Authentication

“See with how large letters I write unto you with mine own hand.” (Galatians 6:11, ASV)

My first job after leaving military service was to work for a company as a project engineer in research and development. The company manufactured and converted paper into packaging and shipping containers. My job was to analyze manufacturing processes and materials to primarily solve manufacturing issues.

One of my first projects involved rolls of paper that would not run satisfactorily through a printing press. The problem was that the paper would delaminate as it ran through the printing sections of the press. For the project, my boss assigned a senior project engineer with over 20 years of experience to work with me. So, we went to the plant to watch the production.

We observed the problem, verified the results, and concluded that the paper was defective. So, I wrote the report, signed my name to the bottom of it and sent it to the boss.

After reading it, my boss called me into his office and read me the riot act. There was over thirty or forty thousand dollars of defective paper that another division of our company produced for the printer. My boss was irate that we did not find a way to salvage the product. Rather than concluding that the product was defective, he wanted me find a way to modify the process and salvage the paper they had. (Which eventually we did.)

My boss asked me over and over again if the senior engineer had influenced the report’s conclusion, which he did. However, it was my signature on the report. It was my project. I took full responsibility for the project and its conclusions.

The point is this. When people place their signature on something, they are making a bold statement. They are stating that the writing is theirs. They are attesting to the fact that the content is from them.

Here in the conclusion to the letter that Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia, Paul makes a very important statement. He wrote, “See with how large letters I write unto you with mine own hand.” There is some conjecture by biblical scholars as to why Paul may have written with large letters. Some consider it is because his eyesight may have been failing. Others think it was to make a point of emphasis. However, in this discussion we should not lose sight of the main thing Paul stated here, “I write unto you with mine own hand.”

Paul made it a point to let the readers know that he personally wrote the letter. Some believe that it was just this conclusion to the letter that he wrote in his own hand, as many feel that Paul often dictated his letters to another who transcribed his words. Yet since the phrase, “I write, is from the verb, grapho, written in the first person, aorist tense, active voice, and indicative mood, it is very likely that Paul is referring to the entire letter. The KJV translated it as “I have written,” which in this case seems more accurate.

In either case, Paul is putting his signature on the entire contents of the letter. He wanted them to know that with great passion he wrote these words to them and that it was for their own good. The point for us is that this work of Paul’s carries divine authority given through an apostle directly commissioned by the Lord. The theology he presented was not man made. It was given through divine inspiration. Thus, we must take heed to the principles he presented to these churches that were troubled by a dangerous heresy of legalism. We must guard against such heresy in our own lives and in our churches.