Chapter 3

Theophylact of Ohrid, Exposition of the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians — Chapter Three

¹ Chapter Three. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth? Having shown through what went before that he was an apostle not from men, nor through men, and having established himself as worthy of trust, he now discourses with greater authority; and being about to compare faith with the Law, he first calls them foolish—not as one transgressing the law of Christ, but rather as keeping it strictly. For it is not the one who simply calls his brother a fool that is liable to judgment, but the one who does so without cause. And these men were most justly called foolish, who were insensible to such great good things and were making the death of Christ useless. But observe that, after his proofs, he rebukes them, and at once lets up. For he did not say, Who has deceived you? but, Who has bewitched you? Who has envied you? showing that what they were doing was worthy of envy. And he makes clear that those who were misleading them did these things not as guardians, nor as supplying what was lacking, but as mutilating even what was already present; for such is envy. Yet he said this not as though envy had any strength in itself, but as showing that those who taught these things had come to it through malice.

² Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed, crucified among you. And yet he was crucified in Jerusalem; how then does he say, Before your eyes, and, Among you? Because with the eyes of faith they saw the cross more exactly than those who were then present and looking on. For many of those, having seen it bodily, profited nothing; but these, though they did not see it with their eyes, through faith saw it more exactly. Christ, then, was “openly portrayed”—that is, he was painted before them through the preaching; and you, having believed the preaching, saw him as though present. And these things are both a praise of them and a reproach: a praise, in that they received these things with such full conviction; a reproach, in that the one whom they saw stripped, impaled, dying—him they forsook and ran to the Law. And observe how, setting all else aside, he brings the cross into their midst.

³ This only would I learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith? Since you do not follow lengthy arguments, nor are willing to behold the greatness of the dispensation, I will say something brief to you. Answer me this little thing: From where did you receive the Holy Spirit, and work such great power and signs? From the works that are in the Law, or from faith? It is plain that it was from faith; for it was not while you held fast to the Law that you had the Spirit and accomplished miracles. How then, having forsaken faith, do you cling again to the Law?

⁴ Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made complete in the flesh? Again he opportunely brought in the reproach. For when you ought, he says, to have made an advance as time went on, not only did you not advance, but you were even drawn backward. For to work miracles is spiritual, which you had in the beginning; but to be circumcised is fleshly, which now, at the end, you have chosen. And he did not say, You make complete, but, You are being made complete, showing that, having taken hold of them like irrational beasts, those men were cutting them down—those who were teaching circumcision.

⁵ Did you suffer so many things in vain? If indeed it be in vain. They had wrestled with many trials for Christ’s sake. So many things, then, he says, have you suffered to no purpose? For if you are circumcised, all those things are in vain, and the deceivers have robbed you of so many crowns. Then he gives them hopes of return, saying, If indeed it be in vain—that is, If you should be willing to come to your senses, it would not be so, nor will what you have toiled at have been in vain. Let those be ashamed, from this passage too, who do away with repentance. For behold, these men were trophy-bearers, and confessors, and martyrs; yet, when they had fallen away, Paul does not cast them off, but gladly receives them back.

⁶ He therefore who supplies to you the Spirit, and works powers among you—is it by works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith? God, he says, who supplies to you the Spirit, so that you prophesy and speak with tongues, and who works powers among you of signs and wonders—did he do these things on account of the works that come from the Law, as though served by you who fulfilled them, or on account of the faith that you showed toward Christ? It is plain that it was on account of this faith. How then, having forsaken this faith, by which you were being glorified, do you run to the Law that has been abolished?

⁷ Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. Most of all, he says, you ought to have recognized the power of faith from the signs that you accomplished; but look also to your forefather, of whom you make much account, and you will find that he too was justified by faith. And if he who lived before grace is justified by faith, much more ought those who have been counted worthy of grace to cling to faith.

⁸ Know therefore that those who are of faith, these are the sons of Abraham. Since they were afraid that, having forsaken the Law, they might fall away from kinship with the patriarch (for they prided themselves greatly on this), he shows the contrary: that faith rather makes those who have it sons of Abraham.

⁹ And the Scripture, foreseeing that God justifies the nations by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed. He demonstrates how those who are of faith, these are the sons of Abraham; and he brings forward the testimony from the Scripture, that In you shall the nations be blessed—that is, In imitating your faith. And he shows also that faith is older than the Law, seeing that before the Law it was this that justified Abraham; and that what is now coming to pass comes to pass according to the prophecy. For foreseeing, he says, the Scripture—that is, God himself who gave the Law foreordained that we should be justified not by the Law, but by faith. And he did not say, He revealed, but, He preached the gospel beforehand—that you may learn that Abraham too rejoiced in this manner of justification, and longed for it to be set forth.

¹⁰ So that those who are of faith are blessed together with the faithful Abraham. Since they were troubled, lest they should be under a curse as not abiding in the Law (for it was written: Cursed is he who does not abide in the things written in the Law), he shows rather the contrary: that those who forsake the Law and draw near to faith are blessed, even as the faithful Abraham too was blessed.

