Commentary on Galatians 2 part 4/6

For here he hints that his absence had wrought these things, and that this is the blessed state: for disciples to hold the right conviction, not only when the teacher is present, but also when he is absent;

but since they had not yet attained to this degree of perfection, he does everything so as to bring them to it.

'My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you.'

Behold him troubled, behold him in an uproar of soul.

'My brethren, I beseech you;'

'My little children, of whom I travail in birth again.'

He imitates a mother trembling for her children.

'Until Christ be formed in you.'

Do you see a father's tender heart? Do you see a dejection befitting an apostle? Do you see what a wail he sent up, far more bitter than that of women in travail? 'You have corrupted the image,' he says, 'you have destroyed the kinship, you have altered the form;'

'you have need of another regeneration and a new fashioning;'

'yet nevertheless I still call the abortive, the miscarried, my little children.'

But he does not say it thus, but otherwise;

for he spares them, and is unwilling to strike, nor to lay wounds upon wounds;

but just as skilful physicians treat those who have fallen into a long illness, not all at once, but with intervals, lest through faintheartedness they perish, so also does this blessed one.

For these birth-pangs were sharper than those of the body, in proportion as his tender affection was greater, and the sin committed was no ordinary one.

For that which I always say, and shall not cease to say: even a small thing transgressed has utterly marred the whole appearance and disfigured the form.

'I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my voice.'

Consider for me the man who cannot restrain himself, the fervent one, who cannot bear such things.

He is not content with words, but seeks also his presence.

'So as to change my voice,' he says.

That is, to change it into lamentation, to bring forth even tears, and to draw everything toward mourning.

For through a letter it was not possible to show tears or wailing;

wherefore he burns with longing for his presence.

'For I have not,' he says, 'what to say, I have not what to think.'

'Whence is it that you who had ascended to the very summit of the heavens, both through the dangers which you endured for the faith, and through the signs which you displayed by the faith, have now suddenly been brought down to such lowliness, as to be dragged into circumcision and sabbaths, and to hang upon those who judaize?' For this reason too he said at the very beginning:

'I marvel that you are so quickly removing.'

'What shall I say? What shall I speak? What shall I devise? I am at a loss;'

'wherefore it is needful even to wail;'

which the prophets also do in situations of perplexity.

And this too is no small kind of treatment: not only to counsel, but also to lament.

For this too he said when discoursing with the Milesians:

'For three years I ceased not to admonish you with tears.'

This too he says here, saying:

For when we are overcome in perplexities and helpless straits that befall us contrary to hope, we thenceforth are carried away to tears.

Since therefore he had rebuked and put them to shame, and had healed them again, he then lamented;

and lamentation belongs not only to rebuke, but also to soothing.

For it neither exasperates, as does rebuke, nor relaxes, as does soothing, but is a mingled remedy, and has great power for exhortation.

Since therefore he had lamented and softened their mind, and had drawn them the more, he again enters upon the contests, laying down a greater main point, showing that the law itself does not wish itself to be kept.

At that time, then, he brought in the example from Abraham; but now he brings in the law itself, exhorting them not to keep it, but to depart from it, which was a stronger argument.

'So that, if you wish to obey the law,' he says, 'depart from it;'

He establishes the same point in another way as well, blending in history with it.

'For tell me,' he says, 'you who wish to be under the Law, do you not hear the Law?' Well did he say, 'you who wish'; for the matter arose not from the natural course of things, but from their untimely contentiousness.

By 'Law' here he calls the book of creation, that is, the whole of the Old Testament, as he often does.

By 'Law' here he names the book of creation.

which he often does, thus naming the whole of the Old Testament.

'For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman, and one by the freewoman.'

Again he goes back up to Abraham, not repeating himself in vain, but because the patriarch's glory was great among the Jews, he shows that from that source the types took their beginning, and that present realities were prefigured in him.

And having first shown that they were sons of Abraham, then, since the patriarch's sons were not of the same rank—the one being from the bondwoman, the other from the freewoman—he further shows that they were not merely sons, but sons in such a manner as the freeborn and noble son.

