Justified by Faith in Christ, Not by Works of the Law (Galatians 2:15–21)

The speech of holy Paul to holy Peter, on account of his withdrawal from the Gentiles, has only begun with the preceding words. It continues uninterruptedly further to the end of the chapter and clarifies the essence of faith in Christ the Lord, and particularly the freedom from the Law that accompanies it, which is the principal subject of the Epistle. And all the ancient interpreters (with the exception, it seems, of Ambrosiaster alone) consider verses 15–21 to be a continuation of the speech of holy Paul to Peter and the other Jews who were there. Some state this directly, as Theodoret does, who makes the transition from verse 14 to verse 15 thus: “Paul says also everything else that he spoke to blessed Peter, having in view the benefit of the Jews who were there.” Others, without mentioning this, by the course of their speech make it clear that they regard the words following from verse 15 as a continuation of the speech begun in verse 14, as Saint Chrysostom does, who says: “At first he directed his speech only to Peter, saying, ‘if you, being a Jew,’ but then he turns it to all, not excluding himself.”

And the flow of the speech is such that it gives no reason to suppose that from verse 15 onward it is directed to different persons. No one would think that holy Paul, who was clearly in motion, having begun his speech to holy Peter, would confine himself merely to what he said in verse 14. On the contrary, after this verse one naturally expects further speech in the same spirit and tone, and the words “we by nature are Jews” and the rest correspond perfectly to this expectation. But grant only that even one more verse was spoken in Antioch, and you will not find where to stop until the end of the speech in order to say: from here holy Paul turns to the Galatians. He turns to the Galatians only after this speech, beginning from verse 1 of chapter 3. Here the entire speech is directed to holy Peter and the other Jews. And it is particularly necessary to maintain this understanding because verse 18 (which I destroyed…) cannot be understood if we do not refer it to holy Peter, who had abandoned the Jewish ordinances and then taken them up again; and this verse stands in the middle of the entire speech. Some seize upon this and say: with verse 18 the speech to holy Peter ends, and from then on it is directed to the Galatians. But one need only read these verses in sequence to reject such a conjecture. From verse 18 onward, holy Paul speaks in his own person: “I… I.” By this verse 19 is connected with verse 18 externally; internally, in terms of thought, it is linked to it by the conjunction: “for I…” There is therefore no reason to divide them. It is beyond doubt that in bringing this speech into the Epistle to the Galatians, holy Paul had in view the benefit of the Galatians, and it truly does give them strong exhortations; but these will be saving conclusions for the Galatians drawn from a speech not directed to them. Some of the ancient interpreters do draw these conclusions.

It may be noted, however, that whether these verses were spoken to Peter in Antioch or written to the Galatians in Ephesus has no influence on their understanding. Therefore there is no need and no importance in laboring to determine this. What is important is that they were spoken by holy Paul, and consequently they are God-inspired.

In this speech: aa) first holy Paul keeps all attention on the same incident on account of which he began speaking, striving to draw from the very conduct of holy Peter and the other Jews the conviction that it is groundless to hold to the Law, especially after he had been so openly abandoned (Gal. 2:15–18); bb) then he shows how the one who has sincerely believed in Christ should now place all his hope of salvation on him alone, decisively rejecting the Law. He speaks of this disposition as it has formed in himself and how he maintains it, giving to understand that it should be the same in all (Gal. 2:19–21).

aa) First the Apostle keeps all attention on the same incident (Gal. 2:15–18)

Gal. 2:15–16. We ourselves are Jews by birth and not from among the Gentiles, sinners. Yet knowing that a man is not justified by works of the Law, but only through faith in Jesus Christ, we too have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law; for no one will be justified by works of the Law.

