We now come  to the closing appeal  of the great argument  that occupies

Gal. 2: 15 - 4: 12.  The Apostle started his argument by appealing to Peter to consider

what he was really doing when he attempted "to build again the things destroyed",

clinching the argument with an appeal, "I am dead to the law".

Now having shown the place that the promise has above the law, the superiority of

sonship above serfdom, the passing of the pedagogue and the coming in of the fullness of

Christ, the Apostle turns to the Galatians who had been misled by Judaistic enthusiasts

and applies to them the same form of argument and appeal that he had used with Peter.

The structure demonstrates this, and we give the opening and closing members again so

that the evidence shall be before us.

A | 2: 15-20. | a | Phusis. "By nature." Jews.

b | Build again things destroyed. Palin.

c | Personal. "I am dead to the Law."

A | 4: 8-12. | a | Phusis. "By nature" gods.

b | Turn again to elements. Palin.

c | Personal. "Be as I am."

"We who are Jews by nature", said Paul to Peter. "Ye did service unto them which by

nature no gods", said Paul to the Galatians. "If I build again the things which I destroyed,

I make myself a transgressor", said Paul to Peter. "How turn ye again to the weak and

beggarly elements", said Paul to Galatians. Then Paul turns from argument to appeal,

and said to Peter:

"I am dead . . . . . I am crucified with Christ"--so he turns from argument with the

Galatians and appeals to them, "Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are".

The Apostle is not questioning the real existence of the gods of the heathen. That

question does not arise, for however far the Galatians had slipped into ritualism, they had

not given up their faith in the true God. Among the heathen there were "gods many and

lords many" (I Cor. 8: 5), but, says the Apostle, you once served those who though no

gods at all, were ignorantly considered to be so, yet now, even though you have come to a

saving knowledge of the gospel, you have gone back in principle to the self same

elements that held you in bondage before your salvation. "How turn ye again . . . . . ye

desire again." The Apostle uses the word palin "again" twice, and in the second instance

he follows it with the added word anothen "anew".