Chapter 3
The apostle in this chapter, I. Reproves the Galatians for
their folly, in suffering themselves to be drawn away from the faith of the
gospel, and endeavours, from several considerations, to impress them with a
sense of it. II. He proves the doctrine which he had reproved them for
departing from-that of justification by faith without the works of the law, 1.
From the example of Abraham’s justification. 2. From the nature and tenour of
the law. 3. From the express testimony of the Old Testament; and, 4. From the
stability of the covenant of God with Abraham. Lest any should hereupon say,
"Wherefore then serveth the law?’’ he answers, (1.) It was added because
of transgressions. (2.) It was given to convince the world of the necessity of
a Saviour. (3.) It was designed as a schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ. And
then he concludes the chapter by acquainting us with the privilege of
Christians under the gospel state.
Verses 1-5
The apostle is here dealing with those who, having embraced
the faith of Christ, still continued to seek for justification by the works of
the law; that is, who depended upon their own obedience to the moral precepts
as their righteousness before God, and, wherein that was defective, had
recourse to the legal sacrifices and purifications to make it up. These he
first sharply reproves, and then endeavours, by the evidence of truth, to
convince them. This is the right method, when we reprove any for a fault or an
error, to convince them that it is an error, that it is a fault.
He reproves them, and the reproof is very close and warm: he
calls them foolish Galatians, v. 1. Though as Christians they were
Wisdom’s children, yet as corrupt Christians they were foolish children. Yea,
he asks, Who hath bewitched you? whereby he represents them as enchanted
by the arts and snares of their seducing teachers, and so far deluded as to act
very unlike themselves. 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. Note, It is not enough to know the truth, and to say we
believe it, but we must obey it too; we must heartily submit to it, and
stedfastly abide by it. Note, also, Those are spiritually bewitched who, when
the truth as it is in Jesus is plainly set before them, will not thus obey it.
Several things proved and aggravated the folly of these Christians.
1. Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth as crucified
among them; that is, they had had the doctrine of the cross preached to
them, and the sacrament of the Lord’s supper administered among them, in both
which Christ crucified had been set before them. Now, it was the greatest
madness that could be for those who had acquaintance with such sacred
mysteries, and admittance to such great solemnities, not to obey the truth
which was thus published to them, and signed and sealed in that ordinance. Note,
The consideration of the honours and privileges we have been admitted to as
Christians should shame us out of the folly of apostasy and backsliding.
2. He appeals to the experiences they had had of the working
of the Spirit upon their souls (v. 2); he puts them in mind that, upon their
becoming Christians, they had received the Spirit, that many of them at
least had been made partakers not only of the sanctifying influences, but of
the miraculous gifts, of the Holy Spirit, which were eminent proofs of the
truth of the Christian religion and the several doctrines of it, and especially
of this, that justification is by Christ only, and not by the works of the law,
which was one of the peculiar and fundamental principles of it. To convince
them of the folly of their departing from this doctrine, he desires to know how
they came by these gifts and graces: Was it by the works of the law,
that is, the preaching of the necessity of these in order to justification?
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. Or was it
by the hearing of faith, that is, the preaching of the doctrine of faith
in Christ as the only way of justification? This, if they would say the truth,
they were obliged to own, and therefore must be very unreasonable if they
should reject a doctrine of the good effects of which they had had such
experience. Note, (1.) It is usually by the ministry of the gospel that the
Spirit is communicated to persons. And, (2.) Those are very unwise who suffer
themselves to be turned away from the ministry and doctrine which have been
blessed to their spiritual advantage.