“We”—we with you, Peter, if the speech is addressed only to holy Peter, or with all the Jews who believed in Christ that were there, or not only with these but with all Jews who have believed in Christ in general. It is clear that holy Paul is turning thought away from Peter and directing his speech at those who were still attached to the Law and considered its observance necessary for salvation. “By birth Jews”—Jews by birth and origin, and not having embraced Judaism after birth. Our fathers and forefathers are Jews. We were born and raised in the Jewish Law. “Jews”—the people of God, chosen by God for a portion of his inheritance, preserved and guided by him, the people to whom God himself showed the true path of pleasing him and supplied with all the means of justification before him, consequently a holy people, appointed to holiness and fitted to attain it. “And not from among the Gentile sinners.” A sinner is one who does not fulfill God’s commandments and violates God’s Law. But here Gentiles are called sinners in contrast to Jews, as not knowing the true God and worshipping gods that do not exist by nature, and as not having the Law, which would show them how to be righteous before God, and therefore allowing among themselves many shameful deeds contrary to God, which they, nevertheless, do not consider sins and which are even approved by their religion. By presenting such a contrast, the Apostle leads to the thought that if Gentiles are sinners, then Jews are not sinners; and further, if Jews by nature are not sinners, then Gentiles by nature are sinners—that is, Jews have written upon them from birth the destiny to be holy, while Gentiles are destined to wallow in sinfulness—so that among Jews, sinfulness is an exception, while among Gentiles, the absence of sin would be an exception.

“So this is what we are!” says holy Paul, as it were. And there is nothing for us to look for in other paths of salvation and justification before God. Let the Gentiles look for it. And yet,

“having come to know”—having evidently learned and been convinced by palpable experience, partly from our own experience and chiefly from the revelation in Christ Jesus—“that a man is not justified”, cannot become or be made righteous, cannot attain righteousness and holiness, “by works of the Law,” through works of the Law, despite the strictest observance of the precepts of the Law which determined the external order of our religious life, which though they sanctified to bodily cleanness, brought no peace to conscience and gave no power to resist sin—but “only through faith in Jesus Christ,” only through faith in Jesus Christ, the promised Savior, who by his death satisfied God’s justice and sent us the Holy Spirit for our sanctification from the Father, made it so that everyone who believes in him and has decided to follow him receives forgiveness of sins and is clothed with power from above to resist sin and do all righteousness, because of faith in him and the resolve to be faithful to him to the offering up of his life—having learned all this, we too, Jews, to whom God himself had shown all the orders of justification which had strength until a time but have now grown old, have “believed in Christ Jesus,” believed in Christ, abandoning the Law, and fled to Christ, placing all our hope of salvation upon him, “so that we might be justified by faith in Christ”—in the conviction that he will forgive all our sins and give us the power to attain the internal righteousness in thoughts, feelings and dispositions which alone makes us righteous before God—“and not by works of the Law,” which provide only external righteousness, leaving the heart in its former, old wickedness: “for no one will be justified by works of the Law.” For works of the Law never brought and cannot bring anyone to this internal righteousness before God. God, who established them, did not give them such power.

Throughout this entire speech there is one thought: the Law does not bring us to righteousness; therefore, having been convinced that only Jesus Christ can provide it, we, abandoning the Law, have clung to him by faith. But holy Paul expresses this idea in various ways to imprint it more forcefully in memory. Three times he reminds of the powerlessness of the Law to provide righteousness, and three times he points to the true source of righteousness, holiness, and salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ through faith in him. So full was his soul of this conviction, and so eager was he to impart it to the souls of others! Nevertheless, there are aspects here that require explanation.

