Galatians 6:11–18

Those who wanted the Galatians to be circumcised had put it about that Paul preached one way and acted another, destroying his words by his own deeds, since he who proclaimed the abolition of the law was found to be obeying the law. Because Paul could not refute their opinions in person in the sight of all (being prevented by the chains that he bore as a testimony to Christ), he acts as his own lawyer through his letter. So that no suspicion that the letter was false might arise, he himself has written it from this point right to the end, showing that the preceding part was copied by another's hand. … It is not that the letters were larger (though indeed the word would bear this sense in Greek) but because the marks of his own handwriting were known to them. So when they recognized the angles and contours of his own letters, they would feel that they had encountered him.… Paul wrote his letter in great characters because the meaning of the characters was great and had been traced out by the Spirit of God, not merely by pen and ink.

(Verse 11) See with what letters I have written to you with my own hand. Those who wanted the Galatians to be circumcised had spread the rumor that Paul was doing one thing and preaching something else, and by his own actions, he was destroying the message. They claimed that anyone who asserted that the Law was abolished would themselves be found to be within the Law. Paul was unable to personally refute this belief with everyone present because he was restrained by the chains he bore for the sake of Christ's martyrdom. Therefore, he represents himself through letters. And so that no suspicion of forged letters should arise, he himself wrote by his own hand from this place to the end, showing that the previous [letters] were written by someone else. And he also demonstrates that letters were sent in his name by false teachers, writing to the Thessalonians: But we ask you, brothers, through the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together with him, not to be quickly shaken from your senses, nor be alarmed, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter supposedly from us, as if the day of the Lord is imminent, so that no one deceives you in any way (2 Thessalonians 2, 1 seqq.). And in order to dispel any suspicion of falsehood about the entire letter that he was sending, he subscribed with his own hand at the end, saying: My greeting in the hand of Paul, which is the sign in every letter; this is how I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you (2 Thess. 3:17-18). He also marked with his own hand the letters he dictated to the Colossians, saying: My greeting in the hand of Paul; remember my chains. And wherever he knew that false teachers were present, who could spread new doctrines through the authority of the Apostles, he subscribed the letter with his own hand. Finally, writing to the Corinthians, among whom there were schisms and heresies, with each one saying, 'I am of Paul,' and 'I am of Apollos,' and 'I am of Cephas' (I Cor. 1:12), he signed his letter with this annotation: My greeting [is] in the hand of Paul: If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Maranatha, and so on. Therefore, desiring to remove any occasion for false teachers who had corrupted the Galatians from the truth of the Gospel, he completed the end of the letter with the annotation of his hand, saying: See with what letters I have written to you; not that the letters were large (for this indeed signifies 'great' in Greek), but that his hand was known to them by distinct traces, so that while they recognize the tops of the letters, they might suppose that they were seeing the very person who had written [the letter]. In this place, a man most learned in our times, I wonder how he spoke such a ridiculous thing. Paul, he says, was a Hebrew and did not know Greek letters. And because necessity demanded it, that he himself would subscribe the letter by his own hand, contrary to the usual curving paths of the letters, he barely expressed with large points: also showing in this his signs of love towards the Galatians, that for their sake he would even attempt that which he could not. Paul, the great writer, wrote a letter, because there was great meaning in his words, and it was written with the Holy Spirit, not with ink or pen. But what he added, with my hand, let us understand in his works. For this reason, it is often written in the prophets: The word of God that was made in the hand of Jeremiah, or Haggai, so that we also know through this similarity that the word of God was made in the hand of Paul. Paul writes great letters not only to the Galatians back then, but also to everyone today, and although the tips with which his letters are written are small, the letters themselves are great, because there is great meaning in them.

"See with how large letters I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they compel you to be circumcised."

Observe what grief posesses his blessed soul. As those who are oppressed with some sorrow, who have lost one of their own kindred, and suffered an unexpected calamity, rest neither by night nor day, because their grief besieges their soul, so the blessed Paul, after a short moral discourse, returns again to that former subject which chiefly disturbed his mind, saying as follows: "see with how large letters I have written unto you with mine own hand." By this he signifies that he had written the whole letter himself, which was a proof of great sincerity. In his other Epistles he himself only dictated, another wrote, as is plain from the Epistle to the Romans, for at its close it is said, "I Tertius, who write the Epistle, salute you;" (Rom. xvi: 22.) but in this instance he wrote the whole himself. And this he did by necessity, not from affection merely, but in order to remove an injurious suspicion. Being charged with acts wherein he had no part, and being reported to preach Circumcision yet to pretend to preach it not, he was compelled to write the Epistle with his own hand, thus laying up beforehand a written testimony. By the expression "what sized," he appears to me to signify, not the magnitude, but, the misshapen appearance of the letters, as if he had said, "Although not well skilled in writing, I have been compelled to write with my own hand to stop the mouth of these traducers."

The word "large" [πηλίκοις] does not indicate size, but rather the irregularity of the letters. As if he said: And although I know how to write these things well, nevertheless I have been forced to write the letter with my own hand, because, he says, my confession is set down in my own hand, that I do not preach circumcision as those who slanderously say.

Having spoken a little in a moral spirit, he again returns to the former matter that troubled his heart, and shows that he himself, with his own hand, wrote this entire epistle, not only to show his love for them, but also to destroy an evil suspicion. Since they slandered him, saying that he preaches one thing to some and another thing to others, he was therefore compelled to give a written testimony of his preaching. The other epistles were written by others, and he himself would only sign the greeting. The expression "how large" (πηλίκοις) indicates not the length, but the unattractiveness of the writing, as if saying: although I do not know how to write beautifully, I was nevertheless compelled to write this epistle with my own hand.

After admonishing the Galatians how to behave towards men who are upright and just, the Apostle here teaches them how to act toward heretics and the perverse. First, he insinuates the way he is writing the admonition; Secondly, he sets forth the admonition (v. 12).

As to the first, it should be noted that heretics were wont to distort and falsify the canonical scriptures and append things that savored of heresy. Because of this, whenever the Apostle wrote anything against them, he followed the practice of writing something at the end of the epistle, so that it could not be distorted. In this way it could be known that it came from him with full knowledge of its contents. Thus in 1 Corinthians (16:21) he says: "The salutation of me, Paul, with my own hand." For he allowed the entire epistle to be written by someone else at his dictation; then, at the end, he added something in his own hand. According to this procedure, then, whatever followed from that place on, Paul wrote in his own hand. Hence he says: "See what a letter I have written to you with my own hand"; to the end, namely, that you might firmly hold to the foregoing, and that knowing this epistle is sent by me, you might obey better. In this way, then, prelates ought to write in their own hand, so that what they teach by word and script, they may show by example. Hence it is said in Isaiah (49:16): "I have graven thee in my hands" (i.e., works); and in Exodus (Ch. 32) it is said of Moses that he descended carrying two stone tablets written by the finger of God.

To please "in the flesh" means to please human beings. For those he calls false apostles, in order that they gain the approval of the Jews or at least not elicit their hostility, were preaching Christ in such a way that they also taught the necessity of observing the law. Paul was never intimidated by his opponents. He consistently refused to keep silent about the truth. He constantly was attentive to what he was teaching and how he was living.

