Commentary on Galatians

Contents

Reading pages: 1.1–1.2 · 1.5–1.7 · 1.9–2.1 · 2.2–2.6 · 2.7–3.1 · 3.3–3.5 · 4.1–5.1 · 5.2–5.6 · 6.1–6.2

1. 1.1Chrysostom explains the sharp tone of Galatians: Judaizers had undermined Paul as a mere disciple of the apostles and were imposing circumcision on the Galatians.
2. 1.2Paul's apostleship came directly from Christ; Chrysostom refutes Arian arguments from 'through' and 'raised him,' and Manichaean claims that the present life is evil.
3. 1.5Chrysostom explains 'the present evil age' and the doxology of Gal 1:5, then treats the Galatians' swift desertion, the oneness of the four Gospels against the Marcionites, and the danger of small innovations in doctrine.
4. 1.7Chrysostom rebukes Christians who keep Jewish fasts and pagan omens, explains Paul's anathema on any other gospel even from an angel, and Paul's appeal to his sudden conversion from persecutor.
5. 1.9Paul's zeal as persecutor and his sudden conversion prove his gospel came from God; Chrysostom explains 'I did not confer with flesh and blood' by Paul's intention, and stresses Paul's humility and his honor for Peter and James.
6. 2.1Why Paul, who did not consult the apostles at first, laid his gospel before them after fourteen years: by revelation, to convince his accusers, not to learn; Titus was not compelled to be circumcised.
7. 2.2The apostles permitted circumcision as a concession, the false brothers imposed it as slavery; Paul received the right hand of fellowship; Chrysostom argues that the clash with Peter at Antioch was a planned rebuke for the Jewish believers' sake, not real hypocrisy on Peter's part.
8. 2.5Chrysostom explains Paul's public rebuke of Peter at Antioch as a staged correction aimed at the Jewish believers, worded so that it would be accepted.
9. 2.6Faith in Christ, not works of the law, justifies; Chrysostom warns Christians who fast and keep the sabbath with the Jews that partial observance commits them to the whole law and makes Christ a minister of sin.
10. 2.7To rebuild the law is to become a transgressor; through the law Paul died to the law, was crucified with Christ in baptism, and now Christ lives in him.
11. 2.8'Christ lives in me': Paul's life in the flesh is by faith in the Son who loved him personally; if righteousness came through the law, Christ died for nothing.
12. 3.1Paul calls the Galatians foolish and bewitched; the Spirit and their miracles came by faith, not by the law, and Abraham himself was justified by faith before the law.
13. 3.3Faith is older than the law; the law brings a curse because none fulfills it, but Christ became a curse to free us from it; the promise to Abraham's seed, Christ, cannot be annulled by the later law, which was added because of transgressions.
14. 3.5Christ the mediator gave the law; the law is not against the promises but shut all under sin and served as a tutor until faith came; through baptism believers put on Christ and become sons of God and Abraham's seed.
15. 4.1The Galatians, made sons and heirs through Christ and the Spirit, are turning back to the 'elements' of days and months; Paul pleads with them as a mother in labor, recalls their love for him, and begins the allegory of Hagar and Sarah.
16. 4.4Hagar and Sarah figure the two covenants: the children of the barren church, born like Isaac by God's promise in baptism, are free and need not fear persecution; Christ has set them free.
17. 5.1To accept circumcision is to take on the whole law, which binds by one commandment to all the rest, and so to fall from grace and lose Christ.
18. 5.2Faith working through love, not circumcision, counts in Christ; a little leaven corrupts the whole; Paul's persecution proves he does not preach circumcision; Chrysostom condemns self-mutilation and teaches that desire is given for marriage and children, not adultery.
19. 5.4Freedom from the law is not license but a call to rise above it through mutual service in love; walking by the Spirit overcomes the desires of the flesh, which Chrysostom explains as the evil will, not the body, against the Manichaeans.
20. 5.6One led by the Spirit needs no law; the works of the flesh come from a corrupt will, not from the body; the fruit of the Spirit, rooted in love, is beyond the reach of law.
21. 6.1Sinners are to be restored gently, each bearing the others' burdens and testing his own work rather than boasting against his neighbor.
22. 6.2Disciples should support their teachers; what one sows one reaps, so let us do good to all while there is time; Paul writes in his own hand, boasts only in the cross by which the world is crucified to him, and bears Christ's marks as his defense.