O Senseless Galatians! The Spirit Received by Faith, Not by Law (Galatians 3:1–14)

In the first part, the holy Paul has justified himself against certain reproaches and reestablished his Apostolic dignity. Having thus disposed the Galatians to hear his word again with obedience, he begins to instruct them what a grave error they have made by turning to the Law. “Earlier he demonstrates only that he became an Apostle not from men nor through men, and that he had no need of instruction from the Apostles; but here, after presenting himself as a trustworthy teacher, he now speaks with authority, comparing the Law and faith between themselves” (holy Chrysostom). The subject being explained here by the Apostle is the needlessness of the Law for the Galatians as Gentiles. And although the discourse throughout was addressed to the Jews, it was of such a nature that throughout its course it gave the Galatians the most instructive lessons. The general impression derived from it was this: if the Jews must abandon the Law, which was given to them, why should we bind ourselves to it? The holy Paul now takes up this very thought, proves it, defends it from objections, and applies it to the Galatians with persuasion.

In the course of the holy Paul’s thoughts, the order is as follows.

First:

A) he proves that for the Galatians, as Gentiles, the Law is not necessary (Gal. 3:1–14);

1) his first proof is drawn from the Galatians’ reception of the Holy Spirit without the Law’s participation in this (Gal. 3:1–5);

2) the second is drawn from a reference to God’s divine governance over mankind, according to which it was appointed from the beginning that Gentiles should enter God’s possession through faith in Abraham, just as it was promised to Abraham (Gal. 3:6–14).

Then:

B) he refutes objections (Gal. 3:15–29). The thought concerning the significance of Abraham’s faith could be shaken by doubts and could undermine the force of the proof;

1) let the promise be given to Abraham’s faith, but afterward the Law came and changed the conditions. Before the Law, faith was in force; under the Law, the Law became the condition for obtaining the promise. No, says the Apostle, the Law did not nullify the power of the promise through faith (Gal. 3:15–18);

2) but if this is so, why then the Law? It is the preparation leading to Christ. And when Christ the Lord came, it was to cease. Now both we (the Jews) and you are one (Gal. 3:19–29).

Finally:

C) he persuades the Galatians to return to the truth, inclining them to obedience to it by various representations, such as are ordinarily employed for this purpose (Gal. 4:1–5, 12).

The chief purpose of the holy Apostle is not to show that righteousness is not from the Law, but that the Law is not necessary for the Gentiles, that the way to Christ the Lord lies open to them apart from the Law. All the course of his discourse is directed to this. The Law is only for the Jews, and then only for a time. When that time ended, it became unnecessary for them as well, and for them too the way to the Lord is the way of faith alone. In this both they and the Gentiles are equal.

A) Proofs of the needlessness of the Jewish Law for the Galatians as Gentiles (Gal. 3:1–14)

1) The first—from their reception of the Holy Spirit apart from the Law (Gal. 3:1–5)

The distinctive excellence of Christianity, which sets it above all other faiths and displays it exclusively as the true faith, is the bestowal of the grace of regeneration and other gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is not merely the height of the knowledge of God and the purity of its moral law that distinguish it; but the fact that through faith in the Lord via the mysteries, grace of the Holy Spirit is given in it, making a person a new creation—something which no faith except the truly Christian can give, nor is able to give.

Christian revelation is now in almost all languages. Any lover of learning can read and acquire the concepts contained in it; but he will not be a Christian as long as he has not received the grace of the Holy Spirit through the appointed, divinely-established way. It is possible to have an entire society of such knowers of the Gospel and even to take upon themselves the name Evangelicals, yet be destitute of grace and, consequently, be Christians in name only.

And here is the subject which the holy Paul chiefly elucidates throughout all his Epistles. It is incorrectly said that the chief point in Apostle Paul is the contrast of faith to works. No, his chief point is the preaching about the grace of the Holy Spirit, without which there is no salvation; everything else is the means to this.

