Commentary on Galatians 1.5–1.7

"Why, then," someone says, "did Paul call the present age evil?" He was following common usage. For we too are accustomed to say, "I had a bad day," blaming not the time but the action or the circumstance. So Paul too, blaming evil choices, … and he shows that Christ both freed us from our former sins and secured us for the future. By saying "who gave himself for our sins" he showed the first; by adding "to deliver us from the present evil age" he made plain our security for the future. For the law was not strong enough even for the one, but grace has proved able for both. "According to the will of our God and Father." Since they thought that they would be disobeying God, as the giver of the law, and were afraid of leaving the Old and coming to the New, he corrects this suspicion of theirs too, saying that this is also the Father's will. And he did not simply say "Father," but "our Father," and he puts this continually, to shame them by showing that Christ has made his own Father our Father. "To whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen." This too is new and unusual. For nowhere do we find "Amen" placed at the beginning and in the opening of a letter, but only after much has been said. Here, however, he has put it in the opening to show that what had been said already contained a sufficient charge against the Galatians, and that the argument was complete. For obvious charges need no elaborate proof. Having reminded them of the cross and the resurrection, of the redemption from sins, of the security for the future, of the purpose of the Father, of the will of the Son, of grace, of peace, of his whole gift, he closed his words with a doxology. He did this not for this reason only, but also because he was overwhelmingly amazed at the greatness of the gift, the excess of the grace, and at the thought of who we were and what God had done all at once and in a single moment of time. Unable to set this forth in words, he broke off into a doxology, sending up on behalf of the whole world not the praise it deserves, but what he was able to give. That is why he uses more vehement language after this, as if set on fire by the thought of God's benefits. For having said, "To whom be the glory for ever and ever, Amen," he begins from there a rebuke, saying: "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ, for a different gospel." Since they supposed that by keeping the law they were pleasing the Father, just as the Jews did when they persecuted Christ, he first shows that by doing this they provoke not only Christ but the Father as well. "For it is not from Christ only," he says, "but from the Father too that you are deserting by doing this." For just as the Old Covenant is not the Father's only but also the Son's, so too grace is not the Son's only but also the Father's, and all things are common: "For all that is my Father's is mine." Having said, then, that they are deserting the Father too, he lays two charges: desertion, and very swift desertion. Yet the opposite is also blameworthy, to fall away after a long time; but here the subject is deception. One who falls away after a long time deserves blame; but one who falls at the first assault, in the very first skirmishes, has shown an example of the utmost weakness. This is what he charges them with, saying: "What is this, that those who deceive you do not even need time, but the first approach suffices to overthrow and capture you all? And what pardon could you have? For if this is a fault when it happens among friends, and one who abandons his old and useful companions deserves condemnation, then one who leaps away from God when he calls, of how great a punishment would he be liable?" When he says, "I am astonished," he says it not only to shame them, because after so great a gift, after such forgiveness of sins and excess of love for mankind, they had deserted to the yoke of slavery, but at the same time to show what opinion he has of them, that it is a great and serious one. For if he had thought them ordinary people and easily deceived, he would not have marveled at what happened. "But since you are genuine," he says, "and have suffered much, I am astonished." This was enough to win them back and bring them back to their former state. He made this clear in the middle of the letter too, saying, "Did you suffer so many things in vain? If indeed it was in vain." "You are deserting." He did not say "you have deserted," but "you are deserting," that is: "I do not yet believe or think that the deception is complete"; which again is the language of one winning them back. Saying this more clearly further on, he says, "I have confidence in you that you will take no other view." "Him who called you in the grace of Christ." The calling is the Father's, but the cause of the calling is the Son's; for he it is who reconciled us and gave the gift freely; for "not by works done in righteousness" were we saved. Or rather, these things are the Father's too, and those the Son's: "For all that is mine is yours," he says, "and yours is mine." And he did not say, "You are deserting the gospel," but "him who called you," God. He set down what was more fearful and better able to strike them. For