The Jews were inflicting great persecution on those who seemed to be deserting their traditional observances such as circumcision. Paul's lack of fear has been demonstrated through his composing such a letter in his own handwriting. In this way he shows that those who force the Gentiles into circumcision are operating under fear's control, as though they were subject to the law.

Caius [Julius] Caesar and Octavianus Augustus, and Tiberius, the successor of Augustus, had published laws that permitted the Jews scattered throughout the whole sphere of the Roman Empire to live by their own code and observe their ancestral ceremonies. Whoever was circumcised, therefore, even if he was a Christian, was reckoned as a Jew by the Roman authorities. But anyone who was not circumcised and by his uncircumcision proclaimed himself no Jew became liable to persecution, both from Jews and from Gentiles! So those who were leading the Galatians into evil, wishing to evade the persecution, were persuading the disciples to circumcise themselves for protection. This the apostle calls "making a good show" in the flesh.

(Verse 12) Whoever wants to please in the flesh, these compel you to be circumcised, only so that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. He shows above where he has subscribed with his own hand: now he repeats what he has written. Gaius Caesar, and Octavian Augustus, and Tiberius, successor of Augustus, had promulgated laws that the Jews who were scattered throughout the entire Roman Empire should live according to their own customs and perform their ancestral ceremonies. Therefore, whoever was circumcised, even if they believed in Christ, was considered a Jew by the Gentiles. But those who claimed that they were not Jews because they were uncircumcised, were subject to persecution by both the Gentiles and the Jews. Now, those who had deceived the Galatians wanted to avoid these persecutions, so they were persuading the disciples to be circumcised for their own protection. The Apostle calls this confidence in the flesh, because they were proposing circumcision in persecution to both the Gentiles whom they feared and the Jews whom they wanted to please. Neither the Jews could persecute them, nor the Gentiles, whom they ((wanted)) to see and circumcise, and to keep the precepts of the Law themselves.

For neither those who are circumcised keep the Law, but they wish to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. For the law cannot be fulfilled, he says, because of the weakness of the flesh. Therefore, the Jews keep the precepts and teachings of men more than the commandments of God, neither fulfilling the bodily Law, for it is indeed impossible, nor the spiritual Law, which they do not understand. Therefore, this is all that they strive for, that they do, that they exert themselves, so that they may boast among the Jews of the injury to your flesh, and boast of their Gentiles circumcised by their teaching. But they do all of this in order to please the Jews, and the envy of the conquered Law may subside.

"As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they compel you to be circumcised; only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the Law; but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh."

Here he shows that they suffered this, not willingly but of necessity, and affords them an opportunity of retreat, almost speaking in their defence, and exhorting them to abandon their teachers with all speed. What is the meaning of "to make a fair show in the flesh?" it means, to be esteemed by men. As they were reviled by the Jews for deserting the customs of their fathers, they desire, says he, to injure you, that they may not have this charged against them, but vindicate themselves by means of your flesh. His object here is to show that they did not so act from respect to God; it is as if he said, This procedure is not founded in piety, all this is done through human ambition; in order that the unbelievers may be gratified by the mutilation of the faithful, they choose to offend God that they may please men; for this is the meaning of, "to make a fair show in the flesh." Then, as a proof that for another reason too they are unpardonable, he again convinces them that, not only in order to please others, but for their own vain glory, they had enjoined this. Wherefore he adds, "that they may glory in your flesh," as if they had disciples, and were teachers. And what is the proof of this? "For not even they themselves," he says, "keep the Law;" even if they did keep it, they would incur grave censure, but now their very purpose is corrupt.

"Those who desire to make a good showing." He says: those who wish to be approved by men, these compel you to be circumcised. By what kind of men? Either by Jews as keepers of the ancestral law, or by outsiders as though you were their disciples.

For "in the flesh," that is, in men.

"be circumcised." They wish to have others circumcised, so that they not be harassed on account of the cross and the faith, and so that they may endure persecution. But if it is "they are persecuted" [διοικῶνται], then understand it therefore: they do everything and want to please men, only that they may not be ruled and persecuted through faith.

"Those wishing," he says, "to boast according to the flesh," that is, among people, namely among the Jews (for they reproached them as apostates from ancestral customs), "compel you to be circumcised," justifying themselves before the Jews through your flesh. And by the word "compel" he showed that they bear it unwillingly, and at the same time gives them an impulse to return, as to those who have gone astray involuntarily.

And for another reason too, he says, they do this. For, so that they themselves might not be subjected to persecution and harassment on account of the cross and the faith – because they transgress it and get circumcised – they wish others also to be participants in circumcision.

He then follows with the admonition, saying, "For as many as desire to please in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised." First, he exposes the intention of the seducers; Secondly, he shows that his intention is contrary to theirs (v. 14).

Concerning the first, he lays down one fact and two intentions that are mutually related. The fact concerns those who urged circumcision, from which they intended two things, one for the sake of the other; namely, that they might thereby please the Jews for having introduced the observances of the Law in the Church of the Gentiles. And this is what he says: "As many as desire to please", namely, the unbelieving Jews, "they constrain you to be circumcised" not by absolute force, but, as it were, by placing a condition, saying: "Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved," as is recorded in Acts (15:1).

They further intended to derive some security from this. For the Jews persecuted the disciples of Christ, because of the preaching of the Cross: "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews, indeed, a stumbling-block, and unto the Gentiles, foolishness" (1 Cor 1:23). And this because through the preaching of the Cross the works of the Law were made void. For if the apostles had preached, along with the Cross of Christ, that the legal ceremonies were to be observed, the Jews would not have persecuted the apostles. Hence he said: "And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution?" (5:11). Therefore, in order to escape persecution from the Jews, some urged circumcision. So he says: And they do this for the only reason "that they may not suffer the persecution of the cross of Christ," a persecution which is launched because of the Cross of Christ.

Or they did this to escape the persecution not only of the Jews but of the Gentile unbelievers. For the Roman Emperors, Cajus Caesar and Octavius Augustus, promulgated laws that wherever there were Jews, they might observe their own rite and ceremonies. Consequently, anyone who believed in Christ and was not circumcised was subject to persecution from the Gentiles and Jews. Therefore, in order that they might not be troubled because of their faith in Christ and that they might live in peace, they constrained them to be circumcised, as is mentioned in a Gloss.

Not only did [the Judaizers] wish to avoid persecution from the Jews, who were absolutely unwilling to let the law be given to the uncircumcised, but they desired to boast to the Jews about the number of proselytes they made.

The former circumcision was not inappropriate in its own time. But the law announced that Christ would come to dispense the law of freedom. Then the circumcision in the flesh would no longer be of service in the time of Christ. For through Christ came the true One of which the law was a shadow. From now on those who have been sealed with circumcision, even if they keep the whole law, would no longer gain any credit from their keeping this part of the law. … Nevertheless, the law is good and in its time so is circumcision, since through both we know Christ, who is the more perfect law and the more perfect circumcision.

Because of the weakness of the sin nature, Paul says, the law cannot be fulfilled. Hence the Jews keep the commands and traditions of the elders rather than God's commands, performing neither the whole body of the law (which is impossible) nor the spirit of the law, which they did not understand.

