ANNOTATIONS ON THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE GALATIANS.

THE ARGUMENT AND ANALYSIS.

After Saint Paul had preached the Gospel to the Galathians, some false teachers addicted to Judaism, sought to inveigle them to their sect, persuading them to be circumcised, and to observe all the Mosaical rites, without which they affirmed, That they could not be justified or saved: And because this their doctrine could not consist with that which the Apostle had delivered, they derogated what they could from his authority and ministry, giving it out, That he was a disciple of the Apostles, and not of Christ; and that Peter, James, and John, who were the pillars of the church, forbade not the observation of the legal rites; yea moreover, that Paul himself, who now so much stickles against circumcision, had formerly circumcised Timothy. Against these corrupters of his doctrine, and vilifiers of his person and authority, he was chiefly moved to write this Epistle to the Galatians; wherein he proves, That his calling was immediately from Christ, that he was no way inferior to the chief Apostles, and that the doctrine which he had delivered, concerning justification by faith without the works of the law, was the truth of God, and firmly grounded upon Scripture.

The parts of this Epistle are three:

1. Historical, concerning himself, and the course of his ministry, Chap. 1,2, unto the 16. verse.

2. Doctrinal, concerning justification by faith, and the abolition of legal rites and ceremonies. From verse 16. of the 2. chapter, unto verse 14. of the 5. chapter.

3. Moral, wherein he exhorts the Galatians to Christian duties; namely, To walk and live in the Spirit, to mildness in censuring their brethren, to charity in bearing one another's burdens, to bounty to their teachers, to perseverance in good works, and rejoicing in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. From verse 14. of the 5. chapter, to the end.

CHAPTER 1

Vers. 1. {Not of men, neither by man} Or, from men. Not of men: not by the Apostles, as Matthias was made an Apostle; nor by the suffrages of any particular church, as Barnabas and Silas; nor by any man, that is, any mortal man, or any mere man; but by Christ, God and man, after his resurrection. This description the Apostle adds of purpose to maintain his Apostolical calling, and authority, against the slanders of the false apostles, who gave out that he was not lawfully called to the Apostleship. For there are two sorts of lawful callings to the ministry of the word: ordinary and extraordinary: the ordinary being indeed of God; but yet by men following therein the order of God, & such is the calling of the ordinary ministers of the word: another calling there is without human means, of and by God; or the Lord Christ himself; and such was the calling of the Prophets in the Old Testament, and the Apostles in the New. This calling is extraordinary, and ever accompanied with the infallibility, or never-erring in doctrine, 2 Pet. 1.21. Joh. 16.13. Now that the Apostle Paul had such an extraordinary calling is clearly proved, and the manner thereof described, Act. 9.

{but by Jesus Christ} Christ no doubt is man, but he is God also, and head of the church, and in this respect exempted out of the ordinary number of men: the Apostle's meaning is, that no mere man whosoever was the author, means, or instrument of his calling to be an Apostle; and therefore it is not only lawful, but altogether divine and equal to that of the rest of the Apostles; which the Apostle urges, to stop the mouths of the false apostles that vilified his ministry in comparison of others, to the end that they might introduce the necessity of the Mosaical ceremonies, which the Apostles made use of among the Jewish novices, but Paul had quite cashiered amongst the Gentiles.

V. 4. {who gave himself for our sins} Gave himself to death, to expiate our sins by his most precious blood.

{deliver us from} Gr. take us out.

{present evil world} Out of that most corrupt state which is without Christ, Joh. 17.15.

V. 5. {for ever and ever} Gr. for, or, to worlds of worlds.

V. 6. {removed} He uses the passive voice to cast the fault upon the false apostles, and the present tense, μετατίθεσθε, to give them to understand, that it was not already done, but in doing.

{from him that called you} Either from God, who of his great mercy called you inwardly to the knowledge of his free grace in Christ, or from me who called you outwardly by the preaching of the Gospel to the grace of Christ.

V. 7. {pervert the Gospel of Christ} For there is nothing more contrary to free justification by faith, which is the sum and main scope of the Gospel, than to maintain justification by the Mosaical rites, or the works of the law.

V. 8. {though we, or an Angel from heaven} Or, if we. This is an impossible case, but the Apostle by propounding it, most confidently avers the certainty of the curse that shall come upon those that preach any other Gospel. See the like form, Joh. 8.55. If I should say I know him not, I shall be a lyar; and 1 Cor. 13.1,2,3.

{other Gospel unto you, &c.} Adding of his own invention any thing unto the substance of the doctrine, any article of faith or sacrament; which was the practice of the false apostles; teaching, that we must be justified, not by faith alone, but by Mosaical rites also, and the works of the law. And it is worthy the observing, that the Apostle says not, If we or an angel from heaven preach unto you any Gospel contrary to that which we have preached; but, παρ’ ὃ, τὸ ὅσον δήποτε μικρὸν, beside that, or other than that we have preached: whereby he insinuates, says Chrysostome and Oecumenius, that it is an accursed thing to make any the least addition to the doctrine of the Gospel, Rev. 22.19.

{than that} Gr. beside that.

V. 9. {than that} Gr. beside that.

V. 10. {persuade men, or God} Or, make faith to men; or, seek to endear our selves to men; or, plead my cause before men. That is, do I persuade you to obey men, or God? or, do I study to please, or seek to approve myself and my ministry to men, or to God? for so the word πείθω sometimes signifies, as in that proverbial verse, δῶρα Θεοὺς πείθει, δῶρ’ αἰδοίους βασιλῆας.

{for if I yet pleased men} If I should yet seek to please men, as I did when I was zealous of the traditions of my fathers, and persecuted the church of God extremely, to gain the more favor of my own nation, I should not be a true servant of Christ, but dissemble with God and the world.

V. 12. {revelation of Jesus Christ} Whether this revelation was when he journeyed to Damascus, and was smitten to the ground, and there shone round about him a light from heaven, and Christ spoke unto him, Act. 9.5. as Saint Jerome conceives; or when he was rapt up in Paradise, 2 Cor. 12.4. as Aquinas imagines, it cannot be certainly defined; only this is certain, that Saint Paul had the knowledge of the Gospel by immediate revelation from Christ.

{beyond measure, &c.} See Act. 9.1.

V. 14. {above many mine equals in mine own Nation} Gr. equals in years.

{traditions of my fathers} Either he means the Pharisaical traditions; for he was a Pharisee, and the son of a Pharisee. Or, he may understand by traditions such ordinances as his fathers received from God himself; but with this erroneous opinion of the Pharisees, that he might be justified before God for those legal observations. This text seems to be parallel to Phil. 3.6. Concerning zeal, persecuting the Church, touching the righteousnesse which is in the Law, blamelesse.

V. 15. {separated me from my mother's womb} He speaks of God's everlasting predestination, whereby he appointed him to be an Apostle, whereof he makes three degrees; The everlasting counsel of God, his appointing from his mother's womb, and his actual calling. See Rom. 1.1.