those who wished to deceive them did not do it all at once, but moved them gradually away from the realities while not changing the names. Such is the deceit of the devil: not to set out his snares uncovered. For if they had said, "Depart from Christ," the Galatians would have guarded against them as deceivers and corrupters; but as it was, leaving them for the time in the faith and putting the name of gospel on their error, they undermined the building with great freedom, hiding what they said behind these names as behind curtains. Since, then, they called their deception a gospel, he does well to fight against the very name, and speaks boldly, saying, "for a different gospel, which is not another." Rightly; for there is no other. Yet the Marcionites suffered here what sick people suffer who are harmed by wholesome food. For they seized on the words, saying, "Look, Paul too said that there is no other gospel." For they do not accept all the evangelists, but only one, and that one they have cut down and confused as they wished. What, then, when he himself says, "according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ"? What they say is quite laughable; yet laughable as it is, it must be refuted for the sake of those who are easily deceived. What, then, shall we say? That even if countless people write gospels, so long as they write the same things, the many are one, and their being one suffers no harm from the number of the writers; just as, on the other hand, even if there is only one writer and he says contradictory things, what is written is not one. For whether something is one or not is judged not by the number of the writers but by the sameness or difference of what is said. Hence it is clear that the Gospels of the four are one gospel. For when the four say the same things, it is not one thing and another because of the difference of the persons, but one because of the agreement of what is said. Nor is Paul now speaking of number, but of disagreement in what is said. If, then, Matthew's gospel were one thing and Luke's another in the force of what is written and in the exactness of the doctrines, they would be right to seize on the word; but if it is one and the same, let them stop their folly and their pretending not to know things that are plain even to little children. "Only there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ." That is: as long as you are sound in mind, you will not recognize another gospel; as long as you see straight and not distortedly, imagining things that are not there. For just as the eye, when disturbed, sees one thing in place of another, so the mind too, clouded by the confusion of evil thoughts, usually suffers the same. That is why madmen too imagine one thing in place of another. But this madness is worse than that, since it works its harm not among the things of sense but among the things of the mind, and brings about ruin not in the pupils of the bodily eyes but in the eyes of the understanding. "And want to pervert the gospel of Christ." Yet they were bringing in only one or a second commandment, that of circumcision, and innovating only about the days; but to show that a small alteration ruins the whole, he said that the gospel was being overturned. For just as with the royal coins, one who clips a little of the stamp has made the whole coin counterfeit, so too one who overturns even the smallest part of the sound faith corrupts the whole, going on from the beginning to worse things. Where, then, are those who condemn us for contentiousness because of our separation from the heretics? Where are those who say that there is no difference between us and them, but that the quarrel comes from love of power? Let them hear what Paul says, that those who innovated even a little overturned the gospel. And these men innovate in no small matter; how could they, who call the Son of God a creature? Did you not hear that under the Old Covenant too a man who gathered sticks on the sabbath, transgressing one commandment and not the greatest, paid the ultimate penalty; and that he who steadied the ark died on the spot, because he had laid hold of a ministry that did not belong to him? Then if the transgression of the sabbath and the touching of the ark brought God to such indignation that those who dared these things did not obtain even a brief pardon, shall one who has corrupted awesome and ineffable doctrines obtain a defense and pardon? It is not so; it is not so. Indeed this very thing is the cause of all evils, that we are not indignant even at these small matters. That is why the greater sins have come in, because the lesser do not receive due correction. And just as in bodies, those who neglect wounds bring on fevers and gangrene and death, so too in souls, those who overlook small things bring in the greater. "So-and-so," someone says, "goes wrong about fasting, and it is nothing great. Another is firm in the right faith, but acting a part because of the times he has given up his boldness; this too is no great harm. Another, provoked, threatened to depart from the right faith; but neither does this deserve punishment, for he sinned from anger and passion." And one could find countless such sins brought into the churches every day. That is why we have become a laughingstock to both Jews and Greeks, as the church is split into countless parts. For if those who at the beginning attempted to leap away from the divine laws and to alter some small thing had received due rebuke, the present plague would not have been born, nor would so great a storm have seized the churches. See, at any rate, how Paul calls circumcision an overturning of the

