Expositor's Bible Commentary 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)

Paul’s last words are a request and a benediction. The request is that henceforth he be not troubled with the kind of problem that had erupted in the Galatian churches. He does not want them to trouble him any longer by giving way to the legalistic heresies, for he has suffered enough already. It would be far better if the churches he founded at such cost would assume their own share of suffering, above all by resisting the kind of teaching that the legalizers upheld and therefore, if necessary, by enduring whatever persecution might follow.

The “marks [GK 5116] of Jesus” refer to the scars Paul bore on his body as the result of the persecutions he had endured for the sake of his Lord (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:2–6; 11:23–30). These marks revealed his relationship to Christ, just as the marks of a slave revealed his ownership. These genuine and honorable marks in the body contrast strikingly with the ritualistic mark of circumcision the legalizers wished to impose on the Galatians.

Paul ends the letter as he had begun it, upon the single and glorious note of God’s grace, expressing the wish that this grace might abide with the spirits of the Galatians. The church will always know great days when whatever external marks there might be (v.17) are not an effort to impress God ritualistically but are a natural result of true Christian service.