"but they desire that you be circumcised." He shows that vanity is the aim of all their actions. For he says that these who are circumcised and who circumcise you do not do this as if keeping and observing a law, but in order that they may have an occasion for boasting by circumcising you. For that is what he means by "in your flesh," namely, that they may be teachers, he says, and have you as disciples.

Are women who think that, in furnishing to their neighbour that which is demanded of beauty, they are furnishing it to themselves also, to augment that (beauty) when (naturally) given them, and to strive after it when not (thus) given? Some one will say, "Why, then, if voluptuousness be shut out and chastity let in, may (we) not enjoy the praise of beauty alone, and glory in a bodily good? "Let whoever finds pleasure in "glorying in the flesh" see to that.

For how can they totally keep the law while they are traveling far from Jerusalem? How can they perform the feasts; how can they offer the sacrifices; how can they be cleansed after touching impure things? No, it is obvious that they have conspired to have you circumcised in their desire to boast of having made you change.

Not only out of people-pleasing, he says, but also out of ambition do they do this. For not out of zeal for the law and not for the sake of piety, he says, do they accomplish this, but out of ambition: "that they may glory in your flesh," that is, to boast in the circumcision of your flesh, since they are supposedly your teachers and have you as disciples.

But because the false brethren might say that they urged circumcision not for that reason, but solely because of their zeal for the Law, then excluding this, he proves his proposition thus, when he says: "For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law." For it is obvious that if through zeal for the Law they urged certain ones to observe the Law, they should also command the Law to be fulfilled in other matters. But neither those who are circumcised nor the false brethren keep the Law in other matters, namely, in moral matters, which are more important in the Law, and in other observances: "None of you keeps the law" (Jn 7:19). Therefore it was not from zeal for the Law that they urged circumcision: "Circumcision profiteth, indeed, if you keep law" (Rom 2:25). "But" the reason why "they will have you to be circumcised" is "that in your flesh", i.e., in your fleshly circumcision, "they may glory" among the Jews for making so many proselytes; "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves" (Mt 23:15).

The assertion, then, may be hazarded, that it has been shown that death is the fellowship of the soul in a state of sin with the body; and life the separation from sin. And many are the stakes and ditches of lust which impede us, and the pits of wrath and anger which must be overleaped, and all the machinations we must avoid of those who plot against us,-who would no longer see the knowledge of God "through a glass." "The half of virtue the far-seeing Zeus takes from man, when he reduces him to a state of slavery." As slaves the Scripture views those "under sin" and "sold to sin," the lovers of pleasure and of the body; and beasts rather than men, "those who have become like to cattle, horses, neighing after their neighbours' wives." The licentious is "the lustful ass," the covetous is the "savage wolf," and the deceiver is "a serpent." The severance, therefore, of the soul from the body, made a life-long study, produces in the philosopher gnostic alacrity, so that he is easily able to bear natural death, which is the dissolution of the chains which bind the soul to the body. "For the world is crucified to me, and I to the world," the [apostle] says; "and now I live, though in the flesh, as having my conversation in heaven."

Paul proclaims in a loud and lofty voice, "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." And yet a virgin in the Church glories concerning her fleshly appearance and the beauty of her body! Paul adds, and says, "For they that are Christ's have crucified their flesh, with its faults and lusts." And she who professes to have renounced the lusts and vices of the flesh, is found in the midst of those very things which she has renounced! Virgin, thou art taken, thou art exposed, thou boastest one thing and affectest another. You sprinkle yourself with the stains of carnal concupiscence, although you are a candidate of purity and modesty. "Cry," says the Lord to Isaiah, "All flesh is grass, and all the glory of it as the flower of the grass: the grass withereth, and the flower fadeth; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever." It is becoming for no Christian, and especially it is not becoming for a virgin, to regard any glory and honour of the flesh, but only to desire the word of God, to embrace benefits which shall endure for ever. Or, if she must glory in the flesh, then assuredly let her glory when she is tortured in confession of the name; when a woman is found to be stronger than the tortures; when she suffers fire, or the cross, or the sword, or the wild beasts, that she may be crowned. These are the precious jewels of the flesh, these are the better ornaments of the body.

That he who has attained to trust, having put off the former man, ought to regard only celestial and spiritual things, and to give no heed to the world which he has already renounced. In Isaiah: "Seek ye the Lord; and when ye have found Him, call upon Him. But when He hath come near unto you, let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him be turned unto the Lord, and he shall obtain mercy, because He will plentifully pardon your sins." Of this same thing in Solomon: "I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; and, lo, all are vanity." Of this same thing in Exodus: "But thus shall ye eat it; your loins girt, and your shoes on your feet, and your staves in your hands: and ye shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's passover." Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewith shall we be clothed? for these things the nations seek after. But your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Likewise in the same place: "Think not for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for itself. Sufficient unto the day is its own evil." Likewise in the same place: "No one looking back, and putting his hands to the plough, is fit for the kingdom of God." Also in the same place: "Behold the fowls of the heaven: for they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of more value than they? " Concerning this same thing, according to Luke: "Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning; and ye like unto men that wait for their lord, when he cometh from the wedding; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him. Blessed are those servants, whom their lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." Of this same thing in Matthew: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where He may lay His head." Also in the same place: "Whoso forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple." Of this same thing in the first to the Corinthians: "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body." Also in the same place: "The time is limited. It remaineth, therefore, that both they who have wives be as though they have them not, and they who lament as they that lament not, and they that rejoice as they that rejoice not, and they who buy as they that buy not, and they who possess as they who possess not, and they who use this world as they that use it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away." Also in the same place: "The first man is of the clay of the earth, the second man from heaven. As he is of the clay, such also are they who are of the clay; and as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly. Even as we have borne the image of him who is of the clay, let us bear His image also who is from heaven." Of this same matter to the Philippians: "All seek their own, and not those things which are Christ's; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and their glory is to their confusion, who mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven, whence also we expect the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall transform the body of our humiliation conformed to the body of His glory." Of this very matter to Galatians: "But be it far from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Concerning this same thing to Timothy: "No man that warreth for God bindeth himself with worldly annoyances, that he may please Him to whom he hath approved himself. But and if a man should contend, he will not be crowned unless he fight lawfully." Of this same thing to the Colossians: "If ye be dead with Christ from I the elements of the world, why still, as if living in the world, do ye follow vain things? " Also concerning this same thing: "If ye have risen together with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Give heed to the things that are above, not to those things which are on the earth; for ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ your life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." Of this same thing to the Ephesians: Put off the old man of the former conversation, who is corrupted, according to the lusts of deceit. But be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, him who according to God is ordained in righteousness, and holiness, and truth." Of this same thing in the Epistle of Peter: "As strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; but having a good conversation among the Gentiles, that while they detract from you as if from evildoers, yet, beholding your good works, they may magnify God." Of this same thing in the Epistle of John: "He who saith he abideth in Christ, ought himself also to walk even as He walked." Also in the same place: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Because everything which is in the world is lust of the flesh, and lust of the eyes, and the ambition of this world, which is not of the Father, but of the lust of this world. And the world shall pass away with its lust. But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as God abideth for ever." Also in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new dough, as ye are unleavened. For also Christ our passover is sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not in the old leaven, nor in the leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

And to return to the praise of martyrdom, there is a word of the blessed Paul, who says; "Know ye not that they who run in a race strive many, but one receiveth the prize? But do ye so run, that all of you may obtain." Moreover also elsewhere, that be may exhort us to martyrdom, he has called us fellow-heirs with Christ; nay, that he might omit nothing, he says, "If ye are dead with Christ, why, as if living in the world, do ye make distinctions? " Because, dearest brethren, we who bear the rewards of resurrection, who seek for the day of judgment, who, in fine, are trusting that we shall reign with Christ, ought to be dead to the world. For you can neither desire martyrdom till you have first hated the world, nor attain to God's reward unless you have loved Christ. And he who loves Christ does not love the world. For Christ was given up by the world, even as the world also was given up by Christ; as it is written, "The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." The world has been an object of affection to none whom the Lord has not previously condemned; nor could he enjoy eternal salvation who has gloried in the life of the world. That is the very voice of Christ, who says: "He that loveth his life in this world, shall lose it in the world to come; but he that hateth his life in this world, shall find it in the world to come." Moreover, also, the Apostle Paul says: "Be ye imitators of me, as I also am of Christ." And the same elsewhere says: "I wish that all of you, if it were possible, should be imitators of me."

