109

of you? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? Here he is perplexed and amazed, and seeks to learn from them the reason for the change. Were you not, he says, the ones who pursued and served me, and considered me more precious than your eyes. Whence then the enmity? whence the suspicion? that I spoke the truth to you; for I, he says, know no other reason than speaking the truth to you. They are zealous for you, but not well. They provoke you, he says, to have zeal, but not a good one. For how is that zeal good, which brings them down again into the yoke of slavery? But they wish to shut you out, so that you may be zealous for them. To shut you out from the grace of the gospel. For they were doing this, wishing to cast them out from perfect knowledge, and leading them back again to the illegitimate, for no other reason than that they themselves might be in the rank of teachers, and might place the Galatians in the rank of disciples. But be zealous in a good way always, and not only when I am present with you. Here he hints that his absence brought these things about, and that this is a blessed thing, for the disciples to preserve the proper order even when the teacher is absent. My little children, for whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you. You have corrupted, he says, the image, you have lost the form, you need another regeneration and re-forming, that is, of teaching; again I give birth through instruction. But I wished to be present with you now, and to change my voice. For what reason does he say he seeks to be present, and for what reason to change his voice, instead of weeping and lamenting, and wailing, and drawing all to lamentation? For through a letter it was not possible to show tears, nor wailing. Because I am perplexed about you. For I do not have, he says, what to say; how is it that you who ascended to the very summit of heaven through the dangers you endured for the faith, and through the signs you displayed through the faith, have now suddenly been brought down to such worthlessness, as to be dragged down to circumcision and Sabbaths. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the maidservant, and one by the free woman. But the one by the maidservant was born according to 95.805 the flesh, but the one by the free woman, through promise. Since he said that faith unites you to Abraham, and it seemed incredible to the hearers for those not born from him, he says that these are his sons, he shows that this paradox has been from the beginning. For Isaac, not being born according to the sequence of nature, nor according to the law of marriage, nor according to the power of the flesh, was both a son and legitimate, having been commanded to spring from dead bodies. Therefore, let it not trouble you, he says, that you were not born according to the flesh. For on this account you are most of all his kinsmen, because you were not born according to the flesh. For