The Great Commentary (Mossman/Cobb English)

If ye be circumcised , Christ shall profit you nothing . If you trust to circumcision as necessary to salvation, Christ and His religion will be of no avail to you ; but you seem to be putting your trust in this under the tuition of the Judaisers, although you were Gentiles, and baptized as such. Why do you tack on circumcision to baptism now? There can be no other reason for this proceeding except your belief that baptism by itself is insufficient, and needs to be supplemented by circumcision. Certainly you have not the Jews* pretext that they use circumcision in deference to their law. This may be good excuse for them ; it is none for you. USELESSNESS OF THE LAW 309

I testify . He who is circumcised thereby proclaims his allegiance to the Jewish Church, its laws and its obligations, just as one who is baptized does with regard to the Christian Church. The Apostle is seeking to dissuade the Galatians by a reason drawn from the burdensome character of the yoke of the Mosaic law

Christ is become of no c fleet unto you . You are outside the redemption wrought by Christ, deprived of His merits, and void of His grace. Whosoever of you are justified by the law . Who seek for righteousness from circumcision and other legal rites. By distrusting the grace of Christ and preferring the law, you have treated Christ with ingratitude, and in consequence He has withdrawn His grace from you. The Galatians, says S. Paul, were once filled with the grace of Christ, like a well with water ; but they have now emptied it all out, and so lost the fruits of His Passion. Or, to put it in another way, Christ has emptied His Church of them, because of their want of faith. [Note. — The Vulgate rendering here is evacuati estis .] Vatablus [as A.V.] interprets the term to mean that Christ had become of no effect, His labour had been thrown away, His Passion made fruitless by the withdrawal of His grace. The very name of Christian was no longer due to them, and should be dropped ; or if they wished to retain it, they must say farewell to the law. Cf. a similar expression in Rom. vii. 6

For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith . This is to prove that the Judaisers, in seeking to be justified by the law, are no longer Christians ; for we, he says, who are Christians indeed look for the promised righteousness, not from the law, but from the Spirit, through faith in Christ. It is faith which excites hope, and so causes a man to pray for that grace by which we are justified. Some take the hope of righteousness here for eternal glory , which we hope to obtain through righteousness. Others, and better, take it to be that righteousness which we all pray and sigh for, which the Jews seek through their law, and Christians from Christ. 3io THE EPISTLE TO THE

Ye did run well. In the teaching of Christ, as in an arena a runner strives to win the appointed prize. Who did hinder you ? Or, as S. Anselm renders it, Who did bewitch you, to start aside from your Christian course, and to run after Judaism ?

This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you . The counsel given you by the Jews, that the ceremonies of the law are necessary to salvation, cometh not from God the Father, who hath called you through Christ, but from the devil and hk angels. So Anselm

I would that they were even cut off which trouble you. EUNUCHS FOR CHRIST’S SAKE 313 Cut off from the Church and your fellowship, lest they corrupt the whole. Cf. 1 Cor. v. 3. This is the obvious meaning, and one befitting the dignity of an apostolic writer. However, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Jerome, Augustine, and others understand it of the total deprivation of the organ to which circumcision is applied, so as to bring it more closely within the scope of the whole passage, in which circumcision is the main topic. It may be asked how the Apostle can rightly imprecate a curse on the Judaisers, since this is opposed to charity, and is a mark of impatience and of a revengeful temper. “So detestable ,” says Jerome, “is the act of castration^ that whoever inflicts it on a man against his will, or on himself ought to be accounted infamous .” 1. Jerome replies that the Apostle said this as a man and in passion ; but God forbid that an Apostle, and one especially who was moved by the Holy Spirit, should so speak. Accordingly, Jerome gives another answer, according to which, like Peter to Simon Magus (Acts viii. 20), and Elisha to the children who mocked him (2 Kings ii. 24), he spoke, not in anger, but partly in zeal for righteousness, partly in love, and entreated that they might be punished through their sin, />., through circumcision, and so, when punished, be purged of their shame. 2. Chrysostom and Theophylact say that the Apostle is not imprecating a curse, but speaking jestingly, as much as to say, If they insist on it, let them be not only circumcised, but wholly cut off. 3. S. Augustine and Anselm think that there is no curse here but a blessing, as if he were to say, Would that the Jews would become spiritual eunuchs by chastity for the kingdom of heaven’s sake, and cease to preach Jewish circumcision, fixing their thoughts instead on heavenly things, and on the law of Christ, as the way to attain them. Of these three explanations the second of Jerome’s is the best. Origen castrated himself to prevent the motions of lust disturbing his chastity, but, as Chrysostom rightly says, wrongly ; for this is not taught by the Apostle, nor is it the members of the body but our vices that are to be cut off, otherwise it would be lawful to 3 14 THE EPISTLE TO THE destroy our eyes, ears, and tongue. Moreover, castration does not destroy lust, but sometimes increases it, as S. Basil says in his treatise on Virginity. Cf. Ecclus. xx. 2, and xxx. 2 1. Which trouble you . Who would rob you of your evangelical liberty