So great is the power of faith.

'But the one from the bondwoman was born according to the flesh,'

'but the one from the freewoman was born according to promise.'

What does 'according to the flesh' mean? Since he had said that faith joins us to Abraham, and it seemed to his hearers incredible that those not descended from him should be called his sons, he shows that this very paradox happened long ago.

For Isaac, who came into being not by the sequence of nature, nor by the law of marriage, nor by the power of the flesh, was nonetheless both a son and a true son, sprung from bodies that were dead and from that womb.

For it was not the flesh that wrought the conception, nor the seed that wrought the birth;

for the womb was dead, both because of age and because of barrenness; rather, it was the Word of God that formed him.

But in the case of the slave it was not so; rather, he was born by the bonds of nature and by the customary way of marriage.

And yet the one not born according to the flesh was more honorable than the one born according to the flesh.

'Therefore let it not trouble you that you were not born according to the flesh;

for it is precisely for this reason that you are most of all his kinsmen, because you were not born according to the flesh.'

For being born according to the flesh does not make men more honorable, but rather more dishonorable;

for the birth that is not according to the flesh is more wonderful and more spiritual;

and this is clear from those born of old.

For Ishmael was born according to the flesh, yet he was a slave; and not only this, but he was even cast out of his father's house;

but Isaac, who was born according to promise, being a son and free, was lord of all.

'Which things are an allegory.'

By a loose use of the term he called the type an allegory.

This history discloses not only that which it appears to say, but proclaims certain other things as well;

and for this reason it has been called an allegory.

And what did it proclaim? Nothing other than all these present realities.

'For these are the two covenants,' he says; 'the one from Mount Sinai, bearing children unto bondage, which is Hagar.'

Which two? The mothers of those children, Sarah and Hagar.

What are the two covenants? Two laws.

But since there were women's names in the history, he stayed with the designation of the race, showing by means of the names the great correspondence.

And how by means of the names? 'For this Hagar,' he says, 'is Mount Sinai in Arabia.'

for 'Sinai' is thus interpreted as 'mountain' in their native tongue.

So that all those born from the Old Covenant must of necessity be slaves.

For that mountain, where the Old Covenant was given, being of the same name as the bondwoman, he takes together with Jerusalem as well;

'And it corresponds to the present Jerusalem.'

That is, it neighbors upon it, it touches it.

'And she is in bondage with her children.'

What then follows from this? That not only was she a bondwoman and bore slaves, but also this one—that is, the Covenant, of which the bondwoman is the type.

For Jerusalem too lies in the vicinity of the mountain that bears the same name as the bondwoman;

and on this mountain too the Covenant was given.

Where then is the type of Sarah also? 'But the Jerusalem above is free.'

Therefore those born of her also are not slaves.

Of the Jerusalem below, Hagar was the type—and this is clear from the mountain so called—but of the one above, the Church.

But nevertheless he is not content with the types, but adds Isaiah as well,

bearing witness to what has been said;

for having said, 'The Jerusalem above is our mother,' and having thus called the Church, he presents the prophet as casting his vote in agreement with him;

'For rejoice,' he says, 'you barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry, you who do not travail; for the children of the desolate are many more than of her who has the husband.'

Who then is the barren one, and who the desolate before this? Is it not plain that it is the Church of the Gentiles, deprived of the knowledge of God? And who is she who has the husband? Is it not plain that it is the synagogue? And yet the barren one overcame her in the multitude of her children.

For she has but one nation;

but the children of the Church have filled Greece, the barbarian lands, the earth, the sea, the whole inhabited world.

Do you see how, by deeds Sarah, and by words the prophet, sketched out for us the things to come? But consider:

Isaiah called her barren, and showed that this same one became the mother of many children.

This same thing happened typologically in the case of Sarah too;

for she too, being barren, became the mother of a multitude of offspring.

But even these things do not suffice for Paul; rather, he inquires closely into how the barren one became a mother, so that from this too he may bring the type into conformity with the truth.