When Paul writes that the cross is glory, he means obviously "the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." When in that mystery his body hung from the cross and in it crushed the power of this world, the whole world was crucified through him. In the cross he identified with every person in the world. In doing so, he made everything that he suffered universal, that is, he caused all flesh to be crucified in his death. Therefore I too am fixed to the cross and to the world. I means the one who was living carnally, whose thoughts were of the flesh. Such a one is now "nailed to the world," that is, the worldly things in him are subjected to death.

Mindful of him, do ye by all means know that Jesus the Lord was truly born of Mary, being made of a woman; and was as truly crucified. For, says he, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus." And He really suffered, and died, and rose again. For says [Paul], "If Christ should become passible, and should be the first to rise again from the dead." And again, "In that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God." Otherwise, what advantage would there be in [becoming subject to] bonds, if Christ has not died? what advantage in patience? what advantage in [enduring] stripes? And why such facts as the following: Peter was crucified; Paul and James were slain with the sword; John was banished to Patmos; Stephen was stoned to death by the Jews who killed the Lord? But, [in truth, ] none of these sufferings were in vain; for the Lord was really crucified by the ungodly.

Moreover, they affirm that the Apostle Paul himself made mention of this cross in the following words: "The doctrine of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us who are saved it is the power of God." And again: "God forbid that I should glory in anything save in the cross of Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world."

(Verse 14.) But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. But that world is crucified to the just one, of whom the Savior says: I have conquered the world (John 16:33). And: Do not love the world. And: You have not received the spirit of the world. To whom the world is crucified, to him the world is also dead: and now the end of the world has come to him, and he is worthy of the new heaven and the new earth, and the new Testament, he sings a new song, and receives a new name written in a book, which no one knows except the one who receives it. It is asked how now Paul says: But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14). And in another place concerning others: That in this boasting I may not be put to shame. (2 Corinthians 9:4). And again: But he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9). And in another place: But though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth in me or any thing he heareth from me. (2 Corinthians 12:6). And so on, such as are written in this manner. But it must be known that all that boasting related to the cross, let the glory be to the cross: and whatever worthy is accomplished in virtues, let it be done because of the Lord's passion.

Such is a soul winged with heavenly love. For if those who cherish the foul earthly passion which men call love, think nothing either glorious or precious, but those things alone which tend to gratify their lust, they think both glorious and honorable, and their mistress is everything to them; much more do those, who have been taken captive by this heavenly love, think nothing of the cost. Would that I could bring forward examples of all this from among ourselves: but since we are at a loss for such, we must needs betake ourselves to this same Paul. Observe him then, how he felt towards the whole world. "The world is crucified unto me," he says, "and I unto the world": I am dead to the world, and the world is dead to me.

"But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Truly this symbol is thought despicable; but it is so in the world's reckoning, and among men; in Heaven and among the faithful it is the highest glory. Poverty too is despicable, but it is our boast; and to be cheaply thought of by the public is a matter of laughter to them, but we are elated by it. So too is the Cross our boast. He does not say, "I boast not," nor, "I will not boast," but, "Far be it from me that I should," as if he abominated it as absurd, and invoked the aid of God in order to his success therein. And what is the boast of the Cross? That Christ for my sake took on Him the form of a slave, and bore His sufferings for me the slave, the enemy, the unfeeling one; yea He so loved me as to give Himself up to a curse for me. What can be comparable to this! If servants who only receive praise from their masters, to whom they are akin by nature, are elated thereby, how must we not boast when the Master who is very God is not ashamed of the Cross which was endured for us. Let us then not be ashamed of His unspeakable tenderness; He was not ashamed of being crucified for thy sake, and wilt thou be ashamed to confess His infinite solicitude? It is as if a prisoner who had not been ashamed of his King, should, after that King had come to the prison and himself loosed the chains, become ashamed of him on that account. Yet this would be the height of madness, for this very fact would be an especial ground for boasting.

"Through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world."

What he here calls the world is not the heaven nor the earth, but the affairs of life, the praise of men, retinues, glory, wealth, and all such things as have a show of splendor. To me these things are dead. Such an one it behooves a Christian to be, and always to use this language. Nor was he content with the former putting to death, but added another, saying, "and I unto the world," thus implying a double putting to death, and saying, They are dead to me, and I to them, neither can they captivate and overcome me, for they are dead once for all, nor can I desire them, for I too am dead to them. Nothing can be more blessed than this putting to death, for it is the foundation of the blessed life.

But they say that the gods do this, not through fear, but through hatred; as though it were possible for any one to hate another, unless it be him who injures, or has the power of injuring. Yea, truly, it would be consistent with their majesty to visit those whom they hated with immediate punishment, rather than to flee from them. But since they can neither approach those in whom they shall see the heavenly mark, nor injure those whom the immortal sign as an impregnable wall protects, they harass them by men, and persecute them by the hands of others: and if they acknowledge the existence of these demons, we have overcome; for this must necessarily be the true religion, which both understands the nature of demons, and understands their subtlety, and compels them, vanquished and subdued, to yield to itself.

How sad a thing it has become! But what is the boast? That he accepted to be crucified for us the unworthy. For this is the occasion of our boasting. May it be my boast, then, to boast in the cross of Christ, which seems to be foolishness and a thing of reproach to unbelievers.

"through which the world has been crucified to me." He says "world" meaning the things of livelihood, the praise of men, the glory. Therefore all those things that are with me are dead. Then he says with emphasis: "And I," he says, "am dead to these," indicating by the double deadness the utter avoidance of them and their complete inactivity.

For when thou hast gone forth from the world, inasmuch as it is its custom to pursue after those who forsake it and depart from it, turn thee to fight against it, and be thou crucified to it, remembering that which Paul spake, "I am crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to me." Lighten therefore from off thee the weight of the world, that the war which thou art preparing against it may be easy to thee, and instead of the Jordan, go down into the waters of knowledge, and after thy submersion cleave unto the rule of the Spirit.

