10 Am I now using arguments to men, or God? or is it my desire to give men pleasure? if I was still pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
But even as the good news was given to us by the approval of God, so we give it out; not as pleasing men, but God by whom our hearts are tested.
But Peter and the Apostles, answering, said, We have to do the orders of God, not of man.
Not only under your master's eye, as pleasers of men; but as servants of Christ, doing the pleasure of God from the heart;
But he is a Jew who is a secret one, whose circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.
For this reason we make it our purpose, in the body or away from it, to be well-pleasing to him. For we all have to come before Christ to be judged; so that every one of us may get his reward for the things done in the body, good or bad. Having in mind, then, the fear of the Lord, we put these things before men, but God sees our hearts; and it is my hope that we may seem right in your eyes.
And they sent to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Master, we see that you are true, and that you are teaching the true way of God, and have no fear of anyone, because you have no respect for a man's position.
But Peter and John in answer said to them, It is for you to say if it is right in the eyes of God to give attention to you more than to God: For it is not possible for us to keep from saying what we have seen and have knowledge of.
Even as I give way to all men in all things, not looking for profit for myself, but for the good of others, that they may get salvation.
Anyone who is a child of God does no sin, because he still has God's seed in him; he is not able to be a sinner, because God is his Father.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Galatians 1
Commentary on Galatians 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 1
In this chapter, after the preface or introduction (v. 1-5), the apostle severely reproves these churches for their defection from the faith (v. 6-9), and then proves his own apostleship, which his enemies had brought them to question,
Gal 1:1-5
In these verses we have the preface or introduction to the epistle, where observe,
The apostle, having thus taken notice of the great love wherewith Christ hath loved us, concludes this preface with a solemn ascription of praise and glory to him (v. 5): To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Intimating that on this account he is justly entitled to our highest esteem and regard. Or this doxology may be considered as referring both to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom he had just before been wishing grace and peace. They are both the proper objects of our worship and adoration, and all honour and glory are perpetually due to them, both on account of their own infinite excellences, and also on account of the blessings we receive from them.
Gal 1:6-9
Here the apostle comes to the body of the epistle; and he begins it with a more general reproof of these churches for their unsteadiness in the faith, which he afterwards, in some following parts of it, enlarges more upon. Here we may observe,
Gal 1:10-24
What Paul had said more generally, in the preface of this epistle, he now proceeds more particularly to enlarge upon. There he had declared himself to be an apostle of Christ; and here he comes more directly to support his claim to that character and office. There were some in the churches of Galatia who were prevailed with to call this in question; for those who preached up the ceremonial law did all they could to lessen Paul's reputation, who preached the pure gospel of Christ to the Gentiles: and therefore he here sets himself to prove the divinity both of his mission and doctrine, that thereby he might wipe off the aspersions which his enemies had cast upon him, and recover these Christians into a better opinion of the gospel he had preached to them. This he gives sufficient evidence of,