled being in the ranges which match with his own infinity. And yet once more. Such is the soul of man, that all that in his horizon falls within the compass of time, however long — or of a present life however full — that man's circle being small, compared to his own consciousness of his own capability, through that disproportion, he feels a limitation. But let a man once look, as he may, and as he must, on that great world which lies beyond him as his scope and his home, and all that is here as only the discipline and the school-work by which he is in training, and immediately everything contains in it eternity. And very "free" will that man be "among the dead," because his faith is going out above the smallnesses which surround him, to the great, and to the absorbing, and to the satisfying things to come. It will not be difficult to carry out these principles, and apply them to the right performance of any of the obligations of life. It needs no words to show that whatever is done in this freedom will not only be itself better done, but it takes from that freedom a character which comports well with a member of the family of God; and which at once makes it edifying to Him, and acceptable and honouring to a heavenly Father. ( J. Vaughan, M. A. )

Benson Commentary Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1 . Stand fast therefore in the liberty, &c. — The apostle (chap. 3.) having, from Abraham’s justification by faith, proved, 1st, That all who believe in Christ, and in the promises of God through him, are the seed of Abraham, whom God in the covenant promised to justify by faith: 2d, That the law of Moses, which was given long after the Abrahamic covenant, could neither annul nor alter that covenant, by introducing a method of justification different from that which was so solemnly established thereby: 3d, That men are heirs of the heavenly country, of which Canaan was the type, not meritoriously, by obedience to the law, but by the free gift of God: 4th, That the law was given to the Israelites, not to justify them, but to restrain them from transgressions, and by making them sensible of their sins, and of the demerit thereof, to lead them to Christ for justification: further, having (chap. 4.) observed that the method of justification by faith, established at the fall, was not universally published in the first ages, by immediately introducing the gospel, because the state of the world did not admit thereof; and because it was proper that mankind should remain a while under the tuition of the light of nature, and of the law of Moses: also, having declared that the supernatural procreation of Isaac, and his birth in a state of freedom, was intended to typify the supernatural generation of Abraham’s seed by faith, and their freedom from the bondage of the law of Moses, as a term of salvation: the apostle, in this 5th chapter, as the application of his whole doctrine, exhorts the Galatian believers to stand fast in that freedom from the Mosaic law which had been obtained for them by Christ, and was announced to them by the gospel; and not to be entangled again with, or held fast in, (as ???????? may be rendered,) the yoke of Jewish bondage, as if it were necessary to salvation. “The apostle, though writing to the Gentiles, might say, Be not again held fast in the yoke of bondage, because the law of Moses, which he was cautioning them to avoid, was a yoke of the same kind with that under which they had groaned while heathen. By this precept, the apostle likewise condemns the superstitious bodily services enjoined by the Church of Rome, which are really of the same nature with those prescribed by Moses, with this difference, that none of them are of divine appointment.” — Macknight. Galatians 5:2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Galatians 5:2-4 . Behold, I Paul — A divinely-commissioned apostle of Christ; say, that if ye be circumcised — And seek to be justified by that rite, or if you depend on any part of the ceremonial law, as your righteousness, and necessary to salvation; Christ — The Christian institution; will profit you nothing — For you thereby disclaim Christ, and all the blessings which are received by faith in him. I testify again — As I have done heretofore; to every man — Every Gentile; that suffers himself to be circumcised now, being a heathen before, that he is a debtor — That he obliges himself; to do the whole law — Perfectly; and if he fail, he subjects himself to the curse of it. It is necessary that the apostle’s general expression, If you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing, should be thus limited, because we cannot suppose that the circumcision of the Jewish believers incapacitated them for being profited by Christ. Besides, “as the preservation of Abraham’s posterity, as a distinct people from the rest of mankind, answered many important purposes in the divine government, their observance of the rite of circumcision, declared by God himself to be the seal of his covenant with Abraham, was necessary to mark them as his descendants, as long as it was determined that they should be continued a distinct people. This shows that the apostle’s declaration is not to be considered as a prohibition of circumcision to the Jews as a national rite, but as a rite necessary to salvation. And therefore, while the Jews practised this rite, according to its original intention, for the purpose of distinguishing themselves as Abraham’s descendants, and not for obtaining salvation, they did what was right. But the Gentiles, not being of Abraham’s race, were under no political obligation to circumcise themselves; consequently, if they received that rite, it must have been because they thought it necessary to their salvation; for which reason the apostle absolutely prohibited it to all the Gentiles.” — Macknight. Christ is become of no effect unto you — See on Galatians 2:21 . Or, as the original expression, ??????????? ??? ??? ??????? , may be properly rendered, Ye are loosed, or separated from Christ, and deprived of the benefit you might have received from him. The Vulgate hath, Vacui estis a Christo, Ye are devoid of Christ; whosoever of you are justified — That is, who seek to be justified; by the law, ye are fallen from grace — Ye renounce the covenant of grace in this last and most perfect manifestation of it: you disclaim the benefit of Christ’s gracious dispensation. the apostle’s meaning is, that whosoever sought to be justified meritoriously by the law of Moses, and for that purpose received circumcision, dissolved his connection with Christ, and renounced all relation to, and dependance on him as a Saviour. Galatians 5:3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Galatians 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. Galatians 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Galatians 5:5-6 . For we — Who believe in Christ, and are his true disciples, having been savingly enlightened in the knowledge of the truth; do, through the influences of the Spirit — Without any of these carnal ordinances; wait for — In sure confidence of obtaining; the hope of righteousness — That is, the righteousness we hope for, and the full reward of it; by faith — The only way in which these blessings can be