Galatians, chapter 3

“O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth as crucified?” [a]

Here he passes to another subject. In the earlier chapters he had shown that he was not an apostle from men, nor through men, and that he had no need of instruction from the apostles. Now, having established his authority as a teacher, he goes on to speak with more confidence, and he draws a comparison between faith and the law. At the outset he said, “I marvel that you are so quickly turning away” (Galatians 1, verse 6); but here, “O foolish Galatians.” Then his indignation was only being born; but now, after he has answered the charges against himself and given his proofs, it bursts out.

Do not let his calling them “foolish” surprise you. It is not a breach of Christ’s command against calling one’s brother a fool, but rather a strict keeping of it. For it is not said simply, “Whoever says to his brother, ‘You fool’” (Matthew 5, verse 22), but whoever does so “without a cause.” And who could more fittingly be called that than these people, who after such great events clung to the things that were past, as if nothing else had ever happened? If on this account Paul is to be called “a slanderer,” then Peter too may be called a murderer on account of Ananias and Sapphira. But if it would be wild to say so in that case, it is far more so in this one.

We should also notice that he does not use this sharpness at the beginning, but only after these evidences and proofs, which, rather than Paul himself, might now be thought to deliver the rebuke. For only after he had shown that they were rejecting faith and making the death of Christ pointless does he bring in his reproof, and even so it is milder than they deserved. See too how quickly he holds back his hand. He does not add, “Who has led you astray? Who has perverted you? Who has tricked you with clever arguments?” but, “Who has cast an envious eye on you?” And so he tempers his rebuke with a measure of praise. For this implies that their earlier course had stirred up jealousy, and that what was happening now came from the malice of a demon, whose breath had withered their flourishing state.

And when you hear of jealousy here, and in the Gospel of an “evil eye,” which means the same thing, you must not suppose that the glance of the eye has any natural power to harm those it looks at. The eye, that is, the organ itself, cannot be evil; Christ in that place means jealousy by the term. Simply to look is the work of the eye; to look in an evil way belongs to a mind that is corrupt within. Through this sense the knowledge of visible things enters the soul. Jealousy is mostly born of wealth, and wealth and power and splendor are taken in by the eye. That is why he calls the eye evil: not because it merely looks, but because it looks enviously, out of some corruption of character. [d]

So by the words “Who has looked enviously on you?” he implies that the people in question acted, not out of concern for them, not to supply what was lacking, but to mutilate what was there. For envy, far from supplying what is lacking, takes away from what is complete and spoils the whole. And he speaks this way, not as though envy had any power of its own, but meaning that the teachers of these doctrines acted from envious motives.

Verse 1: “Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth as crucified.” [e]

Yet he was not crucified in Galatia, but at Jerusalem. His reason for saying “among you” is to show the power of faith to see things that happen far away. He does not say “crucified,” but “openly set forth as crucified,” meaning that by the eye of faith they saw more clearly than some who were there as spectators. Many of those received no benefit, while these, who were not eyewitnesses, saw it more clearly by faith.

These words carry both praise and blame. Praise, because they accepted the truth without question. Blame, because they had left him, the one they had seen stripped naked for their sakes, run through, nailed to the cross, spat upon, mocked, given vinegar to drink, insulted by the robbers, and pierced with a spear (for all this is implied in the words “openly set forth as crucified”). Him they had left, and gone over to the law, unashamed by any of those sufferings. Notice here how Paul passes over any mention of heaven, earth and sea, and everywhere preaches the power of Christ, carrying his cross about with him and holding it up. For this is the sum of God’s love toward us.

Verse 2: “This is the only thing I want to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” [f]

He says: “Since you do not pay attention to long discussions, and are not willing to consider how great this plan of salvation is, I want, seeing how very ignorant you are, to convince you by short arguments and a summary kind of proof.” Before, he had convinced them by what he said to Peter. Now he takes them on entirely with arguments, drawn not from what had happened elsewhere, but from what had happened among themselves.

And his appeals and proofs are drawn, not only from what was given them in common with others, but from what was given to them in particular. That is why he says, “This is the only thing I want to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” “You received the Holy Spirit. You did many mighty works; you performed miracles, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, prophesying, speaking in tongues. Did the law give you this great power? Was it not rather faith, since before you could do no such things? Is it not, then, the height of madness for people who have received such benefits from faith to abandon it and desert back to the law, which can offer you nothing of the kind?”

