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using. For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. While they were saying that he who does not keep the law is a transgressor, so he, on the contrary, calls himself a transgressor for keeping the law. It is as if he were to say: The law has ceased, and this we have confessed, by which, having left it, we have fled to the salvation that is from faith. If, therefore, we contentiously seek to establish the law, by this very thing we become transgressors, contentiously seeking to keep things that have been abolished by God. For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. This has a twofold interpretation. For he either means the law of grace, or he speaks only of the old law, showing that through the law itself he died to the law. What he says is this: The law itself led me out to pay attention to it. If, therefore, I were to pay attention to it, I would transgress it; how, and in what way? Moses said: 'For the Lord will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; him you shall hear,' speaking of Christ? So that those who do not obey this one, transgress the law. But what is, 'I died to the law'? Just as it is not possible to subject a dead man to the commandments of the law, so neither is it possible for me, 95.792 who have died from the curse of that law. For the law made accursed everyone who did not fulfill the things in the law. But no one was able to fulfill it. I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. To the law, he says, or as much as according to the law. I do not set aside the grace of God. Through grace I have been set free, he says. Therefore, by not returning again to the law, I insult grace, as though it were unable to give life. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. Christ died for us, he says, that he might raise us up, having justified us, and remove sin from our midst. But if those who persuade to circumcise say that man is justified in the law, the death of Christ has become superfluous.

CHAPTER 3. O foolish Galatians. Having shown the absurdity and the blasphemy, he confidently brought on the rebuke. Who has bewitched you not to obey the truth? He showed that those who obey the faith are doing well. For bewitchment is not spoken of those who are not doing well. And saying this, he calls them back again to the grace that is through faith. before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed among you as crucified. This only I want to learn from you. He constantly reminds them of the death and the cross, through which we were delivered from sin and have lived. And he has said, 'was publicly portrayed before your eyes,' showing their formerly insatiable desire for Christ, as though they always saw the mystery with their eyes. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Many of those who were baptized into Christ and received the Holy Spirit performed many mighty works through it and great signs. He therefore reminds them of these very things. If the divine signs, he says, were not given by the law to be performed, but by the grace of the Spirit, how is it that you have forsaken him who has provided such great things, and run down to the weak law? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? He showed that they had inverted the order. For one proceeds from bodily things to more spiritual things; but they, on the contrary, having first received spiritual things, have moved on to carnal things, I mean circumcision. And he has well used the phrase, 'are you being made perfect,' applying it to them as to irrational animals, 95.793, as if he said more clearly: 'Like irrational beasts you offer yourselves to be cut up.' Have you suffered so many things in vain?—if indeed it was in vain. He reminds them of those struggles and contests which they suffered for the sake of the preaching. He says, therefore: 'Do not make all that former labor of yours idle.' For this is what 'if indeed it was in vain' means, instead of, 'unless having repented you keep it.' Therefore, he who

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χρώμενος. Εἰ γὰρ ἃ κατέλυσα, ταῦτα πάλιν οἰκοδομῶ, παραβάτην ἐμαυτὸν συνίστημι. Ἐκείνων λεγόντων, ὡς ὁ μὴ φυλάττων τὸν νόμον παραβάτης ἐστὶν, οὕτως ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου παραβάτην ἑαυτὸν καλεῖ φυλάττοντα τὸν νόμον. Ὅμοιον δὲ ὡς εἰ λέγοι· Πέπαυται ὁ νόμος, καὶ τοῦτο ὡμολογήσαμεν, δι' ὧν ἀφέντες αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκ πίστεως κατεφύγομεν σωτηρίαν. Ἂν τοίνυν φιλονεικήσωμεν στῆσαι τὸν νόμον, αὐτῷ τούτῳ παραβάται γινόμεθα, τὰ παρὰ Θεοῦ λυθέντα φιλονεικοῦντες τηρεῖν. Ἐγὼ γὰρ διὰ νόμου νόμῳ ἀπέθανον, ἵνα Θεῷ ζήσω. Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι. ∆ιπλῆν ἔχει τοῦτο θεωρίαν. Ἢ γὰρ νόμον τὸν τῆς χάριτός φησιν, ἢ μόνον τὸν παλαιὸν λέγει, δεικνὺς ὅτι δι' αὐτοῦ τοῦ νόμου νόμῳ ἀπέθανεν. Ὃ δὲ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Αὐτὸς ὁ νόμος με ἐξήγαγεν εἰς τὸ προσέχειν αὐτῷ. Εἰ τοίνυν μέλλοιμι αὐτῷ προσέχειν, καὶ αὐτὸν παραβαίνω· πῶς, καὶ τίνι τρόπῳ Μωϋσῆς εἶπεν· Ὅτι προφήτην ἀναστήσει ὑμῖν Κύριος ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν ὡς ἐμέ· αὐτοῦ ἀκούσεσθε, περὶ Χριστοῦ λέγων; Ὥστε οἱ μὴ τούτῳ πειθόμενοι, παραβαίνουσι τὸν νόμον. Τί δέ ἐστι, τῷ νόμῳ ἀπέθανον; Ὥσπερ τὸν νεκρὸν οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπαγαγεῖν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς τοῦ νόμου, οὕτως οὐδὲ 95.792 ἐμὲ τὸν ἐκ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἐκείνου τελευτήσαντα. Ὁ γὰρ νόμος ἐπικατάρατον ἐποίει πάντα τὸν μὴ πληροῦντα τὰ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ. Οὐδεὶς δὲ δυνατὸς πληρῶσαι ἦν. Ζῶ δὲ, οὐκ ἔτι ἐγὼ, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός. Ὃ δὲ νῦν ζῶ ἐν σαρκὶ, ἐν πίστει ζῶ τῇ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντός με, καὶ παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ. Τῷ νόμῳ, φησὶν, ἢ ὅσον κατὰ τὸν νόμον. Οὐκ ἀθετῶ τὴν χάριν τοῦ Θεοῦ. ∆ιὰ τῆς χάριτος ἠλευθέρωμαι, φησίν. Οὐκοῦν οὐχ ὑποστρέφων πάλιν εἰς τὸν νόμον, ὑβρίζω τὴν χάριν, ὡς μὴ δυναμένην ζωοποιεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ διὰ νόμου δικαιοσύνη, ἄρα Χριστὸς δωρεὰν ἀπέθανεν. Ἀπέθανε, φησὶν, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ὁ Χριστὸς, ἵνα ἡμᾶς ἀναστήσῃ, δικαιώσας, καὶ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ποιήσῃ ἐκ μέσου. Εἰ δὲ ὅσοι περιτέμνειν πείθοντες, λέγουσιν ἐν νόμῳ δικαιοῦσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον, περιττὸς ὁ Χριστοῦ θάνατος γέγονεν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Γʹ. Ὦ ἀνόητοι Γαλάται. ∆είξας τὸ ἄτοπον καὶ τὸ βλάσφημον, θαῤῥῶν ἐπήγαγε

