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of the epistle a reference to that Sacrifice for sin, which was being empted of meaning by
the false teaching combated by this epistle.
The apostle stresses the fact that the Saviour "gave" Himself tou dontos heauton, and
this participial clause "serves at the very outset to specify the active principle of the error
of the Galatians" (Ellicott). This use of didomi places in strong contrast the negative of
3: 21, "If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law", and the intense personal note of 2: 20, 21 is incipient in
these words of 1: 4:
"I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me,
and gave Himself for me . . . . . If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in
vain" (2: 20, 21).
Christ gave Himself "for our sins". The Received Text reads huper, but the balance of
authority is in favour of peri as the true reading here. While it cannot be said that huper
and peri are never interchangeable by the writers of the New Testament generally
speaking, peri will be found used with "things", as for instance sins, while huper will be
used of persons. The two prepositions are found in I Pet. 3: 18 Christ suffered "for
sins" peri the Just "for the unjust" huper, and illustrate this distinction. Peri means
"around" and so "concerning". It encircles the object in view.
The dignity of the Person and the unique character of His work forbid the idea that
Christ could die for our sins, and yet, weak and beggarly elements, rites and observances,
all of them the works of the flesh, could have part or lot in this gracious work of
redemption. The apostle had made it very clear when he opened his ministry in Galatia
that "Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that
believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of
Moses" (Acts 13: 38, 39).
The apostle however, does not stay at the statement that Christ "gave Himself for our
sins" he proceeds to show its application in a special particular:
"That He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God
and our Father" (Gal. 1: 4).
Just as we discover that there is an intimate connexion between the reference to the
Sacrifice for sins in this salutation and the purpose of the epistle, so most surely must
there be an adequate reason for this extension. No difficulty exists in the insistence on
"deliverance" for emancipation is the key thought of the epistle's doctrine, but the
question persists, "Why go on to speak about this present evil age? How does that bear
upon the theme and motive of Galatians?" Ordinarily "the present evil age" would mean
much the same as "this present world", literally "the age of this world" (Eph. 2: 2) and
simply "this world" (Rom. 12: 2), and placed in opposition to "that world" (Luke 20: 35)
and "the world to come" (Heb. 6: 5). But there is no evident or sufficient justification
for obtruding this teaching in the salutation of an epistle; there must be something in the
words used that would strike with intended force, those who were in the position that