Verse 3: “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect in the flesh?” [g]

Here again he puts in a rebuke at just the right moment. He says: “Time should have brought you improvement. But far from advancing, you have actually gone backward. Those who start from small beginnings make progress toward higher things; you, who began with the high things, have slid back to the low. Even if your start had been of the flesh, your progress should have been of the Spirit. But now, after starting from spiritual things, you have ended your journey in what belongs to the flesh. For working miracles is spiritual, but being circumcised is of the flesh. And after miracles you have gone over to circumcision; after taking hold of the truth you have fallen back on the types; after gazing at the sun you are looking for a lamp; after solid food you are running for milk.”

He says “made perfect,” which means not merely “initiated” but “sacrificed.” He means that their teachers had taken them and slaughtered them like animals, while they gave themselves up to suffer whatever those teachers pleased. It is as if some general or distinguished man, after a thousand victories and trophies, were to bring on himself the disgrace of a deserter, and offer his body to be branded at the will of others.

Verse 4: “Did you suffer so many things in vain? If it is indeed in vain.” [i]

This remark cuts much deeper than the one before. For the memory of their miracles would not be as powerful as the display of their struggles, and of the sufferings they had endured for Christ’s sake. He says: “All that you have endured, these men would strip you of. They would rob you of your crown.”

Then, so as not to dismay them and take the heart out of them, he does not go on to a final verdict, but adds, “if it is indeed in vain.” “If only you are willing to shake off your drowsiness and come back to yourselves, it is not in vain.”

Where, then, are those who would cut off repentance? Here were people who had received the Spirit, worked miracles, confessed Christ, and faced a thousand dangers and persecutions for his sake; and after so many achievements they had fallen from grace. Yet he says, “If you have the will, you can recover yourselves.”

Verse 5: “He, then, who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

“Have you been given so great a gift, and done such wonders, because you kept the law, or because you held to faith?” Plainly it was because of faith. They kept tossing this argument back and forth, that apart from the law faith had no force. He proves the opposite: that if the commandments are added, faith is of no more use. For faith has its power when nothing from the law is added to it. “You who would be counted righteous by the law have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5, verse 4). He says this later, when his language has grown bolder, using the advantage he has gained by then. For now, while he is still gaining it, he argues from their own past experience: “For it was when you obeyed faith, not the law, that you received the Spirit and worked miracles.” [j]

And here, since the law was the subject under discussion, he takes up another point that was especially in dispute, and very fittingly, and with great force, brings in Abraham.

Verse 6: “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.”

He says: “Even the miracles you yourselves have done declare the power of faith. But, if you will allow me, I will try to draw my proofs from the ancient histories as well.” Then, since they thought so much of the patriarch, he brings forward his example, and shows that he too was counted righteous by faith. [k]

And if he who lived before grace was counted righteous by faith, though he was rich in works, much more are we. What did he lose by not being under the law? Nothing; his faith was enough for righteousness. The law did not exist then, he says, and it does not exist now, any more than it did then. In disproving the need for the law, he brings in one who was counted righteous before the law, so that no objection could be raised about him either. For just as the law had not yet been given then, so now, having been given, it has been done away with.

And since they made much of their descent from Abraham, and were afraid that if they abandoned the law they would be counted strangers to his family, Paul removes this fear by turning their argument against them, and proves that it is faith above all that joins them to Abraham. He works this argument out at greater length in the Letter to the Romans, but he presses it here too, in the words, Verse 7: “Know, therefore, that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.”

He proves this by an ancient testimony, as follows. Verse 8: “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would count the Gentiles righteous by faith, preached the good news beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you all the nations will be blessed.’” [l]

If, then, Abraham’s sons were not those related to him by blood, but those who follow his faith (for that is the meaning of the words “In you all the nations”), it is plain that the Gentiles are brought into kinship with him.

This also proves another important point. It troubled them that the law was older, and that faith came afterward. He removes this notion by showing that faith came before the law, as is plain from Abraham’s case: he was counted righteous before the law was given. He shows too that the recent events came about according to prophecy. “The Scripture,” he says, “foreseeing that God would count the Gentiles righteous by faith, preached the good news beforehand to Abraham.” Pay attention to this point. The very One who gave the law had decreed, before he gave it, that the Gentiles would be counted righteous by faith. And he does not say “revealed,” but “preached the good news,” to show that the patriarch rejoiced at this way of being counted righteous, and longed greatly for it to be fulfilled.

