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Galatians 3:1

 

1 O senseless Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth; before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been set forth, crucified among you?

Above, the Apostle reproved the Galatians for their vanity and fickleness on the authority of the Gospel teaching by showing that his doctrine was approved by the other apostles. Now through reason and authority he proves the same thing, namely, that the works of the Law must not be observed. This he does in two ways:

First, from the insufficiency of the Law;

Secondly, from the dignity of those who have been converted to Christ (4:1).

Concerning the first he does two things:

First, he utters the rebuke;

Secondly, he begins his proof (v. 2).

As to the first, he does two things:

First, he rebukes them by showing that they are foolish;

Secondly, he gives the reason for his rebuke (v. 1): before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been set forth.

First, therefore, he chides them for their folly, calling them senseless. Hence he says, O senseless Galatians. Now “senseless” is properly said of one who lacks sense. But the spiritual sense is knowledge of the truth. Hence anyone who lacks the truth is appropriately called senseless: “Are you also yet without understanding?” (Mt 15:16); “We fools esteemed their life madness” (Wis 5:4).

But against this, it is said in Matthew (5:22): “Whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire.” Now a fool is the same as senseless. Therefore, the Apostle was in danger of hell-fire. But it must be said, as Augustine suggests, that this applies if it is said without reason and with the intention to disparage. But the Apostle said it with reason and with an intention to correct. Hence a Gloss says: “He says this in sorrow.”

Secondly, when he says, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, heshows how they had become senseless. Here it is to be noted, first of all, that someone becomes senseless in a number of ways: either because some truth he could know is not proposed to him; or because he departs from a truth that had been proposed and accepted, as when he abandons the way of truth. Such were these Galatians who rejected the truth proposed to them and abandoned the truth of the faith they had accepted: I wonder that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel (1:6). This, therefore, is the type of senselessness for which he chides them when he says: who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth?

To understand what bewitchment is, it should be noted that according to a Gloss, bewitchment is, properly speaking, a sense delusion usually produced by magical arts; for example, to make a man appear to onlookers as a lion or as having horns. This can also be brought about by demons who have the power to set phantasms in motion as well as to produce in the senses the very alterations that real objects are wont to produce. According to this acceptation the Apostle asks, appropriately enough, who hath bewitched you? As if to say: You are as deluded men who take obvious things to be other than they are in very fact, namely, because you are deluded by artifices and sophisms, not to obey the truth, i.e., you neither see the obvious truth received by you nor embrace it by obeying it: “For the bewitching of vanity obscureth good things” (Wis 4:12); “Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil” (Is 5:20). In another way bewitchment is taken to mean that someone is harmed by an evil look, particularly when cast by sorcerers whose inflamed eyes and hostile glance cast a spell on boys who grow faint from it and vomit their food.

Avicenna, attempting to explain this phenomenon in his book On the Soul, says that corporeal matter obeys an intellectual substance more than it obeys the active and passive qualities at work in nature. Accordingly, he supposes that through the mental activity of intellectual substance (which he calls the souls or movers of the heavenly spheres) many things occur outside the order of heavenly movements and of all corporeal forces. Along the same lines he says that when a holy soul is purged of all earthly affection and carnal vice, it acquires a likeness to the aforesaid substances, so that nature obeys it. This is why certain holy men achieve marvels that transcend the course of nature. In like manner, because the soul of someone defiled by carnal passions has a vigorous apprehension of malice, nature obeys it to the point of affecting matter, particularly in those in whom the matter is pliant, as in the case of tender children. Thus does it happen, according to him, that from the vigorous apprehension exercised by sorcerers a child can be evilly affected and bewitched. This position seems to be true enough according to Avicenna’s tenets. For he postulates that all material forms in sublunar bodies are influenced by the separated incorporeal substances and that natural agents can be no more than dispositive causes in such matter.

However, this is disproved by the Philosopher. For an agent should be similar to what is subject to it. Now what comes into existence is not a form alone or matter alone but the composite of matter and form. Consequently, that which acts to produce the existence of corporeal things ought to have matter and form. Therefore he says that the only thing which can cause changes of matter and form is something that itself has matter and form either virtually, as God, who is the maker of form and matter, or actually, as a bodily agent. Therefore with respect to forms of this kind corporeal matter obeys the nod neither of angels nor of any mere creature but of God alone, as Augustine says. Hence what Avicenna says about this matter of bewitchment is not true.

Therefore it is better to say that when a man’s act of imagining or apprehending is strong, the sense is affected or at least the sense appetite Is Now such as affection does not occur without some alteration taking place in the body and the bodily spirits; as, for example, we see that when something pleasant is apprehended, the sense appetite is moved to desire and as a result the body becomes warm. Similarly, as a result of apprehending something horrible, the body grows cold. When the spirits are thus moved they mainly infect the eyes, which in turn infect certain things through their glance, as is plain in the case of a clean mirror that becomes defiled when looked into by a woman in her monthly purification. Therefore because sorcerers are obstinate and hardened in evil, their sense appetite is affected by the vigor of their apprehension; as a result, as has been said, the infection moves from the veins to the eyes and thence to the object upon which they look. Accordingly, because the flesh of children is soft, it is influenced and charmed by their hostile glance. And demons, too, can sometimes produce this effect.

He says, therefore, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? As if to say: You once obeyed the truth of the faith, but now you do not. Therefore, you are as children infected by some hostile glance who vomit the food they have eaten.

Then he tells why he rebukes them, when he says, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been set forth, crucified among you. This can be interpreted in three ways. One way, Jerome’s, corresponds to the first meaning of “bewitchment”; as if he says: I say that you are bewitched, because before your eyes Christ hath been set forth, i.e., the outlawing of Christ, Who was condemned to death, is as vivid to your eyes as if it were being enacted before your eyes and He was being crucified among you, i.e., the crucifixion of Christ was as clear in your understanding as though it were taking place there. Hence, if you no longer see it, it is because you have been deluded and bewitched. Against such a change of heart, it is said in the Canticle (8:6): “Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm.”

Another way, Augustine’s, is as if he said: You are justifiably bewitched, because as children, you vomit out the truth you have received, namely, Christ by faith in your hearts. And you do this because before your eyes, i.e., in your presence, Jesus Christ is outlawed, i.e., expelled and refused His inheritance. This should trouble you, because the very one whom you should not allow to be outlawed and expelled by others has been outlawed among you, i.e., has lost His inheritance, namely, yourselves, among you. Then that which follows, namely, crucified, should be read “with a heavy burden and obvious pain,” because he adds this to make them consider the great price Christ paid for the inheritance He lost among them, and thus move them more deeply. As if to say: Christ has been outlawed among you, He Who was crucified, i.e., Who with His cross and His own blood purchased this inheritance: “You are bought with a great price” (1 Cor 6:20); “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as gold or silver, from your vain conversation of the tradition of your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled” (1 Pet. 1:18).

The third way, Ambrose’s, is as though he says: Yes, you are bewitched, you, before whose eyes, i.e., in whose opinion, namely, according to your judgment, Jesus Christ is outlawed, i.e., condemned without saving others. And among you, i.e., so far as you understand, He was crucified, i.e., merely died, but justified no one in spite of the fact that it is said of Him, “Although he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God” (2 Cor 13:4).

