custom, and have written the whole epistle with his own hand.  The aorist

usually refers either (1) to a former letter (1 Cor. 5:9), or (2) to an epistle

now concluded (Rom. 15:15), or (3) to a foregoing portion of the epistle (1

Cor. 9:15).

`With this partially conflicting evidence it seems impossible to decide

positively whether St. Paul wrote the whole epistle or only the

concluding portion' (Ellicott).

Our own conclusion which coincides with that of Lightfoot, Conybeare and

Howson and The Companion Bible, is that the `large letters' written with Paul's

own hand refer to the postscript only.  Conybeare and Howson print as a note

the following illustrative incident:

`The writer of this note received a letter from the venerable Neander a

few months before his death ... his letter is written in the fair and flowing

hand of an amanuensis, but it ends with a few irregular lines in large rugged

characters, written by himself, and explaining the cause of his needing the

services of an amanuensis, namely, the weakness of his eyes (probably the very

malady of St. Paul).  It is impossible to read this autograph without thinking

of the present passage, and observing that he might have expressed himself in

the very words of St. Paul -- Idete pelikois humin grammasin egrapsa te eme

`Humin, "to you".  Standing after pelikois, "large", this word can scarcely be

taken with "I write" or "I wrote" to you, it is connected with pelikois, as

though the apostle said "how large, mark you!"`

Whether the large letters were for emphasis, a thought already incipient

in the figure of the `placard' (`evidently set forth') of Galatians 3:1, or

whether Paul's handwriting was unlike that of a trained slave, rather

irregular, to which may be added the affliction of his eyes, which he mentions

in Galatians 4:15, may not be easy to decide, but emphasis there is from

whatever single or combined causes.  Whether Paul wrote the whole epistle with

his own hand, whether all the epistle was written in large letters, whether the

postscript only was written by his hand, and the postscript only in large

letters, the fact remains that we have an emphatic personal summary given by

the apostle at the close of this most personal epistle.

In Hebrews, we have a `summary' given in chapter 8:1 where we learn that

`a seated priest in a heavenly sanctuary' sums up what he had been teaching in

the first seven chapters.  Here, in Galatians 6:12 -16, we have the apostle's

own underlining, and we should be foolish in the extreme if we neglected so

evident a guide to the understanding of the main theme of this most important

Gather.  This word is used both in the Old Testament  and in the New Testament

to indicate part of the goal of more than one dispensation and calling.

`Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles

afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep

him, as a shepherd doth his flock' (Jer. 31:10).

This gathering will be under the New Covenant, where `scattering' is exchanged

for plucking up and breaking down, and `gathering' by building and planting

(Jer. 31:28 -40), and this will be final and age -lasting.