Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He proceeds to prove by five reasons that we are justified not by the law and the works of the law, but by the faith of Christ.
The first is taken from experience, v. 2, namely because the Galatians had experienced that they had received the Holy Spirit and His gifts not in circumcision, but in baptism.
The second, v. 6, from the example of Abraham, who was justified because he believed God, that is, from faith.
Thirdly, v. 10, because those who are under the law are under a curse, which the law threatens against all who transgress it, from which Christ has freed us by becoming a curse for us.
Fourthly, v. 11, from Habakkuk, who says: "The just man lives by faith."
Fifthly, v. 16, because to Abraham and his descendants was promised the blessing, that is, righteousness and salvation: therefore we are justified from the promise, which we lay hold of by faith, and not from the law: for the law, as he says in v. 24, was given only for this, that as a pedagogue it might lead the Jews to Christ, that they might be justified from the faith of Christ, and might put on Christ, and all become one with Him.
Vulgate Text: Galatians 3:1-29
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? 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? 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. 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 by faith. 12. But the law is not of faith: but, He that doth those things, shall live in them. 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. 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, who 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. 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, 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. 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.
Verse 1: O Senseless Galatians, Who Hath Bewitched You
1. O senseless. — In Greek ō anoētoi, O fools. So Augustine. The Syriac: O chasere reina! O bereft of mind! "Each province," says Jerome, "has its own characteristics: the Cretans even today Epimenides marks as liars; the Latin historian strikes the Moors as vain, the Dalmatians as fierce; all the Poets tear the Phrygians as cowards. The Greeks," says Tullius (Cicero) in his Pro Flacco, "have an innate levity and learned vanity: in this manner I judge that the Apostle struck the Galatians with the characteristic of their region, namely that by the vice of their nation they are dull, witless, and rather slow to wisdom." The same Jerome, in the preface to book II of his Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians: "Thus also," he says, "Hilary, the Rhone of Latin eloquence, himself a Gaul and born at Poitiers, in his hymns calls the Gauls indocile (those of his own age, that is, since most were still unbelievers and therefore barbarians)." And below: "He knows with me who has seen Ancyra, the metropolis of Galatia, that it is even now lacerated by schisms. I omit the Cataphrygians, the Ophites, the Borborites and the Manichaeans. Who ever heard of the Passalorhynchites, and the Ascodrobi, and the Artotyrites, and other portents more than names, in any part of the Roman world? Vestiges of the ancient folly remain even to this day." So Jerome, by which words he proves the Galatians were dull, from the fact that they invented or admitted so many stupid heresies.
Note: This rebuke of the Apostle is not of indignation but of charity, a material insult, not formal, because not uttered with the intent of insulting, but from love and zeal, that he might strike, soften, and correct the hard Galatians. Gregory says in part III of the Pastoral, ch. viii. For just so parents, who chastise their sons with blows, can much more chastise them with words, and by reproach, as if to brand their vice with biting salt. So Christ, in Matthew ch. XXIII, v. 13, calls the scribes hypocrites. So Paul calls Elymas a son of the devil, Acts ch. XIII, v. 10.
Note secondly: He softens this rebuke when he says: "Who hath bewitched you," as if to say: Your blindness I attribute not so much to your madness as to the bewitchment of the Jews.
Who hath bewitched you? The Greek baskainōn signifies first, to envy, as if to say: What Jew has envied you the liberty of the Gospel? So Theophylact and Anselm. Secondly, it means to bewitch, to enchant, and to dazzle the eyes, so that you think you see what you do not really see, or that you do not see what is before you and what others see. This sense fits this place better. Hence follows: "Before whose eyes Christ was set forth"; for upon especially tender eyes this bewitchment used to be cast through the eyes and gaze of the bewitcher, whence the Greeks think baskainein is so called from para to phaessi kainein, because it harms the eyes and through the eyes. Hence Virgil: "I know not what eye is bewitching my tender lambs." As if to say: What wicked and envious eye has led you, O Galatians, tender and new in the faith of Christ, into this fraud, blindness, and error of Judaism? So Jerome and Anselm. "For bewitchment," says Jerome, "is properly said to harm infants and tender age, and those who do not yet plant their step with firm footing." Therefore Paul says: Who has bewitched you, O Galatians, that you do not see the most clear light of the Gospel shining before your eyes? whence he adds:
Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was set forth, crucified among you. — St. Anselm and others read "proscriptus," that is, disinherited, and, as Ambrose has it, despoiled and condemned, as if to say: You have deprived Christ of your Church as of His inheritance, and have driven Him out: but correct the reading with the Romans to "praescriptus."
Which first, S. Augustine, says Erasmus, takes from the prescription of law, by which goods, through possession for a certain time — say three years in movables, ten years in immovables — are prescribed by the possessor and pass into his right and dominion; Christ therefore was "praescriptus," that is, by the prescription of the old law, which through so many hundreds of years, possessing the name of the true law and the true Church of God, prescribed Him, Christ was excluded from His possession, namely your Church, O Galatians, by the Judaizers. For so Erasmus wishes to read in Augustine in this whole passage, "praescriptus" for "proscriptus," but he is mistaken: for all the codices, as well the Basel as the most accurate Louvain ones, have "proscriptus" in this place of Augustine, not "praescriptus"; and so Augustine explains it, when he says: "The Jews taking away that (i.e. the inheritance), and driving Him (i.e. Christ) out": which surely belongs to those proscribing, not to those prescribing.
Secondly, St. Jerome: "praescriptus," that is, he says, the passion, cross and death of Christ have already been described beforehand in the Prophets and Sacraments of the old law, O Galatians.
Thirdly and best and most genuinely, "praescriptus," that is, written before your eyes, and, as the Syriac has it, painted by being depicted (for the Greek word is common to writing and painting) in you, that is, before you, in your eyes, Christ crucified. There is a hyperbaton; for the words should be ordered thus: "Before whose eyes Christ was set forth crucified in you," as if to say: Christ as if depicted hanging on the cross was exhibited to you: for Christ was not truly crucified among the Galatians, but was represented to them as crucified through preaching and faith. For the "crucified" is the same as "as crucified": for the little particle of similitude "as" or "just as" is understood, after the manner of the Hebrews.
Where note that the "in you" is interjected by a Hebrew pleonasm, by which the antecedent is repeated with the relative: for it is the same to say kat' ophthalmous, that is, before whose eyes, and en hymin, in you. Hence the Syriac, more clearly omitting that, translates thus: "Behold, as if by painting depicted before your eyes was Yeshua Meshicho crucified"; for the Apostle often interjects and transposes many other things, as I said in Canon 38.
The sense therefore is, as if to say: Although Christ was crucified at Jerusalem, yet through my preaching the passion, life and cross of Christ has been depicted for you, O Galatians, as a living and vivid image, so that in that preaching of mine, through faith, you have gazed upon Christ crucified in you as if present before your eyes; so that you have seen with the eyes of faith the cross of Christ more exactly than the Jews themselves, who stood by the cross at Jerusalem and saw Christ hanging upon it, says Theophylact and Chrysostom; as if to say: How could your eyes be bewitched, to which I have so vividly painted and represented Christ crucified by my preaching?
It may, fourthly, be taken plainly as the words sound, and that more forcibly, as if to say: Recently in this age of yours, as if before your eyes, and perhaps with some of you present and looking on at Jerusalem, Christ was described and depicted, when, namely, "in you," that is, in your age, your time and century, or "in you," that is, in your neighborhood, namely in Judea, almost among you and before your eyes, He was crucified; for on the cross Christ was, with nails, thorns, scourges, lance, as with pens; with blood, as with ink, described and depicted, as a victim slain for our sins, that we might be justified by them, that is, He was depicted as our Redeemer, Justifier, Propitiator and Saviour, as if to say: Can it be that your eyes are so bewitched that you do not gaze upon Christ your Redeemer almost still hanging before your eyes, that you forget so living and recent a benefit — your redemption, I mean? that you do not recognize Christ, depicted in such living colors, nay in His own blood, on the cross? For how is He so painted, except because He is the expiator of sin and the justifier of the sinner? So Chrysostom.