V. 16. {I might preach him, &c.} See Ephes. 3.8.

{I conferred not with flesh and blood} Or, consulted. This may seem contrary to that which himself says, Chap. 2.2. I communicated the Gospel with them at Jerusalem. But the reconciliation is easy; here he denies that he consulted with flesh and blood, that is, with any man living, namely, whether he were rightly instructed in the Gospel, or whether he ought to preach it; for of this he neither did nor could make question after he received the Gospel by the immediate revelation of Christ: but there he affirms, that he communicated with the Apostles at Jerusalem, not to learn any thing from them, for that he expressly denies verse 6. but to receive a testimony from them of his consent with them in the doctrine he had preached in Arabia and Syria; for he had preached the Gospel before he conferred with them.

V. 18. {I went up} Or, I returned.

{to see Peter} Gr. Tec. to enquire of Cephas. The Greek word ἱστορῆσαι, signifies more than to see or visit, namely, as Hesychius explains the word, πυνθάνειν ἐρωτᾶν, to inquire into, to take special notice of, and acquaint himself with Peter and his proceedings.

V. 19. {other of the Apostles saw I none} Because it might be objected, that indeed he was called of Christ in the way, but afterwards was instructed by the Apostles and others, and so was not of the number of them that were to be credited without exception: Saint Paul answers, that he began straightway after his calling, to preach the Gospel at Damascus, and in Arabia, and was not from that time at Jerusalem, but only fifteen days, where he saw only Peter and James; and after he began to teach in Syria and Cilicia, with the consent and approbation of the churches of the Jews, who knew him only by name, so far off was it that he was there instructed by them.

V. 22. {And was} Or, But was.

V. 24. {And they glorified God in me} They glorified Christ who spoke in me; or they glorified God for me, they blessed his name for my conversion; or as the Greek Scholiast, they praised God in me: not this or that teacher, but God himself, who alone was my teacher.

CHAPTER 2

Vers. 2. {I went up by revelation} Gr. according to revelation. He was not sent for by the Apostles to Jerusalem, there to give an account of his preaching; but the Spirit by special revelation moved him, that by conferring with the Apostles themselves, and knowing their resolution in the main point then in difference concerning the observation of legal rites, he might stop the mouths of the false apostles, who gave out that he taught divers doctrines from them, and consequently that the faithful were rather to follow them than him, they being more, and he but one; they conversing with Christ himself, and called to the Apostleship before his ascension, Saint Paul after.

{communicated unto} Gr. consulted with. Chap. 1.16.

{privately} Or, severally.

{had run in vain} By the metaphor of running, he sets forth his alacrity, earnestness and diligence; like to theirs who prove masteries, and run in a race for a rich prize. (1 Cor. 9.26. 2 Tim. 4.7.) Now in those that run in a race, two things are considerable, their labor and swiftness in running, and the end for which they run; to wit, the gaining the prize; which if they miss, they run in vain. This prize he accounted the fruit of his preaching, which had been little or none among the Jews, who were zealous of the Mosaical rites, if by his communicating with the chief Apostles he had not taken away that rub which was cast in his way, that his preaching and practice was dissonant from theirs: although the Apostle nothing doubted of the certainty of his doctrine, yet because there were certain reports cast abroad of him, that he was of another opinion than the rest of the Apostles were, which thing might have hindered the course of his ministry, and in some places quite stopped it, he took this journey to Jerusalem, to remove that obstacle.

V. 4. {which we have in Christ Jesus} Freedom from the curse of the moral law, and the burden of the ceremonial, which we have in Christ, that is, in Christianity, or purchased by Christ, who in the fullness of time was made of a woman, and made under the law; to redeem them that are under the law, Gal. 4.4. Chap. 5.1.

V. 5. {gave place, &c.} We gave no way to those crafty companions, who by deceit and counterfeit holiness crept in among the faithful, who came to espy our liberty, that thereby they might ensnare and enthrall us: to these we gave no respite not for an hour, to lay their traps for us, nor in any thing yielded unto them, to betray our Christian liberty.

{with you} Gr. to.

{God accepteth no man's person} See Rom. 2.12.

{seemed to be somewhat} Gr. are of reputation.

V. 7. {The Gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me} That is, I had commission to preach to the Gentiles who were uncircumcised, as Peter to the Jews: which commissions were not yet so restrictive, but that Saint Peter preached to the Gentiles, and Saint Paul to the Jews, as it may be clearly proved out of the Acts of the Apostles; but the Gospel of circumcision is said here to be committed to Saint Peter, and of uncircumcision unto Paul; because Peter was first and chiefly sent to preach to the Jews, and Saint Paul to the Gentiles, and God most blessed Saint Peter's labor among the Jews, and Saint Paul's among the Gentiles.

V. 8. {was mighty in me towards the Gentiles} Gr. wrought in me. Word for word, wrought effectually: and this efficacy showed itself in three things especially; the great number of converts, the power of miracles, and the extraordinary gift of the Holy Ghost bestowed upon the faithful by the means of his ministry.

V. 9. {who seemed to be pillars} Or, were counted. Whom alone, and only these men counted for pillars of the church, to support it, and the doctrine of faith, by whose authority if my preaching were not upheld, it must fall to ground. Oecumenius out of Eusebius his first book of Ecclesiastical Story, and Clemens Alexandrinus writes, that this Cephas mentioned with James and John, was not Peter the Apostle; but one of the 70 disciples of that name: but S. Jerome in his Comment. in epist. and Greg. Hom. 18. upon Ezekiel refute this opinion, and it may easily be disproved out of this text, for it is not likely that the Apostle would have ranked any of the 70 disciples with James and John, two of the chief Apostles and pillars of the church; neither would the false apostles have opposed the authority of one of the 70 disciples against Saint Paul, whom they could not deny to be an Apostle. Besides, to take away all ambiguity, the Apostle verse 11. calls him Peter.

V. 10. {should remember the poor} That is, to make collections in the churches of the Gentiles for the saints of Jerusalem; which Saint Paul did most willingly and effectually, as appears out of the 1 Cor. 16. & 2 Cor. 8.9.

{forward to do} Gr. diligent, or careful.

V. 11. {Peter} Gr. Tec. Cephas.

{I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed} Gr. condemned. Some interpret κατὰ πρόσωπον, in outward appearance and in show: for they conceive that Peter and Paul were not in earnest, but the one reproved the other before the multitude, and the other replied not at all though he could justly, that by the reproof of the one, and silence of the other, both Jews and Gentiles there present, might learn that the Judaical rites were not to be eagerly retained, but by degrees to be relinquished, and as it were honorably to be interred: This was the opinion of S. Jerome (who is as hot with S. Austine about this quarrel of the Apostles, or rather hotter than the Apostles themselves) And of the Greek Fathers, whom he alleges for himself. Their chief reason was this, that if Saint Paul had reproved Peter in earnest for his complying at this time with the Jews, he had reproved him for that of which himself was guilty. For he as he professes, that to the Jews he became a Jew, that he might win the Jews, so by the advice of James and the elders, Acts 21.24. he shaved his head, and purified himself with four other men that had a vow on them. But S. Austine affirms most truly, that Saint Paul reproved Saint Peter in earnest, For the text says, which is part of the canonical Scripture, and therefore infallible, that Saint Peter was faulty and to be blamed. His fault was, as is afterwards expressed, dissimulation, and halting between two opinions; before the Jews came from James, he freely conversed with the Gentiles, and did eat of meats prohibited by the law of Moses: but after these came, for fear of displeasing them, in the lawful use of his Christian liberty, he withdraws himself from them, and gives a great scandal to the Gentiles, and a blow to Saint Paul's preaching, who had taught that those legal ceremonies were now abolished, and all Christians freed from that yoke. What Saint Paul did was of another nature by the advice of James, to refute a false slander cast upon him, when there was no Gentiles by, to be scandalized thereat.