'Now we, brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise.'

For the Church was not only barren, as was Sarah, nor did she only become the mother of many children, as did that one, but she also gave birth in the same manner as Sarah.

For just as it was not nature that made her a mother, but the promise of God (for he who had said, 'At this season I will come, and Sarah shall have a son,' this One, entering into her womb, formed the babe),

even so also in the case of our regeneration, no nature is at work, but the words of God, spoken through the priest—which the faithful know—these, in the pool of the waters, as in a kind of womb, form and regenerate the one being baptized.

Therefore, if we are the children of the barren one, we are also free.

And what kind of freedom is this, someone might say, when the Jews seize and scourge those who have believed, and those who seem to be free are persecuted? For these things were happening at that time, the faithful being persecuted.

'But let not even this trouble you,' he says;

'for this too was anticipated in the type;

for Isaac, being free, was persecuted by the slave Ishmael.'

'But just as then the one born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so also now.'

'But what does the Scripture say? Cast out the son of the bondwoman; for the son of the bondwoman shall by no means inherit with the son of the freewoman.'

What then? Is this whole consolation merely to show that the free are persecuted by the slaves? 'By no means,' he says.

For I do not stop even here, but listen also to what follows, and then you will receive sufficient consolation, no longer being fainthearted over the persecutions.

What then is the sequel? 'Cast out the son of the bondwoman;'

'for he shall not inherit together with the son of the free woman.'

You saw the recompense of the temporary tyranny and of the ill-timed madness: the child falls from his father's inheritance, and becomes a fugitive and a wanderer together with his mother.

But do you consider with me the wisdom of the words that were spoken.

For he did not say merely that he was cast out because he persecuted, but 'that he might not inherit.'

For God did not exact this as a punishment for the temporary persecution (for that would be a small matter, and nothing compared to the other);

but He did not permit him to become a sharer in the things prepared for the child, showing that even apart from the persecution this had been ordained from above, taking its origin not from the persecution, but from the purpose of God.

And he did not say, 'The son of Abraham shall not inherit,' but 'The son of the bondwoman,' calling him from the baser lineage.

For indeed the Church from the Gentiles is of such a kind.

Do you see how throughout all this the type is preserved? For just as in all the years before, she who did not bear became a mother in extreme old age,

so also this one, when the fullness of time came, gives birth.

For this also the prophets foretold, saying, 'Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who do not travail; for many more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband;'

thus naming the Church.

For she had not known God;

yet nevertheless, having come to know Him, she conquered the synagogue with its many children.

So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

All these things he sets in motion and turns about, wishing to show that what had come to pass was not something recent, but had been foreshadowed from above and many ages before.

How then is it not absurd that men who were set apart so many ages ago and obtained freedom should of their own will subject themselves to the yoke of bondage? Then he sets down yet another reason that would persuade them to remain in the true doctrines.

'For in the freedom,' he says, 'with which Christ has redeemed you, stand fast.'

For did you set yourselves free, that you again run back to your former mastery? Nay, it is He who redeemed you, another who paid the price on your behalf. Do you see by how many means he leads them away from the Jewish error? First, showing that it is the utmost folly for those who have become free instead of slaves to desire to be slaves instead of free;

second, that they will be shown to be ungrateful and thankless toward their benefactor, despising Him who set them free, while cherishing the one who enslaved them;

third, that this is not even possible.

For the law does not have the mastery, since Another has once for all bought us all from it.

And by saying 'Stand fast,' he indicated their tossing to and fro.

'And do not again be entangled in a yoke of bondage.'

By the word 'yoke' he shows them the burdensomeness of the matter;

and by saying 'again,' he shows their great insensibility.

For if you had been inexperienced of that burden, you would not have been worthy of such great accusations;

but you who by experience have learned the oppressiveness of the yoke, and then again put yourselves under it—of what pardon could you justly be thought worthy? 'Behold, I Paul say to you, that if you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.'

With good reason, then, did he even pronounce an anathema upon angels.