In this sense Christ Himself crucified is like an image or book is set forth, in which Christ Himself is described and depicted with bloody letters. Do you wish to know who and what kind of one Christ is? Read this book, look upon the cross; on it you will read the title of the book inscribed: Jesus of Nazareth, that is, Saviour, or Sanctifier and Consecrator, who, namely, has consecrated and sanctified us to God; King of the Jews. You will read: "Christ was made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of God in Him"; for He alone took our sin upon Himself and expiated it: for what is sin if not Christ-killing, if not deicide? You will also read in this book, in the wound, weal, bruise, love of Christ, I say: "Love, love of thee, O man, has so painted me, has so reddened me, has so figured me." Do you see how love is written, nay sculpted, on the whole body? In short, this book will demonstrate to the reader and contemplator all the wisdom of Christ, and the very pinnacle of Christian philosophy.
Verse 2: Did You Receive the Spirit by the Works of the Law, or by the Hearing of Faith?
2. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? — "Spirit," that is, the Holy Spirit with His visible gifts of tongues, prophecy, and others, which were once given in baptism as indications of the Holy Spirit and of His invisible gifts, namely grace, charity, and the other virtues which the Holy Spirit infuses in baptism; as if to say: Whence, O Galatians, did you receive the spirit of grace, justice, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit? It is clear that it was not from circumcision and the works of the law, but from the hearing of faith, namely in the baptism of Christ, not before.
By the hearing of faith, — that is, from the preaching of the faith which you heard, or from the hearing by which you heard the faith and obeyed it: for "hearing" can be taken here both actively and passively, as in Isaiah LIII, 1. See Canon 30.
Verse 3: Whereas You Began in the Spirit, You Would Now Be Perfected by the Flesh
3. That whereas you began in the Spirit (with the spiritual doctrine of Christ, baptism, the Sacraments, the spiritual graces received from Him, you began to live a spiritual life and conduct), by the flesh (that is, by circumcision and other carnal ceremonies of the law) you would be perfected. — Others say "by the flesh" means by carnal vices, of gluttony, of lust: but this is beyond the scope and mind of the Apostle. Hence St. Bernard, sermon 33 on the Canticle, explains these things, or rather applies them, to those who by indiscreet fervor, through excessive prayers, penances, labors, etc., so exhaust their strength that they become useless: for these afterwards become slothful, and are consumed by the flesh, while they wholly attend to their health, and so become sensual and carnal. See what is said about flesh in 1 Cor. III, 2.
Would be perfected. — The Greek enarxamenoi pneumati, nyn sarki epiteleisthe, "you who began in spirit, are perfected in flesh"; the Syriac "you finish," as if to say: You end in flesh, and into it you cease. Theophylact notes that it is not said actively, "you may consummate, perfect," but passively "you may be consummated, perfected," to suggest that, like brute animals, they suffered themselves to be cut up and circumcised by the Judaizers. Secondly, he does not say teleiousthe, that is, "you are consummated," but epiteleisthe, that is, "after consummation you are perfected," as if to say: After the consummation received from Christ, you wish to superadd another from the old law, like a fifth wheel on a chariot. So Chrysostom.
Verse 4: Have You Suffered So Great Things in Vain?
4. Have you suffered so great things (namely from the infidels because of the faith of Christ) in vain, — that is, fruitlessly, if indeed you pass from it to Moses.
If it be yet in vain, — that is, if indeed in vain; supply, "which it will be unless you come to your senses," as if to say: Therefore I exhort you to come to your senses and persist in the faith of Christ. So Jerome.
Verse 5: He Therefore Who Gives the Spirit, and Works Miracles
5. He therefore who gives (ho epichorēgōn, who, namely, God or Christ, supplies, suggests, and, as the Syriac has it, puts in) and works — energōn, who works inwardly through His intimate and divine energy, power, and might. See what is said in 1 Cor. XII, 6.
Powers, — miracles. Supply: Does He do them from the law or from faith? as if to say: It is clear, and you know by experience, that it is not from the law but from faith, that is, through the faith of Christ. Whence he adds:
Verse 6: Abraham Believed God, and It Was Reputed to Him Unto Justice
6. As it is written: Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice. — This is the second argument, taken from the example of Abraham, by which he proves that we are justified not from the law but from faith; not by Moses, but by Christ, as if to say: Abraham, uncircumcised and before the law, received the Spirit and was justified not from the works of the law (which did not yet exist), but from the faith in the Christ to come: so you also are justified by the faith of Christ. So Anselm.
It was reputed to him unto justice, — that is, from this he was justified. See on this phrase, and on Abraham's justification itself, what is said on Rom. IV, 3.
Verse 7: They Who Are of Faith Are the Sons of Abraham
7. Therefore those who are of faith (a Grecism, that is, the faithful, those imitating the faith of Abraham), these are the sons of Abraham, — spiritual, that is, not by generation but by imitation, and consequently to them belongs the blessing, righteousness, and salvation promised to Abraham. So Jerome.
Verse 8: In Thee Shall All Nations Be Blessed
8. The Scripture foreseeing, — looking forward long before: for this is the Greek proidousa.
Told unto Abraham beforehand — proeuēngelisato, pre-evangelized, brought him this most joyful announcement about the future blessing of his descendants, that is, of the faithful, through the faith of Christ, as if to say: Therefore the Gospel concerning Christ, faith, and the righteousness of faith is not new, but was known in Abraham's time.
That (because) all nations shall be blessed in thee. — Cajetan notes on Gen. XII that God, when He called Abraham forth to go out from his land, namely Chaldea, and from his kindred, and come into the land which He would show him, promised Abraham seven blessings, or immense goods. The number seven is the symbol of universality, that is, of all goods.
The first thing He promised was sovereignty, or the paternity of a great nation, when He said: "And I will make thee a great nation." The second, abundance of fruits and wealth, when He says: "And I will bless thee." The third, celebrity and glory of name, when He says: "And I will magnify thy name." The fourth, the complex of all blessings and goods, when He says: "And thou shalt be blessed." Where in Hebrew it is wehyeh beracha, "be a blessing," that is, be so fully blessed in all things that you yourself seem to be a blessing, and that men, when they wish to bless someone, set you up as an example, saying: "May it be done to thee, may God bless thee, as He did and blessed Abraham"; just as in the inauguration of Caesar they used to acclaim: "Be more fortunate than Augustus, be better than Trajan." The fifth, that I will do good not only to thee, O Abraham, but also to thy friends, says the Lord, when He says: "I will bless those who bless thee." The sixth, that I will avenge thy enemies and thy injuries, when He says: "I will curse those who curse thee." These six are almost all corporeal and temporal. But the seventh and chief is spiritual and eternal, when He says: "In thee shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed."
On which note: "In thee," that is, in thy seed, as it is expounded in Gen. XXII, 17, that is, in Christ who was born from Abraham, as the Apostle here explains in v. 16, as if to say: Through Christ thy Son, and through faith in Christ, all nations shall be blessed, that is, shall be justified and shall become friends and Sons of God, and consequently heirs of the kingdom of God, that they may one day hear: "Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Therefore there is reason for you to rejoice, Abraham, because through Christ thy Son you will be father of all believers, of the just and the elect. So Jerome, Anselm and others.
It might secondly be taken thus: "in thee," that is, after thy likeness, after thy imitation and example, as if to say: As thou by faith, so also all the Gentiles by faith, not by the works of the law, "shall be blessed," that is, shall be justified. For the Hebrews often take the letter beth, that is, "in," for the kindred servile letter caph, which is the mark of similitude and comparison.
