CHAPTER I
Lecture 2
6 I wonder that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel;
7 Which is not another; only there are some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.
9 As we said before, so now I say again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema.
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
The greeting given, it is followed by the epistle message, in which the Apostle refutes their error; secondly, he admonishes them with a view to their correction (5:1): Stand fast and be not held again under the yoke of bondage. He refutes their error two ways: namely, on the authority of the Gospel teaching; and by reason, using the Old Testament (3:1): O senseless Galatians, who hath bewitched you. .. ?
He refutes their error by showing the authority of the Gospel teaching:
First, by showing their fickleness in lightly dismissing the Gospel teaching;
Secondly, by commending the authority of the Gospel teaching, as he intimates that in view of the precious value of that which they so lightly regard, their error is seen to be so much the greater (v. 11).
Regarding the first he does two things:
First, he enlarges upon their guilt;
Secondly, he inflicts a punishment (v. 8).
Concerning the first, he enlarges upon the guilt both of the seduced and of those who seduced them (v. 7): only there are some that trouble you . As to the first he does three things:
First, he enlarges upon the guilt of those who were misled for their fickleness of mind. Hence he says, I wonder . As if to say: Although you are aware of the many good things already mentioned that come to you through Christ, and although I instructed you well, nevertheless you are thus , i.e., so far and so completely removed [transferred], that you seem already to have forgotten; so soon , i.e., in such a short time, are you removed [transferred]. With this word he alludes to their name, for Galatia means “transferred.” As if to say: You are Galatians, because you are so quickly transferred. “He that is hasty to give credit is light of heart” (Sir 19:4).
Secondly, he amplifies their guilt on the part of that which they have abandoned. For if reason withdraws and is removed from evil, it is worthy of praise and does well; but when it departs from the good, it is culpable. And this is how they were removed from good. So he says to them: Although it is amazing that you are so quickly and so far removed, there is additional reason for wonder, namely, because you have removed yourselves from him, i.e., from God, and from faith in Him that called you into the grace of Christ, i.e., into the sharing of the eternal good which we have through Christ: “Giving thanks to God who hath called you into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). Again: “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).
Thirdly, he amplifies their guilt on the part of that to which they have turned, because they have been turned not to good but to evil. Hence he says, unto another gospel , i.e., of the Old Law, which is a good message only insofar as it does announce some good things, namely, temporal and carnal: “If you be willing and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land” (Is 1:19). Yet it is not completely perfect as is the Gospel, because it does not announce the perfect and loftiest goods, but small and slight ones. But the New Law is perfectly and in the full sense a Gospel, i.e., a good message, because it announces the greatest goods, namely, heavenly, spiritual and eternal. And although it is another gospel according to the tradition of the deceivers, yet according to my preaching it is not. For it is different in the promises, but not in the figure, because the same thing is contained in the Old Testament and in the New: in the Old, indeed, as in a figure, but in the New as in the express reality. Therefore it is another gospel if you consider the outward appearances; but as to the things that are contained and exist within, it is not another gospel.
Yet though it is not in itself another gospel, it can be another, if you consider the guilt of the others, i.e., of the deceivers. Hence in enlarging upon the guilt of the latter he says, only there are some, namely, the seducers, that trouble you, i.e., sully the purity of your understanding with which you were imbued with the truth of faith. Because although the same thing is contained, so far as the inward understanding is concerned, in the Old and New Testament, as has been said, yet if the Old is embraced after accepting the New, that is seen to show that the New is not perfect, and that the one is different from the other. Hence he says, which is not another, only there are some that trouble you, because those deceivers were compelling them to be circumcised after professing faith in the Gospel, showing thereby that circumcision is something different from Baptism and does something that Baptism cannot do, and for that reason they are troubling you. I would that they were even cut off who trouble you (5:12).
And they do indeed bring you trouble, because they would pervert the gospel of Christ, i.e., the truth of the Gospel teaching, into the figure of the Law—which is absurd and the greatest of troubles. For a thing ought to be converted into that to which it is ordained. But the New Testament and the Gospel of Christ are not ordained to the Old, but contrariwise, the Old Law is ordained to the New Law, as a figure to the truth. Consequently the figure ought to be converted into the truth, and the Old Law to the Gospel of Christ, not the truth into the figure, or the Gospel of Christ into the Old Law. This is plain from the way we ordinarily speak; for we do not say that a man resembles the image of a man, but contrariwise, that the image resembles the man: “They shall be turned to thee and thou shalt not be turned to them” (Jer 15:19); “The new coming on, you shall cast away the old” (Lev. 26:10).
Then after enlarging upon their guilt, the inflicting of the penalty is set forth when he ways, But though we, or an angel from heaven (v. 8). And with respect to this he does two things:
First, he promulgates the sentence;
Secondly, he gives a reason for the sentence (v. 10).
As to the first he does two things:
First, he presents authority for his sentence;
Secondly, he passes sentence (v. 9).
He shows that his authority for passing sentence is great on the ground that it would affect not only the perverters and seducers, who are subject to him, but also his own equals, as the other apostles, and even those above him, as the angels, were they guilty of this crime, namely, of turning the Gospel into the Old Law. Hence he says: Because the authority behind the sentence which we pass (which is excommunication) has efficacy, not only over those who are doing these things, then though we , namely, the apostles, or an angel, good or evil, coming from heaven, preach a gospel besides that which we have preached, let him be anathema, i.e., subject to this sentence that we pass.
