Commentary on Galatians

Contents

Reading pages: 0.1–1.21 · 2.1–2.21 · 3.1–3.29 · 4.1–4.31 · 5.1–6.17

1. 0.1Ambrosiaster's prologue: Christians who keep the works of the law, like the Symmachians, deny Christ's divinity; the law ceased with John, faith alone saves, and circumcision gave way to the circumcision of the heart.
2. 1.1Paul's apostleship comes from Christ, God and man, which refutes both the Manichees and Photinus; Christ raised himself, yet by the Father's power.
3. 1.2Paul names all his companions so that the Galatians see many rebuking their error.
4. 1.3Father and Son are equally Lord and God; to serve the law alongside Christ insults him, who gave himself to free us from the devil, the law's condemnation and the present age.
5. 1.5Christ freed us in accordance with the Father's will.
6. 1.6Paul marvels that the Galatians so quickly left grace for the slavery of the law, misled by false apostles who claimed his gospel differed from the other apostles'.
7. 1.7The troublers sought to make Christians into Jews, turning the gospel into the law.
8. 1.8Even apostles or an angel teaching another gospel would be accursed, how much more the Galatians' unaccredited seducers.
9. 1.10Paul pleases God, not men, unlike the Judaizers who sought Jewish approval; the law was God's will until Christ came, but keeping it now opposes him.
10. 1.11Paul's gospel came by revelation from the risen Christ; the law's carnal observances brought no merit, and the righteous live by faith.
11. 1.13Paul, once a zealous persecutor trained by Gamaliel, left the law for grace; gentiles have even less reason to take it up.
12. 1.15God, foreknowing Paul's zeal, set him apart from birth and called him to preach Christ, which he did at once without consulting anyone.
13. 1.17Paul did not go to the earlier apostles to learn, but preached in Arabia and returned to Damascus.
14. 1.18Paul visited Peter, first among the apostles, not to learn but in fellowship, showing his agreement with the apostles.
15. 1.19James, bishop of Jerusalem, was the Lord's 'brother' as a son of Joseph by a former marriage, not a son of Mary.
16. 1.20Paul swears before God to his account so that the Galatians may trust it.
17. 1.21Jewish Christians praised God for Paul's conversion from persecutor to preacher, which shows the Galatians that Christ's law differs from Judaism.
18. 2.1Paul went to Jerusalem by revelation to show his gospel agreed with the apostles'; the apostolic decree bound gentiles only from idolatry, eating blood and fornication, the Greek text's 'things strangled' being, Ambrosiaster says, an addition.
19. 2.3Titus was not compelled by the apostles to be circumcised, so neither should the Galatians be.
20. 2.4Ambrosiaster reads Paul as yielding 'for an hour' by circumcising Timothy to avert Jewish sedition, and argues at length against the Greek reading 'we did not yield even for an hour'.
21. 2.6The apostles' humble past does not matter; Paul received his gospel from God, not from them.
22. 2.7Peter held the primacy for founding the church among Jews, Paul an equal primacy among the gentiles, each preaching to both when occasion arose.
23. 2.9The pillar apostles recognized Paul's primacy among the gentiles as Peter's among Jews; Paul withstood Peter at Antioch, not for withdrawing out of caution, which Paul too had done, but for an error explained next.
24. 2.14Peter's fault was not withdrawing from gentiles but compelling them to judaize, which confused them; Paul's own concession over Timothy did not urge the law on anyone.
25. 2.15Even born Jews seek justification by faith in Christ, not by works of the law; the patriarchs too were justified by faith.
26. 2.17To return to the law after seeking justification in Christ is to declare oneself under sin and the law's curse, not to make Christ a servant of sin.
27. 2.18Returning to the law condemns oneself; through the law of faith Paul died to Moses' law to live to God, crucified with Christ to the world.
28. 2.20Christ lives in the believer he has freed from death; living by faith in him, the believer is not ungrateful by setting the law beside him.
29. 2.21If the law could justify, Christ's death would be pointless; he died to give the forgiveness the law could not.
30. 3.1The Galatians, by adding the law to Christ, treated him as condemned and merely human, as Photinus does, whereas the wise see his cross as death's defeat.