Note here: As the "saying" of God, being efficacious, is the same as "doing" (for He said, and they were made): so the "blessing" of God is the same as "doing good" and bestowing goods, which — the greater they are, the greater the blessing. Now since the greatest good is grace and justice, by which we are made partakers of the divine nature, friends, sons and heirs of God and of heavenly glory, hence "blessing" absolutely set down signifies the same by antonomasia. This blessing of Abraham, then, properly signifies this justification of Abraham and of his descendants, that is, of the faithful, who through Christ reborn imitate the faith of Abraham. Whence the Fathers rightly explain: "they shall be blessed," that is, they say, they shall be justified; "blessing," that is, they shall obtain justice; for God can give us no greater good or blessing than His own justice, friendship, and adoption as sons.
Finally, it is clear from this that Pagninus did not translate well: "in thee shall all nations bless themselves," saying namely: "Would that I were as happy and blessed as Abraham was." For the Hebrew nibrechu is purely passive, of the passive conjugation niphal, and properly signifies "they shall be blessed"; therefore it does not signify a reflexive action of the agent upon himself, namely, "they shall bless themselves": for this is signified by the final conjugation hithpael. Furthermore, the version and sense of Pagninus is plainly excluded here by the version and sense of St. Paul.
Verse 9: They Who Are of Faith Shall Be Blessed with Faithful Abraham
9. Therefore those who are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham. — He infers this conclusion from the antecedent premised in the preceding verse, as if to say: It is foretold and promised by God to Abraham: "In thee," that is, in thy seed, namely Christ, that is, through Christ and the merits of Christ, "all the Gentiles," who shall believe in Him and obey Him, by this faith of Christ and this obedience, "shall be blessed," that is, shall be justified; therefore this blessing and justice shall truly come to them. The consequence is proved: because God's prediction and promise cannot be deceived nor deceive.
From the second sense already mentioned, v. 8, the argument is similar: It was foretold and promised to Abraham: "In thee," that is, after thy likeness, "all the Gentiles shall be blessed"; but thou, O Abraham, wast justified by faith, as in v. 6 I proved from the words of Gen. ch. XV; therefore the Gentiles also shall be justified by faith, and consequently those who are of faith, that is, the faithful, "shall be blessed," that is, justified, "with faithful Abraham." This second sense is more strongly suggested by the "with faithful Abraham," as if to say: After the manner of faithful Abraham the Gentiles also shall equally be justified by faith.
Note again the Grecism: "Those who are of faith," that is, the faithful; so "those who are of circumcision," that is, Jews who follow circumcision and the old law. The same in the next verse he calls "those who are of the works of the law," that is, who follow the works of the law, rely on them, hope from them, and arrogate justice to themselves from them. Secondly, for "they shall be blessed" the Greek has eulogountai, that is, "they are blessed," in the present tense.
Verse 10: As Many as Are of the Works of the Law Are Under a Curse
10. As many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. — He asked in v. 5 whence justice comes, whether from the law or from faith? he tacitly answered from faith, and so far has proved it by the example of Abraham; now he proves the same in a third way, destroying the other and opposite side, namely that it is not from the law: "Because," he says, "whoever are of the works of the law (that is, who rely on them, trust in them, wish to be justified by them), are under a curse," that is, are liable to malediction and execration, namely to eternal damnation; therefore the law brings not blessing, but curse.
He proves the antecedent by this syllogism: Whoever does not do the whole law, is cursed by the law: but no one without the faith and grace of Christ does the whole law, as I suppose, as is known to you; for you know that the law cannot be fulfilled without grace, and that the law does not give grace, but Christ does, and that the law only teaches, threatens, and punishes: therefore without faith no one is exempt from the curse of the law which the law threatens against its violators, but all are cursed by the law. As if to say: Therefore the law curses; faith alone blesses.
More dialectically — namely in the first figure in Barbara — you may dispose this argument thus: Whoever violates any law is cursed by the law; but all who are under the law, cut off from the faith and grace of Christ, violate the law: therefore all who are under the law are cursed by it. He proves the major in the words that follow, namely the sentence of Deut. 27:26. The minor, as I have said, he supposes to be certain and known; therefore he infers a conclusion equally certain and infallible. Note here that this minor must necessarily be supplied: for if only the major is set forth, it concludes nothing, and the Judaizers could have said to the Galatians: We are as much under blessing as under cursing; for just as the law curses its violators, so it blesses its observers, Deut. 28:2: if therefore you keep the old law, you will be blessed with us. But this collapses once the minor just stated is supplied.
For it is written: Cursed is every one who does not remain in all things which are written in the book of the law. — Aquila renders, cursed, who has not established; Symmachus, who has not confirmed; Theodotion, who has not raised up the words of this law to do them, that is, like the Syriac, who has not performed them. The Septuagint render not the word but the sense: epikataratos, they say, who has not continued. But there is greater force in the Hebrew hekim, that is, has caused to stand; for he who firmly and constantly observes the law in all things, by deed and example as it were establishes, sets up, raises up, strengthens, and ratifies it. Hence to express the force of the word, the Septuagint and Paul add the "in all things," which is not in the Hebrew. This is the major of the syllogism stated above.
Note: He leaves the minor as something known by experience; not the one Calvin wants: But no one can fulfill the law; therefore the law is impossible, and all are necessarily under the curse of the law — for this is impious; but rather this: But no one without the faith and grace of Christ fulfills the entire law: therefore without the faith of Christ all are under the curse. So Jerome. For thus the law is not impossible, and God does not command impossibilities; for although by the powers of nature and the law it cannot be fulfilled in its entirety, it can yet be fulfilled in its entirety by the powers of grace, which God is ready to give to all who believe and pray, both Jews and Gentiles, through the mediator Christ.
Note secondly, that not all who violated some law were cursed: for certain laws, even though they were divine and given by God, yet because of the smallness of the matter only obliged under venial sin, such as the law forbidding to take the mother together with the young in the nest, Deut. 22:6; and the law forbidding to sow the vineyard with another seed, ibid. v. 9, and the law forbidding a garment woven of wool and linen, v. 11. Therefore the law of which Paul here speaks, Deut. 27, which Paul here cites, speaks of the laws of the Decalogue, which are weighty and concern matters of great moment, and therefore oblige under mortal sin: of which whoever violates even one is cursed. Look at the cited chap. 27 of Deuteronomy, and you will see it is so. The Apostle supposes that without the grace of Christ the entire Decalogue can be fulfilled by no one: and therefore he concludes that all who are under the law are cursed by it.
Verse 11: But Because in the Law No Man Is Justified
11. But because. — This is a new and fourth argument, proving that we are justified not by the law but by the faith of Christ; for the Apostle heaps up arguments and passages of Scripture to persuade the Galatians of this. Hence as in v. 6 he used an argument drawn from the example of Abraham, and in the preceding verse proved the same from the curse which the law threatens against its own, Deut. 27, so here he proves the same from Habakkuk chap. 2, v. 4, where it is said: "The just shall live not by the law but by faith," which passage I have explained on Rom. 1:17.
Verse 12: The Law Is Not of Faith
12. Now the law is not of faith (the law does not teach, does not bring faith and grace by which we may fulfill the law, be justified, and live justly, holily, and blessedly), but (supply: only this is said of the law, Ezek. 20:11, Lev. 18:5): He who does these things (namely those which the law commands) shall live in them, — that is, he shall not be punished with the death which the law threatens against transgressors; but he shall be granted life and an abundance of temporal goods which the law promises to its observers. I said the same on Rom. 10:5; for this epistle to the Galatians is, as I have said, a kind of compendium of the epistle to the Romans.
