chapter 6
chapter 6
MODESTY
5:26–6:5
26 Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.
1 Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
3 For if a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
4 But let each man prove his own work, and then shall he have his glorying in regard of himself alone, and not of his neighbor.
5 For each man shall bear his own burden.
This segment enters deeply into the practice of walking by the Spirit. The emphasis is especially upon living with each other spiritually, not in haughtiness but in modesty and in the consciousness of one’s own imperfection.
26 This last verse of Chapter 5 puts the social life of the believers among each other under the point of view of modesty. A person is vainglorious when he swaggers in vain things, when he brags. Such an attitude is provoking, challenging, precisely because the one is so eager to amount to more than the other. The other side of the same thing is envy, jealousy. The person who wants to be first cannot stand the success of another. Self-glorification goes hand in hand with jealousy and provokes it. The context does not suggest that taking pride in the works of the law is peculiarly the issue in question. But it is most particularly spiritual pride that the apostle has in mind (see the sequel).
1 As opposed to self-exaltation, the apostle, resuming an ingratiating manner, asks for gentleness and sympathy even towards those who have been caught in an act of sin. This idea, at least, seems best to give the thought of Paul’s to be overtaken in any trespass. In other words, a very serious offense is assumed. A person (a member of the church, that is) is caught hard upon the act of sin. His guilt is manifest, and he stands ashamed. It is such an instance that must bring to light what walking by the Spirit is. Such is the force of ye, who are spiritual. This is not being said in levity, irony, or flattery; it is said to point to the criterion of being spiritual. In such an instance one may not exalt himself, but must help the sinner to leave his evil way, and to bring him back into the status of believers. Presumably the spirit of gentleness does not refer to the Holy Spirit Himself, but a human spirit directed by Him (cf. 5:22). The corrective effort must be made in gentleness and friendliness. This is necessary not only with a view to the sinner who is involved, but is in agreement also with the vigilance which everyone must maintain over himself. Looking to thyself implies being sharply attentive, very vigilant, and continuously so. Being spiritual does not automatically protect one against sin. Lest thou also: what happened to the other person can happen to you also. There is an active power which induces to sin, namely, temptation. That man is not himself capable of protecting himself against it (Mt. 6:14) is not, of course, being denied. But this fact does not make his own watchfulness superfluous, but rather the more imperative (1 Cor. 10:12, 13).
2 The burdens apparently in the first place refers to whatever oppresses man spiritually, threatens to induce him to sin, or to keep him in sin. This is pictured as a burden because one goes bowed under its weight and fears that he will succumb to its pressure. In the bearing of such a burden the Galatians must help and support each other. This is to be an exercise of spiritual fellowship, designed to help them stand by each other in the struggle against sin, and in the event of defeat to raise one another up again. In doing this they will be fulfilling the law of Christ. Not that in such a statement Christ is being set up over against Moses as a new lawgiver. The claim of the law which was once given continues in effect (cf. 5:14), but this accrues to the believers from Christ. He stands between the law and believers. He guarantees its fulfillment in believers by the Holy Spirit. The new element is not the content of the law, although Christ’s coming and His work modified it, but in the root of obedience, namely, Christ. And above all the bearing of another’s burden harmonizes in every respect with what Christ by word and deed taught His own. In this real love becomes manifest, the fulfillment of the whole law (cf.5:14).
3 The apostle continues the same theme: self-inflation is also self-deceit. The words when he is nothing have an even more absolute force about them in the Greek. The force of them includes not merely the various faculties of man, but is more general. Seen by himself, no one amounts to anything, measured by the true, divine norm. And in the positive sense, all that anyone is he is by the grace of God. That is something which an arrogant self-inflation cannot see. Else self-esteem would not exist. Consequently, too, it exalts itself on the basis of nothing, and so its folly becomes manifest. Who then would not care to be on guard against it?