V. 13. {dissembled likewise with him} Gr. joined in hypocrisy with.

{dissimulation} Gr. hypocrisy.

V. 14. {walked not uprightly} Gr. with a right foot. Word for word, the original signifies, to walk with a right foot, which he opposes to halting and dissembling.

{truth of the gospel} He calls the truth of the Gospel, both the sincere doctrine itself, and also the use of the same, which we call practice.

{If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles} He means not that Saint Peter lived dissolutely after the manner of the Gentiles, as those whom the zealous Father reprehending says, Gentes agimus sub nomine Christi: But that like the converts among the Gentiles, he used his Christian liberty, in eating all sorts of meats, without putting a difference between clean and unclean.

{why compellest thou the Gentiles} Gr. Tec. how is it that thou compellest.

V. 15. {not sinners of the Gentiles} Sinners estranged from the covenant of grace, destitute of the rule of the law, men in a deplorable and desperate estate, such as the Jews accounted all the Gentiles and Paynims to be in, Ephes. 2.12. and yet themselves could not be justified by the law, which they of all other might have made the least claim unto.

V. 16. {by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified} See Rom. 3.20.

V. 17. {But if while we seek to be justified} Before he goes any further, he meets with their objection who abhorred the doctrine of free justification by faith; because, say they, men are by this means withdrawn from the study of good works; and in this sort they framed their objection; If sinners should be justified through Christ by faith without the law, Christ should seem to approve sinners, and as it were exhort them thereunto by his ministry: Paul answers, that this consequence is false, because Christ destroys sin in all true believers. For therefore, says he, do men flee unto Christ through the terror and fear of the law, that being quit from the curse of the law, they may be saved by him, and that he together with his justifying them, begins in them by little and little that strength and power of his, which destroys sin, to the end, that the old man being abolished by the virtue of Christ's death, he may live in them, and they may consecrate themselves to God: therefore if any man give himself to sin after he has received the Gospel, let him not accuse Christ, nor the Gospel, but himself, for that he destroys the work of God in himself.

{by Christ} Gr. in. See Rom. 3.4.

V. 18. {destroyed} Gr. have dissolved.

V. 19. {through the Law am dead} Or, by. Gr. was. The law which terrifies the conscience, brings us to Christ, and he only causes us to die to the law. Indeed, because that by making us righteous, he takes away from us the terror of conscience, and by sanctifying us, causes a thorough mortifying of lust in us; that it cannot take such occasion to sin by the restraint which the law makes. See Rom. 7.10,11.

V. 20. {I now live in the flesh} By living in the flesh, he understands not walking according to the flesh, or living in a carnal and fleshly manner, but living in this frail and mortal body.

{gave himself for me} What he speaks of himself belongs to all true believers; but he applies the benefit of Christ's passion to himself in particular, as well to teach us special faith and affiance in Christ, as to inflame our love to him, to whom we are as much indebted, as if he had shed his blood for us alone and in particular.

V. 21. {dead in vain} Although there be many uses and benefits of Christ's death, besides our justification; yet the Apostle's argument is very strong, that there would have been no necessity for our salvation that Christ should have died, and by his blood expiated our sins, if men might have been justified by the works of the law, either ceremonial or moral.

CHAPTER 3

Vers. 1. {Who hath bewitched you} The word in the original, ἐβάσκανε, is derived, ἀπὸ τοῦ φάεσι καίειν, burning with the eye, signifying a kind of witchcraft practiced upon the eyes of young children and cattle, according to that of the poet; Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos: and the meaning of the Apostle is, that as those witches, who cast venomous beams out of their eyes, mischief children and sucklings; so those false teachers poisoned the tender faith of the Galatians: or as the devil by those witches put out the eyes of the body, so the evil spirit by those false teachers his instruments, put out the eyes of their mind; ut quomodo tenera ætas noceri dicitur fascino, sic etiam Galatæ in Christi fide nuper nati & nutriti lacte cœlesti quodam fascinante sint nociti, & stomacho fidei nauseantes Spiritus sacti fidem evomuerint.

{crucified among you} Christ was laid before you so notably and so plainly, that you had his lively image as it were represented before your eyes, as if he had been crucified in your sight: or Christ was crucified among you, that is, suffered much in his members persecuted among you. In which sense Christ speaking to S. Paul said; Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Act. 9.5,5. and to S. Peter, a little before his death, I go again to Rome to be crucified, as we read in the ecclesiastical stories.

V. 2. {received ye the Spirit} Those spiritual graces and gifts, which were a seal as it were to the Galatians, that the Gospel that was preached unto them was true. But here it may be objected, that the Galatians received not the Spirit by faith, but faith by the Spirit. For faith is the gift of God, and a special work of the Spirit in the heart. Hereunto it may be answered, that either the Apostle means by the Spirit, the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, as the gift of tongues, and healing, which the Galatians received by Paul's preaching the Christian faith among them; or else he means by the Spirit, the spirit of comfort, and sanctification, which goes not before, but follows true faith; for being justified by faith we have peace with God, and feel the spirit of comfort within us.

{of faith} That is, the word and doctrine of faith, Rom. 10.8.

V. 3. {perfect by the flesh} By the flesh, he means the ceremonies of the law, against which he sets the Spirit, that is, the spiritual working of the Gospel. Heb. 7.16. & 9.10.

V. 4. {so many} Or, so great.

{in vain} εἰκῇ, That is, without any profit; So S. Basil uses the phrase, Hom. adv. Heb. ὦ πόσας νύκτας εἰκῇ ἠγρυπνήσατε, O how many nights have you watched, how many days have you spent unprofitably?

V. 6. {Even as Abraham believed God} See Gen. 15.6.

{accounted to him} Or, imputed.

{for righteousness} Gr. to.

V. 8. {In thee shall all nations be blessed} See Gen. 12.3.

V. 9. {with faithful Abraham} Not by faithful Abraham: to give us to understand, that the blessing comes not from Abraham, but from him by whom Abraham and all his posterity is blessed.

V. 10. {are of the works of the law} They who are of the works of the law, that is, they which stand upon the works of the law for their justification, or which value their righteousness by the performance of the law are accursed, therefore they are blessed which are of faith, that is, they who have righteousness by faith.

{Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things} See Deut. 27.26.

V. 11. {The just shall live by faith} See Hab. 2.4. Rom. 1.17. Heb. 10.38.

{The man that, &c.} See Levit. 18.5.

V. 12. {the law is not of faith} The law promises life to all that keep it, and therefore if it be kept it justifies and gives life; but the Scripture attributing righteousness and life to faith, takes it from the law, seeing faith justifies by imputation of another's righteousness, and the law by the performing of the work in our own person.

V. 13. {hath redeemed us from the curse of the law} In these words he prevents an objection, How can they be blessed whom the law pronounces to be accursed? because Christ sustains the curse which the law laid upon us, that we might be quit from it.

{Cursed is every one, &c.} See Deut. 21.23.

V. 15. {covenant} Or, testament.

V. 16. {And to seeds, as of many; but as of one} The word seed is sometimes taken for the whole posterity, as Gen. 15.18. Sometimes for a particular person descended from such an one, as Gen. 4.25. and 21.13. and here the Apostle shows that it must be taken in the second sense, teaching that Christ is that seed, as it is afterwards expounded.