And in the Epistle to the Galatians he returns to this subject more than once. He places it at the head of the truths by which he wishes to instruct the Galatians. He does not prove that without the Holy Spirit everything is nothing. This is considered proven and universally recognized. Rather, he asks: the grace of the Holy Spirit—how did you receive it? By the Law? No. So what do you need the Law for? A short speech, yet one that utterly destroys all Judaism.

Gal. 3:1. O senseless Galatians! Who has bewitched you not to obey the truth? Jesus Christ was depicted before your eyes, crucified in you.

The exclamation expresses both sorrow and the indignation of love, and amazement. It could have burst forth of itself after the preceding reasoning about the power of faith in Christ Jesus the Lord and about what great perfection and blessedness is granted to those who live in Christ and have Christ dwelling in them. Turning his thought from himself to the Galatians, the Apostle says with amazement and with compassion: O senseless ones! After all, you had all this too—how did you allow yourselves to be deceived? “Note,” says holy Chrysostom, “that he did not use such severity at the beginning (of the Epistle), but after refutations and proofs, so that they might receive this rebuke not as from him, but as the necessary consequence of the preceding reasonings. For he first proved that they reject faith and consider the death of Christ superfluous; only then does he make this rebuke, and yet still a mild and gentle one; for they were worthy of even harsher rebukes.”

Blessed Jerome refers this unreasonableness to the natural character of the Galatians. “Cretans,” he says, “are liars; Dalmatians are cruel-hearted; Phrygians are cowardly; Greeks are vain and frivolous; but Galatians are thoughtless. If anything at all seems probable, they, without thinking it through properly, rush at it.” Present experience bears out this judgment. With what enthusiasm did they receive the preaching about Christ the Savior! And suddenly they turned their backs to Him.

But in the holy Apostle one cannot see the indignation of contempt and aversion, but the indignation of love and zeal for their salvation—the weeping of a father’s compassion for them, the voice of intense desire to bring them quickly to self-correction. So do parents act when they wish to correct their children.

This paternal tenderness is heard in the question: “Who has bewitched you?” He does not say directly: why did you do this? But he appeals to other persons who have wickedly dealt with them. By this he softens the paternal rebuke, attributing their deviation from the truth not so much to their own will as to the seductive deception of false teachers. This is the word of a father full of love, who makes a reproach and yet inserts into the very reproach words that excuse in some way the guilty one, so as not to wound but to heal and to inspire him to return to the truth, indicating in the deviation from it the work of enmity from malicious people. This is why he used such a word: who bewitched you? To bewitch means to make others see things not as they are, to see what does not exist, and not to see what everyone sees.

The Greek word: ἐβάσκανε, from βάσκαινω, means: to look at something with an envious, ill-wishing eye, with a wish to harm, and further, to harm with the eye, or, as is commonly said, to cast an evil eye. The Apostle seems to wish to express: your change is so incomprehensible that I am ready to attribute it to some sort of sorcery. Of course, such a thought was not in the mind of the Apostle. He wished only to soften the rebuke, indicating that their apostasy depends more on the plots and cunning of those who turned them aside than on themselves. Those who envied your good success in Christianity laid such snares for you that you were led astray and are losing what you had acquired in such abundance.

Blessed Jerome dwells somewhat on the meaning just stated. “He bewitched,” he says, “enchanted, cast an evil eye. However, one must interpret these words in a manner worthy of the Apostle. He did not speak thus because he recognized sorcery as something real, but used a common expression. It is said that the eye of an envious person harms the one he envies, especially children. Whether this is so or not, God knows. Perhaps demons serve this sin. But what is clear to us is that the Apostle took the word from folk speech to show that just as, by common saying, the evil eye harms tender children: so the Galatians, newly reborn through faith in Christ and still fed on milk, not solid food, as if bewitched by someone, suffered harm.”

But the Eastern Fathers understand here direct envy. Holy Chrysostom says: “Having said: ἐβάσκανε—envied—the Apostle joins rebuke with praise. By this he shows that their first deeds and actions were worthy of envy and that what happened to them came about through the cunning of the devil, greatly vexed at their prosperity. When you hear here the word—‘the envious eye’—as also in the Gospel: ‘the evil eye’ (Mt. 20:15), which means the same thing, do not suppose that a mere glance of the eyes can harm those at whom we look. But just as in the Gospel Christ the Lord called envy by this name, so here the Apostle means those who envied; the work of envy is to harm. And he says this not because envy in itself has the power to harm, but because those who turned them aside did this out of envy.”

In the same sense blessed Theodoret writes: “he joins rebuke with praise. For envy strikes the rich, not the poor; the prosperous, not the wretched. This is why the Apostle’s word shows their former zeal for piety; and shows also the fatherly love in the Apostle; because he grieves for them as for those who have lost the wealth they had gathered. What envious and malicious demon, says the Apostle, has stolen your wondrous wealth?”

“Not to obey the truth.” They already obeyed it, but did not stand firm. The Greek word πείθεσθαι means both to be persuaded and to hold firmly to one’s conviction. The Apostle expresses his amazement at how it came to pass that they did not hold firm in the conviction once received, did not remain obedient to the truth of the Gospel entrusted to them, but, abandoning it, yielded to false assurances of teachers ignorant of the truth, when the work of salvation through the cross had been so clearly set before them and they had received it so vividly.

“Jesus Christ was depicted before your eyes, crucified in you.” “Depicted through the preaching. The preaching portrayed the cross to you; but you saw it through the eyes of faith as present” (Ecumenius). He expresses a twofold action—both how powerful the preaching was and how vividly they apprehended its power. Faith raised them to the contemplation by the mind of the Lord crucified and the work of salvation accomplished by Him. The word “in you” means either: among you, as if the Lord were crucified in your midst and each of you saw Him crucified before your eyes; or “in you”—in your hearts, in your feeling, in that thought that they entered into sympathy with the Lord’s sufferings and suffered with Him in their hearts. The force of the speech lies in this: consequently, you understood the power of the Lord’s death, you knew that this is the propitiation sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and consequently for your sins as well. Then the legal sacrifices did not come to mind. How then did it come to pass that you now wish to rely on them?

The cross-death of the Lord is the center of the divine economy of our salvation and the support of all the hopes of the saved. Thence, deviation from faith, or life by faith, is always the consequence of inattention to the Lord’s cross-death and improper regard for it. But the Galatians had a sin directly against this death; for in accepting the Law, they diminished the value of it. Thence comes a very important lesson for everyone: not in faith alone, but also in thought, do not turn away from the cross: contemplate always the Lord crucified and thereby nourish your faith and zeal for living by faith.

Holy Chrysostom expresses the meaning of these words thus: “Jesus Christ was depicted before your eyes…” “But He was not crucified in the land of Galatia, but in Jerusalem. Why then does he say: ‘in you’? By this he points to the power of faith, which can even see what is distant. Therefore he did not say merely: crucified, but: ‘was depicted as crucified,’ showing by this that they with the eyes of faith saw the events better than some of those who saw them with bodily eyes. For many of those who saw them with their own eyes gained no benefit; but these, though they did not see them with their own eyes, saw them far more clearly by the power of faith. Saying this, he both rebukes them and praises them. He praises them because they received everything told about Christ with complete confidence in its truth; and he rebukes them because they abandoned Him whom they saw stripped for their sake, bound to a pillar, fastened to the cross, spat upon, mocked, given vinegar, reviled by the robber, pierced (for he embraced all this in the words: ‘was depicted as crucified in you’), and, abandoning Him, turned to the Law, showing no shame at all for His sufferings. But do you note how he, leaving behind heaven, earth, sea, and all else, preached the power of Christ, bearing everywhere the one cross of Christ; for this is the height of the Lord’s providence toward us.”