Ye have been called unto liberty . Liberty from the burden of so many useless ceremonies of the law. Christian liberty throughout the Epistle is contrasted with Jewish slavery. It is obvious, therefore, how grossly the Protestants pervert the Apostle’s words, when they argue from this that Christians are free from all positive law, and owe no obedience to prelates, to magistrates, or to parents. This is contrary to the law of nature and the Decalogue, subversive of all civil government, of all ecclesiastical order, of all human society. There has never been a nation, however barbarous, without its magistrates and laws, nor without them could the peace be kept, nor any nation continue, as all nations have clearly seen. If once men are persuaded that the civil or the ecclesiastical law does not oblige in conscience, but only as its sanctions constrain our fears, they will violate the law without any scruple, whenever they think it safe to do so. Accordingly, Christ, Paul, and the Apostles in general frequently order Christians to obey Caesar and other unbelieving magistrates, not only for wrath’s sake, but also for conscience’ sake. Cf. Rom. xiii. 5. It may be objected that at all events, by parity of reasoning, Christians, since they live under a law of liberty, ought to be free from subjection to so many canons and rules, the burden of which is equal to that imposed by the older law. I answer that no just comparison can be drawn — (1.) Because the laws of the Church, so far as they concern the laity, are much fewer in number, and are all reducible to the five precepts of the Church. The canons, it is true, which deal with the clergy, are more numerous, but no one is obliged by them unless he, of his own free will, chooses to become a clerk. Moreover, it is the duty of the Pope and the Bishops to see that the number of canons and censures be reduced rather than added to. Many men of unquestioned piety are anxious CHRISTIAN LIBERTY 315 lest too heavy a burden of rules be laid on the clergy, and so become a snare to them. (2.) Because the older laws were more burdensome and more difficult of observance, as may be seen in the number of sacrifices and lustrations. (3.) Because they were shadows of the laws of the New Testament. These latter, therefore, as being of easier observance, succeed to the former ; and, surely, it is better to serve the reality than to serve shadows. (4.) The older laws were unable to excite internal piety, and could only keep the people from idolatry, as the Fathers lay down unanimously; but the laws of the Church are ordained for the special purpose of exciting piety, as is clearly shown by the laws about fasting, hearing Mass, confessing, and communicating. Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh . Do not (as the Protestants in our time are doing) use your freedom from Jewish ceremonies as an excuse for rushing into the lusts of the flesh. Do not let the flesh take what the Jew has been forced to give up. But by love serve one another . As Chrysostom says : “ Having removed one yoke, he, lest they should wax wanton , imposes another, the yoke of charity, so much the more strong as it is more light and pleasant. ” Do not, says the Apostle, serve ceremonies, nor yet the flesh ; I would have you free from both, and subject to one another through the spirit of love. The love of the Spirit is opposed to that love of the flesh so much boasted of by Adamites and other obscene sectaries. 1. The Apostle, as Chrysostom says, here cuts at the root of the evil, viz., the heresy and schism which induced some of the Galatians to try and draw others away to Judaism, and declares it to be pride and the love of power. He then applies the remedy, viz., charity. “ Since you have been torn asunder, while you were trying to get the mastery one over the other, now serve one another and return to unity . As fire melts wax, so does love more readily disperse all pride and arrogance ” (Chrysostom in loco). 2. - Chrysostom does not here say love one another, but serve one anothet, because charity makes men servants, not by compulsion, but by glad choice, even to the extent of performing the meanest services 316 the EPISTLE TO THE for the poor and the afflicted. This holy and free service is not bondage, but a noble freedom, to be sought for by all Christians. 3. From the liberty of the law and the liberty of the flesh the Apostle now passes, by an easy transition, to the second part of the Epistle. From doctrine he proceeds to morals, with the view of improving the conduct of the Galatians

