3:1
(Chapter III - Verse 1) O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? This place can be understood in two ways. Either the foolish Galatians are called so because they have come from greater things to lesser things, having begun in the spirit and are now being consumed in the flesh. Or it is because each province has its own peculiarities. The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons, truly spoken of by the poet Epimenides, confirmed by the Apostle. The vain Moors and the fierce Dalmatians are struck by the Latin historian. Timid Phrygians, all poets tear apart. They say that more talented people are born in Athens, and philosophers boast about it. Cicero criticizes the Greeks, calling them either frivolous or cruel barbarians before Caesar. And for Flaccus, he says: 'Ingeniousness is innate, he says, and educated vanity.' The true Israel, with a heavy heart and a stiff neck, accuses all the Scriptures. Therefore, I think that the Apostle Paul also rebuked the Galatians for their regional customs. Although some, inserting profound questions as if under the guise of avoiding heresy, which introduces diverse natures, may say that even the Tyrians and Sidonians, Moabites and Ammonites, and Idumaeans, Babylonians and Egyptians, and all the Nations mentioned in the Scriptures, have certain languages for preceding reasons, and deservedly for their prior actions, so that the justice of God may not come into doubt: since it is asserted that every nation has either good or evil, which another does not have. We will pursue those declining heights: either accusing them of foolishness, saying that they cannot judge the spirit of the Law and the letter; or blaming the fault of the nation, that they are unteachable and foolish, and slower to wisdom. But what follows - 'Who bewitched you?' (1 Corinthians 11) - we should explain according to Paul (who, although unskilled in speech, is not lacking in knowledge): not that he knows that there is a bewitching power, which is commonly believed to be harmful; but he uses the word as a trite expression, and as in other things, so also in this place, he takes up the phrase of everyday conversation. We read in Proverbs: The gift of the envious tortures the eyes. The envious person among us is more significantly called a fascinator in Greek, and in the Wisdom of Solomon it is written: The fascination of wickedness obscures good things (Wis. 4:22). With these examples we are taught that the envious person is tormented by the happiness of others, or that someone in whom there is some good is harmed by another person who fascinates, that is, envies. It is said that the fascinus properly harms infants, young children, and those who have not yet firmly set foot. Where and some of the Gentiles:
I do not know who bewitches the tender eyes of my lambs. (Virgil. Eclog. 3.) Whether this is true or not, God knows: because it is possible that even demons may serve this sin; and they may turn away from the good works anyone has learned or achieved in the work of God. Now this is in question, because we consider this example to be taken from the opinion of the common people: just as it is said that a tender age can be harmed by a spell, so too it seems that the Galatians, who were recently born and raised in the faith of Christ, and nourished by milk and not solid food (1 Corinthians 3), have been harmed by some sort of spell, and the spirit of the Holy One has made them vomit the food of faith, causing a nausea in their spirit. But if someone contradicts, let him explain how the ideas of the Titans' valley in the Books of Kings (2 Kings 23), the sirens and centaurs in Isaiah (Chap. 34), Arcturus and Orion, and the Pleiades in Job (Chap. 9), and the like, which are certainly terms borrowed from the myths of the Gentiles, have been taken from common opinion. Let us therefore ask Marcion, who rejects the prophets, how he interprets what follows.
Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was proclaimed, among you he was crucified. For Christ was rightly proclaimed to us, from whose gallows and suffering, slaps and whips, the chorus of all the prophets foretold: that his cross was not only from the Gospel, in which he is said to be crucified; but long before he deigned to descend to the earth and take on the form of a crucified man, we have known. And it is no small praise of the Galatians that they have believed in the Crucified One, as it was proclaimed to them before: namely, by reading the prophets and knowing all the sacraments of the old Law, they have come to believe in the way and order. It is read in some codices: Who bewitched you to not believe the truth? But because this is not found in the exemplars of Adamantius, we have omitted it.