τὴν ἐπίπληξιν. Τίς ὑμᾶς ἐβάσκανεν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ μὴ πείθεσθαι; Ἔδειξεν καλῶς πράττοντας πειθομένους τῇ πίστει. Εἰ μὴ γὰρ τῶν πραττόντων καλῶς ἡ βασκανία οὐ λέγεται. Τοῦτο δὲ λέγων, ἐκκαλεῖται πάλιν εἰς τὴν διὰ πίστεως χάριν. Οἷς κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς προεγράφη ἐν ὑμῖν ἐσταυρωμένος. Τοῦτο μόνον θέλω μαθεῖν ἀφ' ὑμῶν. Συνεχῶς ἀναμιμνήσκει αὐτοὺς τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ, δι' οὗ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀπαλλαγέντες ἐζήσαμεν. Τὸ δὲ, Προεγράφη πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν, εἴρηκε, δεικνὺς τὸν ἄπληστον αὐτῶν πρότερον περὶ τὸν Χριστὸν πόθον, ὡς διὰ παντὸς ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁρᾷν τὸ μυστήριον. Ἐξ ἔργων νόμου τὸ Πνεῦμα ἐλάβετε, ἢ ἐξ ἀκοῆς πίστεως; Οὕτως ἀνόητοί ἐστε. Πολλοὶ τῶν βαπτισθέντων εἰς Χριστὸν, καὶ λαβόντων Πνεῦμα ἅγιον πολλὰς ἐνεργείας ἐποίουν δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ σημεῖα μεγάλα. Αὐτῶν οὖν ἐκείνων αὐτοὺς ἀναμιμνήσκει. Εἰ τὰς θεοσημείας, φησὶν, οὐχ ὁ νόμος παρέσχε ποιεῖν, ἀλλ' ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος χάρις, πῶς τὸν τὰ τηλικαῦτα παρεσχηκότα ἀφέντες, ἐπὶ τὸν ἀσθενοῦντα κατατρέχετε νόμον; Ἐναρξάμενοι πνεύματι, νῦν σαρκὶ ἐπιτελεῖσθε; Ἔδειξεν αὐτοὺς τὴν τάξιν ἀντι[σ]τρέψαντας. Ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν σωματικῶν ἐπὶ τὰ πνευματικώτερα ἔρχεται· οἱ δὲ τοὐναντίον, πρῶτον λαβόντες τὰ πνευματικὰ, μετέστησαν εἰς τὰ σαρκικὰ, τὴν περιτομήν φημι. Εὖ δὲ καὶ τὸ, ἐπιτελεῖσθε, ὡς ἐπὶ ἀλόγων, 95.793 αὐτοῖς παρέθηκεν, ὡς εἰ ἔλεγε σαφέστερον· Ὥσπερ ἄλογα θρέμματα παρέχετε ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὸ κατατέμνεσθαι. Τοσαῦτα ἐπάθετε εἰκῆ; Εἴ γε καὶ εἰκῆ. Τῶν ἀγώνων ἐκείνων καὶ τῶν ἄθλων αὐτοὺς ἀναμιμνήσκει, ὧν ἔπαθον διὰ τὸ κήρυγμα. Λέγει οὖν· Μὴ τὸν πρότερον ὑμῶν ἐκεῖνον πάντα κόπον ἀργὸν ἐργάσησθε. Τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ τὸ, Εἴ γε καὶ εἰκῆ, ἀντὶ τοῦ, Εἰ μὴ μετανοήσαντες αὐτὸν φυλάξητε. Ὁ οὖν