4 Again the apostle throws man back on his own self. It does not make sense to esteem one’s self more highly than others. What matters is what a person is and does himself. Let him weigh his own work, that is, prove it, and make his judgment on the basis of that. And the measure he must apply in making the proof is the true norm given by God Himself. To use the faults of others as a norm is to make it too easy for oneself! The possibility of glorying must arise from one’s own work. It might seem that this emphasis on glorying is a contradiction of what the apostle has just said in the preceding verses. We must remember, however, the most fundamental self-criticism has been enjoined upon the Galatians just before. If anything remains then for glorying, it must be a glorying in the Lord (cf. 2 Cor. 10:12–18).
5 This short statement has become proverbial, and may also give expression to an old proverb. It confirms and explains that at bottom everyone should be concerned only with his own work and not with that of others. This does not contradict verse 2. The argument now concerns a wholly different aspect of the truth and of the law of God. Verse 2 speaks of the duty to help one another bear burdens. Verse 5 says that the guilt of another person does not excuse me. Every man is responsible for his own conduct to God. Hence, one should conduct himself as verse 4 recommends. Burden does not refer so much this time to the oppressive weight (as in verse 2), as to the normal duty which falls upon every man. The words shall bear connote the certainty of this statement, as well as the coming judgment, where it will be made manifest.
SOWING IN THE SPIRIT
6:6–10
6 But let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.
9 And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of faith.
6 It is difficult to find the right connection between verse 6 and what precedes and what follows. In the translation given above, which we think the most accurate, the pupil is encouraged to let his teacher share in all good things. Presumably the apostle is thinking especially of material things. As we see it one can only lay down a forced direct connection between this and what went before. On the other hand, it is also difficult to suppose that the following verses, which warn of the coming judgment, are intended merely to enhance the pupil’s willingness to give his teacher material support. Such would seem to be a too limited application of the following verses, especially since the opposition between Spirit and flesh comes to the fore again in verse 8, and probably has some bearing on this verse also. As it seems to us, therefore, verse 6 is a kind of independent admonition—the sort that is not at all surprising at the close of a letter. What follows thereupon gives the conclusion of all that has gone before. This conclusion is not quite lost sight of in verse 6, but is in the main something other than an introduction to it.
One can ask, finally, why Paul so emphatically raises this matter of verse 6. The concrete occasion for this admonition is not known to us, if indeed there was one. We can consider whether the foregoing material of the letter, in which the apostle pointed to the exercise of Christian fellowship as inescapable duty, is not occasion enough for touching on the neglect of duty towards the minister or teacher. Such would explain the transition. But we cannot speak with certainty of this. There is mention made in this verse of pupils and teachers. The former must share their goods with the latter. This circumstance points to the fixed status of the ministers in the church. The circumstance is the more remarkable because the letter to the Galatians has an early date (cf. also 1 Thess. 5:12). We do not know precisely, of course, whether this is a reference to the office of minister in the sense of an ordained service (cf. Acts 14:23), or to a voluntary function on the part of those who had received special gifts. In any event, the situation approximates the office. The term translated the word is to be specifically understood as meaning the more detailed instruction which the churches needed after the first preaching of the gospel. See for the interpretation of all good things given above, also Rom. 15:27 and 1 Cor. 9:4–14.
7 The apostle now approaches the conclusion of his previously given admonitions, in which he presents with firm emphasis the gravity of the Galatians’ life-choice and life-attitude. This he does in verses 7 to 9. In verse 10 he summarizes. Be not deceived puts his readers on the alert: they had better know what is at stake. God requires an account and He is not mocked: He does not permit man to make light of or to toy with the preaching of grace that comes to him and with the obligations that accompany it. The figure of sowing and reaping, too, which follows now we shall have to interpret, presumably, as in general the way in which man must live, rather than as a reference specifically to responsibility over against the minister of the word. The opposition between flesh and Spirit reminds too sharply of the whole preceding argument of the letter to permit of so limited an application. Whatsoever a man soweth: that is putting the thing as generally as possible; it holds for everybody, and for everything he does. The whole of earthly life is regarded as the sowing time. The harvesting—God’s verdict in the judgment—will correspond to the sowing. There is natural, intimate relationship between them. This relationship is not disturbed by grace. Precisely the way in which man hears the gospel and the way in which in his practical life he deals with it is determinative of his eternal fortune.