3. He calls upon them to consider their past and present
conduct, and thence to judge whether they were not acting very weakly and
unreasonably (v. 3, 4): he tells them that they had begun in the Spirit,
but now were seeking to be made perfect by the flesh; they had embraced
the doctrine of the gospel, by means of which they had received the Spirit, and
wherein only the true way of justification is revealed. And thus they had begun
well; but now they were turning to the law, and expected to be advanced to
higher degrees of perfection by adding the observance of it to faith in Christ,
in order to their justification, which could end in nothing but their shame and
disappointment: for this, instead of being an improvement upon the gospel, was
really a perversion of it; and, while they sought to be justified in this way,
they were so far from being more perfect Christians that they were more in
danger of becoming no Christians at all; hereby they were pulling down with one
hand what they had built with the other, and undoing what they had hitherto
done in Christianity. Yea, he further puts them in mind that they had not only
embraced the Christian doctrine, but suffered for it too; and therefore their
folly would be the more aggravated, if now they should desert it: for in this
case all that they had suffered would be in vain-it would appear that they had
been foolish in suffering for what they now deserted, and their sufferings
would be altogether in vain, and of no advantage to them. Note, (1.) It is the
folly of apostates that they lose the benefit of all they have done in
religion, or suffered for it. And, (2.) It is very sad for any to live in an
age of services and sufferings, of sabbaths, sermons, and sacraments, in vain;
in this case former righteousness shall not be mentioned.
4. He puts them in mind that they had had ministers among
them (and particularly himself) who came with a divine seal and commission; for
they had ministered the Spirit to them, and wrought miracles among them:
and he appeals to them whether they did it by the works of the law or by the
hearing of faith, whether the doctrine that was preached by them, and
confirmed by the miraculous gifts and operations of the Spirit, was that of
justification by the works of the law or by the faith of Christ; they very well
knew that it was not the former, but the latter; and therefore must needs be
inexcusable in forsaking a doctrine which had been so signally owned and
attested, and exchanging it for one that had received no such attestations.
Verses 6-18
The apostle having reproved the Galatians for not obeying
the truth, and endeavoured to impress them with a sense of their folly herein,
in these verses he largely proves the doctrine which he had reproved them for
rejecting, namely, that of justification by faith without the works of the law.
This he does several ways.
I. From the example of Abraham’s justification. This
argument the apostle uses, Rom. 4. Abraham believed God, and that was
accounted to him for righteousness (v. 6); that is, his faith fastened upon
the word and promise of God, and upon his believing he was owned and accepted of
God as a righteous man: as on this account he is represented as the father of
the faithful, so the apostle would have us to know that those who are of
faith are the children of Abraham (v. 7), not according to the flesh, but
according to the promise; and, consequently, that they are justified in the
same way that he was. Abraham was justified by faith, and so are they. To
confirm this, the apostle acquaints us that the promise made to Abraham (Gen.
12:3), In thee shall all nations be blessed, had a reference hereunto,
v. 8. 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 the Gentiles also, should be blessed; not only
blessed in the seed of Abraham, but blessed as Abraham was, being justified as
he was. This the apostle calls preaching the gospel to Abraham; and
thence infers (v. 9) that those who are of faith, that is, true
believers, of what nation soever they are, are blessed with faithful
Abraham. They are blessed with Abraham the father of the faithful, by the
promise made to him, and therefore by faith as he was. It was through faith in
the promise of God that he was blessed, and it is only in the same way that
others obtain this privilege.
II. He shows that we cannot be justified but by faith
fastening on the gospel, because the law condemns us. If we put ourselves upon
trial in that court, and stand to the sentence of it, we are certainly cast,
and lost, and undone; for as many as are of the works of the law are under
the curse, as many as depend upon the merit of their own works as their
righteousness, as plead not guilty, and insist upon their own justification,
the cause will certainly go against them; for it is written, Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law,
to do them, v. 10, and Deu. 27:26. The condition of life, by the law, is
perfect, personal, and perpetual, obedience; the language of it is, Do this
and live; or, as v. 12, The man that doeth them shall live in them:
and for every failure herein the law denounces a curse. Unless our obedience be
universal, continuing in all things that are written in the book of the law,
and unless it be perpetual too (if in any instance at any time we fail and come
short), we fall under the curse of the law. 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 of the law,
we are under the curse of it, it must be a vain thing to look for justification
by it. But, though this is not to be expected from the law, yet the apostle
afterwards acquaints us that there is a way open to our escaping this curse,
and regaining the favour of God, namely, through faith in Christ, who (as he
says, v. 13) hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, etc. A strange
method it was which Christ took to redeem us from the curse of the law; it was by
his being himself made a curse for us. Being made sin for us, he was made a
curse for us; not separated from God, but laid for the present under that
infamous token of the divine displeasure upon which the law of Moses had put a
particular brand, Deu. 21:23. The design of this was that the blessing of
Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ—that all who
believed on Christ, whether Jews or Gentiles, might become heirs of Abraham’s
blessing, and particularly of that great promise of the Spirit, which was
peculiarly reserved for the times of the gospel. Hence it appeared that it was
not by putting themselves under the law, but by faith in Christ, that they
become the people of God and heirs of the promise. Here note, 1. The misery
which as sinners we are sunk into-we are under the curse and condemnation of
the law. 2. The love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ towards us-he has submitted
to be made a curse for us, that he might redeem us from the curse of the law.
