Paul questions the Galatians on justification 1 O senseless Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been set forth, crucified among you? 2 This alone I want to learn of you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish, that, whereas you began in the Spirit, you would now be made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so great things in vain? If it be yet in vain. 5 He therefore who gives to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you; does he do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of the faith? 6 As it is written: Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice. (Gen. 15:6)
The example of Abraham 7 Know therefore, that they who are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing, that God justifies the Gentiles by faith, told to Abraham before: In you shall all nations be blessed. (Gen 12:3; 18:18) 9 Therefore they that are of faith, shall be blessed with faithful Abraham.
The nature of the Law 10 For as many as are of the works of the law, are under a curse. For it is written: Cursed is every one, that abides not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them. (Dt. 27:26) 11 But that in the law no man is justified with God, it is manifest: because the just man lives by faith. (Hab 2:4) 12 But the law is not of faith: but, He that does those things, shall live in them. (Lv. 18:5) 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written: Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree: (Dt. 21:23) 14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus: that we may receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.
The promise of God 15 Brethren (I speak after the manner of man,) yet a man's testament, if it be confirmed, no man despises, nor adds to it. 16 To Abraham were the promises made and to his seed. He did not say, And to his seeds, as of many: but as of one, And to your seed, (Gn. 12:7; 13:15; 17:7; 24:7) which is Christ. 17 Now this I say, that the testament which was confirmed by God, the law which was made after four hundred and thirty years, does not disannul, to make the promise of no effect. 18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise.
The purpose of the Law 19 Why then was the law? It was set because of transgressions, until the seed should come, to whom he made the promise, being ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator is not of one: but God is one. 21 Was the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could give life, truly justice should have been by the law. 22 But the scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise, by the faith of Jesus Christ, might be given to them that believe.
Faith supersedes the Law 23 But before the faith came, we were kept under the law shut up, to that faith which was to be revealed. 24 Wherefore the law was our pedagogue in Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after the faith is come, we are no longer under a pedagogue. 26 For you are all the children of God by faith, in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you be Christ's, then are you the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise.
Commentary on Galatians 3
3:1 crucified among you: Yet He was not crucified in Galatia, but at Jerusalem. His reason for saying, among you, is to declare the power of faith to see events which are at a distance. He says not, crucified, but, openly set forth crucified, signifying that by the eye of faith they saw more distinctly than some who were present as spectators. (St. John Chrysostom)
3:2-3 He means that, although they had begun to be converted spiritually, or had begun to speak through the Holy Spirit with various tongues, they are now wearied by fleshly observances, disregarding all things spiritual as they pass into carnal ceremonies. (Haimo of Auxerre)
3:5 miracles among you: Gifts of prophecy, kinds of tongues, cures of the sick, and the rest of this sort. (Robert Grosseteste)
3:6 Abraham: Then, as they made great account of the Patriarch, he brings his example forward, and shows that he too was justified by Faith… The Law did not then exist, he says, neither does it now exist, any more than then. In disproving the need of the Law, he introduces one who was justified before the Law, lest an objection should also be made to him; for as then it was not yet given, so now, having been given, it was abrogated. And as they made much of their descent from Abraham, and feared lest, abandoning the Law, they should be considered strangers to his kin; Paul removes this fear by turning their argument against themselves, and proves that faith is especially concerned in connecting them with Abraham. (St. John Chrysostom)
3:7 the children of Abraham: Not by blood, but by imitation; to them, therefore, belongs the blessing pronounced on Abraham. (Cornelius a Lapide)