It can be explained also in a fourth way according to a Gloss to the effect that by these words the Apostle proclaims the gravity of their guilt, because in deserting Christ by observing the Law, they sin somewhat on a par with Pilate who outlawed Christ, i.e., condemned him. For in believing that Christ does not suffice to save them, they are made to be sinners similar to Christ’s executioners who hung Him on the cross, condemning Him to a most shameful death and killing Him. The parity is taken on the side of the one against whom they sinned, because the Galatians sinned against Christ Jesus as did Pilate and those who crucified Christ.

 

Galatians 3:2-5

 

2 This only would I 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 giveth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you; doth he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of the faith?

Having given his rebuke, the Apostle goes on to show the insufficiency of the Law, and the power of the faith.

First, he proves the insufficiency of the Law;

Secondly, he raises a question and answers it (v. 19).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

First, he proves the deficiency and insufficiency of the Law by appealing to what they experienced;

Secondly, by authority and reasons (v. 6).

As to the first, he does two things:

First, he proves his proposition by appealing to something they experienced;

Secondly, by using something he himself experienced (v. 5).

With respect to the first, he does two things:

First, he discusses the gift they have received;

Secondly, the defect into which they have fallen (v. 3).

He discusses the gift they received by asking them from whom they received it. Hence, presupposing that they accepted the gift, he interrogates them and asks: Although you have been bewitched and are foolish, nevertheless you are not so deluded that you cannot explain to me something very obvious. Hence he says, This only would I learn of you, because this by itself is enough to prove my point; namely, it is evident that you have received the Holy Spirit. I ask, therefore, Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

To elucidate this, it should be noted that in the early Church, by God’s providence, in order that the faith of Christ might prosper and grow, manifest signs of the Holy Spirit took place in the hearers immediately after the apostles preached the faith. Accordingly, it is said of Peter in Acts (10:44): “While Peter was yet speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard the word.” The Galatians, too, openly received the Holy Spirit at Paul’s preaching. The Apostle therefore asks them: Whence did they obtain the Holy Spirit? For it is obvious that it was not through the works of the Law, because, since they were Gentiles, they did not have the Law before they received the Holy Spirit. Therefore they had the Holy Spirit, i.e., the gifts of the Holy Spirit, by the hearing of faith: “For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear,” which was given in the Law (for the Law was given amid tremors), “but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons,” (Rom 8:17). Therefore, if the power of the faith could do this, it is vain to seek something else by which we are saved, because it is more difficult to make the unjust just than to preserve the just in their justice. Hence if the faith had made the unjust Gentiles just without the Law, no doubt it could without the Law keep them just. Great, therefore, was the gift they had received through faith.

Then when he says, Are you so foolish that, whereas you began in the Spirit, you would now be made perfect by the flesh? he shows the defect into which they have fallen. And he amplifies a twofold defect, touching, namely, the gifts they had received from Christ and the evils they endured for Him (v. 4): Have you suffered so great things in vain?

Concerning the first, it should be noted that the Galatians, after they left what was great, namely, the Holy Spirit, adhered to something less, namely, the carnal observances of the Law—and this is foolish. Hence he says, Are you so foolish that, whereas you began under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, i.e., obtained the beginning of your perfection from the Holy Spirit, you would now, while you are more perfect, be made perfect by the flesh, i.e., do you seek to be preserved by the carnal observances of the Law from which you could acquire not even the beginning of justice? “The flesh profiteth nothing” (Jn 6:64). Thus do you pervert right order, because the path of perfection consists in going from the imperfect to the perfect. But you, because you are doing the opposite, are foolish: “A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun; but a fool is changed as the moon” (Sir 27:12). They are as those who begin to serve God with fervor of spirit but afterwards desert to the flesh. Again, they are as Nabuchodonosor’s statute with head of gold and feet of clay (Dan. 11:32). Hence it is said: “They who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom 8:8); he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption (6:8).

Then when he says, Have you suffered so great things in vain? he amplifies their desertion by considering the evils they endured for Christ. For anyone who receives something without labor does not guard it as something precious; but that which is obtained by great effort, it is foolish to esteem lightly and not guard it. Now it was with labor and tribulation suffered at the hands of their fellow citizens that they had received the Holy Spirit. That is why he says, Have you suffered so great things in vain? As if to say: You ought not to despise so great a gift received with labor; else you have received it in vain, i.e., to no purpose, because you endured these things in order to attain to eternal life: “Tribulation worketh patience, and patience trial, and trial hope; and hope confoundeth not” (Rom 5:3). Hence, if you shut yourselves out from the door to eternal life by deserting the faith and seeking to be preserved by carnal observances, it is in vain, i.e., uselessly, that you have suffered. And I say, If it be yet in vain. He says this because it was still in their power to repent, if they willed, as long as they were alive. This shows that certain deadened works are revived: “Their labors are without fruit, and their works unprofitable” (Wis 3:11); I am afraid lest perhaps I have labored in vain among you (4:11). If this is applied to evil men who do not repent, it can be said that they suffered without cause, i.e., a cause that can confer eternal life.

Then when he says, He, therefore, who giveth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you; doth he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of the faith? he proves his proposition by appealing to his own experience. For they might say that although it is true that we received the Holy Spirit by the hearing of faith, nevertheless it was because of the devotion he had to the Law that we received the faith he preached. Hence he says: But even considering the matter not from your side but from what I have done in giving you through my ministration the Holy Spirit Who worketh miracles among you, do I do this by the works of the law or by the hearing of the faith? In truth, not by the works of the Law but by faith.

But can anyone give the Holy Spirit? For Augustine in On The Trinity (Bk. XV) says that no mere man can give the Holy Spirit, for the apostles did not give the Holy Spirit but imposed hands on men, who then received the Holy Spirit. What then does the Apostle mean when he speaks of himself as giving to you the Holy Spirit? I answer that in the giving of the Holy Spirit three things conspire in a certain order, namely, the indwelling Holy Spirit, the gift of grace and charity along with the other habits, and the sacrament of the New Law by whose administering He is given. Hence He can be given by someone in three ways.

For He can be given by someone as having authority with respect to all three, namely, in respect to the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, in respect to the gift, and in respect to the sacrament. And in this way the Holy Spirit is given by the Father and Son alone, inasmuch as they have the authority not of dominion but of origin, because He proceeds from both.

But as to the grace or gift and as to the sacraments, the Holy Spirit even gives Himself in the sense that the giving implies the causality of the Holy Spirit with respect to His gifts, because, as the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians (12:11): “He divides to everyone according as He wills.” But as far as the author of the giving is concerned, it is not appropriate to say that the Holy Spirit gives Himself.

But concerning the sacrament which is given by the ministry of the Church’s ministers, it can be said that holy men by administering the sacraments give the Holy Spirit. And this is the way the Apostle had in mind—the way mentioned in a Gloss. Nevertheless, this is not the usual way of putting it, and it ought not be exaggerated.

Again, a Gloss says that the performing of miracles is attributed to faith, which, because it believes in things that are above nature, operates above nature. Hence because the apostles preached the faith which contained things above reason, they should have adduced in support of their credibility some testimony that they had been sent by God—a fact which surpasses reason. Hence Christ gave them His own sign to prove thIs

Now there is a twofold sign of Christ. One is that He is the Lord of all; hence it is said: “Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages: and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations” (Ps 144:13). The other is that He is Sanctifier and Savior, according to Acts (4:12): “There is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.” Accordingly, He gave them two signs: one was the power to perform miracles, so that they could show they were sent by God, the Lord of all creatures: “He gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases” (Lk 9:1). The other was that by their ministry they might give the Holy Spirit, in order to show that they had been sent by the Savior of all: “They laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:17). Of these two ways it is said in Hebrews (2:4): “God also bearing them witness by signs and wonders and divers miracles and distributions of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.”