3. The happy prospect which we now have through him, not only of escaping the
curse, but of inheriting the blessing. And, 4. That it is only through faith in
him that we can hope to obtain this favour.
III. To prove that justification is by faith, and not by the
works of the law, the apostle alleges the express testimony of the Old
Testament, v. 11. The place referred to is Habak. 2:4, where it is said, The
just shall live by faith; it is again quoted, Rom. 1:17, and Heb. 10:38.
The design of it is to show that those only are just or righteous who do truly
live, who are freed from death and wrath, and restored into a state of life in
the favour of God; and that it is only through faith that persons become
righteous, and as such obtain this life and happiness-that they are accepted of
God, and enabled to live to him now, and are entitled to an eternal life in the
enjoyment of him hereafter. Hence the apostle says, It is evident that no
man is justified by the law in the sight of God. Whatever he may be in the
account of others, yet he is not so in the sight of God; for the law is not
of faith—that says nothing concerning faith in the business of
justification, nor does it give life to those who believe; but the language of
it is, The man that doeth them shall live in them, as Lev. 18:5. It
requires perfect obedience as the condition of life, and therefore now can by
no means be the rule of our justification. This argument of the apostle’s may
give us occasion to remark that justification by faith is no new doctrine, but
what was established and taught in the church of God long before the times of
the gospel. Yea, it is the only way wherein any sinners ever were, or can be,
justified.
IV. To this purpose the apostle urges the stability of the
covenant which God made with Abraham, which was not vacated nor disannulled by
the giving of the law to Moses, v. 15, etc. Faith had the precedence of the
law, for Abraham was justified by faith. It was a promise that he built upon,
and promises are the proper objects of faith. God entered into covenant with
Abraham (v. 8), and this covenant was firm and steady; even men’s covenants are
so, and therefore much more his. When a deed is executed, or articles of
agreement are sealed, both parties are bound, and it is too late then to settle
things otherwise; and therefore it is not to be supposed that by the subsequent
law the covenant of God should be vacated. The original word diatheµkeµ signifies both a covenant and a testament. Now the promise
made to Abraham was rather a testament than a covenant. When a testament has
become of force by the death of the testator, it is not capable of being
altered; and therefore, the promise that was given to Abraham being of the
nature of a testament, it remains firm and unalterable. But, if it should be
said that a grant or testament may be defeated for want of persons to claim the
benefit of it (v. 16), he shows that there is no danger of that in this case.
Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead, but the covenant is made with
Abraham and his seed. 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.
"Nay,’’ says the apostle, "it is in the singular number, and points
at a single person—that seed is Christ,’’ So that the covenant is still
in force; for Christ abideth for ever in his person, and in his spiritual seed,
who are his by faith. And if it be objected that the law which was given by
Moses did disannul this covenant, because that insisted so much upon works, and
there was so little in it of faith or of the promised Messiah, he answers that
the subsequent law could not disannul the previous covenant or promise (v. 18):
If the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise; but, says
he, God gave it to Abraham by promise, and therefore it would be
inconsistent with his holiness, wisdom, and faithfulness, by any subsequent act
to set aside the promise, and so alter the way of justification which he had
thus established. If the inheritance was given to Abraham by promise, and
thereby entailed upon his spiritual seed, we may be sure that God would not
retract that promise; for he is not a man that he should repent.