8 The general principle of verse 7 is in this verse developed in two directions. The figure is deflected a little. The point now is not the seed that is sown but the field in which it is sown. What man is to harvest depends upon the nature of the soil in which he sows. The flesh is designated (see the Exposition of 5:16 ff.) as the field from which corruption is harvested. That which is natural and native to man (his own flesh) is different from the Spirit. And he who lives for the flesh, shall reap of it. It has its own kind of fruit, namely, corruption. Corruption is not the cessation of human existence, but is the positive existence of grief and woe, temporal and eternal. That nothing less is meant is apparent also from the second clause. Whoever sows in the Spirit, devotes his life to Him and lets himself be governed by Him; he shall reap eternal life from the Spirit. For the Spirit is the grand life-giver and preserver operating through an inner law of life laid down by God. Eternal life speaks of the whole of life, both of body and soul, the glorified life of the resurrection on the new earth.
9 The occasion for the summons in verse 9 not to become weary in doing good may be the continued delay of “the great harvest.” This delay may be the cause for a lapse in the consciousness of the importance of well-doing—a cause also for the laxity and fatigue hinted here. Well-doing is an epitome of all that is involved in walking by the Spirit, as it has been detailed in the preceding passages. Not only must the Galatians persevere in seeking to do well: they must also do it. The second clause provides the motivation: the harvest coming, however distant and tardy it may seem. However, the readers should bear in mind that this harvest will come only in due season: at the suitable time, that is, when from God’s point of view the time is ripe for it. Human judgment is deceptive about such a thing. We may sometimes think that the delay is too long. But the right time does not come until the moment stipulated by God has arrived. And that will be harvest-time, that is, if we do not faint, or grow lax, in the struggle against the flesh and for the walk by the Spirit. Paul, even as Jesus (Mt. 5:12, 6:1 ff.), speaks very openly about reward and punishment, even though at this point he does not do it ipsissimis verbis. Of merit there is no talk at all: the statement is set in the context of the whole argument of the letter. The life of well-doing is a receiving from grace of that which God wills to give. But this acceptance stands in inseparable relationship with human responsibility.
10 The conclusion of verse 10 is that as long as the time appointed for it is still at hand, the Galatians must take advantage of the opportunity zealously to work that which is good. This duty should be carried out towards everyone. But there is a kind of gradation in the call to do this also. The companions of the faith, those who share the gospel, are the first to get attention. They are the nearest neighbors. But exclusivism must be avoided as conflicting with the command of God. The household of faith: the believers, in other words, constitute one large household, one family.
FINAL ADMONITION. BENEDICTION
6:11–18
11 See with how large letters I write unto you with mine own hand.
12 As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they compel you to be circumcised; only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
13 For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the law; but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
14 But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
15 For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
16 And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
17 Henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus.
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.
11 The apostle has arrived at the concluding portion of his letter. The first thing he does is to call attention to the large letters with which he is writing. Presumably we are to limit these to this conclusion rather than to think of them in connection with the whole letter. Paul made use of the services of a scribe. The signature would be in his own hand (cf. 1 Cor. 16:21 ff., Col. 4:18, and 2 Thess. 3:17). The reference to the large letters is nothing more than a sign-post announcing that at this point the conclusion of the letter, done in his own hand, begins. This is not only to earmark the whole letter as genuine, but it is also to press these summarizing and conclusive words in upon the consciences of his readers as intensely as possible.
Various opinions have been expressed about the large characters of Paul’s penmanship. Some regard them as evidence of his inexperience in writing. Others think they can establish the fact that in those days large letters amounted to the same thing as underscoring or italicizing. The idea, on that basis is, that Paul deliberately made the letters stand out boldly. It is possible also, however, that Paul’s writing was distinguished by a certain robustness and vigor, or that he is deliberately writing large characters at this point to distinguish his own hand from that of his scribe. We shall have to be careful in drawing final conclusions in this matter.