And the participation in the sufferings of Christ consisteth not in a man giving alms, and in shewing his lovingkindness unto those who are needy, but in his dying wholly and entirely to the world, and to the body, and to the lusts, and to the passions, and in a man crucifying his old man with all the lusts thereof, even as Paul also spake concerning himself, "I am crucified unto the world." And the whole feeling of the world was annulled in him, after the manner in which it is annulled in those who are dead in nature, for as the dead body feeleth not any one thing which is brought nigh unto it, even so in that man, who hath been crucified with Christ, and who hath put to death in himself all the old man, is there no perception of anything which is in the world; and for this reason also Paul calleth "dead" those who stand in this rule of perfection. For the righteous man who dwelleth in the world, and who hath a wife, and children, and riches, and possessions, cannot be called dead, because all his life is like unto that of a living man; for the dead man is not married, and he begetteth not, while the righteous are united unto their wives, and beget children, and do other things which follow in their train.

Moreover, "the world is crucified unto me," who am a servant of the Creator-"the world," (I say, ) but not the God who made the world-"and I unto the world," not unto the God who made the world.

Let them, he says, boast in circumcision, a thing abolished, but for me let there be no other boast "except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (that is, faith in the Crucified), which (cross) abolished the law. He turned away from this as something worthless, even calling upon God's help for this. What then is the boast in the cross? It is that for me, the unworthy one, the Lord was crucified, Who so loved me that He gave up even Himself. Thus, for Paul and for every believer, the cross serves as a subject of boasting, because in it the love of the Lord toward us is manifested. And what servant does not boast in the love of his master?

The world he calls worldly affairs: glory, wealth, pleasure. So they have died to me and I am dead to them: a double mortification. And they cannot take hold of me, since they are dead, and I myself cannot resort to them, because I am dead.

After unmasking the sinister intention of the seducers, the Apostle here insinuates his own intention. First, he states his intention; Secondly, he gives a sign of this intention (v. 14); Thirdly, the reason for this intention (v. 15).

He says therefore: The intention of the seducers is obvious, for they glory in the flesh; but I seek my glory elsewhere, namely, in the Cross. And this is what he says: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Notice that where the worldly philosopher felt shame, there the Apostle found his treasure: what the former regarded as foolish became for the Apostle wisdom and glory, as Augustine says. For each person glories in that through which he is considered great. Thus a person who regards himself as great in his riches, glories in them; and so on for other things. For one who regards himself to be great in nothing but Christ glories in Christ alone. But the Apostle was such a one; hence he says: "I live now not I; but Christ liveth in me" (2:20).

Accordingly he glories in nothing but Christ and particularly in the Cross of Christ; and this because in it are found all the things about which men usually glory. For some glory in the friendship of the great, such as of kings and princes; and this friendship the Apostle found most of all in the Cross, because there an obvious sign of divine friendship is shown: "But God commendeth his charity towards us; because when as yet we were sinners according to the time, Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8). For nothing shows His mercy to us as much as the death of Christ. Hence Gregory: "O inestimable love of charity! To redeem the servant, He delivered His Son."

Again, some glory in knowledge; and of this the Apostle found a more excellent one in the cross: "For I judged not myself to know anything among you but Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor 2:2). For in the Cross is the perfection of all law and the whole art of living well. Again, some glory in power; and of this the Apostle found the highest form through the Cross: "The word of the cross to them, indeed, that perish is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God" (1 Cor 1:18). Again, some glory in newly-found freedom; and this the Apostle obtained through the Cross: "Our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer" (Rom 6:6).

Again, some glory in being accepted into some famous fellowship; but by the Cross of Christ, we are accepted into the heavenly ranks: "Making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things that are on earth and the things that are in heaven" (Col 1:20). Again, some glory in the triumphal banners of conquest; but the Cross is the triumphal ensign of Christ's conquest over the demons: "And despoiling the principalities and powers, he hath exposed them confidently in open show, triumphing over them in himself" (Col 2:15); "Blessed is the wood by which justice cometh" (Wis 14:7).

The sign of his own intention he shows, saying "by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world." But since this which he says, "But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ", is an exceptive proposition which includes one affirmative and one negative statement, he is really giving two signs that prove both statements. First, he proves the negative one, namely, that he does not glory save in the cross. He does this when he says, "by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world." For that in which a person glories is not dead in his heart, but rather that which he scorns: "I am forgotten as one dead, from the heart" (Ps 30:13). But it is plain that the world and all things in it were dead in the heart of Paul: "I count all things as dung, that I may gain Christ" (Phil 3:8). Therefore he does not glory in the world or in the things that are in the world. And this is what he says: Verily, "I glory in nothing save in the cross of Christ, by whom," namely, Christ crucified, "the world is crucified to me," i.e., is dead in my heart, so that I covet nothing in it.

Secondly, he proves the affirmative, namely, that he glories in the Cross of Christ, saying that he is crucified to the World. For a person who glories in something treasures it and desires to make it known; but the Apostle treasures nothing or desires to make nothing known except what pertains to the Cross of Christ; therefore, he glories in it alone. And this is what he says: "and I to the world", namely, I am crucified. As if to say: I carry the marks of the Cross and I am considered as dead. Therefore, as the world abhors the Cross of Christ, so it abhors me: "For you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col 3:3).

(v. 15) For neither circumcision is anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. As faithful and unfaithful, when there is one in substance, are divided into two according to the diversity of understanding, the Apostle saying: Stripping yourselves of the old man with his works, and putting on the new, who is renewed unto knowledge according to the image of the Creator (Colossians 3:9-10): in the same way, the world, although it is one in substance, is made different according to the understanding. Sinners, the old world is: holy, new. For when the world has been crucified with the holy, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is to it: not Jew, nor Gentile: but a new creature, into which the body of our humility is transformed, conformed to the body of the glory of Christ: For the old things have passed away, behold all things have become new (II Cor. V). And as the glory of the sun is different from the glory of the moon, and the glory of the stars: for star differs from star in glory: so also is the resurrection of the dead (I Cor. XV, 41, 42). About this, Daniel agrees with the same voice, saying: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt (Dan. XII, 2); and: Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky. And concerning the righteous: Many shall be like the stars forever. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation without these parts of the body, which can be cut. So we also who love God, and the things that are prepared for us, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him (1 Corinthians 2), when we shall be transformed in the body of the humility of Christ, into the body of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, shall have that kind of body that neither a Jew can oppose nor a Gentile preserve with circumcision. Not that it is anything else in substance, but that it is different in glory. For it is necessary for this mortal to put on immortality, and for this corruptible body to be clothed with incorruption (I Cor. XV, 53). This is similar to what the blessed evangelist John said: Beloved, we are now children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know that when it is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (I John III, 2). Therefore, since that body of the glory of Jesus Christ, which had the marks of the nails after the resurrection and entered through closed doors, has not yet been revealed, let us who have already been raised up with Christ in baptism, as new-born men, not serve circumcision or uncircumcision, but believe that we are already what we shall be in the future.

"For neither is circumcision any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God."