Note here the antithesis between faith and law. Concerning faith it is said: that the just man, precisely as such, shall live by it — namely with the life of righteousness, of grace, and of glory, which is absolute, perfect, and blessed life. Concerning the law, however, it is not said absolutely that he who does it shall live, but, shall live in them, as if to say: He shall live by that life and by those goods which the precepts of the law promise to those who observe them, namely in abundance of grain, wine, and oil.
Verse 13: Christ Was Made a Curse for Us
13. Christ was made a curse for us. — In Greek katara, curse, execration. Note: Christ, blessed in Himself and in His own person, was made a curse insofar as He took upon Himself the person of sinners, whose sins and execrations He undertook to atone for and expiate in Himself: not otherwise than if someone takes upon himself the debt of a third party, he becomes and is called a debtor; so here too Christ becomes and is called a curse and sin for us, although not so properly: for a monetary debt can truly be transferred to another, but sin properly cannot be transferred to another; rather it is said to be transcribed by civil reckoning and denomination upon him who undergoes the punishment of the sin. There is therefore a catachresis and metonymy. Just as therefore, in 2 Cor. 5:21, Christ is said to have been made for us "sin," that is, a sin-offering, upon which formerly all sins were laid by the imposition of hands: so here He is said to have been made "a curse for us," that is, cursed and accursed: because, as Rupert says, God transferred the curses of the human race onto Christ, that is, that He might for us undergo the infamous and execrable punishment of the cross — both to show the enormity of sin and how detestable a thing sin is, and as an example of patience and of every virtue, "so that not only no death, but not even any kind of death, should Christian liberty fear, as Jewish servitude did," says St. Augustine, bk. Against Adimantus, ch. 21; and Tertullian, bk. On Patience, ch. 8: "The Lord Himself," he says, "is cursed in the law, and yet He alone is blessed. Therefore let us as servants follow our Lord, and be cursed patiently, that we may be able to be blessed."
For it is written (Deut. 21:23): Cursed is every one who hangs upon a tree. — Deut. 21:23 says: "He who hangs upon a tree is cursed by God," in Hebrew killat elohim talui, that is, as Aquila and Theodotion render, the curse of God is one hanged; Symmachus, hanged unto the blasphemy of God; Ebion the heresiarch, half-Jew and half-Christian, says Jerome, renders hybris theou, that is, the injury or insult of God is he who hangs; another renders loidoria, that is, the reviling of God is one hanged. For the Hebrew root in piel, namely killel, signifies to revile and blaspheme. Jerome adds: "The Hebrew who taught me (named Barhanina) used to say it could also be rendered: God is hanged contumeliously." Paul omits the name of God. Hence St. Jerome thinks that the name of God was not formerly in Deuteronomy, but was later inserted by some Jew to brand us with infamy, who believe that Christ was cursed by God. But this does not seem probable: for all the codices, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and the Septuagint (according to St. Jerome's testimony, whom Paul is wont to follow) have in Deuteronomy the name "of God" or "by God." Therefore Paul out of regard omitted the name of God for the sake of the Jews and of the Galatians half-turned away from Christ, lest he should turn them further away from Him, if they heard that He had been cursed by God.
Note first: From this and other passages, such as Num. 25:4, Joshua 8:29, 2 Sam. 21:9, it is clear that the Jews could use, as stoning, the sword, and fire, so also crucifixion in punishing the guilty — which some have wrongly denied.
Secondly: They used the punishment of the cross in punishing the gravest crimes, namely blasphemy, idolatry, tyranny, as they crucified Christ as one aspiring to the kingdom of Judea. Hence those who were hanged were considered, more than other criminals, execrable and cursed by God and men, as is here said; and the cross was, by this law, a punishment supremely infamous, ignominious, and execrable, not only to the Romans but also to the Jews.
Hence note thirdly: In the cited passage of Deuteronomy God thus enacts concerning the cross and those hanged: "When," He says, "a man has sinned what is to be punished with death, and being adjudged to death is hung upon a gibbet, his corpse shall not remain on the tree, but shall be buried on the same day: because he who hangs upon a tree is cursed by God; and you shall by no means defile your land." Although Abulensis by argument from likeness extends this to those killed by stoning, sword, or any other instrument — as if the law willed all who were slain by any punishment whatsoever to be buried as cursed before evening — yet the contrary is far more true: for the law assigns and imposes this precisely only on those hanged; for these were considered execrable above other criminals.
You will ask, what was the cause of this law — why namely God willed the bodies of those hanged to be buried before evening? Andreas Masius answers on Joshua 8:28: "Because," he says, "this corpse is reckoned to defile the land: for it imbues the inhabitants of the land with the most impious and most pernicious opinion of the soul's mortality, while they see human bodies, like those of beasts, deprived of the honor of burial, neglected, and cast forth." This reason is more lofty than germane: for it is not adequate to those hanged, but to all who perish by any death whatever; whereas the law commanding bodies to be buried speaks only of those hanged. Better therefore Cajetan and others give as the cause that God willed those hanged, as the most heinous criminals, to be utterly removed from the land, so that not even their corpses should remain: as a punishment, namely, and infamy of so great crimes, on account of which they deserved to be utterly destroyed and as it were annihilated, as wholly execrable and unworthy to touch and breathe upon the earth: so witches, arsonists, sodomites are punished by flames and reduced to ashes, as the most criminal and abominable, and therefore to be entirely erased from the earth and reduced to nothing.
Here is to be noted a phrase of Scripture: it is wont to say that the land is defiled by crimes, that it groans, cries out, is angered, demands vengeance, indeed vomits out its inhabitants, as it says of the Canaanites, Lev. 18:28. For by prosopopoeia, for greater emphasis, life, sense, groans, anger, vomiting are attributed to an inanimate thing — namely the land — that the enormity of the crimes of the inhabitants of the land may be signified, which was so great that the very land, the elements, and other irrational creatures — always obedient to their Creator and fighting on His behalf — detested such great sinners and as it were vomited them out, when they were expelled from the land by God and the Hebrews: detested them, I say, by a natural appetite by which natures by their weight are borne to their own order and to the good of the whole universe and to fulfill the will of avenging God, and turn away from things contrary to these — namely sins. The same things creatures would do by a rational appetite and by human detestation, if they had it and were capable and possessed of it.
Finally, according to this law of Deuteronomy, Christ, as one hanged, on the same day on which He was crucified, before evening — because the Sabbath and rest from labors was beginning — was taken down from the cross and buried; though Christ, as the most innocent and most unjustly condemned to the cross and the gibbet, was not held by this law of Deuteronomy. Hence that Hebrew already mentioned, St. Jerome's teacher, judged that from the Hebrew it could be rendered prophetically thus: "His (Christ's) corpse shall not remain on the tree, because God is hanged contumeliously." Nor did the Jews allege this law as the pretext for taking Christ down from the cross, but rather the unseemliness of the spectacle, lest namely they should sully the splendor of the most celebrated following Sabbath — the Paschal one — with so infamous a sight as the crucified Christ, as is clear from John ch. 19, v. 31.
Note here: This law of Deuteronomy was judicial, and therefore was already abrogated by Christ's law and death, as also all the other ancient judicial and ceremonial laws. Hence now those who are hanged are no longer cursed above other criminals, nor are buried on the same day, but hang for days, months, and years on the gibbet for the terror of the rest of evildoers.
