加拉太書註釋 第 2 章 第 2/6 段

but as it is, he corrects them not as though defending the disciples from among the Jews, but rather those from among the Gentiles.

For rebukes, whenever they are not exceedingly burdensome, are then most of all able to be readily received.

For no one of those from among the Gentiles could have brought a charge against Paul when he was making his argument on behalf of the Jews.

All this Peter accomplished by keeping silence and accepting the reputation of dissembling, that he might free the Jews from a dissembling that was real.

At first, then, he directed the argument to the person of Peter, saying, 'If you, being a Jew...';

but as he goes on he makes what is said common to all, taking himself in also, and speaking thus:

'We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles.'

And what was said was indeed exhortation, yet a form of rebuke is thrown around it for the sake of those from among the Jews.

He does this also elsewhere;

for while seeming to say one thing, he is establishing another;

as when writing to the Romans he says:

'But now I am going to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints.'

For he did not wish to say this and simply to teach them for what reason he was going to Jerusalem, but rather to lead them to a zeal for almsgiving.

For had he wished to state the reason, it would have sufficed to say only this: 'I am going, ministering to the saints';

but now see how many things he joins together.

'For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a certain contribution

for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem.'

'For they have been pleased, and they are their debtors.'

And again: 'For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they ought also to minister to them in carnal things.'

Observe therefore here also how he restrains the presumptions of the Jews, establishing one thing by means of another.

And with authority he employs the word, saying, 'We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles.'

But what does 'Jews by nature' mean? Not proselytes, but nurtured in the Law from earliest age; and yet, forsaking the manner of life in which we were reared, we fled for refuge to the faith which is in Christ.

'Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, except through faith in Jesus Christ, we too have believed in Christ.'

Observe here also how with all security he utters everything.

For he says, we let it go not as being wicked, but as being weak.

If then the Law does not furnish righteousness, the matter of circumcision is superfluous.

And as he goes on he shows that it is not only superfluous but also perilous;

which is above all to be noted—how at the outset he says, 'A man is not justified by the works of the Law,' but as he advances he utters something even more weighty.

'But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, then is Christ a minister of sin?'

For if, he says, faith in Him has not the power to justify, but it is necessary to hold to the Law again, then, having forsaken the Law for Christ's sake, and being not justified by that release but rather condemned, we shall find that He has become the cause of the condemnation—He on whose account we forsook the Law and deserted to Him.

Do you see into how great an absurdity he has forced the argument, and how mightily he has contended? For if one must not forsake the Law, he says, yet we forsook it for Christ's sake;

how are we to be judged? Why then do you say and enjoin these things to Peter, who knew them more accurately than all men? Did not God show him that one ought not to judge an uncircumcised man in the matter of circumcision? Did he not, when disputing with the Jews about these matters, nobly stand against this very view? Did he not again send forth from Jerusalem clear decrees concerning these things? It is not, then, to correct Peter that he says these things;

but the argument had indeed to be aimed at that man, while he was reproving the disciples.

And these things were not directed against the Galatians only, but also against those who were suffering from the same malady as they.

For even if many are not now circumcised, yet they fast, and keep the Sabbath along with them, and do the same things, thrusting themselves out of grace.

For if Christ profits nothing those who make use of circumcision only;

when both fasting and Sabbath-keeping are added, and instead of one, two commandments are observed, mark how the danger becomes even more grievous by reason of the time.

For those men did these things in the beginning, while the city still stood, and the temple, and all the rest;

but these, though beholding the punishment which the Jews have paid, and the destruction of the city, and observing yet more, what defence could they have—keeping the Law at a time when the Jews themselves, though they be Jews and greatly desire it, are unable to observe these things? You have put on Christ, and become a member of the Master, and have been enrolled in the city above—and do you still creep about the Law? And how is it possible for you to attain the kingdom? Hear Paul saying that the Gospel is overthrown by observance of the Law.

And, if you will, learn also the manner, and shudder, and flee the pit.

For why do you keep the Sabbath and fast with them? Clearly because you fear the Law and to let go of those written ordinances;

but you would not have feared to let go of the Law, had you not condemned the faith as weak and not strong enough of itself to save.

For if you fear not to keep the Sabbath, it is plain that you dread the Law as still being lord.

But if there is again need of the Law—not of a part, nor of one commandment, but of the whole—it is clear that there is need of the Law entirely;

and, the whole being needed, little by little the righteousness that is through faith has been cast out.

