Charles Ellicott Commentary Galatians 6:17

"Henceforth, let no man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus." — Galatians 6:17 (ASV)

The Apostle has finished. He will no longer waste time on these troublesome attacks upon himself and his authority. He dismisses them with an appeal that should be final. He points to the scars of wounds he received in his Master’s service. The branding irons of Christ, he says, have imprinted these on me. They show that I, like the slaves of a pagan temple, am devoted and consecrated to His service. They are my credentials, and I will produce no others. My attackers must leave me in peace.

The marks. The stigmata, or marks inflicted with branding irons, are like those showing that a slave is attached to a particular temple or to the service of a specific deity. Branding was applied in some other cases but especially to temple slaves. The ones the Galatians were most familiar with would have been those engaged in the worship of Cybele.

There appears to be no evidence to connect this passage directly with the incident of the “stigmata” in the life of St. Francis of Assisi. However, it seems very probable that the use of the word—left untranslated in the Latin versions—suggested, whether by a closer or more distant association, the idea that took such a strong hold on his mind. This idea was so powerful that, in a moment of extreme spiritual tension, the actual marks of the Passion seemed to imprint themselves on his body.

Of the Lord Jesus. The true text is simply, “of Jesus.”