Galatians 4:8–21

When, however, he says, "you were in servitude to those who are by nature no gods," he sufficiently proves that one true God is God by nature, by whose name the triune God is received in the most faithful and catholic bosom of the heart. "Those who are by nature no gods" are described by him as governors and overseers. There is no creature, whether it abides in truth by giving glory to God or fails to abide in truth by seeking its own glory—there is, I say, no creature that does not willy-nilly serve divine providence.… But, just as the magistrate under the imperial law does nothing but what is permitted to him, so the governors and overseers of this world do nothing but whatever God allows.

Not to know God is not to know Christ, for God is known through Christ. But now, since Christ has appeared, who has taught me and has revealed God through himself—both himself as God and the Father through himself—it is no longer permitted not to know God.

These [heretics now referred to], being the disciples of those mentioned, render such as assent to them worse than the heathen. For the former "serve the creature rather than the Creator," and "those which are not gods," notwithstanding that they ascribe the first place in Deity to that God who was the Maker of this universe. But the latter maintain that He, [i.e., the Creator of this world,] is the fruit of a defect, and describe Him as being of an animal nature, and as not knowing that Power which is above Him, while He also exclaims, "I am God, and besides Me there is no other God." Affirming that He lies, they are themselves liars, attributing all sorts of wickedness to Him; and conceiving of one who is not above this Being as really having an existence, they are thus convicted by their own views of blasphemy against that God who really exists, while they conjure into existence a god who has no existence, to their own condemnation. And thus those who declare themselves "perfect," and as being possessed of the knowledge of all things, are found to be worse than the heathen, and to entertain more blasphemous opinions even against their own Creator.

And the Apostle Paul also, saying, "For though ye have served them which are no gods; ye now know God, or rather, are known of God," has made a separation between those that were not [gods] and Him who is God. And again, speaking of Antichrist, he says, "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped." He points out here those who are called gods, by such as know not God, that is, idols. For the Father of all is called God, and is so; and Antichrist shall be lifted up, not above Him, but above those which are indeed called gods, but are not. And Paul himself says that this is true: "We know that an idol is nothing, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth; yet to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we through Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him." For he has made a distinction, and separated those which are indeed called gods, but which are none, from the one God the Father, from whom are all things, and, he has confessed in the most decided manner in his own person, one Lord Jesus Christ.

(Verse 8, 9) But at that time, not knowing God, you served those who by nature are not gods. But now, knowing God, or rather being known by God, how are you turning again to the weak and impoverished elemental forces, to which you desire to be enslaved again? He reproves the Galatians for having turned from the worship of idols to the true faith of God, and asks how they, after abandoning the idols which are not gods by nature, and knowing God, or rather being known by Him, and even receiving the Spirit of adoption, can return as it were to their earlier state of infancy, desiring to be under tutors and guardians, and enslaved again to weak and impoverished elemental forces, which were given to the weak and impoverished people in the desert because they could not bear greater things. However, the same elements that he now called weak and needy, he placed only above the elements of the world. And where the elements of the world are mentioned, there it is not added, weak and needy. Hence again, where they are called weak, world, as we said above, is a silent name. Therefore, I think as long as someone is little and has not fulfilled the appointed time by the father, so that he may be called a son and heir, he is under the elements of the world, namely the Law of Moses. But when he returned to the Law, which he owed to his son after his freedom, desiring to be circumcised and to follow the whole letter of Jewish superstition, then those things which had previously been the elements of the world for him are also called weak and needy beginnings. For they are so useless to their worshippers that they are not even able to provide them with what they had previously bestowed, Jerusalem, with the temple and altar destroyed. Let someone respond and say: If the laws and commandments written in the Law are weak and needy elements, and those who have come to know God, or rather, have been known by Him, should not observe the Law (so that they do not begin to worship not so much the God by whom they have been known, but rather those who are not gods by nature), then did Moses and the prophets observe the Law, and yet did not come to know God, nor were they known by Him? Or if they did come to know God, they certainly did not fulfill the commands of the Law. To say that both are dangerous: either they did not do what the Law commands, and thus they have come to know God, or they do not know God while they keep the weak and poor elements of the Law. And this can be resolved by saying that they, like Paul, became a Jew to the Jews in order to win Jews over (1 Corinthians 9), and according to a vow he had taken, he shaved his head in Cenchrea (Acts 18), and in Jerusalem he practiced barefoot and baldness in the temple to appease the jealousy of those who had been taught about him, because he was accused of acting against the Law of Moses and God's prophets. In this way, holy men also did the things that the Law required, but they followed the spirit of the Law more than the letter. Those who, like Abraham, desired to see the day of Christ and rejoiced when the veil was lifted, were made weak to make the weak people strong, so that they could separate them from the idols to which they had become accustomed in Egypt, as if they themselves were under the Law. For it is absurd to think that Moses and the other speakers of God were in such a condition that we should not believe them, and that the appointed time came from the Father, and that they were redeemed from legal bondage, and obtained the adoption of sons, and inherited with Christ. For whatever wisdom God bestowed on the entire human race like a beloved Son, He has also generously bestowed the same wisdom to each of the saints in their own order and dispensation. Heretics find an opportunity to criticize the Creator by calling the Law of Moses weak and inadequate, because He created the world and established the Law. To them, we will respond with what we have already said, that those who return to those weak and inadequate elements after the grace of the Gospel are truly weak and inadequate themselves. But before the appointed time came from the Father, the elements were called not so much weak and needy as the world. Finally, before the Gospel of Christ spread throughout the whole world, they had their own brightness with the commands of the Law. But after the greater light of the grace of the Gospel shone forth, and the sun of justice revealed itself to the whole world, the light of the stars was hidden and their rays grew dim, so that the Apostle says elsewhere: For that which was glorified had no glory in this part, by reason of the excellent glory (2 Corinthians 3). What he is now saying in other words, in order to say that the Law of Moses, which was rich, wealthy, and glorious before the Gospel, became weak, poor, diminished, and destroyed after the advent of Christ, who was greater than Solomon, the temple, and Jonah. For what is written, 'He must increase, but I must decrease' (John 3:30): I believe this is said not so much by John as by the representative of the Law, because the lesser always yield to the greater, and the perfect is always preferred to the beginnings. But indeed, we will confirm the weak and meager elements, the traditions of the Jews, and the letter of low intelligence, which are not good justifications and not good precepts. For truly, the strong and rich understanding of the Law is spiritual, so that it should not be called a mere element, or rather, it should be compared to the future age and the life in Christ Jesus, in which the angels and heavenly powers now live. But in comparison to the Jewish mind, it is called not so much the beginning as the fulfillment. And when he says, 'Now that you know God, or rather are known by Him,' he shows that after the worship of idols, the Galatians understood God, or rather were considered worthy of knowing Him. Not because God, the Creator of all things, is ignorant of anything; but because it is said that they alone know who have changed error for piety. The Lord knows those who are His (II Tim. II, 19). And the Savior in the Gospel: I am the good shepherd, and I know mine, and mine know me (John X, 14). On the other hand, to the wicked: I do not know you, depart from me, workers of iniquity (Luke XIII, 27). And to the foolish virgins: I do not know you, (Matth. XXV, 12).

Here turning to the Gentile believers he says that it is an idolatry, this rigid observance of days, and now incurs a severe punishment. To enforce this, and inspire them with a deeper anxiety, he calls the elements "not by nature Gods." And his meaning is,-Then indeed, as being benighted and bewildered, ye lay grovelling upon the earth, but now that ye have known God or rather are known of Him, how great and bitter will be the chastisement ye draw upon you, if, after such a treatment, ye relapse into the same disease. It was not by your own pains that ye found out God, but while ye continued in error, He drew you to Himself. He says "weak and beggarly rudiments," in that they avail nothing towards the good things held out to us.

For the Jews say, that from the beginning God sanctified the seventh day, by resting on it from all His works which He made; and that thence it was, likewise, that Moses said to the People: "Remember the day of the sabbaths, to sanctify it: every servile work ye shall not do therein, except what pertaineth unto life." Whence we (Christians) understand that we still more ought to observe a sabbath from all "servile work" always, and not only every seventh day, but through all time.

He did not therefore seek, by any depreciation of the mundane elements, to turn them away from their god, although, when he said just before, "Howbeit, then, ye serve them which by nature are no gods," he censured the error of that physical or natural superstition which holds the elements to be god; but at the God of those elements he aimed not in this censure.

Here he addresses those who believed from among the Gentiles, showing that the observance of days is idolatry and that they sin more than before. Previously, he says, you at least did not know God, since you lived in darkness and error and because of this served the sun and the moon, which by nature are not gods, but now, after coming to know the truth, if you were to observe days, this would be nothing other than service to the elements — an impiety even worse.

Having disclosed the pre-eminence of the gift of grace and explained it with a human example, the Apostle here censures the Galatians, who scorned this grace, for being ungrateful for so great a gift.

First, he censures them for ingratitude;

Secondly, he excuses himself, explaining that he does not do this out of hatred or spite (v. 12b).

As to the first he does three things:

First, he calls to mind their earlier state;

Secondly, he extols and commends the gift they have received (v. 9);

Thirdly, he amplifies the sin committed (v. 9): "how turn you again to the weak and needy elements?"

He says therefore: "But then indeed, not knowing God, you served them who, by nature, are not gods." As if to say: You are now sons and heirs through God; but then indeed, when you were heathens—"You were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord" (Eph 5:8)—not knowing God, through lack of faith, you served with the worship of latria, them who by nature are not gods, but by the opinion of men: "You know that when you were heathens, you went to dumb idols, according as you were led" (1 Cor 12:2); "They served the creature rather than the Creator." (Rom 1:25). His statement, "who by nature are not gods," serves to refute the Arians who said that Christ, the Son of God, is not God by nature. For if this were true, it would not be right to render Him latria, and whoever rendered it would be an idolater.

But someone might object that we adore the flesh and humanity of Christ; consequently, we are idolaters. I answer that even though we adore the flesh or humanity of Christ, we adore it as united to the person of the divine Word, Who is a divine hypostasis. Hence, since adoration is due to a person of the divine nature, whatever is adored in Christ is done without error.

Wherefore knowledge was taken from them, because seeing they overlooked, and hearing they heard not. But to you, the converted of the Gentiles, is the kingdom given, because you, who knew not God, have believed by preaching, and "have known Him, or rather are known of Him," through Jesus, the Saviour and Redeemer of those that hope in Him. For ye are translated from your former vain and tedious mode of life and have contemned the lifeless idols, and despised the demons, which are in darkness, and have run to the "true light," and by it have "known the one and only true God and Father," and so are owned to be heirs of His kingdom.

What follows, as it were, reintroduces a question that has already been explored. Through the whole letter he has shown that no one has disturbed the faith of the Galatians except those who were of the circumcision, who wished to lead them into carnal observations of the law as though salvation were in them. In this place alone he seems to speak to those who were attempting to return to Gentile superstitions.… For in saying "you have reverted," since he is speaking not to the circumcised but to Gentiles, as appears in the whole letter, he does not say at all that they have reverted to circumcision, in which they had never been, but he says "to the weak and beggarly elements," which you wish to serve again as before.

[Responding to the question "If it is true that one has only to want God enough in order to find Him, how can I make myself want Him enough to enable myself to find Him?"]

