cendo per dilectionem perfici'), and therefore this passage does not express the doctrine of 'fides caritate formata.'

These words δι' ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη bridge over the gulf which seems to separate the language of St Paul and St James. Both assert a principle of practical energy, as opposed to a barren, inactive theory.

Observe in these verses the connexion between the triad of Christian graces. The same sequence-faith, love, hope-underlies St Paul's language here, which appears on the surface in Thess. i. 3, Col. i. 4, 5. See the note on the former of these two passages.

7-11. 'Ye were running a gallant race. Who has checked you in your mid career? Whence this disloyalty to the truth? Be assured, this change of opinion comes not of God by whom ye are called. The deserters are only few in number? Yes, but the contagion will spread: for what says the proverb? A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Do not mistake me: I do not confound you with them: I confidently hope in Christ that you will be true to your principles. But the ringleader of this sedition-I care not who he is or what rank he holds -shall bear a heavy chastisement. What, brethren? A new charge is brought against me? I preach circumcision forsooth? If so, why do they still persecute me? It is some mistake surely! Nay, we shall work together henceforth! there is no difference between us now! I have ceased to preach the Cross of Christ! The stumblingblock in the way of the Gospel is removed!'

7. Ετρέχετε καλώς] Yo were run

ning bravely,' again a reference to St Paul's favourite metaphor of the stadium. See ii. 2, 1 Cor. ix, 24—27, Phil. iii. 14, 2 Tim. iv. 7.

ἐνέκοψεν] a metaphor derived from military operations. The word signifies 'to break up a road' (by destroying bridges etc.) so as to render it impassable, and is therefore the opposite of πρокÓTTEш, 'to clear a way,' to act as pioneer'; comp. Greg. Naz. Or. xiv. 31 (1. p. 279 ed. Ben.) Kakias ἐγκοπτομένης δυσπαθείᾳ τῶν πονηρῶν ἢ ἀρετῆς ὁδοποιουμένης ευπαθείᾳ τῶν βελτιόνων. Hence it originally took a dative of the person, e.g. Polyb. xxiv. I. 12, but the metaphor being subsequently lost sight of, the dative was replaced by an accusative, as always in the New Testament, e.g. Acts xxiv. 4, I Thess. ii. 18. Compare the passive, Rom. xv. 22, 1 Pet. iii. 7. Sec the note on plovouvres, ver. 26.

The testimony in favour of ἐνέκοψεν is overwhelming. Otherwise the received reading ἀνέκοψεν suits the metaphor of the stadium better; for ἀνακόπτειν ‘to beat back would apply to the paßdovxoɩ (Thuc. v. 50) who kept the course: comp. Lucian Nigr. § 35 (I. p. 77) ἐξέπιπτόν τε καὶ ἀνεκοπτόμην, Polye. § 5 ανακόπτεσθαι ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν. The word ἐγκόπτειν seems to have given offence to transcribers: in I Thess. ii. 18, as here, ȧvakóπTEL stands as a various reading; in Acts xxiv. 4, 1 Pet. iii. 7, éκKÓTTTELV.

8. TELμový] with a faint reference to the preceding weißeσdai; 'You have refused to obey the truth, you have rendered another obedience which is not of God.' Tecσμový (Ignat. Rom. 3, Justin Apol. I. c. 53, p. 17 E;_comp. λпσμový, Col. ii. 23), like the English 'persuasion,' may be either active or

passive; the act of persuading,' referring to the false teachers; or 'the state of one persuaded,' referring to the Galatians themselves. The latter is perhaps simpler.

TOû KaλOUνTOS] i.e. God, as always in St Paul; see Usteri Paul. Lehrbegr. p. 269, and comp. i. 6, 15. The present is preferred here to the aorist, because the stress is laid on the person rather than the act; see the note on 1 Thess. v. 24, and comp. Winer § xlv. p. 444.

9. This proverb is quoted also in I Cor. v. 6. Comp. Hosea vii. 4.

Does it apply here (1) To the doctrine? If you begin by observing the law in a few points, you will end by selling yourselves wholly to it' (comp. v. 3); or (2) To the persons? 'Though the Judaizers may be but few now, the infection will spread to the whole body.' The latter is far more probable for the prominent idea in the context is that of a small and compact body disturbing the peace of the Church; and the metaphor is thus applied also in 1 Cor. v. 7, where again it refers to the contagious example of a few evil-doers.