attained; for it is through faith that we receive this righteousness of God, Php 3:9 ; and by faith we shall obtain the reward. For in Christ Jesus — According to the institution which he hath established, according to the tenor of the Christian covenant, or with respect to our having an interest in and union with him; neither circumcision — With the most punctual observance of the law; nor uncircumcision — With the most exact heathen morality; availeth any thing — To our present justification or eternal salvation; but faith alone, even that faith which worketh by love — That persuasion of, and confidence in, the love of God to us, manifested in his giving Christ to die for us, and in pardoning and accepting us through Christ, which produces in us love to God in return; and obedience, the fruit of this love, and which worketh in us all inward holiness, and worketh by us all outward holiness. “The account which the apostle here gives us of faith,” says Macknight, “deserves attention. He does not say that it consists in the mere speculative belief of the truths of the gospel, nor in a confident persuasion, taken up any how, that we are actually justified, or that Christ hath died for us in particular. These things are nowhere in Scripture represented as constituting justifying faith; and they who trust to them delude themselves. The faith which is counted for righteousness, according to St. Paul, is such a belief [in Christ and] the truth, as worketh in the mind of the believer by love, and maketh him a new creature, Galatians 6:15 . The apostle called the attention of the Galatians to this operation of faith, because they were deficient in love to each other, Galatians 5:15 .” Galatians 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Galatians 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? Galatians 5:7-10 . Ye did run well — In the race of faith, love, and obedience; in true, genuine Christianity; believing its truths, experiencing its graces, enjoying its privileges, performing its duties. The exercises of faith and holiness, enjoined in the gospel, are often in Scripture compared to the ancient athletic exercises of the Greeks, especially to the race; because in that exercise the greatest exertions of activity and strength were necessary to obtain the prize, Hebrews 12:1 . Who did hinder you — Who hath interrupted you in that good course; that ye should not continue to obey the truth? — In this question the apostle does not ask who the person was that had put a stop to them; but he expresses his surprise and grief at their being stopped. This persuasion — Concerning the Mosaic law, and the necessity of observing it in order to your justification and salvation; cometh not of God, who calleth you — To his kingdom and glory. A little leaven — If it be suffered to continue; leaveneth the whole lump — Operates unseen, till it diffuses itself on every side: that is, a little false doctrine may soon corrupt the judgment in other points, and a small number of seduced persons may soon infect the whole church. It is a proverbial expression, in which the pernicious and infectious nature of erroneous doctrine and vicious example is set forth. Hence our Lord gave the name of leaven to the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees, Matthew 16:11-12 . The same name the apostle gives to the doctrine of the Judaizing teachers in this passage, and to the incestuous person, 1 Corinthians 5:7 . Yet I have confidence in you — That, on reading this, and being thus warned of your danger; you will be no otherwise minded — Than I am, and ye were, concerning the doctrine of justification by faith; but he that troubleth you — And would pervert your minds from the purity of the faith; shall bear his judgment — A heavy burden, already hanging over his head. The apostle seems to refer to one person chiefly, as endeavouring to seduce them. Galatians 5:8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. Galatians 5:9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Galatians 5:10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. Galatians 5:11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. Galatians 5:11-12 . And I, brethren — If, as my enemies insinuate; I yet preach circumcision — As necessary to salvation, and urge it upon the believing Gentiles; why do I yet suffer persecution — From the Jews, as one apostatized from their religion? Probably the person that troubled them took occasion, from Paul’s having circumcised Timothy, to affirm that he preached the necessity of submitting to that rite. Then is the offence of the cross ceased — The grand reason why the Jews were so offended at his preaching Christ crucified, and so bitterly persecuted him for it, was, that it implied the abolition of the ceremonial law. Yet St. Paul did not condemn the conforming, out of condescension to the weakness of any one, to that law; but he did even absolutely condemn those who taught that this was necessary to justification. I would they were even cut off — From your communion; cast out of your church; that thus trouble you — “It by no means agrees with the gentle genius of Christianity, to suppose that the apostle should mean by this, that he wished them dead, or wished that any bodily evil were inflicted upon them by human violence. All arguments, therefore, which are drawn from this text, in favour of persecuting principles, must be very inconclusive.” — Doddridge. Galatians 5:12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you. Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Galatians 5:13-15 . Ye have been called — By the gospel; into liberty — From the bondage of the Mosaic ceremonies, as well as of sin and misery: only use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh — So as to nourish or gratify any corrupt principle in yourselves or others. But by love serve one another — Use your liberty as may best manifest your love to your neighbour, seeking his edification, or at least doing nothing contrary thereto, Romans 14:13 ; Romans 14:15 . And hereby show that Christ has made you free indeed. For all the law — With which we believers in Christ have any concern; is fulfilled in one word — Or precept; even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself — Inasmuch as none can do this without loving God, ( 1 John 4:12 ,) and the love of God and man includes all perfection. But if — On the contrary, from your zeal for, or your zeal against, the Mosaic ceremonies, and in consequence of the divisions which those troublers have occasioned among you; ye bite and devour one another — By evil speaking, railing, and clamour; take heed that ye be not consumed one of another — That your divisions do not end in the total destruction of religion among you, and the entire ruin of your church: for it is certain, by these mutual contentions, you take the readiest way to produce these effects. By bitterness, strife, and contention, men’s health and strength, both of body and soul, are consumed, as well as their substance and reputation. Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Galatians 5:15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5:16-18 . I say then — He now explains what he proposed Galatians 5:13 ; Walk in, or by, the Spirit — Namely, the Spirit of God: follow his guidance, exercise his graces, and bring forth his fruits: at all times endeavour to conduct yourselves as under his influence, and in a way agreeable to the new nature he hath given you. We walk by the Spirit, when we are led, that is, directed and governed by him as a Spirit of truth and grace, of wisdom and holiness. And we walk in the Spirit when, being united to him, or, rather, inhabited by him, we walk in faith, hope, and love, and in the other graces, mentioned Galatians 5:22 . And ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh — Ye will not gratify any sinful appetite or passion, any corrupt principle of your nature or disposition, which may yet have place in you; such as envy, malice, anger, or revenge. For the flesh lusteth — ???????? , desireth; against the Spirit — Your corrupt nature, as far as it remains corrupt, and is unrenewed, has inclinations and affections which are contrary to, and oppose the operations and graces of the Spirit of God: and the Spirit against the flesh — The Holy Spirit, on his part, opposes your evil nature, and all your corrupt inclinations and passions. These — The flesh and the Spirit; are contrary to each other — There can be no agreement between them: so that ye cannot do, &c. — Greek, ??? ?? , ? ?? ?????? , ????? ?????? , that what things you would, or may desire, or incline to, these you may not do, that is, connecting it with the clause immediately preceding, “though the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, yet the Spirit desireth against and opposes the flesh; that, being thus strengthened by the Spirit, ye may not do the things ye would do if the Spirit did not thus assist you.” This seems to be the genuine sense of the passage. But if ye be led by the Spirit — Of liberty and love, into all holiness; ye are not under the curse or bondage of the law — Not under the guilt or power of sin. Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Galatians 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these ; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Galatians 5:19-21 . Now the works of the flesh — By which that inward corrupt principle is discovered; are manifest — Are plain and undeniable. He says works, in the plural, because those of the flesh are distinct from, and often inconsistent with each other. But the fruit of the Spirit is mentioned in the singular, ( Galatians 5:22 ,) the graces thereof being all consistent, and connected together. Which are these — He enumerates those works of the flesh to which the Galatians were most inclined, and those parts of the fruit of the Spirit of which they stood in the greatest need; adultery — A crime to be considered in the first rank of enormities, as being the most prejudicial to society, destroying conjugal happiness, introducing confusion and ruin into families, alienating the affection of parents from their children, causing them to neglect their education; fornication — Which, how light soever heathen may make it, is in the sight of God a very grievous offence; uncleanness — Of every kind and degree; lasciviousness — All immodesty, as the indulging of wanton thoughts, and reading lascivious books. The Greek word means any thing, inward or outward, that is contrary to chastity; idolatry — The worshipping of idols; this sin is justly reckoned among the works of the flesh, because the worship paid to many of the gods consisted in the most impure fleshly gratifications; witchcraft — Or sorcery, as Macknight renders ????????? , observing, that the expression “being placed immediately after idolatry, means those arts of incantation and charming, and all the pretended communications with invisible and malignant powers, whereby the heathen priests promoted the reverence and worship of their idol gods, and enriched themselves. In this sense the word is used concerning Babylon, ( Revelation 18:23 ,) ?? ?? ????????? ??? , By thy sorcery were all nations deceived; that is, by a variety of wicked arts and cheats, the nations were deluded to support Babylon in her idolatries and corruptions. Hatred — Or enmities, as ?????? signifies; variance — ????? , strifes; emulations — Transports of ill-placed and ill-proportioned zeal; wrath — ????? , resentments; ???????? , contentions, as the word appears here to signify; seditions — Or divisions, in domestic or civil matters; heresies — Parties formed in religious communities; who, instead of maintaining true candor and benevolence, renounce and condemn each other. Envyings — Frequently manifesting themselves against the prosperity and success of others; murders — Which are often the effect of such evil dispositions and practices as those above mentioned; and, to complete the catalogue, all kinds of irregular self-indulgence, and particularly drunkenness — Which renders a man worse than a beast; and those disorderly and gluttonous revellings — Or luxurious entertainments, by which the rational powers are, in a great measure, extinguished, or, at least, rendered incapable of performing their offices in a proper manner. Some of the works here mentioned are wrought principally, if not entirely, in the mind, and yet they are called works of the flesh. Hence it is clear that the apostle does not, by the flesh, mean the body, or sensual appetites and inclinations only, but the corruption of human nature, as it spreads through all the powers of the soul, as well as the members of the body; of which I tell you before — Before the event; I forewarn you; as I have told you also in time past — When I was present with you; that they who do such things — Who are guilty of such evil practices; shall not inherit the kingdom of God — Whatever zeal they may pretend for the externals of religion, in any of the forms of it. Awful declaration! Galatians 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Galatians 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Galatians 5:22-23 . But the fruit of the Spirit — He says the fruit of the Spirit, to signify that the graces here mentioned are the natural, genuine product of the influences of the Spirit upon the mind of man. It is not possible to give a higher praise to any temper of mind, or course of life, than to say, it is the fruit of the Spirit of God; is love — To God, his people, and all mankind, the source of all the other fruits; joy — Arising from a sense of the remission of sins, of the favour of God, of adoption into his family, and being constituted his children and his heirs; from a lively hope of the heavenly inheritance, the testimony of a conscience void of offence toward God and man, ( 2 Corinthians 1:12 ,) communion with God, and an earnest of heaven in our hearts. Peace — Namely, with God, and in our own consciences, and a disposition, as far as possible, to live peaceably with all men; long-suffering — That is, patience in bearing with the infirmities, and faults, and even injuries of others; gentleness — Toward all men, ignorant and wicked men in particular, implying sweetness of speech and manners; goodness — A benevolent and beneficent disposition, with all that is kind, soft, winning, and tender, either in temper or behaviour, as the Greek word ????????? implies; faith — Or rather fidelity, as the word here evidently