3:2
(Version 2.) This is the only thing I want to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law or by hearing with faith? Indeed, are there many things that can force you to prefer the Gospel to the Law: but because you are foolish and cannot hear those things, I speak to you in simple terms, and I ask about what is obvious: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by works of the Law, by observing the Sabbath, circumcision, and the superstition of new moons, or by hearing with faith, through which you believed from the Gentiles? But if it cannot be denied, it is evident that the Holy Spirit and the virtues that followed the received Spirit at the beginning of faith were given not by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Christ. It is clear that you have begun from better things and fallen into worse. However, let us consider carefully, because he did not say, 'I want to learn from you whether you received the Spirit from works,' but he added, 'from the works of the Law.' For he knew that even Cornelius the centurion had received the Spirit from works (Acts 10), but not from the works of the Law, which he did not know. But if, on the contrary, it is said: therefore, the Spirit can be received without hearing faith. We will respond that indeed the Spirit is received, but through the hearing of faith and the natural law, which speaks in our hearts, the good things to be done and the evils to be avoided: through which we have already mentioned that even Abraham, Moses, and the other justified saints have received it, and the observation of works and the righteousness of the Law can furthermore increase it, not the carnal law, which has passed, but the spiritual law, for the Law is spiritual. Nor indeed do we destroy the works of the Law because we prefer faith (Rom. III), nor do we say, according to some, Let us do evil, so that good may come (whose condemnation is just), but we give preference to grace over slavery. And we say that what the Jews do out of fear, we do out of charity. They are slaves, we are children: they are compelled to do good, we willingly embrace it. Therefore, it is not from the faith of Christ that the license to sin arises; rather, the desire for good works is increased by the love of faith, as we do good not because we fear judgment but because we know that they please the one in whom we believe. Let someone inquire, if faith comes only from hearing, how can those who are born deaf become Christians? Indeed, one can understand God the Father from the magnitude and beauty of creation, and the Creator is consequently recognized from His works. But the birth, cross, death, and resurrection of Christ cannot be known except through hearing. Therefore, either deaf people are not Christians, or if they are Christians, it is false what is said elsewhere by the Apostle: 'So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.' To which, he who is content with a simple response, says, that he did not speak generally; faith comes from hearing; but faith comes from hearing, which can be understood both in part and in whole: namely, the faith of those who hear, who believe. However, whoever attempts to satisfy this doubt, will first try to assert that even the deaf can learn the Gospel through nods, daily conversation, and, so to speak, gestures of the whole body; then also that the word of God, to whom nothing is deaf, speaks more to those ears, about whom he himself says in the Gospel: He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Luke 8:8). And in the Apocalypse: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches (Rev. II, 11). And Isaiah: The Lord has given me an ear (Isa. VI, 33 and 35). This is another man, to whom God speaks in secret, who cries out in the heart of the believer: Abba, Father (Rom. VIII, 15): and (as we have often explained) just as the body has all its members and senses, so the soul also has all its senses and members, including ears: whoever has them will not greatly need the ears of the body to know the Gospel of Christ. Moreover, also consider this, that here the Holy Spirit is understood without any addition, whom we obtain as a gift from God, and not from man: of which it is written elsewhere: The Spirit is incorruptible in all things (Wis. 12:1). And: The Spirit himself gives testimony to our spirit (Rom. 8:16). And in another place: No one knows the things that are in man, except the spirit of man that is in him (1 Cor. 2:11). And in Daniel: Bless the Lord, spirits and souls of the righteous (Dan. 3:86).