 

Galatians 3:6-9

 

6 As it is written: Abraham believed God; and it was reputed to him unto justice.

7 Know ye, therefore, that they who are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God justifieth the Gentiles by faith, told unto Abraham before: In thee shall all nations be blessed.

9 Therefore, they that are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham.

Having proved by experience the power of the faith and the insufficiency of the Law, the Apostle now proves the same things by authority and by reasons.

First, he proves the power of the faith to justify;

Secondly, in this he proves the insufficiency of the Law (v. 10).

The first he proves by using a syllogism. Hence with respect to this he does three things:

First, he proves the minor premise;

Secondly, the major premise (v. 8);

Thirdly, he draws the conclusion (v. 9).

Concerning the first, he does two things:

First, he proposes a certain authority from which he takes the minor;

Secondly, he concludes the minor (v. 7).

He says therefore: Truly, justice and the Holy Spirit come from faith, As it is written in Genesis (15:6) and mentioned again in Romans (4:3): Abraham believed God and it was reputed to him unto justice. Here it should be noted that justice consists in paying a debt. Now man is indebted to God and to himself and to his neighbor. But it is on account of God that he owes something to himself and his neighbor. Therefore the highest form of justice is to render to God what is God’s. For if you render to yourself or your neighbor what you owe and do not do this for the sake of God, you are more perverse than just, since you are putting your end in man. Now, whatever is in man is from God, namely, intellect and will and. the body itself, albeit according to a certain order; because the lower is ordained to the higher, and external things to internal, namely, to the good of the soul. Furthermore, the highest thing in man is his mind. Therefore the first element of justice in a man is that a man’s mind be subjected to God, and this is clone by faith: “Bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10:5).

Therefore in all things it must be said that God is the first principle in justice and that whosoever gives to God, namely, the greatest thing that lies in him by submitting the mind to Him, such a one is fully just: ‘Wbosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom 8:14). And hence he says, Abraham believed God, i.e., submitted his mind to God by faith: “Believe God, and he will recover thee: and direct thy way, and trust in him” (Sir 2:6); and further on (2:8): “ Ye that fear the Lord believe him,” and it was reputed to him unto justice, i.e., the act of faith and faith itself were for him, as for everyone else, the sufficient cause of justice. It is reputed to him unto justice by men exteriorly, but interiorly it is wrought by God, Who justifies them that have the faith. This he does by remitting their sins through charity working in them.

From this authority he draws the minor proposition, saying Know ye therefore, that they who are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. As if to say: Someone is called the son of another because he imitates his works; therefore, “if you be the children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham” (Jn 8:39). But Abraham did not seek to be justified through circumcision but through faith. Therefore the sons of Abraham are they who seek to be justified by faith. And this is what he says: Because Abraham is just through faith, in that he believed God and it was reputed to him unto justice; therefore, know ye that they who are of faith, i.e., who believe that they are justified and saved by faith, the same are the children of Abraham, namely, by imitation and instruction: “They that are the children of the promise are accounted for the seed” (Rom 9:8); “This day is salvation come to this house, because he also is the son of Abraham” (Lk 19:9); “God is able of these stones,” i.e., of the Gentiles, “to raise up children to Abraham,” inasmuch as He makes them believers (Mt 3:9).

Then when he says, the scripture, foreseeing that God justifieth the Gentiles by faith, he sets down the major premise, namely, that Abraham was told beforehand that in his seed all nations would be blessed. Hence when he says, the scripture foreseeing, he introduces God speaking to Abraham (Gen 12:3). Therefore he says, God told unto Abraham before that in thee, i.e., in those who in your likeness will be your sons by imitating your faith, shall all nations be blessed: “Many will come from the east and from the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 8:11).

Then when he says, Therefore, they that are of faith, he draws the conclusion from the premises. Accordingly, the argument can be formulated thus: God the Father announced to Abraham that in his seed all nations would be blessed. But those who seek to be justified by faith are the children of Abraham. Therefore, they that are of faith, i.e., who seek to be justified through faith, shall be blessed with faithful, i.e., with believing, Abraham.

 

Galatians 3:10-12

 

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 abideth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

11 But, that in the law no man is justified with God, it is manifest; because the just man liveth in faith.

12 But the law is not of faith; but: he that doth those things shall live in them.

Above, the Apostle proved the power of faith; now he shows the shortcoming of the Law.

 

First, through the authority of the Law;

Secondly, through a human custom (v. 15).

Concerning the first, he does three things:

First, he shows the curse brought on by the Law;

Secondly, the Law’s inability to remove that curse (v. 11);

      Thirdly, the sufficiency of Christ by whom that curse has been removed (v. 13).

In regard to the first he does two things:

First, he sets forth his intended proposition;

Secondly, he proves the proposition (v. 10); For it is written: Cursed is every one that abideth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them.

He says therefore: For as many as are of the works of the law, are under a curse. For since he had said that they who are of faith will be blessed through being sons of Abraham, someone might say that they are blessed both on account of the works of the Law and on account of faith. Hence to exclude this he says: As many as are of the works of the law are under a curse.

But against this it can be said that the ancient fathers were of the works of the Law. Therefore they are under a curse and, consequently, damned—which is a Manichean error. Hence it is necessary to understand this correctly. And it should be noted that the Apostle does not say, “As many as observe the works of the Law are under a curse,” because this is false when applied to the time of the Law. He says rather: As many as are of the works of the Law, i.e., whosoever trust in the works of the Law and believe that they are made just by them are under a curse. For it is one thing to be of the works of the Law and another to observe the Law. The latter consists in fulfilling the Law, so that one who fulfills it is not under a curse. But to be of the works of the Law is to trust in them and place one’s hope in them. And they that are of the Law in this way are under a curse, namely, of transgression; not that the Law produces the curse, for concupiscence does not come from the Law, but the knowledge of sin does, to which we are prone through concupiscence banned by the Law. 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.

Furthermore, some works of the Law are ceremonies carried out in the observances; others are works that pertain to morals, with which the moral precepts deal. Hence, according to a Gloss, that which is said here, namely, as many as are of the works of the law, are under a curse, is to be understood of ceremonial works and not of moral works. Or it should be said that the Apostle is speaking here of all works, both ceremonial and moral. For the works are not the cause making one to be just before God; rather they are the carrying out and manifestation of justice. 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: “And all these being approved by the testimony of faith, received not the promise” (Heb 11:39).

Then when he says, For it is written: Cursed is every one, that abideth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them, he proves the proposition which, according to a Gloss, is proved by the fact that no one can keep the Law in the way in which the Law prescribed: “As many as do not keep and do all that is written in the book of the law,” i.e., who do not fulfill the whole Law, “cursed shall they be” (Deut 28:15). But it is impossible to fulfill the whole Law, as it is said in the Acts (15:10): “Why tempt you God to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” Therefore by the works of the Law no one is anything but cursed.