If you don't want God, why are you so anxious to want to want Him? I think that in reality the want is a real one, and I should say that this person has in fact found God, although it may not be fully recognized yet. We are not always aware of things at the time they happen. At any rate, what is more important is that God has found this person, and that is the main thing.

He preserves the essence of his own teaching, that those who come to Christ are the ones whom God sends and God calls, and those who know God are the ones that God knows.… For those who are known of God receive the Spirit by which they know God.

When he introduces the "beggarly elements of this world," this seems rather to concern the pagans, who make gods for themselves even from the elements of this world.… Since, however, the whole of his discourse and the whole of this treatise were undertaken to reprimand the Galatians for their conversion to Judaism, and all these things are to be understood of the Jews, how do we understand "you are turned again to the weak"? When therefore he says "the beggarly elements" of this world, he means those who, understanding the law carnally, have clung to the contingent elements of this world. For the flesh is always hungering. It yearns for the sustenance of food and drink and objects of desire, all of which, however, are weak.

For as one who has been thought worthy of a divine and desirable name, in those bonds which I bear about, I commend the Churches, in which I pray for a union both of the flesh and spirit of Jesus Christ, "who is the Saviour of all men, but specially of them that believe;" by whose blood ye were redeemed; by whom ye have known God, or rather have been known by Him; in whom enduring, ye shall escape all the assaults of this world: for "He is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which ye are able."

Now these same elements that he has now styled "weak and beggarly" he called above merely the "elements of the world." … And so I think that so long as someone is an infant … he is subject to the elements, namely, the law of Moses. But when after [receiving] the freedom due to an heir he reverts again to the law, desiring to be circumcised and to follow the whole letter of Jewish legal illusions, then those things that were merely the elements of the world to him before are now said to be "weak and beggarly elements." … The law of Moses, which before was rich, affluent and illustrious, became after Christ's advent and in comparison with him "weak and beggarly." … The "weak and beggarly elements" are those unworthy traditions of the Jews, which interpret according to the letter. They were poor excuses for interpretations and "commandments that were not good."

"But now, having known God." For it is not you, he says, who find God by your own work, but He himself, while you were wandering in error, seized you.

"how do you turn back again to," He discusses again concerning the sun and the moon and the stars, from which are the observations of the days. But he calls them poor and weak, as having no strength at all. The word "again" has much emphasis; after adoption, he says, and being known by God.

— [CYRIL] Elements of the world, the particles of the entire cosmos. [end of the excerpt by Cyril] —

— [OECUMENIUS] He calls them weak and poor, not because of their insignificance. (For what is more magnificent than heaven and earth? What more honorable than sun and moon and stars?) But because they are deprived of mind and life and sensation. [end of the excerpt by Oecumenius] —

From these primary eight ten other ¦ons after them spring, and then the twelve others arise with their wonderful names, to complete the mere story of the thirty ¦ons. The same apostle, when disapproving of those who are "in bondage to elements," points us to some dogma of Hermogenes, who introduces matter as having no beginning, and then compares it with God, who has no beginning.

Now, from whom comes this grace, but from Him who proclaimed the promise thereof? Who is (our) Father, but He who is also our Maker? Therefore, after such affluence (of grace), they should not have returned "to weak and beggarly elements." By the Romans, however, the rudiments of learning are wont to be called elements.

But now, he says, you have come to know God, or rather, it was not you who by your own effort found and came to know God (since you were not seeking at all), but He found you, living in darkness, and accepted you. For "you have been known" is said instead of "you have been accepted by God." How then do you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elements, that is, those having no power to obtain the promised blessings and unable to bring any spiritual benefit? And at the same time he calls them weak and beggarly because they are devoid of mind, sense, and life, even if the Greeks would not be pleased by this. So then, the false apostles, as defenders of the law, were introducing the observance of days, and he very wisely calls this practice idolatry, which even the law itself forbids. So that those who taught this were actually opponents of the law.

Then when he says, "But now, after that you have known God, or rather are known by God," he reminds them of the gift received. As if to say: If you had been ignorant and sinned, it could have been tolerated; for other things being equal, sin in a Christian is more grievous than in a pagan. But now, since you have known God, i.e., were brought to a knowledge of God, you sin more gravely than of old by serving and setting your hope on things you ought not: "All shall know me, from the least of them even to the greatest" (Jer 31:34).

But the statement, "after you are known by God," seems to cause a difficulty, for God has known all things from eternity: "All things were known to the Lord God before they were created" (Sir 23:29). I answer that this is said causally, so that the sense is: you are known by God, i.e., God has caused you to know Him. In this way, God is said to know inasmuch as He is the cause of our knowledge. Hence, because he had previously said, "after that you have known God," which was a true statement, he immediately amends and explains it with a figure of speech by intimating that we cannot know God of ourselves save by Him: "No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him" (Jn 1:18).

Then he upbraids them for the sin committed, saying: "how turn you again to the weak and needy elements?"

It should be pointed out that this passage is interpreted in two ways: in one way, that those Galatians had turned from the faith to idolatry. For this reason he says, "how turn you" from the faith "again," i.e., a second time. "For it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice than, after they have known it, to turn back from that holy commandment which was delivered to them" (2 Pet. 2:21); "They are turned back" (Is 42:17). "To the elements," namely, of the world, which are "weak," unable by themselves to subsist, because they would lapse into nothingness unless upheld by the hand which rules all things—"Upholding all things by the word of his power" (Heb 1:3)—"and needy," because they need God and one another to fill out the universe, "which," namely, the elements, "you desire to serve" with the service of latria "again," i.e., for a second time.

But although this interpretation might be upheld, it does not accord with the Apostle's intention. For since in the entire section preceding this passage, as well as in all that follows it, he is censuring the Galatians for removing themselves from the faith and turning to the observances of the Law, it is more in keeping with his intention to expound it as referring to their turning to the legal observances. Hence he says: "After that you have known God" through faith, "how turn you" from the faith "to the elements," i.e., to the literal observance of the Law? It is called an element, because the Law was the prime institution of divine worship. "To elements," I say, that are weak, because they do not bring to perfection by justifying: "For the law brought nothing to perfection" (Heb 7:19), and needy, because they do not confer virtues and grace or offer any help of themselves.

But what does he mean by "are you turned?" For to say this, as well as to say, again, seems inappropriate, for they neither were Jews nor had they formerly observed the Law. I answer that the Jewish worship is midway between the worship of the Christians and that of the Gentiles: for the Gentiles worshipped the elements as though they were living things; the Jews, on the other hand, did not serve the elements but served God under the elements, inasmuch as they rendered worship to God by the observances of bodily elements: "We were serving under the elements of the world" (v. 3); but Christians serve God under Christ, i.e., in the faith of Christ. Now when a person reaches a terminus after passing through the middle, if he then decides to return to the middle, it seems to be the same as returning to the very beginning. Therefore, because they had already reached the terminus, namely, faith in Christ, and then returned to the middle, i.e., to the Jewish worship, then because of a resemblance of middle to beginning, the Apostle says that they are turned to the elements and are serving them again.

The observers of days are those who say, for example, "Tomorrow there must be no setting out on a journey." … The observers of months are those who watch the course of the moon, saying, for example, "Contracts must not be sealed in the seventh month." … Seasons are observed when people say, "Today is the first day of spring, it is a festival and after tomorrow is the feast of Vulcan." … People pay respect to the year when they say, "The first day of January is the new year," as though a year were not completed every day.… For if God is loved with the whole heart, there ought not to be any dread or suspicion of these phenomena so long as he is near.

So that he may be seen to say this to Jews and about Jews—that is, to the Galatians, who combine the Jews' way of life with theirs—he adds, "You observe days and months and seasons and years." … For it is one thing to observe days, as for example to rest on the sabbath, another to observe months, as for example to observe new moons, … another to observe years, another again [to observe] seasons such as fasting, the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread and other things of this kind.

By "years" I think he means the seventh year of release, and the fiftieth, which they call the jubilee.

(Verses 10, 11.) Observing days, and months, and seasons, and years, I fear for you, lest perhaps I have labored in vain among you. Whoever does not worship the Father in spirit and truth, does not know the Sabbath rest that is reserved for the holy ones, about which God speaks: 'If they shall enter into my rest' (Psalm 94:11); and does not remember those times, of which it is written: 'Remember the days of old' (Isaiah 46:9). And elsewhere: 'I remembered the days of old, and I had in mind the eternal years' (Psalm 76:6). He observes the Jewish days, and months, and seasons, and years. Days, such as the Sabbath, the new moon, and from the tenth day of the first month until the fourteenth, when the literal lamb of the sacrifice is reserved, and from the fourteenth until the twenty-first of the same month, when unleavened bread is eaten, not in sincerity and truth, but in the old leaven of malice and wickedness of the Pharisees. He also celebrates the seven weeks, which the Jewish custom calculates after the unleavened bread, the days of the Israelite Pentecost. And also the sound of trumpets on the seventh day of the first month. Similarly, on the tenth day of the same month, they observe a day of expiation and fasting, as well as the custom of setting up booths, in the Jewish manner. They also observe the months, those who observe the first and seventh month, not understanding the mystery of truth. They also honor the seasons, who come to Jerusalem three times a year, thinking they fulfill the Lord's command, saying: Three times in the year you shall hold a feast for me, the feast of unleavened bread and the feast of the first fruits of the harvest, and the feast of the ingathering at the end of the year (Exodus 23:14ff.). And elsewhere: In three times of the year your male shall appear in the sight of the Lord your God (Ibid. XVII). But what he says, 'and years,' I think is said concerning the seventh year of remission, and the fiftieth, which they call Jubilee. The Apostle explains this passage more fully in his letter to the Colossians, saying: Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come (Coloss. II, 16). He placed a part of the festival to be celebrated for the distinction of perpetual festivity, so that we have not a brief, and, as it were, a certain portion of the whole body, but the entire space of our life in perpetual celebration in Christ. And in order to connect the later with the earlier, he immediately adds and says: If you have died with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still decree as if living in this world? You shall not touch, nor taste, nor handle, which are all things destined to perish with the using, according to the commandments and doctrines of men. Let no one judge you in matters of observing days, months, seasons, and years. We also incur a similar crime by observing the fourth day of the Sabbath, and Preparation Day, and the Lord's Day, and the fasting of Lent, and the celebration of Easter, and the joy of Pentecost, and the different times established in honor of the martyrs according to the custom of each region. To which, one who responds simply will say: the Jewish observance days are not the same as ours. For we do not celebrate the Passover of unleavened bread, but of the resurrection and the cross. Nor do we count seven weeks in Pentecost according to the custom of Israel, but we honor the coming of the Holy Spirit. And so that the disorderly gathering of the people would not diminish faith in Christ, certain days were established so that we all would come together as one. Not so much that day on which we meet is more famous, but that on whichever day we should meet, mutual joy should arise out of sight (or even out of aspect). However, whoever attempts to answer the opposite question more sharply affirms that all days are equal, not only the Friday on which Christ was crucified and the Sunday on which He rose, but that every day is holy and every day we partake of the flesh of the Lord. However, fasts and gatherings among days have been established by wise men for those who are more occupied with the world than with God, and they cannot, no, they do not want to gather together in the Church during the whole time of their lives, and to offer the sacrifice of their prayers to God before human actions. For how many people are there who at least practice these few things that have been established, either the times of prayer or the times of fasting? Therefore, just as it is permissible for us to fast at all times, or to pray at all times, and to continuously celebrate the Lord's day with the reception of the Lord's body, so it is not permissible for the Jews to sacrifice a lamb at all times, to celebrate Pentecost, to set up tabernacles, and to fast daily. However, with caution and moderation, he balanced the authority of the Apostle and the gentleness of the holy man, saying: I fear lest I have labored in vain among you. For if he had wanted to condemn them abruptly, he would certainly have said: I fear you: for I have labored without cause in you. But now, seeing that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, he did not entirely despair of their salvation, who had been deceived by a godly error, nor did he leave them blameless, lest he give occasion both to them to persist in error, and to others to make a similar mistake. I fear you, he said, for what you are. I fear for you. The teacher labors without cause, when he himself challenges the students to greater things, and they, having fallen back, return to lesser and lower things.