3:3
(Verse 3.) So foolish are you, that having begun in the Spirit, you are now being perfected in the flesh? If the Galatians received the Holy Spirit, how were they foolish? But it is immediately resolved, that although they did receive the Spirit, they were deprived of it when they were being perfected in the flesh. Hence they suffered so much in vain. In order to avoid this happening to themselves after sin, David prays, saying: Do not take your Holy Spirit from me (Ps. 50:13). Pay careful attention to the fact that those who follow the Scriptures literally are said to be perfected in the flesh. Therefore, what is written to the Corinthians, 'Living in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh' (2 Cor. X, 3), can be better understood as meaning that those who humbly adhere to the Old Testament are said to wage war in the flesh. However, those who follow the spiritual understanding, though they are in the flesh because they have the same letter as the Jews, do not wage war according to the flesh but transcend from the flesh to the spirit. When you see someone who was the first to believe among the Gentiles, and extends his hand to the plow of Christ, having been preceded by a wise teacher, in such a way as to proceed from the path of the Law to the Gospel, so that he may understand all those things that are written there, about the Sabbath, about unleavened bread, about circumcision, about sacrifices, in a worthy manner for God, and afterwards, after the reading of the Gospel, be persuaded by a Jewish person or a fellow Jew, so that he may abandon the shadows and cloudy allegories and interpret the Scriptures as they are written: can you say of this person: 'Are you so foolish, that after beginning with the Spirit, you are now being perfected by the flesh?'
3:4
(Verse 4) You have suffered so much without cause, if indeed without cause. Let us consider the unfortunate Jews, how they live among other nations in such superstition and the labor of observance, saying, do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, and we will prove that what is said is true: You have suffered so much without cause. But the judgment is not immediately applied to them, and there is doubt if indeed without cause, because this is said of those who can turn from the Law to the Gospel. However, this can be understood better in the following way: that the Galatians, believing in the Crucified One, have endured many reproaches from both the Jews and the Gentiles, and have endured considerable persecutions. These persecutions are in vain criticized, if they depart from the grace of Christ, for which they have endured so much. At the same time, there is the hope that whoever labors for the faith of Christ and afterward falls into sin, just as it is said that he suffered the former without cause while sinning, likewise does not lose it if he returns to the original faith and the former zeal. Otherwise: If you think that circumcision should be followed after grace, then all that you have suffered while living without circumcision up until the present time has been in vain. But it seems to me that you have not endured these things without purpose, for I know that the Law is no longer valid after the Gospel. Or at least this way: It would not be a small loss if, by following circumcision, you had lost so much of the previous effort of faith. But now, in addition to this loss, there is also the punishment of transgression, so that you have suffered in the past without cause and will suffer in the future as well. Some people understand it more forcibly as follows: Consider the former freedom of grace and the present burdens of observation in the Law, and you will see how many things you have done in vain: although the fruit of this error is not completely to be despaired of, since you have been led to this by the zeal of God. For ignorance can be forgiven to those who, if they are converted to better things, teach that the knowledge in you has fluctuated, not the zeal.
3:5
(Verse 5.) So then, does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Not that the works of the Law should be despised, and without them a simple faith should be sought; but that the works themselves may be adorned by the faith of Christ. For that saying of the wise man is well known, 'The just shall live by faith, not by righteousness.' At the same time it is shown that the Galatians, after receiving the Holy Spirit by faith, had the gifts of virtues, that is, prophecy, kinds of tongues, healings, and other things that are enumerated in the spiritual gifts to the Corinthians (1 Cor. VII). And yet, after so many (because perhaps they did not have the grace of discerning spirits), they were ensnared by false teachers. It should also be noted that they claim to work miracles in those who do not hold the truth of the Gospel: just as in those who, not following the Lord, were performing miracles in His name, with John in particular complaining: Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him because he does not accompany us (Mark 9:37). Against heretics who believe that the proof of their faith consists in performing some miracle. Those who eat and drink in the name of the Lord (for they also have a sacrilegious altar) and boast of having performed many signs, calling upon the Savior, will deserve to hear on the day of judgment: 'I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of iniquity' (Matthew 7:23).