For if you keep the Sabbaths, why not also be circumcised? And if you are circumcised, why not also sacrifice? For if it is right to keep it, one must keep the whole Law;

but if the whole ought not to be kept, neither ought a part.

And if you shudder over the part, lest you be judged for transgression, then for the whole also there is of necessity cause to fear;

but if the whole, when transgressed, brings no punishment, it is plain that neither does a part;

and if a part, much more the whole;

and if it is necessary to keep the whole, it is necessary either to disobey Christ, or, in hearkening to Christ, to become transgressors of the Law.

For if it is right to keep it, those who keep it not are transgressors, and of this transgression Christ will be found to be the cause to us;

for He Himself dissolved the Law concerning these things, and commanded that it be dissolved.

Do you see what those who Judaize establish? Christ, who is to us the cause of righteousness, they declare to be also the cause of sin, even as Paul also says:

'Is then Christ a minister of sin?' Then, having led the argument into an absurdity, he needed thereafter no further demonstration for its refutation, but was content with denial alone, saying only, 'God forbid.'

For against things exceedingly shameless and impudent there is no need even of demonstrative words, but it suffices merely to deny.

'For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor.'

Behold the sagacity of Paul.

Those men wished to show that he who keeps not the Law is a transgressor;

but he turned the argument to the contrary, showing that he who keeps the Law is a transgressor—not of the faith, but of the Law itself.

'For the things which I destroyed, these I build up again'—he means the Law.

And what he says is of this sort:

the Law has ceased, and this we confessed by the very fact that, forsaking it, we fled for refuge to the salvation which is of faith.

If then we contend to set it up again, by this very act we become transgressors, contending to keep the things which have been dissolved by God.

Then he shows also how it was dissolved.

'For I through the Law died to the Law.'

This admits of a twofold contemplation;

for either he speaks of the law of grace;

for he is wont to call this too a law, as when he says:

But the law of the Spirit of life set me free.

Or else he here means the old law, showing that it was through the law itself that he died to the law.

It was the law itself that led me no longer to give heed to it.

If therefore I should continue to give heed to it, I even transgress it.

How, and in what manner? Moses says: 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet from among your brethren, like me.'

So that those who do not obey Him transgress the law.

But this saying, 'Through the law I died to the law,' is also to be understood by us in yet another way.

For the law commands the doing of all that is written therein, and punishes him who does not perform it.

We have all therefore died to it, for no one has fulfilled it.

for no one has fulfilled it.

And observe how here too he wages his contest against it with measure.

For he did not say, 'The law died to me,' but, 'I died to the law.'

Just as it is impossible for the dead and departed to obey the commandments of the law, so neither can I, who have died through its curse.

for by its own word I died.

Let it not therefore lay commands upon the dead, whom it itself has slain—and that with a death not only of the body, but also of the soul, through which it also brought on the death of the body.

For that this is what he means, he made plain by what follows.

For, 'that I might live to God,' he says, 'I have been crucified with Christ.'

For since he had said, 'I died,' lest anyone should ask, 'How then do you live?' he added the cause also of his life, and showed that the law slew him while he was living, but Christ, receiving him dead, made him alive through death.

and he shows the wonder to be twofold: that He both gave life to the dead, and through death bestowed life.

for this is the meaning of, 'That I might live to God, I have been crucified with Christ.'

'And how,' one may say, 'was he who lives and breathes crucified with Him?' For that Christ was crucified is plain.

'But how have you been crucified, and yet live?' Observe how he explains this very thing, saying:

'It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me.'

For by saying, 'I have been crucified with Christ,' he hinted at baptism.

and by saying, 'It is no longer I that live,' he meant the manner of life that follows thereafter, whereby our members are put to death.

And what is, 'Christ lives in me'? It means: 'Nothing is done by me,' he says, 'which Christ does not will.'

For just as by 'death' he means not this common death, but that which comes from sins, so also by 'life' he means deliverance from them.

For it is not possible to live to God otherwise than by being dead to sin.

Just as therefore Christ underwent the death of the body, so I have undergone the death against sin.

For, 'Put to death your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, adultery.'

and again he says, 'Our old man was crucified.'

And after this, if you remain dead to sin, you live to God.

but if you raise it up again, you have ruined such a life.

But Paul was not such a one; rather, he remained wholly dead.

'If therefore I live to God,' he says, 'a life other than that which is under the law, and I have become dead to the law, I can keep nothing of the law.'

And observe the exactness of his manner of life, and admire beyond measure that blessed soul.