Hence is plain that their teachers were preaching to them not only circumcision, but also the feast-days and new-moons.

Paul argues with those from the Jews, showing that the observance of days and months and seasons and years and whatever in the law is observance is idolatry. For this, he says, is nothing else than worshiping the moon and the sun, by which the days have their observance. He said this about property, wanting to depart from the law. For those who preach circumcision also proclaimed such observances.

You observe days. From this it is clear that the false apostles proclaimed not only circumcision, but also observances of these, having taken their origin from the law, yet having deviated from the law.

For they ought to reflect, that as a season has been fixed suitable for planting and sowing, so days have been appointed as appropriate for cohabitation, which are carefully to be observed. Accordingly some one well instructed in the doctrines taught by Moses, finding fault with the people for their sins, called them sons of the new moons and the sabbaths. Yet in the beginning of the world men lived long, and had no diseases. But when through carelessness they neglected the observation of the proper times, then the sons in succession cohabiting through ignorance at times when they ought not, place their children under innumerable afflictions.

He tells us himself clearly enough what he means by "elements," even the rudiments of the law: "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years" -the sabbaths, I suppose, and "the preparations," and the fasts, and the "high days.

(Inburnt?) With what fires, prithee? The fires, I ween, which lead us to repeated contracting of nuptials and daily cooking of dinners! Thus, too, they affirm that we share with the Galatians the piercing rebuke (of the apostle), as "observers of days, and of months, and of years." Meantime they huff in our teeth the fact that Isaiah withal has authoritatively declared, "Not such a fast hath the Lord elected," that is, not abstinence from food, but the works of righteousness, which he there appends: and that the Lord Himself in the Gospel has given a compendious answer to every kind of scrupulousness in regard to food; "that not by such things as are introduced into the mouth is a man defiled, but by such as are produced out of the mouth; " while Himself withal was wont to eat and drink till He made Himself noted thus; "Behold, a gormandizer and a drinker: " (finally), that so, too, does the apostle teach that "food commendeth us not to God; since we neither abound if we eat, nor lack if we eat not.

Being, therefore, observers of "seasons" for these things, and of "days, and months, and years," we Galaticize.

From this it is evident that the false apostles preached not only circumcision, but also the observance of feasts and new moons.

And the proof of this is obvious, because "You observe days," auspicious and inauspicious, "and months and times, and years," i.e., the constellations and the course of the heavenly bodies, all of which observances spring from idolatry, against which Jeremias (10:2) says: "Be not afraid of the signs of heaven which the heathens fear."

That observances of this sort are evil and contrary to the worship of the Christian religion is plain, because the distinction of days, months, years and times is based on the course of the sun and moon. Therefore, those who observe such distinctions of times are venerating heavenly bodies and arranging their activities according to the evidence of the stars, which have no direct influence on the human will or on things that depend on free will. By this practice they are put in grave danger. Therefore the faithful must avoid observing such things. Indeed, no suggestion of these things should be found among them, for whatever is done simply out of devotion to God can turn out prosperously.

But is it never lawful to look for the influence of the stars on certain things? I answer that heavenly bodies are the cause of certain effects, namely, bodily. In such things it is lawful to consider their influence. But they are not the cause of certain other things, i.e., of things that depend on free will or on good and bad fortune. Hence in such cases to look for the influence of the stars pertains to idolatry.

That this is so, he proves when he says: "You observe the days" of the Jewish rite, namely, Sabbaths and the tenth day of the month and such things, which are mentioned in a Gloss, "and months," i.e., new moons, as the first and seventh month, as is had in Leviticus (Ch. 25), "and times," namely, of the exodus from Egypt, and the practice of going to Jerusalem three times a year, "and years" of jubilee and the seventh year of remission.

So, let the reader choose whichever interpretation he wishes, so long as he understands that such superstitious observances of times bring great peril to the soul, so much so that the apostle adds, "I am afraid, lest perhaps I should have labored in you in vain." … And yet if someone, even a catechumen, is caught observing the sabbath by the Jewish rite, the church is confused. As it is, innumerable members of the church say with great complacency in open view of us, "I do not travel on the day after the first." … Alas for human sinfulness, that we only denounce what is unfamiliar, but with familiar things we tolerate them, although they may be great and cause the kingdom of heaven to be shut against them absolutely. It is for them that the Son of God shed his blood. We come to tolerate them through frequent acquaintance with them, and through increased toleration we share in them.

Observe the tender compassion of the Apostle; they were shaken and he trembles and fears. And hence he has put it so as thoroughly to shame them, "I have bestowed labor upon you," saying, as it were, make not vain the labors which have cost me sweat and pain. By saying "I fear," and subjoining the word "lest," he both inspires alarm, and encourages good hope. He says not "I have labored in vain," but "lest," which is as much as to say, the wreck has not happened, but I see the storm big with it; so I am in fear, yet not in despair; ye have the power to set all right, and to return into your former calm...

"I am afraid." See, their insides are in turmoil, and Paul is afraid. The phrase "for fear that" still indicates those standing and not yet fully shipwrecked. And it gives them hope that if they are willing to recover, their labor will not be in vain for them; as he said, Remember my toil and sweat for you, and do not frustrate my anguish.

See what a sensitive heart: they waver and Paul is afraid. The expression "lest somehow" (μή πως) shows that they were still intact and had not yet suffered complete shipwreck. And he gives them hope that if they wish to come to their senses, then the labor spent on them was not in vain. He is as if saying to them: remember my efforts for you and do not make my labors futile.

By this practice they are put in grave danger. Hence he says: "I am afraid lest perhaps it was in vain," i.e., fruitlessly, "that I labored" among you. Therefore the faithful must avoid observing such things. Indeed, no suggestion of these things should be found among them, for whatever is done simply out of devotion to God can turn out prosperously.

From this arises a danger because faith in Christ profits nothing from it. Hence he says: "I am afraid of you, lest perhaps I have labored in vain among you"; and further on: "If you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing" (5:2).

He is saying something like this: "Just as I was made weak for your weakness and could not speak as to spiritual people … so you should also be as I am, that is, understand more spiritually." … This he says indeed as an imitator of the Savior, who … "was found in fashion as a man," that we might come to the divine life from being men.

A disciple harms his master if he wastes his precepts and his work by his own neglect. The Galatians had not harmed the apostle, because they had observed his gospel and his commands right up to the present.… Or else [he means]: "When I first preached the gospel to you … I pretended to be weak that I might be helpful to you in your weakness; did you not receive me as an angel, as Christ Jesus? When, therefore, you did me no harm at that time and thought me in my downcast and lowly state to be like the Son of God, why am I harmed by you when I stir you up to greater things?"

(Verse 12) Be as I am, for I am also as you are. What he says is such, as I became weak to you who are weak, and I could not speak to you as spiritual, but as carnal and as little ones in Christ, and because you were not yet able to eat solid food, I fed you with only milk, not wanting you to remain in infancy forever, but gradually leading you to adolescence and youth, so that you could receive solid food. Thus, you should also be as I am, to have a more perfect understanding, leaving behind milk and moving on to stronger food, and to greater nourishment. But he speaks as if he were an imitator of the Savior, who did not consider equality with God as something to be seized, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant; he was found in appearance as a man, so that we might become gods from humans, and no longer die; but rising with Christ, we are called his friends and brothers, and to be his disciples as the master, and servants as the Lord. But it can also be understood this way: I beseech you, he says, brothers, that you imitate me, who, without complaint, lived by the Law, considering everything as rubbish and garbage, so that I may gain Christ. For indeed I myself, like you now are, was held fast by the same strict observances and I persecuted and ravaged the Church of Christ because it did not follow these things.

This is addressed to his Jewish disciples, and he brings his own example forward, to induce them thereby to abandon their old customs. Though you had none other for a pattern, he says, to look at me only would have sufficed for such a change, and for your taking courage. Therefore gaze on me; I too was once in your state of mind, especially so; I had a burning zeal for the Law; yet afterwards I feared not to abandon the Law, to withdraw from that rule of life. And this ye know full well how obstinately I clung hold of Judaism, and how with yet greater force I let it go. He does well to place this last in order: for most men, though they are given a thousand reasons, and those just ones, are more readily influenced by that which is like their own case, and more firmly hold to that which they see done by others.

Observe how he again addresses them by a title of honor, which was a reminder moreover of the doctrine of grace. Having chid them seriously, and brought things together from all quarters, and shown their violations of the Law, and hit them on many sides, he gives in and conciliates them speaking more tenderly. For as to do nothing but conciliate causes negligence, so to be constantly talked at with sharpness sours a man; so that it is proper to observe due proportion everywhere. See then how he excuses to them what he has said, and shows that it proceeded not simply because he did not like them, but from anxiety. After giving them a deep cut, he pours in this encouragement like oil; and, showing that his words were not words of hate or enmity, he reminds them of the love which they had evinced toward him, mixing his self-vindication with praises. Therefore he says, "ye did me no wrong."

O trumpet of peace to the soul that is at war! O weapon that puttest to flight terrible passions! O instruction that quenches the innate fire of the soul! The Word exercises an influence which does not make poets: it does not equip philosophers nor skilled orators, but by its instruction it makes mortals immortal, mortals gods; and from the earth transports them to the realms above Olympus. Come, be taught; become as I am, for I, too, was as ye are.

"Become as I am." Yet the words are addressed to those from Judea. Become as I am. "Be imitators of me," Paul says, "for I also, having set aside the law, ran to faith." For even I, he says, was as you are, observing the law and carefully practicing it in many respects.

"for I also am as you are." I longed intensely for the law as well, but see how I have been changed. "You also," he says, "envy that change."

— [PHOTIUS] He appeals to them, considering their salvation as his own. He passes through their acts of gratitude, and the honors by which they honored him, and how greatly they regarded him, wishing to set this right, namely, that the insults now uttered against them by him were not spoken out of any dislike or hatred (for how, he says, could he have been hostile toward you, having treated you with great consideration?); but that what was said came from a mind that was anxious and loving.

To the believers from among the Jews he speaks thus: imitate me. For I too was very devoted to the law, as you are, but I left it and now contend for Christ and the faith. Be such as these yourselves. He expressed this beautifully in conclusion. For people are more readily drawn by kindred examples than by arguments.

After strong reproaches, he again displays gentleness. For harsh censure is no more beneficial than extreme leniency. Therefore he calls them brethren, reminding them at the same time of the grace of baptism, by which we all became brethren, as born of one Father – God. He also justifies the reproaches he has expressed, namely that they did not arise from hatred. For you have done me no injustice that I should become hostile toward you, but rather, you have shown me countless signs of honor and affection. How then, after this, could I be saying these things out of hatred? But I speak, without doubt, out of concern for you and out of deep gratitude toward you.

