《Lange’s Commentary on the HolyScriptures-Galatians》(Johann P. Lange)
Commentator
Johann Peter Lange (April 10, 1802, Sonneborn (now a part of Wuppertal) - July 9, 1884, age 82), was a German Calvinist theologian of peasant origin.
He was born at Sonneborn near Elberfeld, and studied theology at Bonn (from 1822) under K. I. Nitzsch and G. C. F. Lüheld several pastorates, and eventually (1854) settled at Bonn as professor of theology in succession to Isaac August Dorner, becoming also in 1860 counsellor to the consistory.
Lange has been called the poetical theologian par excellence: "It has been said of him that his thoughts succeed each other in such rapid and agitated waves that all calm reflection and all rational distinction become, in a manner, drowned" (F. Lichtenberger).
As a dogmatic writer he belonged to the school of Schleiermacher. His Christliche Dogmatik (5 vols, 1849-1852; new edition, 1870) "contains many fruitful and suggestive thoughts, which, however, are hidden under such a mass of bold figures and strange fancies and suffer so much from want of clearness of presentation, that they did not produce any lasting effect" (Otto Pfleiderer).
Introduction
THE
EPISTLE OF PAUL
to the
GALATIANS
by
OTTO SCHMOLLER, PH. DR.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN
by
C.C. STARBUCK, A. M.
EDITED, WITH ADDITIONS,
by
M. B. RIDDLE, D. D.
VOL. VII. OF THE NEW TESTAMENT: CONTAINING THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE Galatians,, Ephesians,, Philippians, AND COLOSSIANS.
EDITOR’S PREFACE TO THE SEVENTH VOLUME
______
This volume of the American edition of Lange’s Biblework, being the seventh of the New Testament Division, embraces the following Epistles of St. Paul:
Galatians. By Otto Schmoller, Ph. D, of Urach, Würtemberg. Translated by C. C. Starbuck, A. M, with additions by M. B. Riddle, D. D.
Ephesians and Colossians. By Karl Braune, D. D, General Superintendent of Altenburg, Saxony. Translated, enlarged and edited by M. B. Riddle, D. D.
Philippians. By Dr. Braune. Edited, with additions, by Prof. Hackett, D. D, formerly of Newton Centre, now of the Theological Seminary at Rochester, N. Y.
The Epistle to the Ephesians had been originally assigned to Prof. Dr. Hitchcock, of Union Theological Seminary, New York, but, much to the regret of the general editor, Dr. H. was obliged to abandon the task on account of illness. This interruption and the absence of Dr. Riddle in Germany have caused some delay in the publication of the volume.
The translation was prepared from the last editions of the original. The additions were made with constant reference to the best German as well as English and American commentators, especially to Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, Eadie and Hodge. Dr. Eadie’s work on the Galatians appeared after this part of the volume was in type. Dr. Schenkel’s commentaries on the Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians (1862,2d ed, 1867),—originally a part of the Bible work, but replaced since, for reasons connected with the theological change of the author, by those of Dr. Braune—were also consulted throughout. Braune is an able, careful, concise, sound and judicious exegete. Special attention was paid to the enlargement of the Textual and Exegetical departments. Where the translators differ from the German authors, the reasons are generally given.
Upon the whole, the additions amount to about one third of the volume, and will commend themselves to the judgment of competent readers as a valuable improvement.
The New Testament part of this laborious work is now drawing to a close. The Commentaries on the Gospel of John, and on Revelation will complete it. The former is far advanced and, if the Lord spare the health and strength of the general editor, will be finished during the coming winter.[FN1] The commentary on Revelation has not yet appeared in German, but may be expected in a few months, and will be immediately taken in hand. The last part will also contain a complete and careful Index of all the volumes on the New Testament. The Old Testament is progressing more slowly, yet as fast as the nature of the work will admit.
New York, 10 Bible House, Aug. 24th, 1870. Philip Schaff.
THE
EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE GALATIANS
______
INTRODUCTION
§ 1. THE RECIPIENTS OF THE EPISTLE
The recipients of the Epistle are αἱἐκκλησίαιτῆςΓαλατίας, the churches of Galatia.
