Charles Ellicott Commentary Galatians 6:16

"And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace [be] upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." — Galatians 6:16 (ASV)

According to this rule.—The word for “rule” is the same that later received a special application in the phrase, “Canon of Scripture.” It originally meant a carpenter’s rule, or the line a carpenter works by—hence, a rule or standard; and, from that, the list of books meeting a certain standard—not, as one might think, books that themselves supplied a standard.

The Apostle confines his benediction to those who hold the fundamental truths of Christianity—that is, here more specifically, the doctrine of justification by faith and the spiritual view of Christianity connected with it, as opposed to the merely external and mechanical system of the Judaizers.

And upon the Israel of God.—The benediction is addressed, not to two distinct sets of persons (“those who walk by this rule” and “the Israel of God”), but to the same set of persons described in different ways. “And” is therefore equivalent to “namely:” Yea, upon the Israel of God.

By the “Israel of God” here means the “spiritual Israel;” not converts from Judaism alone, but all who prove their real affinity to Abraham by a faith like Abraham’s (Galatians 3:14; Galatians 3:29; Romans 4:11–12; Romans 9:6–8).