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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Galatians 3:27 - 3:27
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Were baptized into Christ (εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε)
See on Mat 28:19. Not in relation to Christ (Meyer), but into spiritual union and communion with him. Comp. Rom 6:3 (see note); 1Co 12:12, 1Co 12:13, 1Co 12:27. Paul here conceives baptism, not as a mere symbolical transaction, but as an act in which believers are put into mystical union with the crucified and risen Lord. Comp. Rom 6:3-11.
(You) put on Christ (Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε)
The phrase only here and Rom 13:14. The figurative use of the verb occurs only once in the Gospels, Luk 24:49, but often in Paul, 1Co 15:53; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10, Col 3:12, etc. Chrysostom (Hom. xiii. on Ephesians) remarks, “We say of friends, one puts on the other, meaning thereby much love and unceasing fellowship.” In lxx quite often in the figurative sense, as Jdg 6:34; 1Ch 12:18; 2Ch 6:41; Job 8:22; Job 29:14; Psa 108:1-13 :18. Similarly in class., Plato, Rep. 620, of Thersites putting on the form of a monkey: Xen. Cyr. ii. 1, 13, of insinuating one's self into the minds of hearers. So the Lat. induere: Cicero, De Off. iii. 10, 43, to assume the part of a judge: Tac. Ann. xvi. 28, to take on the part of a traitor or enemy. To put on Christ implies making his character, feelings and works our own. Thus Chrysostom: “If Christ is Son of God, and thou hast put him on, having the Son in thyself and being made like unto him, thou hast been brought into one family and one nature.” And again: “He who is clothed appears to be that with which he is clothed.”