12 The verse leads to a final sharp attack upon the Judaizers. The apostle disparages not only their action, but also their motives. They want to cut a good figure, want to be popular with people. And they want this in the flesh, that is, externally. The idea is that those who compel circumcision are making a bid for the favor of the people, particularly of the Jews of the dispersion. Their whole purpose in doing so, however, is to escape persecution. Paul brings the cross of Christ into this context in a particular way. This cross is the cause of the persecution which the Judaizers fear. For the preaching of the cross speaks of the sufficiency of Christ’s work, and of the superfluousness of circumcision. To be persecuted is a general term comprehending the enmity, opposition, and threats to life brought to bear by influential Jews against the radical preaching of Christ (cf. Acts 13:45, 50; 14:2, 5, and 19, and other passages). Those who modified the preaching of Jesus by some attention to the Jewish institutions, and propagated such a modified preaching, were apparently not persecuted by such Jews. For thus the exclusive significance of Judaism remained primary.
13 Those who receive circumcision refers, as is evident from the second clause, to the heretical teachers themselves. That these had to be referred to in so disparaging a sense as in verse 12 becomes clear (for) from this, too, that they themselves do not take the law, about which they raise such a fanfare, very seriously. Presumably Paul is not alluding so much to the general inability of man to keep the law as to the hypocrisy and practical expediencies to which precisely these foremost proponents of the law sometimes took recourse (cf. Mt. 23 and Lk. 11:46). The real motive of these Judaistic zealots is selfish pride. They want to boast of the fact that they have brought Gentiles by descent to the point of circumcision. They want this simply to flatter their own chauvinistic legalism. They want to glory in the Galatian Gentiles before others. That these circumcised Gentiles would also want to be Christians does not matter. By their circumcision they would have knuckled under to Judaism. That they might glory in your flesh: their egoistic effort is accomplished at the cost of others. Paul states this as concretely as possible, so as to give the Galatians the true and fundamentally intolerable earmark of the heretical teachers.
14 Very emphatically the apostle sets his own effort in contrast to theirs. So he demonstrates not only that he absolutely despises the motives and purposes of his opponents, but also that he glories in something too. But this thing in which he glories constitutes a threat to those who seek themselves. The cross of Christ is his glory. It is a paradoxical thing to glory in, for it is almost an image of weakness and misery (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18 ff.). Paul, however, presents this glory of the cross by naming it with the fulness and richness of Christ’s names, as he and his readers may know and confess them. Hence, too, the fitness of the next clause: through which the world hath been crucified unto me. The world as used here is an epitome of everything outside of Christ in which man seeks his glory and puts his trust. The contrast is in the first place presumably directed against the Judaizers. Their glorying, Paul says in effect, is worldly, godless, vain, however religious it may seem to be. But beyond that the world points to everything in the world in its length and breadth and variation, on which man in his vanity trusts, and in which he glories. Because of the cross this whole world has been crucified for Paul. He has written it off as a basis for glorying and trust. Christ teaches him to turn his back upon all other things, however, desirable and mighty they may be. The word to crucify points to the absoluteness of the contrast. The glory of the world is absolutely, radically objectionable; it is dead, obliterated (cf. Phil. 3:7, 8). This fact has a subjective as well as an objective aspect: and I unto the world. In him, too, that crucifying takes the place of everything that went out to the world as a basis for vindication and trust. Because he has learned to put all his hope and confidence in Christ, the world has nothing with which to charm him and bind him to itself. In these words the deepest chords of the Pauline kerygma are sounded. Paul speaks here of the cross as the one and sufficient ground on which to build; he also speaks of his own life as of something entirely governed by the cross. Thus, the element of judgment is present also in hath been crucified. Both the world and the human confidence in it have become manifest not only in their inadequacy but also in their damnableness. The person who lives for the world will together with it be destroyed. By the cross the believer is saved from this destruction. This crucifying of the world and of the self in mutual interdependence means life and redemption for him who has learned to direct his life solely upon the cross of Christ.