For all the law is fulfilled in one word. That is, the whole law so far as it concerns our neighbour, or according to what was said in the preceding verse, as we serve one another. Cf. Rom. xiii. 8. S. Augustine (de Trin . lib. viii.), S. Thomas, Anselm, however, say that the who’e law rests on the love of God or of our neighbour, but that the latter presupposes the former, inasmuch as our neighbour is to be loved for the sake of God. Therefore he who loves his neighbour both fulfils the law, which says, Thou shall love thy neighbour , and also loves God and fulfils the law, which says, Thou shall love the Lord thy God. Ver. 1 5. — But if ye bite and devour one another. Beware, if you attack one another with calumnies, lest you be mutually consumed. Two men calumniating and enviously pursuing each other are like two dogs fighting, and biting each other. They consume each other, nay, they devour themselves. Well said the poet : “ Than envy nothing is more just f for it forthwith bites and tortures its author .” And therefore : “ Than envy not even Sicilian tyrants have found a greater torment” See my notes on Phil. i. 18, where I enumerate the properties of envy. Wisely and piously said S. Augustine {Sent. 179) : “ To a religious man it ought to be little not to excite enmities , or to excite them only by awkivard speech ; he ought to strive to extinguish them by seasonable discourse.”

I say then y Walk in the Spirit. The summary, the one aim of the whole of this Epistle, is this : Walk not in the law, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit The root of all your trouble is want of the Spirit: if you had Him, you would shut out as well the legal as the carnal life. To walk in the Spirit is to order our whole life after the impulse of the Spirit, who inspires us to works of piety, to prayer, faith, THE FLESH AND THE SPIRIT 317 charity, and works of mercy. This Spirit the Apostles received abundantly at Pentecost, as did the first Christians, and they added to the gift they then received by loyally following His workings, by labouring and suffering everything, if only they might bring others to Christ, by fiery charity and burning zeaL Whither has fled that Spirit now? Lord Jesus, kindle in us that fire which Thou earnest to send on earth, and which Thou didst will to bum vehemently