Morally and piously St. Jerome here: "The Lord's (Christ's) injury," he says, "is our glory. He died that we might live. He descended to the underworld that we might ascend to heaven. He was made foolishness that we might be made wisdom. He emptied Himself of the fullness and form of God, taking the form of a servant, that the fullness of divinity might dwell in us, and that we might be made lords from servants. He hung upon the tree that, hanging there, He might destroy by the wood the sin which we had committed at the tree of knowledge. His cross turned bitter waters into sweet flavor, and lifted up the lost axe, plunged into the deep, when cast into the streams of the Jordan. Lastly He was made a curse — made, I say, not born — that the blessings which had been promised to Abraham might, with Him as author and forerunner, be transferred to the Gentiles, and that the promise of the Spirit through faith in Him might be fulfilled in us." See also Chrysostom and Anselm.
Verse 14: That the Blessing of Abraham Might Come Upon the Gentiles
14. That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles. — This depends on the preceding verse: Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us, that in place of the curse the blessing promised to Abraham might shine upon the Gentiles — namely that we might receive the promise of the Spirit (that is, the Holy Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us, promised to Abraham's sons, that is, to believers) through faith, — by which we believe in Christ, the son of Abraham, in whom God established and sealed this blessing, saying to Abraham: "In thee," that is, in thy seed, which is Christ, "all the nations shall be blessed," as I said at v. 8.
Verse 15: I Speak According to Man
15. I speak according to man, — that is, I speak according to the custom and usage of men. For the secundum corresponds to the Hebrew caph, which is a mark of likeness, signifying as, according to, like. Thus Job 31:33 says: "If I have hidden as a man (in Hebrew caadam, that is, according to or after the manner of man, like a man, as men are wont to do) my sin"; and Psalm 81:7: "But you shall die as men (Hebrew caadam, that is, according to man, after the manner of men)"; and Hosea 6:7: "But they like Adam (Hebrew caadam, that is, according to Adam or man, as Adam did, and as man is wont to do) have transgressed the covenant."
The sense therefore of Paul is, as if to say: In this spiritual and divine matter I use a human and common example of a testament and testator, in order to prove that we inherit the blessing of Abraham just spoken of, not through the law, but through the faith of Christ, according to God's covenant entered into with Abraham; so that you ought rightly to be ashamed, O Galatians, that you should attribute less to God's testaments and pacts than to those of man. Here is a new and fifth reason, drawn from God's covenant and promise, by which he proves that we are justified not by the law but by faith.
Yet (although, no less than) when a man's testament (that is, pact) is confirmed, no one despises it or adds to it, — that is, alters it, orders it differently, and arranges it beyond what was ordered and arranged by the testator; that is, neither subtracts, nor adds, nor derogates from, nor claims for himself. Note: The Greek homōs, meaning "however," sometimes signifies "although." Hence Vatablus and others commonly translate: "Although a man's testament be confirmed, no one rejects it or adds anything to it."
Verse 16: The Promises Were Made to Abraham and to His Seed
16. The promises were made to Abraham and to his seed, — namely Gen. 22:16ff., where it is said: "Because thou hast done this thing (in being willing to obey Me by sacrificing thy son Isaac), I will bless thee, etc., and in thy seed shall all the nations be blessed." Hence interpreters gather that Abraham by this obedience and the offering of his son merited that from his own stock, rather than another, indeed from that very Isaac whom he had been willing to sacrifice, Christ should be born, through whom all the nations should be blessed and the blessings and promises made to Abraham should be fulfilled. Hence the Apostle rightly teaches here that these promises were made to Abraham and to the seed, that is, to the son — namely Christ, to be born of Abraham's seed. For although in Gen. ch. 22 it is only said that they were made to Abraham in his seed, and not also to his seed: by the very fact that they were made to Abraham in his seed, they were made not so much to Abraham as to his seed; just as if a king should promise a Count and say: In thy son I will exalt thy family, and will make him Duke and Prince — he blesses not so much the Count as the Count's son, and promises the Dukedom and the exaltation of the family: so here too God, saying to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all the nations be blessed," promises this blessing — that is, the justification and salvation of all the nations — not so much to the person of Abraham as to Christ — namely those nations which, embracing the faith of Christ, will believe and obey Christ.
He does not say: And to his seeds, as if speaking of many: but as if of one: And to thy seed, which is Christ. — You will say: Seed is the same as posterity and descendants; therefore it signifies many even in the singular: for it is a collective noun like "people"; how then does the Apostle conclude: The Scripture says "to the seed," not "to the seeds"; therefore in one, namely in Christ, not in many, are the promises to Abraham fulfilled?
I answer: "Seed" is sometimes collective and signifies all descendants, as when it is said: "Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven"; but sometimes it signifies only one definite person, and this must be gathered from the context: thus it is taken in Gen. ch. 21, v. 13: "But the son also of thy handmaid (Ishmael) I will make into a great nation, because he is thy seed" — that is, thy son. So too here it must be taken thus, both from this passage of St. Paul and from the common exposition of all interpreters and of the ancient Rabbis, who all understand by this "seed" Christ, through whom God will bless all nations; and also because otherwise, if "seed" here were taken in the former sense as collective, this prophecy and promise would be false: for it is plain that not all the nations have been blessed in the posterity of Abraham, that is, in the Jewish people; indeed, all the other nations turned away from the Jews, and the Jews were the reproach and curse of the Gentiles.
Verse 17: A Testament Confirmed by God, the Law Which Was Made Four Hundred and Thirty Years Afterward Does Not Make Void
17. Now this I say: a testament confirmed by God, the law which was made four hundred and thirty years afterward does not make void, so as to annul the promise. — As if to say: If, as I have said in v. 15, no one dares or is able to make void a man's testament and pact, much less then could the law, far later — given indeed only after 430 years from this promise on Sinai — make void the testament, that is, the pact of God entered into with Abraham "in Christ" (as the Greek adds), that is, concerning Christ, who would bless all nations. So Œcumenius.
Note: Here and elsewhere these three — namely the Hebrew berit, the Greek diathēkē, and the Latin testamentum — are the same and signify any pact whatever. For this is what the Hebrew berit adequately signifies in Scripture, which the Septuagint render diathēkē — namely so that it is the same as synthēkē. So Jerome, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Œcumenius. Budaeus shows the same from Aristophanes and Demosthenes, on which I have said more on 1 Cor. 11:25. St. Augustine however properly takes it here as the testament of God: "Because," he says, "just as the death of the testator avails to confirm the testament, so the unchangeableness of God's promise avails to confirm His promise."
Which was made into law after four hundred and thirty years. — Here is a weighty question about these years — from where they should be reckoned: for as to their end and limit it is sufficiently clear that they end in that year in which the law was given to the Jews on Sinai through Moses, as is here said. For Paul's reckoning of years here seems to conflict with Exod. 12:40, where it is said: "Now the dwelling of the children of Israel, which they made in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years." For they began to dwell in Egypt with Jacob, when, pressed by famine and called by his son Joseph, he went down there. From this descent of Jacob into Egypt to the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt are 430 years; how then does the Apostle reckon only that many from Abraham, when from Abraham to this descent of Jacob more than two hundred years had elapsed, and consequently from Abraham to the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt he should have reckoned not just 430, but 630?
I say briefly with Augustine, Quaest. 47 on Exod., with Athanasius, or rather Anastasius in the Synopsis of Sacred Scripture, on Exod., with Eusebius in the Chronicon, with Rupert, Abulensis, and Cajetan on Exod. 12, that those years which Paul here reckons are the same as those Moses computes in the cited place of Exodus, namely chap. 12, v. 40, and that both must be reckoned not from the descent of Jacob into Egypt but from the 75th year of Abraham, in which year Abraham, called by God, began to journey from his house and homeland — namely Haran — toward the land of Canaan: for in this 75th year of his life he received those blessings and promises of which the Apostle here speaks, as is clear from Gen. 12 at the beginning of the chapter.