¹¹ For as many as are of works of the Law are under a curse. For it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not abide in all the things written in the book of the Law, to do them. Lest anyone object, saying, It was fitting that Abraham should be blessed and justified from faith, because there was not yet a Law; but show me that, after the Law was given, faith justifies and makes men blessed—the Apostle now shows not only that faith justifies and blesses, but also that the Law becomes a cause of sin and of cursing; for no one is able to do the things written in the Law, and he who does not do them is accursed. So that to bless belongs to faith, and you fear in vain lest you become accursed by departing from the Law. For rather, in making use of it, you are under a curse, as not being able to fulfill it.

¹² But that no one is justified in the Law before God is plain, for the just shall live by faith. And the Law is not of faith, but the man who has done these things shall live in them. Having shown that the Law makes men accursed, while faith blesses, he now shows that faith alone also justifies, and not the Law; and he brings forward Habakkuk saying that The just shall live by faith, and not by the Law. For the Law requires not faith alone, but works also. And well did he say, Before God. For before men those who hold fast to the Law perhaps seem just, such as the Pharisees, who justified themselves before men. Since, then, the Law, because it was hard to fulfill, neither justified and made men subject to a curse, grace came, showing the easy way, namely faith, through which, being justified, we are blessed. Behold, then, it has been demonstrated that not only before the Law did faith bless and justify, but even more so after the Law as well.

¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us. For it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree. Lest anyone contradict him, saying, It is true that the one who does not do the Law is accursed, and that faith justifies; but from where is it plain that that curse has been done away? For we fear lest, having once come under the yoke of the Law, we ourselves also be still under the curse—he shows, then, that the curse has been loosed through Christ. For having given the price, in that he himself became a curse, he redeemed us from the curse of the Law, which he himself indeed escaped, inasmuch as he fulfilled the Law; but we were liable to it, not being able to accomplish it. It is as if some man condemned to die were delivered from death by another, a guiltless man, who chose himself to die on behalf of that other. He received, then, the curse that comes from being hanged, and loosed the curse that lay upon us from our not fulfilling the Law, while he himself was not subject to it. For he both fulfilled the Law and committed no sin.

¹⁴ That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the nations in Christ Jesus. For this reason, he says, he became a curse, that upon the nations—that is, those who do not make use of the Law—the blessing of Abraham, that is, the blessing that is of faith, might come in Christ Jesus, that is, in the seed of Abraham; even as it is also written, that In your seed shall they be blessed—that is, in Christ, who came from you according to the flesh; that is to say, those who believe in him.

¹⁵ That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. For this reason, he says, the nations have been blessed, that they might also receive the Spirit through faith. For since it was not possible for those still under a curse to receive the Spirit, they are blessed, the curse having been loosed by Christ; and then, being justified through faith, they receive the promise of the Spirit. For the things that God promised to Abraham, Paul understands to be spiritual—the very things, that is, that have now been given to us, both the blessing and the rest.

¹⁶ Brethren, I speak after the manner of men. Having above called them foolish, he now calls them brethren: the former, to bring them up sharply; the latter, to comfort them. I am about, he says, to bring forward to you a human example.

¹⁷ Even a man’s covenant, once it has been confirmed, no one sets aside or adds further conditions to. Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He does not say, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, And to your seed, who is Christ. And this I say: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the Law, which came three hundred and thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect. This he wishes to show: that faith is a covenant older than the Law, and that it would not be just for the Law to be preferred to it. For which reason he also set down the example. For if a man, he says, makes a covenant, let no one presume, coming afterward, to overturn it or to add further conditions—that is, to add anything to it. Much more, then, in the case of God. For God too made a covenant with Abraham, that in his seed the nations should be blessed. And his seed is Christ. For he did not say, To seeds, lest you should suppose the Jews and Ishmaelites descended from him; but, To the seed, in the singular—which is, as has been said, Christ. How then can the Law annul this covenant, and agreement, and promise, so that the nations should be blessed not in Christ, but in the commandments of the Law? For this is nothing else than to make the promise of no effect—which is absurd.

¹⁸ For if the inheritance is of the Law, it is no longer of promise. But God granted it to Abraham by promise. If the Law, he says, bestows the blessings, and makes men heirs of life and of righteousness, then that promise made to

¹⁹ Abraham is void and has been cast out. But this could not stand to reason; for since the Law is of later birth, how shall it annul the earlier covenant? And do not be in haste for the whole example to fit the matter at hand. For this is why he himself said, I speak after the manner of men—that is, I bring forward a human example. So that if it cannot be made equal to things divine, it is nothing strange.