For he did not say, 'I live,' but, 'Christ lives in me.'

Who will dare to utter such a word? For since he had rendered himself obedient to Christ, and had cast out all worldly things, and did all according to His will, he did not say, 'I live to Christ,' but, what was far more, 'Christ lives in me.'

For just as sin, when it prevails, is that which lives, leading the soul to whatever it wills;

so, if when that is put to death the things pleasing to Christ are done, such a life is no longer human, since He lives in us—that is, works and prevails.

But since he had said, 'I have been crucified with Christ,' and, 'I no longer live, but have died,' and to many this seemed incredible to say, he added:

'But the life which I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God.'

'What I have said,' he says, 'concerns the spiritual life.'

'But if anyone should inquire also into this sensible life, this too has come to me through my faith in Christ.'

'For so far as concerned my old manner of life and the law, I was worthy of the utmost punishment, and long ago should I have perished.'

'For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,' and Christ set us free while we lay under the sentence.

For indeed all had died—if not in actual experience, yet by the sentence.

and He delivered us who were awaiting the blow.

Since the law accused, and God pronounced sentence, Christ came and gave Himself over to death, and snatched us all away from death.

So that, 'the life which I now live in the flesh, I live in faith.'

For had this not been so, nothing would have hindered all from being blotted out;

which also came to pass at the time of the flood.

but the coming of Christ, having stayed the wrath of God, made us to live through faith.

For that this is what he means, hear what follows;

for having said, 'The life which I now live in the flesh, I live in faith,' he added:

'In the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.'

What are you doing, O Paul, appropriating to yourself what is common, and claiming as your own what was done for the whole world? For he did not say, 'who loved us,' but, 'who loved me.'

And indeed the Evangelist says, 'God so loved the world'; and you yourself also say, 'He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up'—not for you, but for all;

and again, 'That He might purchase for Himself a peculiar people.'

What then is it that he says here? Having pondered the desperate condition of human nature,

and the unspeakable tender care of Christ, and from what things He delivered us, and what things He bestowed, and being set aflame by his longing for Him, he thus speaks.

Since indeed the prophets also often appropriate to themselves the common God, thus saying:

'O God, my God, unto Thee do I rise up early.'

and apart from these things too, he shows that each of us is justly bound to owe Christ as great a thankfulness as if He had come for his sake alone.

For He would not have refused to display so great a dispensation even for one man.

so He loves each single man with as great a measure of love as He loves the whole world.

The sacrifice, therefore, was offered for the whole of nature, and was sufficient to save all;

but those who avail themselves of the benefit are the believers alone.

But nevertheless, the fact that not all came to Him did not remove Him from such a dispensation; but just as in the Gospel the feast was prepared for all, yet when those who were called would not come, He did not take away what was set forth, but called others;

so also here has He done.

For indeed the sheep that had strayed from the ninety and nine was but one; yet even so He did not despise it.

This very thing Paul also hints at in some such way when discoursing concerning the Jews, saying:

For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faithfulness of God of no effect? God forbid.

But let God be true, and every man a liar.

Then, when He so loved you as even to give up Himself, and to bring you—who had no hope of salvation—into so great and so glorious a life,

shall you, after so many blessings, run back again to the old things? Therefore, since he had laid down accurately the arguments drawn from reasonings, he now proclaims his conclusion vehemently by way of assertion, saying:

I do not set aside the grace of God.

Let those hear who even now still Judaize and cling to the Law.

For these things are spoken with reference to them also.

For if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died for nothing.

What could be more grievous than this sin? What more shaming than these words? For if Christ died, it is plain that He died because the Law was unable to justify us.

But if the Law justifies, then the death of Christ is superfluous.

And how could it have any reason—to say that a thing so great, so full of awe, transcending human reasoning, a mystery so ineffable, over which the patriarchs travailed, which the prophets foretold, at the sight of which the angels were astounded, and which is confessed by all to be the very sum of God's tender care—that this took place in vain and to no purpose? Perceiving, then, the excess of the absurdity, that they should be saying so great and so mighty a thing had come to pass superfluously (for this is what was established even from what they were doing), he employed even reproach against them, speaking thus:

O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed, crucified among you?

Here he now passes on to another head of his argument.

For in the earlier portions he showed that he was an apostle not of men, neither through men, and that he had no need of the teaching of the apostles;

but here, having now established himself as a teacher worthy of credence, he discourses with greater authority, making a comparison between faith and the Law.