What is meant here by the “Law”? The external observances by which the order of the moral and religious life of the Jewish people was determined—circumcision, Sabbath observance, festivals, sacrifices, washings, sprinklings, and similar practices. This order set the Jews apart from all other peoples and constituted their exclusive possession. The dispositions that form part of piety and good conduct, such as the fear of God, hope in God, compassion, charity, patience, temperance, diligence, and similar virtues, were common to all mankind and did not belong to the Jews alone. These are not meant here by the Law. That what is meant here by the Law is precisely the external order of Jewish life is evident from the reason why this speech began. The speech began because holy Peter at first had abandoned all the observances and practices that set him apart from the uncircumcised and lived freely with them, but then, when strict zealots for the observance of these practices arrived, he recoiled from the uncircumcised and again submitted to the practices that set him apart from them, along with these zealots who were advocating separation. The operative causes here were the law of circumcision and non-eating with the uncircumcised. These holy Paul directly had in mind, and alongside them all similar laws that determined the external order of Jewish life; for circumcision alone bound one to all of them, just as uncircumcision made one free from them. What the Apostle Paul calls in verse 14 “living as a Jew” means living while strictly observing all the practices that characterized Jewish life, while “living as a Gentile” means living not subject to these practices. These practices constituted the barrier that separated Jews from Gentiles. Holy Paul was directing all his efforts toward destroying this barrier and uniting Jews and Gentiles into one indivisible Church as one body of Christ.

Thus all the ancient interpreters understand the Law here. Blessed Theodoret writes: “Nature herself taught what was necessary in the Law; such are the commandments: do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness against your neighbor, honor your father and your mother, and other similar ones; but the commandments concerning the Sabbath, concerning circumcision, concerning the leper, concerning sacrifices, and concerning sprinklings constituted the Law’s own properties; for nature did not teach these things. Therefore the Apostle calls all of this ‘works of the Law.’” Saint Chrysostom, though he does not state so definitively what he understands by the Law, speaks in his entire commentary of this section of the Epistle—wherever he had occasion to speak of the Law—only of circumcision, the Sabbath, and sacrifices; and consequently understands by the Law the same thing that Theodoret expressed directly. Following them, all the other ancient interpreters understand the Law in the same way.

Thus one should not understand by the Law here the moral law, the rules of piety, good conduct, and all good works. This understanding is contrary to the direct sense of this section and to everything that holy Paul writes in chapter 2. For even at the Council in Jerusalem they treated of the external Jewish practices, and the incident with the Apostle Peter was about external practices. When the Apostles of the Council wrote to the Antiochians that they had decided to place no burden on the believers from the Gentiles except for certain restrictions, they certainly did not mean to grant them complete freedom from all rules of piety and good conduct, but rather that they would not require them to observe any of the laws of Jewish external life, beginning with circumcision (Acts 15:24).

What is meant here by “justification”? In the general sense, to be justified means to present good reasons by which the blame charged against someone is lawfully removed and he is declared righteous. In this sense, justification before God cannot occur. Among people it is possible for someone to be blamed for something of which he is not guilty, and he has only to explain the matter to appear innocent. But before God we are all guilty both on account of ancestral sin and on account of our own sins. We can present no excuse in justification of ourselves, and we can do nothing by which we might atone for our guilt. What are we to do? We would remain forever under the judgment of God’s justice if the goodness of God had not established for us a special way of justification. To understand this better, let us represent our guilt as a debt before God’s justice. A debtor himself may have no means to pay his debt, but another can pay it for him, and when he does, the creditor no longer regards him as owing anything, clears him, and makes him free from debt. This is precisely what the goodness of God has done for us in justification before God. Our debts are unpayable. But for all of us, our Lord Jesus Christ has paid them to God’s justice by his death on the cross, the power of which is such that in it the Lord himself bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Pet. 2:24), nailed our handwriting of debt to the cross (Col. 2:14). It remains only to arrange that God’s justice should acknowledge each of us individually and personally as falling under this mercy, or for each of us to present to God’s justice the fact that he is included in the general mass of those whose debts have been paid. Let there be many debtors in some city, and let a certain rich man declare to the creditors—whether various or one—that whichever debtor presents a note or certificate from me, that debt is to be reckoned as paid from my account and he is to be set free from debt. Now this note or certificate from the person of the Lord is what each sinner must present to God’s justice in order to stand before him free of the debt of his sins. What is this note or certificate? Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who has believed in the Lord is righteous before the face of God’s justice.