To elucidate the foregoing, three things should be investigated. First, the meaning of this word, anathema . Apropos of this it should be noted that anathema is a Greek word composed of ana , which means above, and thesis, i.e., a placing; hence a placing above. The word arose from an old custom. For the ancients, when they waged war, sometimes took from their enemies certain booty which they were unwilling to turn to their own use, but hung it in the temple or other public place of the city, as though to separate it from the common use of men. Everything so hung up, the Greeks called anathema. And from this arose the custom of declaring anathematized anything excluded from common use. Hence in Joshua (6:17) it is said of Jericho and of everything in it, that Joshua once anathematized it. Consequently, even in the Church the practice arose of declaring anathema those who are excluded from the common society of the Church and from partaking of the sacraments of the Church.
Secondly, we must look for an explanation of his statement, though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. Here it should be noted that there are three kinds of teachings: the first is that of the philosophers who have arrived at a knowledge of their doctrine with their own reason guiding them. Another is that which has been delivered by angels, as the Old Law. For the Old Law was not issued by a human will but by angels in the hand of a mediator (Gal. 3:19). But the third teaching was given immediately by God Himself, as the teaching of the Gospel: “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (in. 1:18); “In these days [He] hath spoken to us by his Son” (Heb 1:2); “Which, having begun to be declared by the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard him” (Heb 2:3).
Now, a teaching passed on by a man can be changed and revoked by another man who knows better, as one philosopher refutes the sayings of another, or by an angel who has a more penetrating knowledge of the truth. Even a teaching handed down by one angel could be supplanted by that of a higher angel or by God. But a teaching that comes directly from God can be nullified neither by man nor angel. Hence if a man or an angel were to state anything contrary to what has been taught by God, such a statement would not contradict God’s teaching, so as to void or destroy it; rather, God’s teaching would be against him, because one who speaks thus should be expelled and prevented from sharing his teaching. Hence the Apostle says that the dignity of the Gospel teaching, which has come directly from God, is so great that if a man or even an angel preached another Gospel besides that which he has preached among them, be is anathema, i.e., must be rejected and expelled.
Thirdly, we must solve the objections which arise on this point. The first is that, since an equal has no authority over his peers and much less over his superiors, it seems that the Apostle has no power to excommunicate the apostles, who are his peers, and less so, angels who are superior. “He that is the lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matt. 11:11). Therefore the anathema is invalid. The answer to this is that the Apostle passed this sentence not on his own authority, but on the authority of the Gospel teaching, of which he was the minister, and the authority of which teaches that whoever says aught contrary to it must be expelled and cast out. “The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (in. 14:48).
A second question arises from the words, a gospel besides that which we have preached to you . Therefore no one may teach or preach anything but what is written in the epistles and Gospels. But this is false, because it is said in 1Thessalonians (3:10): “Praying that we may accomplish those things that are wanting to your faith.” I answer that nothing is to be taught except what is contained, either implicitly or explicitly, in the Gospels and epistles and Sacred Scripture. For Sacred Scripture and the Gospels announce that Christ must be believed explicitly. Hence whatever is contained therein implicitly and fosters its teaching and faith in Christ can be preached and taught. Therefore, when he says, besides that which you have received , he means by adding something completely alien: “If any, man shall add to these things, God shall add unto him the plagues written in this book” (Rev 22:18). And “Neither add anything,” i.e., contrary or alien, “nor diminish” (Deut 12:32).
Then when he says, As we said before, so now I say it again: If any one preach to you a gospel, besides that which you have received, let him be anathema , he pronounces his sentence on the evil person and says: As I have said of angels and apostles, so I say of the seducers. If any seducer shall preach a gospel besides that which you have received from me, let him be anathema , i.e., excommunicated. And this is the sentence he passes.
Now it may be asked whether all heretics are thereby excommunicated. And it seems not, because it is said: “A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid” (Tit. 3:10). I answer that a person might be called a heretic either because he errs solely from ignorance, and then he is not on that account excommunicated; or because he errs through obstinacy and tries to subvert others, and then he falls under the canon of the sentence passed. But whether he was then and there passing sentence on heretics by these words is open to question, since sentence was later passed against heretics in the Councils. Yet it can be said that perhaps he was showing that they deserved to be excommunicated.
Then when hesays, For do I now persuade men, or God?, he gives the reason for his sentence.
First, he gives the reason for his sentence;
Secondly, he discloses here his purpose (v. 10): Or do I seek to please men?
For someone might say: Why do you excommunicate in this manner? Perhaps some are your friends or men of some authority. Therefore you ought not act in this way. But the Apostle says in answer: Indeed, one should act in this way, because the things I say now are not to gain the favor of men but to please God, and this is what he means by do I now , i.e., after my conversion, or in this epistle, persuade men , i.e., is it my intention to please men or God ? As if to say: The things I do, I do to please God alone: “We speak, not as pleasing men, but God” (1Thes 2:4); nor do we speak on the authority of men, but of God. That I do not seek to please men is plain from my intention and purpose. For I do not seek to please men , i.e., it is not my intention in converting men to please men alone, but for the honor of God. And this is plain, because if I yet sought to please men, as I formerly pleased them, I should not be the servant of Christ. The reason is that the two are opposed. More precisely, if I were to please men for the sake of men without referring it to God; for if I intend now and then to please men so that I might draw them to God, I do not sin. But if in the first way, I am not the servant of Christ: “For the bed is straitened, so that one must fall out, and a short covering cannot cover both” (Is 28:20); “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other; or he will sustain the one and despise the other” (Mt 6:24); “They have been confounded that please men (Ps 52:6).