But how will Christ profit them nothing? For He Himself did not bring this about, but declared it, as though the trustworthiness of his person sufficed henceforth in place of all proof (for on this account he said beforehand,

'Behold, I Paul say to you'—which was the mark of one confident in what he says);

but let us, so far as we are able, add our own contribution.

How does Christ profit the circumcised man nothing? The one who is circumcised, is circumcised as one who fears the law;

and he who fears it disbelieves the power of grace; and he who disbelieves gains nothing from that in which he does not believe.

Again, in another way: the one who is circumcised makes the law lord;

and thinking it to be lord, yet transgressing it in the greater part while keeping it in the lesser, he again places himself under the curse;

and by subjecting himself to the curse, and thrusting away the freedom that comes from faith, how can he be saved? For if one must say something even paradoxical, such a man believes neither in Christ nor in the law, but stands in the middle, wishing to gain both from here and from there;

wherefore he shall reap nothing from any quarter.

Then, having said that 'it will profit nothing,' he sets down the proof enigmatically and in few words, speaking thus:

'And I testify to every man who is circumcised, that he is a debtor to fulfill the whole law.'

For that you may not think these things are said out of enmity, 'I say not to you only,' he says, 'but to every man who is circumcised, that he is a debtor to fulfill the whole law;'

for the ordinances hold together one with another.

Just as one who has enrolled himself to be a slave instead of a free man no longer does what he wishes, but is held fast by all the laws of slavery;

so also in the case of the law: when you take upon yourself some small portion of the law, and put yourself under the yoke, you have drawn upon yourself the whole dominion.

So it is also in the case of an ordinary inheritance:

he who has touched none of it is freed from all the affairs that come with the estate of the deceased;

but if he handles even a little, though he does not take everything, by that part he has made himself liable for all.

This also happens in the case of the law, and not only in the way I have described, but also in another;

for the ordinances hold together one with another.

Circumcision has sacrifice yoked to it and the observance of days;

the sacrifice again has the keeping of days and of place; the place introduces countless kinds of purifications; the purifications bring in a whole swarm of manifold observances.

For it is not lawful for the unclean man to sacrifice, nor to set foot in the holy inner sanctuaries, nor to do any other such thing.

Therefore the law also draws along many things even through the one commandment.

If, then, you are circumcised, but not on the eighth day, or on the eighth day, but there being no sacrifice, or there being a sacrifice, but not in the appointed place, or in the appointed place, but not according to the prescribed rites, or according to the prescribed rites, but not being clean, or being clean, but not purified by the proper ordinances—all those things are gone.

For this reason he says that 'he is a debtor to fulfill the whole law.'

If the law is lord, do not fulfill a part, but the whole;

but if it is not lord, then not even the part.

'You have been severed from Christ, whoever of you are justified by the law;'

For since he has established his point, he now declares also the danger of the uttermost precipices.

For when the one who runs to the law can neither be saved from there, and also falls away from grace, what remains but inescapable punishment, since the one is powerless and the other does not receive him? Chapter 2.

Having thus heightened their fear, and shaken their mind, and shown them the shipwreck they are about to undergo, he throws open to them close at hand the whole harbor of grace;

which he does everywhere, thereby declaring salvation to be both most easy and most secure.

'For we through the Spirit, by faith, eagerly await the hope of righteousness.'

'We have need of none of those legal observances,' he says;

'for faith suffices to supply us the Spirit, and through Him righteousness, and the many and great good things.'

'For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.'

Do you see how henceforth he strips himself for battle with greater boldness? For he who has put on Christ, let him no longer meddle with these things, he says.

And yet he was saying that circumcision is harmful;

How then does he treat it as a matter of indifference? It is indifferent in the case of those who had it already before their faith, not in the case of those who are circumcised after faith.

But observe where he cast it out: he established faith while men were yet uncircumcised.

For that which makes the difference is faith.