In another way the passage, For it is written . . . . can be taken not as a proof of the proposition but as an exposition of the proof. As if to say: I say that they are under a curse, i.e., under that one of which the Law says, For it is written: Cursed is every one, that abideth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them, where the curse is understood to refer to sin. For the Law commands that good be done and evils avoided, and by commanding it puts one under the obligation without giving the virtue to obey. And hence he says, Cursed, as though placed in contact with evil, is every one, without exception; because, as it is said in the Acts (10:34): “God is not a respector of persons”; that abideth not to the end: “He that shall persevere to the end” (Mt 24:13); in all things, not in some only, because as it is said in James (2: 10): “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, but offend in one point, is become guilty of all”; which are written in the book of the law to do them, not only to believe or will but actually to fulfill them in their works: “A good understanding to all that do it” (Ps 110:10). Yet the holy patriarchs, although they were of the works of the Law, were nevertheless saved by faith in one to come, by trusting in His grace and by fulfilling the Law at least spiritually. “For Moses,” says a Gloss, “did indeed command many things which no one could fulfill, in order to tame the pride of the Jews who said: ‘There are many willing and able, but no one to command’.”

But a difficulty arises about saying Cursed is every one that abideth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them. For it is said: “Bless, and curse not” (Rom 12:14). 1 answer that to curse is nothing else but to say evil. I can therefore say that good is evil and evil good, and again, that good is good and evil evil. The first is what the Apostle forbids when he says, “Curse not,” i.e., do not say that good is evil and evil good. But the second is lawful. Hence when we denounce sin, we do indeed curse, not by way of calling good evil but by saying that evil is evil. Therefore it is lawful to curse a sinner, i.e., to say that he is addicted to evil or is evil.

Then when he says, But that in the law no man is justified with God, it is manifest, he shows the inability of the Law to snatch us from that curse, for it could not make one just. To show this he makes use of a syllogism in the second figure. Justice is by faith, but the Law is not by faith. Therefore the Law cannot justify. With respect to this, therefore:

First, he states the conclusion when he says, But that in the law no one is justified;

Secondly, the major premiss (v. 11): because the just man lives by faith;

Thirdly, the minor (v. 12).

Therefore he says: I say that by the Law a curse was introduced, and yet the Law cannot extricate one from that curse, because it is obvious that no one is justified before God by the Law, i.e., through the works of the Law. On this point it should be noted that those who rejected the Old Testament took occasion to do so from this word. Hence it must be said that no one is justified in the Law, i.e., through the Law. For through it came the knowledge of sin, as is said in Romans (3:20); but justification came not through it: “By the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (Rom 3:20).

But against this, it is said in James (2:21): “Was not Abraham our father justified by works?” I answer that “to be justified” can be taken in two senses: either as referring to the execution and manifestation of justice, and in this way a man is justified, i.e., proved just, by the works performed; or as referring to the infused habit of justice, and in this way one is not justified by works, since the habit of justice by which a man is justified before God is not acquired but infused by the grace of faith. Therefore the Apostle says significantly, with God, because the justice which is before God is interior in the heart, whereas the justice which is by works, i.e., which manifests that one is just, is before men. And it is in this sense that the Apostle says, with God: “For not the hearers of the law, but the doers are just before God” (Rom 2:13); “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God” (Rom 4:2). Thus, therefore, the conclusion of his reasoning is obvious, namely, that the Law can not justify.

Then when he says, because the just man lives by faith, he presents the major premiss, which is based on scriptural authority, i.e., Habakkuk (2:4) restated in Romans (1:17) and Hebrews (10:38). Apropos of this point it should be noted that in man there is a twofold life; namely, the life of nature and the life of justice. Now the life of nature is from the soul; hence when the soul is separated from the body, the body continues but is dead. But the life of justice is through God dwelling in us by faith. Therefore the first way in which God is in the soul of man is by faith: “He that cometh to God must believe” (Heb 11:6); “That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts” (Eph 3:17). Accordingly, we say that in the soul the first signs of life appear in the works of the vegetal soul, because the vegetal soul is the first to be present in a generated animal, as the Philosopher says. Similarly, because the first principle whereby God exists in us is faith, faith is called the principle of living. And this is what he means when he says, the just man lives by faith. Furthermore, this is to be understood of faith acting through love.

The minor premiss is set down at, But the law is not of faith.

First, the minor is set down;

Secondly, it is proved (v. 12): but he that doth those things, shall live in them.

He says therefore that the law is not of faith. But this seems to conflict with the truth that the Law commands one to believe that there is one God, which pertains to faith. Therefore the Law had faith. And that there is one God is stated in Deuteronomy (6:4): “Hear, 0 Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord.”

I answer that he is speaking here about keeping the commandments of the Law insofar as the Law consists of ceremonial precepts and moral precepts. This is the Law that is not of faith. For “faith,” as is said in Hebrews (11:1), “is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.” Therefore, strictly speaking, he fulfills the command of faith who does not hope to obtain from it anything present and visible, but things invisible and eternal. Therefore, because the Law promised earthly and present things, as it is said: “If you be willing and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land” (Is 1:19), it is not of faith but rather of cupidity or fear, especially in regard to those who kept the Law in a carnal manner. Nevertheless, some did live spiritually in the Law; but this was not because of the Law but because of faith in a mediator.

And that the Law is not of faith he proves when he says, but he that doth those things, i.e., the works of the Law, shall live in them, namely, in the present life, i.e., will be immune from temporal death and will be preserved in the present life. Or again: I say that the law is not of faith, and this is obvious, because he that doth those things, shall live in them. As if to say: The precepts of the Law are not concerned with what is to be done, even though it proclaims something that must be believed. Therefore its power is not from faith but from works. He proves this on the ground that when the Lord willed to confirm it He did not say, “He that believeth,” but “He that doth those things, shall live in them.” But the New Law is from faith: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mk 16:16).

Nevertheless, the Law is something fashioned and produced by faith. That is why the Old Law is compared to the New as the works of nature to the works of the intellect. For certain works of the intellect appear in the works of nature, not as though natural things understand, but because they are moved and ordained to reach their end by an intellect. In like manner, in the Old Law are contained certain things that are of faith: not that the Jews held them precisely as being of faith, but that they held them only as protestations and figures of the faith of Christ, in virtue of Whose faith the just were saved.

 

Galatians 3:13-14

 

13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (for it is written: Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree);

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.

Having explained the curse brought on by the Law, as well as the Law’s incapacity to deliver from sin, he now shows forth Christ’s power to set one free from this curse.

First, he shows how through Christ we are set free of that curse;

Secondly, how in addition we receive help from Christ (v. 14).

As to the first, he does three things:

First, he presents the author of the liberation;

Secondly, the manner of liberation (v. 13): being made a curse for us;

Thirdly, the testimony of the prophets (v. 13): for it is written: Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.

He says therefore first: All who observed the works of the Law were under a curse, as has been said, and they could not be delivered by the Law. Hence it was necessary to have someone who should set us free, and that one was Christ. Hence he says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law: “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and of sin, hath condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom 8:3). He redeemed, I say, us, namely, the Jews, with His own Precious Blood: “Thou hast redeemed us in thy blood” (Rev 5:9); “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee” (Is 43:1), from the curse of the law, i.e., from guilt and penalty: that he might redeem them who were under the law (4:5); 1 will redeem them from death” (Hos 13:14).

Then when he says, being made a curse for us, he sets forth the manner of the deliverance. Here it should be noted that a curse is that which is said as an evil. Now it is according to two kinds of evil that there can be two kinds of curse, namely, the curse of guilt and the curse of punishment. And with respect to each this passage can be read, namely, He was made a curse for us.