Verses 19-29
The apostle having just before been speaking of the promise
made to Abraham, and representing that as the rule of our justification, and
not the law, lest they should think he did too much derogate from the law, and
render it altogether useless, he thence takes occasion to discourse of the
design and tendency of it, and to acquaint us for what purposes it was given.
It might be asked, "If that promise be sufficient for salvation, wherefore
then serveth the law? Or, Why did God give the law by Moses?’’ To this he
answers,
I. The law was added because of transgressions, v.
19. It was not designed to disannul the promise, and to establish a different
way of justification from that which was settled by the promise; but it was
added to it, annexed on purpose to be subservient to it, and it was so because
of transgressions. The Israelites, though they were chosen to be God’s
peculiar people, were sinners as well as others, and therefore the law was
given to convince them of their sin, and of their obnoxiousness to the divine
displeasure on the account of it; for by the law is the knowledge of sin
(Rom. 3:20), and the law entered that sin might abound, Rom. 5:20. And
it was also intended to restrain them from the commission of sin, to put an awe
upon their minds, and be a curb upon their lusts, that they should not run into
that excess of riot to which they were naturally inclined; and yet at the same
time it was designed to direct them to the true and only way whereby sin was to
be expiated, and wherein they might obtain the pardon of it; namely, through
the death and sacrifice of Christ, which was the special use for which the law
of sacrifices and purifications was given.
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 gospel dispensation should take place, when Jews and
Gentiles, without distinction, should, upon believing, become the seed of
Abraham. The law was added because of transgressions, till this fulness of
time, or this complete dispensation, should come. But when the seed came, and a
fuller discovery of divine grace in the promise was made, then the law, as
given by Moses, was to cease; that covenant, being found faulty, was to give
place to another, and a better, Heb. 8:7, 8. And though the law, considered as
the law of nature, is always in force, and still continues to be of use to
convince men of sin and to restrain them from it, yet we are now no longer
under the bondage and terror of that legal covenant. The law then was not
intended to discover another way of justification, different from that revealed
by the promise, but only to lead men to see their need of the promise, by
showing them the sinfulness of sin, and to point them to Christ, through whom
alone they could be pardoned and justified.
As a further proof that the law was not designed to vacate
the promise, the apostle adds, It was ordained by angels in the hand of a
mediator. It was given to different persons, and in a different manner from
the promise, and therefore for different purposes. The promise was made to
Abraham, and all his spiritual seed, including believers of all nations, even
of the Gentiles as well as the Jews; but the law was given to the Israelites as
a peculiar people, and separated from the rest of the world. And, whereas the
promise was given immediately by God himself, the law was given by the
ministry of angels, and the hand of a mediator. Hence it appeared that the
law could not be designed to set aside the promise; for (v. 20), A mediator
is not a mediator of one, of one party only; but God is one, but one
party in the promise or covenant made with Abraham: and therefore it is not to
be supposed that by a transaction which passed only between him and the nation
of the Jews he should make void a promise which he had long before made to
Abraham and all his spiritual seed, whether Jews or Gentiles. This would not
have been consistent with his wisdom, nor with his truth and faithfulness.
Moses was only a mediator between God and the spiritual seed of Abraham; and
therefore the law that was given by him could not affect the promise made to
them, much less be subversive of it.
II. The law was given to convince men of the necessity of a
Saviour. The apostle asks (v. 21), as what some might be willing to object, "Is
the law then against the promises of God? Do they really clash and
interfere with each other? Or do you not set the covenant with Abraham, and the
law of Moses, at variance with one another?’’ To this he answers, God
forbid; he was far from entertaining such a thought, nor could it be
inferred from what he had said. 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. That consequence would much rather follow from their
doctrine than from his; for, if there had been a law given that could have
given life, verily righteousness would have been by the law, and in that
case the promise would have been superseded and rendered useless. But that in
our present state could not be, for the scripture hath concluded all under
sin (v. 22), or declared that all, both Jew and Gentile, are in a state of
guilt, and therefore unable to attain to righteousness and justification by the
works of the law. The law discovered their wounds, but could not afford them a
remedy: it showed that they were guilty, because it appointed sacrifices and
purifications, which were manifestly insufficient to take away sin: and
therefore the great design of it was that the promise by faith of Jesus
Christ might be given to those that believe, that being convinced of their
guilt, and the insufficiency of the law to effect a righteousness for them,
they might be persuaded to believe on Christ, and so obtain the benefit of the
promise.
