Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Galatians · About this commentary
The Marks of Jesus
Galatians 6:17-18
17 From now on, let no one cause me any trouble, for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus branded on my body. · WEB
The letter ends by putting Paul's body forward as his credential, and the last word is grace to people he has just called foolish.
From now on, let no one cause me any trouble. It sounds abrupt, and it closes the loop the letter opened with. The trouble-word is the one used throughout of what the opponents were doing to the churches Galatians 1:7 Galatians 5:10; Paul turns it to his own case and calls a halt.
The reason he gives is physical: for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus branded on my body. The noun is stigmata, the brand burned into a slave to show whose he was — and the letter has spent six chapters on slavery and freedom, on being bought out and adopted. Paul closes by pointing at the one mark on a body that settles ownership.
The irony is exact, and it is the letter's last argument. His opponents wanted a mark in the flesh as proof of belonging Galatians 6:13. He has marks in the flesh. They were not chosen, not administered by a rite, and not something to boast in — they are what preaching the cross cost him Galatians 5:11, and they are the only credential the letter ends on.
Then verse 18, and after the curse of chapter 1, the foolish Galatians of chapter 3, and the fear of chapter 4, the last sentence is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Grace is the word the letter opened with Galatians 1:3 and the thing it accused them of falling away from Galatians 5:4. It is also the last word he gives them. And brothers — the address he has used throughout, and does not withdraw at the end.
settled What this mark means