3:6
(Verse 6.) Just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. From this place until where it is written: Those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham, Marcion erased from his Apostle. But what profit was there in embracing this, when the other things he left behind, his insanities, are opposed to it? Yet Abraham believed God, going out from his country into a land he did not know (Gen. 12 ff.): trusting that Sarah, who was ninety years old and barren, would give birth; and hearing the promise of God that his offspring would be called through Isaac, he offered Isaac as a sacrifice, and yet did not doubt the promise of the Lord. The faith is rightly considered to contribute to justice, the one who, having gone beyond the works of the Law, has deserved God not out of fear, but out of love.
3:7
(V.7) So you know, those who are of faith, these are the children of Abraham. He discusses more fully in the letter to the Romans that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness, not in circumcision but in uncircumcision (Rom. 4). And carefully observing, he teaches that those who believed with this mindset are the children of Abraham, just as Abraham believed when he was uncircumcised, who rejoiced to see the day of the Lord, and saw it and was glad (John 8). And it is also said to the unbelieving Jews: If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham (Ibid. 39). But what other works was the Lord seeking from them at that time when these things were said, except faith in the Son of God, whom the Father had sent to speak: Whoever believes in me, does not believe in me, but in him who sent me (John XII, 44)? And in another place, when they were clapping and boasting about their ancient and noble lineage, the response is given: And do not say, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones (Matth. III, 9). By these stones, no one doubts that the hardened hearts of the Gentiles are signified, which were later softened and received the seal of faith. Enumerate the virtues of Abraham in which he pleased God before circumcision, diligent reader, and wherever you find them in a similar work, say that they are the children of Abraham, justified in the foreskin, who received circumcision not because of the merit of works, but as a sign of prior faith. For indeed Christ was to be born from his seed (in whom the blessing of all nations was promised, and from Abraham until Christ many centuries were to pass), God foreseen that the children of beloved Abraham might mix with other nations, and gradually his family would become uncertain, he marked the Israelite flock with a certain circumcision seal, so that they would be distinguished by this sign while living among the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Chaldeans. Finally, for forty years in the desert, no one was circumcised: for they alone lived without the mixture of another nation. As soon as the people crossed the banks of the Jordan and poured themselves into the land of Palestine, the circumcision, necessary for the future mix of nations, guarded against error. And that which is written a second time about the circumcised people (Joshua 5) signifies that the circumcision ceased in the desert, which was reasonably practiced in Egypt; and that believers are to be cleansed by the spiritual circumcision of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3:8-9
(Verse 8, 9.) But the Scripture, foreseeing that by faith God would justify the Gentiles, foretold to Abraham that all nations would be blessed in him. So then, those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Not that the Scripture itself, namely the ink and the parchment, which are insensible, can foreknow the future; but rather the Holy Spirit and the senses, hidden in the letter, have foretold things to come many centuries later. Moreover, the example taken from Genesis is contained in its own volume: 'And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed' (Gen. XXVI, 4). The apostle interpreted this concerning Christ, saying: 'It is not written of seeds, as if in many; but as in one, and in your seed, which is Christ.' However, we must observe in all the almost testimonies (as taken from the old books in the new Testament), which the evangelists or apostles believed in memory; and having only explained the meaning, they often changed the order, and sometimes removed or added words. But there is no doubt that all nations were blessed in Isaac and Jacob, or in the twelve patriarchs, and others who descended from the lineage of Abraham; but in Christ Jesus, through whom all nations praise God, and a new name is blessed on the earth. However, the apostle can also be understood to have drawn an example of the seed from another passage in Genesis, where it is written: 'And (no doubt Abraham) God brought him outside and said to him: Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.' And he said to him: Thus shall your seed be; and Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice (Gen. XV, 5, 6) . Therefore, whoever believes, shall be blessed with faithful Abraham, who is said to have believed in God first, for his remarkable faith in him. Just as Enos is said to have hoped in the Lord God, the principal hope in God, and above all the others, is written to have called upon the Lord God (Gen. IV, 26) . Not that Abel, about whom the Lord says: The voice of your brother's blood cries to me (Ibid. IV, 10) ; and the others afterwards, did not hope to call upon God; but each one may be called upon from the part that he has, to the greatest extent possible.