:

The leaven of Scripture is always a symbol of evil, with the single exception of the parable (Matt. xiii. 33, Luke xiii. 20, 21), as it is for the most part also in rabbinical writers: see Lightfoot on Matt. xvi. 6 and Schöttgen on I Cor. v. 6. Heathen nations also regarded leaven as unholy. Plutarch, Quaest. Rom. 109 (p. 289 E), in answer to the question why the Fiamen Dialis was not allowed to touch leaven, explains it, ἡ ζύμη καὶ γέγονεν ἐκ φθορᾶς αὐτὴ καὶ φθείρει το φύραμα μyvμévη. See Trench On the Parables, p. 111.

For the expression ζυμοῦν τὸ φύραua see Exod. xii. 34.

10. éy] emphatic, 'I, who know you so well, who remember your former zeal': iv. 14, 15.

πέποιθα] still dwelling on the same word, πείθεσθαι πεισμονή; see Winer § lxviii. p. 793 sq.

els vμâs] 'in regard to you'; see Winer S xlix. p. 496: comp. 2 Cor. viii. 22 πεποιθήσει πολλῇ τῇ εἰς ὑμᾶς, 2 Cor. ii. 3 πεποιθὼς ἐπὶ πάντας ὑμᾶς ὅτι κ.τ.λ., 2 Thess. iii. 4 πεποίθαμεν ἐν Κυρίῳ ἐφ ̓ ὑμᾶς ὅτι κ.τ.λ. As in the passage last cited, év Kupio here denotes not the object of the writer's confidence, but the sphere in which it is exercised.

οὐδὲν ἄλλο φρονήσετε] none otherwise minded,' either (1) 'than I bid you,' for though no direct command immediately precedes these words, there is one implied; or, as seems more probable, (2) 'than ye were before this disorder broke out'; see ἐτρέχετε καλῶς, ver. 7.

Tapáσowv] 'raises seditions, excites tumults among you,' the metaphor being continued in ἀναστατοῦντες ver. 12. See the note on i. 7.

Baoráσei] 'shall bear as a burden; it shall press grievously on him': see vi. 2, 5.

κpiua] On the accent of this word, which is κpiua in classical writers, see Lobeck Paral. p. 418, Fritzsche Rom. 1. p. 96, Lipsius Gram. Unters. p. 40. Compare the note on στύλοι, ii. 9.

OσTIs éav i.e. 'whatever may be his position in the Church, however he may vaunt his personal intercourse with the Lord.' See 2 Cor. x. 7.

II. At this point the malicious charge of his enemies rises up before the Apostle; 'Why you do the same thing yourself; you caused Timothy to be circumcised.' To this he replies: 'What do I, who have incurred the deadly hatred of the Judaizers, who

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am exposed to continual persecution from them, do I preach circumcision?'

ἔτι κηρύσσω] For an explanation of this er, see the note i. 1o. Perhaps however it should be explained rather by the form which the slander of his enemies would take; 'You still preach circumcision, though you have become a Christian: why should not we continue to do the same?'

τί ἔτι] The second ἔτι is probably argumentative, 'this being the case,' as in Rom. iii. 7, ix. 19.

apa] 'so it appears!' apa introduces a false statement or inference also in I Cor. v. 10, XV. 14, 15, 18, 2 Cor. i. 17. It is here ironical; 'So I have adopted their mode of justification; I am silent about the Cross of Christ! no one takes offence at my preaching now; all goes on pleasantly enough!' The σTaupòs here stands for the atoning death of Christ. The crucifixion of the Messiah was in itself a stumblingblock to the Jews, but preached as the means of atonement, it became doubly so: comp. 1 Cor. i. 23.

σkávdaλov] almost confined, it would appear, to biblical and ecclesiastical Greek. σκανδάληθρον however is a classical word, e.g. Arist. Ach. 687.

12. After this abrupt digression St Paul returns again to the false brethren: 'Why do they stop at circumcision?' he asks indignantly, 'why do they not mutilate themselves, like your priests of Cybele?' The severity of the irony may be compared with 2 Cor. xi. 19, 'Ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.'