15 This whole matter is now motivated in greater detail, again by reference to the question of circumcision. The Judaizers gloried in that. And to this concrete point Paul returns, after his consideration of the general concept of the world. This verse reminds us very much of 5:6 (see Exposition of it), and also of 1 Cor. 7:19. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any value as a basis for vindication and salvation: what matters is being a new creature. The words point to the new life in the Holy Spirit. Such a life consists of a faithful appropriation of the new relationship to God. But the expression speaks also of the subjective renewal of life, a renewal which has the earmarks of re-creation, of regeneration. It forms the secret source and principle of a new life-form. New includes everything that has been given in and through Christ—the new reality of the kingdom of God. Through Christ this new thing is not merely future-eschatological (Rev. 21:1–5, 3:12 and Mark 14:25) but is already present, is already in man. This new creation is first of all a gift, but it brings its task with it. This whole matter, then, is the one thing that counts. In this new salvation, brought by Christ, lies the source of the glorying and of the zeal that is necessary. And over against this thing, the old thing, circumcision is no longer useful. What counts is circumcision of the heart (Rom. 2:29), the gift of the Spirit, the earmark and the guarantee of the new covenant (cf. Heb. 8:8 ff.).
16 As is evident from the benediction at the end of this verse, the apostle now arrives at the end of his argument. This rule comprehends everything he has said. It points to the new norm and measure. The cross of Christ forms its point of departure, and the new creature forms its realization. Everything must be measured by its standard. It is the norm for what matters, for what is valid and what is not, for what is to be accepted and what is to be rejected. To walk by this rule means that in thought and action alike the Galatians are to be guided by their disposition towards that rule. For all to whom this proves to be applicable, the benediction is also applicable. This benediction reminds greatly of the well-known Jewish Shemoneh Esre (the Eighteen-petition prayer): “Grant peace, salvation, and blessing, grant favor, grace, and mercy to us and to all Israel, thy people.” The benediction speaks of peace, presumably to be understood here in the general and comprehensive sense of the eschatological salvation (see Exposition of 5:22). It speaks of mercy, that is, the grace which God has promised His people in His covenant and which Israel therefore expects from God. In other words, the benediction speaks of the great gift of salvation promised by God and granted in principle by Christ. Such a perspective is very appropriate at the end of a letter which again and again spoke of the receiving of the inheritance promised to the seed of Abraham (3:18, 29; 5:21). Somewhat surprising is the addition: and upon the Israel of God. In view of what has gone before (cf. 3:29, 4:28, 29) we can hardly doubt that this Israel of God does not refer to the empirical, national Israel as an equally authorized partner alongside of the believers in Christ (“they who walk by this rule”). As elsewhere (cf. Rom. 9:7), so here, Israel designates the new Israel. In this benediction, then, the apostle has the readers of his letter, in so far as they walk by the new rule, in mind, but from them its scope goes out to include in the widest sense all believers whatsoever, the new people of God. All the same, the expression retains a surprising element, because Paul does not generally speak of Israel in this special sense, without further explanation. The occasion for doing so now may have been the traditional Jewish prayer, in which there is reference to us first, and then to all Israel, thy people. The apostle is, in other words, making use of a relationship lying ready in his mind. It is a relationship, however, which in his preaching was given a new content because of the new development in the history of salvation.
17 Finally Paul asks that henceforth he may be spared the trouble caused him, not so much by the Judaistic zealots (for he can hardly lodge an appeal with them), but by the churches who because of the zealots permitted themselves to be deflected from the truth in Christ. In this connection, Paul appeals to the marks of Jesus which he bears. Presumably these are the marks of suffering and affliction which had accrued to him in the service of the gospel. They are called marks of Jesus, not because Paul received the same wounds in his body which Jesus received, but because in these tokens his fellowship in suffering with Jesus becomes manifest (cf. 2 Cor. 4:10, Phil. 3:10, Rom. 8:17, 2 Cor. 1:5, and Col. 1:24). This demonstrates also that what the believers must suffer at the hands of the world’s enmity is the same thing that Jesus had to undergo—not the same in its fruit, but in its nature. Incidentally, this suffering is more than an affliction for the sake of or in consequence of following Jesus. A certain transfer of suffering from Jesus to the believers takes place by virtue of the fellowship, the corporative and federal oneness existing between them. In this passage, the marks are especially the marks of Jesus, too, because they point to what happened to Jesus in his earthly life. The marks which Paul bears must serve to warn those who cause Paul so much trouble and grief. They are then assailing someone who has put his life in the service of the Lord, and who bears the brands of that service. And there certainly lies in this statement also the implication that in doing so they are opposing Jesus Himself, and inviting the punishment of God upon them.
