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in a place, but not the customary things; or the customary things, but he is not clean; or being clean, but not having been cleansed by the proper statutes, all those things are gone. For this reason he says that, He is a debtor to fulfill the whole law. You who are justified by the law have fallen from grace. And through punishment he strikes fear. For what is left for those who fall from grace, but inescapable punishment? For we through the Spirit, by faith, eagerly await the hope of righteousness. Having terrified them through punishment, he again leads them to a harbor of consolation, saying: We need none of those legal things, he says. For faith is sufficient for us to provide the Spirit, and through it righteousness, and many great good things. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love. You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? For he who has put on Christ, let him no longer be concerned with these things, he says. This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. He who calls you did not call you for this reason, to be so shaken; nor did he legislate that you should Judaize. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Lest someone say, Why do you exaggerate the matter in your speech? We have kept only one commandment of the law, and you make such a fuss? Listen how he strikes fear through the example. And what he says is this: Just as leaven, being a small thing, transforms the whole lump into itself, so also, he says, can this small 95.812 evil, if not corrected, lead you into perfect Judaism. But I have confidence in you in the Lord, that you will think nothing else. He did not say, that you do not think, but that you will not think; that is, that you will be corrected. But he who troubles you will bear the judgment, whoever he may be. It is good not to mention the name of the troublemakers anywhere, so that they do not become more shameless. But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Since they were slandering him as Judaizing everywhere, and playing the hypocrite in his preaching, see how he clearly refutes it, calling them as witnesses. You also know, he says, that the reason for my persecution is this, that I command to abstain from the law. But if I preach circumcision, why am I persecuted? for those from the Jews have nothing else to charge me with than this. Then the offense of the cross has been abolished. Am I so foolish, he says, as to be afflicted for nothing, and to scandalize others. For the cross was not so much what scandalized the Jews, as the not needing to obey the ancestral laws. For when they brought Stephen forward, they did not say that he worshiped the crucified one, but that he speaks against the law and the holy place. I wish that those who are unsettling you would even cut themselves off. For you were called to freedom, brethren. What he says is this: I care nothing for them. If they wish, let them not only be circumcised, but even cut themselves off. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Christ, he says, has freed you from the yoke of slavery, he has left you masters to do what you wish, not that we should use our liberty for evil, but that we might have an occasion for a greater reward, by proceeding to a greater philosophy. For since he calls the law up and down a yoke of slavery, and not a release from the curse, lest anyone should suspect that he commands to depart from the law for this reason, so that it might be permitted to live lawlessly, he corrects the suspicion, saying: Not that our way of life should become lawless, but that our philosophy should be above the law. For the bonds of the law were loosed; and I say these things, not that we should become lower, but that we should become higher. But through love serve one another. For the 95.813 whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. He shows the way by which they may easily fulfill the evangelical law, and at the same time from where the origin of circumcision came. For since, wishing to rule one another, you were divided, he says, serve one another. For thus you will be gathered together again. But he says this covertly, and not openly. For the flesh