I marvel that you are so quickly removing.

But here: O foolish Galatians!

For at the former time his indignation was still in travail;

but when he had made his defense concerning his own affairs, then, letting it burst forth into the open, he brought it out after the demonstration.

And if he calls them foolish, do not marvel;

for he does this not by transgressing the law of Christ which says

that a man should not call his brother a fool, but rather while carefully keeping it.

For it was not said simply, He who calls his brother a fool, but, He who does so without cause.

And who could more justly have met with this appellation than they who, after so many and so great things, cling to the former things as though nothing had happened?

But if for this reason you call Paul an insulter, then for the sake of Sapphira and Ananias you will call Peter a murderer.

And if it is madness to say those things, much more is it madness to say these.

But consider with me how he does not employ this severity from the very outset, but only after the proofs and demonstrations, when henceforth they received the rebuke not from him but from the very proofs themselves.

For when he had shown that they were thrusting out faith and declaring the death of Christ to be superfluous, then he brought in the rebuke—and even then not according to their deserts;

for they were worthy of far more grievous words.

But observe with me how, immediately after striking, he also relaxes.

For he did not say, Who deceived you? Who took advantage of you? Who imposed upon you? but, Who bewitched you?—not making the rebuke devoid of commendation.

For this is the mark of one showing that they had formerly been doing things worthy of envy, and that what had happened was the assault of a demon breathing violently against their prosperity.

But when you hear of envy here, and in the Gospel of the evil eye signifying the same thing, do not suppose this—that the glance of the eyes is by nature able to harm those who are seen;

for the eye, the member itself, could never be evil;

but here Christ thus speaks of envy.

For merely to see belongs to the eyes, but to see wickedly proceeds from the perverted judgment within.

For since it is through this sense that the beholding of visible things flows into our soul, and since envy is for the most part engendered especially amid wealth, while wealth is seen by the eyes—the positions of power too and the retinues of guards—

for this reason He called it an evil eye—not the eye that sees, but the one that sees with malice out of the wickedness that is in the soul.

And in saying, Who bewitched you? he shows that they do this not as guardians, nor as supplying what was lacking, but as maiming even what was already present.

For it belongs to envy not to add what is lacking, but even to take away something from what is complete, and to bring ruin upon the whole.

But he says these things not as though envy had any strength in itself, but as though those who taught these things had come to this out of malice.

Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed, crucified among you.

And yet He was crucified not in the country of the Galatians, but in Jerusalem;

how then does he say, Among you? Showing the power of faith, which is able to see even things afar off.

And he did not say, Was crucified, but, Was portrayed as crucified, making it plain that with the eyes of faith they beheld more accurately than some of those who were present and saw the things done.

For many of those, though they beheld, profited nothing;

but these, though they did not see with the bodily eye, yet through faith saw more accurately.

And he says these things at once both reproaching them and praising them.

Praising them, because with so great a full assurance they received what had come to pass;

but reproaching them, because Him whom they saw stripped for their sakes, hung upon the cross, nailed, spat upon, mocked, given vinegar to drink, accused by robbers, pierced with a spear (for all these things he signified by saying, He was portrayed among you as crucified)—Him they forsook, and ran to the Law, feeling no shame at any of those sufferings.

But consider with me how everywhere, letting go of heaven, earth, sea, and all other things, he proclaimed the power of Christ, carrying the cross about with him.

For this above all was the sum of the tender care shown for us.

This only would I learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith? For since, he says, you do not follow lengthy discourses, nor the greatness of the dispensation,

would you fully observe them, I wish to persuade you by a brief word and a very swift demonstration, seeing your utmost ingratitude.

For above he persuaded them from the things spoken to Peter by him, but here he now strips himself for the contest against them, establishing everything not from things that happened elsewhere, but from what took place among themselves; and no longer only from the things given in common, but persuading them also from the things bestowed on them privately, and thus making his demonstration.

This only would I learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith? You received the Holy Spirit, he says; you wrought many mighty works; you accomplished signs, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, prophesying, speaking with tongues;

did the Law then give you this so great power? And yet you did nothing of the kind before.

How then is it not the utmost madness, when you had been so benefited by faith, to let go of this, and to desert again to the Law which provided nothing of the kind? So foolish are you: having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect in the flesh?

Again he opportunely brought in the reproach.

For, he says, when you ought, as time went on, to have made an increase, you not only failed to advance, but were even carried back again to what lies behind.

