Chapter 3:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Luther
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 Corinthians Ephesians
Galatians 3
Verse 1. O thoughtless Galatians - He breaks in upon them with a
beautiful abruptness. Who hath bewitched you - Thus to
contradict both your own reason and experience. Before whose
eyes Jesus Christ hath been as evidently set forth - By our
preaching, as if he had been crucified among you.
Verse 2. This only would I learn of you - That is, this one argument
might convince you. Did ye receive the witness and the fruit of
the Spirit by performing the works of the law, or by hearing of
and receiving faith?
Verse 3. Are ye so thoughtless - As not to consider what you have
yourselves experienced? Having begun in the Spirit - Having set
out under the light and power of the Spirit by faith, do ye now,
when ye ought to be more spiritual, and more acquainted with the
power of faith, expect to be made perfect by the flesh? Do you
think to complete either your justification or sanctification, by
giving up that faith, and depending on the law, which is a gross
and carnal thing when opposed to the gospel?
Verse 4. Have ye suffered - Both from the zealous Jews and from the
heathens. So many things - For adhering to the gospel. In vain -
So as to lose all the blessings which ye might have obtained, by
enduring to the end. If it be yet in vain - As if he had said, I hope
better things, even that ye will endure to the end.
Verse 5. And, at the present time, Doth he that ministereth the gift of the
Spirit to you, and worketh miracles among you, do it by the works
of the law - That is, in confirmation of his preaching justification
by works, or of his preaching justification by faith?
Verse 6. Doubtless in confirmation of that grand doctrine, that we are
justified by faith, even as Abraham was. The Apostle, both in this
and in the epistle to the Romans, makes great use of the instance
of Abraham: the rather, because from Abraham the Jews drew
their great argument, as they do this day, both for their own
continuance in Judaism, and for denying the gentiles to be the
church of God. Gen. xv, 6
Verse 7. Know then that they who are partakers of his faith, these, and
these only, are the sons of Abraham, and therefore heirs of the
promises made to him.
Verse 8. And the scripture - That is, the Holy Spirit, who gave the
scripture. Foreseeing that God would justify the gentiles also by
faith, declared before - So great is the excellency and fulness of
the scripture, that all the things which can ever be controverted
are therein both foreseen and determined. In or through thee - As
the father of the Messiah, shall all the nations be blessed. Gen. xii,
3
Verse 9. So then all they, and they only, who are of faith - Who truly
believe. Are blessed with faithful Abraham - Receive the blessing
as he did, namely, by faith.
Verse 10. They only receive it. For as many as are of the works of the
law - As God deals with on that footing, only on the terms the law
proposes, are under a curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one
who continueth not in all the things which are written in the law.
Who continueth not in all the things - So it requires what no man
can perform, namely, perfect, uninterrupted, and perpetual
obedience. Deut. xxvii, 26
Verse 11. But that none is justified by his obedience to the law in the
sight of God - Whatever may be done in the sight of man, is
farther evident from the words of Habakkuk, The just shall live by
faith - That is, the man who is accounted just or righteous before
God, shall continue in a state of acceptance, life, and salvation, by
faith. This is the way God hath chosen. Hab. ii, 4.
Verse 12. And the law is not of faith - But quite opposite to it: it does
not say, Believe; but, Do. Lev. xviii, 5
Verse 13. Christ - Christ alone. The abruptness of the sentence shows an
holy indignation at those who reject so great a blessing. Hath
redeemed us - Whether Jews or gentiles, at an high price. From
the curse of the law - The curse of God, which the law denounces
against all transgressors of it. Being made a curse for us - Taking
the curse upon himself, that we might be delivered from it,
willingly submitting to that death which the law pronounces
peculiarly accursed. Deut. xxi, 23.
Verse 14. That the blessing of Abraham - The blessing promised to him.
Might come on the gentiles - Also. That we - Who believe,
whether Jews or gentiles. Might receive the promise of the Spirit -
Which includes all the other promises. Through faith - Not by
works; for faith looks wholly to the promise.
Verse 15. I speak after the manner of men - I illustrate this by a familiar
instance, taken from the practice of men. Though it be but a man's
covenant, yet, if it be once legally confirmed, none - No, not the
covenanter himself, unless something unforeseen occur, which
cannot be the case with God. Disannulleth, or addeth thereto -
Any new conditions.