If one takes the word “depicted” abstractly from the Galatians, then for us Christians, Christ is depicted in the Old Testament. Blessed Jerome expressed this thought. “For us as well,” he says, “Christ is depicted, because the entire choir of Prophets foretells His sufferings, His mockings, and His insults, so that of His cross we learn not from the Gospel alone, which tells of His crucifixion, but also from that which was written in Divine Scripture before He was pleased to descend to earth and take upon Himself humanity, so as to be crucified in it.”

Gal. 3:2. This one thing I wish to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit from works of the Law, or from the hearing of faith?

The Apostle directly proceeds to the matter and resolves the dispute with a single question. He sets forth a position beyond dispute: that which is the reason the Holy Spirit was given must be exclusively upheld. If He was given for the works of the Law, then the works of the Law must be upheld; if for faith, then faith. But underlying this position lies another principle—that the chief good for us is the reception of the Holy Spirit. Wherever the Holy Spirit is, there we must also stand.

He offers no solution to the question; for it resolves itself by its very nature. It is a self-answering question. All knew, saw, and felt that they had received the Holy Spirit; and all also knew that they had received Him apart from the Law through the medium of faith alone; and all were likewise convinced that the chief thing in the work of salvation is the grace of the Holy Spirit. The question brought all this to mind and elicited the answer which the Apostle desired.

“This one thing I want to know”. “I am not beginning my argument from afar and I am not setting out lengthy proofs: perhaps you would not be willing to follow all of it. I am not presenting to you the entire magnitude of the economy of our salvation: perhaps you would not wish to plunge into contemplation of this. I am gathering everything into one brief and simple question” (blessed Theophylact).

“There are many questions by which I could persuade you to prefer the Gospel to the Law; but since you are weak in hearing, I speak with you in plain speech and ask about that which is evident to all” (blessed Jerome).

“Did you receive the Spirit from works of the Law?” By works of the Law are understood here the Old Testament ecclesiastical ordinances of worship and reverence. “It is necessary to observe that the Apostle did not simply say: ‘from works’, but with the addition: ‘from works of the Law’. For we know that Cornelius the centurion received the Spirit not without works (he means prayer and almsgiving, which ascended before God), but not from works of the Law, which he did not know” (blessed Jerome).

“It is necessary to know,” writes blessed Augustine, “that works of the Law are of two kinds: sacred actions and mysteries, and moral deeds. Among the sacred actions are these: circumcision, the sabbath, new moons, sacrifices, and all such countless ecclesiastical ordinances. Among the moral deeds: do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not bear false witness (Ex 20:13–16). Here the Apostle is speaking about the sacred actions.”

By Spirit is understood not merely inner rebirth and sanctification, but especially the visible gifts of the Holy Spirit. For the Apostle wished to point to something evident and tangible. Rebirth and moral sanctification, though they could not but be consciously felt, are not so evident and tangible. Holy Chrysostom says: “He had previously instructed them by a discourse addressed to Peter; now he turns his speech to them and draws all that serves to persuade them from what happened to them; and not only from those gifts which they had in common with others, but from those that were specially given to them, he persuades and assures them. You, he says, received the Holy Spirit, performed many miracles, accomplished signs, raised the dead, cleansed the lepers, prophesied and spoke in different tongues. Did the Law give you such power?”—“In that time those who were deemed worthy of spiritual grace both spoke in different tongues, prophesied, and worked miracles. Therefore the Apostle said what follows: Did the Law give you the power of the Divine Spirit, or faith in the Lord alone?” (blessed Theodoret).

