\\INTRODUCTION TO GALATIANS 3\\

In this chapter the apostle reproves the Galatians for their
disobedience to the Gospel, and departure from it; confirms the
doctrine of justification by faith, by various arguments; shows the
use of the law, and the abrogation of it, and makes mention of several
privileges which belong to believers in Christ. He begins with a sharp
reproof of the Galatians, and represents them as foolish and
bewitched, and charges them with disobedience to the truth of the
Gospel, which is aggravated by the clearness of the Gospel ministry,
in which a crucified Christ, and justification by him, had been so
evidently set before them, \\#Ga 3:1\\, and by the fruit and effect
of it, they having received the Spirit by it, and not by the preaching
of the law of works, \\#Ga 3:2\\ and it still increased their folly,
that whereas they had begun with the Spirit of God, and set out in a
dependence on him and his grace, they seemed now as if they would end
in a carnal and legal way, \\#Ga 3:3\\. To which is added, the
consideration of their having suffered many things for the sake of the
Gospel, which must be suffered in vain should they relinquish the
Gospel, though the apostle hoped otherwise of them, \\#Ga 3:4\\, nay,
they had not only received through the preaching of the Gospel the
Spirit, and his graces, but even extraordinary gifts attended it, for
the confirmation of it, \\#Ga 3:5\\, so that this case of theirs was a
very aggravated one, and they were guilty of great folly and madness:
from hence the apostle passes to the main thing in dispute, the great
truth of justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ, which
these persons were departing from, and which he establishes by several
arguments; and first from the instance and example of Abraham, who was
justified by faith, as appears from that which he believed, being
imputed to him as his justifying righteousness, \\#Ga 3:6\\, and as
many as are believers in Christ are his spiritual children, and so
undoubtedly are justified the same way their father was, \\#Ga 3:7\\,
and particularly that the Gentiles are justified by faith is clear
from the preaching of the Gospel to Abraham, and the promise made unto
him, that in his seed all nations should be blessed; that is, with the
blessing of justification, \\#Ga 3:8\\. The conclusion of which
instance and example is, that as faithful Abraham was blessed with a
justifying righteousness through faith, so all that believe are
blessed along with him with the same blessing, \\#Ga 3:9\\, and that
no man can be justified by the works of the law is certain, since the
law is so far from justifying any on account of obedience to it, that
it pronounces a curse upon all that do not perfectly and constantly
fulfil it, \\#Ga 3:10\\. And this is still further evident from a
passage in the prophecy of \\#Hab 2:4\\ which declares, that the just
live by faith, or that those who are truly righteous are such who are
justified by it, \\#Ga 3:11\\. And this is illustrated by the law and
faith being contrary; for if a just man lives by faith, then not by
the law, for the law does not direct a man to believe, but to work,
and to live by his works, \\#Ga 3:12\\. And the apostle having spoken
of the law as a cursing law, takes the opportunity of showing how
believers are delivered from the curse of it, which is done by
Christ's being made a curse for them; and that he was, appears from
his being crucified and hanged on a tree; the ends of which were, that
the same blessing of justification Abraham had, might come upon the
Gentiles through Christ, and that they might by faith receive the
promise of the Spirit, \\#Ga 3:13,14\\ so that it is clear from hence,
that the blessing of justification is through Christ's being made a
curse, and is received by faith, and is not by the works of the law.
The apostle next argues from the inheritance being by covenant,
testament, or promise, and therefore not by the law: he observes, that
a man's covenant or testament, when confirmed, can neither be
disannulled, nor have anything added to it, and much less can the
covenant or testament of God, confirmed of him in Christ, be
disannulled by the law, or the promise in it be made of none effect by
that which was several hundred years after a declaration of it to
Abraham, to whom, and to whose seed, the promises were made; so that
it unavoidably follows, that since the inheritance or blessing of life
is by promise, as is clear from its being given to Abraham by promise,
then it is not of the law, \\#Ga 3:15-18\\. And whereas an objection
might arise, if this be the case, of what use and service can the law
be? to what purpose, or for what end, was that given? The apostle
answers, that it was added because of transgressions; and that it was
to endure until Christ should come, to whom the promise was made; and
accordingly it was published in a very grand and solemn manner by
angels, and was put into the hands of a mediator, Moses, who stood
between God as one party, and the people of Israel as another,
\\#Ga 3:19,20\\. Moreover, as it might be further objected, that,
according to this way of reasoning, the law is against the promises;
the apostle replies in a way of detestation and abhorrence of any such
thing, and by an argument from the insufficiency of the law to
justify, since it cannot give life, \\#Ga 3:21\\. And then proceeds to
point out another use of the law, which is to conclude men under sin,
or convince men of it, that they, seeing their need of righteousness
and life by Christ might receive the promise of it through faith in
him \\#Ga 3:22\\, and so far were men from being justified by the law
under the former dispensation, that they were kept under it as in a
garrison, and shut up in it as in a prison, until Christ, the object
of faith, was revealed, and released them, \\#Ga 3:23\\, and was
moreover as a rigid and severe schoolmaster; and so it continued until
the times of Christ; and these therefore being the uses of the law, it
is a clear case that justification is by faith, and not by that,
\\#Ga 3:24\\. Besides, Christ being now come, the Jews themselves are
no more under this law as a schoolmaster; it is now abolished, and
therefore there is no justification by it, \\#Ga 3:25\\. And that this
is the case of true believers in Christ is evident, because such are
the children of God, and are taught and led by the Spirit of God, and
are free, and not under the law as a schoolmaster, \\#Ga 3:26\\.
Besides, as they are baptized into Christ, they have put him on, as
the Lord their righteousness, and so profess to be justified by him,
and him only, \\#Ga 3:27\\, and these, let them be of what nation,
sex, state, and condition soever, are all one in Christ, and are all
justified in one and the same way; and being Christ's they are
Abraham's spiritual seed, and so heirs of the same promise of
righteousness and life as he, \\#Ga 3:28,29\\.