Observe the power of the Cross, to what a pitch it hath raised him! not only hath it put to death for him all mundane affairs, but hath set him far above the Old Dispensation. What can be comparable to this power? for the Cross hath persuaded him, who was willing to be slain and to slay others for the sake of circumcision, to leave it on a level with uncircumcision, and to seek for things strange and marvellous and above the heavens. This our rule of life he calls "a new creature," both on account of what is past, and of what is to come; of what is past, because our soul, which had grown old with the oldness of sin, hath been all at once renewed by baptism, as if it had been created again. Wherefore we require a new and heavenly rule of life. And of things to come, because both the heaven and the earth, and all the creation, shall with our bodies be translated into incorruption. Tell me not then, he says, of circumcision, which now availeth nothing; (for how shall it appear, when all things have undergone such a change?) but seek the new things of grace. For they who pursue these things shall enjoy peace and amity, and may properly be called by the name of "Israel." While they who hold contrary sentiments, although they be descended from him (Israel) and bear his appellation, have yet fallen away from all these things, both the relationship and the name itself. But it is in their power to be true Israelites, who keep this rule, who desist from the old ways, and follow after grace.

— [OECUMENIUS] "but a new creation." A new creation, he says, of all things; for all who were circumcised and those uncircumcised alike, having believed, have become a new creation, having buried the old man, and we having been regenerated by the washing of baptism. [end of the excerpt by Oecumenius] —

Paul also mentions a new creation in his letter to the Corinthians. … The strict meaning of new creation is the transformation of all things which will occur after the resurrection from the dead. For then the creation will be freed from sin's burden and redeemed. Paul demonstrates that saving baptism is an image of things to come. In it we put off the old nature and put on the new. And we, ridding ourselves of sin's burden, receive the grace of the Spirit. Yet neither the most holy baptism nor the life to come recognizes any difference between circumcision and uncircumcision. By world he means the affairs of life—honor, glory and wealth. To these he declares himself dead.

Do not point out to me, he says, circumcision, which has no power and is useless, just as uncircumcision is: for Christ has renewed all things and requires of us a new life. Life according to Christ is a "new creation" because your souls, which had grown old through sin, have now been renewed by baptism, and because in the age to come, having been renewed in body and having become incorruptible, we shall be deemed worthy of incorruption and glory.

The reason why he glories in nothing else is given when he says, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." Indeed, he glories mainly in that which avails and helps in joining him to Christ; for it is this the Apostle desires, namely, to be with Christ. And because the Jewish rite and the observances of the Gentiles are of no avail in this regard, but only the Cross of Christ, therefore he glories in it alone. And this is what he says: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision", i.e., the Jewish rite, "nor uncircumcision", i.e., Gentile observances, "availeth any thing", i.e., to justify us and join us to Christ, "but a new creature" availeth for us. This, indeed, is obvious from what was said above, in almost the same words: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision; but faith that worketh by charity" (5:6). Therefore, faith informed by charity is the new creature. For we have been created and made to exist in our nature through Adam, but that creature is already old. Therefore, the Lord in producing us and establishing us in the existence of grace has made a new creature: "That we might be some beginning of his creature" (Jam 1:18). And it is called "new," because by it we are reborn into a new life by the Holy Spirit—"Thou shalt send forth thy spirit and they shall be created: and thou shalt renew the face of the earth" (Ps 103:30)—and by the Cross of Christ: "If then any be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new" (2 Cor 5:17). In this way, then, by a new creature, i.e., by the faith of Christ and the charity of God which has been poured out in our hearts, we are made new and are joined to Christ.

Paul means those who are truly prepared for the vision of God. These are distinguished from those who are called by this name [Israel] and in their carnal blindness refuse to see the Lord, spurning his grace, still desiring to be enslaved by temporal things.

(Verse 16.) And whoever follows this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. All things are directed according to the standard; and whether they be right or wrong, when the rule is applied, they are judged. So too the teaching of God is like a standard of speech, which judges between what is just and unjust: whoever follows it will have peace within themselves that surpasses all understanding; and after peace, mercy, which is foremost in the Israel of God. But the true Israel is called, in distinction from those who ceased to be God's Israel. For they say they are Jews, and they are not; but they lie, being of the synagogue of Satan. And do not be surprised, if, in imitation of spiritual Israel, carnal Israel neither has peace nor mercy, of whom it is also written to the Corinthians: See Israel according to the flesh (I Cor. X, 18); since also in imitation of God and the Lord, there are many gods and many lords, whether in heaven or on earth. Beautifully, however, in one discourse, in order to conclude the letter according to the proposed argument, he called Israel the people of God; so that all the things that have been said above, not apart from the cause, but from the cause debated, may be taught.

"And those who will walk by this rule." He says, "May those who are satisfied with this rule and this teaching regard everything as a new creation, and not subject themselves to the law."

"and upon the Israel of God." Israel is a faithful people, as if devoted to God. And whoever has been unfaithful, even if he descends from Jacob, is cast out from the kinship that is toward him.

Therefore, whoever abides by this rule of new life according to the pattern of Christ, avoiding the obsolete and powerless circumcision, will attain peace with God, having been freed from sins which make God an enemy to us, and will be deemed worthy of God's love for mankind, no longer being subjected to hatred as an enemy of God, but being deemed worthy of mercy, since peace has come to him through the cross and grace. And such people constitute Israel in the proper sense, as those who see God, while those who are not such, even if they are Israelites by descent, are falsely so called. And Paul borrowed this from David, who says: peace be upon Israel (Ps. 114:5).

Having disclosed the intention of the seducers and intimated his own, the Apostle counsels them: First, to imitate him; Secondly, to desist from being troublesome to him (v. 17); Thirdly, he begs grace for them to carry out the aforesaid (v. 18).

First, therefore, he says: My intention is to glory only in the Cross of Christ. And you, too, should do this, because "whosoever shall follow this rule" which I follow, namely, this proper way of glorying—"But we will not glory beyond our measure and according to the measure of the rule which God hath measured to us" (2 Cor 10:13)—"peace on them", namely, on those who glory, because they glory in Christ alone: peace, I say, by which they are set at rest and made perfect in good. (For peace is tranquillity of mind: "Since I am become in his presence as one finding peace" (Cant 8:10); and in Colossians (3:15): "And let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts, wherein also you are called in one body"): "and mercy", by which we are set free of our sins: "The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed" (Lam 3:22); "The grace of God and his mercy is with his saints, and he hath respect to his chosen," namely, who are His Israel (Wis 4:15): "For it is not he is a Jew who is so outwardly" (Rom 2:28). He, therefore, is "the Israel of God" who is spiritually an Israel before God: "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile" (Jn 1:47); "For all are not Israelites that are of Israel: neither are all they that are the seed of Abraham, children; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called; that is to say, not they that are the children of the flesh are the children of God but they that are the children of the promise, are accounted for the seed" (Rom 9:6). Hence even the Gentiles have become the Israel of God by uprightness of mind; for Israel means "most upright": "Israel will be your name" (Gen 32:28).

He does not wish to be annoyed any longer by people advocating circumcision—people who would force him to write another letter. He wants the Galatians to respond quickly to his letter and get rid of their mistakes. This hard work will result in genuine rest. If, however, they show themselves to be reluctant and stubborn, refusing to change, Paul wants to be left alone. Let the Galatians spend their time and effort trying to please the Judaizers in an empty search for temporary reward.