{which is Christ} That is, all his mystical body, viz. the whole church, having all their life and being from him, and also participating of the glory of his name; all which are as one seed consisting of Jews and Gentiles, 1 Cor. 12.12. For it is the scope of the Apostle to prove the assurance of eternal life to all believers for Christ's sake, according unto the promise made unto Abraham.

V. 17. {which was four hundred and thirty years after} These years are to be reckoned from the promise first made to Abraham, which fell upon the 75. year of his age.

V. 19. {Wherefore then serveth the Law} If the inheritance be not by the law, then why was the law given after the promise was made? the Apostle answers, to reprove and convince men of sin, and so to teach them to look unto Christ in whom at length that promise of saving all people together should be fulfilled, and not that the law was given to justify men.

{because of transgressions} To make them known, Rom. 3.20. & 7.7. and to convince men thereof; to discover the heinousness of sin, and to seal the condemnation thereof; thus to drive men to seek for the remedy of grace in the promised Messiah.

{till thy seed should come} This use of the servile manuduction was to last during the church's infancy, and proneness to fall into sin by infirmity, or ignorance; but it was to be laid by and surcease at the coming of Christ into the flesh, who collecting into one and the same body the whole church of Jews and Gentiles together, supplying the same with the abundant graces of the Spirit in knowledge and virtue, has made the same to be effectually acknowledged the blessed seed, or progeny of the children of God, vers. 26. wholly set and bent to love and obey him by the Spirit of adoption and grace, and not by the spirit of terror as of old, Rom. 8.15.

{ordained by angels} God would show in the very outward manner which he observed in giving the law, that thereby there was no access for man to his grace for obtaining life and the inheritance; and therefore he appeared there in such an extremity of terror, that upon the people's request which was not able to endure those terrors, it was needful that Moses came between, who was as the mediator of that communication, Exod. 20.19. Heb. 12.19. being therein the type of Christ the only mediator of propitiation, by whom we have access to God with confidence. Now although there is no mention made of the ministry of angels by Moses in giving the law, yet may it well be gathered from divers other texts of Scriptures, as Act. 7.53. Heb. 2.2.

{in the hand of a Mediator} Some by this mediator understand Moses, whom God did use as an interpreter between himself and the people in giving the law: others understand Christ himself by whom God led the people of Israel out of Egypt through the wilderness, and spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, Act. 7.38. 1 Tim. 2.5.

V. 20. {Now a mediator is not a mediator of one} Either the meaning is, a mediator is not a mediator of one party, but betwixt two, and those disagreeing; this shows that at the giving of the law there was a difference and a distance between God and us, which difference grew from this, that we were transgressors of the law: or the meaning is, a mediator is not a mediator of one covenant only, but as well of the covenant of grace as of the covenant of works.

{but God is one} In these words he takes away an objection, lest any man might say, that sometimes by consent of the parties which have made a covenant, something is added to the covenant; or the former covenants are broken; this, says the Apostle, comes not to pass in God, who is always one and the selfsame, and like to himself, and has the same scope and end in both his covenants; for Christ is the end of the law: or, that God is still the same in holding a distance between himself and transgressors, if they seek to be justified by the law.

V. 22. {all under sin} See Rom. 3.9.

V. 24. {Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster} A means and instrument to rule and regulate our minds and actions agreeable to the infancy of the church with a great deal of austerity. The Jews under the law here are compared to children, and the faithful under the Gospel to men of riper years that need no schoolmaster; the schoolmaster is the law, both moral and ceremonial. For the moral law leads unto Christ by convincing us of sin, and denouncing the curse against it, showing us thereby that if we desire to escape that curse we must flee to Christ for refuge, who has redeemed us both from sin and curse; and the ceremonial law also brings us unto Christ; because the same not only convinces men of sin, but also exhibits types and figures of Christ and his benefits: and teaches that whatsoever was shadowed out by them, was truly to be found in Christ, Heb. 9.10,11.

V. 27. {as many of you} See Rom. 6.3.

{as have been baptized into Christ} To all that are baptized in Christ's name with the inward baptism as well as the outward Christ is effectually applied, even like a garment to the body, to communicate unto them his justice, life, right, and dignities: that as himself is the Son of God by nature, they shall be made his children by grace and adoption, and that without all distinction of either nation, state, or condition.

{have put on Christ} As a spiritual garment wherewith our spiritual shame and nakedness is covered, and we are adorned as with rich and comely apparel.

V. 28. {for ye are all one in Christ Jesus} That is, country, sex, or nation makes no difference; but if we are true believers, we are in equal esteem with God; or we are all one in Christ, that is, we make all one mystical body communicating with Christ as our head, and one with another as members.

CHAPTER 4

Vers. 1. {Now I say} He declares that by another similitude which he said before, concerning the schoolmaster: for he says that the law, that is, the whole government of God's house according to the law, was as it were a kind of tutorship, or office of an overseer appointed for a time, and that we should at length come to be at our own liberty, and live as children, not as servants. Moreover he shows by the way, that that governance of the law was as it were an A. B. C. or Accidence in comparison of the doctrine of the Gospel.

V. 3. {elements of the world} Or, rudiments. By the elements of the world he understands the corporal types and carnal ceremonies of the law, which are called elements or rudiments; because that God by them instructed the church as it were by rudiments, and afterwards poured out his Holy Spirit most plentifully in the time of the Gospel.

V. 4. {when the fulness of the time} The full grown age of the church to be freed from under this wardship; or when the time was fulfilled which God had appointed for to send his Son into the world.

{God sent forth his Son} ἐξαπέστειλε, He sent out of himself, or his essence; or from heaven: for God would have that the eternal Son in his bosom by taking human flesh should come out of him as it were, and manifest himself unto the world; or issue forth out of the eternal palace of his glory, and in his own person upon earth fulfill the work of the redemption of mankind.

{made of} Not born as other men, but made by the Holy Ghost out of the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, without the concurrence of man, Gen. 3.15. Isaiah 7.14. Mic. 5.3. Luk. 1.31. & 2.2.

{a woman} The word γυνὴ, is here taken, as often elsewhere in Scripture, for the name of the sex, and generally a maid that is marriageable is termed by the Greeks γυνὴ. So says Procopius, γυνὴ λέγεται καὶ ἡ παρθένος, ἡλικίας δὲ χρόνοις, and so the civil lawyers; titulo de verb. signif. Mulieris appellatione etiam virgo viripotens continetur. This text therefore makes nothing for Helvidius, nor against the perpetual virginity of Mary.

{made under the law} Having taken upon him the form of a servant, Phil. 2.7. he made himself subject to the entire observation and satisfaction of the whole law: thereby to purchase to all believers the right and claim to eternal glory, and to deliver them not only from the malediction of the law, but also from the burden of all the legal rites and ceremonies.

V. 5. {under the law} That is, that were under the yoke of the ceremonial law, and also under the curse of the moral; whereof he speaks in the former chapter.

{the adoption of sons} Therefore was the Son of God sent to redeem us, that he might purchase and graciously communicate the right of sonship (which he has by nature) to all the faithful, 2 Cor. 6.18. This adoption of the Son of God was from everlasting, but is revealed and showed in the time appointed for it.

