CHAPTER 4
Lecture 3
6 And, because you are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, Father.
7 Therefore, now he is not a servant, but a son. And, if a son, an heir also through God.
Above, the Apostle revealed the gift bestowed on the Jews; here he shows that this gift pertains also to the Gentiles.
First, he mentions the gift;
Secondly, the means of obtaining it (v. 6);
Thirdly, he discloses the fruit of this gift (v. 7).
He says therefore that the gift of adoption of sons pertains not only to those who were under the Law but to the Gentiles as well. Hence he says: because you are sons of God, i.e., you are the sons of God, because not only the Jews but all others who believe in the Son of God are adopted as sons: “He gave them power to be made sons of God, to them that believe in his name” (Jn 1:12). The manner in which that gift is obtained is by the sending of the Spirit of the Son of God into your hearts.
Augustine says, however, that Christ, existing in the flesh, preached in a principal manner to the Jews, but to the Gentiles as a matter of course: “For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers” (Rom 15:8). Accordingly, whatever pertains to the condition of the Jews is fittingly adapted to Christ.
And because they might have said that the Galatians had not been adopted as sons of God, since Christ did not assume flesh from them or preach to them, for that reason the Apostle, elucidating the manner of this adoption, says that although they were not related to Christ according to the flesh, i.e., according to race, or by reason of preaching, yet they were united to him through the Spirit and thereby adopted and made sons of God. Hence the conversion of the Gentiles is in “a special way attributed to the Holy Spirit. Consequently, Peter, when he was blamed by the Jews for going to preach to the Gentiles, excused himself through the Holy Spirit, saying (Acts 11) that he could not resist the Holy Spirit by Whose inspiration he had done thIs And so, because God the Father sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, i.e., the hearts of the Jews and Gentiles, we are united to Christ and by that fact are adopted as sons of God.
But it should be noted that if in certain passages of Scripture the Holy Spirit is said to be sent by the Father—“But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name” (Jn 14:26)—and in others to be sent by the Son—“But when the Paraclete cometh, whom I will send you from the Father” (Jn 15:26)—the Holy Spirit is none the less common to Father and Son and proceeds from Both and is sent by Both. Accordingly, wherever it is said that the Father sends the Holy Spirit, mention is made of the Son, as in the aforesaid passage: “Whom the Father will send in my name”; and where He is said to be sent by the Son, mention is made of the Father; hence He says, “Whom I will send to you from the Father.” Even here, when he says, God the Father hath sent the Holy Spirit, mention is made at once of the Son, for he adds, of his Son. Nor does it matter that at times the Holy Spirit is only said to proceed from the Father, for the fact that the Son sends Him shows that He proceeds from Him. Accordingly, the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of the Son as of the One sending and as of the One from Whom He proceeds, as well as of the One from Whom the Holy Spirit has whatever He has, just as of the Father: “He shall glorify me, because He shall receive of mine” (Jn 16:14).
But he says, into your hearts , because there is a twofold generation: one is carnal and comes about through fleshly seed sent to the place of generation. This seed, small as it is, contains in effect the whole. The other is spiritual, which comes about by spiritual seed transmitted to the place of spiritual generation, i.e., man’s mind or heart, because they are born sons of God through a renewal of the mind. Furthermore, the spiritual seed is the grace of the Holy Spirit: “Whosoever is born of God sinneth not: but the generation of God preserveth him and the wicked one toucheth him not” (1 Jn 5:18). This seed contains, in effect, the whole perfection of beatitude; hence it is called the pledge and earnest of beatitude (Eph 1:14); “I will put a new spirit within you” (Ez 36:26).
Crying, i.e., making us cry, Abba, Father, not with a loudness of voice but with a great fervor of love. For we cry, Abba, Father, when our affections are kindled by the warmth of the Holy Spirit to desire God: “You have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba (Father)” (Rom 8:15). Abba in Hebrew and Pater in Greek have the same meaning of “father.” And he makes mention of both to show that the grace of the Holy Spirit, as such, is related in a common way to both.
Then when he says, Therefore, now he is not a servant, but a son , he mentions the fruit of this gift. First, as to removing all evil, from which we are freed through adoption by the Holy Spirit. This is freedom from bondage. With respect to this he says: Therefore , i.e., because the Spirit cries “Father” in us, now , from the time of grace, he , i.e., each one of us who believes in Christ, is not a servant , i.e., serving in fear—“I will not now call you servants but friends” (Jn 15:15); “You have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear: but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons” (Rom 8:15)— but a son : “For the Spirit himself giveth testimony to our spirit that we are the sons of God” (Rom 8:16). For although we be in the condition of servants (because it is said in Luke (17:10): “When you shall have done all these things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants”), we are not ill-disposed servants, i.e., serving in fear—for such a servant is deserving of torture and chains—but we are good and faithful servants, serving out of love. For that reason we obtain freedom through the Son: “If, therefore, the son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” (Jn 8:36).
Secondly, he mentions the fruit as to its effect of attaining every good. With regard to this he says: And, if a son, an heir also through God: “And if sons, heirs also: heirs indeed of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17). Now this inheritance is the fulness of all good, for it is nothing other than God Himself, according to Psalm (15:5): “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance.” He said to Abraham: “I am thy reward exceeding great” (Gen 15:1). He says, through God, because as the Jews obtained the inheritance through the promise and justice of God, so the Gentiles too received it through God, i.e., through the mercy of God: “But the Gentiles are to glorify God for his mercy” (Rom 15:9). Or, through God , i.e., through the working of God: “Thou hast wrought all our works for us, O Lord” (Is 26:12).