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τόπῳ, μὴ τὰ νενομισμένα δέ· ἢ τὰ νενομισμένα μὲν, μὴ καθαρὸς δέ· ἢ καθαρὸς μὲν ὢν, οὐ τοῖς προσήκουσι δὲ θεσμοῖς καθαρθεὶς, πάντα οἴχεται ἐκεῖνα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν, ὅτι Ὀφειλέτης ἐστὶν ὅλον τὸν νόμον πληρῶσαι. Οἵτινες ἐν νόμῳ δικαιοῦσθε, τῆς χάριτος ἐξεπέσετε. Καὶ διὰ τῆς κολάσεως ἐκφοβεῖ. Τί γὰρ τὸ λειπόμενον τῆς χάριτος ἐκπίπτουσιν, ἀλλ' ἢ κόλασις ἀπαραίτητος; Ἡμεῖς γὰρ πνεύματι ἐκ πίστεως, ἐλπίδα δικαιοσύνης ἀπεκδεχόμεθα. Πτοήσας διὰ τῆς κολάσεως, πάλιν ἐπὶ λιμένα παραμυθίας αὐτοὺς ἄγει, λέγων· Οὐδὲν ἐκείνων δεόμεθα τῶν νομίμων, φησίν. Ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ἡ πίστις ἡμῖν Πνεῦμα παρασχεῖν, καὶ δι' αὐτῆς δικαιοσύνην, καὶ πολλὰ μεγάλα ἀγαθὰ. Ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ οὔτε περιτομή τι ἰσχύει, οὔτε ἀκροβυστία, ἀλλὰ πίστις δι' ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη. Ἐτρέχετε καλῶς, τίς ὑμᾶς ἐνέκοψε τῇ ἀληθείᾳ μὴ πείθεσθαι; Ὁ γὰρ τὸν Χριστὸν ἐνδυσάμενος, μηκέτι ταῦτα περιεργαζέσθω, φησίν. Ἡ πεισμονὴ, οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ καλοῦντος ὑμᾶς. Οὐ διὰ τοῦτο ἐκάλεσεν ὑμᾶς ὁ καλῶν, ὥστε οὕτω σαλεύεσθαι· οὔτε ἐνομοθέτησεν, ὥστε Ἰουδαΐζειν. Μικρὰ ζύμη ὅλον τὸ φύραμα ζυμοῖ. Ἵνα μή τις λέγῃ, Τί τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐπαίρεις τῷ λόγῳ; μίαν ἐντολὴν μόνην ἐφυλάξαμεν τοῦ νόμου, καὶ τοσαῦτα θορυβεῖς; ἄκουσον πῶς ἐκφοβεῖ διὰ τοῦ παραδείγματος. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Ὥσπερ ἡ ζύμη μικρά τις οὖσα ὅλον τὸ φύραμα εἰς ἑαυτὴν μετατίθησιν, οὕτω καὶ ὑμᾶς δύναται, φησὶν, τὸ μι 95.812 κρὸν τοῦτο κακὸν μὴ διορθωθὲν, καὶ εἰς τέλειον Ἰουδαϊσμὸν ἀγαγεῖν. Ἐγὼ δὲ πέποιθα εἰς ὑμᾶς ἐν Κυρίῳ, ὅτι οὐδὲν ἄλλο φρονήσετε. Οὐκ εἶπεν, ὅτι Οὐ φρονεῖτε, ἀλλ' ὅτι Οὐ φρονήσετε· τουτέστιν, ὅτι ∆ιορθωθήσεσθε. Ὁ δὲ ταράσσων ὑμᾶς, βαστάσει τὸ κρῖμα, ὅστις ἂν ᾖ. Εὖ τὸ μηδαμοῦ ὄνομα τῶν ταρασσόντων θεῖναι, ἵνα μὴ ἀναισχυντότεροι γένωνται. Ἐγὼ δὲ, ἀδελφοὶ, εἰ περιτομὴν ἔτι κηρύσσω, τί ἔτι διώκομαι; Ἐπειδὴ διέβαλλον αὐτὸν ὡς πανταχοῦ Ἰουδαΐζοντα, καὶ ὑποκρινόμενον τὸ κήρυγμα, ὅρα πῶς καθαρῶ ὃ ἀπεδύσατο, μάρτυρας αὐτοὺς καλῶν. Οἴδατε, φησὶν, καὶ ὑμεῖς, ὅτι διωγμοῦ μοι πρόφασις τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὅτι κελεύω ἀπέχεσθαι τοῦ νόμου. Εἰ δὲ περιτομὴν κηρύσσω, τί διώκομαι; οὐδὲν γὰρ ἕτερον ἐγκαλεῖν μοι ἔχουσιν οἱ ἐξ Ἰουδαίων, ἢ τοῦτο. Ἄρα κατήργηται τὸ σκάνδαλον τοῦ σταυροῦ. Οὕτως ἀνόητός εἰμι, φησὶν, ὡς ὑπὲρ τοῦ μηδενὸς θλίβεσθαι, καὶ σκανδαλίζειν ἑτέρους. Οὔτε γὰρ οὕτως ὁ σταυρὸς ἦν ὁ σκανδαλίζων τοὺς Ἰουδαίους, ὡς τὸ μὴ δεῖν πείθεσθαι τοῖς πατρῴοις νόμοις. Καὶ γὰρ Στέφανον προσενεγκόντες, οὐκ εἶπον ὅτι Οὗτος τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον προσεκύνει, ἀλλ' ὅτι Κατὰ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τοῦ τόπου λέγει τοῦ ἁγίου. Ὄφελον καὶ ἀποκόψονται οἱ ἀναστατοῦντες ὑμᾶς. Ὑμεῖς γὰρ ἐπ' ἐλευθερίᾳ ἐκλήθητε, ἀδελφοί. Ὃ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Οὐδέν μοι μέλει ἐκείνων. Εἰ βούλονται, μὴ περιτεμνέσθωσαν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀποτεμνέσθωσαν. Μόνον μὴ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν εἰς ἀφορμὴν τῇ σαρκί. Ἀπήλλαξεν ὑμᾶς, φησὶν, ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ ζυγοῦ τῆς δουλείας, κυρίους ἀφῆκεν πράττειν ὅ τι βούλεσθε, οὐχ ἵνα τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ εἰς κακίαν χρησώμεθα, ἀλλ' ἵνα μείζονος μισθοῦ λάβωμεν πρόφασιν, ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίαν μείζονα ἰόντες. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἄνω καὶ κάτω ζυγὸν δουλείας καλεῖ τὸν νόμον, καὶ οὐ τῆς κατάρας ἀπαλλαγὴν, ἵνα μή τις ὑποπτεύσῃ, ὅτι διὰ τοῦτο κελεύει τοῦ νόμου ἀποστῆναι, ἵνα ἐξῇ παρανόμως ζῇν, διορθοῦται τὴν ὑπόνοιαν, λέγων· Οὐχ ἵνα παρανόμως γένηται ἡ πολιτεία, ἀλλ' ἵνα ὑπὲρ νόμον ἡ φιλοσοφία. Ἐλύθη γὰρ τοῦ νόμου τὰ δεσμά· καὶ ἐγὼ ταῦτα λέγω, οὐχ ἵνα ταπεινότεροι, ἀλλ' ἵνα ὑψηλότεροι γενώμεθα. Ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης δουλεύετε ἀλλήλοις. Ὁ 95.813 γὰρ πᾶς νόμος ἐν ἑνὶ λόγῳ πληροῦται, ἐν τῷ, Ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησιόν σου ὡς σεαυτόν. Εἰ δὲ ἀλλήλους δάκνετε καὶ κατεσθίετε, βλέπετε μὴ ὑπὸ ἀλλήλων ἀναλωθῆτε. Λέγω δὲ, Πνεύματι περιπατεῖτε, καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν σαρκὸς οὐ μὴ τελέσητε. ∆είκνυσι τὸν τρόπον δι' οὗ ῥᾳδίως τὸν εὐαγγελικὸν πληρώσωσι νόμον, ἅμα δὲ καὶ πόθεν γέγονεν τῆς περιτομῆς ἡ ἀρχή. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀλλήλων ἄρχειν βουλόμενοι, ἐσχίσθητε, φησὶ, δουλεύσατε ἀλλήλοις. Οὕτω γὰρ συναχθήσεσθε πάλιν. Λεληθότως δὲ τοῦτο λέγει, καὶ οὐ φανερῶς. Ἡ γὰρ σὰρξ