The district of Galatia in Asia Minor owes its name and origin to the immigration of the tribes of the Trocmi, Tolistobogii and Tectosages, included by ancient writers under the generic name of Galatians, Gauls or Celts. These left their abode on the Rhine in the third century B. C, and after having made desolating incursions into Macedonia and Greece, they founded in Thrace the kingdom of Thyle, whence they forced their way into Asia Minor under the leaders Leonorius and Lutarius. Here they received from the Bithynian king Nicomedes, a part of Phrygia as a reward for services rendered in war. [Lightfoot intimates that this movement across the Hellespont was connected with the final repulse, given at Delphi (B. C279) to the Celtic invasion of Greece. A considerable force that had refused to take part in this expedition was joined by a remnant of the repulsed army, and under the leaders above named forced their way through Thrace to the Hellespont, across which they were soon attracted by the fertility of Asia Minor. They overran a large extent of territory, but their power was finally curbed by the Pergamene prince Attalus the First (about B. C230). See the authorities quoted in his Introd. Galatians, pp5, 6.—R.] As they mixed with the Greeks and spoke the Greek language too, they were also called Gallograeci, and their territory, Gallograecia, Γαλλογρικία. They are described as a valiant and liberty-loving people, who, from their fondness for fighting, could readily be hired as mercenaries, and were dreaded as soldiers, far and wide. But in the year B. C189, they were subjected to the Roman power by Consul Cneius Manlius Vulso; retaining, however, their ancient federative constitution under their own Tetrarchs, who finally bore the title of Kings. From this time forth they devoted themselves more and more to the arts of peace, and made their country one of the most flourishing in existence. Through the favor of Antony and Augustus towards their last king, Amyntas, Pisidia and parts of Lycaonia and Pamphylia were added to his dominions. After the death of Amyntas, Galatia thus enlarged became a Roman province.
Jerome, who spent some time in Gaul and also in Galatia, remarks (Proleg. in libr. II, ep. ad. Gal.) that the language of the Galatians was identical with that of the Treviri; this is the chief ground for the opinion that the Galatians were not Celts, but Germans. The name, Galatians, Gauls, is not against this; for this designation is to be explained from the usage of the third century B. C, when the Romans as yet included the Germans under the name of Gauls. Since, however, the nationality of the Treviri themselves is a matter of dispute, that of the Galatians cannot be certainly thus determined. The supposition that one tribe of the Galatians, the Tectosages (Meyer), were Germans, while the other two were Gauls, is inconsistent with Strabo’s remark, that the three tribes had the same manners and the same language; and as a native of the neighboring Cappadocia, he must have been accurately informed on this point. We can at all events adduce in favor of their German origin the names of the leaders, Leonorius (comp. Leonhardt, Leonore) and Lutharius, that Isaiah, Lothar, and also their polity as described by Strabo, according to which their princes, and not their priests, dispensed justice, this being, according to Cæsar (Bell. Gall. VI. 13), a chief distinction between the Gauls and Germans (Wieseler). Tradition relates also, that an army of crusaders was struck with astonishment at hearing all at once, in this region, the Bavarian dialect.
[Wieseler and Olshausen advocate the Teutonic origin, at which Luther hints in his warning to the Germans against like inconstancy (Com. Galatians 1:6). Meyer suggests the mixed origin mentioned above, while Thierry, and other French writers (including the Emperor Napoleon III. Cesar. II. p2), claim this settlement of Celts as an evidence of Gallic enterprise. English writers generally advocate the Celtic origin. The matter is ably discussed by Lightfoot, Galatians, Dissert. I. p235 sq.: “Were the Galatians Celts or Teutons?” He maintains that they were Celts, arguing both from the authority of classical writers, and from the philological data furnished by the proper names which remain. But the most convincing argument is drawn from the character of the people. “They are described by the ancient writers as a frank, warlike, impetuous, intelligent and impressible, but unsteady, ostentatious and vain people, strongly resembling the cognate French” (Schaff). That their peculiarities were more akin to those of the ancient Gauls and modern Celtic races, than to those of the Teutonic race, ancient or modern, is very evident. Luther might have spared his rebuke about “inconstancy,” could he have foretold modern history. Lightfoot (Introd. pp1–17) speaks of the tough vitality of national character, so strongly marked in the Celts, which is shown also by the Galatians in Asia Minor; the similar fickle temperament ( Galatians 1:6; Galatians 3:1), and even hints that the vices rebuked in this epistle are not foreign to the distinctive character of the Celts, e.g.: Galatians 5:21, “drunkenness and revellings;” Galatians 6:6-7, niggardliness in alms giving; Galatians 5:26, “vain glory;” Galatians 5:15, “bite and devour one another.” Certainly the tendency of the Galatians in religion was toward superstitious ritualism ( Galatians 3:3), not to mysticism as among their neighbors, the Phrygians, and to-day the Celtic people have the same tendency. It is worthy of note, if the Celtic extraction be admitted, that those Epistles (Galatians and Romans) which assail most plainly the errors of legalism and ritualism, should have been addressed to Celtic and Latin readers. The progress of ethnographic science seems to favor the view that the Galatians were Celts. Comp. Conybeare and Howson: Life and Epistle of St. Paul, I. p. 243 sq.—R.]