They were gripped by another fear as well. It was written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things that are written in the book of the law, to do them” (Deuteronomy 27, verse 26). He removes this fear too, with great skill and good sense, by turning their argument against them. He shows that those who leave the law are not only not cursed but blessed, and that those who keep it are not only not blessed but cursed. They said that the man who did not keep the law was cursed; he proves that the man who kept it was cursed, and the man who did not keep it was blessed. Again, they said that the man who held to faith alone was cursed; he shows that the man who holds to faith alone is blessed.

And how does he prove all this? For it is no ordinary thing we have promised, and so we must pay close attention to what follows. He had already shown it by pointing to the words spoken to the patriarch, “In you all nations will be blessed” (Genesis 12, verse 3), spoken, that is, at a time when faith existed and the law did not. So he adds by way of conclusion, Verse 9: “So then those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”

Then they might have turned around and objected: true, Abraham was counted righteous by faith, since the law had not yet been given; but what example could be found of anyone being counted righteous by faith after the law was handed down? So that they could not say this, he takes it up, and proves more than they asked for: not only that people were counted righteous by faith, but that the law brought those who clung to it under a curse. To be sure of this, listen to the apostle’s own words. [m]

Verse 10: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse.”

This is what he lays down before he proves it. And what is the proof? It comes from the law itself. Verses 10 and 11: “For it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.’ Now that no one is counted righteous by the law is evident.”

For all have sinned, and are under the curse. But he does not say this yet, so as not to seem to lay it down on his own authority. Here again he establishes his point by a text that states both things briefly: that no one has fulfilled the law (which is why they are under the curse), and that it is by faith that people are counted righteous. What, then, is the text? It is in the book of the prophet Habakkuk: “The righteous will live by faith” (Habakkuk 2, verse 4). This establishes not only the righteousness that comes from faith, but also that there is no salvation through the law. Since no one kept the law, he says, but all were under the curse because of their transgression, an easy way was provided, the way of faith. And this in itself is a strong proof that no one can be counted righteous by the law. For the prophet does not say, “The righteous will live by the law,” but “by faith.”

Verse 12: “And the law is not of faith; but ‘He who does them will live in them.’” [n]

For the law requires not only faith but works as well, while grace saves and counts people righteous by faith (Ephesians 2, verse 8).

You see how he proves that those who cling to the law are under the curse, because it is impossible to fulfill it. Next: how does faith come to have this power to make people righteous? For he had already pledged himself to this teaching, and now he maintains it with great force of argument. Since the law was too weak to lead people to righteousness, an effective remedy was provided in faith, which is the means of making possible what was “impossible for the law” (Romans 8, verse 3). Now since the Scripture says, “The righteous will live by faith,” and so rejects salvation by the law, and since Abraham, moreover, was counted righteous by faith, it is plain that its power is very great. And it is also clear that the one who does not abide by the law is cursed, and that the one who holds to faith is righteous.

But you may ask me: “How do you prove that this curse is not still in force? Abraham lived before the law; but we, who were once subject to the yoke of slavery, have made ourselves liable to the curse. Who will set us free from it?” See how ready his answer to this is. What he had said before was enough. For if a person has once been counted righteous, and has died to the law and taken up a new life, how can he be subject to the curse? Still, this is not enough for him, so he begins a fresh argument, as follows. Verse 13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’”

In reality the people were subject to another curse, the one that says, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in the things that are written in the book of the law” (Deuteronomy 27, verse 26). To this curse, I say, the people were subject, for no one had continued in the whole law, or kept it. But Christ exchanged this curse for the other one: “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” Both the one who hangs on a tree and the one who breaks the law are cursed. And it was necessary for the one who was going to free others from a curse to be free of it himself, but to take another on himself in its place. So Christ took that other curse on himself, and by it he set us free from the curse. It was like an innocent man undertaking to die for another who had been sentenced to death, and so rescuing him from punishment. For Christ took on himself, not the curse of transgression, but the other curse, in order to remove the curse from others. For “he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth” (Isaiah 53, verse 9; First Peter 2, verse 22).

And just as by dying he rescued from death those who were dying, so by taking the curse on himself he set them free from it.

Verse 14: “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles.”

How on the Gentiles? It is said, “In your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 22, verse 18; 26, verse 4), that is to say, in Christ. If this were said of the Jews, how would it make sense that people who were themselves under the curse because of their transgression should become the source of a blessing to others? Someone under a curse cannot give others a blessing he himself lacks. Plainly, then, it all refers to Christ, who was the seed of Abraham, and through whom the Gentiles are blessed. And so the promise of the Spirit is added, as Paul himself declares: “that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Since the grace of the Spirit could not possibly come down on people who were out of favor with God and guilty of offense, they are first blessed, once the curse has been removed; then, counted righteous by faith, they draw to themselves the grace of the Spirit. So the cross removed the curse, faith brought in righteousness, and righteousness drew down the grace of the Spirit.