The flesh lusteth against the Spirit. From this the Manichaeans inferred that man has two souls— one spiritual, which is good and the gift of a good god, and another carnal, which is evil and the gift of an evil god. Some philosophers, too, hold that man has two souls — one sensational, by which he feels, eats, and generates as do the beasts; and another rational, by which he reasons and understands as do the angels ; and they depend for this conclusion on the contrary appetites and mental operations found in the same individual 1. But it is certain that in man there is but one soul, and that a rational one, but which also in a special degree embraces vegetative and sensational powers. Hence, as man has in him both sets of powers, it is no wonder if he experiences contrary appetites, carrying him to diverse objects, and exciting him to action when they are present. In its powers the soul of man is twofold or rather threefold. 2. The word flesh stands by metonymy for that concupiscence which is in the flesh, impressing on it its own ideas and desires. 3. This concupiscence resides not only in the sensitive appetite, but also in the rational, as S. Augustine points out (Con/, viii. 5) ; for as in the domain of desire it excites the appetites of hunger and procreation, in the domain of self-protective instinct the passions of envy and hatred, so in the domain of reason it arouses the desire to excel and the spirit of curiosity. All our mental powers are infected by the leaven of original sin, but they are described as the flesh, because the desires of the flesh are those that are most frequently and most violently aroused, and so are 3 1 8 THE EPISTLE TO THE the principal part of our desires, and give their name to the whole. Hence the Apostle uses the phrase “ works of the flesh,” i,e., of concupiscence, not only for fornication, drunkenness, and revellings, which are strictly fleshly sins, but also for such things as the service of idols and envy, which are strictly sins of the rational part of our nature. 4. The flesh lusieth against the Spirit , because it lusteth for carnal things, and the Spirit against the flesh , because it desires spiritual goods. This warfare is carried on within between the flesh and the Spirit; their forces are marshalled by the Apostle when he says, on the one side, The works of the flesh are manifest , which are these, &c., and on the other, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, &c. Prudentius gives a vivid description of this warfare in his Psychomachia, and S. Augustine in his “ Confessions ” (viii. 11). Cassian ( Col/at , iv. 11) describes it as follows: “ The flesh delights in lust and lasciviousness ; the spirit can hardly be brought to acknowledge the existence of these natural desires. The flesh seeks for sleep and food ; the spirit is so engaged in fasting and watching that with difficulty it brings itself to consent to the necessities of nature. The flesh would abound in this worlds goods; the spirit is content with the slenderest provision of daily bread. The flesh loves the baths , and troops of flatterers ; the spirit rejoices in squalor, and in the silence of the desert. The flesh is fed on honours and praises ; the spirit joys in the persecutions and injuries inflicted on it,” See to the motives of grace and of nature depicted by Thomas k Kempis in his “Imitation of Christ” (lib. iii. c. 59), in his own simple but vigorous style. The Abbot Pamenius, in his “Lives of the Fathers” (vii. 27), rightly describes concupiscence as an evil will, a devil attacking us; or, as Abbot Achilles in the same passage puts it, as <z handle of the devil, Augustine at one time thought that this warfare was waged in a sinner under the law, not in one living under grace ; but he afterwards modified this opinion ( Retract . i. 24). It is beyond question that it is found in the Saints, nay, is the more fierce in proportion as they strive to live more spiritually. Accordingly, S. Augustine says THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT 319 (Serm. 43 de Verbis Domini) : “ The Spirit lusteth against the flesh in good men, not in evil men , who have not the Spirit of God for the flesh to lust against Again, commenting on Ps. lxxvi. 2. (A.V.), S. Augustine says : “ You have to meet an attack not only from the wiles of the devils but also from within yourself— against your bad habits , against your old evil life, which is ever drawing you to its wonted courses . On the other hand you are held back by the new life , while you still belong to the old '. Hence you are lifted up by the joy of the new, you are weighed down by the burden of the old The war is against yourself ; but just where it is irksome to yourself it is pleasing to God, and where it is pleasing to God you gain power to conquer, jor He is with you who overcometh all things. Hear what the Apostle saitk: * With my mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.’ How with the mind l Because your evil life is hateful to you. How with the flesh l Because you are beset by evil suggestions and delights. But from union with God comes victory. In part you go before; in part you follow after. Betake yourself to Him who will lift you up. Being weighed down with the burden of the old man, cry aloud and say : i O wretched man that I am ; who shall deliver me from the body of this death, from the burden which is weighing me down ' —for the body which is corrupted weigheth down the soul. But why is this warfare permitted to last so long, even till all evil lusts are swallowed up l It is that you may understand that the punishment is in yourself Your scourge is in yourself , and proceeds from yourself , and therefore your quarrel is against yourself. This is the penalty imposed on any one who rebels against God, that as he would not have peace with God he shall have war within himself But do you hold your members bound against your evil lusts. If anger, for example, is roused, remain close to God and hold your hand. It will not do more than rise if it finds no weapons. The attack is on the side of anger ; the arms, however, are with you ; let the attacking force find no arms, and he will soon learn not to rise if he finds that his rising is to no purpose .” Cf. my comments on Rom. vii. in fine. These are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the 320 THE EPISTLE TO THE things that ye would. You would wish to be free from the feelings of lust, anger, and gluttony, so as not to be hindered from charity, temperance, chastity, and prayer ; and yet you are not free, nor can be free in this life. Or, on the other hand, you would wish to do cheerfully heroic deeds of virtue, but often you cannot, because the flesh is contrary. Anselm well says : “ Your lusts do not allow you to do what you wish ; do not permit them to do what they wish , and then neither you nor they will attain your ends . Although lusts rise in you, yet they are not consummated if you withhold your consent Jn the same way, though there may be in you good works of the Spirit , yet they are not consummated either, because you cannot do them cheerfully and perfectly, while you have the pain of resisting your lusts." Ver. 1 8 .— But if ye are led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law . This anticipates a possible objection of the Galatians that they had apparently only exchanged one yoke for another heavier one, under which they had constantly to fight a tedious and irksome battle. The Apostle replies to this that if they were led by the Spirit they were not the slaves of concupiscence but its masters, and so were not under the law, inasmuch as they kept its provisions not from fear, but by spontaneously doing what it bade, and restraining the motions of concupiscence forbidden by it The Galatians were not, says S. Paul, under the law as a compelling force, still less under it as accusing and condemning, but they were under it as binding the conscience. Even so, however, they kept the law of their own accord, and so might be said to be outside the law, or above the law ; not under it, but rather under the Spirit. This is why, after enumerating the fruits of the Spirit, he adds, Against such there is no law