The opinion, that we are to regard, not the Galatians proper, but inhabitants of the district added under King Amyntas, Lycaonians (especially the christians of Derbe and Lystra), and Pisidians, as the recipients of our Epistle, is altogether untenable, owing its rise to hypotheses about the time of its composition.
The recipients of the Epistle are more particularly, the Christian congregations, αἱἐκκλησίαι of Galatia. There were therefore several Christian churches in this district—perhaps in the chief places, Ancyra, Tavium and Pessinus, according to a missionary principle observed by the Apostle (Wieseler). In the book of Acts also no places are mentioned. In one other passage these churches are spoken of in the same way ( 1 Corinthians 16:1). The passages, 2 Timothy 4:10; 1 Peter 1:1, also presuppose Christians in Galatia. These churches were founded by Paul himself. This appears indisputably from our Epistle, Galatians 1:6-8; Galatians 4:13 sq, and is confirmed by the narrative in the Acts. According to this he came hither for the first time soon after the apostolic council, Acts 16:6. He must then have preached the gospel there, and founded churches; for although this is not expressly stated, it is to be assumed, since, at the visit mentioned in Acts 18:23, he was already employed in “strengthening” the churches there. A second visit of the Apostle to Galatia is also indicated in our Epistle, especially Galatians 4:13 (comp. ad. loc.). The first one is more particularly described as having been occasioned by bodily weakness, which had constrained him to delay in Galatia, and given him opportunity to preach the gospel there. This visit, therefore, cannot well coincide with that mentioned in Acts 18:23.
These churches were undoubtedly chiefly composed of Gentile Christians, as is clear from our Epistle, partly from the passages of general reference, Galatians 1:16; Galatians 2:9, in which Paul takes pains to prove to the Galatians his vocation as Apostle to the Gentiles, partly and especially from Galatians 4:8, where the readers, as a whole, are designated as having been idolaters, and from Galatians 5:2-3; Galatians 6:12-13, according to which they were as yet uncircumcised. Unquestionably there was also in Galatia a Jewish population, perhaps a numerous one (comp. Josephus, Ant12, 3, 4; 16, 6, 2), and so there may have been Jewish Christians also in the churches. But we cannot draw a certain conclusion from the ἡμεῖς in passages which refer especially to Jewish Christians, as Galatians 3:23-25; Galatians 4:3; for we cannot decidedly affirm that here Paul includes the readers also in the first person. The abrupt transition from the first to the second person in Galatians 3:25-26; Galatians 4:5-6, might rather favor the opposite conclusion, namely, that he has reference to the readers only in the second part of these passages where he treats of the Christian state, and not in what precedes, respecting the condition of a Jew. [It is by no means certain that the use of the first person in the passages cited involves an exclusive reference to “the condition of a Jew.” See exeg. notes, Galatians 4:3.—R.] Nor is the fact that acquaintance with the Old Testament is presupposed in the arguments of the epistle, a convincing proof. For all evangelical preaching rested on the Old Testament Scripture. Besides this, thorough discussion of the Old Testament was here demanded by the subject of the epistle. For the churches were wrought upon by Judaizing false teachers, who endeavored to lead them back to an Old Testament position; as they had doubtless been already sufficiently instructed by these teachers in the Old Testament, on this account alone Paul was obliged to enter on the discussion of the Old Testament, and out of it to refute them; to open up to them a still deeper and juster understanding of the Old Testament economy. Only so could they be delivered from an authority pretending a support from the Old Testament. The supposition that the Galatian Christians had formerly been in great part proselytes, is therefore unnecessary. [Schaff: The congregations of Galatia were, like all the churches founded by Paul, of a mixed, yet predominantly Gentile Christian character.—R.]