31. 3.2The Galatians received the Spirit, then visibly manifest in believers, by faith and not by the law, so submitting to circumcision was folly.
32. 3.3The Galatians reversed the path of faith, falling from the Spirit to the flesh.
33. 3.4The Galatians' sufferings for faith and the miracles among them came through faith, not the law, so their sufferings need not be in vain.
34. 3.6Abraham was justified by believing, so the law was not given for justification.
35. 3.7All believers, Jew or gentile, are Abraham's sons.
36. 3.8Abraham is the pattern of believers, who share his blessing by sharing his faith.
37. 3.9Believers share Abraham's blessing, while those under the law are cursed because no one can keep all its commands.
38. 3.12The law justifies only before the world for this life; justification before God comes by faith; the law on the tablets is useful, the rest a burden.
39. 3.13Christ, offered for the cursed, became 'a curse' as a sin offering is called 'sin'; innocent, he was not cursed but became the curse of those who killed him, and by his death and descent he freed humanity.
40. 3.14With Christ rejected by the Jews, Abraham's blessing passed to the gentiles through faith.
41. 3.15As a ratified human will cannot be altered, neither can God's promise.
42. 3.16God's promise to Abraham's single seed means Christ alone, so those who also hope in the law are like forgers of a will.
43. 3.17The law, given 430 years later, cannot void God's promise to Abraham; justification by the law would cancel both promise and faith, which even Jews would not admit.
44. 3.19The law of deeds stood between the promise and Christ to train Israel; the 'angels' are God's messengers from Moses to John, and the mediator is Christ.
45. 3.20Christ is the arbiter who made peace between Jews and gentiles by removing what divided them; as God he is one with the Father; the law, unable to give life, shut all under sin so that faith might receive the promise.
46. 3.23The law guarded the Jews until faith came, to present them to Christ.
47. 3.24The law was a tutor until Christ came to justify believers.
48. 3.25With faith in Christ, believers are freed from the law as tutor and made sons of God through cleansing from sin.
49. 3.27In baptism believers put on Christ and take his name.
50. 3.28Among believers there are no distinctions of race, status or sex, only of merit.
51. 3.29All believers, as Abraham's offspring, inherit his promise.
52. 4.1Like a minor heir under guardians, those under the law lacked freedom.
53. 4.3The 'elements' are new moons and sabbaths; Christ, born under the law and circumcised as Abraham's promised son, ended the need for circumcision and made believers adopted sons.
54. 4.6The Spirit of the Son, given to gentile and Jewish believers, confirms their adoption and lets them dare to call God 'Abba'.
55. 4.7Believers are sons and heirs, 'inheritance' being Scripture's human way of speaking of God's gifts to his sons.
56. 4.8Their former idolatry, committed in ignorance, was pardonable.
57. 4.9Called by God's grace, the Galatians were turning back to weak and needy elements instead of Christ, in whom is all divinity.
58. 4.10Observing days, months, seasons and years means pagan superstitions about lucky and unlucky days, festivals and the January new year, which God's servants must avoid.
59. 4.11Drawn into the law's sabbaths and new moons, the Galatians slid back into pagan observances and risked leaving Christ entirely.
60. 4.12Paul, once in error himself, urges them to become as he is; their error harms themselves, since he has done his duty as preacher.
61. 4.13When Paul first preached to them, beaten and weak, the Galatians did not stumble but received him as an angel, even as Christ.
62. 4.15The Galatians had been renowned for their faith and devotion to Paul, which makes their fall the more grievous.
63. 4.16Paul seems an enemy only because he rightly rebukes them.
64. 4.17Jewish teachers, envious of the gentiles' share in grace, sought to win the Galatians over to circumcision.
65. 4.18They should always strive for spiritual goods, not only when Paul is present.
66. 4.19Born in baptism but deformed by error, the Galatians need Paul's labour again until Christ is formed in them.
67. 4.21Ambrosiaster recounts the births of Ishmael from Hagar and Isaac from Sarah.
68. 4.23Ishmael, born naturally, stands for the Jews and slaves of sin; Isaac, born by promise and a type of Christ, for Christians freed by forgiveness; Hagar is the covenant of Sinai.
