Fragments on the Epistle to the Galatians

Gal 3, He says, therefore, that Moses indeed mediated for the giving of the law, but he mediated for one nation only; but the one who was truly going to mediate with the one God of all nations must make the mediation not on behalf of one nation but on behalf of all in common, since He is also the one God of all nations. And this would not be a mere man such as Moses, but Christ the Son of God, being truly God and at the same time truly man, and by kinship with each bringing both together into one in himself; for he is our peace, who has made both one. {Gal 3,21} It is not possible, therefore, nor even reasonable to say that the law was given for the abolition of the blessings. {Gal 3,23}Since, therefore, he says, it was God's good pleasure for us to enjoy justification by grace not from the beginning but later, it was fitting that for a time our nature was walled in by laws, being both hindered and checked from the working of every sin, so that we might be released from the prison of the law, well-prepared for the justification revealed through faith.

4{Gal 4,3} In the rank of guardians and stewards of those immature in

age, guiding them toward what is profitable, he took the elements of the world to which we were profitably enslaved on account of the immaturity of our knowledge. He would not, I think, have taken the sun and moon in the rank of guardians, because submission to these things is unprofitable, but he says 'elements of the world' meaning the elemental, introductory law; for he was writing to believers from among the Jews, and this is shown both by what was said a little above and by the phrase, 'if you are circumcised, Christ will be of no advantage to you.' Or he calls elements: days, water, fire, the observances of which came from the law that led into slavery; of days, in sabbaths and new moons and circumcisions; of water, in bodily purifications and baptisms; of fire, in not kindling a fire on the sabbath but eating stale food. But see what a strange thing Eusebius said on this in the fourth book of his 'Evangelical Demonstration'.{Gal 4,171} Not for good, he says, do they welcome your same faith in Christ, but that by shutting you out from it they might persuade you to follow them; such a thing has been devised by them for your deception.

Fragmenta in epistulam ad Galatas

Gal 3, Λέγει τοίνυν ὅτι Μωϋσῆς μὲν ἐμεσίτευσε πρὸς τὴν δόσιν τοῦ νόμου, ἀλλ' ἑνὶ μόνον ἐμεσίτευσεν ἔθνει· δεῖ δὲ τὸν ὡς ἀληθῶς μέλλοντα μεσιτεύειν πρὸς τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων ἐθνῶν ἕνα θεόν, οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἑνὸς ἔθνους ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ πάντων κοινῇ τὴν μεσιτείαν ποιήσασθαι, ἐπειδὴ καὶ πάντων ἐθνῶν εἷς ἐστι θεός. εἴη δ' ἂν οὗτος οὐ ψιλὸς ἄνθρωπος οἷος ὁ Μωϋσῆς, ἀλλὰ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, θεός τε ὢν ἀληθῶς ὁ αὐτὸς ἅμα καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἀληθῶς, καὶ τῇ συγγενείᾳ τῇ πρὸς ἑκάτερον εἰς ἓν συνάγων ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὰ ἑκάτερα· αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν, ὁ ποιήσας τὰ ἀμφότερα ἕν. {Gal 3,21} Οὐ τοίνυν ἐνδεχόμενον ἀλλ' οὐδὲ εὔλογον ἐπ' ἀναιρέσει τῶν εὐλογιῶν δεδόσθαι φάναι τὸν νόμον. {Gal 3,23}Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν, φησίν, οὐκ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀλλ' ὕστερον. χάριτι τῆς δικαιώσεως ἡμᾶς ἦν θεῷ δοκοῦν ἀπολαῦσαι, εἰκότως τέως νόμοις ἡ φύσις ἡμῶν περιετειχίζετο κωλυομένη τε καὶ ἀναχαιτιζομένη πρὸς ἑκάστης ἁμαρτίας ἐνέργειαν, ἵνα εἰς τὴν διὰ πίστεως ἀναπεταννυμένην δικαίωσιν εὐτρεπεῖς ἐκ τοῦ φρουρίου τοῦ κατὰ νόμον ἀπολυθείημεν.

4{Gal 4,3} Ἐν τάξει τῶν ἐπιτρόπων καὶ οἰκονόμων τῶν τοὺς ἀτελεῖς τῇ

ἡλικίᾳ πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον παιδαγωγούντων ἔλαβε τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου οἷς ἦμεν διὰ τὸ τῆς γνώσεως ἀτελὲς συμφερόντως δεδουλωμένοι. οὐκ ἄν, ὡς οἶμαι, ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην ἔλαβεν εἰς τάξιν τῶν ἐπιτρόπων διὰ τὸ ἀσύμφορον εἶναι τὴν εἰς ταῦτα ὑποταγήν, ἀλλὰ στοιχεῖά φησι τοῦ κόσμου ἢ τὸν στοιχειώδη εἰσαγωγικὸν νόμον· καὶ γὰρ τοῖς ἐξ Ἰουδαίων πιστοῖς ἔγραφεν, καὶ δηλοῖ τά τε μικρὸν ἀνωτέρω εἰρημένα καὶ τὸ ἐὰν περιτέμνησθε Χριστὸς ὑμᾶς οὐδὲν ὠφελήσει. ἢ στοιχεῖα καλεῖ ἡμέρας, ὕδωρ, πῦρ ὧν ἦσαν ἐκ τοῦ εἰς δουλείαν ὑπαγαγόντος νόμου αἱ παρατηρήσεις· ἡμερῶν μὲν ἔν τε σαββάτοις καὶ νουμηνίαις καὶ περιτομαῖς, ὕδατος δὲ ἐν ταῖς σωματικαῖς ἁγνείαις καὶ βαπτισμοῖς, πυρὸς δὲ ἐν τῷ μὴ ἀνακαίειν πῦρ ἐν τοῖς σαββάτοις ἀλλ' ἕωλα ἐσθίειν. ὅρα δὲ τί εἶπεν εἰς τοῦτο ξένον ὁ Εὐσέβιος ἐν τῷ τετάρτῳ λόγῳ τῆς Εὐαγγελικῆς ἀποδείξεως.{Gal 4,171} Οὐκ ἐπ' ἀγαθῷ, φησί, τὴν αὐτὴν ὑμῶν εἰς Χριστὸν πίστιν ἀσπάζονται, ἀλλ' ἵνα ὑμᾶς ταύτης ἐκκλείσαντες ἑαυτοῖς ἀναπείσωσιν ἕπεσθαι, πρὸς ὑμετέραν ἀπάτην τὸ τοιοῦτον αὐτοῖς μεμηχάνηται.