First of all with respect to the evil of guilt, for Christ redeemed us from the evil of guilt. Hence, just as in dying He redeemed us from death, so He redeemed us from the evil of guilt by being made a curse, i.e., of guilt: not that there was really any sin in Him—for “He did not sin, neither was guile found in his mouth,” as is said in 1 Peter (2:22) —but only according to the opinion of men and particularly the Jews who regarded him as a sinner: “If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up to thee” (Jn 18:30). Hence it is said of Him, “Him who knew no sin He hath made sin for us” (2 Cor 5:21). But he says, a curse, and not “accursed,” to show that the Jews regarded Him as the worst type of criminal. Hence it is said, “This man is not of God who keepeth not the sabbath,” (Jn 9:16) and “For a good work we stone thee not, but for sin and for blasphemy” (Jn 10:33). Therefore he says, being made for us a curse in the abstract. As though to say: He was made “curse” itself.

Secondly, it is explained with respect to the evil of punishment. For Christ freed us from punishment by enduring our punishment and our death which came upon us from the very curse of sin. Therefore, inasmuch as He endured this curse of sin by dying for us, He is said to have been made a curse for us. This is similar to what is said in Romans (8:3): “God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and of sin,” i.e., of mortal sin; “Him who knew no sin,” namely, Christ, Who committed no sin, God (namely, the Father) “had made sin for us,” i.e., made Him suffer the punishment of sin, when, namely, He was offered for our sins (2 Cor 5:21).

Then He gives the testimony of Scripture when he says, for it is written: “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” This is from Deuteronomy (21:23). Here it should be noted, according to a Gloss, that in Deuteronomy, from which this passage is taken, our version as well as the Hebrew version has: “Cursed by God is everyone that hangs on a tree.” However, the phrase “by God” is not found in the ancient Hebrew volumes. Hence it is believed to have been added by the Jews after the passion of Christ in order to defame Him.

But it is possible to expound this authority both with respect to the evil of punishment and the evil of guilt. Of the evil of punishment thus: Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, not precisely because he hangs on a tree, but because of the guilt for which he hangs. And in this way Christ was thought to be cursed, when He hung on the cross, because He was being punished with an extraordinary punishment. And according to this explanation, there is a continuity with the preceding. For the Lord commanded in Deuteronomy that anyone who had been hanged should be taken down in the evening; the reason being that this punishment was more disgraceful and ignominious than any other. He is saying, therefore: Truly was He made a curse for us, because the death of the cross which He endured is tantamount to a curse—thus explaining the evil of guilt, although it was only in the minds of the Jews—because it is written: Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. But with respect to the evil of punishment, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree is explained thus: The punishment itself is a curse, namely, that He should die in this way. Explained in this way, He was truly cursed by God, because God decreed that He endure this punishment in order to set us free.

Then when he says, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, he touches on the hope which we acquire through Christ in addition to being freed from the curse: “Not as the offence, so also the gift” (Rom 5:16), but much greater, namely, because He both frees us from sin and confers grace.

First, therefore, he mentions the fruit and those to whom it is given, saying, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus. As if to say: He was made a curse for us not only to remove a curse but also to enable the Gentiles, who were not under the curse of the Law, to receive the blessing promised to Abraham: “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen 22: 18). And this blessing was made to us, i.e., fulfilled, through Christ, Who is of the seed of Abraham to whom the promises were made and to thy seed, who is Christ, as is said below (v. 16). Now this blessing, this fruit, is that we may receive the promise of the Spirit, i.e., the promises which the Holy Spirit, given to us as a pledge and an earnest, works in us concerning eternal happiness which He promises to us, as is said in Ephesians (Ch. 1) and in 2 Corinthians (Ch. 6). Furthermore, in the pledge is contained a guarantee, for a pledge is an assured promise concerning something to be received: “For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons” (Rom 8:15), and, “and if sons, heirs also” (v. 17). Or: that we may receive the promise of the Spirit, i.e., the Holy Spirit. As if to say: That we may receive the promise made to the seed of Abraham concerning the Holy Spirit: “Upon my servants I will pour forth my spirit” (Jl. 2:29). For it is through the Spirit that we are joined to Christ and become children of Abraham worthy of the blessing.

Secondly, he shows how this fruit comes to us, saying, by faith, through which also we obtain an eternal inheritance: He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him” (Heb 11:6). Through faith, too, we receive the Holy Spirit, because as is said in Acts (Ch. 5), the Lord gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him, namely, through faith.

 

Galatians 3:15-18

 

15 Brethren (I speak after the manner of man), yet a man’s testament, if it be confirmed, no man despiseth nor addeth to it.

16 To Abraham were the promises made and to his seed. He saith not: And to his seeds, as of many; but as of one: And to thy seed, 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 doth 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.

Having proved by authority that the Law does not justify and is not necessary for justification, which is through faith, the Apostle then proves the same point with human reasons. Concerning this he does four things:

First, he mentions a human custom;

Secondly, he touches on a divine promise (v. 16);

Thirdly, he draws his conclusion (v. 17);

Fourthly, he shows that the conclusion follows from the premisses (v. 18).

He says therefore: It is clear that up to now I have been speaking according to the authority of Sacred Scripture, which came not by the will of man, but by the Holy Spirit, as is said in 2 Peter (1:21). But now I speak after the manner of man and after the manners which human reason and human custom follow. Here, indeed, we have an argument to show that in discussions bearing on faith, we may use any truth of any science: “If thou seest in the number of the captives a beautiful woman and lovest her and wilt have her to wife, thou shalt bring her into thy house,” i.e., if you are pleased with worldly wisdom and science, bring it within your boundaries, “and she shall shave her hair, and pare her nails,” i.e., you shall cut away all erroneous opinions (Deut 21:11). This is why in many places in his epistles the Apostle uses the authority of the Gentiles; for example: “Evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor 15:33), and “The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slothful bellies” (Tit. 1: 12).

Or: although such reasons be fruitless and weak, because, as is said in Psalm 93 (v. 11): “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men, that they are vain ‘ “ yet a man’s testament, if it be confirmed, no one despiseth nor addeth to it, because nothing human has as much power to bind as a man’s last will. But someone would be scorning it if he were to say that a man’s will, confirmed by his death and by witnesses, had no validity. Therefore, if no one scorns a testament of this kind by saying that it should not be heeded or by modifying it, much less may anyone scorn the testament of God or modify it and weaken it by adding or removing anything: “If any man shall add to these things, God shall add unto him the plagues written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life” (Rev 22:18); “You shall not add to the word that I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it” (Deut 4:2).

Then when he says, To Abraham were the promises made, he takes up the promise God made to Abraham, which is, as it were, the testament of God.

First, he explains this promise or testament;

Secondly, he discloses the truth contained therein (v. 16): He saith not: And to his seeds.

He says therefore: To Abraham were the promises made. As if to say: As the testament of a man is valid, so the divine promises are valid. But did God make any promises before the Law? He did; because To Abraham who lived before the time of the Law the promises were spoken, i.e., made, and to his seed, by God. However, they were made to Abraham as the one for whom they would be fulfilled, and to his seed as the one through whom they would be fulfilled. And he says, promises, using the plural, because the promise that his seed would be blessed contained a number of things: or because the same thing, namely, eternal happiness, was promised to him on a number of occasions. For example, “In thee shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed” (Gen 12:3); “Look up to heaven and number the stars if thou canst. So shall thy seed be” (Gen 15:5). Again: “To thy seed will I give this land” (Gen 15:18); “I will bless thee and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven” (Gen 22:17). These promises then, are God’s treatment, as it were, i.e., a decree concerning the inheritance to be given to Abraham and his seed.