Then when he says, "Be ye as I, because I also am as you," he guides them back to the state of salvation. As if to say: I am afraid for you, lest I have labored in vain among you. But lest this be so, "Be ye as I." In a Gloss this is taken in three ways. In the first way thus: "Be ye as I," namely, abandon the Law as I have abandoned it. In a second way thus: "Be ye as I," namely, correcting the old error, as I have corrected mine. And this you can do, because I am as you, and yet I have been corrected of my error. In the third way thus: "Be ye as I," i.e., live without the Law, "because I," who had the Law and was born in the Law, "am now as you" formerly were, namely, without the Law.

After censuring the Galatians, the Apostle here shows that he did not do so out of hatred.

First, he shows that he has no true cause of hatred toward them;

Secondly, that he has no supposed cause (v. 16);

Thirdly, he tells precisely why he rebuked them (v. 19).

As to the first, he does two things:

First, he shows that he has no reason for hating them;

Secondly, that contrariwise he has reason for loving them (v. 13).

With respect to the first it should be noted that it is customary for a good pastor in correcting his subjects to mingle gentleness with severity, lest they be discouraged by too great severity. For it is written in Luke (10) that the Samaritan in caring for the wounded man poured in oil and wine. On the other hand, it is written of evil pastors in Ezechiel (34:4): "You ruled over them with vigor." Therefore, as a good prelate, the Apostle shows that he does not rebuke them in a spirit of hatred, for his words are gentle in three respects. First, as to the charitable name he uses, for he says, "Brethren": "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity" (Ps 132:1). Secondly, as to his suppliant language, when he says: "I beseech you": "The poor will speak with supplications" (Prov 18:28). Thirdly, as to freeing them of blame; hence he says, "You have not injured me at all," and I am not the type of person who hates those who do not offend me.

This is an obscure passage and demands closer attention. "I preached to you initially," he says, "as if to infants and sucklings on account of your bodily weakness.… This economy and pretense of weakness in preaching was my own policy. You were trying to decide whether things that were rather small in themselves and were presented by me as of little account would be acceptable." … The passage could also be explained another way: "When I came to you … as a lowly and despised man … you perceived that my lowliness and the plainness of my dress were meant to try you." … Or we might suppose that the apostle was sick when he came to the Galatians.… And this could also be said, that in his first coming to the Galatians he was subject to abuse and persecution and physical beatings from the adversaries of the gospel.

(Verse 13) Brothers, I beseech you, you have not harmed me. But you know that because of the weakness of the flesh, I preached the Gospel to you long ago. Connect the following sentence to the previous one, so that it may be made clearer, this is the order we propose: I beseech you, brothers, be like me, because I am also like you. Similar to this is that: We beseech for Christ, be reconciled to God (II Cor. 5:20). And also elsewhere: I beseech, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made (I Tim. 2:1). Peter's words also say: I ask you, as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ's sufferings (1 Peter 5:1). These words indeed provoke us to humility and shake off the arrogance of bishops, who, as if stationed on some lofty pedestal, barely deign to see mortals and speak to their own subordinates. Let them learn from the Apostle that the wandering and foolish Galatians are called brothers. Let them learn from the gentle words of the reprover saying: I beseech you (1 Corinthians 11). But what he begs is that they may become his imitators, just as he is of Christ; indeed, that he may follow the present place, there is nothing great that he demands: just as he himself became less for them, from greater: so may they ascend from lesser to greater. You have not harmed me, he says. A disciple harms his master if he squanders his teachings and efforts through his negligence. The Galatians had not harmed the Apostle, as they were still keeping his Gospel and commands up to the present time. But certainly, in this way: When I first announced the Gospel to you; and because of the weakness of your flesh, because you were not able to receive the greater sacraments, I preached to you like little children, and I pretended to be weak myself, so that I might gain you who are weak: did you not receive me as an angel, as Christ Jesus? Therefore, since you did not harm me at all during that time, and you thought of me, for your sake, as humble and lowly, similar to the Son of God: how am I now being harmed by you, who provoke me to do greater things, by losing my labor and that dispensation, in which I pretended to be little, with a useless work, are you mourning? But because of the weakness of the flesh, not their own, but of those who hear, Paul announces to the Galatians: those who were unable to subject the flesh to the word of God, but as fleshly beings, received nothing of spiritual understanding. So that it may be made more evident, let us provide an example. Through the weakness of the flesh, he teaches, who says: If they cannot contain themselves, let them marry. And: If a woman's husband dies, she is free to marry whomever she wishes, only in the Lord (I Cor. VII, 9, 39). Certainly, it does not teach through the weakness of the flesh when it says these things: You are released from your wife, do not seek a wife. And: It is time, that even those who have wives should be as if they do not have (Ibid. 27, 29). For certain precepts are given for the spiritual, others for the carnal. And there is something that is commanded according to authority, and something else that is commanded according to indulgence.

Not to have injured one is indeed no great thing, for no man whatever would choose to hurt wantonly and without object to annoy another who had never injured him. But for you, not only have ye not injured me, but ye have shown me great and inexpressible kindness, and it is impossible that one who has been treated with such attention should speak thus from any malevolent motive. My language then cannot be caused by ill-will; it follows, that it proceeds from affection and solicitude. "Ye did me no wrong; ye know that because of an infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gospel unto you." What can be gentler than this holy soul, what sweeter, or more affectionate! And the words he had already used, arose not from an unreasoning anger, nor from a passionate emotion, but from much solicitude. And why do I say, ye have not injured me? Rather have ye evinced a great and sincere regard for me. For "ye know," he says, "that because of an infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gospel unto you; and that which was a temptation to you in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected." What does he mean? While I preached to you, I was driven about, I was scourged, I suffered a thousand deaths, yet ye thought no scorn of me; for this is meant by that which was a temptation to you in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected." Observe his spiritual skill; in the midst of his self-vindication, he again appeals to their feelings by showing what he had suffered for their sakes. This however, says he, did not at all offend you, nor did ye reject me on account of my sufferings and persecutions; or, as he now calls them, his infirmity and temptation.

But ye received me as an Angel of God. Was it not then absurd in them to receive him as an Angel of God, when he was persecuted and driven about, and then not to receive him when pressing on them what was fitting?

"But you know that because of weakness." That is, because of bodily weakness, namely, after bonds and blows and imprisonments, which I endured at the hands of those opposed to the preaching.

"I once preached the gospel." What do I say, Paul says, did you not wrong me? Therefore you showed me great honor. For even while being flogged and persecuted (for he says this was a weakness of the flesh), I was proclaiming the gospel to you. And yet seeing me suffer these things, you neither were scandalized at me nor spat upon me. For you did not despise, he says, my trial in my flesh, a trial of good things again: the wounds, the imprisonments, the persecutions.

You know, he says, that in bodily weakness, that is, amid persecutions and dangers, I preached the gospel to you.

Secondly, he shows that he has reason to love them, when he says: "you know how, through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel to you heretofore." Here he touches on three things that usually cause men to love one another. The first is the mutual help of fellowship, and this is also the cause of love being consolidated among men, according to Luke (22:28): "And you are they who have continued with me in my temptations; and I dispose to you as my Father hath disposed to me, a kingdom." Touching this he says: "And you know how, through infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel to you heretofore." Herein he does two things:

First, he recalls the tribulation he suffered among them;

Secondly, he shows how they stood by him (v. 13).

He says, therefore, with respect to the first: I say that "You have not injured me at all"; rather you have come to my aid. "For you know," i.e., are able to recall, "that I preached the gospel to you heretofore," i.e., in times past, "through infirmity of the flesh," i.e., with infirmity and affliction in my flesh, or with the many tribulations I suffered from the Jews who are of my flesh and persecuted me: "And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much tribulation" (1 Cor 2:3); "Power is made perfect in infirmity" (2 Cor 12:9). And although this infirmity might have been reason for scorning me and a cause of temptation for you, according to Zacharias (13:7): "Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered": nevertheless, "your temptation," which was "in my flesh," i.e., my tribulation, which was a source of temptation for you, "you despised not": "Despise not a man for his look" (Sir 11:2) because as the Lord says in Luke (10:16): "He that despiseth you, despiseth me." "Neither did you reject me" and my teaching, but you were willing to share my tribulations: "Woe to you that despisest, shall you not also be despised?" (Is 33:1).

The ailment of the apostle was a temptation to the Galatians. But they were found constant, not doubting as to his faith. For they could have stumbled and said, "What virtue or hope is there in this faith when its minister is so humiliated?" But when he had inspired their minds with future hopes, they did not fear present death for the sake of Christ's name.… This caused them later to blush, because after these laudable acts they became again entrapped so as to deserve reproach.

The weakness in my body was no obstacle for you, but you received me as an angel of God, that is, as a messenger, a preacher sent from God (for that is an angel of God); and you received me like Christ Jesus, whom I was preaching to you. And so you truly received Christ Jesus, if you received me as an angel of God, in the same way you received Christ Jesus.

(Verse 14.) And you did not despise or reject your temptation, which was in my flesh, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. It is a perplexing passage and requires careful attention. Indeed, I have preached to you like little ones and infants through the weakness of your flesh, starting from the least and speaking almost stammeringly. This arrangement and the feigned appearance of a weak proclamation were my doing, but your temptation was whether you would be pleased and consider great those things which, considering their nature, were smaller, and which I presented to you as humble. Indeed, you, who not taking them as small things but as great things, were so amazed that you received me, who was speaking them, as an angel and, if I may say more, as the Son of God. Therefore, your temptation, by which I was testing you in the announcement of my fleshly speech, was not despised or trivial; rather, it had more dignity than I estimated. And this place can be explained in this way: when I came to you, I did not come in the speech of wisdom, but as a humble and despised man, not bringing anything great, but the Crucified. Therefore, when you saw me in a body subject to weaknesses, promising heavenly kingdoms, you did not mock or consider me worthy of contempt. For you understood the lowliness of my flesh and the lowly state of my appearance, which was made for your temptation. Or perhaps you despised me, who was regarded as miserable by the unbelievers; but on the contrary, you received him who was humble, lowly, and despised, as if he were an angel, and more than an angel. Certainly, we can suspect that the Apostle, at the time when he first came to the Galatians, was sick; and though his body was weak, he did not cease, nor did he silence his voice, from preaching the Gospel that he had begun. For it is reported that he often suffered from a severe headache: and this was the angel of Satan, who was assigned to him, to strike him in the flesh, so that he would not be exalted. This weakness and illness of his body was a temptation among those to whom the Gospel was preached: whether they would despise him, who promised sublime things, when they saw him subject to bodily weaknesses. And also it can be said that, at the beginning of his coming to the Galatians, he endured insults, persecutions, and bodily afflictions from those who opposed the Gospel: and this was perhaps the greatest temptation for the Galatians, seeing the Apostle of Christ being beaten. But what he says, that you received me as an angel, as Christ Jesus: and by saying that Christ is greater than the angel, he shows that the one whom the Psalmist sang about as being a little lower than the angels according to the order of the flesh, is now revealed to be greater, and his words in the beginning were so powerful that they were thought to be those of angels and of Christ.

"Rather you received me as an angel of God." How then is it not unreasonable, he says, that one who is being persecuted and driven away should be received by you as an angel, and even as the Lord himself? Yet he is spat upon while he counsels and exhorts those things that lead to salvation.