What then is faith in the Lord? It is vain to try to define faith in the Lord in one word. It must be described, for it is a state of the heart that comprises not one feeling, conviction, and disposition, but several. It comes through repentance; for the Lord says: “repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). From this laboratory of the repenting spirit, faith comes forth not alone but “helped along by love” (Gal. 5:6); and then he who has faith is baptized (Mark 16:16). This is the “new creation” which is conceived by grace in the first movements of repentance, and in this order appears as a fully formed and characteristically developed personality that has taken on the Christian person. The entire course of the matter is this: only the truly repentant one seeks the Lord. The repentant one is filled with two feelings and dispositions: sorrow that he has sinned and a firm desire to yield no more to sinful inclinations. But in the first feeling, God’s justice troubles him, which he cannot satisfy in any way, and in the second feeling—the desire—his own powerlessness terrifies him, proven by experience. He flees to the Lord in full confidence that he will deliver him from both extremes—will forgive his previous sins and will give him the power to resist sin in the future. Without these two convictions, faith in the Lord is unthinkable, just as repentance is unthinkable without contrition for sins and firm resolve not to yield to sin. But all these dispositions are only the preparation for the formation of a believing personality. The formation itself is produced by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of baptism, in which, in being immersed, one is immersed in Christ’s death and receives the remission of sins, and in arising from the immersion, comes forth in the renewal of life, clothed with the power not to serve sin and to live the rest of one’s life for God in Christ Jesus (see Rom. 6:3–13). This is when a fully formed believing Christian personality appears. One passes through this entire path, but nothing is lost from what has been traversed; on the contrary, everything enters into the order of one’s spirit, which in one word is called faith. Faith therefore comprises in itself many feelings, but its distinguishing and prominent characteristic is the surrendering of oneself to the service of the Lord to the laying down of one’s life in the hope of salvation by his grace. The believer feels that he has been purchased with the price of blood and must serve the one who purchased him, in full confidence that by this path he will certainly be saved.

Only the one who believes in this way appears justified before God, not merely in the sense that the guilt of sinfulness is removed from him, but in that the seed of all righteousness is planted in him through his resolve to serve the Lord by fulfilling his will, and in the sense of the power for this that is given to him by the grace that has regenerated him. He possesses internal righteousness; for “a right spirit” is renewed within him (Ps. 50:12).

After this, it is self-evident why the Law does not justify but only faith in the Lord Jesus Christ does: because the Law did not give new life. A Jewish sinner would come, confess his sin, offer the prescribed sacrifice, and be restored to all the rights of a Jew; but inwardly he remained the same, with the same bondage to sin. Therefore it is said that all sacrifices cleansed only for bodily cleanness (Heb. 9:13). Likewise, the observance of all the other ordinances of the Law communicated only external righteousness, leaving within the old wickedness. Circumcision itself admitted one into the assembly of Israel, but left the heart uncircumcised. Thus a Jew, faithful to the Law, was only declared righteous externally without being righteous in his heart. On the contrary, the one who has believed in the Lord is not merely declared righteous but attains righteousness in the internal order of his life, is renewed, and, like a mature young man full of strength, goes forth to please the Lord in the sense of the grace-given power granted to him. This internal renewal is the distinguishing characteristic of Christian faith. For the sake of it, the Christian is truly justified before the face of God’s justice, justified with a complete justification. This renewal itself is precisely what the testimony is, on account of which everything is forgiven, and the one who presents it is again received into the full mercy and full favor of God.

Nevertheless, the Law was not bad. It had its power according to God’s ordinance and bore appropriate fruit: it kept those who lived under it in a state of correctness—though external only—and prepared those who were more attentive to receive the Lord, since all its ordinances were a shadow of the good things to come. Those who understood this, even while under the Law, sighed for those good things and awaited the coming of the person who was to bring them. And this set them apart among the Jews, making them superior to other Jews. Such were all the Old Testament patriarchs, prophets, and righteous ones.

