CHAPTER 4
Lecture 4
8. But then indeed, not knowing God, you served them who, by nature, are not gods.
9 But now, after that you have known God, or rather are known by God; how turn you again to the weak and needy elements which you desire to serve again?
10 You observe days and months and times, and years.
11 I am afraid of you, lest perhaps I have laboured in vain among you.
12a Be ye as I, because I also am as you.
Having disclosed the pre-eminence of the gift of grace and explained it with a human example, the Apostle here censures the Galatians, who scorned this grace, for being ungrateful for so great a gift.
First, he censures them for ingratitude;
Secondly, he excuses himself, explaining that he does not do this out of hatred or spite (v. 12b).
As to the first he does three things:
First, he calls to mind their earlier state;
Secondly, he extols and commends the gift they have received (v. 9);
Thirdly, he amplifies the sin committed (v. 9): how turn you again to the weak and needy elements?
He says therefore: But then indeed, not knowing God, you served them who, by nature, are not gods . As if to say: You are now sons and heirs through God; But then indeed, when you were heathens —“You were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord” (Eph 5:8)— not knowing God , through lack of faith, you served with the worship of latria , them who by nature are not gods , but by the opinion of men: “You know that when you were heathens, you went to dumb idols, according as you were led” (1 Cor 12:2); “They served the creature rather than the Creator.” (Rom 1:25). His statement, who by nature are not gods , serves to refute the Arians who said that Christ, the Son of God, is not God by nature. For if this were true, it would not be right to render Him latria , and whoever rendered it would be an idolater.
But someone might object that we adore the flesh and humanity of Christ; consequently, we are idolaters. I answer that even though we adore the flesh or humanity of Christ, we adore it as united to the person of the divine Word, Who is a divine hypostasis Hence, since adoration is due to a person of the divine nature, whatever is adored in Christ is done without error.
Then when he says, But now, after that you have known God, or rather are known by God , he reminds them of the gift received. As if to say: If you had been ignorant and sinned, it could have been tolerated; for other things being equal, sin in a Christian is more grievous than in a pagan. But now, since you have known God , i.e., were brought to a knowledge of God, you sin more gravely than of old by serving and setting your hope on things you ought not: “All shall know me, from the least of them even to the greatest” (Jer 31:34).
But the statement, after you are known by God , seems to cause a difficulty, for God has known all things from eternity: “All things were known to the Lord God before they were create&’ (Sir 23:29). 1 answer that this is said causally, so that the sense is: you are known by God, i.e., God has caused you to know Him. In this way, God is said to know inasmuch as He is the cause of our knowledge. Hence, because he had previously said, after that you have known God, which was a true statement, he immediately amends and explains it with a figure of speech by intimating that we cannot know God of ourselves save by Him: “No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him” (Jn 1: 18).
Then he upbraids them for the sin committed, saying: how turn you again to the weak and needy elements?
First, he amplifies their sin;
Secondly, he shows their imminent danger (v. 11);
Thirdly, he draws them back to a state of safety (v. 12a).
As to the first, he does two things:
First, he mentions the sin committed;
Secondly, he convinces them of it (v. 10).
It should be pointed out that this passage is interpreted in two ways: in one way, that those Galatians had turned from the faith to idolatry. For this reason he says, how turn you from the faith again , i.e., a second time. “For it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice than, after they have known it, to turn back from that holy commandment which was delivered to them” (2 Pet. 2:21); “They are turned back” (Is 42:17). To the elements , namely, of the world, which are weak , unable by themselves to subsist, because they would lapse into nothingness unless upheld by the hand which rules all things—“Upholding all things by the word of his power” (Heb 1:3)— and needy , because they need God and one another to fill out the universe, which , namely, the elements, you desire to serve with the service of latria again , i.e., for a second time. And the proof of this is obvious, because You observe days , auspicious and inauspicious, and months and times and years , i.e., the constellations and the course of the heavenly bodies, all of which observances spring from idolatry, against which Jeremias (10:2) says: “Be not afraid of the signs of heaven which the heathens fear.”
That observances of this sort are evil and contrary to the worship of the Christian religion is plain, because the distinction of days, months, years and times is based on the course of the sun and moon. Therefore, those who observe such distinctions of times are venerating heavenly bodies and arranging their activities according to the evidence of the stars, which have no direct influence on the human will or on things that depend on free will. By this practice they are put in grave danger. Hence he says: I am afraid lest perhaps it was in vain , i.e., fruitlessly, that I labored among you. Therefore the faithful must avoid observing such things. Indeed, no suggestion of these things should be found among them, for whatever is done simply out of devotion to God can turn out prosperously.
But is it never lawful to look for the influence of the stars on certain things? I answer that heavenly bodies are the cause of certain effects, namely, bodily. In such things it is lawful to consider their influence. But they are not the cause of certain other things, i.e., of things that depend on free will or on good and bad fortune. Hence in such cases to look for the influence of the stars pertains to idolatry.
But although this interpretation might be upheld, it does not accord with the Apostle’s intention. For since in the entire section preceding this passage, as well as in all that follows it, he is censuring the Galatians for removing themselves from the faith and turning to the observances of the Law, it is more in keeping with his intention to expound it as referring to their turning to the legal observances. Hence he says: After that you have known God through faith, how turn you from the faith to the elements , i.e., to the literal observance of the Law? It is called an element, because the Law was the prime institution of divine worship. To elements , I say, that are weak, because they do not bring to perfection by justifying: “For the law brought nothing to perfection” (Heb 7:19), and needy, because they do not confer virtues and grace or offer any help of themselves.
But what does he mean by are you turned? For to say this, as well as to say, again, seems inappropriate, for they neither were Jews nor had they formerly observed the Law. I answer that the Jewish worship is midway between the worship of the Christians and that of the Gentiles: for the Gentiles worshipped the elements as though they were living things; the Jews, on the other hand, did not serve the elements but served God under the elements, inasmuch as they rendered worship, to God by the observances of bodily elements: We were serving under the elements of the world (v. 3); but Christians serve God under Christ, i.e., in the faith of Christ. Now when a person reaches a terminus after passing through the middle, if he then decides to return to the middle, it seems to be the same as returning to the very beginning. Therefore, because they had already reached the terminus, namely, faith in Christ, and then returned to the middle, i.e., to the Jewish worship, then because of a resemblance of middle to beginning, the Apostle says that they are turned to the elements and are serving them again.
That this is so, he proves when he says: You observe the days of the Jewish rite, namely, Sabbaths and the tenth day of the month and such things, which are mentioned in a Gloss, and months , i.e., new moons, as the first and seventh month, as is had in Leviticus (Ch. 25), and times , namely, of the exodus from Egypt, and the practice of going to Jerusalem three times a year, and years of jubilee and the seventh year of remission. From this arises a danger because faith in Christ profits nothing from it. Hence he says: I am afraid of you, lest perhaps I have labored in vain among you; and further on: If you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing (5:2).
Then when he says, Be ye as I, because I also am as you, he guides them back to the state of salvation. As if to say: I am afraid for you, lest I have labored in vain among you. But lest this be so, Be ye as I . In a Gloss this is taken in three ways. In the first way thus: Be ye as I , namely, abandon the Law as I have abandoned it. In a second way thus: Be ye as I , namely, correcting the old error, as I have corrected mine. And this you can do, because I am as you, and yet I have been corrected of my error. In the third way thus: Be ye as I , i.e., live without the Law, because I , who had the Law and was born in the Law, am now as you formerly were, namely, without the Law.