And you, however, did not turn away from me; these trials of mine, that is, persecutions, wounds, and the like, did not lead you into temptation and did not cause you to despise and abhor me. And at the same time, in a subtle way, he also shames them, showing how much he endured for their sake from his opponents.

You so honored me, he says, as if I were more than a man. Is it not strange that at the time when I was being persecuted and driven out, you received me as an angel and as Christ, and were not offended, but now, when I counsel what is proper, you consider me an enemy and do not accept me?

The second thing that strengthens love among men is mutual love and affection toward one another, according to Proverbs (8:17): "I love them that love me." As to this he says: "but you received me as an angel of God," i.e., with the honor accorded to a messenger announcing God's words: "When you received of us the word of the hearing of God, you received it not as the word of men but (as it is indeed) the word of God" (1 Thes 2:13). For this reason preachers are called angels: "They shall seek the law at the priest's mouth, because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts" (Mal 2:7). And not only as an angel did you receive me, but "even as Christ Jesus," i.e., as though Christ Himself had come, Who, indeed, had come to them in him and spoke in him, according to 2 Corinthians (13:3): "Do you seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me?" "He that receiveth you receiveth me" (Mt 10:40).

You were satisfied at the time when you received the gospel, because you were zealous at the outset. Yet now, since I do not see the finishing of the edifice, I am forced to say, "where is your satisfaction?"

(Verse 15,16.) So where is your happiness then? I testify to you: if it were possible, you would gouge out your eyes and give them to me. So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? Blessed is the one who walks on the path of virtues, but only if they have reached the virtues. It is not enough to have turned away from vices, unless you embrace the best. For the beginnings of good pursuits are not as commendable as the ends. For just as in a vineyard there are many stages of grapes until the winepress, and first it is necessary for the vine to bud on the vines, to promise hope in the blossoms; then, after the flower has fallen off, for the form of future clusters to be deformed, and gradually swelling, for the grape to give birth, so that it may sweat sweet musts when pressed in the winepresses. Similarly, in learning, there are individual stages of blessings, so that one may hear the word of God, conceive it, let it grow in the womb of their soul, and reach childbirth. So that when he has given birth to him, she may nourish him with milk, and throughout infancy, childhood, adolescence, and youth, she may lead him to perfect manhood. Therefore, since each, as we have said, has happiness according to their progress: if the end, and so to speak, the final touch is lacking to the work, the entire effort will be in vain; and it will be said: Where, then, is your happiness? Although, he says, at that time when you received the Gospel according to the flesh, I would call you blessed because you were fervent in your beginnings: nevertheless, now that I do not see the pinnacle of the building placed, and almost no foundation even laid, I am compelled to say: Where, then, is your happiness, which I used to praise you as blessed for? Truly, I myself also confess it, that when I was preaching to you in lowly terms, and was assailed by persecutions, you loved me in the beginning: And you would have plucked out your own eyes, if it were possible (but hyperbole must be understood in what he says), and have given them to me: You wished indeed to be blind for my sake, through the inexpressible charity you bore me, that more light of the Gospel might arise in my heart, and my advantage might increase by your loss: And this during that time, when I was preaching to you as it were to babes and sucklings, either from the infirmity of your flesh, because I announced to you things lowly and humble, or from the wrongs offered to me in my flesh, I seemed unworthy of your faith. But now because I have begun to challenge you to greater studies from the elements and syllables and childish reading, so that you may hold books in your hands, so that you may learn the words of full erudition and understanding, you resist, you get angry, you find the perfection of learning to be burdensome; and to such an extent have your feelings turned towards others, that you, who had received me as if I were an angel and Christ, to whom you wanted to entrust your eyes, now consider me an enemy, because I announce to you the full truth. But he elegantly concluded his statement, saying: So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? to show that at the beginning of his preaching, it was not so much the truth, but rather the shadow and image of truth. Similar to this is that famous saying of the Roman poet (Terence in Andria I, 1):

Obedience begets friends, but truth begets hatred. But see how much better this is than that; for the Apostle tempered and made special this sentiment when he directed it specifically to the Galatians. However, the person he denounced, claiming to have a general principle and to hold it against everyone, greatly erred. For obedience, without truth, is not so much obedience as flattery and assentation: which it is clear should be called secret enmities rather than friendships. However, at the same time, we must also consider that today, as long as they remain small and infants and in whose hearts Christ never grows, they do not progress in age, wisdom, and grace before God and men, as we explain according to the literal sense of Scripture, we are praised, suspected, admired. But when we begin to challenge them a little so that they may advance to greater things, our opponents become enemies of our preachers; and they would rather follow the Jews than the apostles, who, departing from the doctrine and traditions of the Pharisees, entered into Christ Himself, the propitiation and perfection of the Law: and they do not deign to receive the divine word, which commands the teachers of the Church to ascend to higher doctrines, and to elevate their voice with all their might, without fearing the noise of barking dogs, saying: 'Go up to a high mountain, you who evangelize Zion.' Exalt your voice in strength, you who bring good news to Jerusalem. Exalt, do not be afraid. (Isaiah XL, 9).

Here he shows perplexity and amazement, and desires to learn of themselves the reason of their change. Who, says he, hath deceived you, and caused a difference in your disposition towards me? Are ye not the same who attended and ministered to me, counting me more precious than your own eyes? what then has happened? whence this dislike? whence this suspicion? Is it because I have told you the truth? You ought on this very account to pay me increased honor and attention; instead of which "I am become your enemy, because I tell you the truth,"-for I can find no other reason but this. Observe too what humbleness of mind appears in his defence of himself; he proves not by his conduct to them, but by theirs to him that his language could not possibly have proceeded from unkind feeling. For he says not; How is it supposable that one, who has been scourged and driven about, and ill-treated a thousand things for your sakes, should now have schemes against you? But he argues from what they had reason to boast of, saying, How can one who has been honored by you, and received as an Angel, repay you by conduct the very opposite?

— [PHOTIUS] "Who then was the blessing to you?" He was someone, not asked as a question, but as if marveling and lifting up their former faith and the blessing upon that faith. What it was, how great it was, wondrous, he says: from what great blessedness you have fallen. Or by interrogation, What was it? Remember, he says, how great your blessedness was: for I was blessing you very greatly; but now what? I reproach; therefore I am held in hatred. But why do I reproach? For your salvation. For if this were not so, how could I, without offering any other pretext of yours, the one who praises and blesses, have come to reproach?" [end of the excerpt by Photius] —

"the blessing to you." Who was, he says, the blessing to you, whom I and many others blessed you for, concerning obedience and submission to the Gospel? Who then was he? he says; for now I do not see him. Where, he says, are the zealously accomplished works of faith? for he has put the who instead of where.

"your eyes." I know, Paul says, that you regard me as more precious than your own eyes because of my long-standing preaching.

In bewilderment and amazement he says: what has become of your former blessedness? That is, where has all that gone for which everyone called you blessed, as those devoted to your teacher? What is it now? What has your former blessedness turned into? Now I do not see it, since you are hostile toward me.

Previously, on account of my preaching, you considered me dearer even than your own eyes; so what has happened now that you suspect me as an enemy? For it would be strange if the one whom you so honored were to say these things to you with hostile intent.

But he then rebukes them for their change of heart; hence he says, "Where is then your blessedness?" As if to say: Did not men think you blessed for honoring me and accepting my preaching? "Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience and the perfection of thy ways?" (Job 4:6).

The third thing that strengthens love is doing good to one another. As to this he says: "For I bear you witness that, if it could be done," i.e., had been just to do so (for that can be done which it is just to do) or had been to the advantage of the Church, "you would have plucked out your own eyes and would have given them to me." As if to say: You loved me so much that you would have given me not only your external goods but your very eyes.

He says this as to imply: "It is not possible that I should become an enemy to those from whom I received such services. But because no one wants to be exposed when he errs, I seem to be your enemy when I justly reprimand you."

Wherefore the apostle himself also in every case uses stringent language to the Churches, after the Lord's example; and conscious of his own boldness, and of the weakness of his hearers, he says to the Galatians: "Am I your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" Thus also people in health do not require a physician, do not require him as long as they are strong; but those who are ill need his skill. Thus also we who in our lives are ill of shameful lusts and reprehensible excesses, and other inflammatory effects of the passions, need the Saviour. And He administers not only mild, but also stringent medicines. The bitter roots of fear then arrest the eating sores of our sins. Wherefore also fear is salutary, if bitter.

Therefore, dearest brother, endeavour that the undisciplined should not be consumed and perish, that as much as you can, by your salutary counsels, you should rule the brotherhood, and take counsel of each one with a view to his salvation. Strait and narrow is the way through which we enter into life, but excellent and great is the reward when we enter into glory. Let those who have once made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven please God in all things, and not offend God's priests nor the Lord's Church by the scandal of their wickedness. And if, for the present, certain of our brethren seem to be made sorry by us, let us nevertheless remain in our wholesome persuasion, knowing that an apostle also has said, "Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? " But if they shall obey us, we have gained our brethren, and have formed them as well to salvation as to dignity by our address. But if some of the perverse persons refuse to obey, let us follow the same apostle, who says, "If I please men, I should not be the servant of Christ." If we cannot please some, so as to make them please Christ, let us assuredly, as far as we can, please Christ our Lord and God, by observing His precepts.

He has finished his sentence elegantly, asking: "Have I become an enemy for preaching the truth to you?" He says this to show that his initial bodily ailment in preaching was not so much truth as a shadow and image of truth.… He has tempered this sentence and made it personal because he has addressed it to the Galatians in person.… Today also, so long as we … explain the Scripture according to the letter, we are praised and respected and held in admiration. But when we make a small attempt to provoke people personally to pass on to greater things, they stop acclaiming us and become resistant.

"So I have become your enemy." Elsewhere, he says, I do not know any cause for enmity other than that I deliver to you truths and teachings that lead to salvation, by which it would even have been fitting for you to increase your love toward me.

I know of no other reason for the enmity, he says, except that I told you the truth and exposed those who were in error regarding the dogmas. But for this you ought rather to love me even more, as one who has fulfilled the duty of a guardian.

Then when he says: "Am I then become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?", he states the cause of a supposed hatred.

First, the cause on the part of the Apostle;

Secondly, on the part of the false brethren (v. 17).

He says therefore: If you have done me so much good, are you to believe that "I am become your enemy because I tell you the truth?" The word "enemy" used here can be interpreted in two ways: in one way as meaning that he hates them; in this case the interpretation is "have I become your enemy," i.e., hate you? Hence what follows, namely, "because I tell you the truth," can be taken as an indication of hatred, even though telling the truth at the proper time and place is a sign of love. In another way, the word "enemy" can be taken in a passive sense, i.e., so that he is hated by them; then "have I become your enemy" is interpreted as "Do you hate me?" and this because I tell you the truth, so that telling the truth is set down as the cause of hatred. For men who tell the truth are hated by evil men, since the truth engenders hatred: "They have hated him that rebuketh in the gate: and I have abhorred him that speaketh perfectly" (Am 5:10).