§ 2. OCCASION OF THE EPISTLE
The spiritual state of these Galatian churches, at first a matter of joy, had been sadly disturbed by certain unnamed persons, who, to be sure, were Christians, but of Judaizing or pharisaistic tendencies. These, it is plain, had come from abroad, and perhaps were emissaries from Palestine. They were hardly proselytes. Such a conclusion does not follow from Galatians 5:12; Galatians 6:13. They set themselves in direct opposition to the Christian view, which had, till then, prevailed in the church; and, moreover, directed their polemics expressly against Paul, as the first promulgator of this view. To the persuasion which had taken root through him, that justification and salvation are to be attained alone through faith in Christ, by grace, they opposed the assertion that certain works of the law, especially the observance of the Jewish festivals, and the receiving of circumcision, were necessary to salvation. From prudential motives, they did not require the observance of the whole law. In order to gain entrance for this view, diametrically opposed as it was to the doctrine of Paul, they sought to undermine the consideration in which the Galatians held him, by denying to him the apostolic dignity, and by appealing, in opposition, to the authority of the senior Apostles, especially James, Peter and John, as the true pillars of the church, to whom Paul, as they represented, stood in opposition, while they proceeded in concurrence with them. Nay, they appear to have even imputed to Paul the inconsistency of sometimes himself preaching circumcision among the Jews, Galatians 5:11; and would have it, therefore, that his doctrine of the freedom of believers from the law proceeded only from unworthy complaisance towards the Gentiles. (Comp. Galatians 1:10.)
How long these false teachers had been working in the church cannot be precisely determined; yet we see from Galatians 1:9; Galatians 5:3; Galatians 4:16, that Paul, on his second visit, had already spoken against this Judaizing error; chiefly, we may suppose, by way of warning and precautionary instruction, as the danger was yet only imminent, although the inclination to yield was already present. Matters came to an actual leading astray only after the departure of the Apostle. For from the impression which the Epistle makes, we must conclude that he has now, for the first time, to deal with the church after its actual fall into error. This falling away, however, must have made surprisingly rapid progress, as unmistakably appears from the tone of the Epistle; comp. also Galatians 1:6 : οὔτωταχέως.
As just remarked, the false teachers actually succeeded in finding entrance and seducing the churches. How far can only be partially determined. At all events, we must not underrate their success. From the whole tenor of the Epistle from the earnestness with which Paul speaks (e.g. Galatians 1:6; Galatians 3:13; Galatians 4:12; Galatians 4:19-20; Galatians 5:1 sq7), from his thorough handling of the question of his own doctrinal position, and of the question respecting his apostolic authority, as also from the allusion to the division that had arisen in the church ( Galatians 5, 6), it is sufficiently clear that the Judaizing view, at least, had already completely got the upper hand, and especially that the consideration enjoyed by the Apostle was already a good deal shaken. (Comp. the peculiarly full exposition of this question in the Epistle.) On the other hand, the apostasy from the principle of justifying faith was as yet by no means complete, but only incipient. (Comp. e.g. Galatians 1:6; Galatians 4:9; Galatians 4:17; Galatians 4:21.) Especially the practical observance of Judaism was only in its beginnings. The observance of the Jewish days and times had commenced, but “to the chief requirement of the false teachers, obedience to which would first render the apostasy from evangelical Christianity complete, namely the receiving of circumcision, they had as yet yielded no compliance, in any numbers worth speaking of, since the circumcision of the readers is mentioned as something still impending” On the other hand, we cannot, from the “little leaven,” ( Galatians 5:2), draw the inference of a falling away as yet insignificant, since this expression rather refers to the small number of their corrupters, or rather to the fact that a deviation from evangelical truth in one point or a few points may easily work great mischief.