Commentary on Galatians 1 part 2/3

for it is He who reconciled us and freely gave.

for we were not saved by works done in righteousness.

Rather, these things belong to Him and those to this One; for what is Mine is Thine, He says, and what is Thine is Mine.

For 'what is Mine is Thine,' He says, 'and what is Thine is Mine.'

And he did not say, 'You are being removed from the Gospel,' but, 'from God who called you.'

For what was more dreadful, and more capable of striking them with awe, this is what he set down.

For those who wished to deceive them did not do this all at once, but quietly shifting them from the realities, while not shifting the names.

For such is the deceit of the devil, not to set the traps out bare.

For if they had said, 'Depart from Christ,' the Galatians would have guarded against them as deceivers and destroyers; but as it was, leaving them for the time being in the faith, yet fixing the name of 'Gospel' upon their deception, they undermined the edifice with great impunity, while by means of these names — like so many curtains — they concealed the burglars.

but as it was, leaving them for the time being in the faith, and putting the name of 'Gospel' upon their deception, with great licence they were undermining the building, while by means of these names, as if by certain curtains, they hid the burglars.

Since therefore they called their own deception a 'gospel,' rightly does he do battle even against the name, and speaks with boldness, saying:

Unto another gospel, which is not another.

But nevertheless, the very thing that the sick suffer when they are harmed by wholesome foods, this is precisely what the Marcionites here suffered.

For he laid hold of what was said, declaring: 'Behold, Paul too said, There is no other gospel.'

For they do not accept all the evangelists, but one only, and even that one they mutilated and jumbled together as they pleased.

What then, when he himself says, 'According to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ'? Indeed, the things said by them are worthy of much laughter; yet even though they be ridiculous, it is necessary to refute them, for the sake of those who are easily deceived.

yet even though they be laughable, it is necessary to refute them, for the sake of those who are easily deceived.

What then shall we say? That even if ten thousand men write Gospels, but write the same things, the many are one, and nothing will be prejudiced against their being one by reason of the multitude of the writers;

just as, again, even if there be but one writer, and he say contradictory things, what is written is not one.

For the being one and not one is judged, not by the number of the writers, but by the sameness or difference of the things said.

Whence it is clear that even the Gospels of the four are one Gospel.

For when the four say the same things, it is not one and another by reason of the difference of persons, but one by reason of the agreement of what is said.

For Paul is not now speaking about number, but about a discord in the things said.

If then Matthew's is one thing and Luke's another, in the force of what is written and in the exactness of the doctrines, they rightly lay hold of the argument;

but if it be one and the same, let them cease their folly, and cease pretending to be ignorant of things which are plain even to those who are utterly simple.

Unless there be some who trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ.

That is: So long as you are sound in mind, you will not recognize another gospel; so long as you see rightly, and not distortedly, imagining things that have no existence.

For just as the eye, when disordered, sees one thing instead of another,

so also the mind, clouded by the confusion of evil thoughts, is wont to suffer this very same thing.

For it is because of this that madmen also imagine one thing instead of another.

But this madness is more grievous than that, working its harm not in the sensible things, but in the intelligible; not in the pupil of the body's eyes, but preparing its ruin in the eyes of the understanding.

And would pervert the Gospel of Christ.

And indeed they were introducing only one commandment, or a second — that of circumcision, and innovating only in the matter of days;

but showing that a small falsification corrupts the whole, he said that the Gospel is being perverted.

For just as in the royal coinage, he who has clipped a little of the stamp has made the whole coin counterfeit,

so also he who has subverted even the very smallest part of the sound faith, corrupts the whole, going on from the beginning to worse things.

Where then are those who condemn us for contentiousness on account of our separation from the heretics? Where now are those who say that there is nothing at issue between us and them, but that the difference arises from love of rule? Let them hear what Paul says, that they perverted the Gospel who innovated even but a little.

For how should it not be so with those who call the Son of God a creature? Have you not heard that even in the Old Testament, one who gathered sticks on the Sabbath, and transgressed one commandment — and that not the greatest — paid the extreme penalty? And Uzzah, when he steadied the ark that was about to be overturned, straightway died, because he touched a ministry that did not belong to him? Then if the transgression of the Sabbath, and the touching of the falling ark, brought God to such indignation that those who dared these things obtained not even the slightest pardon,

shall he who has corrupted dread and unspeakable doctrines obtain a defense and pardon? It is not so, it is not so.

But indeed this very thing is the cause of all evils — the not being indignant even over these small matters.

For this reason the greater sins have come in, because the lesser ones do not meet with the fitting correction.

And just as in bodies those who have despised wounds have brought forth fevers and putrefactions and death,

so also in the case of souls, those who overlook the small things bring in the greater.

'So-and-so,' he says, 'errs concerning the fast, and it is nothing great';

'another is indeed firm in the right faith, but, dissembling because of the occasion, has betrayed his boldness of confession';

'neither is this any great and terrible thing.'

'Another, being provoked, threatened to fall away from the right faith;

but neither is this worthy of punishment;

for he sinned in anger,' he says, 'and in wrath.'

And one might find ten thousand such sins introduced into the Churches every single day.

For this reason we have become a laughingstock both to Jews and to Greeks, since the Church is being torn asunder into ten thousand parts.

For if those who from the beginning attempt to leap away from the divine ordinances and to disturb them even a little had met with the fitting rebuke, the present pestilence would not have been begotten, nor would so great a tempest have seized the Churches.

See then how Paul calls circumcision a subversion of the Gospel.

But now there are many among us who both fast on the same day as the Jews, and keep the Sabbaths in like manner;

and we bear it nobly — or rather, wretchedly.

Do I speak of the practices of the Jews? Why, many Greek customs too are observed among some of our own people: divinations and augury and omens and observances of days, and eager concern about one's birth, and those documents full of all impiety, which, as soon as children are born, they at once compose to the ruin of their own heads, teaching them from the very outset to overthrow the labors on behalf of virtue, and, so far as in them lies, bringing them under the erring tyranny of fate.

But if Christ profits nothing those who are circumcised, what will faith henceforth profit unto salvation those who drag along so many evils? And yet circumcision had been given by God; but nevertheless, since it was corrupting the Gospel by being performed out of season, Paul did everything to cut it away.

Then, if Paul made such great effort concerning Jewish customs, because they were observed out of season, shall we not even cut away the Greek habit? And what defense could we have? Because of these things our affairs are now in turmoil and uproar, and the disciples, filled with much arrogance, have overturned all order, and things have been turned upside down.

And if one rebukes them even a little, they spit upon their rulers, since we have trained them badly.

And yet, even if the leaders were more depraved, and laden with ten thousand evils, not even so was it lawful for the disciple to disobey.

For if concerning the teachers of the Jews he says that, because they sat on the seat of Moses, they were justly to be heard by their disciples — and yet they had works so wicked that he bade the disciples not to emulate nor imitate those deeds — what pardon could they deserve who spit upon and trample under foot the presidents of the Church, who by the grace of God live in gentleness? For if it is not lawful to judge one another, much more is it unlawful to judge the teachers.

But even if I, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you contrary to what you received, let him be accursed.

For lest anyone say that he sets up his own teachings for the sake of vainglory, he even pronounced an anathema upon himself.

And since they were also taking refuge in dignities—James and John—for this reason he made mention of angels as well.

For do not, he says, cite to me James and John;

for even if one of the foremost angels from heaven should corrupt the preaching, let him be accursed.

And he did not simply say 'from heaven,' but since the priests too were called angels—

'For the lips of a priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty'—

in order that you might not suppose that these are the angels now spoken of, by the addition of 'from heaven' he hinted at the powers on high.

And he did not say, 'If they should proclaim things contrary, or overturn the whole,' but, 'Even if they should preach some small thing beside what we preached, even if they should disturb the least matter, let them be accursed.'

As we have said before, so now I say again.

For lest you should think these words to be words of anger, or spoken in exaggeration, or by some sudden impulse, he sets down the same things a second time.

For he who is led by anger to say something might quickly change his mind;

but he who says the same things a second time shows that he spoke thus after deliberation, and having first ratified it in his judgment, so uttered what was said.

Now Abraham, when asked to send Lazarus, said, 'They have Moses and the prophets;

if they do not hear those, neither will they hear though the dead should rise.'

And Christ introduces him as saying these things, showing that he wills the Scriptures to be more worthy of trust even than the raising of the dead.

But Paul—and when I say Paul, I again say Christ,

for it was He who moved Paul's soul—sets them even above angels coming down from heaven;

for the angels, though great, are yet but servants and ministers;

but the Scriptures, all of them, were written and sent forth not by servants, but by the Lord and Master of all, God Himself.

If anyone preach to you a gospel beside that which we preached to you.

And he did not say, 'so-and-so and such-a-one,' very prudently and without giving offense.

For what further need was there to mention names, for one who had employed so great an emphasis as to include all, both those above and those below? For by anathematizing the evangelists and angels, he set a bound upon every dignity;

and by himself, every close relation and kinship.

For do not say to me, 'Your fellow apostles and companions say these things;'

for I do not spare even myself when I preach such things.

But he says these things not as condemning the apostles, nor as though they transgressed the preaching—far from it!

For 'whether we or they,' he says, 'so we preach;'

but wishing to show that he does not admit dignity of persons, when the discourse is concerning truth.

'For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ.'

'For even if I were deceiving you,' he says, 'in saying these things, can I beguile God, who knows the hidden things of the mind, and to whom is my whole endeavor at all times to please?' Do you see the apostolic spirit? Do you see the loftiness worthy of the Gospel? These same things he said also when writing to the Corinthians: 'We do not defend ourselves to you, but give you occasion to glory;'

and again, 'But to me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man's day.'

For since, being a teacher, he is compelled to defend himself to his disciples, he endures it indeed, but is vexed—not out of arrogance, God forbid, but because of the fickleness of the disposition of those who were being deceived, and their not greatly trusting him.

Wherefore he said these things also, all but saying:

'Is my discourse then addressed to you? Are men going to be my judges? Our discourse is toward God, and it is for the account there that we do all things; nor would we ever have come to such a depth of wretchedness, that—being about to give account to the Master of all for what we preach—we should corrupt the doctrines.'

So that at once defending himself, and at once rising up against them, he set down these things.

For it was fitting that the disciples should not sit in judgment upon their teachers, but believe them;

'but since the order has been reversed,' he says, 'and you sit as judges, learn that I make no great account of defending myself to you, but do everything for God's sake, and so as to give account to Him concerning these doctrines.'

For he who wishes to persuade men does many underhanded and crooked things, and employs deceit and falsehood, so as to persuade and capture the minds of his hearers;

but he who would persuade God, and is zealous to please Him, has need of a simple and pure mind;

for the Deity is not to be deceived.

Whence it is clear, he says, that we too write these things not for the sake of love of rule, nor in order to have disciples, nor as coveting glory from you;

for we have been zealous to please, not men, but God.

For if I wished to please men, I should still be with the Jews, I should still be persecuting the Church.

But he who despised a whole nation, and his household and friends and kinsfolk and so great glory, and in exchange for these took on persecutions and enmities and wars and daily deaths, it is plain that these things also which I now say, he says not from coveting the glory of men.

And he said this because he is about to relate also his former manner of life, and his sudden transformation, and to demonstrate by plain proofs that he changed sides in accord with the truth—lest they should think that he does these things in order to defend himself to them, and be lifted up.

'For do I now persuade men?' For he knows how, at the fitting occasion, to utter something lofty and great for the correction of his disciples.

And yet it was possible to make the proofs of his preaching in accord with the truth from another source—from the signs, from the wonders, from the

dangers, from the imprisonments, from the daily deaths, from hunger and thirst, and nakedness, and from the other things of this kind;

but since his discourse now was not against the false apostles, but toward the apostles—and those had been sharers even in these things, the dangers, I mean—he conducts his argument from another source;

since, when he directed his words against the false apostles, he thus brings forward the comparison, setting his endurance in dangers in the midst and saying:

'Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself)—I am more;

in labors more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.'

But here, however, he speaks of his former manner of life, and says:

But I make known to you, brethren, the Gospel which was preached by me, that it is not according to man.

For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

See how up and down he strongly maintains this, that he became a disciple of Christ, with no man mediating, but with Christ Himself through Himself deigning to reveal to him all knowledge.

And what proof could there be to the unbelieving that God revealed to you through Himself, and not through some intermediary, those unspeakable mysteries? 'My former manner of life,' he says;

for I would not, had it not been God who was uncovering it, have undergone so sudden a transformation.

For those who are taught by men, when they are vehement and burning in the opposite course, have need of time and much contrivance to be persuaded;

but he who thus suddenly changed, and became purely sober in the very height of his madness, it is plain that having obtained a divine vision and teaching, he suddenly returned to pure health.

For this reason he is compelled to relate his former manner of life, and he calls them witnesses of the things that happened.

'For that the only-begotten Son of God deigned to call me through Himself out of the heavens, you do not know;

for how could you, not being present? But that I was a persecutor, you know full well.

For indeed even as far as you my vehemence was spread abroad;

and yet great is the distance between the Palestinians and the Galatians;

so that the report would not have crossed so far, had there not been a great excess in the things done, and one unbearable to all.

For you have heard of my manner of life in time past in Judaism, that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God, and laid it waste.

Do you see how he sets down each thing with intensification, and is not ashamed? For he did not simply persecute, but with all excess; and he did not only persecute, but also laid waste—that is, he attempted to extinguish the Church, to overturn it, to pull it down, to make it vanish;

for this is the work of one who lays waste.

'And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.'

For lest you should suppose that the matter was a thing of anger, he shows that he did the whole out of zeal — even if not according to knowledge — persecuting neither from vainglory nor from enmity, but 'being zealous for the traditions of my fathers.'

If what I did against the Church I did not for the sake of any man, but out of a zeal for God — a mistaken zeal, yet nonetheless a zeal —

how then, now that I run on behalf of the Church and have come to know the truth, could I be doing these things for vainglory? For if, even while I was in error, no such passion mastered me, but the zeal of God led me to this, much more, now that I have come to know the truth, should I in justice be freed from every such suspicion.

For as soon as I went over to the doctrines of the Church, I also stripped off every Jewish prejudice, displaying here a far greater zeal;

which is a sign that I went over in accord with the truth and was possessed by a divine zeal.

Since, if this were not so, tell me, what else was it that brought about so great a change, and to exchange honor for insult, ease for dangers, and

security for hardship? There is nothing else, but only the love of the truth.

'But when it pleased God, who set me apart from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood.'

See what he is eager to show here — that even the time during which he was left behind, he was left for the sake of some ineffable dispensation.

For if he had been set apart from his mother's womb to become an apostle and to be called to this ministry,

and he was called at that time, and as soon as he was called he obeyed,

it is clear that God for some ineffable reason had deferred it until then.

What then is this dispensation? Perhaps you are gaping to hear from me a preamble as to why he did not call him along with the Twelve;

but that I may not depart from the pressing matter and make my discourse too long, I too exhort your charity not to learn everything from me, but also to seek from yourselves and to entreat God to reveal it.

Indeed, some word has been said by us on these matters, when we discoursed to you concerning the change of his appellation, and for what reason he who was called Saul he called Paul;

and if you have forgotten, by consulting that book you will learn all these things.

Meanwhile let us keep to the sequence, and consider how he again shows that nothing human had come about concerning him, but that God ordered all his affairs with much providence.

'And called me through his grace.'

'God,' one might say, 'called him on account of his virtue.'

'For he is to me a vessel of election,' he said to Ananias, 'to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings' — that is, fit to serve and to display a great work.

And this reason for the calling he sets down;

yet everywhere he himself says that the whole is of grace and of his unspeakable lovingkindness, speaking thus:

'But I obtained mercy, not because I was fit, nor because I was worthy, but that in me he might display all his longsuffering, for a pattern to those who should hereafter believe on him unto life eternal.'

Do you see the excess of his humility? 'For this reason,' he says, 'I obtained mercy, that no one might despair, seeing that the worst of all men enjoyed his lovingkindness.'

For this is what he indicates in saying, 'That in me he might display all his longsuffering, for a pattern to those who should hereafter believe on him.'

'To reveal his Son in me.'

But elsewhere Christ says, 'No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son may will to reveal him.'

Do you see that both the Father reveals the Son, and the Son reveals the Father? So it is also with the glory: both the Son glorifies the Father, and the Father the Son;

'Glorify me,' he says, 'that I may glorify thee';

and, 'Even as I glorified thee.'

But why did he not say 'to reveal his Son to me,' but 'in me'? To show that not by words alone did he hear the things concerning the faith, but that he was also filled with much of the Spirit;

the revelation shining upon his soul, and he had Christ speaking within himself.

'That I might preach him among the Gentiles.'

For not only the believing, but also his being ordained came about from God.

'For thus he revealed him to me, not that I alone might see him, but that I might also carry him forth to others.'

And he did not say 'to others' simply, but 'That I might preach him among the Gentiles,' from this point already sounding beforehand no small chapter of his defense, drawn from the person of the disciples.

For it was not necessary to preach to the Jews and to the Gentiles in the same way.

'Immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood.'

Here he hints at the apostles, calling them by their nature.

But if he says this of all men, neither shall we gainsay it.

'Neither did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me.'

If one should examine these words in themselves, they seem full of much boasting and far from a right frame of mind.

For to decide by oneself, and to take no one as a partner in one's judgment, seems to be a mark of folly.

'For I saw,' it says, 'a man who seemed to himself to be wise; but the fool has more hope than he';

and, 'Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight';

and he himself again, 'Be not wise in your own conceits.'

Surely then he who had heard so much from others, and who himself exhorted others to the same, would not fall into these faults — not Paul only, but not even any ordinary man.

But, as I said, this saying, examined bare, can both cause misgiving and give offense to some of the hearers;

yet if we add the reason for which these things were said, all will both applaud and admire the one who spoke them.

For we ought not to examine words bare, since many errors will follow;

nor to scrutinize the wording by itself, but to attend to the mind of the writer.

For indeed, even in our own conversations, if we do not employ this method and examine the intention of the speaker, we shall incur many enmities, and everything will be overturned.

And what need is there to speak of words, when even in deeds, if one does not keep this rule, everything will be turned upside down? For physicians too both cut and break certain of the bones, and robbers often do the same.

How great a misery, then, would it be, if we could not distinguish the robber from the physician? Again, murderers and martyrs endure the same sufferings when tortured;

yet great is the difference between the two.

And if we do not keep this rule, we shall not be able to know these things, but we shall call even Elijah a murderer, and Samuel and Phinehas, and Abraham a slayer of his child, if we mean to examine the deeds bare, without adding to them the intention of the doers.

Let us therefore also examine Paul's mind, out of which he wrote these things;

let us see his aim, and what he was throughout toward the apostles, and then we shall know out of what disposition these things were said.

For neither belittling them, nor praising himself, did he say either these things or the former;

for how could he, seeing that he even pronounced an anathema upon himself? but everywhere he was preserving the safety of the Gospel.

For since those who were ravaging the Church were saying that 'we must follow the apostles, who do not forbid these things, and not Paul who forbids them,' and from this the Jewish error was little by little being introduced, he is compelled to stand nobly against these things — not wishing to speak ill of the apostles, but wishing to put down the folly of those who were exalting themselves wrongly.

For this reason he says, 'I did not confer with flesh and blood.'

For indeed it would have been the height of absurdity for one who had learned from God to refer the matter afterward to men.

For he who learns from men reasonably takes men again as partners;

but he who was counted worthy of that divine and blessed voice, and was taught all things by him who has the treasure of wisdom, why should he afterward refer to men? For such a one would in justice not learn from men, but teach men.

Not therefore out of arrogance did he say these things, but so as to show the dignity of his own preaching.

'Neither did I go up,' he says, 'to those who were apostles before me.'

For since they were saying up and down that 'those men were before him, they were called before him,' 'I did not go up to them,' he says.

But if it had been needful to communicate with them, he who revealed to him the preaching would have commanded this too.

What then? Did he not go up there? Indeed he did go up, and not simply so, but as one about to learn something from them?

When? At the time when, in the city of the Antiochenes—in that Church which from the very first displayed such great zeal—a controversy arose concerning this very matter now before us, and they were inquiring

whether it was necessary to circumcise those of the Gentiles who believed, or whether they ought to compel them to endure nothing of the sort.

Then it was that this same Paul himself, together with Silas, went up.

How then does he say, 'I went not up, neither did I confer'? Because, first of all, it was not he himself who went up of his own accord, but he was sent by others;

and secondly, he did not come to learn, but to persuade others.

For he himself from the beginning held to this opinion, which the apostles also afterward ratified—namely, that circumcision was not necessary;

but since he did not as yet seem to them worthy of full credit, and they gave heed rather to those in Jerusalem, he went up—not that he himself might learn anything more, but to persuade those who contradicted him that those in Jerusalem also voted in agreement with these men.

Thus from the very beginning he discerned what was needful, and had need of no teacher; but the very things which the apostles were about to ratify after much deliberation, these he himself held fixed and immovable within himself from the first, before their deliberation.

And Luke, making this plain, said that Paul stretched out a long and extended discourse to them on behalf of these things, even before coming to Jerusalem.

But since it seemed good to the brethren to learn concerning those matters as well, he went up on their behalf, not on his own.

And if he says, 'I went not up,' one may say this also: that neither at the outset of his preaching did he go up, nor, when he did go up, did he go up in order to learn.

For indeed he signifies both these things, saying:

'Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.'