But on the other hand, it is said in Proverbs (28:23): "He that rebuketh a man shall afterward find favor with him more than he that by a flattering tongue deceiveth him." I answer that the solution to this can be gathered from what is said in Proverbs (9:9): "Rebuke not a scorner, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee." For if the one corrected loves the corrector, it is a sign of virtue; conversely, it is a sign of malice, if he should hate him. For since a man naturally hates what is contrary to what he loves, then if you hate one who corrects you for evil, it is obvious that you love the evil; but if you love him, you indicate that you hate sin. For at first, when men are corrected, they are attached to their sins—that is why a sinner's first reaction is to hate the one correcting him; but after the correction he puts aside his attachment to sin and loves the one correcting him. And therefore the passage from Proverbs expressly says that later he will find favor with him.

Since emulate signifies two things—one when someone emulates what he finds pleasing because it is good and another when people are emulators because they feel envy—these people, he says, emulate you in a bad way, by which he means that they are imitators through envy.… When he adds the phrase "so that you may emulate them" [meaning] "that you may follow them," he has thus used the double sense of emulation in different places, since emulation is imitation, and especially when it is also directed to what is good.… [He continues: ] "Emulate therefore better gifts—not those of Jewish law, which are not gifts and are not better; but emulate those things which are good and better gifts. That is, whatever belongs to faith and love, emulate that with regard to Christ and follow it. It is always good to emulate better things. Emulation as such is not good, but the emulation of better things is always good, and not only when I am present."

(Verse 17, 18.) They imitate you, but not in a good way: rather, they want to exclude you so that you may imitate them. But always imitate the good in what is good, and not only when I am present with you. Those imitate well who, when they see that others have gratitude, gifts, virtues, desire to possess those themselves: and they strive to imitate their faith, life, and industry through which they have earned those things, so that they may also attain those things which are worthy of good emulation. Of these things, the Apostle also says: Envy spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. And further: So also you, since you are eager for spiritual gifts, seek to excel for the edification of the church. And again: Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But those who envy do not do so well, for they do not desire to be better themselves in order to imitate those who are worthy of envy, but rather they want to make them worse and backwards with perverse envy. For example, let it be said: a Christian is someone who reads Moses and the prophets; he knows that everything in the shadow and the image preceded that people; but that the scriptures were written for us on whom the ends of the ages have come. He understands circumcision not so much of the foreskin, but of the ears and the heart. He has risen with Christ: he seeks the things that are above. He is freed from the burden and slavery of the Law, of not touching, not tasting, not handling, which commands: if someone wants to persuade him with the words of the Scriptures, that he should receive them not through a figure of speech, but as they are written in a literal sense, so that he may become a Jew openly, not secretly, he imitates him not well: but he quickly rushes to pull him back as he moves towards greater things; so that he may rather imitate him who goes backward: or indeed he does not advance him much further."+ "\n" +"Liberated from the burden and slavery of the Law, of not touching, not tasting, not handling, which commanded, being able to read the scriptures in their literal sense, an individual who is a Christian demonstrates the true meaning of these commandments. They understand that the Old Testament accounts serve as types and foreshadows of Christ and that the observance of these commandments no longer holds the same significance as it did for the Jewish people. They are no longer bound by the strict regulations of the Law but are free to seek the things above and live according to the spirit of the New Covenant. Therefore he speaks to the Galatians who had been led astray by the advocates of the Law, urging them to imitate the advocates of the Law, when rather the Galatians should have imitated them. For it is natural for the greater to be made from the lesser, not the lesser from the greater, and he says: 'Imitate what is good in what is good,' that is, do not imitate the advocates of Jewish observance, but imitate those things which are good. For just as someone who imitates someone else in riches, power, or dignity, not only imitates good things, but also imitates things that should be avoided; so likewise, you in turn, imitate what is good in what is good: seeking spiritual things more than carnal things; so that you may not teach them to be Jews, but to be Christians. But do this always, so that you may be able to reach the end of a good work with a persevering step. For I emulated good in you when I was with you, but after I left, you lost everything that I had handed over to you, from a secure station and a trustworthy port, and you were carried away again in the high waves. And it is not surprising that, with the Apostle departing, the Galatians were changed from a chosen vessel and one in which Christ the Lord spoke: for even now we see the same thing happening in the churches. For whenever a doctor happens in the Church, adorned with eloquence of speech and with a virtuous life, who, like some sort of spur, incites those who hear him to virtues, we see all people hasten, fervor, and run about concerning almsgiving, fasting, chastity, receiving the poor, burials, and other similar things. But when he has departed, they gradually wither away, and with food removed, they grow thin, pale, weak, and death follows all those things which were previously flourishing. Therefore, because the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few (Matthew 9:37), let us pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to reap the ears of the Christian people, which are prepared for the future wheat in the Church, to gather and carry them into the barns so that they may not perish. This is about that zeal and perverse emulation, of which it is also said elsewhere: Do not emulate the wicked (Psalm 37:1), and here: They emulate you, but not for good. But we find another kind of zeal, with which the sons of Jacob were zealous for their brother Joseph (Gen. XXXVII seqq.); and Mary and Aaron were zealous for their friend the Lord Moses (Num. XII). Neither Joseph nor Moses were incited to zeal in order to be better than others, but because they were grieved that they were better. This kind of zeal is akin to envy. It would be long if I wished to enumerate all the kinds of zeal, whether good or bad, found in the treasure of the Scriptures. We read of the righteous zeal of Phinehas (Num. XXV), Elijah (III Kings XIX), Matthias (I Macc. II), and the Apostle Judas (but not the traitor), who received the name Zealot for his outstanding virtue of zeal (Acts I). But we also read of the evil zeal, like that of Cain towards Abel (Gen. IV), and others towards one another. And there is the zeal of a man, of whom it is written: 'And if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him' (Num. V). Perhaps this is the middle kind of zeal, which cannot be taken on either the good or the bad side; rather, it is called zealotry between the two. Otherwise: Seeing that those who were from circumcision, the Galatians from the Gentiles, were abundantly filled with the virtues of the Holy Spirit, but indeed did not speak in tongues, did not have the gifts of healings; did not have the gift of prophecy, they eagerly desired to incite them with the stings of zeal, to transfer them to the burdens of the Law, so that they would begin to become like them.

It is a wholesome emulation which leads to an imitation of virtue, but an evil one, which seduces from virtue him who is in the right path. And this is the object of those persons, who would deprive you of perfect knowledge, and impart to you that which is mutilated and spurious, and this for no other purpose than that they may occupy the rank of teachers, and degrade you, who now stand higher than themselves, to the position of disciples. For this is the meaning of the words "that ye may seek them." But I, says he, desire the reverse, that ye may become a model for them, and a pattern of a higher perfection: a thing which actually happened when I was present with you...

— [OECUMENIUS] "They envy you." He says they do not welcome the same faith in Christ for your benefit, but in order to exclude you from it and persuade themselves to follow, because such a plan has been formulated against your deception. [end of the excerpt by Oecumenius] —

"not rightly." For there is also good envy, when someone so envies that he imitates virtue. And there is also bad envy, when someone envies in such a way as to drive the virtuous person out of virtue.

"but they desire to exclude you." Paul says, They wish to shut you off and to carry you away from the true knowledge, so that having become your teachers themselves, they may lead you to the same envy and imitation. For this reason they carry you away from true knowledge and bring you to the law.

He says this with reference to those evil teachers. "For seeing your conspicuous faith," he says, "they are grieved and all try by every means to rob you of those goods and subject you to their own authority." For that is what he means by writing "that you may emulate them."

Zeal is a praiseworthy thing when someone imitates the virtue of another, but it becomes bad when someone strives to remove the virtuous person from perfection. And these people are trying to exclude you, that is, to deprive you of the more perfect state and knowledge in Christ and to cast you into the less perfect, which consists in the law, so that you would regard them as teachers, be zealous for and imitate them as disciples. But I wished that you would be guides to perfection both for them and for all. And so it was when I was with you. He points to this very same thing below as well.

Then when he says, "They are zealous in your regard not well," he states another supposed cause, namely, on the part of the false brethren.

First, he states it;

Secondly, he refutes it (v. 18).

As to the first it should be noted that, as has been said above, certain false brethren, converted from Judaism, went about the churches of the Gentiles, preaching the observance of the Law. Because Paul opposed them, they slandered him. They did this not so much with an eye to their salvation as to get rid of Paul. Hence the Apostle says, "They are zealous in your regard," i.e., they do not allow you (whom they love with a love not of friendship but of self-interest) to associate with us. For jealous rivalry is zeal that arises from any love whatsoever and does not brook what is loved to be shared. But because their love for them was not good: first of all, because they did not love them so as to advantage them but for their own gain—and this is obvious from the fact that they wanted to keep the Apostle away from them as one opposed to their own advantage—and secondly, because this was a source of harm to the Gentiles—for they sought from them an advantage by which the latter would suffer harm; for these reasons he says, "They are zealous in your regard but not well," because they are not interested in your welfare. And this is obvious, because "they would exclude you that you might be zealous for them," i.e., that you might admit none but them: "Envy not the unjust man and do not follow his ways" (Prov 3:31); "Let not thy heart envy sinners" (Prov 23:17).

No wonder indeed that on the apostle's departure … the Galatians were changed, since even now we witness the same occurrence in the church. For never was there a teacher in the church so distinguished in speech and life.… We see people busy with haste and fervor about alms, fasting, sexual abstinence, relief of the poor, taking care of graves, etc. But when he departs we see that they waste away and, from loss of their food, grow thin, pale and languid. Then follows the death of all that was thriving before.

Here he hints that his absence had been the cause of this, and that the true blessing was for disciples to hold right opinions not only in the presence but also in the absence of their master. But as they had not arrived at this point of perfection, he makes every effort to place them there.

He wishes to show that those who now are overturning them, and persuading them to observe to the law, and by this preparing them to become zealous imitators of it, had long ago envied them in the knowledge of the Gospel, when Paul was present and was teaching them.

"It is good, however," he says, "to strive enthusiastically in what is good always, and not only when I am present with you." And he shows that they have been deceived during his absence.

Do you not see, he hints at the fact that they rivaled everyone in perfection when Paul was among them? And he also gives to understand that his absence gave rise to this evil. It would be excellent, he therefore says, if not only in the presence of the teacher, but also in his absence, the disciples thought what was proper.

But he rejects this when he says, "But be zealous for that which is good in a good thing always." As if to say: You ought not to be zealous for them in their teaching; but be zealous for a good teacher, i.e., for me and those like me: "And who is he that can hurt you if you be zealous of the good?" (1 Pet. 3:13). But because there can be evil in a good teacher, he adds, "be zealous of the good" teacher, yet say "in a good thing," i.e., in that which is good: "Follow after charity and be zealous for spiritual goods" (1 Cor 14:1).

Now, although the Apostle speaks of himself, according to a Gloss, when he says, "be zealous of the good," yet he adds "in a good thing," because as he says: "I am not conscious of any thing, yet I am not hereby justified" (1 Cor 4:4). But because some are zealous for a good teacher in his presence alone, he adds: "always, and not only when I am present with you"; because zeal for the good, if it continues even when the teacher is absent, is an indication that it proceeds from love and fear of God Who sees all: "Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not serving to the eye, as pleasing men, but in simplicity of heart, fearing God" (Col 3:22).

Humans are conceived in their mother's womb in order to be formed, yet only when fully formed do they go into labor. One might be surprised by his statement: "You with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you." We are to understand this travail to stand for the agonies of concern that they might be born in Christ. Then he labors for them once again because of the dangers of their seduction, by which he sees them being disturbed.

The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself. He is beginning, so to speak, to 'inject' His kind of life and thought, His Zoe, into you; beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man. The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin.

