COMMENTARY

OF

S. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM,

ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE,

ΟΝ ΤΗΣ

EPISTLE OF S. PAUL THE APOSTLE

TO THE

GALATIANS.

CHAP. I.

Ver. 1-3. Paul, an Apostle, (not of men, neither by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead;) and all the brethren which are with me, unto the Churches of Galatia: Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Not only this exordium, but, so to speak, the whole Epistle, is full of a vehement and lofty spirit. For always to address one's disciples with mildness, even when they needed severity, would be to play the corrupter and enemy, not the teacher. Wherefore our Lord too, who generally spoke gently to His disciples, here and there uses sterner language, and at one time pronounces a blessing, at another a rebuke. Thus, having said to Peter, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, Matt. and having promised to lay the foundation of the Church 16, 17. upon his confession, shortly afterwards He says, Get thee Matt. behind Me, Satan: thou art an offence unto Me. Again, on another occasion, Are ye also yet without understanding? Matt. And what awe He inspired them with He inspired them with appears from 15, 16. John's saying, that, when they beheld Him conversing with the Samaritan woman, though they reminded Him to take food, no one ventured to say, Why talkest Thou, or what John 4, seekest Thou, with her? Thus taught, and walking in the steps of his Master, Paul hath varied his discourse according to the need of his disciples, at one time using knife and cautery, at another applying mild remedies. To the Co

B

16, 23.

27.

1 Cor. 4,

21.

St. Paul opposes the Judaizers

GALAT. rinthians he says, What will ye? shall I come unto you with I. 1-3. a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? but to the 'Galatians, O foolish Galatians. Which reproof he gives not Gal. 3, once only, but a second time, and towards the conclusion he Gal. 6, says with a reproachful allusion to them, Let no man trouble 17. me; then he sooths them again with the words, My little Gal. 4, children, of whom I travail in birth again: and so in many

1.

19.

2.

4.

other instances.

Now that this Epistle breathes an indignant spirit, is obvious to every one on the first perusal; but I must explain the cause of his anger against his disciples. Slight and unimportant it could not be, or he would not have used such vehemence. For to be exasperated by chance matters is the part of the little-minded, morose, and peevish; just as it is that of the indolent and sluggish to shrink from reproof in weighty ones. This was not Paul's character: what then was the offence which roused him? it was grave and momentous, one which had estranged them all from Christ, as Gal. 5, he himself says further on, Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing; and Gal. 5, again, Whosoever of you are justified by the Law, ye are fallen from grace. What this is, must be explained more clearly. Some of the Jews who believed, yet were filled with the prepossessions of Judaism, intoxicated by vain-glory, and desirous of obtaining for themselves the dignity of teachers, came to the Galatians, and taught them that the observance of circumcision, sabbaths, and newmoons, was necessary, and that the endeavour of Paul to abolish it was not to be borne. For, said they, Peter and James and John, the chiefs of the Apostles and the companions of Christ, forbad it not. Now in fact on this point they did not deliver positive doctrine, but condescended to the weakness of the Jewish believers, which condescension Paul had no need of when preaching to the Gentiles; but when he was in Judæa, he employed it himself also. But these deceivers, by withholding the causes both of Paul's condescension and that of his brethren, misled the simpler ones. They said that he was not to be tolerated, for he appeared but yesterday, while Peter and his colleagues were from the first, that he was a disciple of the Apostles, but

on the prerogative of his Apostolic authority.

3

they of Christ,-that he was single, but they were many, and pillars of the Church. They accused him too of acting a part; saying, that this very man who forbids circumcision observes the rite elsewhere, and preaches differently to you and to others.

20.

Thus Paul saw the whole Galatian people in a state of excitement, a flame kindled against their Church, and the edifice shaken and tottering to its fall. Filled with the mixed feelings of just anger and despondency, which he has expressed in the words, I desire to be present with you Gal. 4, now, and to change my voice, he writes the Epistle as an answer to these charges. This is his aim from the very commencement, for the underminers of his reputation had said, This man is the last of all the Apostles, and has been taught by them. Wherefore he begins thus, Paul, an Apostle not of men, neither by men. For these deceivers, as I was saying before, had said that Peter, James, and John, were both first called, and held a primacy among the disciples, and had also received their doctrines from Christ Himself; and that it was therefore fitting to obey them rather than this man; and that they forbad not circumcision nor the observance of the Law. By this and similar language, derogatory to Paul, and exalting the honour of the other Apostles, though not spoken for the sake of praising them, but of deceiving the Galatians, they induced them to adhere unseasonably to the Law. Hence the propriety of his commencement. As they disparaged his doctrine, and said it came from men, while Peter came from Christ, he immediately addresses himself to this point, and declares himself an apostle not of men, neither by men. It was Ananias who Gal.1,1. baptized him, but it was not he who delivered him from error and initiated him into the faith; Christ Himself sent from on high that wondrous voice, whereby He inclosed him in His net. Peter and his brother, John and his Matt. 4, brother, He called when walking by the sea-side, but Paul 18 et sq. after His ascension into heaven. And as these did not require a second call, but straightway left their nets and all that they had, and followed Him, so this man at his first vocation pressed vigorously forward, waging, as soon as he was baptized, an implacable war with the Jews. In this

I. 1-3.

1 Cor.

4

The doctrine of the Trinity in Unity.

GALAT. respect he chiefly excelled the other Apostles, as he says, I laboured more abundantly than they all; at present, how15, 10. ever, he makes no such claim, but is content to be placed on a level with them. Indeed his great object was,-not to establish any superiority for himself, but,-to overthrow the foundation of their error. The not being from men belongs to preaching generally, for the Gospel's root and origin is divine, but the not being by men is peculiar to that of the Apostles; for He called them not by men's agency, but by His own.

But why does he not speak of his vocation rather than his apostolate, and say, Paul called not by man? Here lies the whole question; for they said that the office of a teacher had been committed to him by men, by the Apostles, whom therefore it behoved him to obey. But that it was not enActs 13, trusted to him by men, Luke declares in the words, As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul.

2.

28.

12, 28.

From this passage it is manifest" that the power of the Son and Spirit is one, for, being commissioned by the Spirit, he says that he was sent by Christ. This appears in another place, from his ascription of the things of God to the Spirit, in Acts 20, the words which he addresses to the elders at Miletus: Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you pastors and overseers. 1 Cor. Yet in another Epistle he says, And God hath set some in the Church, first Apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly pastors and teachers. Thus he ascribes indifferently the things of the Spirit to God, and those of God to the Spirit. Here too he stops the mouths of heretics, by the words by Jesus Christ and God the Father; for, inasmuch as they said this term "by" was applied to the Son as importing inferiority, he ascribes it to the Father, thus teaching us not to prescribe laws to the ineffable Nature, nor define the degrees of Godhead which belong to the Father and the Son. Το the words by Jesus Christ he has added, and God the

a This digression, and others which follow, were occasioned by the controversies of the day; the Arians and Macedonians denying the co-equality and consubstantiality of FATHER, SON, and

HOLY GHOST.

b St. Chrysostom in these two passages adds the word "pastors," which is not in the present text. Vid. Eph. iv. 11.