²⁰ What then? The Law was added for the sake of transgressions. Since he had exalted faith and shown it to be older, an objection arose: For what reason, then, was the Law given, if faith was older and it was this that gave the blessings? He says, then, that it was not given without purpose, but for the sake of transgressions, that it might be as a bridle to the Jews, restraining them from transgressing at least some of the commandments, if not all. And well does he say, It was added, that he might show the Law to have been given not as a leading thing, like the promises, but as a thing set alongside, on account of the many transgressions, that it might restrain at least a few.

²¹ Until the seed should come to whom it had been promised. But nevertheless the Law was not given without end, but until Christ should come, to whom it had been promised that the nations would be blessed in him. If, then, it was given until the coming of Christ, why do you drag it out further?

²² Being ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. The Law, he says, was given, being ministered through angels as intermediaries—either the priests, or angels properly so called. For indeed, at those trumpets, and the thunders, and the signals, angels were ministering. By the hand of a mediator—that is, of Christ. For he shows that Christ also gave the Law; so that he himself is Lord even to abolish it.

²³ Now a mediator is not of one; but God is one. So that Christ too is a mediator of two—of God, that is, and of men. For he mediated between both, making peace and loosing the war that men had against God. For from the time that he united human nature to himself, from then he made peace, having marvelously blended with the divine nature the flesh that was hostile through sin. So that, since he himself is mediator and reconciler, it is quite plain that he is the one who saves, and not the Law.

²⁴ Is the Law then against the promises of God? God forbid. If the promises blessed, while the Law brings in a curse, it is plain that, if we run after the Law as having authority, it loosens the promises of God that bestow the blessing. But God forbid. And hear what follows as well.

²⁵ For if a Law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would indeed have been of the Law. Then, he says, the Law would have been more powerful than faith, and would have blessed and justified man, if it had been able to give life and to save. But as it is, it rather puts to death, in so far as it is not able to free from sins. How then shall it prevail over faith, which is able to give life through baptism, and which blesses and justifies?

²⁶ But the Scripture shut up all things under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. The Law, he says, had not the strength to set men free from sins, but it worked together toward this—toward shutting men up under sin; that is, toward showing them to be sinners, and pressing them on so that they might desire forgiveness, and run to Christ, who is able to grant it. For since the Jews, not perceiving their sins, did not desire forgiveness either, he gives the Law to shut them up—which means, pressing them hard and choking them with reproofs, and showing them to be sinners, and pressing them on to seek the way by which it is possible to be forgiven; and this is the faith in Christ, through which we are blessed and justified.

²⁷ But before faith came, we were kept under the Law, shut up unto the faith that was about to be revealed. The Law, he says, furnished much security to those who were under it and kept by it, fencing them off from the greater part of their sins, and being like a kind of wall, and shutting men up and gathering them unto faith. How? For by reproving sins, and not being able to set men free, it of necessity pointed to the faith that justifies—which was indeed hidden long before, but was later revealed, when God too was made manifest in the flesh.

²⁸ So that the Law has become our tutor unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. For just as the tutor frees the young man from all wickedness, and prepares him to receive the lessons from the teacher with all diligence and attention, so also the Law trained those under it in a measured virtue, and led them to Christ, who is the teacher, by reproving and pointing out their sins, making them more eager to seek the one who gives forgiveness and justifies by faith. Let those, then, be ashamed who slander the Law. For neither does the tutor oppose the teacher, nor is the Law contrary to the New Covenant.

²⁹ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Now that faith has come, he says—the faith that makes one a full-grown man—we who have been perfected through it, and have passed beyond childhood, would no longer be under a tutor. For that we are full-grown men by faith is plain from the fact that we are also sons of God through the faith that is in Christ; for this is the construction of the words. And surely one who has been counted worthy to become a son of God is neither imperfect nor a child. So that it is ridiculous for those who have become men to be subject to the tutor that is the Law—just as it would be, when day has appeared, not to look at the sun, but at the lamp. And observe how above he showed faith making men sons of Abraham, but now sons of God; so great are the things it can do.

³⁰ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. He establishes how we are sons of God, and says that it is through baptism. But he did not say, As many of you as were baptized have become sons of God, as the sequence indeed required; but something far more awe-inspiring: that you have put on Christ. For if we have put on Christ the Son of God, and have been made like to him, we have been brought into one kinship and one form, having become by grace what he is by nature.

³¹ There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Each one, he says, of those who are baptized has put off the natural distinctions; and all received one stamp and one form—not that of an angel, but of the Master himself, showing forth Christ in themselves. So that we are also all one in Christ Jesus—that is, inasmuch as we have one form, that of Christ, laid upon us; or inasmuch as we are one body, having one head, Christ.

³² And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to promise. Since he said before that the seed of Abraham, in which the nations are blessed, is Christ, to whom indeed the promises were given; and since he demonstrated that You too have the form of Christ; he now concludes that You too, therefore, are Abraham’s seed, and consequently heirs also of the promised blessing. How then do you give heed to the Law, you who have been blessed by putting on Christ and being made like to him, and from this becoming Abraham’s seed?