CHAPTER 3
Lecture 7
19 Why then was the law? It was set because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom he made the promise, being ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
20 Now a mediator is not of one; but God is one.
After showing by the authority of scripture and by a human custom that the Law was unable to make one just, the Apostle now raises two questions and solves them. The second of these begins at (v. 21).
With respect to the first, he does three things:
First, he raises the question;
Secondly, he solves it (v. 19): It was set because of transgressions;
Thirdly, he elucidates something he presupposed in the course of his solution (v. 20).
The question which might arise from the foregoing is this: If the Law was unable to justify, was the Law without purpose? This question he raises when he says, Why then was the law? i.e., what purpose did it serve? This is the punctuation which, as a Gloss says, Augustine favors, although earlier he approved the reading, What then? followed by, The law was set up because of transgressions. In Romans (3:1), a similar question is raised: “What advantage then hath the Jew; or what is the profit of circumcision?”
Then when he says, It was set because of transgressions, he solves the question. Here he does four things:
First, he sets clown the purpose of the Law;
Secondly, the fruit of the Law (v. 19); until the seed should come to whom he made the promise;
Thirdly, the ministers of the Law (v. 19): being ordained by angels,
Fourthly, the Lord of the Law (v. 19): in the hand of a mediator.
With respect to the first, it should be noted that the Old Law was given for a fourfold purpose, corresponding to the four consequences of sin enumerated by Bede, namely, because of wickedness, weakness, passion, and ignorance. Hence the Law was given first of all to suppress wickedness, since by forbidding sin and by punishing, it restrained men from sin. This he touches on when he says, The law was set because of transgressions , i.e., to prevent them. On this point it is said: “The law is not made for the just man but for the unjust” (1 Tim 1:9). The reason for this can be taken from Ethics IV of the Philosopher. For men who are well disposed, are inclined to act well of themselves, so that fatherly admonitions are enough for them: hence they do not need a law; indeed, as it is said, “They are a law to themselves who show the work of the law written in their hearts” (Rom 2:14).
But men who are ill disposed need to be kept from sin by penalties. Hence with respect to such men it was necessary to set down a law which has power to constrain.
Secondly, the Law was set down in order to disclose human weakness. For men gloried in two things: First, in their knowledge; and secondly, in their power. Hence God left men without the instruction of the Law during the period of the Law of nature, during which time, as they fell into errors, their pride was convinced of its lack of knowledge, even though they still presumed on their powers. For they said, “Many are willing and able, but there is no one to lead,” as a Gloss says on Exodus (24:8): “All things that the Lord hath spoken we will do. We will be obedient.” And therefore the Law was given which would cause a knowledge of sin, “for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom 3:20). But it did not give the help of grace to avoid sin, so that man, bound by the Law, might test his strength and recognize his infirmity. Finding that without grace he was unable to avoid sin, he would more ardently yearn for grace. And this cause can also be derived from these words, if they are taken to mean that the Law was set for the sake of filling up transgressions, in the sense in which the Apostle speaks when he says: “Now the law entered in that sin might abound” (Rom 5:20). This is to be taken not in a causal but in a sequential sense; for after the Law entered in, sin abounded and transgressions multiplied, because concupiscence, not yet healed by grace, lusted after that which was forbidden, with the result that sin became more grievous, being now a violation of a written law. But God permitted this in order that men, recognizing their own imperfection, might seek the grace of a mediator. Hence he says significantly, It was set, i.e., interposed, as it were, between the Law of nature and the Law of grace.
Thirdly, the Law was given in order to tame the concupiscence of a wanton people, so that, worn out by various ceremonies, they would not fall into idolatry or lewdness. Hence Peter says: “This is a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear” (Acts 15: 10).
Fourthly, the Law was given as a figure of future grace in order to instruct the ignorant, according to Hebrews (10: 1): “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come.”
Then [he sets forth the fruit of the Law] when he says, until the seed should come, i.e., Christ, of Whom God had promised that through Him all nations would be blessed: “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John” (Mt 11:13); “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen 22:18).
The ministers of the Law are mentioned when he says, ordained, i.e., given in good order, by angels , i.e., the messengers of God, namely, Moses and Aaron: “They shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts” (Mal 2:7). Or: by angels , i.e., by the ministry of angels: “You have received the law by the disposition of angels” (Acts 7:53). And it was given by angels, because it was not fitting that it be given by the Son, Who is greater: “For if the word spoken by angels became steadfast... how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Which, having begun to be declared by the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard him” (Heb 2:2). Furthermore, he says ordained, because it was given in proper sequence, namely, between the time of the Law of nature (during which men were convinced they could not help themselves) and the time of grace. For before they should receive grace, they had to be convinced by the Law.
The Lord of the Law is Christ; hence he says, in the hand of a mediator, i.e., in the power of Christ: “In his right hand a fiery law” (Deut 33:2); “There is one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5). This mediator was represented by Moses in whose hand the Law was given: “I was the mediator, and stood between the Lord and you at that time” (Deut 5:5).
Then when he says, Now a mediator is not of one , he explains what he meant when he said, in the hand of a mediator . This can be explained in three ways. In one way, that a mediator is not of one alone but of two. Hence, since He is the mediator of God and men, it was fitting that He be God and man. For were he purely man or solely God, He would not be a true mediator. Therefore, if He is true God, then since no one is his own mediator, someone might suppose that there are, besides Him, other gods of whom He was the mediator. But this he forestalls when he says that although this mediator is not of one only, there are not on that account other gods, but God is one , because, although He is distinct in person from God the Father, He is not distinct in nature: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord” (Deut 6:4); “One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph 4:6).
In a second way, because someone might believe that He was the mediator of the Jews alone, he says: I say that Christ is mediator; but not of one, i.e., of the Jews, but one of all, i.e., capable of reconciling everyone to God, because He is God: “For it is one God that justifieth circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith” (Rom 3:30); “For God indeed was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor 5:19).
In a third way, namely, that He is not a mediator of only one people, namely, the Jews, but of the Gentiles as well: “For he is our peace, who hath made both one” (Eph 2:14); on the part of the Gentiles by talking away idolatry, and on the part of the Jews by delivering them from the observances of the Law. Specifically it is not the Father, not the Holy Spirit, but the Son who is mediator; nevertheless, God is one.