Verse 16. Now the promises were made to Abraham and his seed -
Several promises were made to Abraham; but the chief of all, and
which was several times repeated, was that of the blessing through
Christ. He - That is, God. Saith not, And to seeds, as of many - As
if the promise were made to several kinds of seed. But as of one -
That is, one kind of seed, one posterity, one kind of sons. And to
all these the blessing belonged by promise. Which is Christ -
including all that believe in him. Gen. xxii, 18.
Verse 17. And this I say - What I mean is this. The covenant which was
before confirmed of God - By the promise itself, by the repetition
of it, and by a solemn oath, concerning the blessing all nations.
Through Christ, the law which was four hundred and thirty years
after - Counting from the time when the promise was first made to
Abraham, Gen. xii, 2, 3. Doth not disannul, so as to make the
promise of no effect - With regard to all nations, if only the
Jewish were to receive it; yea, with regard to them also, if it was
by works, so as to supersede it, and introduce another way of
obtaining the blessing.
Verse 18. And again - This is a new argument. The former was drawn
from the time, this from the nature, of the transaction. If the
eternal inheritance be obtained by keeping the law, it is no more
by virtue of the free promise - These being just opposite to each
other. But it is by promise. Therefore it is not by the law.
Verse 19. It - The ceremonial law. Was added - To the promise. Because
of transgressions - Probably, the yoke of the ceremonial law was
inflicted as a punishment for the national sin of idolatry, Exod.
xxxii, 1, at least the more grievous parts of it; and the whole of it
was a prophetic type of Christ. The moral law was added to the
promise to discover and restrain transgressions, to convince men
of their guilt, and need of the promise, and give some check to
sin. And this law passeth not away; but the ceremonial law was
only introduced till Christ, the seed to or through whom the
promise was made, should come. And it was ordained by angels
in the hand of a mediator - It was not given to Israel, like the
promise to Abraham, immediately from God himself; but was
conveyed by the ministry of angels to Moses, and delivered into
his hand as a mediator between God and them, to remind them of
the great Mediator.
Verse 20. Now the mediator is not a mediator of one - There must be
two parties, or there can be no mediator between them; but God
who made the free promise to Abraham is only one of the parties.
The other, Abraham, was not present at the time of Moses.
Therefore in the promise Moses had nothing to do. The law,
wherein he was concerned, was a transaction of quite another
nature.
Verse 21. Will it follow from hence that the law is against, opposite to,
the promises of God? By no means. They are well consistent. But
yet the law cannot give life, as the promise doth. If there had been
a law which could have given life - Which could have entitled a
sinner to life, God would have spared his own Son, and
righteousness, or justification. with all the blessings consequent
upon it, would have been by that law.
Verse 22. But, on the contrary, the scripture wherein that law is written
hath concluded all under sin - Hath shut them up together, (so the
word properly signifies,) as in a prison, under sentence of death,
to the end that all being cut off from expecting justification by the
law, the promise might be freely given to them that believe.
Verse 23. But before faith - That is, the gospel dispensation. Came, we
were kept - As in close custody. Under the law - The Mosaic
dispensation. Shut up unto the faith which was to be revealed -
Reserved and prepared for the gospel dispensation.
Verse 24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ - It was
designed to train us up for Christ. And this it did both by its
commands, which showed the need we had of his atonement; and
its ceremonies, which all pointed us to him.
Verse 25. But faith - That is, the gospel dispensation. Being come, we
are no longer under that schoolmaster - The Mosaic dispensation.
Verse 26. For ye - Christians. Are all adult sons of God - And so need a
schoolmaster no longer.
Verse 27. For as many of you as have testified your faith by being
baptized in the name of Christ, have put on Christ - Have received
him as your righteousness, and are therefore sons of God through
him.
Verse 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek - That is, there is no difference
between them; they are equally accepted through faith. There is
neither male nor female - Circumcision being laid aside, which
was peculiar to males, and was designed to put a difference,
during that dispensation, between Jews and gentiles.
Verse 29. If ye are Christ's - That is, believers in him.
Chapter 3:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Luther
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 Corinthians Ephesians
This version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1997, by Sulu D. Kelley. All rights reserved. Used by permission. It may not be modified or used commercially without permission of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing and Sulu Kelley. A special thanks to Mr. Kelley and Wesleyan Heritage Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible.
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
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Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalm
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Song of Solomon
Isaiah
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Lamentations
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Daniel
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Amos
Obadiah
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Nahum
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Malachi
Matthew
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John
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Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
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1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