“‘Or from hearing of faith?’ Hearing of faith is both the hearing of Gospel preaching and obedience to it, the submission of the mind to faith, the receiving of the Gospel. You did nothing lawful, he says; meanwhile, as soon as you heard the word about faith and submitted to it, received it in your heart and cleaved to the Lord, at once you received grace in baptism and the laying on of hands. It was not the mere hearing of the Gospel that drew such divine mercy to them, but the fact that, having heard, they submitted to it—that, having believed that salvation is in Christ, they cleaved to Him and were baptized. I came to you, he says, set before you the word, you believed, were baptized, and behold the grace of the Spirit. You did no works of the Law, neither circumcision, nor sacrifices, nor washings, nor observed the sabbath. Faith alone gave you this. Judge for yourselves, then, whether it is not the height of folly to abandon faith, which bestowed such great goods upon you, and turn to the Law, which gave you nothing of the kind?” (holy Chrysostom).

Gal 3:3. Are you so senseless? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Having posed the question, the Apostle does not give it its answer. The answer immediately resounded of itself in the mind: no, we did not receive the Spirit from works of the Law, but by faith. The Apostle takes this answer and draws a conclusion from it: and so you, having begun by the Spirit, are now being perfected by the flesh. What could be more senseless than this? How have you descended into such senselessness?

“He called grace Spirit, and the life under the Law flesh; because in the Law everything pertained chiefly to the body: circumcision belonged to the body, keeping the sabbath, the sprinkling of water, and all things of this sort” (blessed Theodoret). “Again he rebukes them opportunely. You ought, he says, to increase your progress in faith with the passage of time; but you have not only added nothing, but have gone backward. Others, beginning with the small and advancing little by little, eventually attain to the great; but you, having begun with the great, have gone to the opposite. Even if you had begun with the carnal, you ought nevertheless to have risen to the spiritual; but you, even having begun with the spiritual, have returned to the carnal. To perform signs is a spiritual work, but to be circumcised is carnal. Yet you have gone from signs to circumcision; having touched the truth, you have turned to images, you seek a lamp in the light of the sun, you return to milk after solid food. And he did not say: you continue in the flesh, but: ‘you are being perfected by the flesh’ (επιτελεισθε—one can render: you are being finished, you are being slain, you are being brought to completion), showing that the false teachers, having caught you, have killed you like voiceless animals, and you yourselves have voluntarily agreed to endure whatever they wished; just as if some general and at the same time courageous warrior, who had already won many trophies and victories, falling into the hands of rebels, allowed them without any resistance to brand his body” (holy Chrysostom).

“You are being perfected by the flesh”—you are completing. Having received the Spirit, you inwardly received a spiritual disposition; you began a morally-religious building within yourselves by the Spirit and raised it to some extent. However much you raised it, it was all spiritual. Now on top of it you are beginning to build up the carnal. This upper part does not correspond to the lower, and the whole building becomes worthless. No wise master does things this way.

Their error is not in that they were doing something carnal in the matter of salvation and pleasing God. One cannot do without this. But in that they considered this carnal element a condition of salvation and thereby ruined the whole matter. By this characteristic, the reproach can also be directed at all of us. We all begin by the Spirit, receiving rebirth in the font of baptism. In the Church of God it is appointed to kindle this spirit of grace by all the ecclesiastical ordinances, especially by the work of fasting with proper confession and communion of the Holy Mysteries. But all of this has both an inner and an outer side, and the latter is the expression of the former; and it has value inasmuch as it is penetrated by it. Suppose that someone has stopped at only this outer side; then of him one can say: having begun by the Spirit, you are being perfected by the flesh.

Flesh here does not have the meaning of sin; but outside the context this passage can apply to those who after a good life indulged in a bad one; to those who, having received spiritual life in baptism, will never remember what it requires throughout their whole lives, but live according to the requirements of the flesh and fleshly thoughts; and also to those who, coming to themselves and turning in repentance to the Lord, having truly united with Him in holy communion and having labored somewhat in walking the path of the commandments, have again grown weak and, having grown cold toward the Lord, have turned back to deeds of self-pleasing and man-pleasing. And all such have begun by the Spirit and are being perfected by the flesh.

But these are only applications of the passage; the direct meaning of it is that the Galatians, having begun by faith, which gave them the grace of the Holy Spirit, have now turned to carnal justifications, which give only external purity without internal sanctification.