The works of the flesh are manifest. The works that spring from the flesh, i.e., from concupiscence, as I said in the note to ver. 17. Fornication. On the works of the flesh in detail, see Jerome^ Anselm, and S. Thomas. Uncleanness. Effeminacy. The effeminate are guilty of mutual pollution, contrary to the instincts of nature. LUSTS OF THE FLESH 321 Lasciviousness. Any wanton, and, according to Jerome, extraordinary form of lust. He adds : “ The works of the married even, if not done with delicacy and modesty , as in the sight of God and if merely for the procreation of children , come under the Apostlds description of uncleanness and lasciviousness” This, of course, must be understood of mortal sin ; cf., e.g., the act of matrimony is performed otherwise than nature dictates, or if its consummation is purposely prevented ; for then both are guilty of mortal sin, excluding them from the Kingdom of heaven. Otherwise lust in the married is only venial

Bevellings . This seems to teach that immoderate indulgence in the pleasures of the table is a mortal sin, as it excludes from the Kingdom of heaven. On this I remark that some theologians hold from this verse that gluttony and lust are mortal sins, not only if they impair the use of reason, but if they be excessive. They rely on the case of the rich man in the parable, who was condemned, not because he was a drunkard, but because he fared sumptuously every day; on the words of Isaiah (v. 22), where woe , i.e., eternal damnation, is threatened against those who are mighty to drink strong drink ; on the fact that excess in eating may be more than bestial ; and they ask why should gluttony, so degrading to reason as it is, not be a mortal sin, if pollution is. But the common opinion of doctors is in favour of a milder view, viz., that excess in eating is not a deadly sin, except when it seriously impairs the health, or causes some disease ; or when a man eats with the object of vomiting, so as to commence again — and even this some hold to be not a deadly sin. VOL. 11. x 322 THE EPISTLE TO THE . Note that revellings represents the Greek word #cwfw>i, which stands for the lascivious words and actions of drunkards, for obscene songs, dances, and kisses. Hence Bacchus is called Comus, and Kw/uu^€tv is to revel, or to be wanton. Cf. notes to Rom. xiii. 13. 2. If the word is to be understood of banquetings, then it must be also understood of them in their most extreme and finished form, when men sit at table till they are overcome with excess. C£ Isa. xxviii. 8. As in the preceding words the Apostle subjoins variance to wrath, and heresies to seditions, and murders to envyings, so here he subjoins revellings to drunkenness, the second member in each case showing what the first tends to end in. Cf. Prov. xxiil 20. 1. As to the opinions referred to above, I remark as follows : (a) to fare sumptuously is by itself a venial sin, and becomes mortal only when it leads to vomiting and similar excesses. ( b ) It also becomes a mortal sin per accidens , /.*, when it is united to drunkenness, lust, slander, cruelty, and contempt for the poor. This last was the sin of Dives. 2. The denunciation of Isa. v. 22 is directed against those who mix their drinks so as to make them more intoxicating, and who make a point of making themselves and their guests drunken, and think their hospitality disgraced if they fail in this. 3. Undoubtedly gluttony is a base thing in itself, but so are all our bodily functions ; but they are not entirely contrary to right reason, unless indeed they deprive reason of its power to act The case is different with aberrations of the generative powers. The act of copulation is ordained for a special end, and in its proper method. To defeat this, or to elude the end, is to go contrary to the workings of God, and is therefore a deadly sin

Let us not be desirous of vain-glory. Whoever seeks the praises of men seeks a vain thing. He pursues a bubble, swollen by wind, but void of all substance. The only true and lasting glory which alone can satisfy the mind, is with God. S. Jerome says : “ They are desirous of solid glory who seek the approval of God> and that praise which is due to virtue .” Provoking one another. To broils, lawsuits, and other contests. The thirst for praise and eminence gives birth to these rivalries and to envy : while Pompey will not brook an equal, nor Caesar a superior. CHAPTER VI I He moveth them to deal mildly with a brother that had slipped, 2 and to bear one another* s burden : 6 to be liberal to their teachers , 9 and not weary of well' doing, 12 He sheweth what they intend that preach sfrcumcision . 14 He glorieth in nothing , save in the cross of Christ . B RETHREN, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness ; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. 4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. 5 For every man shall bear his own burden. 6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. 7 Be not deceived 5 God is not mocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9 And let us not be weary in well-doing : for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. 1 1 Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. 12 As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised ; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law ; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. 14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uBchrcumcision, but a new creature. 16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. 17 From henceforth let no man trouble me : for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. 18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. U Unto the Galatians written from Rome. 3*7 328 THE EPISTLE TO THE SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER i. He exhorts the Galatians to good works, especially works of mercy towards Christians, particularly doctors and catechists. He bids them not to seek for the praise of men, but to study to sow seeds of good works, from which they may reap eternal life. ii. He opposes (ver. 12) his own glorying in the Cross of Christ to that of the Jews in circumcision