Verse 15: “Brothers and sisters, I speak in human terms: even if it is only a man’s covenant, once it has been confirmed, no one makes it void or adds to it.” [o]

“To speak in human terms” means to use human examples. Having built his argument on the Scriptures, on the miracles worked among them, on the sufferings of Christ, and on the patriarch, he goes on to the ordinary practices of life. And he does this constantly, to sweeten his teaching and make it more welcome and easier to understand for the slower among his hearers.

So he argues with the Corinthians: “Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit?” (First Corinthians 9, verse 7). And again with the Hebrews: “For a will is in force where there has been a death; for does it ever have force while the one who made it is alive?” (Hebrews 9, verse 17). You can find him dwelling on arguments like these with pleasure. In the Old Testament God does the same thing in many places, as in: “Can a woman forget her nursing child?” (Isaiah 49, verse 15).

And again: “Will the clay say to the one who shapes it, ‘What are you making?’” (Isaiah 45, verse 9). And in Hosea he pictures a husband scorned by his wife (Hosea 2, verse 5, and following). This use of human examples often occurs in types as well, as when the prophet takes the belt (Jeremiah 13, verses 1 to 9) and goes down to the potter’s house (Jeremiah 18, verses 1 to 6).

The meaning of the present example is that faith is older than the law, which came later, was only temporary, and was given to prepare the way for faith. That is why he says, “Brothers and sisters, I speak in human terms.” Above he had called them “foolish”; now he calls them “brothers and sisters,” at once scolding them and encouraging them. “Even if it is only a man’s covenant, once it has been confirmed.” He says: “If a man makes a covenant, does anyone dare to come along afterward and overturn it, or add anything to it?” For that is the meaning of “or adds to it.” Much less, then, when God makes a covenant. And with whom did God make a covenant?

Verses 16 to 18: “Now to Abraham the promises were spoken, and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your seed,’ which is Christ. Now this I say: a covenant confirmed beforehand by God, the law, which came four hundred and thirty years afterward, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.” [q]

So God made a covenant with Abraham, promising that in his seed the blessing would come on the Gentiles; and the law cannot turn this blessing aside. Since this example did not fit the matter in hand in every respect, he introduces it with the words “I speak in human terms,” so that nothing might be drawn from it that would detract from the majesty of God.

But let us get to the bottom of this illustration. It was promised to Abraham that by his seed the Gentiles would be blessed, and his seed according to the flesh is Christ. Four hundred and thirty years later came the law. Now if the law bestows the blessings, life and righteousness, that promise is canceled. And so, while no one cancels a man’s covenant, God’s covenant would be canceled after four hundred and thirty years. For if it is not that covenant, but another in its place, that bestows what was promised, then that covenant has been set aside, which is utterly unreasonable.

Verse 19: “What, then, is the law? It was added because of transgressions.”

This remark, again, is not superfluous. Notice, too, how he looks around at everything, as though he had a hundred eyes. Having exalted faith and proved that its claim is the older one, he now sets this side of the teaching right as well, so that the law will not be thought superfluous. He proves that the law was not given without purpose, but was altogether useful. “Because of transgressions”: that is, so that the Jews would not be left to live carelessly and plunge into the depths of wickedness, but so that the law might be put on them like a bridle, guiding them, keeping them in order, and holding them back from breaking, if not all the commandments, at least some of them. So the benefit of the law was no small one. But for how long?

Verse 19: “Until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made.”

This is said of Christ. If, then, it was given until his coming, why do you drag it out beyond its proper time?

Verse 19: “And it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.”

Either he calls the priests angels, or he is declaring that the angels themselves served in the giving of the law. By “mediator” here he means Christ, and he shows that Christ existed before the law, and was himself its Giver. [r]

Verse 20: “Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one.”

What can the heretics say to this? According to them, the expression “the only true God” shuts the Son out from being true God. In that case the phrase “God is one” here would shut him out from being God in any sense. But if, although the Father is called “one God,” the Son is God nevertheless, it is very plain that, although the Father is called “true God,” the Son is true God as well. Now a mediator, he says, stands between two parties. Of whom, then, is Christ the mediator? Plainly of God and of human beings. Notice, he says, that Christ also gave the law. So what was his to give, it is his to cancel.