The meaning of this testament he explains when he says, He saith not: “And to his seeds, as of many; but as of one: “And to thy seed.” He explains this according to the very spirit in which the testament was made. And this is obvious from the words of the testament: He saith not: “and to his seeds, as of many, i.e., as He would do, if it were valid for many: but as of one: “And to thy seed,” which is Christ, because He is the only one through Whom and in Whom all could be blessed. For He alone and exclusively is the one who does not lie under the curse of guilt, in spite of the fact that He deigned to be made a curse for us. Hence it is said, “I am alone until I pass” (Ps 140: 10); and again “There is none that doth good, no not one” (Ps 13:3); “One man among a thousand I have found” (namely, Christ, Who had been without any sin), “a woman among them all I have not found,” who would be entirely immune from all sin, at least original or venial (Eccl. 7:29).

Then when he says, Now this I say: that the testament which was confirmed by God, he draws his conclusion. Here let us see, in order, what it is that he says. He says therefore that this is what God promised to Abraham. But this is a testament, i.e., a promise that he would obtain an inheritance: I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Juda” (Jer 31:31). He says, confirmed (in keeping with what he said above, namely, a man’s testament, if it be confirmed, no man despiseth nor addeth to it) by God, i.e., by the One who promised. The testament was confirmed, namely, with an oath: “By my own self have I sworn” (Gen 22:16); “That by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have the strongest comfort” (Heb 6:18). This testament, I say, the Law doth not disannul: the law, namely, which was made and given by God through Moses: “For the law was given by Moses” (Jn 1:17) after four hundred thirty years. Then, as if to explain what he had said, he adds, doth not disannul to make the promise of no effect. For the aforesaid testament would have been disannulled if the promise made to Abraham were set aside, i.e., made fruitless, as though the seed promised to Abraham were not enough to bless the Gentiles. But as’a matter of fact, the promises made to the patriarchs were not set aside by Christ but confirmed: “For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision to confirm the promises made unto the fathers” (Rom 15:8); “For all the promises of God are in him ‘It is’” (2 Cor 1:20). After four hundred thirty years—this concords with Exodus (12:40): “The abode of the children of Israel that they made in Egypt was four hundred thirty years,” and with Acts (7:6): “And God said to him,” i.e., to Abraham, “that his seed should sojourn in a strange country and that they shall bring them under bondage four hundred thirty years.”

But against this, it is said in Genesis (15:13): “Know thou before that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not their own, and they shall bring them under bondage and afflict them four hundred years.”

I answer that if you count the years between the first promise made to Abraham (Genesis Ch. 12), and the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt (when the Law was given) there will be four hundred thirty years, as is written here and in Exodus (Ch. 12) and Acts (Ch. 7). But if you begin to count from the birth of Isaac, concerning which Genesis (Ch. 21) speaks, there are only four hundred five years. For twenty-five years elapsed between the promise made to Abraham and the birth of Isaac: for Abraham was seventy-five years old when he left his own country and the first promise was made to him, as is recorded in Ch. 21 of Genesis; and he was one hundred years old when Isaac was born, as is recorded in the same chapter. That there were four hundred five years between the birth of Isaac and the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt is proved by the fact that Isaac was sixty years old when he begot Jacob, as is had in Genesis (Ch. 25). Jacob, on the other hand, was one hundred thirty years old when he entered Egypt, as is recorded in Genesis (Ch. 47). Therefore from the birth of Isaac to Jacob’s entry into Egypt were one hundred ninety years. Now Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, as is recorded in Genesis (Ch. 41). After that there were seven years of plenty and two of want; and it was after that that Jacob came to Egypt, as is recorded in Genesis (Ch. 45). But Joseph lived one hundred ten years, as is mentioned in the final chapter of Genesis. If thirty-nine years be subtracted from this there remain seventy-one years. Consequently from the birth of Isaac to Joseph’s death there were two hundred sixty-one years. Furthermore, the children of Israel remained in Egypt for one hundred forty-four more years after Joseph’s death, as Rabanus says in a Gloss on the Acts (Ch. 7). Therefore from the birth of Isaac to the exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Law four hundred five years elapsed. However, the scripture in Genesis (Ch. 17) was not concerned with minutiae. Or it can be said that during Isaac’s fifth year Ishmael was cast forth, leaving Isaac the sole heir of Abraham. Reckoning from this date, we have our four hundred years.

Then when he says, For, if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise, he shows how from the foregoing it follows that the Law would nullify the promises, if the Law were necessary for justification or for the blessing to come to the Gentiles. He says therefore: The promise would indeed be disannulled, if the Law were necessary; for if the inheritance, namely, of Abraham’s blessing, be of the law, it is no more of promise, i.e., of the seed promised to Abraham. For if the seed promised to Abraham was enough to obtain the inheritance of the blessing, there would not be justification through the Law. He rejects the consequent, when he says, But God gave it to Abraham, i.e., He promised that He would give it; but the promise was as sure as if it had been fulfilled then and there, by promise, i.e., through the seed promised. Therefore the inheritance, i.e., the blessing (about which it is said in 1 Peter (3:9): “For unto this are you called, that you may inherit a blessing” ) is not of the Law.

 

Galatians 3:19-20

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.

After showing by the authority of scripture and by a human custom that the Law was unable to make one just, the Apostle now raises two questions and solves them. The second of these begins at (v. 21).

With respect to the first, he does three things:

First, he raises the question;

Secondly, he solves it (v. 19): It was set because of transgressions;

Thirdly, he elucidates something he presupposed in the course of his solution (v. 20).

The question which might arise from the foregoing is this: If the Law was unable to justify, was the Law without purpose? This question he raises when he says, Why then was the law? i.e., what purpose did it serve? This is the punctuation which, as a Gloss says, Augustine favors, although earlier he approved the reading, What then? followed by, The law was set up because of transgressions. In Romans (3:1), a similar question is raised: “What advantage then hath the Jew; or what is the profit of circumcision?”

Then when he says, It was set because of transgressions, he solves the question. Here he does four things:

First, he sets clown the purpose of the Law;

Secondly, the fruit of the Law (v. 19); until the seed should come to whom he made the promise;

Thirdly, the ministers of the Law (v. 19): being ordained by angels,

Fourthly, the Lord of the Law (v. 19): in the hand of a mediator.

With respect to the first, it should be noted that the Old Law was given for a fourfold purpose, corresponding to the four consequences of sin enumerated by Bede, namely, because of wickedness, weakness, passion, and ignorance. Hence the Law was given first of all to suppress wickedness, since by forbidding sin and by punishing, it restrained men from sin. This he touches on when he says, The law was set because of transgressions, i.e., to prevent them. On this point it is said: “The law is not made for the just man but for the unjust” (1 Tim 1:9). The reason for this can be taken from Ethics IV of the Philosopher. For men who are well disposed, are inclined to act well of themselves, so that fatherly admonitions are enough for them: hence they do not need a law; indeed, as it is said, “They are a law to themselves who show the work of the law written in their hearts” (Rom 2:14).

But men who are ill disposed need to be kept from sin by penalties. Hence with respect to such men it was necessary to set down a law which has power to constrain.