For those who begin from small things ascend as they advance to greater;

but you, having begun from the great, were carried down to the contrary.

For even if you had begun from carnal things, you ought to have advanced into spiritual;

but now, having begun from spiritual things, you have sunk down into carnal;

for to work signs is spiritual, but to be circumcised is carnal.

But you, after the signs, came to circumcision; after having laid hold of the truth, you fell back upon the types; after having gazed upon the sun, you seek the lamp; after solid food, you run to milk.

And he did not say, You are being perfected in the flesh, but, You are being made perfect in the flesh, showing that, having received them like irrational beasts, those men were cutting them up, while these were giving themselves over to suffer whatever those men willed;

just as if a man, from being among generals and champions, after ten thousand trophies and victories, should give himself over to the dishonor of deserters, and offer his body to be branded by whoever wills.

Did you suffer so many things in vain? If it be indeed in vain.

This is far more striking than what went before.

For the remembrance of the signs could not move them so powerfully as the display of their struggles and the endurance of the sufferings which they had borne for Christ's sake.

For all those things which you endured, he says, these men wish to rob you of, and to snatch away your crown.

Then, lest he should shake their soul and unstring their sinews, he did not stop at the sentence of condemnation, but added:

For if you should be willing, he says, to become sober again and to recover yourselves, then it will not have been in vain.

Where now are those who would cut off all repentance? For behold, these men both received the Spirit, and wrought signs, and became confessors, having endured countless dangers and persecutions for Christ's sake; and yet, after so many noble deeds, they fell from grace.

But nevertheless, he says, if you are willing, you are able to recover yourselves.

He therefore that supplies to you the Spirit, and works mighty powers among you—does he do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? He says: Were you counted worthy of so great a gift, and did you accomplish such great wonders, because you kept the law, or because you held fast the faith? It is plain that it was because of faith.

For since those men kept turning this argument up and down and bandying it about, saying that faith has no strength unless the law be added,

he shows the very opposite: that when the commandments are added, faith henceforth profits nothing;

for faith then has its strength, when nothing from the law is added to it.

For as many of you as are justified by the law, he says, are fallen from grace.

But this indeed he says further on, when he employs greater boldness, taking his occasion from things already

established.

For the present, however, he builds his argument from things past.

For when, he says, you attended not to the law but to faith, then it was that you received the Spirit and accomplished the signs.

Then, since the discourse was about the law, he set in motion yet another and most contentious topic, bringing Abraham into the midst—and that very seasonably and with great fullness—speaking thus:

Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.

For he shows, he says, the power of faith both by the miracles wrought among you;

but if you wish, I will also convince you from the narratives of old.

For since there was much talk of the patriarch among them, he brings him too into the midst, and shows that he also was justified in this same way.

But if he who lived before grace was justified by faith—and that though he abounded in works—then how much more you!

For what harm did he suffer in not being under the law? None whatever; but faith sufficed for him unto righteousness.

For neither was there a law then, he says.

And neither is there a law now, even as there was none then.

For on this very account, having done away with the need of the law, he then brought forward the one who was justified before the law, that he might not have to admit this objection.

For as then it had not yet been given, so now, though it has been given, it has ceased.

Then, since they took great pride in being descended from Abraham, and were afraid lest, in forsaking the law, they should be estranged from kinship with him,

this too Paul turns again to the contrary, and dissolves their fear, showing that it is faith above all that establishes kinship with him.

And this he set forth more plainly in the Epistle to the Romans, yet no less does he work it out here also, speaking thus:

Know then, that they who are of faith, these are the sons of Abraham.

Then this very thing he establishes from an ancient testimony.

For the Scripture, he says, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying: In you shall all the nations be blessed.

If therefore it is not those who have natural kinship with him that are his sons, but those who have imitated his faith (for this is the meaning of 'In you shall the nations be blessed'), it is plain that it is into this kinship that they are brought.

And through these words yet another great thing is shown.

For since it troubled them that the law was more ancient and faith came after the law, he removes this suspicion of theirs also, showing that faith is older than the law—and this is evident from Abraham;

for before ever the law appeared, he was justified.

And he shows that even the things now taking place came to pass according to prophecy:

For the Scripture, he says, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith and not by the law, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham.

But what does this mean? He himself who gives the law, he says, even before He gave this law, had already determined this: that the nations should be justified by faith.

And he said not 'He revealed,' but 'He preached the gospel,' that you might learn that the patriarch too rejoiced in this manner of righteousness, and greatly longed for it to come to pass.