ACC ~ Galatians 3 v21 - 29

OVERVIEW:

The law cannot contradict the Lawgiver’s promises (MARIUS VICTORINUS). The law prepared us for faith (THEODORET). It provoked sin to make us humble (AUGUSTINE). Only grace can apply the remedy (FULGENTIUS). God supersedes the law. No law gives life. When the fulfillment of the law appeared in Christ’s own person (MARIUS VICTORINUS), the law had no remaining function (CHRYSOSTOM). We are made perfect as children of God (THEODORET) when we assume his form through faith in baptism (CHRYSOSTOM). This excludes unbelievers but unites us in the Spirit (JEROME). Indeed we are all one body (CHRYSOSTOM), though potentially rather than actually at present (AUGUSTINE). Nonetheless we are already Abraham’s heirs in spirit, as Christ was in nature (JEROME).

3:21a | The Law and God’s Promises

THE LAW CANNOT STAND AGAINST GOD’S OWN PROMISES. MARIUS VICTORINUS: Since God gave the law, it is not plausible that that same law should be seen as having been given against the promises. It is certainly against the promises if it embroils us in other things, namely, that we should fulfill the works re-quired by the law and not expect from faith what is promised, that we should obtain through faith an inheritance in God. But let us see what is his answer to this. He first denies it unequivocally: “Certainly not!” That is, it is not right that God should make the giving of the law contrary to the promises. … And next he adds the reason. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.3.21.

3:21b | The Law and Life

THE LAW CANNOT GIVE LIFE. MARIUS VICTORINUS: We have said that the law given by Moses teaches nothing but sins, admonishing us what sins are and how they are to be avoided. And Scripture draws no other conclusion but lays down all its precepts in the light of and with reference to sin. … It is not given so that life may be sought from it but is given so that by its written form it may both include all sins in its teaching and show that they should be avoided. Therefore righteousness is not from the law; that is, justification and salvation come not from the law but from faith, as is promised. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.3.21.

3:22a | Scripture Consigned All Things to Sin

PRIDE BOUND UNDER SIN. AUGUSTINE: For those who are proud it is useful to be more closely bound under sin, so that they would not presume on free will for the performance of righteousness, as though upon their own strength. ON THE GRACE OF CHRIST 9.

BREAKING PRIDE. AUGUSTINE: Transgression of the law was needed to break the pride of those who, glorying in their father Abraham, boasted of having a sort of natural righteousness. They caused more harm to the Gentiles the more arrogantly they flaunted the merits of their circumcision. But the Gentiles could be humiliated very easily even without transgression of this sort of law, for the grace of the gospel found that these men, who knew that they had received no root of wisdom from their parents, were actually slaves to idols. … The law was therefore given not to take away sin but to include all under sin. For the law showed that to be sin which the Jews in their blindness deemed to be righteousness, so that by this humiliation they might know that their salvation was not in their own hands but in the hand of a mediator. … This very humility was fitted to the recognition of Christ, who is the paradigm of humility. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 25 [1B.3.21-22].

3:22b | The Interplay of Law and Grace

THE DISEASE EXPOSED WITHOUT REMEDY. FULGENTIUS: Law without grace, then, can expose disease but cannot heal. It can reveal the wounds but does not administer the remedy. But so that the law’s precepts may be fulfilled, grace provides assistance within. ON THE TRUTH OF PREDESTINATION 1.41.

3:23a | Confined Under the Law

THE LAW AS A TUTOR LOOKED FORWARD TOWARD FAITH. MARIUS VICTORINUS: The law was not empty or against the promises. How does he say it was necessary? Because it looked forward to the faith that was to be, and the promise came through faith. “First,” he says, “before the law came we were under a tutor; that is, under the law as a sort of custodian and guardian we lived a life that was pure through the avoidance of and repentance for sins, so that when Christ came we, being as it were confined for the purpose of that faith which was to come, should expect his coming; and being prepared through the law, should have faith in him; and, as we avoided sin and did the works of the law, should easily be able to have what was promised from his advent, namely, faith in Christ.” EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.3.23.

3:23b | Restrained Until Faith Is Revealed

THE DOCTOR DESIRED MORE URGENTLY. AUGUSTINE: No person should be unwise enough to say here, “Why then was it no profit to the Jews that they were put in the hand of a Mediator through angels dispensing the law?” It was profitable to them beyond what can be expressed. For what churches of the Gentiles sold their possessions and put the price of them at the apostles’ feet, which so many thousands of people so quickly did? … And when he praises the church of the Thessalonians before all other churches, he says that they have become like the churches of the Jews, because they had suffered many things from their people on account of their faith, as the others had from the Jews. … And the consciousness of a greater sickness, that they were found to be transgressors of the law itself, worked not to the ruin but to the good of those who believed, causing them to desire more fervently a doctor and to love him with more ardor. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 26 [1B.3.23].

3:24a | The Law Was Our Custodian

THE PURPOSE OF A CUSTODIAN IS TEMPORARY. JEROME: A custodian is given to infants to rein in an age full of passion and to restrain hearts prone to vice until tender infancy is refined by growth. … Yet the teacher is not a father, nor does the one being instructed look for the custodian’s inheritance. The custodian guards another person’s son and will depart from him when the lawful time of inheritance arrives. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.3.24 SEQ.