"Little children," says our teacher, "a little while longer I am with you." That is why Paul also instructs the Galatians in these words: "My little children, with whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you." And again he writes to the Corinthians: "For though you may have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you have not many fathers. For in Christ I have begotten you through the gospel." On this account "a eunuch shall not enter into God's assembly," that is, the man who is unproductive and unfruitful both in conduct and in word; but blessed are those who have made themselves eunuchs, free from all sin, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven by their abstinence from the world.

Christ is "formed in you" by nothing else but irreproachable faith and the way of gospel.

Sons are spoken of in many senses, sometimes as by love, sometimes as by nature, sometimes as by blood, sometimes even as by religion. This is what Paul means now by "my sons," either because when the new birth occurs through faithful baptism, he who guides the baptized toward maturity or receives them when fully ready is called their father, or because when he calls them back into Christ he makes them his own sons.

He who in another place had spoken like a father now speaks not like a father but like a mother in Christ, so that they may recognize the dutiful anxiety of both parents.

This example which he has taken from a pregnant woman deserves our close attention, so that we may understand what is being said. Nature is something to be not ashamed of but revered. For just as the seed is unformed when first sown into the mother … then at a determined time issues into the light and is now born with difficulties as great as those with which it is later nourished to keep it from dying—so too, when the seed of Christ's word falls into the soul of the hearer it increases by its proper degrees and … remains in jeopardy so long as the one who has conceived it is in labor. Nor does the work end as soon as it emerges This is but the beginning of a new labor, so that he may lead the infant, by diligent nourishment and study, up to the full maturity of Christ.

(Verse 19.) My dear children, whom I am in labor pains until Christ is formed in you. Just as childbirth involves many difficulties and pain as the offspring are brought forth from the womb, the curse is declared first, saying: 'In pain you will bring forth children' (Gen. III, 16). Therefore, Paul wants to show the concern of teachers for their disciples, the emotions they suffer, so that their followers do not fall away from salvation. He says: 'My dear children, whom I am in labor pains for again.' For in another place, he had said as a father: 'Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers' (I Cor. IV, 15). Now, he speaks as a mother in Christ, so that they may recognize the anxiety and devotion of a parent in both of them. Moses said this to the people: Did I conceive all this people in my womb? Who among us is so concerned for the salvation of his disciples that he is tormented not for a few hours, or for a day or two, but throughout his entire life, until Christ is formed in them? The example of a pregnant woman who takes in and forms the seeds in herself should be carefully considered, so that we can understand what is being said. Nature is not to be blushed at, but to be revered. For just as in the womb of a woman the first formless semen is ejaculated, so that it may adhere to its furrows and bottom as if to a certain glue: of which the prophet, remembering the beginning of himself, says: Your eyes saw my unformed substance (Ps. 138:16): then, for nine months, with the blood restrained, the future human is coagulated, formed, nourished and distinguished; so that after it has throbbed in the womb, it is established in the light at the appointed time, and is born with such difficulties as to not perish afterwards, but to be nurtured: in the same way, the seed of the word of Christ, when it falls upon an attentive soul, grows through its stages, and, to pass over many things (for we can easily transfer a physical description to spiritual understanding), it remains uncertain until she who conceived gives birth. The end of learning is not immediately accomplished, but then it is the beginning of another work, just as diligent nourishment and studies lead an infantile infancy to the full age of Christ. And just as in marriage, often the semen of the husband is the cause that children are not conceived, sometimes the sterile wife does not retain the semen, and frequently neither is capable of procreation, and on the contrary both are fecund: so also in those who sow the word of God, this fourfold division is observed, so that indeed it fulfills its duty as a teacher, but the hearer is sterile: either the hearer is of good nature, but through the ignorance of the teacher, the seed of the word perishes, or the one being taught is so crazy, as the one who commands; and it rarely happens that the master and disciple agree with each other, it is clear that the teacher teaches only as much as the student can absorb: or the student can only receive as much as the teacher can provide. But now we are all judges. We do not know which psalm it is, which part of prophecy, which chapter of the Law, and we interpret with boldness in speaking what we do not understand at all. It does not pertain to us for Christ to be formed in the people: that each person, returning to his own house, may have the seed of the word of God, which, when he conceives it, he may be able to say with the prophet: 'From your fear, O Lord, we have conceived and brought forth, we have made children of your salvation upon the earth' (Isaiah 26:17-18). Tales in apostolos transeunt, et a Salvatore merentur (( Al. merebantur)) audire: Quicumque fecerit voluntatem Patris mei, ipse est frater meus, et soror, et mater (Matt. XXII, 50) : diversitate profectuum, in diversis nominibus ostensa (( Al. ostendente)). Formatur quoque Christus in corde credentium, cum omnia illis sacramenta panduntur, et ea quae obscura videbantur, perspicua fiunt. Sed et illud est intuendum, quod qui per peccatum quodammodo homo esse desierat, per poenitentiam concipitur a magistro, et rursum in eo Christi formatio repromittitur. This is against the Novatians, who do not want those who have once committed sins to be reformed.

Observe his perplexity and perturbation, "Brethren, I beseech you:" "My little children, of whom I am again in travail:" He resembles a mother trembling for her children. "Until Christ be formed in you." Behold his paternal tenderness, behold this despondency worthy of an Apostle. Observe what a wail he utters, far more piercing than of a woman in travail;-Ye have defaced the likeness, ye have destroyed the kinship, ye have changed the form, ye need another regeneration and refashioning; nevertheless I call you children, abortions and monsters though ye be. However, he does not express himself in this way, but spares them, unwilling to strike, and to inflict wound upon wound. Wise physicians do not cure those who have fallen into a long sickness all at once, but little by little, lest they should faint and die. And so is it with this blessed man; for these pangs were more severe in proportion as the force of his affection was stronger. And the offense was of no trivial kind. And as I have ever said and ever will say, even a slight fault mars the appearance and distorts the figure of the whole.

For he says, "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you; ". Receive the features, and the image, and the manliness of Christ, the likeness of the form of the Word being stamped upon them, and begotten in them by a true knowledge and faith, so that in each one Christ is spiritually born. And, therefore, the Church swells and travails in birth until Christ is formed in us,

"My little children." Even if, Paul says, you have corrupted the form of Christ and the image upon you, yet you are still my little children. And he says "little children," those small and unbegotten, or aborted infants, and lacking birth. For this reason he did not say "children," but "my little children."

"until Christ be formed in you." You have corrupted, he says, the image of Christ in you, which you wore through baptism. As many as were baptized into Christ, you have clothed yourselves with Christ, and you have lost his form, and his being as members. There is therefore need of another birth, which will again imprint upon you the divine form of Christ. What then? Again I labor you by teaching. Again I beget, through catechesis, until you are again imprinted with the divine form of Christ. What then do the Novatians say in response to these things? For behold, I write these things plainly to the faithful.

— [CYRIL] Those whom I labor, until the great and excellent characters of the divinity of Christ be formed into your minds. [end of the excerpt from Cyril of Alexandria] —

"For," says he, "I have begotten you through the gospel; " and "Ye are my children, of whom I travail again in birth." Now was absolutely fulfilled that promise of the Spirit which was given by the word of Joel: "In the last days will I pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy; and upon my servants and upon my handmaids will I pour out of my Spirit.

But so did circumstances require him to "become all things to all, in order to gain all; " "travailing in birth with them until Christ should be formed in them; " and "cherishing, as it were a nurse," the little ones of faith, by teaching them some things "by way of indulgence, not by way of command"-for it is one thing to indulge, another to bid-permitting a temporary licence of re-marriage on account of the "weakness of the flesh," just as Moses of divorcing on account of "the hardness of the heart.

He imitates a mother trembling for her children. You, he says, have distorted the image of Christ which you had within you from baptism, and you require a new rebirth and re-creation, so that the image of Christ may again appear in you and His character be imprinted upon you. Again I am in the pangs of birth, again I am regenerating you through teaching. But I do not despair. Therefore I also call you children, so that you too would not lose hope. And this is against the Novatians: Paul regenerates and renews the Galatians, but they (the Novatians) do not accept correction through repentance.

Above, the Apostle dismissed the false cause of his correcting the Galatians; here he discloses the true cause, which is sorrow for their imperfection.

First, he expresses the heartfelt sorrow of which he spoke;

Secondly, a desire to manifest this sorrow (v. 20);

Thirdly, he gives the cause of the sorrow (v. 20): "because I am ashamed for you."

This sorrow proceeded from charity, because he grieved for their sins: "I beheld the transgressors and I pined away; because they kept not thy word" (Ps 118:158). And so he addresses them in words of charity, saying, "My little children." He purposely does not call them sons, but little children, to indicate the imperfection whereby they had become small: "As unto little ones in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not meat" (1 Cor 3:1).

It should be noted that during parturition a child is called a little one. And this is what they were, because they needed to be born again, even though parents according to the flesh bring forth their child only once. Accordingly he says to them, "of whom I am in labor again." For he was in labor of them during their first conversion; but since they had now turned from the one who called them, to another gospel, they needed to be brought forth anew. Hence he says, "I am in labor," i.e., with labor and pain I bring them forth into the light of faith. In these words the Apostle bares his grief. Hence a man's conversion is called a birth: "They bow themselves to bring forth young" (Job 39:3); "And being with child she cried, travailing in birth and was in pain to be delivered" (Rev 12:2). Therefore it is because of his pain that he rebukes them so sharply, as a woman cries aloud because of the pains of childbirth: "I will speak now as a woman in labor" (Is 42:14).

The reason for the iterated travail is that you are not perfectly formed. Hence he says: "until Christ be formed in you," i.e., until you receive His likeness, which you have lost through your sin. He does not say, "That you may be formed in Christ," but "until Christ be formed in you," to make it resound more terrifyingly on their ears. For Christ is formed in the heart by "formed faith": "That Christ might dwell in your hearts by faith" (Eph 3:17). But when one does not have "formed faith," Christ has already died in him: "Until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts" (2 Pet. 1:19). Thus Christ grows in a man according to his progress in the faith; conversely, as it diminishes, He recedes. Therefore, when the faith of a man is rendered "unformed" by sin, Christ is not formed in him; and so, because there was not a formed faith in them, they needed to be brought forth in the womb again until Christ be formed in them through faith, i.e., "formed faith," which works through love. Or, "until Christ be formed in you," i.e., through you Christ appear finely formed to others.

Holy Scripture edifies even when read but is much more profitable if one passes from written characters to the voice.… Knowing, then, that speech has more force when addressed to those who are present, the apostle longs to turn the epistolary voice, the voice confined within written characters, into actual presence.

"I used coaxing words to you just now, … but for the sake of that love which prevents me from allowing my sons to perish and stray forever I wish that I were now present—if the bonds of my ministry did not prevent me—and change my coaxing tone to one of castigation. It is not because of fickleness that I am now coaxing, now irate. I am impelled to speak by love, by grief, by diverse emotions."