III. The law was designed for a schoolmaster, to bring
men to Christ, v. 24. In the foregoing verse, the apostle acquaints us with
the state of the Jews under the Mosaic economy, that before faith came,
or before Christ appeared and the doctrine of justification by faith in him was
more fully discovered, they were kept under the law, obliged, under
severe penalties, to a strict observance of the various precepts of it; and at
that time they were shut up, held under the terror and discipline of it, as
prisoners in a state of confinement: the design of this was that hereby they
might be disposed more readily to embrace the faith which should afterwards
be revealed, or be persuaded to accept Christ when he came into the world,
and to fall in with that better dispensation he was to introduce, whereby they
were to be freed from bondage and servitude, and brought into a state of
greater light and liberty. Now, in that state, he tells them, the law was
their schoolmaster, to bring them to Christ, that they might be justified by
faith. As it declared the mind and will of God concerning them, and at the
same time denounced a curse against them for every failure in their duty, so it
was proper to convince them of their lost and undone condition in themselves,
and to let them see the weakness and insufficiency of their own righteousness
to recommend them to God. And as it obliged them to a variety of sacrifices,
etc., 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 (though in a more dark and obscure manner) to him as
their only relief and refuge. And thus it was their schoolmaster, to instruct
and govern them in their state of minority, or, as the word paidagoµgos most properly signifies, their servant, to lead and
conduct them to Christ (as children were wont to be led to school by those
servants who had the care of them); that they might be more fully instructed by
him as their schoolmaster, in the true way of justification and salvation,
which is only by faith in him, and of which he was appointed to give the
fullest and clearest discoveries. But lest it should be said, If the law was of
this use and service under the Jewish, why may it not continue to be so under
the Christian state too, the apostle adds (v. 25) that after faith has come,
and the gospel dispensation has taken place, under which Christ, and the way of
pardon and life through faith in him, are set in the clearest light, we are
no longer under a schoolmaster—we have no such need of the law to direct us
to him as there was then. Thus the apostle acquaints us for what uses and
purposes the law served; and, from what he says concerning this matter, we may
observe,
1. The goodness of God to his people of old, in giving the
law to them; for though, in comparison of the gospel state, it was a
dispensation of darkness and terror, yet it furnished them with sufficient
means and helps both to direct them in their duty to God and to encourage their
hopes in him.
2. The great fault and folly of the Jews, in mistaking the
design of the law, and abusing it to a very different purpose from that which
God intended in the giving of it; for they expected to be justified by the
works of it, whereas it was never designed to be the rule of their
justification, but only a means of convincing them of their guilt and of their
need of a Saviour, and of directing them to Christ, and faith in him, as the
only way of obtaining this privilege. See Rom. 9:31, 32; 10:3, 4.
3. The great advantage of the gospel state above the legal,
under which we not only enjoy a clearer discovery of divine grace and mercy
than was afforded to the Jews of old, but are also freed from the state of
bondage and terror under which they were held. We are not now treated as
children in a state of minority, but as sons grown up to a full age, who are
admitted to greater freedoms, and instated in larger privileges, than they
were. This the apostle enlarges upon in the following verses. For, having shown
for what intent the law was given, in the close of the chapter he acquaints us
with our privilege by Christ, where he particularly declares,
(1.) That we are the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus, v. 26. And here we may observe, [1.] The great and excellent
privilege which real Christians enjoy under the gospel: They are the
children of God; they are no longer accounted servants, but sons;
they are not now kept at such a distance, and under such restraints, as the
Jews were, but are allowed a nearer and freer access to God than was granted to
them; yea, they are admitted into the number, and have a right to all the
privileges, of his children. [2.] How they come to obtain this privilege, and
that is by faith in Christ Jesus. Having accepted him as their Lord and
Saviour, and relying on him alone for justification and salvation, they are
hereupon admitted into this happy relation to God, and are entitled to the
privileges of it; for (Jn. 1:12) as many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God, even to those that believe on his name.