this birth according to the flesh does not make them more honored, but even less honored. For more wonderful is the birth that is not according to the flesh, and more spiritual. And this is clear from those born from the beginning. Ishmael was born according to the flesh, but he was a slave, and not only this, but he was also cast out of his father's house. But Isaac, born according to promise, being a legitimate and free son, was lord of all. Which things are an allegory. The history itself, he says, not only indicates what is apparent, but also speaks of certain other things; wherefore it is also called an allegory. For these are two covenants. The two laws, the legal and the evangelical. One from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery, which is Hagar. For Sinai is a mountain in Arabia. The slave was called Hagar. And Mount Sinai is so interpreted in their local dialect; so that those born of the old one are all necessarily slaves. And it corresponds to the present Jerusalem; for she is in slavery with her children. Not only, he says, was she a slave, but she also bore slaves. But also the covenant itself, that is, of which the slave is a type. For Jerusalem lies near the mountain that has the same name as the slave; and on this mountain the covenant was given. But the one above

109

ὑμῶν; Μαρτυρῶ γὰρ ὑμῖν, ὅτι εἰ δυνατὸν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑμῶν ἐξορύξαντες ἐδώκατέ μοι. Ὥστε ἐχθρὸς ὑμῶν γέγονα ἀληθεύων ὑμῖν; Ἐνταῦθα διαπορεῖ καὶ ἐκπλήττεται, καὶ παρ' αὐτῶν ζητεῖ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς μεταβολῆς μαθεῖν. Οὐχ ὑμεῖς ἦτε, φησὶν, οἵ με μεθέποντες καὶ θεραπεύοντες, καὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἡγούμενοι τιμιώτερον. Πόθεν οὖν ἡ ἔχθρα; πόθεν ἡ ὑποψία; ὅτι τὰ ἀληθῆ πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἶπον· ἐγὼ γὰρ, φησὶν, οὐκ οἶδα ἄλλην αἰτίαν, ἢ τὸ τἀληθῆ λέγειν ὑμῖν. Ζηλοῦσιν ὑμᾶς, οὐ καλῶς. Ζῆλον ὑμᾶς, φησὶν, ἐρεθίζουσιν ἔχειν, οὐ καλόν. Πῶς γὰρ ἐκεῖνος καλὸς, ὁ πάλιν εἰς τὸν ζυγὸν αὐτοὺς καταφέρων τῆς δουλείας; Ἀλλὰ ἐκκλεῖσαι ὑμᾶς θέλουσιν, ἵνα αὐτοὺς ζηλῶτε. Ἐκκλεῖσαι μὲν τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς χάριτος. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἐποίουν, τοὺς μὲν [γὰρ] τελείας γνώσεως ἐκβαλεῖν θέλοντες, εἰς δὲ τὴν νόθον πάλιν ἀνάγοντες, δι' οὐδὲν ἕτερον, ἀλλ' ἵνα αὐτοὶ μὲν ἐν τάξει διδασκάλων γένωνται, Γαλάτας δὲ ἐν τάξει καταστήσωσι μαθητῶν. Καλῶς δὲ ζηλοῦσθε ἐν καλῷ πάντοτε, καὶ μὴ μόνον ἐν τῷ παρεῖναί με πρὸς ὑμᾶς. Ἐνταῦθα αἰνίττεται, ὅτι ἡ ἀπουσία αὐτοῦ ταῦτα εἰργάσατο, καὶ ὅτι τοῦτο μακάριον, τὸ καὶ ἀπόντος τοῦ διδασκάλου τὴν δέουσαν τάξιν σώζειν τοὺς μαθητάς. Τεκνία μου, οὓς πάλιν ὠδίνω, ἄχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν. Ἐφθείρατε, φησὶ, τὴν εἰκόνα, ἀπωλέσατε τὴν μορφὴν, ἀναγεννήσεως ἑτέρας ὑμῖν δεῖ καὶ ἀναπλάσεως, διδαχῆς δηλονότι· πάλιν γεννῶ διὰ κατηχήσεως. Ἤθελον δὲ παρεῖναι πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἄρτι, καὶ ἀλλάξαι τὴν φωνήν μου. Τίνος ἕνεκεν ζητεῖ τὴν παρουσίαν λέγει, καὶ τίνος ἢ τοῦ ἀλλάξαι τὴν φωνὴν, ἀντὶ τοῦ δακρῦσαι καὶ θρηνῆσαι, καὶ ὀλοφύρασθαι, καὶ πάντας εἰς θρῆνον ἐπισπᾶσθαι; ∆ιὰ γὰρ ἐπιστολῆς οὐκ ἦν δάκρυα δεῖξαι, οὐδὲ ὀλοφυρμόν. Ὅτι ἀποροῦμαι ἐν ὑμῖν. Οὐκ ἔχω γὰρ, φησὶ, τί εἴπω· πόθεν οἱ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀναβάντες τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὴν κορυφὴν διὰ τῶν κινδύνων ὧν ὑπεμείνατε ὑπὲρ τῆς πίστεως, καὶ διὰ τῶν σημείων ὧν ὑπεδείξατε διὰ τῆς πίστεως, νῦν ἀθρόον οὕτως εἰς τοσαύτην εὐτέλειαν κατηνέχθητε, ὡς εἰς περιτομὴν καὶ Σάββατα κατασύρεσθαι. Λέγετέ μοι, οἱ ὑπὸ νόμον θέλοντες εἶναι, τὸν νόμον οὐκ ἀκούετε; Γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι Ἀβραὰμ δύο υἱοὺς ἔσχεν, ἕνα ἐκ τῆς παιδίσκης, καὶ ἕνα ἐκ τῆς ἐλευθέρας. Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν ἐκ τῆς παιδίσκης, κατὰ 95.805 σάρκα γεγέννηται, ὁ δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἐλευθέρας, δι' ἐπαγγελίας. Ἐπειδὴ ἔλεγεν, ὅτι ἡ πίστις ὑμᾶς συνάπτει τῷ Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ ἐδόκει τοῖς ἀκούουσιν ἀπίθανον εἶναι εἰς τοὺς μὴ γεννωμένους ἐξ ἐκείνου, τούτους υἱούς φησιν εἶναι ἐκείνου, δείκνυσιν ὅτι τὸ παράδοξον τοῦτο ἄνωθεν γέγονεν. Ὁ γὰρ Ἰσαὰκ οὐ κατὰ φύσεως ἀκολουθίαν, οὐδὲ κατὰ γάμου νόμον, οὐδὲ κατὰ σαρκὸς δύναμιν γεννώμενος, καὶ υἱὸς, καὶ γνήσιος ἦν, ἀπὸ νεκρῶν σωμάτων φῦναι κελευσθείς. Μὴ θορυβείτω τοίνυν ὑμᾶς, φησὶ, τὸ μὴ κατὰ σάρκα γεγεννῆσθαι. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο μάλιστα συγγενεῖς ὑμεῖς αὐτοῦ, ὅτι οὐ κατὰ σάρκα ἐγεννήθητε. Οὐ γὰρ τιμιωτέρους τοῦτο τὸ κατὰ σάρκα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀτιμωτέρους ἐργάζεται. Θαυμαστότερος γὰρ ὁ τόκος, ὁ μὴ κατὰ σάρκα, καὶ πνευματικώτερος. Καὶ δῆλον ἐκ τῶν ἄνωθεν τεχθέντων. Ἐτέχθη κατὰ σάρκα ὁ Ἰσμαὴλ, ἀλλὰ δοῦλος ἦν, καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξεβάλλετο τῆς πατρῴας οἰκίας. Ὁ δὲ κατ' ἐπαγγελίαν τεχθεὶς Ἰσαὰκ, ἅτε υἱὸς ὢν γνήσιος καὶ ἐλεύθερος, κύριος ἁπάντων ἦν. Ἅτινά ἐστιν ἀλληγορούμενα. Ἡ μὲν ἱστορία αὐτὴ, φησὶν, οὐ τοῦτο δὲ μόνον παραδηλοῖ ὅπερ φαίνεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλα τινὰ ἀγορεύει· διὸ καὶ ἀλληγορία καλεῖται. Αὗται γάρ εἰσι δύο διαθῆκαι. Οἱ δύο νόμοι, ὁ νομικὸς καὶ ὁ εὐαγγελικός. Μία μὲν ἀπὸ ὄρους Σινᾶ, εἰς δουλείαν γεννῶσα, ἥτις ἐστὶν Ἄγαρ. Τὸ γὰρ Σινᾶ ὄρος ἐστὶν ἐν Ἀραβίᾳ. Ἄγαρ ἐλέγετο ἡ δούλη. Τὸ δὲ Σινᾶ ὄρος, οὕτω μεθερμηνεύεται τῇ ἐπιχωρίῳ αὐτῶν διαλέκτῳ· ὥστε τοὺς ἐκ τῆς παλαιᾶς τικτομένους, πάντας ἀνάγκη δούλους εἶναι. Συστοιχεῖ δὲ τῇ νῦν Ἱερουσαλήμ· δουλεύει δὲ μετὰ τῶν τέκνων αὑτῆς. Οὐ μόνον, φησὶν, ἐκείνη δούλη ἦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ δούλους ἔτεκεν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ διαθήκη, τουτέστιν ἧς τύπος ἡ δούλη. Καὶ γὰρ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐκ γειτόνων κεῖται τῷ ὄρει τῷ ὁμωνύμῳ τῇ δούλῃ· ἐν τούτῳ δὲ τῷ ὄρει καὶ ἡ διαθήκη δέδοται. Ἡ δὲ ἄνω