Book Two
Book Two
In the first book of the Commentaries on the Galatians, when I was discussing the customs of the Gentiles, I left unfinished the task of explaining who the Galatians are, from where and how they came. Whether they were natives who were defeated or newcomers who settled in the land they now inhabit. And whether they lost their language through intermarriage, or if they learned a new one without losing their own. Marcus Varro, a most diligent investigator of all antiquities, and others who have imitated him, have recorded many things concerning this people which are worthy of remembrance. But because it is our intention not to admit uncircumcised men into the temple of God (and to be frank, many years have passed since we stopped reading these things), we will quote the words of our Lactantius from the third volume to Probus about this people: “The Gauls,” he says, “were anciently called Galatians because of the whiteness of their bodies; and the Sibyl also calls them this. The poet meant to signify this when he said: ‘Then their milky necks are adorned with gold’ (Virgil, book VIII, Aeneid.) He could have said ‘white.’ From here, of course, Galatia became a province, into which the Gauls once came and mixed with the Greeks. Hence why that region was first called Gallograecia, and later Galatia. It is not surprising that he said this about the Gauls, and that he mentioned how the western peoples settled in the eastern part of the world, with the easternmost being opposite Greece. The Phocaeans founded Massilia, whom Varro says are trilingual because they speak Greek, Latin, and Gaulish. The city of Rhodes, founded by Rhodian colonists, gave its name to the river Rhodanus. I omit the founders of Carthage, the Tyrians, and the city of Agenor; I pass over Thebes of Bacchus, which he founded in Africa: that city is now called Thebestis. I leave that part of Libya which is full of Greek cities. I cross over to Spain: did not the Greeks, who sailed from the island of Zacynthus, found Saguntum? And is not the city of Tartessus, now called Carteia, reported to have been founded by Greek colonists? The mountains of Hispania, Calpe, Idrus, Pyrenees: also the islands of Aphrodisia and Gymnesia, which are called the Balearic Islands, do they not demonstrate indications of the Greek language? Italy itself, once occupied by Greek peoples, was formerly called Magna Graecia. It is certain that Romans, descended from the Trojan hero Aeneas, cannot be denied. From this, it follows that both in the West, Greeks often exhibit sharp wit, and in the East, they smell of barbaric dullness. And we do not say this because things that are different from each other do not arise from neighboring places, but because in large part even other things that are not similar are called by the same name. Therefore, it is not surprising that the stupid and slower to understand are called Galatians; since Hilary, a Gaul himself born in Pictavis on the Rhone, in his Hymn of the Hymns, calls the Galatians unteachable in Latin eloquence. And what is now abundant in orators, relates not so much to the carefulness of the region as to the clamor of the rhetoricians: especially since Aquitania boasts itself as of Greek origin, and the Galatians came not from that part of the world but from the more savage Gauls. Do you want to know, O Paula and Eustochium, how the Apostle has distinguished each province by its characteristics? To this day, the same traces of either virtues or errors are preserved. The faith of the Roman people is praised (Rom. I). Where else is there such enthusiasm and frequency in flocking to churches and the tombs of martyrs? Where else does the Amen resound like the thunder of heaven, shaking empty temples of idols? Not that the Romans have a different faith from that of all the churches of Christ, but because their devotion is greater and their simplicity in believing. Again, they are accused of ease and pride. Ease, as stated there: I beg you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause dissensions and obstacles, contrary to the doctrine that you have learned; and avoid them: for such people do not serve Christ the Lord, but their own appetite; and seduce the hearts of the innocent with sweet words and blessings. For your obedience has been made known to all. I rejoice, therefore, in you; and I want you to be wise in good and innocent in evil (Rom. 16:17ff). But concerning pride: Do not be high-minded, but fear (Rom. 2:20, 25). And: I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you may not be wise in your own eyes. And in the following: For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think, but to think soberly (Rom. 12:3). And more explicitly: Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Perceive the same things together. Not being wise in lofty things, but agreeing with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation (Ibid., XV, 