Matthew Henry

Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, accompanied by Barnabas. I took Titus along also.

“Peter was the apostle to them; and the ceremonial law, though dead with Christ, yet not being as yet buried, he connived at the respect kept up for it.”

When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, because he stood to be condemned.

“Antioch was one of the chief churches of the Gentile Christians, as Jerusalem was of those Christians who turned from Judaism to the faith of Christ. There is no colour of reason for the supposition that Peter was bishop of Antioch.”

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.

“That wherein their folly and infatuation appeared was that they did not obey the truth; that is, they did not adhere to the gospel way of justification, wherein they had been taught, and which they had professed to embrace.”

I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

“This they could not say, for that doctrine had not then been preached to them, nor had they, as Gentiles, any pretence to justification in that way.”

The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”

“The scripture is said to foresee, because he that indited the scripture did foresee, that God would justify the heathen world in the way of faith; and therefore in Abraham, that is, in the seed of Abraham, which is Christ, not the Jews only, but…”

Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”

“It requires perfect obedience as the condition of life, and therefore now can by no means be the rule of our justification.”

The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”

“The curse is wrath revealed, and ruin threatened: it is a separation unto all evil, and this is in full force, power, and virtue, against all sinners, and therefore against all men; for all have sinned and become guilty before God: and if, as transgressors…”

Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended.

“The original word diatheke signifies both a covenant and a testament. Now the promise made to Abraham was rather a testament than a covenant.”

The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.

“And he gives us a very surprising exposition of this. We should have thought it had been meant only of the people of the Jews.”

Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred.

“The apostle adds that the law was given for this purpose till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; that is, either till Christ should come (the principle seed referred to in the promise, as he had before shown), or till the…”

Is the law, then, opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from…

“The law is by no means inconsistent with the promise, but subservient to it, as the design of it is to discover men's transgressions, and to show them the need they have of a better righteousness than that of the law.”

So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

“And as it obliged them to a variety of sacrifices, &c., which, though they could not of themselves take away sin, were typical of Christ, and of the great sacrifice which he was to offer up for the expiation of it, so it directed them…”

Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

“It is no uncommon thing for men to account those their enemies who are really their best friends; for so, undoubtedly, those are, whether ministers or others, who tell them the truth, and deal freely and faithfully with them in matters relating to their eternal…”

These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar.

“The former, Agar, represented that which was given from mount Sinai, and which gendereth to bondage, which, though it was a dispensation of grace, yet, in comparison of the gospel state, was a dispensation of bondage, and became more so to the Jews, through their…”

For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.

“The liberty we enjoy as Christians is not a licentious liberty: though Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, yet he has not freed us from the obligation of it; the gospel is a doctrine according to godliness ( 1 Tim. vi.”

Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

“He puts a common case: If a man be overtaken in a fault, that is, be brought to sin by the surprise of temptation.”

Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

“Note, Though as Christians we are freed from the law of Moses, yet we are under the law of Christ; and therefore, instead of laying unnecessary burdens upon others (as those who urged the observance of Moses's law did), it much more becomes us to…”

If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

“Instead therefore of indulging such a vain-glorious humour, which is both destructive of the love and kindness we owe to our fellow-christians and also injurious to ourselves, it would much better become us to accept the apostle's exhortation ( Phil. ii.”

Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word must share in all good things with his instructor.

“That which they are to declare is the counsel of God, Acts xx. They are not lords of our faith, but helpers of our joy, 2 Cor. i.”

Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.

“Our present time is seed-time: in the other world there will be a great harvest; and, as the husbandman reaps in the harvest according as he sows in the seedness, so we shall reap then as we sow now.”

From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

“As the cross of Christ, or the doctrine of salvation by a crucified Redeemer, was what he chiefly gloried in, so he had been willing to run all hazards rather than he would betray this truth, or suffer it to be corrupted.”

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

“He calls them his brethren, wherein he shows his great humility, and the tender affection he had for them, notwithstanding the ill treatment he had met with from them; and takes his leave of them with this very serious and affectionate prayer, that the grace…”