Galatians Commentary:
I. Introduction (1:1-9)
II. Paul's Gospel and Authority (1:10-2:21)
III. Faith Alone Against Works-Gospel (3:1-5:12)
IV. New Life in the Spirit and Love (5:13-6:18)
A. Spirit and Flesh (5:13-26)
B. Keep Watch and do Good (6:1-10)
C. Final Warning and Benediction (6:11-18)
Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone by Russell's Hymns
J. B. Lightfoot comments, "But what is the apostle's object in calling attention to the handwriting? Does he, as Chrysostom and others have supposed, point to the rude, ill-formed characters in which the letter was written, as though he gloried in his imperfect knowledge of Greek? But where is there any mention of rudeness of form? and is it at all probable that St. Paul who had received a careful education at Jerusalem and at Tarsus, the great centres of Jewish and of Greek learning, should have betrayed this childlike ignorance, and even gloried in it? Or again, does he, as others imagine, refer to the physical difficulties under which he was laboring, the irregularity of the handwriting being explained by his defective eyesight or by his bodily suffering? But here again [the greek] denotes size only, not irregularity; and altogether this explanation is forced into the passage from without, nor does the sentence in this case contain the key to its own meaning. Theodore of Mopsuestia has caught the point of the expression... The boldness of the handwriting answers to the force of the apostle's convictions. The size of the characters will arrest the attention of his readers in spite of themselves."
Irenaeus writes, "For we have given nothing to Him previously, nor does He desire anything from us, as if He stood in need of it; but we do stand in need of fellowship with Him. And for this reason it was that He graciously poured Himself out, that He might gather us into the bosom of the Father." (Against Heresies, 5.2.1).
Origen writes, "In this whole passage it seems that the apostle wants to show that there are two justifications, one by works and the other by faith. He says that justification by works had its glory but only in and of itself, not before God. Justification by faith, on the other hand, has glory before God, who sees our heart... The one who looks for justification by works may expect honour mainly from other persons who see and approve of them. "
Let no one think that someone who has faith enough to be justified and to have glory before God can at the same time have unrighteousness dwelling in him as well. For faith cannot coexist with unbelief, nor can righteousness with wickedness, just as light and darkness cannot live together." (Commentary on Romans, 4:1.2-3).
Augustine writes, "This, the catholic faith has known of the one and only mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who condescended to undergo death — that is, the penalty of sin— without sin, for us. As He alone became the Son of man, in order that we might become through Him sons of God, so He alone, on our behalf, undertook punishment without ill deservings, that we through Him might obtain grace without good deservings. Because as to us nothing good was due so to Him nothing bad was due. Therefore, commending His love to them to whom He was about to give undeserved life, He was willing to suffer for them an undeserved death." (Against Two Letters of the Pelagians, Book IV. 6).
Ambrose writes, "Not that any man has been thought worthy of the privilege of sitting in that seat of God, for to the Son alone hath the Father said, Sit thou on my right hand; but because in that Flesh of Christ the flesh of the whole human race has been honoured, because it partakes of the same nature. For as He was subjected in our flesh by His unity therewith, and by the obedience of the body, wherein He was made obedient even unto death, so we, in His Flesh, are sat down together with Him in heavenly places. We therefore are not set down by ourselves but in the Person of Christ, Who alone, as the Son of man, sitteth at the right Hand of God; as He said Himself, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of God. To this end has His Grace and Goodness been formed upon us in Christ Jesus, that being dead according to works, redeemed through faith and saved by grace, we might receive the gift of this great deliverance. Our very nature, raised, as it were, in Him, has been made partaker of the Grace of a new creation, that being new created in Christ, we, who had before fallen away through the corruption of our guilty lineage, might walk in good works." (Ambrose to Irenaeus, Letter LXXVI, 8).
Tertullian writes, "Him we believe to have been sent by the Father into the Virgin, and to have been born of her -- being both Man and God, the Son of Man and the Son of God, and to have been called by the name of Jesus Christ; we believe Him to have suffered, died, and been buried, according to the Scriptures, and, after He had been raised again by the Father and taken back to heaven, to be sitting at the right hand of the Father, and that He will come to judge the quick and the dead; who sent also from heaven from the Father, according to His own promise, the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, the sanctifier of the faith of those who believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost. That this rule of faith has come down to us from the beginning of the gospel, even before any of the older heretics, much more before Praxeas, a pretender of yesterday, will be apparent both from the lateness of date which marks all heresies, and also from the absolutely novel character of our new-fangled Praxeas." (Against Praxeas, ch 2).
John Chrysostom writes, "Like champions in battle who have set up many memorials of victory and have suffered many wounds, so, too, these champions of the Churches, who could count the many tortures they had endured for their confession of the faith, came together from every side, bearing on their bodies the marks of Christ's wounds. Some could tell of their hardships in the mines, others of the confiscation of all their possessions, and still others of starvation and continuous floggings. Some could show where the flesh had been torn from their ribs, some where their backs had been broken, some where their eyes had been dug out, and still others where they had lost some other part of their bodies for the sake of Christ. At that time the whole synodal gathering, welded together from these champions, along with their definition of what Christians must believe, also passed a decree that they celebrate the paschal feast in harmony together. They refused to betray their faith in those most difficult times [of persecution]; would they sink to pretense and deceit on the question of the Easter observance?" (Against the Jews, Homily 3, 3.4).
Cyprian of Carthage writes, "Neither for this purpose is it necessary to pay a price either in the way of bribery or of labour; so that man's elevation or dignity or power should be begotten in him with elaborate effort; but it is a gratuitous gift from God, and it is accessible to all. As the sun shines spontaneously, as the day gives light, as the fountain flows, as the shower yields moisture, so does the heavenly Spirit infuse itself into us." (Epistle 1, 14).
Ver 11. See with what large letters I write to you with my own hand.
Ver 12. As many as desire to make a good impression in the flesh compel you to be circumcised, just so they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
Ver 13. For even they who receive circumcision don’t keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, so that they may boast in your flesh.
Ver 14. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Ver 15. For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
Ver 16. As many as walk by this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on God’s Israel.
Ver 17. From now on, let no one cause me any trouble, for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus branded on my body.
Ver 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.