signifies, namely, in engagements, promises, and trusts, or what we call good faith and uprightness in men’s dealings, neither, in any instance, imposing upon others, nor failing in any of those engagements which it is in our power to fulfil; meekness — Or calmness under provocations, holding all the affections and passions in an even balance; temperance — In the use of meats and drinks, and all animal gratifications: Against such holy and happy dispositions, there is no law — By this observation, the apostle intimates that the graces and virtues here mentioned are so manifestly excellent, that they not only never were forbidden by any human law, but that there never hath been any nation which did not acknowledge their excellence, and give proofs that they did so, by making them objects either of their public or their private institutions. And those who in the general course of their lives bring forth these amiable and benign fruits of the Spirit, are, by the grace of the gospel, freed from the condemning sentence of the divine law. Galatians 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Galatians 5:24 . And they that are Christ’s — Who are true believers in him, and therefore possessed of union with him, and shall be finally owned as belonging to him; have crucified the flesh — Have doomed it to a certain death, like the body of one that is nailed to a cross, and left to expire upon it; with the affections and lusts — All its evil passions, appetites, and inclinations. The word affections, or passions, as ???????? should rather be rendered, as distinguished from the lusts of the flesh, are pride, self-will, discontent, anger, malice, envy, revenge. “This is a beautiful and affecting allusion to our Lord’s sufferings on the cross. The restraining of our fleshly lusts may be very painful to us, as the word crucify implies. But the same word, by putting us in mind of Christ’s suffering much greater pain for us, touches all the generous feelings of the heart, and excites us, from gratitude to him, to disregard the pain which so necessary a duty may occasion to us.” Galatians 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:25-26 . If we live in, or by, the Spirit — If we are indeed raised from the death of sin, and made alive to God by the operation of his Spirit, and if this spiritual life is continued to us by his indwelling presence in our souls; let us walk by and in the Spirit — Being under his influence, and following his guidance in all our thoughts, tempers, words, and actions. See on Galatians 5:16 . Let us not be desirous of vain glory — Of the praise or esteem of men. They who do not carefully and closely follow the drawings, and attend to the leadings, of the Spirit of God, easily slide into this: the natural effects of which are provoking to envy them that are beneath us, and envying them that are above us. Reader, art thou indeed a true believer in Christ? and dost thou, therefore, live in the Spirit of God, so that his gracious influences are the very life of thy soul? then make it thy care also to walk in the Spirit, to regulate every action of thy life, and every sentiment of thy heart, by a becoming regard to him; guarding solicitously against any thing that would grieve him, and encouraging those friendly offices of his, by which thou mayest be trained up in a growing meetness for the society of the blessed spirits above, and for that world where the polluted flesh, the corruptible body, having been laid aside for a season, shall be raised as pure as it shall be glorious, in the image of that Saviour whose discipline teaches us to seek the victory over it, and whose grace enables us to obtain it. Galatians 5:26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . 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Expositor's Bible Commentary Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 1-31 Chapter 19 THE STORY OF HAGAR. Galatians 4:21-31 - Galatians 5:1 THE Apostle wishes that he could "change his voice" ( Galatians 4:20 ). Indeed he has changed it more than once. "Any one who looks closely may see that there is much change and alteration of feeling in what the Apostle has previously written" (Theodorus). Now he will try another tone; he proceeds in fact to address his readers in a style which we find nowhere else in his Epistles. He will tell his "children" a story! Perhaps he may thus succeed better than by graver argument. Their quick fancy will readily apprehend the bearing of the illustration; it may bring home to them the force of his doctrinal contention, and the peril of their own position, as he fears they have not seen them yet. And so, after the pathetic appeal of the last paragraph, and before he delivers his decisive, official protest to the Galatians against their circumcision, he interjects this "allegory" of the two sons of Abraham. Paul cites the history of the sons of Abraham. No other example would have served his purpose. The controversy between himself and the Judaisers turned on the question, Who are the true heirs of Abraham? { Galatians 3:7 ; Galatians 3:16 ; Galatians 3:29 } He made faith in Christ, they circumcision and law-keeping, the ground of sonship. So the inheritance was claimed in a double sense. But now, if it should appear that this antithesis existed in principle in the bosom of the patriarchal family, if we should find that there was an elder son of Abraham’s flesh opposed to the child of promise, how powerfully will this analogy sustain the Apostle’s position. Judaism will then be seen to be playing over again the part of Ishmael; and "the Jerusalem that now is" takes the place of Hagar, the slave-mother. The moral situation created by the Judaic controversy had been rehearsed in the family life of Abraham. "Tell me," the Apostle asks, "you that would fain be subject to the law, do you not know what it relates concerning Abraham? He had two sons, one of free, and the other of servile birth. Do you wish to belong to the line of Ishmael, or Isaac?" In this way Paul resumes the thread of his discourse dropped in Galatians 4:7 . Faith, he had told his readers, had made them sons of God. They were, in Christ, of Abraham’s spiritual seed, heirs of his promise. God had sent His Son to redeem them, and the Spirit of His Son to attest their adoption. But they were not content. They were ambitious of Jewish privileges. The Legalists persuaded them that they must be circumcised and conform to Moses, in order to be Abraham’s children in full title. "Very well," the Apostle says, "you may become Abraham’s sons in this fashion. Only you must observe that Abraham had two sons. And the Law will make you his sons by Hagar, whose home is Sinai-not Israelites, but Ishmaelites!" Paul’s Galatian allegory has greatly exercised the minds of his critics. The word is one of ill repute in exegesis. Allegory was the instrument of Rabbinical and Alexandrine Scripturists, an infallible device for extracting the predetermined sense from the letter of the sacred text. The "spiritualising" of Christian interpreters has been carried, in many instances, to equal excess of riot. For the honest meaning of the word of God anything and everything has been substituted that lawless fancy and verbal ingenuity could read into it. The