This man was the first in the struggle of our days; he was the leader among Christ's soldiers; he, in the midst of the burning beginnings of the persecution, engaged with the very chief and author of the disturbance, in conquering with invincible firmness the adversary of his own conflict. He made a way for others to conquer; a victor with no small amount of wounds, but triumphant by a miracle, with the long-abiding and permanent penalties of a tedious conflict. For nineteen days, shut up in the close guard of a dungeon, he was racked and in irons; but although his body was laid in chains, his spirit remained free and at liberty. His flesh wasted away by the long endurance of hunger and thirst; but God fed his soul, that lived in faith and virtue, with spiritual nourishments. He lay in punishments, the stronger for his punishments; imprisoned, greater than those that imprisoned him; lying prostrate, but loftier than those who stood; as bound, and firmer titan the links which bound him; judged, and more sublime than those who judged him; and although his feet were bound on the rack, yet the serpent was trodden on and ground down and vanquished. In his glorious body shine the bright evidences of his wounds; their manifest traces show forth, and appear on the man's sinews and limbs, worn out with tedious wasting away. Great things are they-marvellous things are they-which the brotherhood may hear of his virtues and of his praises. And should any one appear like Thomas, who has little faith in what he hears, the faith of the eyes is not wanting, so that what one hears he may also see. In the servant of God, the glory of the wounds made the victory; the memory of the scars preserves that glory.

Paul's point is this: "All that Christ experienced on the cross—the imprint of the nails, the spear thrust in his side, the other marks of the crucifixion—I bear in my own body. I too have suffered. Therefore you too ought to endure much—indeed all—adversity, since you will be with Christ if you suffer with Christ and begin by your own act, in the face of adversaries, to suffer what Christ suffered." Through these words Paul reveals what he himself was suffering, how much he shared with Christ and what we also ought to suffer if we wish to live in Christ.

"Rejoicing in these lacerations," Paul says, "I bear the marks of Christ in my own body." He readily yields to his weakness in all these misfortunes, through which the power of Christ is being perfected in virtue.

I have learned that certain of the ministers of Satan have wished to disturb you, some of them asserting that Jesus was born [only] in appearance, was crucified in appearance, and died in appearance; others that He is not the Son the Creator, and others that He is Himself God over all. Others, again, hold that He is a mere man, and others that this flesh is not to rise again, so that our proper course is to live and partake of a life of pleasure, for that this is the chief good to beings who are in a little while to perish. A swarm of such evils has burst in upon us. But ye have not "given place by subjection to them, no, not for one hour." For ye are the fellow-citizens as well as the disciples of Paul, who "fully preached the Gospel from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum," and bare about "the marks of Christ" in his flesh.

Anyone who after Christ's coming is circumcised in the flesh does not carry the marks of the Lord Jesus. Rather he glories in his own confusion. But the one who was flogged beyond what the law required, frequently was in prison, was beaten three times with rods, was once stoned and suffered all the other things that are written in his catalog of boasting—this is the one who carries on his body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Perhaps also the ascetic today who keeps his body under control and subjects it to servitude so that he will not appear reprobate as he preaches to others may in some way carry the marks of the Lord Jesus on his own body.

(Verse 17.) From now on, let no one bother me. Not as if he has failed in teaching; but so that even a farmer will have this labor, if the little plants he has planted wither; and a shepherd will have worry, if the sheep he has gathered are torn apart. Therefore, it is better read in Greek, 'From now on, let no one present me with labor;' lest of course I have the need to work among you again. It is better for the teacher to excel in labor, who lives and feels differently than the teacher who has taught and done otherwise. He can also preempt their argument, if anyone should wish to contradict thereafter, by mentioning that he has addressed the issue of women covering their heads and men not covering theirs among the Corinthians, saying: But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the Church of God (I Cor. XI, 16): that is, we have expressed what seemed fitting and just to us; but if anyone refuses to accept the truth, let them consider what answer to make and on what grounds to oppose, knowing that they are not worthy of a response, as they are more inclined to argue than to learn.

But I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body. For whoever is circumcised after the coming of Christ does not bear the marks of the Lord Jesus; but he has glory in his shame. But those who endure wounds beyond measure, who are frequently beaten with rods in prisons, who once were stoned, and who have other things written in the catalog of boasting, they bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in their body. And perhaps he who afflicts his own body and subjects himself to servitude, lest while preaching to others he himself should become reprobate, bears the marks of the Lord Jesus in his body (1 Corinthians 9). The apostles rejoiced because they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus (Acts 5).

"From henceforth let no man trouble me."

This he says not as though he were wearied or overpowered; he who chose to do and suffer all for his disciples' sake; he who said, "Be instant in season, out of season;" (2 Tim. iv: 2.) he who said, "If peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth, and they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil;" (2 Tim. ii: 25, 26.) how shall he now become relaxed and fall back? Wherefore does he say this? it is to gird up their slothful mind, and to impress them with deeper fear, and to ratify the laws enacted by himself, and to restrain their perpetual fluctuations.

"For I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus."

He says not, "I have," but, "I bear," like a man priding himself on trophies and royal ensigns. Although on a second thought it seems a disgrace, yet does this man vaunt of his wounds, and like military standard-bearers, so does he exult in bearing about these wounds. And why does he say this? "More clearly by those wounds than by any argument, than by any language, do I vindicate myself," says he. For these wounds utter a voice louder than a trumpet against my opponents, and against those who say that I play the hypocrite in my teaching, and speak what may please men. For no one who saw a soldier retiring from the battle bathed in blood and with a thousand wounds, would dare to accuse him of cowardice and treachery, seeing that he bears on his body the proofs of his valor, and so ought ye, he says, to judge of me. And if any one desire to hear my defence, and to learn my sentiments, let him consider my wounds, which afford a stronger proof than these words and letters. At the outset of his Epistle he evinced his sincerity by the suddenness of his conversion, at its close he proves it by the perils which attended his conversion. That it might not be objected that he had changed his course with upright intentions, but that he had not continued in the same purpose, he produces his trials, his dangers, his stripes as witnesses that he had so continued.

"From now on let no one trouble me." He does not say this out of reluctance, God forbid. But intending that the laws he has put in place remain unalterable, so that nothing may be added to or taken away from them after him.

— [PHOTIUS] "let no one trouble me." Let no one bring against me an accusation for the things I do. For even in silence I have a greater defense through my deeds. For the marks of Christ, that is, the wounds and scars for Christ's sake, themselves testify to his path and zeal on his behalf, and to the sincere and pure and unstained nature of the preaching.

"Let no one trouble me concerning my labors." To what extent do you afflict and trouble me, he says, being agitated do you offer? Be ashamed, if nothing else, but at least of the marks of Christ, which for your sake and because of the proclamation to you I carry about in my body. And when he says the marks of Christ, he at once reminds that he also suffered for us. And therefore in every way it was fitting to abandon the law and be established in faith. [end of the Photius excerpt] —

"the marks of the Lord Jesus." By "marks" he means the sores, the wounds, the sufferings for the Lord and for the preaching.

"for I bear in my body." As if he said: Let no one slander me among you as a hypocrite. For these very wounds and the blows suffered for the Lord bear witness that I live sincerely. For he was slandered, doing everything as if from hypocrisy, sometimes proclaiming circumcision, at other times not.

But since the fourth passover of the persecution has arrived, it is sufficient, in the case of those who have been apprehended and thrown into prison, and who have sustained torments not to be borne, and stripes intolerable, and many other dreadful afflictions, and afterwards have been betrayed by the frailty of the flesh, even though they were not at the first received On account of their grievous fall that followed yet because they contended sorely and resisted long; for they did not come to this of their own will, but were betrayed by the frailty of the flesh for they show in their bodies the marks of Jesus, and some are now, for the third year, bewailing their fault: it is sufficient, I say, that from the time of their submissive approach, other forty days should be enjoined upon them, to keep them in remembrance of these things.

