Exposition on Galatians

Contents

Reading pages: 0–3.29 · 4.1–6.18

1. 0Argument: the false apostles denied Paul's apostleship and claimed he favored circumcision; he answers them point by point.
2. 1.1Paul's apostleship came from Christ and the Father, not from men, unlike the unworthy ordained by popular favor.
3. 1.2The brothers join Paul's greeting.
4. 1.3Grace saves through faith alone; peace means reconciliation by forgiveness.
5. 1.4Christ gave himself for sins, freeing believers from evil works, not by their merits.
6. 1.5Infinite benefits deserve infinite glory.
7. 1.6The Galatians are turning from the one true gospel to those who drag it back to the law.
8. 1.8No apostle or angel may preach another gospel; this condemns heretics who change apostolic tradition.
9. 1.9Paul repeats the curse for emphasis.
10. 1.10Paul seeks to please God, not men, and is hated for it.
11. 1.11Paul's gospel is not of human origin.
12. 1.12Paul received by revelation that the gentiles are saved by faith alone.
13. 1.13Only revelation could have turned so zealous a persecutor.
14. 1.14Paul was a zealot for the traditions.
15. 1.15God, foreknowing, called Paul by grace, not merit.
16. 1.16Paul obeyed the heavenly vision at once, without human counsel.
17. 1.17Paul went to Arabia to teach, not to Jerusalem to learn.
18. 1.18Paul visited Peter briefly, to see him, not to learn from him.
19. 1.19James is the Lord's "brother" by kinship, not a son of Mary.
20. 1.20Lemma of Gal 1:20.
21. 1.21Lemma of Gal 1:21.
22. 1.22Jewish and gentile churches were separate; Paul was unknown in Judea.
23. 1.23Lemma of Gal 1:23.
24. 1.24Paul's conversion made the churches glorify God.
25. 2.1Paul went to Jerusalem when the law's burdens were debated.
26. 2.2Paul compared, not learned, his gospel of salvation by faith alone with the apostles.
27. 2.3Lemma of Gal 2:3.
28. 2.4Pelagius holds that Paul circumcised Titus for an hour to avoid scandal.
29. 2.6Paul learned nothing from the leading apostles; God does not favor persons.
30. 2.7Paul was entrusted with the gentiles as Peter with the Jews.
31. 2.8One God gave Peter and Paul one ministry.
32. 2.9The pillar apostles approved Paul's mission to the gentiles.
33. 2.10The poor are the Jerusalem saints who gave up all, or were robbed of it.
34. 2.11Paul rebuked Peter to show he never favored circumcision.
35. 2.12Peter was at fault for withdrawing from gentiles out of fear.
36. 2.13Even Barnabas was drawn into Peter's pretense.
37. 2.14Paul's public rebuke of Peter: the Jews too were saved by faith alone, not by works of the law.
38. 2.15Jews too were sinners.
39. 2.16The ceremonial works of the law, given to curb hardness, do not justify.
40. 2.17If faith alone did not save, Christ could not forgive, which is absurd.
41. 2.18Rebuilding Jewish privilege would contradict Paul's own teaching.
42. 2.19Dead to sin with Christ, Paul lives by faith alone and owes nothing to the law.
43. 2.21Seeking righteousness by the law makes Christ's death pointless; the Galatians have been bewitched.
44. 3.2The Spirit came by faith, so the law can add nothing.
45. 3.3Beginning in the Spirit, the Galatians should not seek perfection in the law.
46. 3.4The Galatians' sufferings for Christ will be wasted if they do not return.
47. 3.5Receiving the Spirit by faith shows the Galatians are righteous without the law.
48. 3.6Faith suffices for righteousness, as for Abraham.
49. 3.7Believers are Abraham's sons.
50. 3.8God promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed by faith.
51. 3.9The uncircumcised nations are blessed by faith.
52. 3.10Faith alone justifies at conversion, but faith without the works of faith is dead.
53. 3.12The law offered life to those who kept it by their own labor.
54. 3.13The sinless Christ bore the law's curse of the tree in place of all who broke the law.
55. 3.14The gentiles receive Abraham's blessing and the promised Spirit by faith.
56. 3.15Lemma of Gal 3:15.
57. 3.16A human comparison illustrates God's promise to Abraham's one seed, Christ.
58. 3.17The later law cannot annul God's covenant with Abraham.
59. 3.18Abraham's inheritance came by promise, before the law.
60. 3.19The law restrained transgression until Christ came; it was given through angels and a mediator.
61. 3.20Christ is mediator yet not divided from the one divine nature.
62. 3.21The law could not give life because no one kept it.
63. 3.22Scripture's verdict of universal sin leaves salvation by faith alone.
64. 3.23The law guarded Israel until the faith in Christ was revealed.
65. 3.24The law was a strict tutor until Christ the true teacher.
66. 3.25Mature believers no longer need the law's tutelage.
67. 3.26Jews and gentiles alike belong to God through faith alone.