18 The letter ends with a closing blessing. There are no personal greetings or other personal particulars, as in so many other letters. One can ask whether this tersely economical conclusion reflects the tensions of the whole situation, even as the economical introduction does so. But one can hardly speak with certainty about it. We can say simply that this short and unprepared for conclusion leaves the readers under the full force of the gripping admonition of the letter. This, of course, helps to press it home upon their consciences. For the rest, this conclusion is very cordial, and winsome in its manner. It has a hearty, ingratiating quality; there is nothing of irritation in it. The last word before the stately Amen is the nominative brethren. Despite all and in and through everything Paul clings to communion with them in Christ. To that, too, he makes his last appeal. Thereupon he wishes them the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The grace represents the summary and the presupposition of all that Christ gives. The notion of the unearned, the undeserved, is contained in it. And also the fulness of this good, this salvation, now and in eternity. Once more he mentions all the names of the Lord. They emphasize His glory, His saving significance, and His divine commission, respectively. This grace, Paul says, be with your spirit. May it move the Galatians in the whole of their inner being, so that they are wholly informed by it, put all their trust in it, and conduct themselves according to it. The stately Amen is not simply a confirmation coming from Paul’s side, but involves the readers in its import also, even as it does in a prayer or doxology at worship, when the minister speaks it also in the name of the auditors.
The meaning of προληφθῇ is not quite certain. Some interpret it as: to be overcome, taken unawares, by sin. Although the verb permits of this view as well as of the one expressed in the translation followed here, and although it makes for a very good sense, it would seem, in view of the following ἐν τινι παραπτώματι the least warranted of the two. These words can better be taken to refer to the place where the overtaking happened than to the means or the agent of it.
παράπτωμα contains the idea of falling. It is not the deliberate, the planned, aspect of sin that is stressed here, but rather the unwitting element. Mistake rather than misdeed is the force of the word, though without absolution of responsibility.
καταρτίζειν: to straighten out, to set in order.
πειράζω is used in bonam partem as well as in malem partem, that is, as trying, and as tempting. The temptation lies not only in the active influence of sin in man, but also in the circumstances which favor such an influence.
δοκεῖ: subjective in sense, in this connection meaning: to vaunt.
δοκιμάζειν: to try, or to test, often in the positive sense of: to approve.
καύχημα: laud, or praise, or glory, or also that in which one glories. For Paul, usually: the possibility of glorying in self (cf. Rom. 4:2, 1 Cor. 9:16, and 2 Cor. 1:14; and other passages).
The effort has been made in all kinds of ways to demonstrate the difference linguistically between the τὰ βάρη of verse 2 and the φορτίον of verse 5. This apparently cannot be satisfactorily done, however, and it is not necessary to eliminate contradiction.
Others want to translate the κοινωνείτω intransitively: to exercise fellowship. The meaning would then be: the pupil must exercise fellowship with his teacher in all good things. According to this view, these good things must then be given a religio-ethical content. This view would be acceptable if it could be made clear why the idea of fellowship or community issuing from the preceding argument should suddenly be applied now to the pupil-teacher relationship, indeed, be made to converge upon it as finale and climax. Moreover, the expression itself is a little too arresting for that, as is also the thought that the pupil himself should take the initiative in this, as is obviously the assumption. The thought of “taking someone as an example” simply is not in the text. Hence we choose for the interpretation described above.
For this meaning of κοινωνεῖν, see also Rom. 15:26, 2 Cor. 9:13, and Heb. 13:16.
Presumably the διδάσκαλοι of 1 Cor. 12:28 and Eph. 4:11 are intended.
For the use of ἐγκακεῖν in this context, see also Luke 18:1.