3:24b | Justified by Faith

WHY THE LAW WAS GIVEN. THEODORET: Now it was necessary that the law be given, as it fulfilled our need of a custodian. And it freed us from our previous impiety, taught us knowledge of God and then brought us to Christ the Lord as though to some wise teacher, so that we might be instructed by him in perfect learning and acquire the righteousness that is through faith. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 3.24.

3:25 | Faith Has Come; There Is No Custodian

HOW FAITH HAS NOW COME. MARIUS VICTORINUS: “That faith has come” means that Christ himself has come—for then faith arose. There began to be a time for faith to fully come and for us to believe in him in whom is all salvation, in contrast to the Jews, who did not believe [in him]. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.3.25-26.

THE TIME OF THE CUSTODIAN LIMITED. CHRYSOSTOM: Now if the law was a custodian and we were confined under its direction, it was not opposed to grace but cooperated with it. But if it continues to bind us after grace has come, then it is opposed to grace. … Those who maintain their custody at this point are the ones who bring the child into the greatest disrepute. The custodian makes the child ridiculous when he keeps him close at hand even after the time has come for his departure. HOMILY ON GALATIANS 3.25-26.

3:26 | Children of God Through Faith

HOW THE FAITHFUL INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE. MARIUS VICTORINUS: The metaphor of inheritance refers to receiving eternal life. But how does this come about? By faith in Jesus Christ, when we believe in him, that he is the Son of God and that he himself saves us and that he has accomplished every mystery on our behalf. All these things are reported in the gospel. But what should be noticed here is that, while Paul is stating this fact, he addresses it to their persons, offering incentives to persuade them more readily. “You all,” he says, “are sons of God.” Before, he had said, “We are under a custodian.” Now as it were he names them anew, saying “You are sons of God”—but sons from faith in Christ Jesus. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.3.25-26.

THE PERFECTION OF BELIEVERS IS BY FAITH ALONE. THEODORET: He has illustrated the perfection of believers. For what is more perfect than to be called sons of God? EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 3.26.

3:27 | Baptized into Christ

HOW ONE IS MADE A SON IN BAPTISM. CHRYSOSTOM: Since he has said something great and remarkable, he also explains how one is made a son. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Why didn’t he say, “All you who were baptized into Christ have been born of God,” since that is the inference from showing that they were sons? Because what he says is more awe-inspiring. For if Christ is the Son of God and you put him on, having the Son inside yourself and being made like him, you have been made one in kind and form. HOMILY ON GALATIANS 3.27.

SPIRITUALLY TRANSFORMED INTO A NEW PERSON. CYPRIAN: One who, having laid bare his sins, has been sanctified by baptism and spiritually transformed into a new man has been made ready to receive the Holy Spirit. The apostle says that all you who have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. LETTER 74.5.3.

3:28 | All Are One in Christ Jesus

THE ANALOGY OF GLOWING WITH THE SPIRIT, WHERE ALL DISTINCTIONS DISAPPEAR. JEROME: When one has once put on Christ and, having been sent into the flame, glows with the ardor of the Holy Spirit, it is not apparent whether he is of gold or silver. As long as the heat takes over the mass in this way there is one fiery color, and all diversity of race, condition and body is taken away by such a garment. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.3.27-28.

ONENESS IN CHRIST. CHRYSOSTOM: Do you see how insatiable his soul is? For having said that we have become sons of God through faith, he does not stop here but seeks out something more to say, which can make still more plain our closer unity with Christ. And having said, “You have put him on,” he is not content with this, but interpreting it he speaks of something more intimate than this association and says, “You are all one in Christ”—that is, you have one form, one character, that of Christ. What words could inspire more awe than these? The former Jew or slave is clothed in the form not of an angel or archangel but of the Lord himself and in himself displays Christ. HOMILY ON GALATIANS 3.28.

ONENESS IN CHRIST IS NOT PERFECTLY DISPLAYED WITHIN THE CONDITIONS OF HISTORY. AUGUSTINE: Difference of race or condition or sex is indeed taken away by the unity of faith, but it remains embedded in our mortal interactions, and in the journey of this life the apostles themselves teach that it is to be respected. … For we observe in the unity of faith that there are no such distinctions. Yet within the orders of this life they persist. So we walk this path in a way that the name and doctrine of God will not be blasphemed. It is not out of fear or anger that we wish to avoid offense to others but also on account of conscience, so that we may do these things not in mere profession, as if for the eyes of men, but with a pure love toward God. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 28 [1B.3.28-29].

3:29 | Heirs According to the Promise

DISTINGUISHING THE BODILY AND SPIRITUAL SENSES OF “ABRAHAM’S OFFSPRING.” JEROME: Whenever our Lord Jesus Christ is called Abraham’s offspring, this must be understood in the bodily sense of his generation from the stock of Abraham. But when it is applied to us who, receiving the Savior’s word, believe in him and assume the dignity of Abraham’s race, to whom the promise was made, then we should understand the offspring spiritually, as that of faith and preaching. … We must also note that, when the Lord is spoken of, Paul mentions promises in the plural—the promises are made to Abraham and his offspring—but when he speaks of those who through Jesus Christ are the offspring of Abraham, the promise is referred to in the singular, as in the present passage. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.3.29.