68. 3.27The baptized have put on Christ and do not need the law given to sinners.
69. 3.28All distinctions vanish in Christ.
70. 3.29Members of Christ's body are Abraham's true heirs by promise.
71. 4.1Lemma of Gal 4:1.
72. 4.2Lemma of Gal 4:2.
73. 4.3Israel's priests ruled as guardians; Christian clergy must lead by example, since all are a priestly people.
74. 4.4Christ came when bad habit made the law unkeepable; "woman" refers to sex, not loss of virginity.
75. 4.5Christ was born under the law to redeem both Jews and gentiles.
76. 4.6The Spirit of Christ proves believers are God's sons.
77. 4.7Sons and heirs should not return to slavery.
78. 4.8Lemma of Gal 4:8.
79. 4.9Gentile converts must not adopt Jewish feasts, which were concessions to keep Israel from idols.
80. 4.10Christians keep a spiritual feast, not the Jewish calendar of days.
81. 4.11Returning to the observances would undo Paul's work.
82. 4.12Paul speaks out of concern for their salvation, not resentment.
83. 4.13Paul first preached in bodily weakness.
84. 4.14The Galatians received Paul in his weakness as an angel, even as Christ.
85. 4.15The Galatians once loved Paul so much they would have given him their eyes.
86. 4.16Truth makes enemies; the Galatians preferred sabbath leisure and feasts to Paul's self-restraint.
87. 4.17The rivals' zeal aims to exclude, not to build up.
88. 4.18Pursue the good always, not just in Paul's presence.
89. 4.19Through repentance one can be reborn until Christ's life is formed in him.
90. 4.20Paul wishes to come and speak sternly in person.
91. 4.21The disciples' relapse shames their teacher.
92. 4.22Lemma of Gal 4:22.
93. 4.23Ishmael was born naturally, Isaac by faith in the promise.
94. 4.24Allegory must keep the truth of the history and never turn sins into mysteries; the two covenants are of slavery and freedom.
95. 4.25Sinai and earthly Jerusalem stand for the covenant of slavery.
96. 4.26The church, the heavenly Jerusalem, is the free mother of Jewish and gentile believers.
97. 4.27Isaiah's barren woman, prefigured by Hannah, is the church, mother of many.
98. 4.28Believers, like Isaac, are children of the promise.
99. 4.29The carnal persecute the spiritual, as Ishmael did Isaac.
100. 4.30Sons of the slave woman, including unbelieving Jews, cannot share the inheritance.
101. 4.31Believers are children of the free woman and must not follow the slave.
102. 5.1The time of the law is over; do not take up its yoke.
103. 5.2Circumcision implies Christ alone is not enough.
104. 5.3Whoever takes circumcision must keep the whole law or be cursed.
105. 5.4Seeking justification by the law despises the free grace already received.
106. 5.5Believers await the reward of righteousness by the Spirit and faith.
107. 5.6Faith works through love, and works more than fear does.
108. 5.7The Galatians ran well until someone burdened them with the law.
109. 5.8Only God's word deserves assent.
110. 5.9A little malice can corrupt the whole church.
111. 5.10Paul trusts the Galatians; the troubler will be judged.
112. 5.11Paul's persecution proves he does not preach circumcision but salvation by faith alone.
113. 5.12Paul's wish that the troublers be cut off.
114. 5.13Freedom must not lead back to the law, but to willing service in love.
115. 5.14Love has four degrees: God, self, neighbor, and enemy; love of God comes first.
116. 5.16The soul is "flesh" when it thinks carnally; the contentious are shut out of the kingdom with idolaters and murderers.
117. 5.22Love heads the fruit of the Spirit: joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness.
118. 5.23Continence belongs to spiritual marriages, chastity to virgins; the law does not forbid such fruits.
119. 5.24Those who have crucified the flesh do not need the law that restrains vices.
120. 6.2The law of Christ is love.
121. 6.3Self-deception lies in thinking oneself beyond temptation or trusting flatterers.
122. 6.4Each is judged by his own conscience and works, not by comparison or flattery.
123. 6.6Learners owe teachers obedience, imitation, or support.
124. 6.7God's threats are real, as Eve and Lot's wife learned.
125. 6.8Sowing to the flesh reaps punishment; sowing to the Spirit, eternal life.
126. 6.9This life is for sowing; the reward is reaped later by those who persevere.
127. 6.10Show mercy to all in need, especially to fellow believers.
128. 6.11Paul's own handwriting shows his boldness.
129. 6.12The Judaizers push circumcision to avoid persecution.
130. 6.13The circumcisers seek glory from the Galatians' flesh.
131. 6.14Paul boasts only in the cross; what counts is new life in Christ.
132. 6.16The true Israel of God follows the rule of faith.
133. 6.17Paul's body bears the marks of the cross, not of circumcision.
134. 6.18Paul's closing blessing is on the spirit, not the circumcised flesh.