This is plain first of all: for it is clear that the Hebrews did not dwell in Egypt 430 years from the descent of Jacob, since Kohath went down with his grandfather Jacob into Egypt; and Kohath lived 133 years, whose son Amram lived 137 years. This Amram begot Moses, and in the 81st year of Moses the Hebrews went out of Egypt. All this is clear from Exod. 6:18 and 20, and Exod. 7:7; if you join all these years together, they will not amount to 430 but only to 354. From these years moreover are to be subtracted the years of Kohath which he lived after he begot Amram, and the years of Amram which he lived after he begot Moses: for those years of Kohath are contained in the years of Amram, and the remaining years of Amram in the years of Moses during which he lived together with his father Amram. Hence it follows that those 430 years of the Exodus must be reckoned not from the descent of Jacob, but far earlier, from the journeying of Abraham, namely from Haran toward Canaan; and the Septuagint expressly say so in Exod. ch. 12, when they translate: "But the dwelling of the children of Israel, which they and their fathers had dwelt in the land of Egypt and Canaan, was four hundred and thirty years."
Proved secondly, because the Apostle here says that the law was made after 430 years, to be reckoned not from Jacob's coming down but from Abraham's call, journeying, and the promise: but the law was given in the same year in which the Hebrews went out of Egypt, namely in the third month after the exodus, as is said in Exod. 19:1. See what I have said on Exod. 12:40.
Verse 18: If the Inheritance Be of the Law, It Is No Longer of Promise
18. For if the inheritance be of the law (if by the law of Moses we are made heirs of the blessing of Abraham, that is, of righteousness and salvation, then) it is no longer of promise. — But this is false, because God gave this blessing through a re-promise, promising namely to Abraham a seed — that is, Christ — in whom and through whom all the nations who would believe in Him would be blessed; if it is from Christ's promise, then from Christ's faith, not from Moses' law, this blessing promised to Abraham came to all the nations: for the promise just spoken of involves the faith of Christ, as is plain to anyone reading it through.
Verse 19: Why Then the Law? It Was Set on Account of Transgressions
19. Why then the law? — For what was the law brought in after the promise, if it does not fulfill God's promise, if it does not complete the blessing promised to Abraham? He answers that the law was set down and given by God on account of transgressions, namely to be punished and restrained — so Jerome and Chrysostom; for this is what God the lawgiver directly intended when He gave the law; indirectly however, as Augustine says, the law was set down on account of transgressions — namely to declare them — so that the proud people, on seeing the law, might recognize their sins which they commit against the law, and that they had need of Christ's grace to fulfill it; thus the law tacitly transmitted men to Christ. Hence he adds:
Until the seed should come (that is, Christ) to whom He had promised, — namely God, that the nations should be blessed through Him, that is, justified, so that they might thereafter live piously and justly and be able to fulfill the law. As if to say: The law was given as it were as our schoolmaster, until Christ; therefore now that Christ is present, it has performed its office; why then do you wish to prolong it further, O Jews? So Chrysostom.
It was set on account of transgressions, — diatageis, was disposed in its order, as a soldier is disposed in his place and order in the battle line by the commander: so the law was disposed in its own and fitting order, time, place, and manner, and as it were arrayed in line of battle.
First, in its order, because it intervened as it were between the law of nature and the Gospel: for it was more perfect than the law of nature, but more imperfect than the Gospel, and was a way and preparation for the Gospel.
Secondly, in its time, because the law was given to that rude people as soon as, having been led out of Egypt, they began to coalesce into one nation, commonwealth, and church separated from the other nations, lest they should melt away into the idolatry and license of the other nations.
Thirdly, in its place, because at Sinai, before their entry into Canaan, it was made as it were a federal condition: for God promised that He would lead the Hebrews into Canaan and hand it over to them in possession, if they would follow the law as their forerunning guide and observe it as the condition of the pact and covenant.
Fourthly, in its mode, because the angel proclaimed and promulgated this law from Sinai with the trumpet's voice, with terrifying earthquake, lightnings, and thunders to the whole people, as a law of fear and terror, to keep the hard and rebellious Jews as His servants in their duty by fear and punishments. In these four ways the law was outwardly ordered.
Fifthly, it was inwardly ordered, because the very precepts of the law are most rightly ordered, and ordered the Hebrews — first, to worship God rightly through ceremonies and sacrifices; secondly, not to harm one's neighbor, or, if he had been harmed, to make just satisfaction to him through the judicial laws; thirdly, to compose man rightly within himself through the moral laws of the Decalogue.
Consequently, in like manner, far more orderly was the new law of Christ, which succeeded the old. First, because it was given in its order, namely in the last place as the most perfect, and as the apex of all laws.
Secondly, in its time, namely in the last age of the world, when Christ its lawgiver came; it was given and promulgated at Pentecost, namely on the fiftieth day from the Pasch, which is the symbol of full remission, liberty, felicity, eternity, and the eternal Jubilee.
Thirdly, in its place, namely not on Sinai but on Sion, which is the type and as it were the watchtower of heavenly glory, to which this law leads us — of which in the following chapter.
Fourthly, in its mode, because it was given and brought forth with a vehement Spirit and with fiery tongues, with the efficacy of the Holy Spirit and the zeal for preaching and converting the nations whatsoever — as it were a law of burning love and inflamed charity.
Fifthly, because in itself it is most orderly through the precepts of faith, hope, justice, charity, and the Sacraments.
Ordained through angels. — Hence it is plain that God did not speak to Moses through Himself, but through an angel — who, however, sustained the person of God and speaks as God, when he says: "I am the Lord thy God," Exod. 20:2: just as a king's legate speaks in the person, name, and authority of his king. Therefore the angel in God's stead immediately promulgated the law of the Decalogue from Sinai to the whole people, Exod. 20. The other ceremonial laws, however — concerning the construction of the tabernacle, the ark, the Cherubim, concerning sacrifices, lustrations, which are recounted in Leviticus — and the judicial laws, which are prescribed in Exod. 21:22 and scattered throughout the Pentateuch, the angel speaking with Moses on Sinai delivered to him, that he might promulgate them to the people.
In the hand of a mediator. — Note the Hebraism "in the hand," that is, "through" — as if to say: Through a mediator: for since the hand is the member through which a man works, and as it were the organ of organs, hence the Hebrews call "a hand" any instrument through which God, or an angel, or a man works: thus the word of the Lord is said to have been made in the hand of Elijah, Isaiah, and the other Prophets — that is, through Elijah, Isaiah, and the other Prophets as instruments and organs of God.
Of a mediator. — Mesitou, Vatablus translates "intercessor"; Erasmus, "conciliator"; Our [translator] renders it word for word and adequately as "of a mediator": for "mediator" extends more widely than "conciliator"; for whoever mediates between two and intervenes — whether as messenger, or as interpreter, or as conciliator — is called the mediator of both.
It is asked who is here understood as the mediator. St. Jerome, Chrysostom, Augustine, Ambrose understand Christ the Lord: for although Christ in the time of Moses did not yet exist in act, and consequently was not yet a mediator, He was nevertheless in the decree and destination of God. As if to say: The old law was given by the power and authority of Christ the mediator already predestined by God: therefore as it was in Christ's power to give the law through Moses, so it was also in His power, when He had been born, to abrogate the same through Himself.
Secondly and better, Cyril, bk. 12 of the Thesaurus, ch. 10; Gregory Nazianzen, oration 6 before Gregory of Nyssa; Catharinus, Adamus and others, indeed even Beza, understand Moses, who in Deut. 5:5 says that he was the go-between and the middle between God and the people.