Gal 3:4. Did you suffer so much in vain? If indeed it was in vain.

Question after question the holy Paul puts forward; and although he leaves them without an answer, these answers themselves resounded in the mind of those reading and pressed upon them more and more, bringing them to the awareness of how unreasonably they had acted in turning to the Law. Earlier he had spoken of the gifts of grace, of what faith wrought in them by the Spirit; now he fixes attention on their external situation as a result of faith. Then all suffered for faith; the Galatians probably suffered as well, though this is not stated clearly in the Epistle. The Apostle says to them: look, you suffered for faith; sufferings for faith bind us more closely to Christ, who suffered for us, and multiply the streams of grace and thereby further elevate internal spiritual perfection in Christianity. In so elevating, they raise in the opinion of all believers, they draw God’s favor, and prepare crowns in eternity. What goods sufferings bring! But, turning to the Law, you lose all of this: your sufferings no longer have any value, you have suffered in vain. How then do you allow all of this to be lost for nothing? Do you not regret that you are making your sufferings meaningless? “This ought to move them even more powerfully than what he said before. For the remembrance of signs could not affect them so much as the indication of the labors and sufferings they endured for Christ; for all, he says, that you have endured for Christ, they wish to take from you and thereby deprive you of your crown that belongs to you” (holy Chrysostom).

“If indeed it was in vain”, ειγε και εικη—if, of course, in vain (let them be lost). All the ancient Fathers hold that with these words the holy Apostle expresses the hope that they will not allow their sufferings to be lost in vain, namely by abandoning the Law and again receiving entirely the one, unmixed faith.—In our way of speaking: but hopefully not in vain,—I hope it will not be in vain. Holy Chrysostom says: “but lest he strike their soul too hard and weaken their strength entirely, not waiting for their answer, he at once added: ‘if indeed it was in vain’. For if you come to your senses, he says, and make amends, then it will not be in vain and meaningless. What shall those now say who reject repentance? Look, the Galatians both received the Holy Spirit, both performed signs, both were confessors, and endured for Christ countless sorrows,—and after such gifts fell away from grace. Yet the Apostle says that, if you wish, you can restore everything.”—Here is the judgment of blessed Jerome: “you suffered in vain, he says, for faith if you fall away from the grace of Christ, for whose sake you suffered. But at the same time there is set forth here also the thought that if someone suffers for faith in Christ, and then falls into sin, then as he is reckoned to have suffered in vain who falls into sin, so he will lose nothing of this if he again returns to the former faith and to the former zeal to live by faith”.

But some of our interpreters understand these words thus: did you suffer only in vain? If only in vain! “Is it not with harm as well? In vain means neither to gain something nor to lose: but he who began by the Spirit and on that account was subjected to great trials, and then changed course, not only bore what he endured in vain, but suffered loss, being deprived of what was laid up for him as a reward for sorrows and privations for Christ’s sake” (Ecumenius). Blessed Augustine thus: “what is called done in vain, does neither harm nor benefit. But one must, he says, look to see whether what was done would lead to destruction. Not to fall is not the same as to fall after rising. Although they have not yet fallen, they have already inclined toward falling. For the Holy Spirit still worked in them, as the following verse shows.”—And Jerome, after his judgment already cited, adds: “or thus: it is no small harm to you if, inclining toward circumcision, you lose only your former labor of faith; but to this harm there may be added also punishment for apostasy; so that you both suffered before in vain, and in the future age will be tormented for that (if, of course, you do not amend)”.