Verse 21: “Is the law, then, against the promises of God?”

For if the blessing is given in the seed of Abraham, but the law brings in the curse, it must be contrary to the promises. He meets this objection first with an outright protest, in the words, Verse 21: “Far from it!” [t]

And next he brings his proof. Verse 21: “For if a law had been given that could make alive, righteousness would truly have been by the law.”

His meaning is this. If our hope of life lay in the law, and our salvation depended on it, the objection might hold. But if you are saved by means of faith, then even though the law brings you under the curse, you suffer nothing from it and take no harm, since faith comes and sets everything right. If the promise had been through the law, you would have had good reason to fear that by separating from the law you would be separated from righteousness. But if it was given in order to shut up all (that is, to convict all and expose each one’s sins), then far from shutting you out of the promises, it now helps you obtain them. This is shown by the words, Verse 22: “But the Scripture has shut up all things under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”

Since the Jews were not even aware of their own sins, and so did not even want forgiveness, the law was given to probe their wounds, so that they would long for a physician. And the word “shut up” means “convicted,” and the conviction held them in fear. You see, then, that the law is not only not against the promises, but was given for them. If it had claimed the work and the authority for itself, the objection would stand. But if its aim was something else, and it acted for that aim, how is it against the promises of God?

If the law had not been given, everyone would have been shipwrecked on wickedness, and there would have been no Jews to listen to Christ. But as it is, having been given, it has accomplished two things: it has trained its followers in a certain degree of virtue, and it has pressed on them the knowledge of their own sins. And this above all made them more eager to seek the Son. For those who did not believe failed to believe because they had no sense of their own sins, as Paul shows: “For, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10, verse 3).

Verse 23: “But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, shut up for the faith that was afterward to be revealed.” [v]

Here he plainly sets out what I have said. For the expressions “we were kept” and “shut up” mean nothing other than the safety provided by the commandments of the law. Like a fortress, the law fenced them around with fear and with a way of life shaped by itself, and so kept them safe for faith.

Verse 24: “So the law has been our guardian to bring us to Christ, so that we might be counted righteous by faith.”

Now the guardian is not opposed to the teacher, but works with him, keeping the boy free of every vice and giving all his time to making him fit to receive instruction from his teacher. But when the boy’s character is formed, then the guardian leaves him, as Paul says.

Verses 25 and 26: “But now that faith has come, which leads to full manhood, we are no longer under a guardian. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

So the law, since it was our guardian and we were kept shut up under it, is not the enemy of grace but its fellow worker. But if it goes on holding us down when grace has come, it becomes an enemy. For if it confines those who ought to go forward to grace, then it is the ruin of our salvation. If a lamp that gave light by night kept us from the sun when day came, it would not only do us no good; it would harm us. So it is with the law, if it stands between us and greater blessings.

So the ones who slander the law most are those who still keep it, just as a guardian makes a boy look ridiculous by keeping him at his side when the time has come for him to leave. That is why Paul says, “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.” We are no longer under a guardian, then, “for you are all sons of God.” Amazing! See how mighty the power of faith is, and how he unfolds it as he goes on! Before, he showed that it made them sons of the patriarch: “Know, therefore,” he says, “that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” Now he proves that they are sons of God as well: “For you are all,” he says, “sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” By faith, not by the law. Then, having said this great and wonderful thing, he names the way they were adopted as well. Verse 27: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Why does he not say, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have been born of God”? That was what would directly prove that they were sons. It is because he puts it in a far more awe-inspiring way. If Christ is the Son of God, and you have put him on, then you who have the Son within you, and are shaped after his pattern, have been brought into one family and one nature with him.

Verse 28: “There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither slave nor free, there can be no male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” [x]

See what an insatiable soul he has! Having said, “We are all made children of God through faith,” he does not stop there, but looks for something more exact, something that can convey a still closer oneness with Christ.

Having said, “You have put on Christ,” even this is not enough for him. To go deeper into this union, he explains it this way: “You are all one in Christ Jesus,” that is, you all have one form and one mold, Christ’s. What could be more awe-inspiring than these words? The man who yesterday was a Greek, or a Jew, or a slave, carries about with him the form, not of an angel or an archangel, but of the Lord of all. Indeed, he displays Christ in his own person.

Verse 29: “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.”

Here, you see, he proves what he had stated before about the seed of Abraham: that the promises were given to him and to his seed.