3:10 curse: This means that those who think they can be justified through the Law are under the curse of the Law precisely because they are unable to fulfill the things contained in it. Therefore Peter says to the Jews, “Why do you attempt to impose a yoke upon us that neither we, nor our ancestors have been able to bear?” (Acts 15:10)… The Law was not fulfilled by faith but by works. (Haimo of Auxerre) Therefore, inasmuch as the Law begets a knowledge of sin and offers no help against sin, they are said to be under a curse, since they are powerless to escape it by those works... For no one is made just before God by works but by the habit of faith, not acquired but infused. And therefore, as many as seek to be justified by works are under a curse, because sin is not removed nor anyone justified in the sight of God by them, but by the habit of faith vivified by charity. (St. Thomas Aquinas) book of the law: That is, in Deuteronomy, which is the abbreviation of the Law. Moses enumerated all the precepts. (St. Bruno) For Moses did indeed command many things which no one could fulfill, in order to tame the pride of the Jews. (Glossa Ordinaria)
3:11 just man lives by faith: This is found in Habakkuk 2:4 restated in Romans 1:17 and Hebrews 10:38. Because the first principle whereby God exists in us is faith, faith is called the principle of living. (St. Thomas Aquinas)
3:12 shall live in them: Scripture does not say that he will find life through it, in the sense that through the law he will live in heaven, but he will find life through it to the extent that what he merits, he reaps in the present world. (St. Jerome Hom 76)
3:13 became a curse: It is not that Christ Himself became cursed as though He had sin. Rather He became a curse, that is, a sacrifice offered up for the sake of the cursed and sinners, namely for us who were bound under the curse and death of Adam. (Haimo of Auxerre) hangs on a tree: The hanging on a tree refers not so much to crucifixion, as to the hanging of a body after death on stakes or crosses Jos 10:26. (Bishop John McEvilly) This kind of punishment was appointed for those found guilty of the most extreme crimes. (Theodoret of Cyrus) The innocent Savior hung on the tree is not Himself accursed, but is the curse of those whom He was hung. (Ambrosiaster)
3:14 promise of the Spirit: To the children of Abraham, to those who believe on Christ, the descendant of Abraham, was promised the Holy Spirit to justify and sanctify us. (Cornelius a Lapide)
3:15 testament: It is a charter or document that parents draw up for their children pertaining to those possessions which, after the parents death, they will each come to posses from the parental inheritance. (Haimo of Auxerre) Paul says this because he wants to explain the sense of the divine promise by using a human example. (Ambrosiaster)
3:16-18 But let us go to the bottom of this illustration. It was promised Abraham that by his seed the heathen should be blessed; and his seed according to the flesh is Christ. (St. John Chrysostom)
3:17 four hundred and forty years: An important question is here raised as to the date from which these 430 years should be reckoned, for the terminus ad quem alone is clearly defined in this passage, the year when the law was given on Mount Sinai. St. Paul’s computation seems in conflict with Exod. 12:40, which speaks of the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt as lasting 430 years, or, in other words, which represents the time between the going down of Jacob into Egypt and the Exodus as 430 years; but the Apostle seems to count the interval between Abraham and the Exodus as 430 years. But from Abraham to Jacob’s descent was 200 years, and therefore if Exod. 12:40 is to be followed, the Apostle should have said 630 years.
I reply briefly with St. Augustine (qu. 47 in Exod.); with Athanasius, or rather Anastasius, in his “Synopsis of Holy Scripture” (in loco) with Eusebius, in his Chronicon; with Rupert, Tostatus, Cajetan (in Exod.), that the computation of St. Paul is identical with that of Moses in Exod. 12:40, and that both begin |
to reckon, not from the descent of Jacob into Egypt, but from the seventy-fifth year of Abraham’s life, when he was called from his country to go into Canaan. It was in that year that he received the blessings St. Paul is referring to, as is evident from the beginning of Gen. 12.
1. This appears from the obvious fact that the Hebrews did not dwell in Egypt 430 years; for Kohath went down with his grandfather, Jacob (Exod. 6:18). But Kohath lived 133 years, and his, son Amram 137 years. When Moses, Amram’s son, went out of Egypt with the Hebrews, he was in his eighty-first year; and if all these three are added together, we get 351 only. But we must deduct from this total the years that Kohath lived after begetting Amram, and that Amram lived after begetting Moses. From this it follows that the number of 430 must be reckoned from a date long anterior to the descent into Egypt, from the migration of Abraham from Haran, and this the Septuagint translators. expressly say in their rendering of Exod. 12:40: “But the sojourning of the children of Israel, which they and their fathers made in the land of Egypt and Canaan, was 430 years.”