And this faith in Christ, whereby they became the children of God, he reminds
us (v. 27), was what they professed in baptism; for he adds, As many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Having in baptism
professed their faith in him, they were thereby devoted to him, and had, as it
were, put on his livery, and declared themselves to be his servants and
disciples; and having thus become the members of Christ, they were through him
owned and accounted as the children of God. Here note, First, Baptism is
now the solemn rite of our admission into the Christian church, as circumcision
was into that of the Jews. Our Lord Jesus appointed it to be so, in the
commission he gave to his apostles (Mt. 28:19), and accordingly it was their
practice to baptize those whom they had discipled to the Christian faith; and
perhaps the apostle might take notice of their baptism here, and of their
becoming the children of God through faith in Christ, professed therein, to
obviate a further objection, which the false teachers might be apt to urge in
favour of circumcision. They might be ready to say, "Though it should be
allowed that the law, as given at mount Sinai, was abrogated by the coming of
Christ the promised seed, yet why should circumcision be set aside too, when
that was given to Abraham together with the promise, and long before the giving
of the law by Moses?’’ But this difficulty is sufficiently removed when the
apostle says, Those who are baptized into Christ have put on Christ; for
thence it appears that under the gospel baptism comes in the room of
circumcision, and that those who by baptism are devoted to Christ, and do
sincerely believe in him, are to all intents and purposes as much admitted into
the privileges of the Christian state as the Jews were by circumcision into
those of the legal (Phil. 3:3), and therefore there was no reason why the use
of that should still be continued. Note, Secondly, In our baptism we put
on Christ; therein we profess our discipleship to him, and are obliged to
behave ourselves as his faithful servants. Being baptized into Christ, we are
baptized into his death, that as he died and rose again, so, in conformity
thereunto, we should die unto sin, and walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:3, 4);
it would be of great advantage to us did we oftener remember this.
(2.) That this privilege of being the children of God, and
of being by baptism devoted to Christ, is now enjoyed in common by all real
Christians. The law indeed made a difference between Jew and Greek, giving the
Jews on many accounts the pre-eminence: that also made a difference between bond
and free, master and servant, and between male and female, the males
being circumcised. But it is not so now; they all stand on the same level, and
are all one in Christ Jesus; as the one is not accepted on the account of
any national or personal advantages he may enjoy above the other, so neither is
the other rejected for the want of them; but all who sincerely believe on
Christ, of what nation, or sex, or condition, soever they be, are accepted of
him, and become the children of God through faith in him.
(3.) That, being Christ’s, we are Abraham’s seed, and
heirs according to the promise. Their judaizing teachers would have them
believe that they must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses, or they could
not be saved: "No,’’ says the apostle, "there is no need of that; for
if you be Christ’s, if you sincerely believe on him, who is the promised
seed, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed, you therefore
become the true seed of Abraham, the father of the faithful, and as such
are heirs according to the promise, and consequently are entitled to the
great blessings and privileges of it.’’ And therefore upon the whole, since it
appeared that justification was not to be attained by the works of the law, but
only by faith in Christ, and that the law of Moses was a temporary institution
and was given for such purposes as were only subservient to and not subversive
of the promise, and that now, under the gospel, Christians enjoy much greater
and better privileges than the Jews did under that dispensation, it must needs
follow that they were very unreasonable and unwise, in hearkening to those who
at once endeavoured to deprive them of the truth and liberty of the gospel.
Excerpt from:
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible
Matthew Henry (1662 - 1714)
Visit www.e-sword.net
and www.ccel.org
