Thomas Aquinas

Above, the Apostle rebuked the Galatians for fickleness of mind, because they had so quickly abandoned the teaching of the Gospel; but here he shows the dignity of the evangelical teaching itself. And concerning this he does two things. For first he commends the authority of the evangelical teaching in itself; second, on the part of the other apostles, and his own together, in chapter 2, where it says "Then after fourteen years," etc. Again the first part is divided into two, for first he sets forth his intention; second he makes clear his proposal, where it says "For you have heard," etc. Concerning the first he does two things. First he sets forth what he intends; second he proves what he proposes, where it says "For neither," etc.

Intending, therefore, to commend the truth of the evangelical teaching, he says "I make known to you," etc., as if to say: I am so certain of the authority of the Gospel that I would not believe anything contrary not only from men but even from angels; rather, if they were contrary, I would anathematize them. And indeed I have this certitude from this, that God is to be believed more than men, or angels. And therefore, since I have had that Gospel from God, I ought to have and do have the greatest certitude. And therefore he says: "For I make known to you, brothers, the Gospel which was preached by me to you and to the other churches, that it is not according to man" — that is, according to human nature discordant from the rule or revelation of God. And thus the phrase "according to man" here sounds in the sense of a vice. 1 Corinthians 3:3: "For since there is among you jealousy and contention," etc. And thus the Apostle takes it here. And therefore he says "not according to man" teaching me or sending me: as if to say: in no way can this Gospel be had from man, but from God.

And therefore he adds "For neither did I from man," etc., where he excludes a twofold manner of receiving. First, that he did not have from man the authority of evangelizing, and as to this he says "neither from man" — namely, mere man — "did I receive it," that is, the authority of preaching the Gospel, but from Christ. Romans 10:15: "How shall they preach unless they be sent?" Isaiah 42:6: "I have given you as a light of the nations," etc. Acts 9:15: "This man is a vessel of election to me," etc. Second, that he did not receive the knowledge of evangelizing from man. And therefore he says "neither did I learn it" — namely, the Gospel — through a mere man, but "through the revelation of Jesus Christ," that is, through Jesus Christ showing all things clearly. 1 Corinthians 2:10: "But to us God has revealed," etc. Isaiah 50:5: "The Lord God has opened my ear," etc. And in the same place, 4: "The Lord has given me a learned tongue, that I should know," etc. But this revelation was made to the Apostle when he was caught up into Paradise, where he heard secret words which it is not lawful for a man to speak, 2 Corinthians 12:4.

Consequently, when he says "For you have heard," etc., he proves his proposition, namely that he did not receive the Gospel from man, neither before his conversion nor after his conversion to Christ, where it says "For when it pleased," etc. That he did not receive it from man before his conversion, he shows both through the hatred which he had for the faith of Christ and for Christians, and through the fervor which he had for Judaism, where it says "And I was advancing," etc.

He says therefore: I say that I did not receive it from man, and this before my conversion, which is clear from the deeds of that time, and from the hatred which I had toward the faith. For you yourselves have heard — below, in the same place: "but they had only heard," etc. — "my former manner of life," when I was an unbeliever, "in Judaism," in which I lived as a Jew. And he says "my," because whatever evil we do is from ourselves, but whatever good we do is from God. Hosea 13:9: "Your destruction is from you, O Israel; only in me is your help." This, namely, you have heard: "that beyond measure" — namely, beyond that of others — because not only by himself, but he provoked the rulers to this. For others, perhaps, being induced by the rulers, persecuted; but this man induced them. Acts 9:1: "Saul, still breathing out threats," etc., "went to," etc. And this not only in Jerusalem, but also through the whole region. Whence "he received letters to Damascus," etc. Whence that which is said in Genesis 49:27 can be understood of him: "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf," etc.

"I persecuted the Church of God," namely by seeking out Christians and putting them to flight. 1 Corinthians 15:9: "I am not worthy to be called an apostle," etc. "And I laid waste it" — not indeed spiritually, since he could not turn the hearts of the faithful away from the faith, but bodily, by afflicting them with bodily punishments, and by putting them in prison. Acts 9:21: "Is not this he who," etc. Psalm 128:1: "Often have they fought against me," etc. Thus therefore it is clear, through the hatred which he had for the faith of Christ before his conversion, that he did not receive the Gospel from man.

This is also clear through the love and fervor of zeal which he had for Judaism, and this as to outward advancement. Whence he says "and I advanced," etc., where he sets down three things which express the magnitude of his advancement: because "above many" — he advanced above many, not above few; not above old men unfit for advancement in knowledge, but "those of his own age," namely young men, sharp and apt for advancement. Lamentations 3:27: "It is good for a man when he has borne the yoke from his youth." Likewise not above those of his own age who were foreigners, as of an unknown tongue, but "those who are of my own race," namely of the Jews. Acts 22:3: "I am a Jewish man, educated at the feet of Gamaliel," etc. Likewise as to the interior zeal which he had for the law.

And therefore he says "being more abundantly a zealot than others" — not only of the law, but "of my paternal traditions," namely those which the Jews hold as lawful, which good fathers added, as is said in the Gloss; which traditions indeed he calls his own, because he so reckoned them, as if they had been his own. Philippians 3:5: "According to the law a Pharisee, according to zeal persecuting," etc.

But there is a question concerning what the Gloss says: "good fathers added." It seems that they were not good, because in Deuteronomy 4:2 it is said: "You shall not add to the word which I speak to you," etc. Therefore they acted against the commandment of the Lord, adding traditions, and thus they were not good. It must be said that this word of the Lord is to be understood thus: you shall not add anything contrary to, or foreign to, the words which I speak, etc. But to add certain things which are not contrary was lawful for them — namely, certain solemn days and other similar things, as was done in the time of Mordecai, and in the time of Judith, in memory of the benefits which they received from God. On the contrary, in Matthew 15:6, the Lord reproves them, saying: "You have made void the commandment of the Lord for the sake of the traditions of men." Therefore traditions are not lawful. I respond: it must be said that they are not reproved because they hold the traditions of men, but because on account of the traditions of men they abandon the commandments of God.