Saint Chrysostom sees in the words of holy Paul such an exhortation to abandon the Law: “We,” he says (holy Paul), “abandoned the Law not because it was not good, but because it was weak.” In clarification of this weakness, Theophylact adds to the words of Saint Chrysostom: “(and it is weak) because it did not sanctify souls but only removed bodily uncleanness.” On this basis, Blessed Theodoret defines the significance of the Law in general thus: “Violation of these commandments (those mentioned above: concerning circumcision, the Sabbath, sacrifices, washings, and the like) is a sin (for a Jew), but keeping them is not yet progress in perfect righteousness. For all of this served as an indication of something else; however, it was suitable for the Jews at that time.” Blessed Jerome, speaking of such significance of the Law, explains in what cases and for what reason the Law remained with such small fruit. “Some say: if it is true what holy Paul says here—that no one is justified by works of the Law but only by faith in Jesus Christ—then the patriarchs, prophets, and saints who lived before Christ’s coming were imperfect. To such people we should answer that those are called here as not having attained righteousness who believe that justification can come only from such works. But the holy ones of old were justified by faith in Christ. For Abraham saw the day of Christ and rejoiced. And Moses considered the reproach of Christ greater treasure than the riches of Egypt: ‘for he looked to the reward’ (Heb. 11:26). And Isaiah saw the glory of Christ (Is. 6), as the evangelist John testifies. From this it is evident that it is not so much works of the Law that are condemned as those who hope to be justified only by works, when the Savior himself says: ‘unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 5:20).”

Gal. 2:17. But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not.

The Apostle directs attention to the present circumstance—that, except for those sent by James, all the Jews who were there and the Apostle Peter among them had abandoned all the Law for faith in the Lord, but then turned to it again because the zealots of the Law were now looking at them. As if they had been caught in some wrong deed that they needed to hasten to correct! As if it were a sin to abandon the Law and cleave to Christ—to Christ, who is the propitiation for our sins! See what an absurdity comes from your manner of action!

By “seeking” the Apostle shows that all who heard his word were truly earnest people seeking salvation. They sought it in the Law and saw that it did not satisfy the requirements of conscience and a God-loving heart. Therefore, they rightly abandoned it and clung to the Lord, the true Savior, the Physician of souls, in whom all spiritual treasures are given to us. This they sought in Christ and, of course, found it, for everyone who seeks this in Him finds it. Why then turn back again to the weak elements? This behavior cannot be understood.

They sought to be justified, “but we found ourselves to be sinners.” When they caught us engaged in the kind of deeds that testified that we believe to be saved solely in the Lord Jesus Christ, without works of the Law, we came to our senses, became ashamed both before others and before our own conscience, and hastened to correct our mistake. We had received freedom, but then turned back from it as if burned, as if having committed a grievous sin!

“So is Christ a servant to sin?” And it turned out, according to you, that to cling to Christ and to place all hope of salvation solely upon Him, abandoning the works of the Law, means the same as falling into sin. So Christ became for you a servant to sin, plunging into sin everyone who clings to Him in faith. How can this be—when He came for the sake of our salvation and we turned to Him, hoping for this salvation and actually receiving it through our very deeds? Such is the meaning of your action. What reasoning could those who understood the force of the Apostle’s words have drawn from this—to completely abandon the Law and never return to it again!