2. Moreover, the Apostle says here that the law was given 430 years after, not the descent of Jacob, but the promise to Abraham; but the law was given in the same year that the Hebrews left Egypt, in the third month after their departure. (Cornelius a Lapide)
3:19 Why then was the law: The Old Law was given for a fourfold purpose: Firstly, the Law was given to suppress wickedness, since by forbidding sin and by punishing, it restrained men from sin… Secondly, the Law was set down in order to disclose human weakness… Thirdly, the Law was given in order to tame the concupiscence of a wanton people, so that, worn out by various ceremonies, they would not fall into idolatry or lewdness… Fourthly, the Law was given as a figure of future grace in order to instruct the ignorant. (St. Thomas Aquinas) The intention was to segregate the people of God from the Gentiles so that they might learn in the fear of God and be made worthy to receive the promise. (Ambrosiaster) ordained by angels: He either calls the priests Angels, or he declares that the Angels themselves ministered to the delivery of the Law. (St. John Chrysostom) Or he means through Moses and Aaron, who were God's messengers to the people. (St. Bruno) Or Paul means the angels to refer to Moses, Joshua, and the other prophets up to John the Baptist. (Ambrosiaster)
3:20 mediator: here he means Christ, and shows that He was before it, and Himself the Giver of it. (St. John Chrysostom) Or he means Moses. And he rightly adds, "Now a mediator is not of one, but God is one." He says this because Moses indeed was a mediator between God and those people who recieved the law. (Theodore of Mopsuestia) not a mediator of one: but of two, in this case of two peoples, Jews and Gentiles, to whom Christ acts as mediator, says Ambrosiaster. (2.) Or, Christ is not a mediator of one nature, but of two, the Divine and the human. (3.) Or, Moses is not a mediator of one will and purpose, because as a man he was subject to change. God on the contrary is unchangeable in His will and promise. (Cornelius a Lapide) God is one: That is, of the Jewish people only, but is one of Gentiles and Jews equally. This can be maintained because God is the God of the Gentiles just as much as of Jews. (St. Bruno)
3:22 all under sin: before grace, and thus neither Jew or Gentile are better than the other. (Interlinear Gloss Rom 3:9)
3:23 shut up: signify nothing else than the security given by the commandments of the Law; which like a fortress fenced them round with fear and a life conformable to itself, and so preserved them to Faith. (St. John Chrysostom)
3:24 pedagogue: sustained, and guarded by a tutor called a pedagogue, from paedos (boy) and goge (a guiding). For under the Law the just were restrained from evil, as helpless boys are, through fear of punishment; and they were led to progress in goodness by the love and promise of temporal goods. Further, the Jews were promised that through a seed that was to come the blessing of an inheritance would be obtained, but the time for obtaining that inheritance had not yet come. (St. Thomas Aquinas)
3:27 baptized in Christ: may be taken in two ways. First, "in Christ," "in conformity with Christ." And thus whoever is baptized in Christ so as to be conformed to Him by Faith and Charity, puts on Christ by grace. Secondly, a man is said to be baptized in Christ, in so far as he receives Christ's sacrament. And thus all put on Christ, through being configured to Him by the character, but not through being conformed to Him by grace. (St. Thomas Aquinas Sum Theo 3.69.9 r1)
3:28 Since you have been baptized in Christ, the rite from which you came to Christ, whether it was the Jewish or the Greek, is no ground for saying that anyone occupies a less honorable place in the faith. (St. Thomas Aquinas) there is neither male nor female: In Christ the mutual opposition between man and woman - which is the inheritance of original sin - is essentially overcome. (Pope John Paul II Mulieris Dignitate 4) Nor should it be forgotten that we owe to Saint Paul one of the most vigorous texts in the New Testament on the fundamental equality of men and women, as children of God in Christ. Therefore there is no reason for accusing him of prejudices against women, when we note the trust that he shows towards them and the collaboration that he asks of them in his apostolate. (Franjo Cardinal Seper INT INSIG QUES ADM WOM MINIS PRIES)
3:29 For since you are united with Christ who is the head of the body, the Church, so then you are the seed of Abraham. (Haimo of Auxerre) Whenever our Lord Jesus is referred to the seed of Abraham, this means in the fleshly way since He is from the generation of Abraham, but when it refers to us, we are to understand it by way of spiritual generation. (St. Jerome) the promise: that is, we become partakers of his justification in the kingdom of heaven. (Ambrosiaster)
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