gospel. But now there are many among us who fast on the same day as the Jews and keep the sabbaths in the same way; and we bear it nobly, or rather wretchedly. And why do I speak of Jewish things? Many customs of the pagans too are kept by some of our people: omens, auguries, tokens, the observance of days, concern about nativities, and writings full of every impiety, which, as soon as children are born, they set upon their heads to their own harm, teaching them from the very start to give up the labors of virtue and bringing them, as far as in them lies, under the deluded tyranny of fate. If Christ is of no benefit to those who are circumcised, what further benefit will faith bring for salvation to those who draw so many evils upon themselves? And yet circumcision had been given by God; nevertheless, since it was harming the gospel by being performed out of season, Paul did everything to cut it off. Then if Paul showed such zeal against Jewish customs because they were kept out of season, shall we not cut off even the pagan custom? And what defense could we have? That is why our affairs are now in confusion and tumult, and the disciples, puffed up, have overturned the order, and everything has been turned upside down; and since we trained them badly, they do not bear even a gentle rebuke. And yet even if their leaders were rather wicked and full of countless evils, not even so would it be right for the disciple to disobey. For if of the Jewish teachers he says that since they sat on the seat of Moses they deserved to be heard by their disciples, although they had works so wicked that he commanded the disciples not to emulate or imitate them, what pardon could those deserve who spit on and trample the presidents of the church, who live with moderation by the grace of God? For if it is not right to judge one another, much less our teachers. "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed." See the apostle's understanding. So that no one could say that he was putting his own doctrines together out of vainglory, he anathematized himself too. And since they took refuge in persons of dignity, James and John, he mentioned angels too. "Do not speak to me of James and John," he says; "for even if one of the first angels from heaven corrupts the preaching, let him be accursed." And he did not simply say "angel," but "from heaven"; for since priests too were called angels ("For the lips of the priest shall guard knowledge, and they shall seek the law from his mouth, for he is the angel of the Lord Almighty"), so that you might not think that these are now meant by 'angels,' he hinted at the powers above by adding 'heaven.' And he did not say, "If they proclaim contrary things or overturn the whole," but, "even if they preach some small thing besides what we preached, even if they disturb the least thing, let them be accursed." "As we have said before, so now I say again." So that you may not think that the words came from anger, or were spoken in exaggeration or on some impulse, he sets down the same words a second time. For one who has said something carried away by anger may soon repent; but one who says the same a second time shows that he spoke so after judging the matter, and uttered what he said only after first ratifying it in his mind. When Abraham was asked to send Lazarus, he said, "They have Moses and the prophets; if they do not listen to them, neither will they listen when the dead rise." Christ brings him in saying this to show that he wishes the Scriptures to be more trustworthy even than the dead raised up. But Paul (and when I say Paul, I again mean Christ, for it was he who moved Paul's soul) sets them above even angels coming down from heaven; and very reasonably. For the angels, however great, are slaves and ministers, but all the Scriptures were written and sent not by slaves but by the God and Master of all. That is why he says: "If anyone preaches to you a gospel besides what we preached to you." And he did not say "So-and-so and so-and-so," which was very wise and gave no offense. For what need was there to mention names, for one who used such exaggeration as to include everyone, both those above and those below? By anathematizing evangelists and angels, he took in every rank; by anathematizing himself, every intimacy and close tie. "Do not tell me that your fellow apostles and companions say these things; for I do not spare even myself if I preach such things." He says this not as condemning the apostles or as if they were transgressing the preaching (far from it! "Whether it is I or they," he says, "so we preach"), but because he wishes to show that he admits no regard for the rank of persons when the question is about the truth. "Am I now persuading men, or God? Or am I seeking to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I