“Holy Chrysostom writes: “If, he says, faith in Christ cannot justify, but the Law is necessary again; then, having abandoned the Law for Christ and not obtaining justification through its abandonment, but undergoing condemnation, we must acknowledge as the source of our condemnation the One to whom we went, abandoning the Law. Behold, to what unavoidable absurdity he has brought his argument. For if we ought not to abandon the Law, and yet we have abandoned it for Christ, then we will be judged for this. But why, Paul, do you speak and advise this to Peter, who knew all this perfectly? Was it not God who revealed to him that a man who is uncircumcised ought not to be condemned for not being circumcised?… He does not speak this for the correction of Peter, but, having directed his speech to Peter because he found this necessary, he speaks meanwhile to his disciples. You have clothed yourself in Christ, have become a member of the Lord, have been numbered among the heavenly city—how then do you still grovel around the Law? How can you attain the Kingdom? Listen to Paul’s words, that by observing the Law the Gospel is overthrown, and, if you wish, I will show you how; and you be afraid and try to avoid the threatening abyss. Why do you observe the Law? Surely, because you fear the Law and are afraid to abandon those writings? But you would not fear to abandon the Law if you had not despised faith, as though it were weak and unable of itself to save you. If the fulfillment of the Law is necessary, then either you must reject Christ or, in following Christ, become a transgressor of the Law. For if the Law must be fulfilled, then those not fulfilling it are transgressors of the Law, and Christ will be the author of this transgression of the Law; for He Himself freed men from the obligation of this Law and gave others the commandment to free them from this obligation. Behold, where the Judaizers have arrived! They make Christ, the author of our justification, the author of sin, as Paul himself says: “So is Christ a servant to sin?” Having brought them to such absurdity, he no longer needed to bring other proofs against them, but one denial was sufficient”; therefore he said simply: ‘May it never be!’ For against what is utterly obvious absurdity, there is no need to seek proofs; a simple denial suffices.”

This “may it never be,” according to the opinion of blessed Augustine, was uttered by holy Paul not from his own lips alone, but from the lips of all who heard him, not excluding the zealots of the Law who had come. For that Christ should be a servant to sin, even they could not say, because not only did they themselves believe in Christ, but did not even want the Gospel to be preached to anyone except the circumcised.

Gal. 2:18. For if I rebuild what I have torn down, I make myself a transgressor.

He explains how they turned out to be sinners when, having abandoned the Law, they returned to it again—by an example from everyday life. Here no one would tear down a building arbitrarily, but only if convinced that it is not needed. But if he himself, having torn down the building, then begins to rebuild it in the same form, he thereby convicts himself that he acted badly in tearing it down, proves himself a transgressor against prudence. So also with us, as it were says holy Paul. Having abandoned the Law, we tore it down; returning to it again, we rebuild it. But if we return to it again because we believe it is necessary, then by this we convict ourselves before everyone that we acted badly in abandoning the Law, sinned in this before God. If, on the other hand, we abandoned the Law because we were convinced that it had become obsolete and lost its force, and clung to Christ because we were convinced that He alone is the true Savior, then, returning now again to the abandoned Law, we act against our own conscience and knowingly violate the clearly understood will of God to seek salvation only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Consequently, we have shown ourselves to be sinners both before God and before our own conscience.

“Do you see the wisdom of Paul,” says holy Chrysostom. “The Jews wanted to show that one who does not observe the Law is a transgressor; but he says the opposite—that one who observes the Law is a transgressor, and a transgressor not only against faith but against the Law itself. For by the words: ‘I rebuild what I have torn down,’ he means the Law. And his words have this meaning: the Law has come to an end; and we ourselves confirmed this by the fact that, abandoning it, we sought salvation by faith. Striving after this to restore the Law, we thereby become transgressors of it, that is, when we stubbornly wish to observe what has been annulled by God Himself.”

This reproach is very strong; therefore holy Paul turns it upon himself, as if he himself had acted thus, while at the same time softening the impression which could not have been pleasant. Or, speaking in the first person, he makes the speech general, as if to say: whether I or another or anyone at all who acts thus does wrong—to turn the speech away from his listeners for the sake of softening the reproach.

bb) Then the Apostle shows how upon the Lord alone one must place hope of salvation (Gal. 2:19-21)

Gal. 2:19. For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live for God; I have been crucified with Christ.

In these last three verses the Apostle shows with what decisiveness one must abandon the Law and cling to the sole Lord, laying as a foundation the fact that in this clinging to the Lord, as it were in the union of one’s life with His life, is true life, salvation, and righteousness. He speaks of this in his own person, as if to say: this is how everyone should act, as I do—die to the Law and live only in Christ and by Christ. He could speak thus of himself and set himself as an example not for boasting, but for explanation of the matter. For it was known to all how, as soon as he learned that there is truth in Christ, he cut off all communion with the Law. As much as he had previously been devoted to it and trusted in it, so much, having believed in the Lord, he became distant from it and regarded it as nothing.