Just as, if one were enrolling athletes, whether they be hook-nosed or snub-nosed, whether dark or fair, these things make no difference for the examination; but one must seek only this, that they be strong and skilled;

so too, for one who is about to be enrolled in the New Covenant, none of these bodily things does any harm whatsoever, just as neither do they bring any benefit, should they be present.

But what does 'faith working through love' mean? Here he struck them a great blow, showing that this stealthy intrusion came about because their love toward Christ had not taken root;

for it is not merely to have believed that is required, but also to abide in loving.

If you had loved Christ as you ought, you would not have deserted to bondage, you would not have forsaken Him who redeemed you, you would not have insulted Him who set you free.

And here he also hints at those who were plotting against them, showing that they too,

had they had love toward them, would not have dared to do these things.

And by this very saying he wishes also to set their life in order.

'You were running well; who hindered you?' This is not the utterance of one asking a question, but of one perplexed and lamenting.

How was so great a course cut short? Who was it that had such power? You who were above all men, and held the rank of teachers, did not remain even in the rank of disciples.

What has happened? Who had such power? These are the words of one calling them back and rather bewailing, just as he also said before:

'Who bewitched you? This persuasion is not from Him who calls you.'

Not for these things did He who calls you call you, so as to be thus shaken about;

He did not lay down these laws, that you should Judaize.

'Why do you so exalt the matter and make it dreadful by your words? We have kept but a single commandment of the law, and you raise such an uproar?' Hear how he strikes fear, not from present things, but from things to come, saying thus:

'A little leaven leavens the whole lump.'

So too, he says, this small fault of yours has the power, if not corrected, to lead you even into complete Judaism, just as leaven does the lump.

'I have confidence in you in the Lord, that you will be of no other mind.'

He did not say, 'You are not of another mind,' but, 'You will not be of another mind;'

that is, 'You will amend yourselves.'

Whence do you know this? He did not say, 'I know,' but, 'I believe.'

'I believe God,' he says, 'and I invoke His alliance toward your amendment, taking courage.'

And he did not simply say, 'I have confidence in you,' but, 'In the Lord.'

For everywhere he weaves his accusations together with praises;

'I know my disciples, I know how easily you may be corrected;'

'I take courage, on the one hand through the Lord, who suffers not even the least thing to perish, and on the other through you, who are able quickly to recover yourselves.'

And at the same time he also urges them to bring in their own diligence, since it is not possible to obtain the things from God unless our part too be contributed.

'But he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he may be.'

He anoints them from both sides—both by that which he encouraged them, and by that which he imprecated upon those men, or prophesied.

But consider for me how nowhere does he set down the name of those who were plotting, lest they become the more shameless.

And what he says is of this sort:

Not because you will be of no other mind are those responsible for the deception therefore acquitted of punishment, but they shall pay the penalty;

for it were not fitting that the diligence of some should become the consolation for the wickedness of others.

And this comes about, that they may not again set upon others as well.

And he did not simply say, 'those who trouble you,' but he also heightened the expression, saying:

'But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted?' For since they were slandering him as though he Judaized in many places and dissembled his preaching, see how cleanly he strips himself bare, calling them themselves as witnesses.

'For you yourselves also know,' he says, 'that the pretext of my persecutions is this—that I command men to abstain from the law;'

'but if I preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted?' For those of the Jews have nothing else to charge against me but this alone.

For indeed, had I permitted them to believe while keeping their ancestral customs, neither those who believed nor those who disbelieved would have plotted, since nothing of their own would be disturbed.

What then? Did he not preach circumcision? Did he not circumcise Timothy? He did circumcise him, indeed.

How then does he say, 'I do not preach it'? Here too learn his exactness.

For he did not say, 'I do not perform circumcision,' but, 'I do not preach it'—that is, 'I do not thus command men to believe.'

For do not take it as a confirmation of doctrines;

for I did indeed circumcise, but I did not preach circumcision.

'Then the offense of the cross has been abolished.'

That is, the impediment, the hindrance, has been removed, if this is what you say.

For the cross was not so much an offense to the Jews as was the requirement that they should not obey their ancestral laws.

