The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary of the Books of the Bible: Volume 29 (of 32) / The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary of the Epistles of St. Paul the Apostle: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and I-II Thessalonians

THE OLD TESTAMENT Volumes 1–21
THE NEW TESTAMENT Volumes 22–32
Volume 29
ON THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, AND I.–II. Thessalonians
Author of the Commentaries on Kings, Psalms (CXXI.—CXXX.), Lamentations, Ezekiel, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon
printed in the united states of america
THE
Character of the Galatians. —These people were of Celtic descent. They were the relics of a Gaulish invasion which swept over South-eastern Europe in the early part of the third century before Christ and poured into Asia Minor. Here the Celtic tribes maintained themselves in independence under their native princes, until a hundred years later they were subdued by the Romans. Their country now formed a province of the empire. They had retained much of their ancient language and manners; at the same time, they readily acquired Greek culture, and were superior to their neighbours in intelligence. Jews had settled among them in considerable numbers and had prepared the way of the Gospel; it was through their influence that the Judaistic agitation took so strong a hold of the Galatian Churches. The epistle implies that its readers generally were acquainted with the Old Testament and with Hebrew history, and that they took a lively interest in the affairs of the Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch. None of the New Testament Churches possesses a more strongly marked character. They exhibit the well-known traits of the Celtic nature. They were generous, impulsive, vehement in feeling and language; but vain, fickle, and quarrelsome. Cæsar wrote: “The infirmity of the Gauls is that they are fickle in their resolves, fond of change, and not to be trusted”; and by Thierry they are characterised thus: “Frank, impetuous, impressible, eminently intelligent, but at the same time extremely changeable, inconstant, fond of show, perpetually quarrelling, the fruit of excessive vanity.” Eight of the fifteen works of the flesh enumerated in chap. v. 20, 21 are sins of strife. They could hardly be restrained from “biting and devouring one another” (ch. v. 15). Like their kinsmen at this time in the west of Europe, they were prone to revellings and drunkenness. They had probably a natural bent towards a scenic and ritualistic type of religion, which made the spirituality of the Gospel pall upon their taste and gave to the teaching of the Judaisers its fatal bewitchment.