V. 6. {And because ye are sons} He shows that we are in such sort free and set at liberty, that in the mean season we must be governed by the Spirit of Christ, which reigns in our hearts, and teaches us the true service of the Father; but this is not to serve, but rather to enjoy true liberty as becomes sons and heirs.

{the Spirit of his Son} See Rom. 8.15. The Holy Ghost is both of the Father and the Son: but there is a peculiar reason here why he is called the Spirit of his Son; to wit, because the Holy Ghost seals up our adoption in Christ, and gives us a full assurance of it.

V. 7. {a servant} The word servant is not taken here for one that lives in sin, which is proper to infidels, but for one that is yet under the ceremonies of the law, which is proper to the Jew.

{an heir of God} Some read heir by God, that is, by his grace and mercy; others, heir of God, because coheirs of Christ, who is the Son and heir of God.

V. 9. {turn ye again} Or, turn ye back.

{to the weak and beggarly elements} Or, rudiments. The carnal rites of the Mosaical law are called here weak and beggarly elements, being considered apart by themselves, without Christ; and for the Galatians to fall back from Christ to these ceremonies, was nothing else but to cast away riches, and follow beggary.

V. 10. {Ye observe days} You, following the doctrine of the false apostles, place holiness and righteousness in the Mosaical observations of days, the Jewish Sabbath returning every week; and months, that is, the feasts of the new moons; and times, that is, the solemn yearly feasts of the Passover, the Pentecost, and Tabernacles; and years, that is, every fiftieth year, being the year of Jubilee.

V. 12. {be as I am} He mitigates and qualifies those things wherein he might have seemed to have spoken too sharply, declaring his good will towards them in such sort, that the Galatians could not but either be utterly desperate, when they read these things, or acknowledge their own lightness with tears, and desire pardon. Be you as I am, that is, take me for an example, who was once as zealous for those legal rites, as you are now; but now I count them, and all things else, but as dung, in comparison of the excellent knowledge of Christ. Phil. 3.9.

V. 13. {through the infirmity of the flesh} Either through the infirmity of your flesh I preached unto you; that is, I condescended to your capacity, and preached such doctrine as you were able to bear away: or, through the infirmity of my flesh, either being infirm in body, or much broken through manifold griefs and afflictions which I suffered among you. 1 Cor. 2.3.

V. 14. {And my temptation} That is, those daily troubles wherewith the Lord tried me amongst you. Acts 20.19.

V. 15. {where is then the blessedness} Or, what was then. What is become of the great applause which you gave me at my first preaching, counting yourselves most happy in me your Apostle? or, what talk was there abroad in the world, how happy you thought yourselves, and blessed the time God sent me amongst you?

V. 16. {Am I therefore become your enemy, &c.} Since all men naturally desire the truth, and love it, how comes it to pass that any man should be hated for speaking the truth? Saint Austine in his Confessions yields a reason by distinguishing of truth, Omnes amant veritatem lucentem, sed non redarguentem; all men love the truth, when that truth concerns not themselves, they love truth shining, but not convincing; they love the truth when she discovers herself, not when she discovers themselves. Hence is that true proverb, Obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit. The beams of the sun, which refresh and clear a sound eye, offend a sore eye, urit enim fulgore suo.

V. 17. {They zealously affect you} Or, they are jealous over you. He compares the false teachers to jealous wooers, who can by no means endure any corrival; therefore, says the Apostle, they exclude you from me, and the true doctrine of faith, which I have delivered unto you, that you may be wholly theirs, and I have no part in you: they zealously affect you, but not well, because not to a good end, but to impropriate you to themselves, and make advantage of you.

{exclude you} Or, exclude us.

V. 18. {But it is good to be zealously affected always} The faithful are to be commended for their zealous affection, and entire love to their pastors, especially if it be constant, and for the truth's sake; but the Galatians have quite forgotten me, since my departure from you: Out of sight, out of mind.

V. 19. {of whom I travail} You are my children, whom with much pain and travail I brought forth before to Christ, but now you have corrupted and defaced his image, and are fallen away from your former profession; and therefore I am now in labor with you, and travail with exceeding great pain the second time, till Christ be again perfectly formed in you, and you receive the right shape of Christians.

V. 20. {change my voice} That is, either use other words among you, and turn my complaints into praises; or change my speech into groans, and my words into tears, to bewail your apostasy; and by those true ambassadors of my affection to persuade you to return to your former profession.

{I stand in doubt of you} Or, I am perplexed for you. Gr. in you.

V. 23. {born after the flesh} That is, born, as all men are, by the common course of nature; for Agar was young, and it ceased not to be with her after the manner of women; whereas the womb of Sara was dead, and so the birth of Isaac from her was, as the Apostle speaks, a similitude of the resurrection, above the power and force of nature.

{by promise} By virtue of the promise which Abraham laid hold on for himself and his true seed: for otherwise Abraham and Sara were past begetting and bearing of children.

V. 24. {Which things are an allegory} Which are indeed a true story of things past, but yet do signify somewhat else besides, as being types and representations of spiritual things, as likewise was the brazen serpent, John 3.14. the marriage of Adam and Eve, Ephes. 5.32. the passing of the Israelites over the Red Sea, 1 Cor. 10.1,2. and the deluge, 1 Pet. 3.21.

{for these are the two covenants} Or, Testaments. That is, show forth, point, and signify a sacramental kind of speech, like to that, Genes. 41.26. and Matth. 26.26. The two covenants are the old and the new; the old, of the law, wherein promise is made, that those who perfectly keep the law shall thereby obtain salvation: and the new, of the Gospel, wherein eternal life is promised to sinners that repent and believe in Christ. Jer. 31.31. Heb. 8.8,9.

{which gendreth to bondage} Which brings forth children that are in bondage: for the law requires a perfect obedience of men, or in case of failing, pronounces a curse upon them; and of itself it is unable to free them from their natural servitude, and much more unable to procure them the grace of God, and the inheritance of everlasting life.

V. 25. {For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia} Either the meaning is, Agar is also called Sinai, a mount in Arabia, whither Agar fled with her son Ismael, being thrust out of Abraham's house, from whom the mount itself (as some affirm) was afterwards called Agar by the Arabians, and from thence they themselves are called Agarens, Psal. 83.6. Or the meaning is, Agar is a figure or image of Sinai, and of the covenant of the law, which was proclaimed on it; as Agar was a stranger without the blessed seed, so was Sinai in Arabia the land of the Ismaelites, who issued forth from Agar, without the limits of the land of promise.

{and answereth to Jerusalem} Or, is in the same rank with Jerusalem. Some read bordereth upon Jerusalem; and Genebrard in his comment upon the Psalms affirms, that there is a continual tract from it to Jerusalem; Perpetuo enim in dorso sese versus Sionios montes exporrigit. But the geographical tables show no such thing: and as Bencius a Sorbonick doctor, acknowledges, Sinai is full twenty days' journey from Jerusalem. The better translation therefore is, it answers to Jerusalem, that is, in the allegory and mystical signification.

V. 26. {But Jerusalem which is above} The true Christian church, which seeks her salvation, not by the first covenant of the law, but by the second, of the Gospel, which is said to be above, partly because it has its original from heaven, partly in respect of the part triumphant in heaven, partly in respect of the militant, which steers its course to heaven, Phil. 3.20. and shall in the end be brought thither.