The world, in the apostle's sense, here means life and conversation according to worldly principles; it is in renouncing these that we and they are mutually crucified and mutually slain. He calls them "persecutors of Christ." But when he adds, that "he bare in his body the scars of Christ"-since scars, of course, are accidents of body -he therefore expressed the truth, that the flesh of Christ is not putative, but real and substantial, the scars of which he represents as borne upon his body.

However, let me meanwhile add that in the same passage Paul "carries about in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus; " he also forbids our body to be profaned, as being "the temple of God; " he makes our bodies "the members of Christ; " and he exhorts us to exalt and "glorify God in our body.

He says this not as one who is weary and despairing. For how could this be possible for one who exhorts: "be instant in season and out of season" (2 Tim. 4:2); but rather out of a desire that the decrees given by him be unshakeable, and that the Galatians not expect anything different from him, but be convinced that this is how he preaches.

In justification, he says, against those who say to you that I am a hypocrite and in other places preach circumcision — I have wounds and afflictions for the sake of Christ. For they testify more powerfully than any speech that I subjected myself to dangers not for the law, but for the teaching of Christ. And he did not say: I have, but "I bear," as some trophy or royal mark of distinction, and I take pride in them.

Then when he says, "From henceforth let no man be troublesome to me", he admonishes them to bother him no more.

He says therefore: "From henceforth let no man be troublesome to me." This can be explained in two ways. In one way, from henceforth can be taken as one word [amodo] that the sense is: "From henceforth", i.e., from now on. In another way it might be taken as two words [de cetero], so that the sense is: Let no man be troublesome to me about anything else. As if to say: I glory in the Cross alone; with respect to anything else, let no man bother me, because I care about nothing else. But the first is better.

His saying, "let no man be troublesome to me", can be referred to the false brethren, who were troubling the Apostle by raising difficulties and murmuring about the legal observances: "But as for me, when they were troublesome, I was clothed with haircloth" (Ps 34:13). Or it can be referred to hearers who do not grasp his meaning. As if to say: "let no one be troublesome to me", i.e., let no one who hears me show himself to be such as to make it necessary for me to labor with him again, namely, by understanding in a way other than I have taught.

The reason for this admonition he assigns when he says, "for I bear the marks [stigmata] of the Lord Jesus in my body". For stigmata are, strictly speaking, certain marks branded on one with a hot iron; as when a slave is marked on the face by his master, so that no one else will claim him, but quietly let him remain with the master whose marks he bears. And this is the way the Apostle says he bears the marks of the Lord, branded, as it were, as a slave of Christ; and this, because he bore the marks of Christ's passion, suffering many tribulations in his body for Him, according to the saying of 1 Peter (2:21): "Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps"; "Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor 4:10).

According to this there are two ways of connecting this with the preceding. In one way, as has been said: "let no man be troublesome to me", for I bear the marks of Our Lord Jesus Christ in my body; consequently, no one has any right over me except Christ. In another way: "let no man be troublesome" to me, because I have many other conflicts and marks that trouble me in the persecutions I suffer; and it is cruel to add affliction to one already afflicted. Hence the complaint of Job (16:15): "He hath torn me with wound upon wound." Nevertheless, the first is better.

How does the blessing refer to the letter? Not discord, not slavery to the law, not biting and railing, but the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is asked to be "with your spirit." Not with the flesh only; not with the soul only. For having been made spiritual they have ceased to be cheaply embodied. In the Spirit both body and soul are embraced. The grace of the Lord Jesus is not given indiscriminately to all but to those who are ready to be called brothers by the apostle—faithful brothers and intimate brothers, as the word amen signifies in Hebrew.

(Verse 18) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. There is no dissension, no bondage to the Law, no quarrel, no dispute, but rather may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Not at all with the flesh, not at all with the soul; whether because you have become spiritual, or because even those things that are lesser are included in the principal. For the soul and the flesh are subject to the spirit. Regarding this, both the Ecclesiastes and Paul speak: 'The spirit will return to the one who gave it' (Eccl. XII, 7). And Paul in another place: 'The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit' (Rom. VIII, 16). But this grace of the Lord Jesus is not with everyone, but with those who deserve to be called brothers by the apostle, faithful brothers, and true brothers, which the Hebrew word Amen signifies. For Amen, the Septuagint interpreters have translated as 'let it be'; Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotius have faithfully and truly interpreted it. And how God confirms his words in the Old Testament through a certain custom of swearing, saying, 'As I live,' says the Lord (Num. XIV, 28); he also swears by the saints: 'As your soul lives'; so too our Savior in the Gospel demonstrates by the word 'Amen' that what he speaks is true. And indeed, 'Amen' signifies the consent of the hearer and is a seal of truth, as the first letter to the Corinthians also teaches us, in which Paul says: 'But if you bless with the Spirit, who supplies the place of the untaught?' How can someone say 'Amen' to your blessing if they do not understand what you are saying? (I Cor. XIV, 16) This shows that an ignorant person cannot respond truthfully to what is being said unless they understand what is being taught.

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen."

By this last word he hath sealed all that preceded it. He says not merely, "with you," as elsewhere, but, "with your spirit," thus withdrawing them from carnal things, and displaying throughout the beneficence of God, and reminding them of the grace which they enjoyed, whereby he was able to recall them from all their judaizing errors. For to have received the Spirit came not of the poverty of the Law, but of the righteousness which is by Faith, and to preserve it when obtained came not from Circumcision but from Grace. On this account he concluded his exhortation with a prayer, reminding them of grace and the Spirit, and at the same time addressing them as brethren, and supplicating God that they might continue to enjoy these blessings, thus providing for them a twofold security. For both prayer and teaching, tended to the same thing and together became to them as a double wall. For teaching, reminding them of what benefits they enjoyed, the rather kept them in the doctrine of the Church; and prayer, invoking grace, and exhorting to an enduring constancy, permitted not the Spirit to depart from them. And He abiding in them, all the error of such doctrines as they held was shaken off like dust.

"with your spirit." With a mindful spirit. He wishes to attain favor for his soul.

By this wish he shows them that he did not say all this out of anger and hatred. And this contains not only a wish but also an instruction that seals everything that was said. For he reminds them of the grace which they received not through the law but by faith in Christ. And he did not say "with you," but "with your spirit," drawing them away from the carnal and showing that they received the Spirit not from the law but from grace, and that not the law nor circumcision, but grace can preserve the Spirit in them, just as it also imparted Him. And by calling them brethren, he reminded them of the font of baptism, from which we become brethren, children of the One Father God, and not from the law. May the grace of God be with us as well, so that we may live according to the spirit and not lose the divine sanctification of the Comforter through the defilement of sin, but always increase it in ourselves in Christ Jesus our Lord, Who revealed the new and spiritual life, having abolished the old and carnal one. To Him be glory forever. Amen.

Then he implores the help of God's grace, saying: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ", by which you may carry out the foregoing, "be with your spirit", i.e., with your understanding, so that you may understand the truth. Or, "with your spirit," with which you should observe the Law, rather than in a carnal manner: "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons" (Rom 8:15).