καλός really means: the beautiful. It was eagerly used by the Greeks for the ethical, which is good in itself and as such evokes wonder. Here it is used in the biblical sense (cf. Mt. 5:16 and 26:10), measured by the divine norm, and in the sense that it can be acknowledged as good only in its manifestation. ποιεῖν stresses the result.
καιρός itself designates the stipulated moment of time, in contrast with χρόνος which suggests an indeterminate period.
The problem is whether we should translate the word to mean so long as (or while) or as because. The decision depends in part on what reading one chooses: ἔχωμεν or ἔχομεν. Paul generally uses no ὡς with the subjunctive unless ἄν is present. The judgment of Bl.-Debr. Par. 445, (2), is that we must take the ὡς here as meaning ἕως, that is, while. The significance of the predication is certainly first of all temporal. What is at stake is not a single occasion, however, but the whole life-span of a person. The causal significance of as is thereby intimated.
This time the form is ἀγαθόν instead of the καλόν in verse 9: the good in a comprehensive sense, specifically expressed in a favorable bearing towards others (cf. 5:22).
The translation is not quite sure. γράμματα can also mean letter (epistle). It is rather generally accepted, however, that letters is the right version. For one thing the epistle is not a very long one. For another thing, we would then expect the accusative. And, finally, Paul always uses the word ἐπιστολή for letter.
In other words we are to look upon the ἔγραψα not as a real but as an epistolary preterit. Others think that Paul is speaking of the letters or characters of the whole letter. In that event, we should be dealing with a real preterit, and Paul would have to be assumed as writing the whole letter. The reference to the large characters would then be intended to call the attention of the Galatians to the fact that Paul, whose hands, because of his travelling and manual labor, were not suited to penmanship, was going to considerable pains in writing this message. But it may well be questioned whether the evidence here warrants all these inferences.
εὐπροσωπέω: used only at this point in the New Testament.
ἀναγκάζουσιν: de conatu.
The reading περιτετμημένοι, as it is found in P46 and B probably is owing to scribal correction. The reference is to the heretical teachers themselves (see the Exposition). The perfect tense would seem to be more appropriate than the present tense. Hence the variant. The present, although it offers difficulty, must be taken in a very general sense: “the circumcision-people,” “those who favor circumcision.”
σαρκί points to circumcision: the circumcised organ.
The construction, “Far be it from me,” is used in the Old Testament also in this form (cf. Josh. 22:29, 24:16: LXX). It stands about half-way between a prayer and a curse.
κτίσις can refer either to the divine act or to its product. Here it is very probably being used in the latter sense (cf. 5:6, 1 Cor. 7:19, 2 Cor. 5:17). Still it is not to be taken in the general sense of man, but, as is clear also from the added καινή in the full significance of a creature of God (cf. Eph. 2:10, 15, 4:24, Col. 3:10, and James 1:18).
See the Exposition of 5:25.
ἔλεος is the equivalent of the Old Testament חסד
τοῦ λοιποῦ (sc. χρόνου) is an adverb of time: in the future (in distinction from τὸ λοιπόν: “for the rest”).
τὰ στίγματα: The word stigmatization is derived from this word in the sense of exhibiting the wounds of Christ (Francis of Assisi, for example, and Therese Neumann). Some have tried to relate the phenomenon of stigmata with Gal. 6:17. But this has been done without basis, as Roman Catholic exegetes and dogmatic scholars also acknowledge. See also Oepke, op. cit., p. 124.
Some think that Paul is alluding here to a cultic use of religious tattooing. By this means people dedicated themselves to the deity. The mark was therefore a kind of brand-mark, or mark of property, and also a mark of protection. In time the mark took on the significance of an amulet. The technical term for such tattooing was στίγμα. Although it is difficult for us to make out what readers of that time saw in such a word, it seems to us unwarranted to regard Paul’s marks as “cult-marks of the Exalted One,” designating Paul the “property” of Christ. The subject at this point is the fellowship in suffering with Christ, not cultic property rights, even though the language employed could owe something to certain pagan practices.