“He expresses such his relation to the Law with the words: ‘I died to the Law,’ ceased to exist for it, and it for me. As the dead become free from all obligations to the living, so with my death to the Law all my obligations to it ceased. ‘To the Law,’ he says, ‘I died,’ so as no longer to be under the Law” (blessed Augustine). For “whoever is freed from the Law dies to the Law” (Ambrosiaster).

“He presents himself as dead to the Law through the Law itself: ‘through the Law I died to the Law.’ The Law itself put me to death for itself, itself pushed me away from itself, itself drew me away and led me to Christ. This can be understood in two ways. Either so: the Law itself, because it did not satisfy my search for righteousness, forced me to abandon it and turn to another true source of righteousness; or so: the Law itself pointed me to Christ—the end and goal of the Law; it itself speaks of the coming of Christ the Savior and of the necessity of listening to Him in order to be saved. Following this instruction of the Law, I turned to Christ and abandoned the Law. Both thoughts converge in the one that the Law was a guardian toward Christ. Ancient interpreters dwell on this more. Thus blessed Augustine: ‘by the Law,’ he says, ‘I died to the Law;’ inasmuch as I was a Jew and the Law had me as a guardian toward Christ, as he explains later (Gal. 3:24). The guardian itself becomes unnecessary after he has served his purpose: as also the breasts nourish an infant, so that afterwards he will not need the breasts.” So holy Chrysostom: “He shows by this that through this very Law he died to the Law, that is, the Law itself convinced me not to follow the Law. And if after this I follow it, then by this very act I violate it. How and in what way? Moses, prophesying about Christ, says: ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers like me: you shall listen to him’ (Deut. 18:15). It is evident from this that those not obeying Christ transgress the Law.” So Theodoret: “Convinced by the Law itself, says the Apostle, I have made myself dead to the Law; because the Law pointed me to Christ; convinced by the Law, I came to Christ, and I am dead to the Law; because I am no longer governed by it in life, but follow the ordinances of Christ.”

But besides this primary understanding, they find in the Apostle’s words the nuances of other thoughts. Thus they say that by the Law through which holy Paul died to the Law, one can understand the Gospel law, as if to say: a new law came from God, by obeying which I abandoned the old law; or so: I was bound to the old law as a wife to a husband, and could not leave it; but a new law came and put to death that old law, and having become, through its death, free from it, I was united to the new law, which permits me even the very Law itself. So holy Chrysostom: “It is possible that he speaks here of the law of grace, because he also ordinarily calls grace the law, when, for example, he says: ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free’ (Rom. 8:2).” So blessed Jerome: “whoever dies to the Law once lived it, observing Sabbaths, new moons, feast days, sacrifices. But when Christ came and the old law died through the Gospel law, then the soul, which, as it is written, ‘while a man lives she is bound to him by law, but if the man dies, she is free to be united to another man,’ upon the death of the husband, that is, the old Law, becomes free to be united (to another husband) to the spiritual law (of faith in Christ), that she may bear fruit for God (Rom. 7:3-4).”

Holy Chrysostom, moreover, finds it possible to see in the Apostle also this thought: the Law put me to death, and I became dead to it; but Christ enlivened me when dead, and I live to Him. “We can,” he says, “also understand the words differently: ‘through the Law I died to the Law.’ If the Law commands to fulfill all that is written in it and punishes for non-fulfillment (with death), then we all died by it, because no one fulfilled it. But as it is not the property of what is soulless and dead to obey the commandments of the Law, so to me, dead to the Law, because I died by the power of its word, the Law should no longer demand obedience from the dead, whom it itself put to death—and not only bodily death, but also death of the soul, through which it brought about even bodily death. Since therefore he said: I am dead, lest they say to him: how do you then live?—he gave also the reason for his life and showed that the Law killed him when he was alive, and Christ, having received him when dead, enlivened him through His death: wherein he shows a twofold miracle—both that Christ enlivened him ‘dead,’ and that he enlivened ‘through death.’”