Such an understanding of the last words offers a reason to look differently also at the first words and to refer “suffered” not to sufferings but to their having taken upon themselves the yoke of the Law. “Did you suffer so much”—such bonds have you laid upon yourselves, which even the Jews themselves could not bear: circumcisions, sabbaths, new moons, washings, sacrifices and so forth.—And all of this have you borne or begun to bear, you think, in vain? If only in vain! but with harm; for you are falling away from grace. Now the Greeks say, for example, τι επαθες?—in the sense of: what is the matter with you? what has happened to you, what has befallen you? Applying this to the present passage, we get: has this happened to you in vain? Or will this pass for you in vain? Such an understanding appears in blessed Jerome. “Let us imagine,” he says, “the unfortunate Jews, with what efforts they live among other nations, trying to observe their ordinances: do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,—and you will see how truly it is said: ‘did you suffer so much’.—The thought is visible that the Galatians, bending under the yoke of the Law, are laying upon themselves a burden of suffering. Why he also adds further: “consider the former freedom of grace and the present yoke of observing the Law, and you will see how much vain labor you are taking up.”

It seems that such a thought is more natural, especially in view of the fact that throughout the entire Epistle there is no direct indication of the sufferings of the Galatians for faith. But the authority of the great multitude of Fathers should take precedence.

Gal 3:5. He who gives you the Spirit and works miracles among you, does he do it from works of the Law, or from hearing of faith?

This verse contains the same thought as the second: only there the Apostle fixed attention on them themselves, who had received the Spirit, while here he raises their mind to the one who gives the Spirit and works miracles in them, God. “God, who gives you the Spirit, so that you both prophesy and speak in tongues; God, who works miracles in you,—who shows signs and wonders, does he do this for the sake of works of the Law,—for that reason, that is, that you have pleased him greatly by them,—or for the sake of faith in Christ?” (blessed Theophylact). Altogether, however, this same thought receives here a particular tone, threatening and terrifying: for, while in the first form of expression it only moved the Galatians to pity themselves as doing themselves harm, here it strikes fear by the danger of fighting against God. Such a question borders on the following: so then? Do you wish to cast God out of yourselves, God who now works in you for the sake of faith and will depart if you stubbornly remain in your attachment to the Law?

The words: “gives” and “works” show that they have not yet been deprived of God’s favor, as having gone astray in ignorance. But after such an authoritative person as the Apostle has pointed out their error, the sin of ignorance would be turned into stubborn resistance to the truth, as a consequence of which should follow God’s anger with the deprivation of all gifts. This the Apostle wished to impress upon them by the repetition of this question. He as it were says to them: after all that has been said, how will you judge: for the sake of works of the Law or for the sake of faith has God drawn so near to you? Certainly for the sake of faith. So look, be careful; for if for the sake of faith God has drawn near to you, then for your turning to the Law He will withdraw.

Thus this verse is the conclusion of the preceding speech; but not so much the words as the series of thoughts which those words ought to have stirred up. The Apostle sets his propositions in questions like milestone markers on a great road, and by means of them brings one to careful reflection; indeed, our state in grace is clear, which we have been given without any participation of the Law in it: how not to lose it by mixing works of the Law with faith? Or: we are about to lose it. Let us hasten quickly to cleanse ourselves from this admixture. According to holy Chrysostom, the Apostle wished by this to lead them to the thought that “if the Law is joined to it, faith will bring no benefit: for faith is powerful only when nothing is added to it from the Law”.

One cannot but notice how all the attention of the Apostle stands upon the grace of the Holy Spirit. The distinction of Christians is the bestowal of grace. Lose grace,—and you are nothing. And nothing in the world can give you grace except faith in the Lord through the holy mysteries, with your firm resolve to be always faithful to the faith in word, and deed, and thought.

