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The Family Expofitor:

OR, A

PARAPHRASE

ON THE

EPISTLE

O F

PAUL the APOSTLE

TO THE

GALATIANS.

WITH

Critical NOTES, and a practical IMPROVEMENT of each SECTION.

ဦး

A

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

TO THE

PARAPHRASE

T

and NOTES

On the EPISTLE to the

GALATIA ANS.

HE Churches of Galatia, which was a Province of
the leffer Afia, were first converted to the Chriftian
Faith by the Apostle Paul, about the latter End of
the Year 50, when paffing through the Region of
Galatia, he was received with great Affection, and
made the Inftrument of planting several Churches
there; which, when he vifited thofe Parts again in his next Pro-
grefs in the Year 54, he had an Opportunity of confirming in the
Doctrine that he before had taught them. (Compare Acts xvi. 6.
xviii. 23. and Gal. iv. 13---15.)

From the Contents of this Epifle it appears, that after he had

preached the Gofpel to the Galatians, fome Judaizing Zealots had

endeavoured to degrade the Character of St. Paul among them, as

VOL. V.

A

onc

2

A General Introduction

one not immediately commiffioned by Chrift, as the other Apostles were, and to fubvert his Doctrine in the grand Article of Juftification, by infifting on the Obfervation of the Jewish Ceremonies, and fo attempting to incorporate the Law with Chriftianity. And as St. Paul expreffes here to the Galatians his Concern and Wonder, that they were fo foon perverted from the Doctrine he had preached, (Chap. 1. 6.) he therefore must have written this Epistle not long after he had been among them; and as no Hint is given through the whole of it, that he had been with them more than once, it is most reasonable to conclude, that it was written before his fecond Journey to Galatia, and confequently not later than the Year of our Lord 53, which was the 13th of the Emperor Claudian. (See Vol. iii. Sect. 41. Note (2), page 292.)

ritten,

And though by the Subfcription, which is commonly placed at the End of it, this Epiftle is faid to be written from Rome; yet if the latest Date which fome have given it should be allowed, which fixes it to the Year 58, this could not be the Place from whence it was as St. Paul then had never been at Rome, and none fuppofe him to have come there till after the Year 60; which manifeftly fhews, that the Subfcription ought to be rejected as a spurious Addition, though it has been the means of leading many into a palpable Miftake. (See Politi. Sect. 44. Note (a), pag. 309.) But dating it as above, in the Year 53, it appears to be written from Corinth, where the Apostle had fufficient Time to write it (as he did) with his own Hand, as he continued in that City near two Years. Compare Acts xviii. 3, 11.

The principal Defign of the Apoftle Paul in this Epiftle, was to affert and vindicate his Apoftolical Authority and Doctrine, "and to establish and confirm the Churches of Galatia in the "Faith of Chrift, efpecially with refpect to the important Point "of Juftification; to expofe the Errors that were introduced among them; and to revive thofe Principles of Chriftianity that "he had taught them, when he firft preached the Gofpel to "them." And to this Purpose,

FIRST, He begins with an Addrefs adapted to his main Defign, in which he afferts his own Apostleship, and hints at the Provifion made for our Juftification by Chrift, expreffing at the fame

Time