most arbitrary and grotesque distortions of the facts of Scripture have passed current under cover of the clause, "which things are an allegory." But Paul’s allegory, and that of Philo and the Allegorical school, are very different things, as widely removed as the "words of truth and soberness" from the intoxications of mystical idealism. With Paul the spiritual sense of Scripture is based on the historical, is in fact the moral content and import thereof; for he sees in history a continuous manifestation of God’s will. With the Allegorists the spiritual sense, arrived at by a priori means, replaces the historical, destroyed to make room for it. The Apostle points out in the story of Hagar a spiritual intent, such as exists in every scene of human life if we had eyes to see it, something other than the literal relation of the facts, but nowise alien from it. Here lies the difference between legitimate and illegitimate allegory. The utmost freedom may be given to this employment of the imagination, so long as it is true to the moral of the narrative which it applies. In principle the Pauline allegory does not differ from the type. In the type the correspondence of the sign and thing signified centres in a single figure or event; in such an allegory as this it is extended to a group of figures and a series of events. But the force of the application depends on the actuality of the original story, which in the illicit allegory is matter of indifference. "Which things are allegorized"-so the Apostle literally writes in Galatians 4:24 -made matters of allegory. The phrase intimates, as Bishop Lightfoot suggests, that the Hagarene episode in Genesis { Genesis 16:1-16 ; Genesis 21:1-21 } was commonly interpreted in a figurative way. The Galatians had heard from their Jewish teachers specimens of this popular mode of exposition. Paul will employ it too; and will give his own reading of the famous story of Ishmael and Isaac. Philo of Alexandria, the greatest allegorist of the day, has expounded the same history. These eminent interpreters both make Sarah the mother of the spiritual, Hagar of the worldly offspring; both point out how the barren is exalted over the fruitful wife. So far, we may imagine, Paul is moving on the accepted lines of Jewish exegesis. But Philo knows nothing of the correspondence between Isaac and Christ, which lies at the back of the Apostle’s allegory. And there is this vital difference of method between the two divines, that whereas Paul’s comparison is the illustration of a doctrine proved on other grounds-the painting which decorates the house already built (Luther)-with the Alexandrine idealist it forms the substance and staple of his teaching. Under this allegorical dress the Apostle expounds once more his doctrine, already inculcated, of the difference between the Legal and Christian state. The former constitutes, as he now puts the matter, a bastard sonship like that of Ishmael, conferring only an external and provisional tenure in the Abrahamic inheritance. It is contrasted with the spiritual sonship of the true Israel in the following respects:-It is a state of nature as opposed to grace; of bondage as opposed to freedom; and further, it is temporary and soon to be ended by the Divine decree. I. "He who is of the maid-servant is after the flesh; but he that is of the free-woman is through promise…Just as then he that was after the flesh persecuted him that was after the Spirit, So now" ( Galatians 4:23 ; Galatians 4:29 ). The Apostle sees in the different parentage of Abraham’s sons the ground of a radical divergence of character. One was the child of nature, the other was the son of a spiritual faith. Ishmael was in truth the fruit of unbelief; his birth was due to a natural but impatient misreading of the promise. The patriarch’s union with Hagar was ill-assorted and ill-advised. It brought its natural penalty by introducing an alien element into his family, life. The low-bred insolence which the serving-woman, in the prospect of becoming a mother, showed toward the mistress to whom she owed her preferment, gave a foretaste of the unhappy consequences. The promise of posterity made to Abraham with a childless wife, was expressly designed to try his faith; and he had allowed it to be overborne by the reasonings of nature. It was no wonder that the son of the Egyptian slave, born under such conditions, proved to be of a lower type, and had to be finally excluded from the house. In Ishmael’s relation to his father there was nothing but the ordinary play of human motives. "The son of the handmaid was born after the flesh." He was a natural son. But Ishmael was not on that account cut off from the Divine mercies. Nor did his father’s prayer, "O that Ishmael might live before Thee," { Genesis 17:18 } remain unanswered. A great career was reserved by Divine Providence for his race. The Arabs, the fiery sons of the desert, through him claim descent from Abraham. They have carved their name deeply upon the history and the faith of the world. But sensuousness and lawlessness are everywhere the stamp of the Ishmaelite. With high gifts and some generous qualities, such as attracted to his eldest boy the love of Abraham, their fierce animal passion has been the curse of the sons of Hagar. Mohammedanism is a bastard Judaism; it is the religion of Abraham sensualised. Ishmael stands forth as the type of the carnal man. On outward grounds of flesh and blood he seeks inheritance in the kingdom of God; and with fleshly weapons passionately fights its battles. To a similar position Judaism, in the Apostle’s view, had now reduced itself. And to this footing the Galatian Churches would be brought if they yielded to the Judaistic solicitations. To be circumcised would be for them to be born again after the flesh, to link themselves to Abraham in the unspiritual fashion of Hagar’s son. Ishmael was the first to be circumcised. { Genesis 17:23 ; Genesis 17:26 } It was to renounce salvation by faith and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. This course could only have one result. The Judaic ritualism they were adopting would bear fruit after its kind, in a worldly, sensuous life. Like Ishmael they would claim kinship with the Church of God on fleshly grounds; and their claims must prove as futile as did his. The persecution of the Church by Judaism gave proof of the Ishmaelite spirit, the carnal animus by which it was possessed. A religion of externalism naturally becomes repressive. It knows not "the demonstration of the Spirit"; it has "confidence in the flesh." It relies on outward means for the propagation of its faith; and naturally resorts to the secular arm. The Inquisition and the Auto-da-fe are a not unfitting accompaniment of the gorgeous ceremonial of the Mass. Ritualism and priestly autocracy go hand in hand. "So now," says Paul, pointing to Ishmael’s "persecution" of the infant Isaac, hinted at in Genesis 21:8-10 . The laughter of Hagar’s boy at Sarah’s weaning-feast seems but a slight offence to be visited with the punishment of expulsion; and the incident one beneath the dignity of theological argument. But the principle for which Paul contends is there; and it is the more easily apprehended when exhibited on this homely scale. The family