Paul usually dictated his letters, but this was written with his own hand. The characters were large and clear, v. 11, R.V. Perhaps this was due to the trouble with his eyesight referred to in 4:15. But the Apostle gloried in the sears that suffering had left upon his frame, because they seemed to him the brand-marks of the happy slavery of Jesus, v.17. If Judaizing teachers gloried in their brand-marks, how much more did he in his! The Cross had ont him off from the world. He was indifferent to worldly praise or blame; he took his mareching-orders from Christ alone. This is the third time in his Epistle that Paul names the reflex influence of the Cross. See 2:20; 5:24; 6:14. Compare v. 15 with 1 Cor. 7:19.

Notice the breadth of the Apostle’s benediction, v.