When they brought their charge, they did not say, 'This man worships the Crucified,' but, 'He speaks against the holy place and the law.'

And this too they charged against Jesus, that He was undoing the law.

If circumcision be conceded, the contention against you is dissolved;

no enmity any longer remains against the cross and the preaching;

but if every single day they thirst for our blood, how do they charge this against us? At any rate, it was on this account that they set upon me—because I brought an uncircumcised man into the temple.

'Am I then so senseless,' he says, 'that, circumcision being conceded, I should for no cause and to no purpose take on so great an injury, and lay so great an offense upon the cross? For you see that they war against us for nothing so much as for circumcision.'

'Was I then so senseless, as for the sake of nothing to be afflicted and to cause others to stumble?' And he called it the offense of the cross, since the word of the cross also enjoined this, and this above all was what caused the Jews to stumble and hindered them from receiving the cross—namely, the being commanded to depart from their ancestral customs.

'Would that those who unsettle you would even mutilate themselves!'

See how bitter he is here against those who had deceived them.

For at the outset he turned his accusation upon those who had been deceived, calling them senseless, once and even a second time;

but when he had well instructed and corrected them, he turns thereafter against those who had done the deceiving.

And we must discern from this too his wisdom—how these he admonishes and brings to soberness as his own children, and as able to receive correction;

but those who had deceived them, as strangers and as suffering an incurable disease, he cuts off;

on the one hand saying, 'He shall bear his judgment, whoever he may be,' and on the other imprecating upon them, and saying, 'Would that those who unsettle you would even mutilate themselves!'

And he did well to say, 'those who unsettle.'

For, having abandoned their own fatherland and freedom and the kinship that is above, they compelled them to pursue after that which is alien and strange, casting them out from the Jerusalem which is above and which is free, and forcing them, like captives and exiles, to wander.

And what he says is of this sort:

'I have no care concerning those men;'

'For a heretical man, after a first and second admonition, reject.'

If they wish, let them not only be circumcised, but let them also be cut off entirely.

Where, then, are those who dare to mutilate themselves, drawing down the curse upon their own heads, slandering the handiwork of God, and making common cause with the Manichaeans? For those men say that the body is a plotter against us and a thing of evil matter;

but these, by their very deeds, give occasion to those grievous doctrines;

for they cut off the member as though it were an enemy and a plotter against them.

In that case it would have been far more fitting to blind the eyes;

for it is through the eyes that desire makes its way down into the soul.

But neither the eye nor any other member is the cause; the wicked choice of the will alone is to blame.

But if you cannot endure it, why do you not also cut out the tongue for its blasphemy, and the hands for their rapine, and the feet for their running toward wickedness, and, in a word, hack the whole body to pieces? For hearing too, when charmed by the flute, has often softened the soul, and the nostrils, receiving a sweet fragrance, have bewitched the mind and driven it in frenzy toward pleasure.

So then, let us lop off everything—ears and hands and nostrils alike.

But such things belong to the uttermost lawlessness and to a satanic madness.

For whereas one ought only to correct the disorderly impulse of the soul, the wicked demon—who ever delights in bloodshed—has persuaded men, as though it were the craftsman who errs, to smash the instrument in pieces.

How is it, then, one asks, that when the body is well-nourished, desire is kindled? Behold, once again the fault is the soul's;

for the fattening of the flesh belongs not to the flesh but to the soul.

For if the soul should wish to waste it away, it has all authority to do so.

But you do something much like this: as if a man, seeing another kindling a fire, laying on wood, and setting a house ablaze, were to let go the one

who lit the pyre, and blame the fire itself, because, laying hold of much wood, it rose on high;

yet the blame belongs not to the fire, but to the one who lit it.

For fire was given for nourishment, for giving light, and for other such services—not that it should burn down houses;

just so, desire too was given for the begetting of children and the maintenance of life, not for adultery and fornication and licentiousness;

that you might become a father, not an adulterer;

that you might lawfully consort with a wife, not lawlessly corrupt her;