{which is the mother of us all} As Sara was the mother of Isaac, the proper heir of his father Abraham, so is the Christian church the mother of all the faithful, who are heirs of the kingdom of heaven, whether they be Jews or Gentiles.

V. 28. {as Isaac was} Gr. according, or, after the manner of Isaac. Who was as the first begotten of the supernal Jerusalem, as Ismael was of the slavish synagogue.

{are the children of promise} See Rom. 9.8.

V. 29. {born after the Spirit} That is, by virtue of God's promise, and after a supernatural and spiritual manner, Sara conceiving in her old age rather by faith than by lust.

V. 30. {Nevertheless} Gr. But.

{Cast out the bondwoman and her son} Gr. Tec. her self and her son. See Gen. 21.10.

CHAPTER 5

Vers. 1. {Stand fast, &c.} Gr. Tec. Christ hath made us free, stand therefore in that liberty, and.

{and be not entangled} Gr. held, or, kept in with. Tied or fastened thereunto as it were with cords and ropes. A comparison taken from oxen, who have the yoke bound fast to their horns or neck, thereby to force them, subdue, and keep them in.

{again with the yoke of bondage} It does not appear that these Galatians had submitted themselves to the yoke of Moses before their conversion to Christ, and now after their falling away from Christ, had enslaved themselves the second time to those legal observations; but the meaning is, Before you were subject and enslaved to your idols, being redeemed from that slavery, do not enthrall yourselves again to a new bondage of ceremonies, take not upon you a new yoke, and so heavy an one as neither we nor our fathers were able to bear, Acts 15.10.

V. 3. {I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised} See Acts 15.1. If you be circumcised, out of this persuasion, to be justified thereby, Christ shall profit you nothing; for justification by faith, and justification by the works of the law cannot stand together; he instances particularly in circumcision, because it was the ground of all the service of the law, and chiefly urged by the false apostles. It is true, circumcision in another place is called the Seal of the righteousnesse of faith; but here we must have consideration of the circumstances of time, for now had baptism come in the place of circumcision: and moreover Paul reasons according to the opinion that his opposites (the false teachers) had of it, who made it a matter of salvation, and necessary means of justification.

V. 3. {For} But, or, And.

{is a debtor to do the whole law} Because he that observes the ceremonial law in one thing, is bound to observe it in all; and what a servitude were that? The reason is evidently drawn from the connection which is between all the parts of the ceremonial law, and the curse pronounced against all who fulfill not that whole law to a tittle.

V. 4. {Christ is become of no effect unto you} Gr. Ye are made void, frustrate, or abolished from Christ.

{are justified by the Law} That is, you frustrate and make void your justification by Christ, who seek to be justified by the law, for indeed no man is, or can be justified by the law. See Rom. 3.20.

{ye are fallen from grace} That is, from the true doctrine of Christ's free grace, for that cannot consist with justification by the works of the law.

V. 6. {For in Jesus Christ} Seeing in Christ we have spiritual circumcision, there is no need of carnal; they therefore who were circumcised before they believed, namely, such of the Jews as were called to the knowledge of the truth, gain nothing thereby, neither do the unbelieving Gentiles lose by their uncircumcision. Chap. 6.15.

{but faith which worketh by love} The word in the original ἐνεργουμένη, being in the mean voice, may be taken either actively or passively, if passively, the meaning is, that faith is actuated, quickened and moved by love to do good works; if actively, then the meaning is, that it is not a dead and unworking faith that justifies us, but a living and operative faith, according as S. James teaches us, Jam. 2.26. and it must be a living faith by which the just shall live.

V. 7. {Ye did run well} You were in the right way, and you made so good progress, that you outstripped many; and had you not been stopped and hindered, would have obtained the prize, which is eternal life.

{who did hinder you} Or, who did drive you back.

V. 9. {A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump} See 1 Cor. 5.6. He adds this, that he may not seem to contend upon a trifle, warning them diligently by a similitude borrowed from leaven, (Matt. 13.33.) not to suffer the purity of the Apostolical doctrine to be infected with the least corruption that may be. By a little leaven, as S. Jerome observes, he understands either, an error but in one point or two, which corrupts the whole doctrine of Christianity; as a small quantity of ratsbane poisons the whole milk: or a few false teachers, or erroneous believers are able to infect a whole church or congregation.

V. 10. {through} Gr. in.

{but he that troubleth you, shall bear his judgment} He singles out some one, who was the ringleader of all the rest, and either threatens to excommunicate him, by his Apostolical authority, or denounces against him God's fearful judgment at the last day.

V. 11. {why do I yet suffer persecution} He wills them to consider, how that he seeks not his own profit in this matter, seeing that he could eschew the hatred of men, if he would join Judaism with Christianity: for at this time the Christians were most persecuted by the Jews, whose hatred was not so exasperated against the Apostles for preaching Christ crucified, as for teaching, that the law of Moses was abolished, for which they were most zealous.

{Cross} Gr. Tec. Cross of Christ.

V. 12. {cut off} He compares those who corrupt the doctrine of Christ, who maliciously set themselves against his preaching, to rotten members, which are to be cut off; lest the gangrene spread over the whole body: and he alludes, as the Greek Scholiast notes, to the practice of circumcision, which is a cutting off of the foreskin of the flesh, and casting it away; wishing, that they themselves might suffer what they do, that is, be cut off as superfluous flesh.

V. 13. {only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh} Because men are very apt to abuse their liberty, and turn the grace of Christ into wantonness, he adds here, as elsewhere, a wholesome caution, that Christian liberty is not a license to do what men list, but a freedom from the heavy yoke of the law; to the end, that they may take upon them Christ's easy yoke, and light burden, and more cheerfully serve him. Where the carnal gospellers suck poison, there the Holy Ghost sets an antidote, as Luk. 1.74. He hath redeemed his people, that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies we might serve him without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the days of our life: and Rom. 8.1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit: & Rom. 6.1. Where sin abounded grace did much more abound, what then? shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid: and Titus 2.11. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all, teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously in this present world.

V. 14. {all the law is fulfilled in one word} Some restrain the word, all the law, to the second table: others take it absolutely for the whole law; because none can love his neighbor as himself, but he must needs love God: and the love of God and our neighbor contains in it the whole law. Others understand the words thus, all the law is fulfilled in this one word, Thou shalt love thy neighbour; Rom. 13.8. This precept is the complement of the whole law; that is, this precept added to the former table, makes up the whole law. For so the Greek word, πληροῦν, is often taken.

{Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself} See Lev. 19.18. Mat. 22.39. Rom. 13.9.

V. 16. {This} Gr. but.

{Walk in the Spirit} That is, dispose all your life and actions according to the instructions and motions of the Holy Spirit, as well in the spiritual frame of religion, proper and peculiar to the Gospel, as in all holiness of life and conversation. Some by the Spirit, understand the rational appetite, and by the flesh the sensitive, as Lyra: Some by the Spirit, understand the Holy Ghost, and by flesh carnal concupiscence: as Theodoret and Oecumenius. Others with more probability affirm, that when Spirit and flesh, are set in opposition one against the other, that by Spirit, is to be understood that part of man which is regenerated by the Spirit, and by the flesh the natural corruption which cleaves still unto the regenerate. See Rom. 8.1.

{ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh} Or, fulfil not.

V. 17. {the flesh lusteth against the Spirit} For the flesh dwells even in those that are regenerate; but the spirit reigns in them, although not without great strife. S. Austine in his Exposition upon the Epistle to the Galatians, affirms that they are under the law, and not under grace, in whom the flesh so lusts against the spirit, that they cannot do what they would; but in the 24. chapter of his first book of Retractations, he corrects his former opinion, acknowledging that these words of the Apostle are meant, even of them, who are in the state of grace: Quia & ipsi concupiscentias carnis habent contra quas spiritu concupiscunt, nolentes eas habere si possent, & ideo non quæcunq; volunt faciunt, qui volunt iis carere nec possunt; tunc autem eas non habebunt, quando nec corruptibilem carnem.

{do the things that ye would} Gr. do not what ye would.

V. 19. {Now the works of the flesh} He sets out that particularly, which he spoke before generally, reckoning up some chief effects of the flesh, and opposing them to the fruits of the Spirit, that no man may pretend ignorance.

V. 22. {But the fruit of the Spirit} Therefore they are not the fruits of free will, but so far forth as our will is made free by grace. He says not, the works of the Spirit, as before the works of the flesh, but the fruits of the Spirit; to teach us, that good works are not only the effects of God's Spirit, but also that they are acceptable and pleasing unto him, like most sweet and wholesome fruits, Matth. 3.8. John 15.8.

V. 23. {against such there is no law} Such may be either referred to the fruits of the Spirit, or to the persons who bring forth such fruit, against men so qualified there is no law to condemn them: for the law of God which is so severe and terrible to all men that are in the state of sin, is not so for all that unto the children of God, that do not maliciously set themselves against it; neither are they liable to the malediction thereof, they submitting themselves willingly to the same, as a gentle mistress of their actions, and guide of their life and conversation.

V. 24. {have crucified the flesh} We are not only to mortify our fleshly members, but also our inward affections, and to do this out of a respect to Christ's cross, which is a special means to crucify these our lusts, when we consider that sin is so great and heinous an evil in the sight of God, that nothing but the blood of the Son of God could expiate it.

{affections} Or, passions.

V. 25. {If we live in the Spirit} Or, by. If we be endued with the quickening Spirit of God; which causes us to die to sin and live to God, let us show it in our deeds by holiness of life.

{in the Spirit} Or, by.

V. 26. {Let us not be desirous of vain glory} He adds particular exhortations, according as he knew the Galatians subject to diverse vices, and first of all he warns them to take heed of ambition, which vice has always two companions, backbiting, and envy, out of which two it cannot be, but many contentions must needs arise.

CHAPTER 6

Vers. 1. {If a man be overtaken in a fault} Or, although. Gr. taken before, or, preoccupated. The word in the original, προληφθῇ, derived from πρὸ, and λαμβάνω, signifies to be taken before he is aware, or to be presumed to be an offender, or taken before you, that is, publicly convicted of some fault or miscarriage: moderate and temper your reprehension of him with Christian meekness, according to that golden rule of S. Austine; Salsedinem correptionis amor Christi temperet; & dilectionem proximi sal justitiæ condiat.

{restore such an one} Gr. set him right, or, in joint again.

{lest thou also be tempted} He touches the sore, for they commonly are most severe judges, who forget their own infirmity; and on the contrary, as S. Augustine observes; The true sense and feeling of the infirmities we are subject to ourselves, makes us tender and compassionately affected towards others; Nihil tam ad misericordiam inclinat quam proprii periculi cogitatio. And Virgil brings in Queen Dido for a pattern in this kind, saying of herself, Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco.

V. 2. {Bear ye one another's burdens} He shows that this is the end of reprehension to raise up our brother which is fallen, and not proudly to insult over him. To bear our brother's burden, is to have compassion on our brother's failings, and infirmities, which lie upon him, as a heavy load and burden, to support him with comfort, and use the best means we can to ease and relieve him, and by discreet reprehension amend him.

{and so fulfil the law of Christ} That of loving one another, Joh. 13.34. Which Christ calls his new commandment. For although it were also prescribed by Moses, Levit. 19.18. yet it is called Christ's law, forasmuch as it is not fulfilled but by his Spirit, and for that Christ so particularly commends it to his disciples, as well by precept, as by his own example.

V. 4. {let every man prove his own work} Let every man seek to have commendation of his own life, by examining and reproving himself, and not by reprehending others. In these words, the Apostle taxes that vice in the Galatians, which is too too common in most men; who are sharp-sighted to espy small motes in other men's eyes, and cannot discern a beam in their own. Nemo in sese tentat descendere, nemo; Sed præcedenti spectatur mantica tergo.

{rejoicing} Gr. boasting.

V. 5. {For every man shall bear his own burden} See 1 Cor. 3.8. A reason, wherefore men ought to have the greatest eye upon themselves, is, because that every man shall be judged before God according to his own life, and not by comparing himself with other men. S. Jerome upon this place notes, that the Apostle in these words, obscurely intimates, that whilst we live in this world, we may be helped by the counsels, good advice, and prayers one of another; but after this life, we must stand or fall to ourselves; no other can stead us by their prayers or other ways. Dum in præsenti seculo sumus, sive orationibus sive consiliis invicem posse nos coadjuvari, cum autem ante tribunal Christi venerimus, non Job, non Daniel, non Nohe rogare posse pro quoquam, sed unumquemque portare onus suum. Which though it be a truth, and makes much against Popish invocation of saints, and prayers for the dead, yet it seems not to be the natural interpretation of this text; but rather that of Saint Austine. De consen. Evang. lib. 2. cap. 30. Where reconciling the seeming contradiction between this first verse and the second, he says, that the word burden is taken in a different sense; Alia sunt onera participandæ infirmitatis, alia reddendæ rationis Deo de actibus nostris. In the original, the words are different; in the second verse, it is βάρη, in this φορτίον, there by burdens are meant such sins and infirmities, wherewith our brother is aggrieved and burdened, but here by burden is meant the punishment of every man's own sin.

V. 6. {Let him, &c.} See 1 Cor. 9.14.

{that is taught in the word} Gr. catechised. See Rom. 2.18. The word in the original is, κατηχούμενος, a word derived from ἠχὼ, a sound, and signifies to resound, or instruct others, vivâ voce, by word of mouth, by speech sounding to their ears, to teach familiarly, as when children are taught the principles of religion; and hence comes our English word catechizing. Howbeit, as the Greek Scholiast truly observes, It is taken more generally for him that is any way taught and instructed; whether it be in the first principles, and rudiments, or points of greater difficulty: whether plainly and familiarly, as catechizers use to do; or more profoundly, as doctors in the chair.

{communicate unto him that teacheth} Gr. catechiseth; or, instructeth in the principles of faith, 1 Cor. 14.9. Let him afford him comfortable maintenance according to his ability; he says not, μεταδιδότω, but κοινωνείτω, contribute, but communicate unto him, as Oecumenius observes, to signify unto us, that the relief of the pastor is not an alms-deed, but a kind of commerce and exchange of spiritual things for carnal. For he that teaches bestows on his flock spiritual treasures; and they who are taught of him give him part of their temporal goods, (1 Cor. 9.11.) so there is a communication on both sides.