16). He also notes to the Corinthians that their women should have their heads covered and men should grow their hair (I Cor. X): and they should eat indiscriminately in the temples ((Al. time)) (II Cor. X, 20); and being inflated with worldly wisdom, they deny the resurrection of the flesh. These things cannot be doubted, which if anyone has seen, it is clear (I Cor. IV). The Macedonians are praised for their charity, hospitality, and the welcoming of brethren. Therefore, it is written to them: But concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you. For you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. Indeed, you do this toward all the brethren in all Macedonia (I Thess. IV, 9). However, they are criticized for going around from house to house idly: and for expecting others' food while desiring to please each one individually, and running here and there to report what is happening with each individual. For it follows: We ask you, brothers, to excel still more and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: to attend to your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may behave properly in the presence of outsiders, and not be dependent on anyone (1 Thessalonians, 4:11). And so that no one may think it is a teaching of a teacher rather than a warning to the people, he emphasizes and repeats the same in his second letter to them, saying: For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we have heard that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine; it is the way I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. (2 Thessalonians 3:10-17) He knows with me who saw Ancyra, the metropolis city of Galatia, how many times it has been torn apart by schisms, how many times it has been corrupted by variations of doctrines. I omit the Cataphrygians, Ophites, Borborites, and Manichaeans; for these are already known as the names of human calamity. Who has ever heard of the Passalorynchitae, and the Ascodrobi, and the Artotyrites, and other names that are more like monsters than deities in any part of the Roman world? The traces of ancient foolishness remain until today. One thing we infer and promise at the beginning is that the Galatians, apart from the Greek language, which the whole East speaks, have almost the same language as the Treviri, and it doesn't matter if they have corrupted it in some way, since even the Africans have changed the Phoenician language to some extent, and even Latin itself changes with regions and over time. But let us now return to the matter at hand.
For whoever is of the works of the Law, is under a curse. For it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things that are written in the book of the Law, to do them. I have this custom, that whenever something is taken from the Old Testament by the Apostles, I resort to the original books, and diligently examine how they are written in their places. Therefore, I found in Deuteronomy this very thing in the Septuagint interpreters, as it is placed: Cursed is every man who does not continue in all the words of this Law, to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen. But in Aquila it is written this way: Cursed is the one who does not establish the words of this Law to do them, and all the people shall say, 'Indeed.' Symmachus wrote it this way: Cursed is the one who does not confirm the words of this Law to do them, and all the people shall say, 'Amen.' Theodotion translated it this way: Cursed is the one who does not raise up the words of this Law to do them, and all the people shall say, 'Amen.' From this we understand that, like in other cases, the Apostle placed more importance on the meaning of the testimony rather than the exact words. And it is uncertain whether the Seventy Interpreters added 'every man' and 'in all things,' or if it was so in the old Hebrew and was later deleted by the Jews. But this suspicion is stimulated in me by the fact that the word 'omnis' and 'in omnibus,' as if necessary to their own meaning, are used by the Apostle, a man of Hebrew expertise and most knowledgeable in the Law, to prove that all those who are under the works of the Law are under a curse. He would never have used these words unless they were found in the Hebrew volumes. For this reason, in examining the Hebrew volumes of the Samaritans, I found 'Chol,' which translates to 'omnis' or 'omnibus,' and it agrees with the Septuagint interpreters. Therefore, the Jews took that in vain, lest they be seen to be under a curse if they could not fully accomplish all that is written; since the letters of an earlier nation also testify to this being the case. But because no one can fulfill the Law and do all that is commanded, the Apostle also testifies elsewhere, saying: For what was impossible by the Law, in which it was weakened by the flesh, God, sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh (Rom. VIII). But if this is true, they