would not be a slave of Christ." "Even if I could deceive you by saying these things," he says, "can I deceive God, who knows the secrets of the mind, and whom I am always eager to please?" Did you see the apostolic spirit? Did you see the loftiness of the gospel? He said the same things when writing to the Corinthians: "We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an occasion to boast"; and again, "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human day." For since, though a teacher, he is compelled to make a defense to his disciples, he submits to it but is vexed; not from arrogance, far from it, but because of the fickleness of mind of those who were deceived and because they did not trust him much. That is why he said this too, all but saying: "Is my case to be heard by you? Are men going to judge me? Our case is with God, and we do everything with a view to the account we must give there; and we would not have sunk so low as to corrupt the doctrines when we are going to give account to the Master of all for what we preach." So he put this both to defend himself and at the same time to rise up against them. For disciples ought not to judge their teachers but to believe them. "But since the order has been reversed," he says, "and you sit as judges, learn that I care little about my defense before you; we do everything for God's sake, so as to give account to him for these doctrines." For one who wishes to persuade men does many underhanded and crooked things and uses deceit and lies to persuade and capture the minds of his hearers; but one who persuades God and is eager to please him needs a simple and pure mind, for the Divine cannot be deceived. "Hence it is clear," he says, "that we too write this not for love of power, nor to have disciples, nor because we desire glory from you; for we have been eager to please not men but God. For if I wished to please men, I would still be with the Jews, I would still be persecuting the church. But one who despised a whole nation, household, friends, kinsmen and so much glory, and took in exchange persecutions, enmities, wars and daily deaths, plainly does not say what I am saying now out of desire for human glory." He said this because he is about to narrate his former life and his sudden change, and to show by clear proofs that he changed sincerely; so that they may not think he does this to defend himself before them and become puffed up. That is why he said first, "Am I now persuading men?" For he knows how to speak, at the proper time, something lofty and great for the correction of his disciples. And yet he could have drawn the proofs of his sincere preaching from elsewhere: from the signs, from the miracles, from the dangers, from the prisons, from the daily deaths, from hunger and thirst and nakedness, and from other such things. But since his argument now was not against the false apostles but concerned the apostles, and they too had shared in these, I mean in the dangers, he conducts his argument from another quarter. For when he aimed at the false apostles, he brings in the comparison in this way, setting forth his endurance in dangers and saying: "Are they servants of Christ? I am talking like a madman; I am more: in labors more abundantly, in beatings beyond measure, in prisons more abundantly, in deaths often." Now, however, he speaks of his former manner of life, and says: "For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel preached by me is not according to man. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but through a revelation of Jesus Christ." See how again and again he insists that he became a disciple of Christ, with no man in between, but Christ himself by himself deigning to reveal all knowledge to him. "And what proof could there be for unbelievers that God revealed those ineffable mysteries to you himself, and not through some intermediary?" "My former manner of life," he says. "For unless it was God who revealed it, I would not have changed so suddenly. Those taught by men, when they are vehement and ardent on the opposite side, need time and much contrivance to be persuaded; but one who changed so suddenly, and became perfectly sober in the very height of his madness, plainly obtained a divine vision and teaching and so returned all at once to pure health." That is why he is compelled to narrate his former life, and he calls them as witnesses of what happened. "That the only-begotten Son of God deigned to call me himself from heaven, you do not know; how could you, who were not there? But that I was a persecutor, you know very well. For my vehemence spread even as far as you; and yet the distance between the Palestinians and the Galatians is great, so that the report would not have spread so far unless what was done had been excessive and unbearable to all." That is why he says: "For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it." Do you see how he sets out each thing with emphasis and is not ashamed? For he did not simply persecute, but beyond measure; and he did not only persecute, but laid waste, that is, tried to destroy and wipe it out; for that is the work of one who lays waste. "And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers."