加拉太書註釋 第 2 章 第 3/6 段

But since yet another fear held them fast (for it was written:

Cursed is every one who abides not in all things that are written in the book of this law, to do them)—this dread too he dissolves, wisely and prudently turning it again to the contrary, and showing that those who have forsaken the law are not only not cursed, but even blessed;

while those who cling to it are not only not blessed, but are even cursed.

For those men said that he who keeps not the law is cursed;

but this man shows that he who keeps it is cursed, and he who keeps it not is blessed.

Those men again said that he who attends to faith alone is cursed;

but this man shows that he who attends to faith alone is blessed.

How then does he prove all these things? For it is no trifling matter that we have promised to expound.

Wherefore we must attend with all exactness to what follows.

For he showed this already before, when he said that the Scripture declared to the patriarch: In you shall all the nations be blessed.

But at that time there was no law, but faith;

wherefore also, reasoning by inference, he added:

So then they who are of faith are blessed together with the faithful Abraham.

But that they might not take this by way of objection and say:

It was reasonable that he should be justified by faith;

but do you show me faith justifying after the giving of the law—

he comes to this very point, and demonstrates more than they seek: that faith not only justifies, but that the law also makes those who use it accursed.

And that you may learn these things, hear the apostolic words themselves:

For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse.

But this is a pronouncement that as yet has no demonstration.

What then is the demonstration? It is from the law itself:

For cursed is every one who abides not in all things that are written in the book of this law, to do them.

But that in the law no one is justified is somehow plain to everyone.

For all sinned, and are under a curse.

But he does not put it thus, lest he should seem to be making the assertion himself; rather, once more he establishes it from a testimony which contains both points in brief—both that no one fulfilled the law (wherefore they were cursed), and that faith justifies.

What then is the testimony? It is from the prophet Habakkuk, who speaks thus:

But the just shall live by faith.

For this shows not only the righteousness that is by faith, but also that by the law it is impossible to be saved.

For since, he says, no one kept the Law, but all were under the curse because of transgression, an easy way was devised, the way that comes from faith.

And this itself is the greatest sign that no one was able to be justified by the Law.

For the prophet did not say, 'The righteous shall live by the Law,' but 'by faith.'

But the Law is not of faith; rather, 'the one who does these things shall live by them.'

For the Law, he says, does not require faith only, but works also.

But grace saves and justifies from faith.

Do you see how he showed that those who cling to the Law came under a curse, because it was impossible for it to be fulfilled? And how too does faith possess this power of justifying? For these things he had announced beforehand, and he established them with great force.

For since the Law was too weak to lead a man to righteousness, faith was found to be no small remedy, making possible through itself what was impossible for the Law.

If then the Scripture also says that 'the righteous shall live by faith,' despairing of the salvation that comes through the Law, and Abraham too was justified by faith, it is clear that the strength of faith is great.

But that the one who does not abide in the Law is accursed, and that the one who clings to faith is righteous, is clear.

But that this curse no longer stands—whence, someone says, can you demonstrate this to us?

For Abraham was before the Law;

but we, once we came under the yoke of bondage, made ourselves liable to the curse.

Who then is the one who loosed that curse? With respect to this, see how swiftly he answers.

For what has already been said is indeed sufficient.

For the one who has once been justified, and has died to the Law, and has laid hold of a new life—how could he be liable to the curse? Nevertheless, he is not content with these things, but contends in yet another way, writing:

'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.'

And indeed the people were liable to another curse, the one that says:

'Cursed is everyone who does not abide in all the things written in the book of the Law.'

And what does this mean? For the people were liable;

for they did not abide in it, nor was there anyone who had fulfilled the whole Law.

But Christ exchanged for this curse another one, the one that says:

'Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree.'

Since, then, both the one who hangs upon a tree is accursed, and the one who transgresses the Law is accursed, and since he who was about to loose that curse ought not to have been liable to it, but yet had to receive a curse—

in place of that one he received such a curse, and through it he loosed the former.

And just as, when someone has been condemned to die, another who is himself innocent, choosing to die on his behalf, snatches him from punishment—

so also did Christ do.

For since he was not subject to the curse of transgression, Christ took upon himself, in place of that curse, this one, that he might loose theirs;

'for he committed no sin, neither was any deceit found in his mouth.'

As, therefore, by dying he delivered from death those who were about to die, so also by receiving a curse he set them free from the curse.

'That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles.'

How upon the Gentiles? 'In your seed,' he says, 'shall all the Gentiles be blessed'—that is, in Christ.

But if this were said concerning the Jews, how could it stand to reason that those who were themselves liable to the curse because of transgression should become to others the authors of blessing? For no one of those under a curse imparts to another a blessing of which he is himself deprived.

Whence it is clear that the whole was spoken concerning Christ;

for he himself was the seed of Abraham, and through him the Gentiles have been blessed, and thus the promise of the Spirit comes near.

This too he himself made clear, saying:

'That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.'

For since it was not fitting that the grace of the Spirit should come upon one who was ungrateful and had given offense, they are first blessed once the curse has been taken away;

then, having been justified through faith, they draw to themselves the grace of the Spirit.

So that the cross loosed the curse;

faith brought in righteousness;

and righteousness drew to itself the grace of the Spirit.

'Brethren, I speak after the manner of men: though it be but a man's covenant, once it has been confirmed, no one annuls it or adds provisions to it.'

What does 'I speak after the manner of men' mean? It means: from human examples.

For since he had established his argument from the Scriptures, and from the miracles that took place among them, and from the things which Christ suffered, and from the patriarch, he now proceeds finally to common custom as well.

For it was his constant practice to do this, so as both to sweeten his argument and to make it more acceptable and more easily learned by the duller-minded.

So too, when reasoning with the Corinthians, he says:

'Who tends a flock and does not eat of its milk? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit?' And again, to the Hebrews:

'For a testament is confirmed over the dead;'

'since it is never in force while the one who made it lives.'

And in many places one might find him dwelling fondly upon such reasonings.

For God too in the Old Testament continually does this, speaking thus:

'Can a woman forget her child?' And again, 'Shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, What are you making?' And in Hosea he likens himself to a husband despised by his wife.

And in the types too one might see many human examples, as when the prophet takes the girdle and went down to the potter's little house.

What then does this illustration mean for him? That faith was more ancient, while the Law was younger and temporary, and given for this reason, that it might prepare the way for faith.

'Brethren, I speak after the manner of men.'

Having above called them foolish, here he calls them brethren, at once both chiding and consoling them.

'Though it be but a man's confirmed covenant.'

'If a man,' he says, 'makes a covenant, let no one dare, coming afterward, to overturn it or to add anything to it'; for this is what 'or adds provisions' means.

How much more, then, in the case of God!

And with whom did God make his covenant? 'To Abraham,' he says, 'were the promises spoken, and to his seed.'

He does not say, 'And to his seeds,' as of many, but as of one: 'And to your seed,' which is Christ.

'And this I say: a covenant previously confirmed by God unto Christ, the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years after, does not annul,'

'so as to make the promise of no effect.'

'For if the inheritance is of the Law, it is no longer of promise;'

'but to Abraham God granted it through a promise.'

Behold, then, God too made a covenant with Abraham, declaring, with reference to the Gentiles, that in his seed the blessings would come;

how then can the Law overturn these? But since the entire example was not strong enough to draw them to the matter at hand, for this reason he added beforehand:

'Take nothing from the example that would derogate from the majesty of God.'

But consider the example from its beginning.

He promised Abraham that through his seed the nations should be blessed;

and his seed according to the flesh is Christ.

The Law came four hundred and thirty years afterward.

If, then, the Law bestows the blessings, and life, and righteousness, that promise is rendered void.

Yet no one annuls even a man's covenant; and shall God's covenant be annulled after four hundred and thirty years? For if what that promise pledged is not given by that promise, but by another in its stead, then that promise has been cast out.

And how could this have any reason? 'For what purpose, then,' he says, 'was the Law given?' Because of transgressions.

For neither is this superfluous.

Do you see how he surveys everything? How he makes use of countless eyes? For since he had exalted faith and shown it to be more ancient, lest anyone should suppose the Law to be superfluous, he corrects this point as well, showing that it was given not in vain, but very usefully.

'Because of transgressions'—that is, so that the Jews might not be permitted to live without restraint and slide down into the uttermost depth of wickedness, but that the Law might be laid upon them like a bridle, instructing, ordering, and restraining them from transgressing—if not from all, yet at least from some of the commandments.

So that the benefit of the Law is no small thing.

But until when? 'Until the seed should come to whom the promise was made.'

If, then, it was given only until the coming of Christ, why do you drag it out further and beyond its season? 'Ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator.'

He either calls the priests angels, or says that even the angels themselves ministered to the giving of the Law.

And here he calls Christ the Mediator, showing that He pre-existed, and that He Himself gave the Law.

'Now a mediator is not of one.'

What could the heretics say here? For if the words 'the only true God' do not allow the Son to be true God, then neither is He God at all, because of the saying, 'But God is one.'

But if, though the Father is called one God, the Son too is God, then it is quite evident that, though the Father is called true, the Son too is true.

'But the mediator,' he says, 'is a mediator between two parties.'

Of whom, then, was Christ the mediator? Surely it is plain—of God and of men.

Do you see how he shows that He Himself also gave the Law? If, then, He Himself gave it, He would surely be Lord to abrogate it again.

'Is the Law then against the promises of God?' For if the blessings were given in the seed of Abraham, but the Law brings in a curse, then it is against the promises of God.

How, then, does he resolve the objection? First he denies it, saying:

and then he establishes it, speaking thus:

'For if a law had been given that could make alive, righteousness would indeed have been by the Law.'

'If,' he says, 'we had in it the hope of life, and it were the very thing that held the authority over our salvation, then perhaps you would be speaking rightly;'

'but if it saves by faith, even though it makes men accursed, you have suffered no harm, since faith comes and undoes all.'

For if the promise were through the Law, you would rightly have feared lest you fall from righteousness when you fell away from the Law;

but if it was given for this purpose, to shut up all together—that is, to convict them and to expose their own faults—then it not only does not hinder you from obtaining the promise, but even works together with you toward obtaining it.

'But the Scripture shut up all things under sin, that the

promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.'

For since the Jews did not even perceive their own sins, and those who do not perceive them do not even desire forgiveness, He gave the Law to convict their wounds, that they might long for the physician.

For the word 'shut up' means 'convicted,' and having convicted them, it held them in fear.

Do you see that it is not only not against the promises of God, but was even given for the sake of the promises? For if the Law had laid claim to the matter for itself and to its own authority, these things would have been well said;

but if it runs toward another, and did all things for His sake, how is it against the promises of God? For if the Law had not been given, all would have run aground on wickedness, and no one among the Jews would have been left to give heed to Christ;

but as it is, being given, it accomplished these two things: it trained those who gave heed to a moderate virtue, and persuaded them to know their own sins—which above all made them more eager to seek the Son.

Those, at any rate, who did not believe in Him, failed to believe precisely because they did not condemn their own sins.

For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God.

'But before faith came, we were kept under the Law, shut up unto the faith which was afterward to be revealed to us.'

Do you see how clearly he has set forth the very things we have said? For the words 'we were kept' and 'shut up' signify nothing other than the security that came from the commandments of the Law.

For holding them fast as by fear within a kind of wall, and by the manner of life prescribed under it, the Law preserved them for faith.

'So that the Law was our tutor unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.'

Now the tutor is not opposed to the teacher, but even works together with him, delivering the young man from all wickedness and preparing him with all diligence to receive the lessons from the teacher;

but when he has come to maturity, the tutor thereafter withdraws.

But faith having come, which leads to the perfect man, we are no longer under a tutor.

'For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.'

If, then, the Law is a tutor, and we were kept shut up under it, it is not contrary to grace, but a fellow-worker;

but if, when grace has come, it should persist in holding us fast, then it becomes contrary.

For if it shuts up those who ought to go out to grace, then it ruins our salvation.

For just as the lamp, which gave light in the night, if it should compel a man not to behold the sun when day has come, would not only bestow no favor, but even do harm;

so also the Law, if it becomes a hindrance to the greater things.

Those, therefore, who now keep it are the very ones who most slander it.

For the tutor also makes the young man ridiculous, when, at the time that calls him to depart, he keeps him beside himself.

'But faith having come, you are no longer under a tutor.'

'So that we are no longer under a tutor.'

'For you are all sons of God.'

Wonderful! How great is the power of faith, and how, as he goes on, he unveils it!

For earlier he showed that it made them sons of the patriarch;

'For know,' he says, 'that those who are of faith, these are sons of Abraham;'

but now he declares that they are also sons of God;

'For you are all sons of God,' he says, 'through faith in Christ Jesus.'

'Through faith'—not through the Law.

Then, since he had said something great and marvelous, he tells also the manner of the adoption.

'For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.'

And why did he not say, 'For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, you were born of God'? For this would have been the natural sequel to showing them to be sons.

Because he puts it in a far more awe-inspiring way.

For if Christ is the Son of God, and you have put Him on, having the Son within yourself and being conformed to Him, you have been brought into one kinship and one form.

'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female.'

'For you are all one.'

Do you see an insatiable soul? For having said that we have become sons of God through faith, he does not stop at this, but seeks to find something further, something able to set forth more clearly the closer union with Christ.

And having said, 'You have put Him on,' he is not content even with this expression, but interpreting it he presses further into so close a union, and says, 'You are all one in Christ Jesus.'

That is, you all have one form, one pattern—that of Christ.

What could be more awe-inspiring than these words? He who was formerly a Greek, and a Jew, and a slave goes about bearing the form—not of an angel nor of an archangel, but of the very Master of all—and in himself displaying Christ.

'And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.'

Do you see how what he said before he has now demonstrated concerning the seed—that to him and to his seed the blessings were given? CHAPTER IV

'Now I say, that so long as the heir is a child, he differs in nothing from a slave, though he is lord of all;'

'but he is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.'

'So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world.'

By 'child' here he means not age but disposition, showing that God from the beginning willed to grant these things;

but since we were still too childishly disposed, He allowed us to be under the rudiments of the world—that is, new moons and sabbaths;

for these days come to us from the course of the moon and the sun.

If therefore they now lead you under the law, they do nothing else but bring you back again, even in point of time, into a state prior to the age of maturity.

Do you see how great a thing the observance of days is? It sets the lord, the master of the house, the one who rules over all, in the rank of a servant.

'But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.'

Here he sets down two causes and achievements of the Incarnation—both deliverance from evils and the supply of good things—which it was possible for none but Him alone to accomplish.

And what were these? To be delivered from the curse of the law, and to be brought into the adoption of sons.

For, he says, 'that He might redeem those who were under the law,' and 'that we might receive the adoption of sons.'

Well did he say 'receive back,' showing that it was owed.

For from of old He had promised it, as He Himself also showed through many things—the promises made to Abraham concerning these matters.

'And whence is it plain,' he says, 'that we have become sons?' He stated one way, that we put on Christ who is the Son;

he states also a second, that we received the Spirit of adoption.

'And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying:'

'So that you are no longer a slave, but a son;'

'and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.'

For we could not have called Him Father, unless we had first become sons.

If therefore grace has made us free instead of slaves, mature instead of children, heirs and sons instead of aliens, how is it not absurd and the utmost ingratitude to let go of this and turn back again? 'But at that time, not knowing God, you served those who by nature are no gods;'

'but now, having come to know God, or rather having been known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, to which you wish to be enslaved once more?' Here

directing his words to those who had believed from among the Gentiles, he says that such a thing—the keeping of the observance of days—is idolatry too, and that it now brings a greater punishment.

For this reason too he called the rudiments 'gods,' though not by nature, wishing to establish these very points and to cast them into greater anxiety.

And what he means is this: that at that time, being darkened and living in error, you were dragged along the ground;

but now, when you have come to know God, or rather have been known by Him, how will you not draw upon yourselves a greater and more grievous punishment, if after such care you fall sick again with the same maladies? For it was not you who found God while toiling, but rather you were spending your time in error, and He drew you to Himself.

He calls the rudiments 'weak' and 'beggarly,' because they have no power toward the good things set before us.

'You observe days, and months, and seasons, and years.'

From these things it is plain that those men were preaching to them not circumcision only, but also the feasts and the new moons.

'I am afraid for you, lest perhaps I have labored over you in vain.'

Do you see an apostle's bowels of compassion? They were being shaken, and he trembles and is in dread.

Therefore too he has put it very reproachfully, saying:

'Do not make void for me such sweat as this.'

And having said 'I am afraid,' and having added 'lest perhaps,' he both threw them into anxious striving and led them into good hopes.

For he did not say 'I have labored in vain,' but 'lest perhaps.'

'Not yet,' he says, 'has this shipwreck come to pass, but I still behold the storm laboring toward it.'

'For this reason I am in dread, yet I have not despaired;'

'for you are able to set the whole matter right, and to return to your former calm.'

Then, as if stretching out his hand to men tossed by a storm, he brings himself into the midst, saying:

'Become as I am, for I also am as you are.'

These things are addressed to those from among the Jews.

Therefore too he brings himself into the midst, persuading them thereby to withdraw from the old ways.

For even if you had no one else for an example, it would have sufficed to look to me alone for the sake of this change, and readily to take courage.

For I too suffered these very things of old, and was exceedingly inflamed with zeal for the law; yet nonetheless afterward I was not afraid to let go of the law, nor to depart from that manner of life.

And this you know clearly—how with great excess I clung to Judaism, and how with even greater vehemence I forsook it thereafter.

And well did he place it afterward.

For most men, even if they find countless reasonings, and just ones, are more drawn by one of their own kind, and when they see him doing the same things, hold to those same things all the more.

'Brethren, I beseech you, you have done me no wrong.'

See how again he addresses them with the name of honor;

and this same thing was also a reminder of the grace.

For since he had laid hold of them very sharply, and had on every side compared their affairs, and had shown them to be transgressing the law, and had struck at them from many quarters, he again relaxes and heals them, employing gentler words.

For just as to be forever soothing unnerves, so to be always closely rebuking makes one harsher.

Therefore it is good everywhere to employ due proportion.

See then how he makes his defense to them concerning the things he has said, showing that it was not simply out of hostility to them, but out of care, that he said what he said.

For since he had given a deeper incision, he thereafter pours on this consolation like oil.

And to make it plain that what was said sprang not from hatred nor from enmity, he reminds them of the love he had displayed toward them, and sets forth his defense with praises.

'I beseech you, you have done me no wrong.'

'You know that it was because of an infirmity of the flesh that I preached the gospel to you at the first;'

'and my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise.'

But it is not yet a great thing, this—to have done no wrong;

and yet not even an ordinary man

would wish to injure one who had done him no wrong, and to grieve him rashly and without cause.

But you not only did no wrong, but also displayed great and unspeakable goodwill;

and it is not possible that one who has enjoyed such tender care should speak these things out of ill will.

It is not, therefore, out of hostility that I say these things;

It remains, out of tender affection and watchful care.

'I beseech you, you did me no wrong.'

'You know that it was because of an infirmity of my flesh that I preached the gospel to you.'

There is nothing more gentle than that holy soul, nothing sweeter or more tenderly loving.

Therefore neither were his former words the fruit of unreasoning wrath, nor of any passion of the soul, but of much watchful care.

And why do I say, 'You did me no wrong'? Nay, rather you showed much and genuine zeal on my behalf.

'For you know,' he says, 'that it was because of an infirmity of the flesh that I preached the gospel to you; and my trial that was in my flesh you did not despise nor reject.'

What is it that he means? 'I was driven out,' he says, 'I was scourged, I endured a thousand deaths while preaching to you, and not even so did you despise me.'

For this is the meaning of, 'My trial that was in my flesh you did not despise nor reject.'

Do you see his spiritual understanding? For even under the guise of an apology he again puts them to shame, showing how much he suffered for their sake.

'But nevertheless,' he says, 'none of this made you stumble, nor did you reject me on account of my sufferings and persecutions;'

for these things he calls an infirmity and a trial.

'But you received me as an angel of God.'

How then is it not absurd, that while I was persecuted and driven out you received me as an angel of God, yet when I exhort you to what is needful you do not receive me? What then was your blessedness? 'For I bear you witness, that, if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.'

'So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?' Here he is at a loss and astounded, and seeks to learn from them the cause of the change.

'For who has deceived you,' he says, 'and persuaded you to be otherwise disposed toward us?'

Are you not the very ones who cherished and tended me, and held me more precious than your own eyes? What then has happened? Whence this enmity, whence this suspicion? Is it because I told you the truth? For that very reason you ought all the more to honour and tend me.

'But now I have become your enemy by telling you the truth.'

'For I,' he says, 'know of no other cause than my telling you the truth.'

And observe with how great humility he makes his defence.

For it is not from what he displayed toward them, but from what they themselves displayed toward him, that he shows it to be impossible that these things should be spoken out of ill will.

And how is it possible that he who was scourged, who was driven out, who suffered ten thousand things for your sake, should now be plotting against you? But from those very things in which they might glory, from these he reasons, saying:

how is it possible that one who was honoured by you, who was received as an angel, should requite you with the opposite? They are zealous over you, not in truth, but they wish to shut you out, that you may be zealous over them.

For there is a good kind of zeal, when one is so zealous as to imitate virtue;

and there is an evil kind of zeal, so as to cast out from virtue him who is doing well;

which very thing these men are now attempting, wishing to cast you out from the perfect knowledge and to lead you into that which is maimed and spurious, for no other reason than that they themselves may sit in the rank of teachers, and may set you, who are now higher than they, in the rank of disciples.

For this he made plain when he said:

'But I, on the contrary,' he says, 'wish you to be better than they, and to become an example to the more perfect.'

'Which indeed came to pass when I was present with you.'

'But it is good to be zealously sought after in a good thing at all times, and not only while I am present with you.'