(Verse 20.) However, I wish to be with you soon and change my voice, for I am confused among you. The divine scripture builds and is read; but it is much more beneficial if it is translated from letters into voice, so that the one who taught through the letter may instruct those who are present. Indeed, the living voice has great power: a voice that resonates from its author's mouth, which is uttered and distinguished with the same pronunciation it was generated in the author's heart. Therefore, knowing that the Apostle has greater power in the spoken word that is done in the present, he desires to exchange the Epistolary voice, which is comprehended in letters, into presence: and because this was more expedient for those who had been corrupted in error, he wanted to bring them back to the truth while they were still alive with his speech. And the reason for this was because he was confused among them, which is more properly said in Greek. For I am perplexed, not so much by the confusion, which is called αἰσχύνη or σύγχυσις among them, as by the sense of need and poverty. Therefore, this is the meaning: I wish I could be present with you now and speak the voice of letters myself, because I am in need of you. For I do not have the fruits that teachers usually have from their students, and without cause the seed of teachings has been sown, I am compelled to suffer poverty among you, so that I may be able to burst forth with the voice of Jeremiah: I have not profited, nor has anyone profited me (Jerem. XXIII, 23). This passage can be interpreted in another way: Paul the apostle, who became a Jew to the Jews in order to gain Jews for himself (I Cor. IX), and to those who were under the Law, as if he himself were under the Law, and to the weak, as if he were weak, in order to gain the weak. According to the condition of those whom he desired to save, he changed his voice and transformed himself into the likeness of actors (indeed, he became a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men (I Cor. IV)), assuming different forms and voices. Not because it was what it pretended to be, but because it only appeared to be what it benefited others. He sees that the Galatians need different teaching, a different way of salvation, not the one by which they were first brought to the faith of Christ from Gentile customs. And he is forced to say: I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am confused about you. No, he says, I don't see that I am of any benefit if I speak the same things that I spoke before, because I am ignorant of what I should do, and torn apart and confused, I am torn to pieces and destroyed. And in the same way that doctors, when they see that the force of their art is not sufficient for a cure, pass on to another remedy, and experiment with many things until they arrive at a cure, so I, because I am confused among you and distracted here and there by ignorance, would like to speak the voice of letters directly from my mouth, so that I myself might firmly rebuke you; since a letter cannot express the voice of one who rebukes; it is not able to echo the clamor of one who is angry, nor to explain the pain of the heart with the points of a pen. However, it can also be understood more simply: I have used gentle words with you, saying: Brothers, I beseech you. And: My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you; but I am gentle and mild, who have spoken to you as a father, with that love by which I do not allow my children to perish and wander forever. I wish I could be present now if the bonds of my confession did not bind me, and change a gentle voice into words of rebuke. Nor is it insincerity, if now I flatter, now I become angry; love urges me on, pain urges me on, to speak with different emotions. For I do not know into which words I should first burst forth, and with what remedy I should heal you, because I am confused by you.

Observe his warmth, his inability to refrain himself, and to conceal these his feelings; such is the nature of love; nor is he satisfied with words, but desires to be present with them, and so, as he says, to change his voice, that is, to change to lamentation, to shed tears, to turn every thing into mourning. For he could not by letter show his tears or cries of grief, and therefore he ardently desires to be present with them.

I know not, says he, what to say, or what to think. How is it, that ye who by dangers, which ye endured for the faith's sake, and by miracles, which ye performed through faith, had ascended to the highest heaven, should suddenly be brought to such a depth of degradation as to be drawn aside to circumcision or sabbaths, and should rely wholly upon Judaizers? Hence in the beginning he says, "I marvel that ye are so quickly removing," and here, "I am perplexed about you," as if he said, What am I to speak? What am I to utter? What am I to think? I am bitterly perplexed. And so he must needs weep, as the prophets do when in perplexity; for not only admonition but mourning also is a form in which solicitous attention is often manifested. And what he said in his speech to those at Miletus, "By the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one with tears, he says here also, "and to change my voice." (Acts 20:31.) When we find ourselves overcome by perplexity and helplessness which come contrary to expectation, we are driven to tears; and so Paul admonished them sharply, and endeavored to shame them, then in turn soothed them, and lastly he wept. And this weeping is not only a reproof but a blandishment; it does not exasperate like reproof, nor relax like indulgent treatment, but is a mixed remedy, and of great efficacy in the way of exhortation. Having thus softened and powerfully engaged their hearts by his tears, he again advances to the contest, and lays down a larger proposition, proving that the Law itself was opposed to its being kept. Before, he produced the example of Abraham, but now (what is more cogent) he brings forward the Law itself enjoining them not to keep itself, but to leave off. So that, says he, you must abandon the Law, if you would obey it, for this is its own wish: this however he does not say expressly, but enforces it in another mode, mixing up with it an account of facts.

"I would indeed be present with you now." — [OECUMENIUS] See love. "I am not content," he says, with letters; I sought to be present with you, and to exchange weeping and mourning for teaching delivered in words, so that, he says, I taught you with weeping. For I too am at a loss what to say about you. How is it that you who were exalted by the knowledge of the Gospel have been cast down and dragged to the ground, again held by the law? [end of the excerpt by Oecumenius] —

"and to change my tone." For some, to turn it into weeping; for others, to marvel at the certainty.

I am not satisfied with letters, but would wish to be with you and to change my voice, that is, to turn it into lamentation and weeping. I am at a loss what to say about you, how you who had risen so high that you even underwent dangers for the faith and performed signs through it, are now retreating to the weakness of the law. Therefore I would wish to lament over you in your presence. For when he found himself in difficult circumstances, he would usually give himself over to tears.

Here someone might say: "Away from us you say these things, but if you were with us, you would not say them," according to 2 Corinthians (10:10): "His bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible." Therefore, he expresses a desire to manifest his grief more vividly, saying, "I would willingly be present with you now and change my voice." As if to say: I use gentle language now, calling you friends and sons, in my absence; but if I were present among you, I would correct you more sharply. For if I were present and speaking the things I am now writing in a letter, the correction would be more severe; because I would then be able to express the scolding tones of my rebuke and the cries of my anger and the pain in my heart, much better than I can convey them by letter. And a living voice would more effectively stir your hearts to shame for your error and my anxiety.

And the cause of this sorrow is that "I am ashamed for you," i.e., I blush for you in the presence of others; for as it is said in Sirach (22:3): "A son ill taught is the confusion of the father." For since a son is a thing of the father, and a disciple as such is a thing of his master, a master rejoices in the good he sees reflected in him and glories in it as though it were his own. Conversely, he is pained at evil and is ashamed. Hence because they had been turned from good to evil, for that reason the Apostle is ashamed.

People might suppose that in the case of Hagar Abraham acted [merely from human desire for procreation]. But the apostle makes the reverse clear, viewing this in relation to prophecy.

Because in the Old Testament the New is prefigured, those men of God who then understood this in the manner appropriate to their times are shown to have been ministers and performers of the old covenant but heirs of the new.

Nay, verily, the Holy Spirit is not given by measure, but is poured out altogether on the believer. For if the day rises alike to all, and if the sun is diffused with like and equal light over all, how much more does Christ, who is the true sun and the true day, bestow in His Church the light of eternal life with the like equality! Of which equality we see the sacrament celebrated in Exodus, when the manna flowed down from heaven, and, prefiguring the things to come, showed forth the nourishment of the heavenly bread and the food of the coming Christ. For there, without distinction either of sex or of age, an omer was collected equally by each one. Whence it appeared that the mercy of Christ, and the heavenly grace that would subsequently follow, was equally divided among all; without difference of sex, without distinction of years, without accepting of persons, upon all the people of God the gift of spiritual grace was shed. Assuredly the same spiritual grace which is equally received in baptism by believers, is subsequently either increased or diminished in our conversation and conduct; as in the Gospel the Lord's seed is equally sown, but, according to the variety of the soil, some is wasted, and some is increased into a large variety of plenty, with an exuberant fruit of either thirty or sixty or a hundred fold. But, once more, when each was called to receive a penny, wherefore should what is distributed equally by God be diminished by human interpretation?

One should note that the whole narrative in Genesis is here called Law, not, according to the popular assumption, simply statements of what is to be done or avoided but everything that is rehearsed concerning Abraham and his wives and sons.

(Verse 21) Tell me, those of you who desire to be under the Law, have you not heard the Law? It should be noted that the Law mentioned here refers to the history of Genesis, not as people commonly think, what should be done or avoided, but rather the entire narrative of Abraham and his wives and children, referred to as the Law (John 15). We also read in another place that the prophets are also called the Law. Therefore, one who truly understands the Law is one who, according to Paul, examines not just its surface, but its essence. He who follows only the external appearance, like the Galatians, does not obey the Law.

He says rightly, "ye that desire," for the matter was not one of a proper and orderly succession of things but of their own unseasonable contentiousness. It is the Book of Creation which he here calls the Law, which name he often gives to the whole Old Testament.

"Tell me," Paul says, "you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law." But "desire" is fitting; for the matter was one of ill-timed quarrelsomeness on their part.

"do you not hear the law." What, he says, does he say about himself? and furthermore he brings testimony from Genesis. For it is his habit to call the entire Old Testament "the law." "do you not hear the law," that is, the book of Genesis? and see how he constructs his argument. "you who desire," he says, "to be under the law, do you not hear the law." For therefore you will be convinced by him. The law itself, he says (if you know what is in it), advises that you depart from it. If then you are persuaded by it, withdraw from it. But observe the construction.

"For (it is written) that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond maid, the other by a free woman; but he who was of the bond maid was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise: which things are allegorized" (that is to say, they presaged something besides the literal history); "for these are the two covenants," or the two exhibitions (of the divine plans), as we have found the word interpreted," the one from the Mount Sinai," in relation to the synagogue of the Jews, according to the law, "which gendereth to bondage"-"the other gendereth" (to liberty, being raised) above all principality, and power, and dominion, and every name that is l named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come, "which is the mother of us all," in which we have the promise of (Christ's) holy church; by reason of which he adds in conclusion: "So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the free." In this passage he has undoubtedly shown that Christianity had a noble birth, being sprung, as the mystery of the allegory indicates, from that son of Abraham who was born of the free woman; whereas from the son of the bond maid came the legal bondage of Judaism.

Images prophesy: statutes govern. What that digamy of Abraham portends, the same apostle fully teaches, the interpreter of each testament, just as he likewise lays it down that our "seed" is called in Isaac.

After he had already sufficiently softened them and drawn them to himself, he again enters into dispute, pointing out that the law itself does not wish to be observed: answer me, he says. He also said beautifully: "those who desire," because such a situation depended not on the demand of things, but on their inappropriate passion for disputes. And by the law he means the book of Genesis, since it is his custom to call the entire Old Testament the law.

Above, the Apostle showed the pre-eminence of grace by a human example; here he proves it on the authority of the Scripture.

First, he proposes a fact;

Secondly, he expounds its mystery (v. 24);

Thirdly, he concludes his proposition (v. 31).

As to the first, he does two things:

First, he elicits their attention;

Secondly, he sets forth his intention (v. 22).

He says therefore: "Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, have you not read the law?" As if to say: If you are wise, consider my objections; if you cannot answer them, yield: "Answer, I beseech you, without contention: and speaking that which is just, answer me" (Job 6:29). Now I raise this objection to you. You have either read the Law or not. If you have read it, you ought to know the things written in it. But those things prove that it should be abandoned. If you have not read it, you ought not accept what you do not know: "Let thy eyelids go before thy steps" (Prov 4:25). He says "under the law," i.e., under the burden of the Law. For to shoulder something light is not a feat; but to assume a heavy burden, such as the burden of the Law, seems to be a mark of exceeding stupidity: "This is a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear" (Acts 15:10); which is to be understood of those who wish to live according to the flesh under the Law.