may object to us: Therefore Moses, and Isaiah, and the other prophets who were under the works of the Law, are under a curse? He will not fear to consent, who has read the Apostle saying: Because Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, made a curse for us; and to answer that in each one's time a curse was made for the people. By not immediately attributing this to the righteous men, it will seem to detract from the Saviour, as if he had nothing outstanding and excellent, being made a curse for us, when others have also been made a curse for others. For no one, even if they themselves have become a curse, has freed anyone from the curse, except the Lord Jesus Christ alone, who, with his precious blood, redeemed both us all and them themselves, I mean Moses and Aaron, and all the prophets and patriarchs, from the curse of the Law. And do not think that this is said from my own understanding, Scripture is the witness: that Christ, by the grace of God, or as it is read in some copies, without God, died for all (II Cor. V). But if He paid the Ransom for all, for Moses, and for all the prophets, from whom none could cancel the ancient manuscript of debts that stood against us, and nailed it to the Cross (Col. 2). All have sinned and are in need of the glory (that is, grace) of God (Rom. 3:23). Ecclesiastes also affirms this sentiment: There is no righteous man on earth who always does good and never sins (Eccles. 7:21). Finally, even the later statement of the Apostles clearly teaches that neither Moses nor any illustrious man from ancient times could be justified before God by the Law. For it follows:
3:11-12
(Vers. 11, 12.) But since no one is justified before God by the law, it is clear that the righteous shall live by faith. The law is not of faith, but the one who does them shall live by them. An example that proves the righteous live by faith and not by works is taken from Habakkuk, as the Seventy interpreters have rendered it: But the righteous shall live by my faith (Hab. II, 4). Aquila and Theodotion: But the righteous shall live by his faith, that is, by God's faith. Therefore, it must be considered that when it is said that a man or a person lives by faith, it is not to give occasion for the despising of virtuous works, but rather, that the just person lives by faith. So, whoever is faithful and lives by faith can only come to faith or live in it if they have first become just and ascended to faith through the purity of life as if by certain steps. Therefore, it is possible for someone to be just and yet not live without the faith of Christ. If someone reading is troubled, let them take the words of Paul, in which he says about himself: According to the righteousness which is in the Law, blameless (Philippians 3:6). Therefore, Paul was at that time righteous in the Law, but he could not yet live, because he did not have Christ speaking in him: I am the life (John 11:25). Believing in Him, he began to live. Let us also do something similar to this which is said, the righteous lives by faith; and let us say: the chaste lives by faith, the wise lives by faith, the strong lives by faith, and let us bring forth a similar sentence against those who, not believing in Christ, consider themselves to be strong, wise, temperate, or righteous: so that they may know that no one can live without Christ, without whom all virtue is faulty. The present testimony can be read as follows: the just person lives by faith, as is inferred afterwards. But when he says, 'The law is not of faith, but he who does it shall live in it,' it is very clear that not just any life is being spoken of, but rather one that is referred to something. For the just person lives by faith, and it is not added 'in them' or 'in those.' But the one who lives in the law and does it, lives in them, that is, in those things that he has done, which he considered to be good. He receives the reward of his labor, only those works that he has done, whether it be the length of his life (as the Jews believe) or its decline, which is the punishment by which the transgressor of the law is killed. However, we cannot consider these words to be those of the Apostles, but of the prophet Ezekiel, who said: 'I led them into the wilderness and gave them my commandments and showed them my statutes, which if a man does, he shall live by them.' (Ezek. 20:10-11).' And when he said that those who walked in the commandments and statutes would live, he added: 'I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live' (ibid., 25). What a consideration in these words! Where he said: I gave them precepts and justifications in which they could live, he did not add goods. But where he placed, in which they could not live, he added: And I gave them precepts that are not good, and justifications in which they will not live. But these things are explained more fully in Ezekiel: now let us return to the order of the Letter.
3:13