It is proved first, because Christ cannot be called mediator as God, but as God made man; but in the time of Moses He was not yet man: therefore He could not yet be called mediator. The major is plain, because Christ, considered only as God, just as also considered only as man, is a part and one of the extremes: therefore as such, He is not mediator, but as He is God-man: for as He is God-man, so He joined and united both parts and extremes, namely both God and man, in Himself as in a middle, and as God exercised the authority and dignity of mediator; as man, the works, sufferings, and merits of mediator. You will say: In the time of Moses Christ existed not in act but in the power and predestination of God. To the contrary, the Apostle here understands a mediator not in power but in act; because he says the old law was ordained through this mediator — namely in act when that law was given to the Hebrews; but Christ, as not yet existing, could not ordain that law when it was given to the Hebrews on Sinai: therefore He could not then be the mediator of that law; for what does not exist cannot operate or ordain anything. Secondly, the "through angels in the hand of a mediator" signifies that the angels gave the law through the ministry of a mediator; but Christ cannot be called a minister of angels, but is the leader and prince of angels, Heb. 1: therefore here the mediator is not Christ.
Thirdly, the old law was properly given through Moses, just as the new through Christ: therefore as Christ is the mediator of the new law and the New Testament, so Moses is of the old.
Fourthly, the Apostle teaches this in Heb. ch. 8, vv. 5 and 6, and ch. 9, vv. 15, 19, and 20.
Note this against the Innovators: for if Moses is called mesitēs, that is, mediator, without injury to Christ the Mediator — as Beza himself admits — mediator, I say, not because he was the conciliator, peacemaker, and redeemer of the Hebrews, but because he was their go-between with God: why may the Saints not, much more, be called our mediators, without injury to Christ the Mediator and Redeemer, who by their merits and prayers conciliate God's grace for us? It is indeed a marvel that the Innovators should so quibble over this name and cast a smokescreen and shadows before the people, when both as to the meaning and the matter itself, indeed even as to the name, as is plain here, the case is settled.
The sense therefore of the Apostle is, as if to say: The old law was given by angels and brought through Moses, but the new law through Christ Himself, who is God and man, and who, as in His divinity He gave the old law through Moses, so when He was born as man could by Himself abrogate the same, in order that, according to the promises made to Abraham, in his seed — that is, in Himself born from Abraham — He might bless all the Gentiles, that is, justify and save them.
Verse 20: A Mediator Is Not of One, but God Is One
20. Now a mediator is not of one, — but of two, namely of two peoples, namely of the Jews and of the Gentiles, Christ is the mediator, says Ambrose.
Secondly, "Christ as mediator is not of one" — namely nature, but of two, namely the human and the divine.
Thirdly, "the mediator (Moses) is not of one" — namely will, decree, and counsel, but is mutable, because he is man; God however in His will and promise is immutable. To this view Adamus inclines; but all these are remote from the phrasing of Scripture and from the mind and aim of the Apostle: therefore, etc.
Fourthly and better, "Christ is mediator, not of one," but of two — not of Gods, as if one were the Father, the other the Son, as Arius and Nestorius have invented: for God is one and the same, not two. Nor again is Christ the mediator of two, namely of God and of the angels, as though He should reconcile the angels to God, since the holy angels do not need this, and the demons, as damned, cannot be helped by it: but the mediator of two, or between two, namely God and men. As if to say and infer: Therefore not the law but Christ redeems us men, justifies us, and reconciles us to God. So Augustine, Theophylact, and Anselm.
Fifth, and most plainly, this seems to be the Apostle's intent: to expound the term "mediator," as if to say: The mediator of whom I spoke, Moses, "is not of one," but of two definite and determinate parties — namely of God and of the Hebrews. He was not, however, mediator of the Christians (to whom especially the blessing pertains — that is, the justice and salvation promised to Abraham); for the Hebrews Moses was mediator and interpreter; but God is one, not two. So in these words the Apostle does not press his argument except obliquely and as a beginning, but in unfolding them he plays upon an antithesis, namely setting in opposition the mediator, who is of two, against God, who is one — and on this latter point he places his chief weight, as I shall now show.
But God is one, — as if to say: There are not two gods, of whom the one is the God of the law and of the Jews, the other the God of Abraham and of the Christians, as the Manichees and Jews would have it; but there is one God of both Jews and Christians, the same Author of the Law and of the Gospel. And consequently this one and the same God, by the law which He gave to the Jews, did not wish to revoke His promise made to Abraham — namely concerning the blessing and the justice to be acquired through the seed of Abraham, that is, through Christ and faith in Christ and the Gospel. Otherwise He would have been inconstant and contrary to Himself, which it is impious even to think. But rather He gave the law in order that through it, as through a pedagogue, He might lead us to Christ, that from Christ we might obtain the blessing and the justice promised to Abraham. So one and the same God made Moses mediator between Himself and the Hebrews; now, the latter being recalled, He has made another, namely Christ, mediator between Himself and the Christians of all the nations, and through Christ has blessed and justified all the Gentiles, as He had promised to Abraham.
That this is the Apostle's meaning is clear from the parallel place in 1 Timothy 2:5, where from the fact that God is one God of all nations and of all men, he proves that He wishes all men to be saved, and from the same principle deduces that there is one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus — as if to say: God wills not the Jews alone but also all the Gentiles to be saved. Again, not the Jews alone but also all the Gentiles, having fallen into sin, need a redeemer and a mediator. But he cannot be Moses, inasmuch as he was mediator of the Jews only; therefore it must be Christ. To Him therefore must Moses give place. For Christ is that seed of Abraham in whom God promised that all the Gentiles should be blessed. Thus Gennadius in Œcumenius, and after him Salmeron.
Verse 21: Is the Law Then Against the Promises of God?
21. Is the law then against the promises of God? — He meets an objection, as Jerome rightly notes — the occasion for which seems to have been given by verse 19, when he said: "The law was set down on account of transgression," or, as in Greek prosetethē, "was added, until the seed should come." For from this someone might gather: If the law was added to the promise and crept in as it were, it seems that it usurped to itself the office of giving life and justifying men — namely, that it might carry out what the promise contained, and discharge that office until Christ should come. For why else would it be joined to the promise? Why else would it forestall Christ? — unless, as you yourself say, on account of transgressions, that is, transgressions to be abolished through the living works of the virtues which the law prescribes, that we may be justified by them. But if this is so, then the law is contrary to the promises of God: for God promised this giving of life and justification to faith in Christ, not to the law; rather, by this very fact He excluded the law from this office.
That this is the meaning is clear from what follows. For excluding this question and objection he adds: "God forbid," that is, this cannot be said of the law. "For if a law had been given which could give life, then truly justice would be of the law" — as if to say: The law cannot give life; therefore it is not contrary to God's promises, which promise that spiritual life shall be given through Christ. The antecedent is proved thus: if the law could give life, it could also justify; but this it cannot do, because "the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe." So the law was given only that it might be our pedagogue unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith — as if to say: When I said that the law was set down on account of transgressions, I understood that it should restrain them by fear of punishment, lest they break out into external acts; not however that the law alone could check inward concupiscence by supplying the vital spirit of grace, by which with living love, with grace and with the Spirit, we might fulfill the law.
God forbid, q. d., says Anselm: It cannot happen that God would give a law which would be opposed to His own promises, for in that case God would be contrary to Himself; never has a subsequent law been opposed to preceding promises, but rather has continually admonished men to prepare themselves worthily to receive those promises from Christ and through faith in Christ. Thus far Anselm. Therefore the law is not contrary to the promise, but rather assists, establishes, and confirms it.
For if a law had been given which could give life, then truly justice would be of the law. — "To give life," that is, to bestow upon the soul life, namely justice. But since from this life he infers justice as something distinct, hence secondly and better, "to give life" is to make a man's works to be alive — which happens when a man performs vital works and actions of the virtues from the inward spirit of charity and grace. He argues from effect to cause, namely from a vital work to life or soul; for as it rightly follows, "This man eats, speaks, walks about; therefore he has soul and life," — so similarly, if the law could produce in us the vital works of the spirit, it would follow that it could likewise impart to us the very spirit of charity and grace, and justice itself. For the works of the spirit cannot be produced or exercised without the spirit, just as neither can the works of life without the soul.