Secondly, the Law was set down in order to disclose human weakness. For men gloried in two things: First, in their knowledge; and secondly, in their power. Hence God left men without the instruction of the Law during the period of the Law of nature, during which time, as they fell into errors, their pride was convinced of its lack of knowledge, even though they still presumed on their powers. For they said, “Many are willing and able, but there is no one to lead,” as a Gloss says on Exodus (24:8): “All things that the Lord hath spoken we will do. We will be obedient.” And therefore the Law was given which would cause a knowledge of sin, “for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom 3:20). But it did not give the help of grace to avoid sin, so that man, bound by the Law, might test his strength and recognize his infirmity. Finding that without grace he was unable to avoid sin, he would more ardently yearn for grace. And this cause can also be derived from these words, if they are taken to mean that the Law was set for the sake of filling up transgressions, in the sense in which the Apostle speaks when he says: “Now the law entered in that sin might abound” (Rom 5:20). This is to be taken not in a causal but in a sequential sense; for after the Law entered in, sin abounded and transgressions multiplied, because concupiscence, not yet healed by grace, lusted after that which was forbidden, with the result that sin became more grievous, being now a violation of a written law. But God permitted this in order that men, recognizing their own imperfection, might seek the grace of a mediator. Hence he says significantly, It was set, i.e., interposed, as it were, between the Law of nature and the Law of grace.

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. Hence Peter says: “This is a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear” (Acts 15: 10).

Fourthly, the Law was given as a figure of future grace in order to instruct the ignorant, according to Hebrews ( 10: 1 ) : “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come.”

Then [he sets forth the fruit of the Law] when he says, until the seed should come, i.e., Christ, of Whom God had promised that through Him all nations would be blessed: “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John” (Mt 11:13); “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen 22:18).

The ministers of the Law are mentioned when he says, ordained, i.e., given in good order, by angels, i.e., the messengers of God, namely, Moses and Aaron: “They shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts” (Mal 2:7). Or: by angels, i.e., by the ministry of angels: “You have received the law by the disposition of angels” (Acts 7:53). And it was given by angels, because it was not fitting that it be given by the Son, Who is greater: “For if the word spoken by angels became steadfast . . . how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Which, having begun to be declared by the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard him” (Heb 2:2). Furthermore, he says ordained, because it was given in proper sequence, namely, between the time of the Law of nature (during which men were convinced they could not help themselves) and the time of grace. For before they should receive grace, they had to be convinced by the Law.

The Lord of the Law is Christ; hence he says, in the hand of a mediator, i.e., in the power of Christ: “In his right hand a fiery law” (Deut 33:2); “There is one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5). This mediator was represented by Moses in whose hand the Law was given: “I was the mediator, and stood between the Lord and you at that time” (Deut 5:5).

Then when he says, Now a mediator is not of one, he explains what he meant when he said, in the hand of a mediator. This can be explained in three ways. In one way, that a mediator is not of one alone but of two. Hence, since He is the mediator of God and men, it was fitting that He be God and man. For were he purely man or solely God, He would not be a true mediator. Therefore, if He is true God, then since no one is his own mediator, someone might suppose that there are, besides Him, other gods of whom He was the mediator. But this he forestalls when he says that although this mediator is not of one only, there are not on that account other gods, but God is one, because, although He is distinct in person from God the Father, He is not distinct in nature: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord” (Deut 6:4); “One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph 4:6).

In a second way, because someone might believe that He was the mediator of the Jews alone, he says: I say that Christ is mediator; but not of one, i.e., of the Jews, but one of all, i.e., capable of reconciling everyone to God, because He is God: “For it is one God that justifieth circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith” (Rom 3:30); “For God indeed was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor 5:19).

In a third way, namely, that He is not a mediator of only one people, namely, the Jews, but of the Gentiles as well: “For he is our peace, who hath made both one” (Eph 2:14); on the part of the Gentiles by talking away idolatry, and on the part of the Jews by delivering them from the observances of the Law. Specifically it is not the Father, not the Holy Spirit, but the Son who is mediator; nevertheless, God is one.

 

Galatians 3:21-25

21 Was the law then against the promises of God? God forbid! For, if there had been a law given which could give life, verily justice should have been by the law.

22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise, by the faith of Jesus Christ, might be given to them that believe.

23 But, before the faith came, we were kept under the law shut up, unto 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.

Here, the Apostle raises the other question, namely, whether the Law is injurious to grace. First, he raises the question, saying, Was the law then against the promises of God? As if to say: If the Law was set because of transgressions, does the Law go counter to the promises of God, namely, so that what God promised He would do through the promised seed, He would do through another? God forbid! As if to say: No. For earlier he had said: The law doth not disannul to make the promise of no effect (3:17); “The law, indeed is holy and the commandment holy” (Rom 7:12).

Secondly, when he says, For, if there had been a law given which could give life, verily justice should have been by the law, he answers the question.

First, he shows that the Law is not contrary to the promises of God;

      Secondly, that the Law is in keeping with the promises (v. 22).

He says, therefore, that although the Law was set because of transgressions, nevertheless, it is not contrary to the promise of God in being unable to remove those transgressions. For if it were to remove them, then it would obviously be against the promises of God, because justice would be obtained by means other than God promised, since it would be through the Law and not through faith; whereas it is said: “The just shall live in his faith” (Hab. 2:4); “The justice of God is by faith of Jesus Christ” (Rom 3:22). Hence he says that if there had been a law given such that it could give life, i.e., of such power as to confer grace and eternal happiness, then verily and not seemingly, justice should have been by the law, if the Law were to effect what faith is said to effect. Thus faith would serve no end. But the Law does not give life, because “the letter of the law killeth,” as is said in 2 Cor (3:6); “For the law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, hath delivered me from the law of sin and of death” (Rom 8:2).

Then when he says, But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, he shows that the Law is not only not opposed to grace but serves it.

First, he shows that the Law serves God’s promises;

Secondly, how this service was made manifest in the case of the Jews (v. 23);

Thirdly, how the Gentiles even without the Law obtained the promises of God (v. 26).

With respect to the first it should be noted that in general the Law serves the promises of God in two ways. First, because it exposes sin: “For by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom 3:20). Secondly, because it reveals human infirmity, in the sense that man cannot avoid sin without grace which was not given by the Law. And just as these two things, namely, the knowledge of a disease and the infirmity of the patient is a great inducement to seek medical treatment, so the knowledge of sin and of one’s impotency lead us to seek Christ. Thus, therefore, is the Law the servant of grace, inasmuch as it affords a knowledge of sin and actual experience of one’s impotency. Hence he says, the scripture, i.e., the written Law, hath concluded, i.e., held the Jews enclosed, under sin, i.e., showed them the sins they committed: “For I had not known concupiscence, if the Law did not say: Thou shalt not covet” (Rom 7:7). Again, hath concluded, because with the coming of the Law they took occasion to sin: “For God hath concluded all in unbelief, that He may have mercy on all” (Rom 11:32). And all this in order that they would search for grace. Hence he says, so that the promise, i.e., the promised grace, might be given not only to the Jews, but to all them that believe, because that grace was able to free from sin; and this grace is by the faith of Jesus Christ.

Then when he says, But, before the faith came, we were kept under the law shut up, he gives experimental evidence of this service, as manifested in the case of the Jews.

First, he states how the Jews were benefited;

Secondly, he concludes a corollary (v. 24).