Circumcision under the law and to the Jews was the token of a covenant. To the Galatians under the Gospel dispensation it had no such significance. It was merely a bodily mutilation, as such differing rather in degree than in kind from the terrible practices

of the heathen priests. Compare Phil. iii. 2, 3 βλέπετε τὴν κατατομήν· ἡμεῖς γάρ ἐσμεν ἡ περιτομή, where the same idea appears, clothed in similar language.

opeλov] Comp. 1 Cor. iv. 8, 2 Cor. xi. I, in both of which passages the irony is plain. In this construction with the indicative, which appears only in later writers, the original meaning of õpeλov is lost sight of, and it is treated as a mere particle; see Winer § xli. p. 377, A. Buttmann § 139, 10, p. 185.

άлоxóvоvτα] will not admit the rendering of the A. V., 'I would they were even cut off.' On the other hand the meaning given above is assigned to ἀποκόψονται by all the Greek commentators, I believe, without exception (the Latin fathers, who read 'abscindantur' in their text, had more latitude), and seems alone tenable. See for instance ἀποκεκομμένος, Deut. xxiii. 1, and indeed åñoкóñтeσbai was the common term for this mutilation. If it seems strange that St Paul should have alluded to such a practice at all, it must be remembered that as this was a recognised form of heathen selfdevotion, it could not possibly be shunned in conversation, and must at times have been mentioned by a Christian preacher. For the juxtaposition οι περιτέμνειν and ἀποκόπτειν 800 Dion Cassius lxxix. 11 (quoted by Bentley Crit. Sacr. p. 48), and compare Diod. Sic. iii. 31. The remonstrance is doubly significant as addressed to Galatians, for Pessinus one of their chief towns was the home of the worship of Cybele in honour of whom these mutilations were practised: comp. Justin Apol. i. p. 70 Ε ἀποκόπτονταί τινες καὶ εἰς μητέρα θεῶν τὰ μυστήρια ἀναφέρουσι. See also [Bardesanes] de Fato § 20, in Cureton's Spic. Syr. p. 32. Thus by 'glorying in the flesh' the Galatians were returning in a very marked way

to the bondage of their former heathenism. See iv. 9, v. I.

ἀναστατοῦντες] stronger than ταράστ σOVTES; 'They not only incite you to sedition, but they overthrow the whole framework of your heavenly polity.' For ἀναστατοῦν, a word unknown to classical writers, who would use ȧvaσTάTOUS TOLETY instead, see Acts xvii. 6, xxi. 38. 'Well does he say dvaσTATOÛVTES,' remarks Chrysostom, 'for abandoning their country and their freedom and their kindred in heaven, they compelled them to seek a foreign and a strange land; banishing them from the heavenly Jerusalem and the free, and forcing them to wander about as captives and aliens.'

13. This is the justification of the indignant scorn poured on their offence: "They are defeating the very purpose of your calling: ye were called not for bondage, but for liberty.'

ἐπ' ἐλευθερία] For καλεῖν ἐπὶ see I Thess. iv. 7: comp. Ephes. ii. 10, and Winer § xlviii. p. 492.

μόνον μή] Here he suddenly checks himself, to avoid misunderstanding; 'Liberty and not licence.' It may be that here, as in the Corinthian Church, a party opposed to the Judaizers had shown a tendency to Antinomian excess. At all events, such an outburst was ever to be dreaded in a body of converted heathens, whether as a protest against or a rebound from the strict formalism which the Judaic party sought to impose on the Church; and in this case the passionate temperament of a Celtic people would increase the Apostle's uneasiness. Comp. Rom. vi. I sq, Phil. iii. 13 sq (notes).

μόνον μή κ.τ.λ.] ' only turn not your liberty. Some Mss supply dŵre, which

ἐν τῷ ἀγαπήσεις τὸν

is perhaps a retranslation from 'detis' of the Latin versions. For similar instances of ellipsis see the notes ii. 9, 10. The omission of the verb after the prohibitive un is common in animated passages in classical writers: e.g. Arist. Ach. 345 ἀλλὰ μή μοι πρόφασιν. See the instances in Jelf's Gramm. § 897. Comp. Matt. xxvi. 5 μǹ év Tôj éoptŷj.

ἀφορμήν] The word is peculiar to St Paul among the New Testament writers, occurring Rom. vii. 8, 11, 2 Cor. v. 12, xi. 12 (twice), 1 Tim. v. 14.

διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης δουλεύετε] Both ἀγάπης and δουλεύετε are emphatic. St Paul's meaning may be expressed by a paraphrase thus; ‘Your desire to be in bondage: I too recommend to you a bondage, the subservience of mutual love. Temper your liberty with this bondage, and it will not degenerate into licence.' A similar contrast between true and false servitude appears in i Pet. ii. 16 ὡς ἐλεύθεροι καὶ μὴ ὡς ἐπικάλυμμα ἔχοντες τῆς κακίας τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, ἀλλ ̓ ὡς Θεοῦ δοῦλοι,

14. 'Ye profess yourselves anxious to fulfil the law; I show you a simple and comprehensive way of fulfilling it.' See vi. 2. The idea of completeness is brought out by an accumulation of separate expressions, 'the entire law,' 'a single precept,' 'is fulfilled already.'

ó râs vóμos] 'the entire law.' The idea of totality is expressed more strongly by the exceptional position of the article instead of the more usual order râs ó vóμos; comp. 1 Tim. i. 16 тην äπаσаv μaкpoðvμíav, Plat. Gorg. p. 470 Ε ἐν τούτῳ ἡ πᾶσα εὐδαιμονία ἐστίν, Ignat. Magn. I τὴν πᾶσαν ἐπήρειαν.

πεπλήρωται] is summarily ful filled. For the force of the perfect see Winer § xl. p. 341, A. Buttmann p. 172. Tertullian (adv. Marc. p. 4)

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hints that Marcion perverted the meaning of the tense to suit his purpose, 'si sic vult intelligi adimpleta est, quasi jam non adimplenda.' The present Tλnрpovrai in the received text enfeebles the sense. The meaning of Anρoûv here is not to 'sum up, comprehend,' but 'to perform, complete,' as appears from the parallel passage, Rom. xiii. 8 ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἕτερον, νόμον πεπλήρωκεν ; 30 that ἐν ἑνὶ λόγῳ, “in one maxim or precept,' means 'in the observance of one maxim or precept.'

év T] probably neuter, in apposition to the sentence; comp. Rom. xiii. 9, 10. See above on iv. 25.

τὸν πλησίον] In the original text (Lev. xix. 18) the word 'neighbour' is apparently restricted to the Jewish people: 'Thou shalt not bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. From the question of the lawyer (Luke x. 29) it may be inferred that the meaning of this term was a common theme for discussion. Our Lord extends and spiritualises its meaning; and in this comprehensive sense, as applying to the universal brotherhood of men, St Paul here uses it. See Tholuck Bergpredigt, v. 43.

σεαυτόν] The received text has ἑαυ Tóv, which some would retain against the authority of the best мss on the ground that it was altered by scribes ignorant of this usage of avrov for the first and second persons. The case however with respect to the New Testament seems to stand thus; that whereas (1) in the plural we always find ἑαυτῶν etc., never ἡμῶν αὐτῶν, vμŵv avτŵv etc., as mere reflexives, yet (2) in the singular there is not one decisive instance of éavroû in the first

GAL.

or second person; the authority of the best мss being mostly against it. See A. Buttmann p. 99; and for the testimony of the Mss in this text (Lev. xix. 18) as quoted in the N. T., Tischendorf on Rom. xiii. 9.

15. βλέπετε κ.τ.λ.] A sort of parenthetic warning; 'The contest will not end in a victory to either party, such as you crave. It will lead to the common extinction of both.' St Paul returns to his main subject again in ver. 16. See the introduction, p. 33, noto 3.

16-18. This is my command. Walk by the rule of the Spirit. If you do so, you will not, you cannot, gratify the lusts of the flesh. Between the Spirit and the flesh there is not only no alliance; there is an interminable, deadly feud. (You feel these antagonistic forces working in you: you would fain follow the guidance of your conscience, and you are dragged back by an opposing power.) And if you adopt the rule of the Spirit, you thereby renounce your allegiance to the law.'

In this passage the Spirit is doubly contrasted, first, with the flesh, and secondly, with the law. The flesh and the law are closely allied: they both move in the same element, in the sphere of outward and material things. The law is not only no safeguard against the flesh, but rather provokes it; and he who would renounce the flesh, must renounce the law also. We have here germs of the ideas more fully developed in the Epistle to the Romans.

16. TVEÚμar] the dative of the rule or direction: see the notes v. 25, vi. 16. οὐ μὴ τελέσητε] 'ye shall in no wise fulfil. A strong form of the future especially frequent in later Greek; see Lobeck Phryn. p. 724.

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