2) The second proof of the unnecessariness of the Law for the Galatians as Gentiles: so from the beginning, in the promise to Abraham, God appointed that Gentiles would enter into the inheritance of God by faith (Gal 3:6–14)

Gal 3:6. Just as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

The grammatical connection of this verse with the preceding one is as follows: the grace of the Holy Spirit was promised to the believers; God also promised that He would dwell in them and remain in them for the sake of faith. The Galatians believed and received grace and were deemed worthy of that God was working in them. This reality, obscured by false teachers, the Apostle restored in the consciousness of the Galatians through questions whose content can be characterized thus: for the sake of what—works or for the sake of faith—were you deemed worthy of such promises? The answer formed itself: no, for the sake of faith. The Apostle continues this thought: yes, for the sake of faith, without works of the Law, just as “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”. These words became a transition to the following discourse, in which he unfolds a new proof that for the Galatians as Gentiles there is no need whatever for the Law. Its content can be expressed thus: such is the will of God expressed in the promise to Abraham. Abraham pleased God by faith and for faith received the promise that all peoples would be blessed through him. This was before the command to be circumcised. Whoever now believes like Abraham, he spiritually enters into his descendants and for this single faith is deemed worthy of Abraham’s blessing.

Holy Chrysostom says here: “he brought also another proof, and indeed the most difficult and disputed one, setting forth Abraham as an example, and very opportunely and with great benefit, saying: ‘just as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’. I demonstrate, he says, the power of faith and the wonders you have worked; but, if you like, I shall try to convince you of this also by examples from ancient history. Since they had great reverence for this patriarch, he sets him forth as an example, proving that he too was justified by faith. If he, who lived before the dispensation of grace and was so adorned with good deeds, was justified by faith, how much more are you. What loss did he suffer from not being under the Law? None; and faith alone was sufficient for his justification.”

These words were spoken of Abraham after the promise to him of countless descendants, like the stars of heaven (Gen 15:5–6). In the time of his advanced age, Abraham believed that he would have an offspring and then descendants; he believed only because God had promised it, being mighty to accomplish it; he believed that He would accomplish it: “believing against hope in hope” (Rom 4:18). Here is expressed complete confidence in God and complete submission to His will, constituting the spirit of true piety. To believe in hope is a great labor of faith. Abraham had shown faith before, when at the voice from above he went out from his land; but there it was very probable that he would encounter a fertile land ahead; here there was nothing to lean upon except hope. And such is the spirit of faith in Christ the Lord as well. The object is different, but the labor of faith is the same. It is set before a man by God: a man who was crucified, called Christ, is God incarnate, who offered Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Believe, and you will receive the forgiveness of sins and the grace of the Holy Spirit, by whose help, having lived well, you will be deemed worthy of eternal blessedness with the Lord after death. And here too there is nothing to lean upon except the word of the true God, and here too the same hoping beyond hope. Therefore, he who believes enters into God’s favor and is truly claimed by Him as His own, becomes God’s, like Abraham, and is filled with God’s goods and gifts. The Galatians have already experienced this, and they should have found such a relationship to Abraham very understandable. But at the same time, they could not help being inspired with the resolve to cast off this Law, which Abraham, their father in the spirit, did not know.

“And it was reckoned to him as righteousness”. Δικαιοσυνη—righteousness, holiness. It was counted as worthy that Abraham at this exhibited righteous and holy feelings, displayed a disposition of spirit pleasing to God. So it should be, thus God wishes it, thus He is well pleased, and upon those who are such He places all His favor. Abraham did nothing special in this instance, but only believed the promise, seeing in himself no props for the possibility of its fulfillment, but solely relying fully upon the word of God. And for this alone God confirmed to him the promise spoken—“it was reckoned”—not something that was not there, but something that was counted as great, worthy of all favor and the most abundant recompense. The act of faith of Abraham was a deed of extremely high dignity.

Gal 3:7. Know then that it is those of faith who are the children of Abraham.

He said before that by faith they became like Abraham; now he suggests that this is what establishes your kinship with Abraham, this is what makes you his children. But he does not speak this to them directly, but sets it forth as a general principle, that those who believe are indeed the children of Abraham. You value being Abraham’s: know then that you already have this through faith alone, and there is no need for you to seek another way to enter into kinship with him. Holy Chrysostom says: “Since they were afraid lest they might lose kinship with Abraham (which they greatly valued) if they abandoned the Law, holy Paul dispels this fear, showing that faith especially and establishes kinship with him.”