He says therefore: If the scripture, i.e., the written Law, kept all things shut up under sin, what benefits did the Jews derive from the Law before faith came by grace? He answers and says: We Jews, before the coming of faith, were kept under the law, inasmuch as it made us avoid idolatry and many other evils; we were shut up, I say, not as free men, but as servants under fear; and this under the law, i.e., under the burden and domination of the Law: “The law hath dominion over a man as long as it liveth” (Rom 7:1). And we were kept shut up, i.e., protected, in order that we not be cut off from life, but be made ready unto that faith which was to be revealed: “My salvation is near to come and my justice to be revealed” (Is 56:1). And he says, to be revealed, because, since faith surpasses all human ingenuity, it cannot be acquired by one’s own skill, but by revelation and by the gift of God: “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken” (Is 40:5). Or, unto that faith, which was to be revealed in the time of grace, but which in olden times was hidden under many signs. Hence in the time of Christ the veil of the temple was rent (Mt 27:51).

Then when he says, the law was our pedagogue in Christ, he draws a corollary:

 

First, he manifests the Law’s functions;

Secondly, when its function ceased (v. 25).

The function of the Law was that of a pedagogue; hence he says, the law was our pedagogue in Christ. For as long as the heir cannot obtain the benefits of his inheritance, either because be is too young or because of some other shortcoming, he is 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. Consequently, it was necessary that until the seed should come, they be kept safe and not do unlawful things. And this was effected by the Law. And therefore he says, Whrefore the law was our pedagogue. As if to say: By being kept shut up under the Law, the law was our pedagogue, i.e., it guided and preserved us, in Christ, i.e., in the way of Christ. And this was done in order that we might be justified by the faith of Christ: “Israel was a child and I loved him” (Hos 11:1); “Thou hast chastised me and I was instructed” (Jer 31:18); “For we account a man to be justified by faith without the works of the law” (Rom 3:28). And although the Law was our pedagogue, it did not bring us the full inheritance, because as is said in Hebrews (7:19): “The law brought nothing to perfection.” But the Law’s function ended after faith came. Hence he says, But, after the faith is come, namely, of Christ, we are no longer under a pedagogue, i.e., under constraint, which is not necessary for those who are free: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man I put away the things of a child” (1 Cor 13:11); “If then any be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away” (2 Cor 5:17).

 

Galatians 3:26-29

 

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.

Here the Apostle shows that the Gentiles obtained the fruit of grace without serving the Law, whereas the Jews obtained it by keeping and serving the Law. Concerning this he does three things:

First, he states his proposition;

Secondly, he elucidates it (v. 27);

Thirdly, from this he proceeds to his argument, (v. 29).

He says therefore: Verily, we are not under the Law, i.e., under a pedagogue, or under restraint, because we are the sons of God. In like manner, you, too, are neither under the Law nor under a pedagogue; for you have attained to grace. Hence you are all the children of God by faith and not through the Law: “For you have not received the spirit of bondage” (i.e., of fear which was given in the Old Law), “but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons,” namely, of charity and love which is given in the New Law through faith (Rom 8:15); “He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name” (Jn 1: 12). If, then, you are the sons of God by faith, why do you wish to become slaves by the observances of the Law? For faith alone makes man the adopted son of God. Indeed, no one is an adopted son unless he is united to and cleaves to the natural son: “For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son; that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom 8:29). For faith makes us sons in Jesus Christ: “That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts” (Eph 3:17). And this in Christ Jesus, i.e., you are sons of God through Jesus Christ.

Then when he says, For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ, he expounds his proposition. Concerning this he does three things:

First, he proposes to explain the proposition;

Secondly, the elucidation of the explanation (v. 28);

Thirdly, he assigns the reason behind the explanation (v. 28): For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

With respect to the first, he shows how we are sons of God in Christ Jesus. And he says: For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. Now this can be explained in four ways. In one way, so that as many of you as have been baptized in Christ means that it was by Christ’s appointment that you have been instructed for baptism: “Go ye into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mk 16:16). In another way, as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ, i.e., through a likeness and a configuration of the death of Christ: “We who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized in his death” (Rom 6:3). Or: in Christ Jesus, i.e., in the faith of Christ. For baptism comes about only through faith, without which we derive no effect from baptism: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned” (Mk 16:16). Or: in Christ Jesus, i.e., through His power and operation: “He upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, he it is that baptizeth” (Jn 1:33). Therefore, as many of you as have been baptized in any of those four ways have put on Christ.

Here it should be noted that when someone puts on clothing he is protected and covered by it and his appearance is that of the color of the clothing instead of his own. In the same way, everyone who puts on Christ is protected and covered by Christ Jesus against attack and against the heat; furthermore in such a one nothing appears except what pertains to Christ: “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 13:14). Again, just as burning wood takes on fire and shares in fire’s activity, so he who receives the virtues of Christ has put on Christ: “Stay you in the city till you be endued with power from on high” (Lk 24:49). This applies to those who are inwardly clothed with the virtue of Christ: “Put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness of truth” (Eph 4:24). And note that some put on Christ outwardly by good works and inwardly by a renewal of the spirit; and with respect to both they are configured to His holiness, as is mentioned in a Gloss.

He elucidates this teaching when he says, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. As if to say: Truly have I said, that as many of you as have been baptized in Christ Jesus have put on Christ, because there is nothing in man that would exclude anyone from the sacrament of the faith of Christ and of baptism. And he mentions three differences among men to show that no one is excluded from faith in Christ by any of them: the first difference concerns one’s rite. Hence he says: There is neither Jew nor Greek. As if to say: 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: “Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. For there is one God that justifieth circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith” (Rom 3:29). Again: “There is no distinction of the Jew and Greek; for the same is Lord over all” (Rom 10:12).

But this seems to militate against what is said in Romans (3:1): ‘What advantage then hath the Jew? Much every way.” I answer that Jews and Greeks can be considered in two ways. First, according to the state in which they were before faith. In this way, the Jew was greater because of the benefits he derived from the Law. In another way, according to the state of grace; and in this way, the Jew is not greater. And this is the sense in which it is taken here.

The second difference is with respect to estate, when he says: there is neither bond nor free, i.e., neither slavery nor freedom, neither high estate nor low makes a difference so far as receiving the effect of baptism is concerned: “The small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master” (Job 3:19); “There is no respect of persons with God” (Rom 2:11).

The third difference concerns the condition of the nature: there is neither male nor female, for sex makes no difference as far as sharing in the effect of baptism is concerned.

The underlying reason for this explanation is set forth when he says, For you are all one in Christ Jesus. As if to say: Truly, none of these things makes a difference in Christ, because all of you, i.e., believers, are one in Christ Jesus, because through baptism you have all been made members of Christ and you form one body, even though you are distinct individuals: “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another” (Rom 12:5); “One body, one Spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling” (Eph 4:4). Now where there is unity, difference has no place. Indeed it was for this unity that Christ prayed: “That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee” (Jn 17:21).

Then when he says, if you be Christ’s, then are you the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise, he argues to his main proposition in the following manner: I have said that the promises were made to Abraham and to his seed; but you are of Abraham; therefore, to you pertains the promise made to Abraham about obtaining the inheritance. Then he proves the minor premiss: You are the adopted sons of God, because by faith you are united to Christ, Who is the natural Son of God. But Christ is a son of Abraham, as was said above, as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. Therefore, if you are of Christ, i.e., in Christ, you are the seed of Abraham, i.e., sons, because Christ is his son. And if you are the sons, you are heirs, i.e., the inheritance belongs to you according to the promise made to Abraham: “Not they that are the children of the flesh are the children of God; but they that are the children of the promise are accounted for the seed” (Rom 9:8).