69. 4.25Hagar represents the earthly Jerusalem, the synagogue, whose children are under sin.
70. 4.26The heavenly Jerusalem, our mother, is the Lord's mystery of rebirth into freedom and life.
71. 4.27The barren heavenly Jerusalem, deserted by Adam, now bears more children spiritually than the earthly one does carnally.
72. 4.28Like Isaac, believers are sons of promise, unless they turn to the flesh.
73. 4.29As Ishmael and Esau, types of the Jewish people, persecuted Isaac and Jacob, so the Jews persecute Christians.
74. 4.30Sarah's demand to cast out Hagar's son signifies the rejection of unbelieving Israel and the inheritance of the new people.
75. 4.31Forgiveness in Christ makes believers children of the free woman.
76. 5.1They must hold fast to freedom and not return to the law's yoke.
77. 5.2Circumcision now nullifies Christ for the believer, since the law gave way to the gospel and old and new must not be mixed.
78. 5.3Gentiles could keep parts of the law uncircumcised, but circumcision binds one to the whole law; those who seek justification by it after faith have fallen from grace.
79. 5.5Justification is hoped for by faith through the Spirit, a faith that works through love, which fulfils the whole law.
80. 5.7Running well, the Galatians were hindered by men who urged the works of the law.
81. 5.8Their persuasion to the law came from men, not from God who called them to grace.
82. 5.9Even a little of the law mixed with faith spoils it.
83. 5.10Paul trusts the misled Galatians will return; those who misled them will be judged, whatever their descent from Abraham.
84. 5.11Paul's persecution by the Jews, which drove him to appeal to Caesar, shows he did not preach circumcision; the cross offends because it ends sabbath and circumcision.
85. 5.12Paul wishes the troublers cut off both from the Lord's mercy and in their own bodies, as they had made the Galatians suffer.
86. 5.13Freedom from sin must not become an occasion for the flesh, such as circumcision, but for serving one another in the Spirit's love.
87. 5.14The whole law is fulfilled in loving one's neighbour, which is inseparable from loving God.
88. 5.15Mutual biting and accusation destroy love and life.
89. 5.16The law of God and the law of sin contend within a person; walking by the Spirit means obeying God's law, which conscience approves, and fleeing the flesh's suggestions.
90. 5.18Those led by the Spirit do not err and so are not under the law.
91. 5.19The works of the flesh, from adultery to heresies and drunkenness, exclude from God's kingdom and are called fleshly because they arise from the world.
92. 5.22The ten fruits of the Spirit correspond to the ten commandments; Christ's people crucify the flesh, meaning love of the world, not the body as such.
93. 5.25Living by the Spirit means a pure and peaceable life without vainglorious rivalry.
94. 6.1The spiritual should restore a fallen brother gently, mindful of their own weakness, and so fulfil Christ's law that wills all to be saved.
95. 6.3Self-exaltation is self-deception; following Christ's humility, one should examine oneself, not despise sinners like the Pharisee.
96. 6.5No one is defiled by another's sin he does not share, so one may receive sinners to win them.
97. 6.6Hearers should share good things with their teachers, but not follow them where their conduct contradicts their teaching.
98. 6.7God cannot be deceived; each receives what he deserves.
99. 6.8Sowing to the flesh by forbidden acts reaps corruption; sowing to the Spirit by self-restraint reaps eternal life, which is life without punishment, in glory.
100. 6.9Persevering in doing good will be repaid with eternal goods at God's appointed time.
101. 6.10Christians should use their time to do good to all, above all to fellow believers; Paul's own handwriting authenticates the letter.
102. 6.12The false apostles urged circumcision to avoid Jewish persecution, unlike Paul, who was ready to die for Christ.
103. 6.13The circumcisers did not keep the law themselves but boasted in the Galatians' circumcision, mocking them.
104. 6.14Paul glories in Christ's cross and its sufferings, dead to the world as the world is to him.
105. 6.15What counts is the new creation of regeneration; God's peace rests on the Israel of God, believing Jews and gentiles alike.
106. 6.17Paul, bearing Christ's scars, wants no more trouble from the Galatians and closes with the grace of Christ, not of the law.