is the germ and the mirror of society. In it are first called into play the motives which determine the course of history, the rise and fall of empires or churches. The gravamen of the charge against Ishmael lies in the last word of Genesis 21:9 , rendered in the Authorised Version mocking, and by the Revisers playing, after the Septaguint and the Vulgate. This word in the Hebrew is evidently a play on the name Isaac, i.e., laughter, given by Sarah to her boy with genial motherly delight ( Galatians 4:6-7 ). Ishmael, now a youth of fourteen, takes up the child’s name and turns it, on this public and festive occasion, into ridicule. Such an act was not only an insult to the mistress of the house and the young heir at a most untimely moment, it betrayed a jealousy and contempt on the part of Hagar’s son towards his half-brother which gravely compromised Isaac’s future. "The wild, ungovernable and pugnacious character ascribed to his descendants began to display itself in Ishmael, and to appear in language of provoking insolence; offended at the comparative indifference with which he was treated, he indulged in mockery, especially against Isaac, whose very name furnished him with satirical sneers." Ishmael’s jest cost him dear. The indignation of Sarah was reasonable; and Abraham was compelled to recognise in her demand the voice of God ( Galatians 4:10-12 ). The two boys, like Esau and Jacob in the next generation, represented opposite principles and ways of life, whose counter-working was to run through the course of future history. Their incompatibility was already manifest. The Apostle’s comparison must have been mortifying in the extreme to the Judaists. They are told in plain terms that they are in the position of outcast Ishmael; while uncircumcised Gentiles, without a drop of Abraham’s blood in their veins, have received the promise forfeited by their unbelief. Paul could not have put his conclusion in a form more unwelcome to Jewish pride. But without this radical exposure of the legalist position it was impossible for him adequately to vindicate his gospel and defend his Gentile children in the faith. II. From this contrast of birth "according to flesh" and "through promise" is deduced the opposition between the slave-born and free-born sons. "For these (the slave-mother and the free-woman) are two covenants, one indeed bearing children unto bondage-which is Hagar" ( Galatians 4:24 ). The other side of the antithesis is not formally expressed; it is obvious. Sarah the princess, Abraham’s true wife, has her counterpart in the original covenant of promise renewed in Christ, and in "the Jerusalem above, which is our mother" ( Galatians 4:26 ). Sarah is the typical mother, {Comp. Hebrews 11:11-12 ; 1 Peter 3:6 } as Abraham is the father of the children of faith. In the systoichia, or tabular comparison, which the Apostle draws up after the manner of the schools, Hagar and the Mosaic covenant, Sinai and the Jerusalem that now is stand in one file and "answer to" each other; Sarah and the Abrahamic covenant, Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem succeed in the same order, opposite to them. "Zion" is wanting in the second file; but "Sinai and Zion" form a standing antithesis; { Hebrews 12:18-22 } the second is implied in the first. It was to Zion that the words of Isaiah cited in Galatians 4:27 were addressed. The first clause of Galatians 4:25 is best understood in the shorter, marginal reading of the R. V, also preferred by Bishop Lightfoot ( ?? ??? ???? ???? ????? k.t.l.). It is a parenthesis-"for mount Sinai is in Arabia"-covenant running on in the mind from Galatians 4:24 as the continued subject of ver. 25b: "and it answereth to the present Jerusalem." This is the simplest and most consistent construction of the passage. The interjected geographical reference serves to support the identification of the Sinaitic covenant with Hagar, Arabia being the well-known abode of the Hagarenes. Paul had met them in his wanderings there. Some scholars have attempted to establish a verbal agreement between the name of the slave-mother and that locally given to the Sinaitic range; but this explanation is precarious, and after all unnecessary. There was a real correspondence between place and people on the one hand, as between place and covenant on the other. Sinai formed a visible and imposing link between the race of Ishmael and the Mosaic law-giving. That awful, desolate mountain, whose aspect, as we can imagine, had vividly impressed itself on Paul’s memory, { Galatians 1:17 } spoke to him of bondage and terror. It was a true symbol of the working of the law of Moses, exhibited in the present condition of Judaism. And round the base of Sinai Hagar’s wild sons had found their dwelling. Jerusalem was no longer the mother of freemen. The boast, "we are Abraham’s sons; we were never in bondage," { John 8:33 } was anunconscious irony. Her sons chafed under the Roman yoke. They were loaded with self-inflicted legal burdens. Above all, they were, notwithstanding their professed law-keeping, enslaved to sin, in servitude to their pride and evil lusts. The spirit of the nation was that of rebellious, discontented slaves. They were Ishmaelite sons of Abraham, with none of the nobleness, the reverence, the calm and elevated faith of their father. In the Judaism of the Apostle’s day the Sinaitic dispensation, uncontrolled by the higher patriarchal and prophetic faith, had worked out its natural result. It "gendered to bondage." A system of repression and routine, it had produced men punctual in tithes of mint and anise, but without justice, mercy, or faith; vaunting their liberty while they were "servants of corruption." The law of Moses could not form a "new creature." It left the Ishmael of nature unchanged at heart, a child of the flesh, with whatever robes of outward decorum his nakedness was covered. The Pharisee was the typical product of law apart from grace. Under the garb of a freeman he carried the soul of a slave. But Galatians 4:26 sounds the note of deliverance: "The Jerusalem above is free; and she is our mother!" Paul has escaped from the prison of Legalism, from the confines of Sinai; he has left behind the perishing, earthly Jerusalem, and with it the bitterness and gloom of his Pharisaic days. He is a citizen of the heavenly Zion, breathing the air of a Divine freedom. The yoke is broken from the neck of the Church of God; the desolation is gone from her heart. There come to the Apostle’s lips the words of the great prophet of the Exile, depicting the deliverance of the spiritual Zion, despised and counted barren, but now to be the mother of a numberless offspring. In Isaiah’s song, "Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not" (54.), the laughter of the childless Sarah bursts forth again, to be gloriously renewed in the persecuted Church of Jesus. Robbed of all outward means, mocked and thrust out as she is by Israel after the flesh, her rejection is a release, an emancipation. Conscious of the spirit of sonship and freedom, looking out on the boundless conquests lying before her in the Gentile world, the Church of the New Covenant glories in her tribulations. In Paul is fulfilled the joy of prophet and psalmist, who sang in former days of gloom concerning Israel’s enlargement and world-wide victories. No legalist could understand words like these. "The veil" was upon his heart "in the reading of the Old Testament." But with "the Spirit of the Lord" comes "liberty." The prophetic inspiration has returned. The voice of rejoicing is heard again in the dwellings of Israel. "If the Son make you free," said Jesus, "ye shall be free indeed." This Epistle proves it. III. "And the bondman abideth not in the house for ever; the Son abideth for ever". { John 8:35 } This also the Lord had testified: the Apostle repeats His warning in the terms of this allegory. Sooner or later the slave-boy was bound to go. He has no proper birthright, no permanent footing in the house. One day he exceeds his license, he makes himself intolerable; he must begone. "What saith the Scripture? Cast out the maidservant and her son; for the son of the maidservant shall not inherit with the son of the freewoman" ( Galatians 4:30 ). Paul has pronounced the doom of Judaism. His words echo those of Christ: "Behold your house is left unto you desolate"; { Matthew 23:38 } they are taken up again in the language of Hebrews 13:13-14 , uttered on the eve of the fall of Jerusalem: "Let us go forth unto Jesus without the camp, bearing His reproach. We have here no continuing city, but we seek that which is to come." On the walls of Jerusalem ichabod was plainly written. Since it "crucified our Lord" it was no longer the Holy City; it was "spiritually Sodom and Egypt", - Egypt, { Revelation 11:8 } the country of Hagar. Condemning Him, the Jewish nation passed sentence on itself. They were slaves who in blind rage slew their Master when He came to free them. The Israelitish people showed more than Ishmael’s jealousy toward the infant Church of the Spirit. No weapon of violence or calumny was too base to be used against it. The cup of their iniquity was filling fast. They were ripening for the judgment which Christ predicted. { 1 Thessalonians 2:16 } Year by year they became more hardened against spiritual truth, more malignant towards Christianity, and more furious and fanatical in their hatred towards their civil rulers. The cause of Judaism was hopelessly lost. In Romans 9:1-33 ; Romans 10:1-21 ; Romans 11:1-36 , written shortly after this Epistle, Paul assumes this as a settled thing, which he has to account for and to reconcile with Scripture. In the demand of Sarah for the expulsion of her rival, complied with by Abraham against his will, the Apostle reads the secret judgment of the Almighty on the proud city which he himself so ardently loved, but which had crucified his Lord and repented not. "Cut it down," Jesus cried, "why cumbereth it the ground?". { Luke 13:7 } The voice of Scripture speaks again: "Cast her out; she and her sons are slaves. They have no place amongst the sons of God." Ishmael was in the way of Isaac’s safety and prosperity. And the Judaic ascendency was no less a danger to the Church. The blow which shattered Judaism at once cleared the ground for the outward progress of the gospel and arrested the legalistic reaction which hindered its internal development. The two systems were irreconcilable. It was Paul’s merit to have first apprehended this contradiction in its full import. The time had come to apply in all its rigour Christ’s principle of combat, "He that is not with Me is against Me." It is the same rule of exclusion which Paul announces: "If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His". { Romans 8:9 } Out of Christ is no salvation. When the day of judgment comes, whether for men or nations, this is the touchstone: Have we, or have we not "the Spirit of God’s Son"? Is our character that of sons of God, or slaves of sin? On the latter falls inevitably the sentence of expulsion. "He will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity". { Matthew 13:41 } This passage signalises the definite breach of Christianity with Judaism. The elder Apostles lingered in the porch of the Temple; the primitive Church clung to the ancient worship. Paul does not blame them for doing so. In their case this was but the survival of a past order, in principle acknowledged to be obsolete. But the Church of the future, the spiritual seed of Abraham gathered out of all nations, had no part in Legalism. The Apostle bends all his efforts to convince his readers of this, to make them sensible of the impassable gulf lying between them and outworn Mosaism. Again he repeats, "We are not children of a maidservant, but of her that is free" ( Galatians 4:31 ). The Church of Christ can no more hold fellowship with Judaism than could Isaac with the spiteful, mocking Ishmael. Paul leads the Church across the Rubicon. There is no turning back. Ver. 1 of chap. 5 ( Galatians 5:1 ), is the application of the allegory. It is a triumphant assertion of liberty, a ringing summons to its defence. Its separation from chap. 4 is ill-judged, and runs counter to the ancient divisions of the Epistle. "Christ set us free," Paul declares; "and it was for freedom-not that we might fall under a new servitude. Stand fast therefore; do not let yourselves be made bondmen over again." Bondmen the Galatians had been before, { Galatians 4:8 } bowing down to false and vile gods. Bondmen they will be again, if they are beguiled by the Legalists to accept the yoke of circumcision, if they take "the Jerusalem that now is" for their mother. They have tasted the joys of freedom; they know what it is to be sons of God, heirs of His kingdom and partakers of His Spirit; why do they stoop from their high estate? Why should Christ’s freemen put a yoke upon their own neck? Let them only know their happiness and security in Christ, and refuse to be cheated out of the substance of their spiritual blessings by the illusive shadows which the Judaists offer them. Freedom once gained is a prize never to be lost. No care, no vigilance in its preservation can be too great. Such liberty inspires courage and good hope in its defence. "Stand fast therefore. Quit yourselves like men." How the Galatians responded to the Apostle’s challenge, we do not know. But it has found an echo in many a heart since. The Lutheran Reformation was an answer to it; so was the Scottish Covenant. The spirit of Christian liberty is eternal. Jerusalem or Rome may strive to imprison it. They might as well seek to bind the winds of heaven. Its home is with God. Its seat is the throne of Christ. It lives by the breath of His Spirit. The earthly powers mock at it, and drive it into the wilderness. They do but assure their own ruin. It leaves the house of the oppressor desolate. Whosoever he be, Judaist or Papist, priest, or king, or demagogue-that makes himself lord of God’s heritage and would despoil His children of the liberties of faith, let him beware lest of him also it be spoken, "Cast out the bondwoman and her son." Galatians 5:2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Chapter 20 SHALL THE GALATIANS BE CIRCUMCISED? Galatians 5:2-6 SHALL the Galatians be circumcised, or shall they not? This is the decisive question. The denunciation with which Paul begins his letter, the narrative which follows, the profound argumentation, the tender entreaty of the last two chapters, all converge toward this crucial point. So far the Galatian Churches had been only dallying with Judaism. They have been tempted to the verge of apostasy; but they are not yet over the edge. Till they consent to be circumcised, they have not finally committed themselves; their freedom is not absolutely lost. The Apostle still hopes, despite his fears, that they will stand fast. The fatal step is eagerly pressed on them by the Judaisers, { Galatians 6:12-13 } whose persuasion the Galatians had so far entertained that they had begun to keep the Hebrew Sabbath and feast.