V. 7. {Be not deceived; God is not mocked} He commends liberality both to their pastors, and to the poor; and first he reproves them for pretending this and that, & all because they would not help their neighbors, as though they could deceive God: afterward he compares works of charity to a spiritual sowing, which shall have a most plentiful harvest, and he compares covetousness and niggardliness to a carnal sowing, whereof nothing can be gathered but such things as being unprofitable fade away and perish by and by.

V. 8. {For he that soweth to his flesh} That is, to the commodities of this present life; he that seeks after wealth or honor, and such things only whereby he may give satisfaction to his flesh, and enjoy carnal delights and pleasures, shall reap corruption; that is, a consumption in his estate, rottenness in his bones, and eternal death. But he that sows to the Spirit, that is, desires increase of spiritual graces, and by the grace of the Spirit distributes liberally to the poor, and performs all works of piety and charity in this life, shall have a most plentiful harvest in the life to come, and reap a most plentiful crop.

V. 9. {And let us not be weary in well doing} See 2 Thess. 3.13. He taxes such as are liberal at the beginning, but continue not in well-doing, because the harvest seems to be deferred very long, as though the seedtime and harvest were at one instant.

V. 10. {household of faith} They who are bred up in the same church, which is the house of God, they who are joined with us in the profession of the selfsame true religion, ought to be preferred before all other in our charity: yet so notwithstanding that our liberality extend in some measure to all. Saint Augustine upon these words infers that all men are equally to be loved; and that we must with a like affection wish to all men eternal life, though we cannot perform to all the like offices of charity. This seems to be repugnant to the doctrine of other Fathers, and the schools generally, who teach that we ought more to love those of our kin than strangers, Christians than infidels, right believers than heretics, friends than enemies; but they quarrel with this religious Father without cause, for elsewhere he defines all virtue to be ordo charitatis, an order of charity, whereby we love first God, then ourselves, after our neighbors, and then differently as we owe more obligation to them, or they better deserve of us: his meaning therefore in this place can be no other than this, that we ought to love all men pari dilectione, that is, with a like sincerity of true love, though not a like ardency of Christian affection; or that we ought to love all men alike as they are men, and desire truly their salvation, though as he speaks, we neither can nor are bound to perform the same offices of charity to all.

V. 11. {How large a letter} The words in the original, πηλίκοις γράμμασι, may signify either with how great characters I have written unto you; or what a large letter I have written unto you; those who follow the first translation make this to be the sense, to disabuse and undeceive you I have made shift though I cannot write well, yet with my own hand in great and ill-shaped letters to give you an undoubted testimony that I preach not circumcision; so Oecumenius. Others interpret the words thus, You see with what capital letters I have written divers sentences in this Epistle, that you might take special note of them, such letters Jerome in his Preface upon Job, calls unciales literas; and the poet grandes, Grandibus in tumuli marmore cæde notis. They who follow the latter translation, make this construction of it: You see what pains I have taken for your satisfaction, to write to you a letter of a large size, and that with my own hand; which I use not to do. It is true that the Apostle wrote larger letters than this, as namely to the Romans, and to the Corinthians: but he wrote them not with his own hand, as he did this. For that to the Romans was written by the hand of Tertius, Rom. 16.22. And the Epistles to the Corinthians are supposed by the learned to have been written by others; the first by the hand of Sosthenes, the second by the hand of Timothy.

V. 12. {make a fair shew in the flesh} Gr. good face, or fair countenance. A fair show against the truth in keeping carnal rites and ceremonies; they urge circumcision upon you, not out of any affection and zeal that they bear to the law; but only for this purpose, that they may purchase themselves favor among those of their own sort, and escape the malice and persecution of the Jews.

{in the flesh} Or, in your flesh. In causing you to be circumcised.

{for the cross of Christ} For preaching the doctrine of Christ crucified.

V. 14. {by whom the world is crucified, &c.} Or, whereby. S. Gregorie in the first of his Morals thus paraphrases upon these words: Because neither Paul sought after the world, nor the world after him, he says, he is crucified to the world, and the world to him. Bernard in his sixth Sermon de Quadragesima, conceives this to be the meaning: The world is crucified to me in my judgment and reputation thereof, and I am crucified to the world by an affection of compassion: Non incongruè potest intelligi crucifixum ei mundum reputatione; ipsum vero mundo crucifixum compassione. Others illustrate thus the words, All the honors, delights, and pomps which the world so much dotes upon, are as a cross to me; and those things which the world esteems as crosses, I take delight in, and am fastened unto them. But the most natural exposition seems to be this; God forbid that I should glory in any thing save the death and passion of my Savior; by the power whereof I am not only dead, but even crucified to the world: so that I have neither love nor liking more to the world and the lusts thereof, than to a dead man hanging upon a gibbet, or cross, which is not only a miserable, but an ignominious spectacle: on the other side, the world has no more power on me to move me, than sensual objects have to move or affect a dead man.

V. 15. {availeth any thing} Gr. Tec. is any.

{but a new creature} Georgius Syncellus writes that these words of the Apostle are taken out of a book entitled Apocalypsis Mosis, the Revelation of Moses, but the book is apocryphal, and it is more likely that the author of it bearing a false title is of later date, and transcribed these words out of Saint Paul, rather than that Saint Paul should borrow them from that book. For the meaning of them is evidently this; That in attaining salvation by Christ, neither circumcision, nor uncircumcision is considerable, or available, but a new creature, a man renewed in the spirit of his mind, and reformed according to Christ's image. 2 Cor. 5.17.

V. 16. {upon the Israel of God} The true Israel circumcised in heart, and in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God, Rom. 2.29.

V. 17. {I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus} The word in the Greek στίγματα, properly signifies brands, that is, such marks as are burnt into a man's flesh; but here it is taken for all those stripes and wounds which the Apostle received for Christ, and his doctrine's sake: and hereby he intimates that he startled at no persecution; as his opposites the false apostles did, and he opposes his miseries & the marks of those stripes which he bore for Christ's sake, against the scar of the outward circumcision, as the true mark of his Apostleship: and the meaning of the whole verse seems to be this; I admonish all the faithful to have this regard unto me, as not to add affliction to my affliction, nor vex my spirit farther with oppositions and contradictions, I having already sustained and suffered so much for Christ, (2 Cor. 11.23, &c.) whose marks I continually bear about me, and whereby I have sufficiently testified the loyalty and faithfulness of my ministry. 2 Cor. 6.4,5.

V. 18. {with your spirit} With your minds and hearts; or, grace be with your spirit, that is, guide and direct your spirit, that you may discern the deceits of these false apostles who endeavor to enthrall you to carnal rites; or because grace chiefly works upon the soul and is resident in it, he expresses that part, but means the whole, and it is as much as if he had said, Grace be with you. From this prayer of the Apostle it seems the ancient church in her liturgy took that respond mentioned by Saint Chrysostome, in his comment upon the tenth of Matthew, And to, or with your spirit, ὅταν εἴπω, εἰρήνη ὑμῖν, καὶ ὑμεῖς εἴπητε, καὶ τῷ πνεύματί σου. When I say, Peace unto you, and you answer, And to your spirit; not with your voice only, but with your heart: whence also in our liturgy, transcribed for the most part out of the ancient liturgies of the church, after the Creed the minister says, The Lord be with you, and the people answer, And with your spirit.