Verse 22: The Scripture Has Concluded All Under Sin
22. But (justice is not from the law, because) the Scripture has concluded (that is, has declared, and pronounced by the authority of its own sentence) all (that is, all to be concluded) under sin, — this is, that all are sinners, guilty of sin, subject to sin. It is a Hebraism: a real verb is set in place of a mental or vocal one, according to Canon 36. He cites the Scripture which thus concludes and pronounces in Romans 3:9. Note: by way of intensification, instead of "every," he says "all things."
That the promise (the blessing promised to Abraham, that is justice, salvation, and inheritance) by (this is, through) the faith of Christ might be given to those who believe. — Thus Anselm.
Verse 23: Before the Faith Came, We Were Kept Under the Law Shut Up
23. But before the faith came, we were kept under the law shut up (as servants under discipline, in the custody and prison of the burdensome law, which by its punishments, as by bars and enclosures, restrained and held us back from sin) unto that faith which was to be revealed, — that is to say, that through the rebuke of the law, its threats and the showing of penalties, we might be formed, prepared, and might aspire to the faith, liberty, and justice that was to be given through Christ. Thus Anselm and Theophylact.
Verse 24: Therefore the Law Was Our Pedagogue in Christ
24. Therefore the law was our pedagogue. — "Pedagogue," that is, one who drives and leads a boy, says Jerome. Among the Greeks the term was used of a slave who would lead a boy wherever he went, took care of him, governed him, and who would by rods restrain his earliest age — wanton and inclined to vice — and would form him, imbue him with the disciplines fit for boys, and prepare him for higher things. Such was the law, which instructed, restrained, formed, and prepared the Hebrews as it were boys.
In Christ (in Greek eis Christon, unto Christ) that by faith (being reborn through it) we may be justified. — Beautifully by prosopopoeia he assigns the role of pedagogue to the law and to Moses, but the role of Father to faith and to Christ, because by faith in Christ we are reborn, and become children of Christ and of God; and from being little ones, such as we were under the law, we are suddenly as it were transformed into manly age, stature, and form.
Verse 26: For You Are All the Sons of God by Faith
26. For you are all (whether Jews, who were under the law as under a pedagogue, or Gentiles, who lacked this pedagogue, by this very fact, that you have believed through the faith of Christ) the sons of God. — Note: the conjunction "for," as a causal conjunction, signifies the reason why we are not under the law as under a pedagogue, namely because we are sons of God. For boys, since they are as it were slaves, as he says in chapter 4, verse 1 — nay rather, like animals and little beasts, which are governed by sense alone, they need a pedagogue; but those who have passed beyond this boyhood through faith in Christ and have been made sons of God have grown up into the perfect man. It would therefore be ridiculous to subject them, as if still infants and boys, to a pedagogue, that is, to the law: for it would be just as if, says Theophylact, when day has dawned, someone should refuse to look at the sun and look at a lamp instead. The Apostle expounds this further at the beginning of the next chapter. He pricks the Judaizers, as if to say: Christ, as a father, governs and brings us forward as adult sons; why then do you have recourse to the law and to Moses as to a pedagogue? Why do you again submit your hand, like boys, to the rod?
By the faith which is in Christ, — in Christ as the object; for to believe Christ, to believe in Christ, and to believe unto Christ are one and the same, as I said in chapter 2, verse 16.
For you are all the sons of God by faith. — Not by faith alone, but by faith declared and witnessed in baptism, as is clear from the next verse, and in other acts of faith. See Canon 3.
Verse 27: As Many of You as Have Been Baptized in Christ, Have Put on Christ
27. For as many of you as in Christ (that is, in the faith and baptism of Christ, not in that of Moses, not in the baptism of John the Baptist) have been baptized. — Note: he changes the first person to the second; for in the preceding verse he had said "we are not" (namely we Jews) under a pedagogue; but here in the second person he says "for you are all," because he passes from himself and the Jews to others, namely to the Galatians and the Gentiles.
You have put on Christ, — you have received in baptism the abundant grace, gifts, and virtues of Christ, and are clothed and wrapped in them as in a garment (for among the Hebrews "to put on" signifies to be copiously and abundantly steeped and imbued with something, as I said in Canon 28); namely, in such a way that you have been made partakers of the divine nature and sonship, and consequently of the divine operations, through which Christ may shine forth in you and in your conduct — "that your manner of life, as a splendid garment, may be the holiness of Christ and of Christianity," says Anselm.
Hence secondly, and better: just as matter puts on form, and the body puts on the soul as a substantial garment, that thereby its deformity, nakedness, and rudeness may be covered and adorned, so you in baptism have put on Christ through grace, that the Spirit of Christ may be as it were your form and soul; and consequently you have been brought back to one knowledge, composition, and sonship with Christ, so that, just as Christ is the Son of God by nature, so you may be sons of God by grace and adoption. Thus Chrysostom and Theophylact. For he wishes (as is clear from the explanatory "for") to prove that they are sons of God from this — that they have put on Christ, who is the Son of God by nature, and are one with Him, and as it were Christ Himself: concerning which I have spoken at 1 Corinthians 12:12.
Note the efficacy of baptism, in that it clothes us not only with grace and gifts but with Christ Himself, as the Apostle says, and thereby clothes and adorns us. What do the Novantes say to this — those who teach that baptism is a bare sign of the justice received through faith?
Beautifully concerning this baptismal garment of Christ — both inward and spiritual, and outward and corporeal — which most beautifully was once given to adults in baptism as a sign and symbol of the inward grace, S. Agnes in S. Ambrose, sermon 90, says: "He has adorned me with an inestimable bracelet, He has girded my right hand and my neck with precious stones, He has placed in my ears inestimable pearls, and surrounded me with sparkling and flashing gems; He has set a sign upon my face, that I may admit no lover but Himself; He has clothed me in a robe woven with gold, and adorned me with immense necklaces." And below: "Now I have received milk and honey from His mouth; now I am bound by His chaste embraces; now His body is joined to my body, and His blood has adorned my cheeks" — namely the Eucharist, which was once given to the baptized that they might be perfectly united and incorporated into Christ. To them likewise was given milk and honey as a symbol of the sweetness of Christ and of the Christian law, on which they were entering.
Verse 28: There Is Neither Jew nor Greek
28. There is neither Jew nor Greek. — Supply, "in Christ," as follows, that is, in Christianity, says Jerome. In baptism and in the faith of God already mentioned there is with God no difference of race, condition, or sex; but all — whether Jews or Greeks, that is Gentiles; whether slaves or free; whether male or female — are one mystical body, namely the Church, whose Head is Christ.
Secondly, and more fittingly, "one," or, as Chrysostom reads, "you are one man," that is: one form, one life and soul, as it were the garment already mentioned, one and the same figure — namely not of any angel but of Christ — you have all put on and possess, namely faith, charity, and the manners of Christ, so that you may all be seen to be one man, to be one Christ. Thus Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Anselm, who says: "You are one by the unity of faith and charity of Christ," — as if the Apostle were saying: The Jews have therefore nothing peculiar from Judaism by which they may invite you Galatians and other Gentiles to Judaism, since the Gentiles share as much from Christ and from Christianity as the Jews.
Verse 29: If You Are Christ's, Then You Are the Seed of Abraham
29. And if you are Christ's (namely as members of Him as Head, and as the mystical body of Him as Soul, already spoken of), then (just as Christ, so also you) are the seed (that is, the sons) of Abraham, — and consequently you are heirs of the blessing promised to Abraham, that is, of justice and salvation. Hence Ambrose reads the preceding words more clearly and openly thus: "If therefore you are one in Christ, then you are the seed of Abraham."