- { Galatians 4:10 } If they yield to this further demand, the battle is lost; and this powerful Epistle, with all the Apostle’s previous labour spent upon them, has been in vain. To sever this section from the polemical in order to attach it to the practical part of the Epistle, as many commentators do, is to cut the nerve of the Apostle’s argument and reduce it to an abstract theological discussion. This momentous question is brought forward with the greater emphasis and effect, because it has hitherto been kept out of sight. The allusion to Titus 2:1-5 has already indicated the supreme importance of the matter of circumcision. But the Apostle has delayed dealing with it formally and directly, until he is able to do so with the weight of the foregoing chapters to support his interdict. He has shattered the enemies’ position with his artillery of logic, he has assailed the hearts of his readers with all the force of his burning indignation and subduing pathos. Now he gathers up his strength for the final charge home, which must decide the battle. 1. Lo, I Paul tell you! When he begins thus, we feel that the decisive moment is at hand. Everything depends on the next few words. Paul stands like an archer with his bow drawn at full stretch and the arrow pointed to the mark. "Let others say what they may; this is what I tell you. If my word has any weight with you, give heed to this:-if you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing." Now his bolt is shot; we see what the Apostle has had in his mind all this time. Language cannot be more explicit. Some of his readers will have failed to catch the subtler points of his argument, or the finer tones of his voice of entreaty; but every one will understand this. The most "senseless" and volatile amongst the Galatians will surely be sobered by the terms of this warning. There is no escaping the dilemma. Legalism and Paulinism, the true and the false gospel, stand front to front, reduced to their barest form, and weighed each in the balance of its practical result. Christ-or Circumcision: which shall it be? This declaration is no less authoritative and judicially threatening than the anathema of chap. 1. That former denouncement declared the false teachers severed from Christ. Those who yield to their persuasion, will be also "severed from Christ." They will fall into the same ditch as their blind leaders. The Judaisers have forfeited their part in Christ; they are false brethren, tares among the wheat, troublers and hinderers to the Church of God. And Gentile Christians who choose to be led astray by them must take the consequences. If they obey the "other gospel," Christ’s gospel is theirs no longer. If they rest their faith on circumcision, they have withdrawn it from His cross. Adopting the Mosaic regimen, they forego the benefits of Christ’s redemption. "Christ will profit you nothing." The sentence is negative, but no less fearful on that account. It is as though Christ should say, "Thou hast no part with Me." Circumcision will cost the Galatian Christians all they possess in Jesus Christ. But is not this, some one will ask, an over-strained assertion? Is it consistent with Paul’s professions and his policy in other instances? In Galatians 5:6 , and again in the last chapter, he declares that "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision nothing"; and yet here he makes it everything! The Apostle’s position is this. In itself the rite is valueless. It was the sacrament of the Old Covenant, which was brought to an end by the death of Christ. For the new Church of the Spirit, it is a matter of perfect indifference whether a man is circumcised or not. Paul had therefore circumcised Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess, { Acts 16:1-3 } though neither he nor his young disciple supposed that it was a religious necessity. It was done as a social convenience; "un-circumcision was nothing," and could in such a case be surrendered without prejudice. On the other hand, he refused to submit Titus to the same rite; for he was a pure Greek, and on him it could only have been imposed on religious grounds and as a passport to salvation. For this, and for no other reason, it was demanded by the Judaistic party. In this instance it was needful to show that "circumcision is nothing." The Galatians stood in the same position as Titus. Circumcision, if performed on them, must have denoted, not as in Timothy’s case, the fact of Jewish birth, but subjection to the Mosaic law. Regarded in this light, the question was one of life or death for the Pauline Churches. To yield to the Judaisers would be to surrender the principle of salvation by faith. The attempt of the legalist party was in effect to force Christianity into the grooves of Mosaism, to reduce the world-wide Church of the Spirit to a sect of moribund Judaism. With what views, with what aim were the Galatians entertaining this Judaic "persuasion"? Was it to make them sons of God and heirs of His kingdom? This was the object with which "God sent forth His Son"; and the Spirit of sonship assured them that it was realised. { Galatians 4:4-7 } To adopt the former means to this end was to renounce the latter. In turning their eyes to this new bewitchment, they must be conscious that their attention was diverted from the Redeemer’s cross and their confidence in it weakened. { Galatians 3:1 } To be circumcised would be to rest their salvation formally and definitely on works of law, in place of the grace of God. The consequences of this Paul has shown in relating his discussion with Peter, in Galatians 2:15-21 . They would "make" themselves "transgressors"; they would "make Christ’s death of none effect." In the soul’s salvation Christ will be all, or nothing. If we trust Him, we must trust Him altogether. The Galatians had already admitted a suspicion of the power of His grace, which if cherished and acted on in the way proposed, must sever all communion between their souls and Him. Their circumcision would be "the sacrament of their excision from Christ" (Huxtable). The tense of the verb is present. Paul’s readers may be in the act of making this disastrous compliance. He bids them look for a moment at the depth of the gulf on whose brink they stand. "Stop!" he cries, "another step in that direction, and you have lost Christ." And what will they get in exchange? They will saddle themselves with all the obligations of the Mosaic law ( Galatians 5:3 ). This probably was more than they bargained for. They wished to find a via media, some compromise between the new faith and the old, which would secure to them the benefits of Christ without His reproach, and the privileges of Judaism without its burdens. This at l