The first of the three major sections of the epistle begins here. We could classify them as history (1:11-2:21), theology (chs. 3-4), and ethics (5:1-6:10).
". . . Paul was . . . following the logic of the Christian life: Because of who God is and what he has done (history) we must believe what he has said (theology) in order to live as he commands (ethics)."27
Here begins the theological section of the epistle, which Paul led up to in his preceding historical account of his own conversion and calling culminating in his confrontation with Peter over justification.79Paul first vindicated the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and then he clarified it (ch. 4).
In this section Paul summarized some of his more important points. He also appealed to his readers again to urge them to follow through and to put into practice what he had taught them.
"Before concluding his letter Paul returns once more to the antithesis of cross and circumcision, setting them forth this time as representing respectively the true and the false ground of boasting, and thus carrying a stage further his polemic against the Judaizers and their way of legal observance (cf. 5:2-12)."218
". . . the subscription [6:11-18] provides important clues for understanding the issues discussed throughout Galatians, particularly those having to do with the judaizing threat brought into the churches by certain legalistically oriented Jewish Christians, for it not only summarizes the main points dealt with earlier in the letter but also allows us to cut through all of the verbage [sic] and see matters in their essence as Paul saw them."219
6:11 Evidently Paul wrote the rest of this letter himself. He probably dictated the former verses to a scribe (cf. 1 Cor. 16:21; Col. 4:18; 2 Thess. 3:17). The "large letters"were probably capitals used for the sake of emphasis and to distinguish Paul's handwriting from his secretary's.
Betz observed that what Paul wrote with his own hand "contains the interpretive clues to the understanding of Paul's major concerns in the latter as a whole and should be employed as the hermeneutical key to the intentions of the Apostle."220
6:12-13 The Jews would not persecute the false teachers as much as they would the apostles since the false teachers required their converts to undergo circumcision. Also they desired to please men, and they wanted to boast, inappropriately, about their converts in Galatia.
"Whereas Paul was concerned about the Spirit's inward work in his converts, so that Christ should be formed' in them (cf. 4:19), the Judaizers' concern was for an external mark, a mark produced in the flesh' of those whom they could win over to their side."221
"The cross of Christ"(v. 12) stands here for the whole doctrine of justification by faith alone that Paul had been defending in this epistle.222
6:14-15 Paul boasted only in Christ's cross, the work of Christ for him. That was all he took pride in. The Cross was a symbol of shame. Because of the Cross the world system had lost its appeal to Paul, and he had lost his appeal to the world. Now circumcision was unimportant. Only being a new creation in Christ mattered (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17).
"It is difficult after sixteen centuries and more during which the cross has been a sacred symbol, to realize the unspeakable horror and loathing which the very mention or thought of the cross provoked in Paul's day. The word cruxwas unmentionable in polite Roman society . . .; even when one was being condemned to death by crucifixion the sentence used an archaic formula which served as a sort of euphemism . . .
"But Paul, Roman citizen by birth and religious Jew by upbringing, not only dismisses as the merest refuse (skubala, Phil. 3:8) those things in which he had once taken a proper pride but embraces as the most worth-while goal in life the knowledge of the crucified Christ and boasts in his cross--a shocking paradox indeed."223
6:16 Paul wished for God's peace and mercy for all who walked by the rule he had expounded, namely faith apart from works.
"It is interesting that he goes on: according to this rule, for he has been opposing people who subjected believers to strict rules. But rule (= straight rod', BAGD) points us to the authentic way, the one right path on which to walk."224
"This conditional blessing at the end of the letter stands in marked contrast to the conditional curse with which Paul opened his epistle (1:6-9)."225
Especially he wished this for the "Israel of God."This unusual title refers to saved Jews. It describes a second group in the verse, not the same group. Note the repetition of "upon"that makes this distinction. Also "Israel"always refers to physical Jews everywhere else in the New Testament (65 times). Furthermore it would be natural for Paul to single out Christian Jews for special mention since in this epistle he sounded almost anti-Semitic. Therefore it is better to take this phrase in its regular usage rather than as a unique designation for the church as a whole, as many non-dispensationalists do.226
"Strong confirmation of this position [i.e., that "Israel"refers to Jews in the New Testament] comes from the total absence of an identification of the church with Israel until A.D. 160; and also from the total absence, even then, of the term Israel of God' to characterize the church."227
"The conclusion is that the church is never called a spiritual Israel' or a new Israel.' The term Israel is either used of the nation or the people as a whole, or of the believing remnant within. It is never used of the church in general or of Gentile believers in particular. In fact, even after the Cross there remains a threefold distinction. First, there is a distinction between Israel and the Gentiles as in 1 Corinthians 10:32 and Ephesians 2:11-12. Second, there is a distinction between Israel and the church in 1 Corinthians 10:32. Third, there is a distinction between Jewish believers (the Israel of God) and Gentile believers in Romans 9:6 and Galatians 6:16."228
6:17-18 In closing Paul appealed to his readers to end the controversy in Galatia that had caused him so much trouble and distraction as Christ's bond-slave. He cited the scars he had received as the target of persecution, in contrast to circumcision, as his final proof of his devotion to Christ. He may have received some of these scars when the people of Lystra stoned him during his preaching tour of Galatia (Acts 14:19-20; cf. 2 Cor. 11:25). Paul was not a "people pleaser."
"If a thing costs us nothing men will value it at nothing."229
"These genuine and honorable marks in the body contrast strikingly with the ritualistic and now meaningless mark (circumcision) the legalizers wished to impose on the Galatians."230
". . . Paul's readers immediately would have identified the branding of the flesh with slavery, for slaves in the ancient world frequently were marked with the insignia of their master as a badge of identification."231
Paul finally appealed for God's grace to be the portion of the Galatians (cf. 1:3). "Your spirit"means "you."As in no other of his epistles, he bid farewell by referring to his readers tenderly as "brethren."
Whereas this epistle began very solemnly and harshly, Paul's tone mellowed as he proceeded. It ends on an uncommonly loving note (cf. Phile. 25; Phil. 4:23).
