Galatians 4:22-24 and the Law of the Gospel

THE LAW OF THE GOSPEL: From the Glossary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: he New Law, prepared for by the Old Law in the time of the Old Covenant, is the perfection here on earth of the divine law, natural and revealed. It is the work of Christ, expressed particularly in the Sermon on the Mount, and of the Holy Spirit, by whose grace it becomes for us the interior law of charity (1965). [Catholic Church. 2000. Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd Ed. Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference.]

Sacred Scripture

OT Jeremiah 31:31–34, Dt 6:4–5, Lev 19:18, Pr 13:14, Ec 12:13

NT  John13:34–35, Rom 12:1–15:33, Heb 8:8, 10, Jn 15:12, Gal 5:14, Mt 5:48, 17:12, 22:34–40, Jas 2:8, 1 Jn 2:7–8, 3:11, 23, 4:7, 12, 2 Jn 5:1–6:72, Mt 5:17–19, 44, 7:12, 15:18–19, 19:17, Gal 6:2, 1 Tim 1:5, Mt 7:21–27, Lk 6:31, Gal 4:1–7, 21–31, Eph 4:1–5:33, Col 3:1–4:6, Jas 1:25, 2:12

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1965–1972, 459.

Index to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 

New Law of the Gospel, 1965–71.

definition of, 1965–66

as an expression of the divine law, natural and revealed, 1965.

as fulfillment of the Old Law, 1967–68.

and the Holy Spirit, 1966.

Jesus as the norm of, 459.

as a law of love, grace, and freedom, 1972.

Veritatis Splendor (On the Splendor of Truth) 

23. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:2). With these words the Apostle Paul invites us to consider in the perspective of the history of salvation, which reaches its fulfilment in Christ, the relationship between the (Old) Law and grace (the New Law). He recognizes the pedagogic function of the Law, which, by enabling sinful man to take stock of his own powerlessness and by stripping him of the presumption of his self-sufficiency, leads him to ask for and to receive “life in the Spirit”. Only in this new life is it possible to carry out God’s commandments. Indeed, it is through faith in Christ that we have been made righteous (cf. Rom 3:28): the “righteousness” which the Law demands, but is unable to give, is found by every believer to be revealed and granted by the Lord Jesus. Once again it is Saint Augustine who admirably sums up this Pauline dialectic of law and grace: “The law was given that grace might be sought; and grace was given, that the law might be fulfilled”.30

    Love and life according to the Gospel cannot be thought of first and foremost as a kind of precept, because what they demand is beyond man’s abilities. They are possible only as the result of a gift of God who heals, restores and transforms the human heart by his grace: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (Jn 1:17). The promise of eternal life is thus linked to the gift of grace, and the gift of the Spirit which we have received is even now the “guarantee of our inheritance” (Eph 1:14).

    24. And so we find revealed the authentic and original aspect of the commandment of love and of the perfection to which it is ordered: we are speaking of a possibility opened up to man exclusively by grace, by the gift of God, by his love. On the other hand, precisely the awareness of having received the gift, of possessing in Jesus Christ the love of God, generates and sustains the free response of a full love for God and the brethren, as the Apostle John insistently reminds us in his first Letter: “Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love … Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another … We love, because he first loved us” (1 Jn 4:7–8, 11, 19).

    This inseparable connection between the Lord’s grace and human freedom, between gift and task, has been expressed in simple yet profound words by Saint Augustine in his prayer: “Da quod iubes et iube quod vis” (grant what you command and command what you will).31

    The gift does not lessen but reinforces the moral demands of love: “This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he has commanded us” (1 Jn 3:23). One can “abide” in love only by keeping the commandments, as Jesus states: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (Jn 15:10).

    Going to the heart of the moral message of Jesus and the preaching of the Apostles, and summing up in a remarkable way the great tradition of the Fathers of the East and West, and of Saint Augustine in particular,32 Saint Thomas was able to write that the New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit given through faith in Christ.33 The external precepts also mentioned in the Gospel dispose one for this grace or produce its effects in one’s life. Indeed, the New Law is not content to say what must be done, but also gives the power to “do what is true” (cf. Jn 3:21). Saint John Chrysostom likewise observed that the New Law was promulgated at the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven on the day of Pentecost, and that the Apostles “did not come down from the mountain carrying, like Moses, tablets of stone in their hands; but they came down carrying the Holy Spirit in their hearts … having become by his grace a living law, a living book”.34

24. The Church gratefully accepts and lovingly preserves the entire deposit of Revelation, treating it with religious respect and fulfilling her mission of authentically interpreting God’s law in the light of the Gospel. In addition, the Church receives the gift of the New Law, which is the “fulfilment” of God’s law in Jesus Christ and in his Spirit. This is an “interior” law (cf. Jer 31:31–33), “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor 3:3); a law of perfection and of freedom (cf. 2 Cor 3:17); “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2). Saint Thomas writes that this law “can be called law in two ways. First, the law of the spirit is the Holy Spirit … who, dwelling in the soul, not only teaches what it is necessary to do by enlightening the intellect on the things to be done, but also inclines the affections to act with uprightness … Second, the law of the spirit can be called the proper effect of the Holy Spirit, and thus faith working through love (cf. Gal 5:6), which teaches inwardly about the things to be done … and inclines the affections to act”.84

    Even if moral-theological reflection usually distinguishes between the positive or revealed law of God and the natural law, and, within the economy of salvation, between the “old” and the “new” law, it must not be forgotten that these and other useful distinctions always refer to that law whose author is the one and the same God and which is always meant for man. The different ways in which God, acting in history, cares for the world and for mankind are not mutually exclusive; on the contrary, they support each other and intersect. They have their origin and goal in the eternal, wise and loving counsel whereby God predestines men and women “to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom 8:29). God’s plan poses no threat to man’s genuine freedom; on the contrary, the acceptance of God’s plan is the only way to affirm that freedom.[John Paul II. 1993. Veritatis Splendor. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.]

Familiaris Consortio: 

63. The Church, a prophetic, priestly and kingly people, is endowed with the mission of bringing all human beings to accept the word of God in faith, to celebrate and profess it in the sacraments and in prayer, and to give expression to it in the concrete realities of life in accordance with the gift and new commandment of love.

The law of Christian life is to be found not in a written code, but in the personal action of the Holy Spirit who inspires and guides the Christian. It is the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”(159) “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”(160)

This is true also for the Christian couple and family. Their guide and rule of life is the Spirit of Jesus poured into their hearts in the celebration of the sacrament of Matrimony. In continuity with Baptism in water and the Spirit, marriage sets forth anew the evangelical law of love, and with the gift of the Spirit engraves it more profoundly on the hearts of Christian husbands and wives. Their love, purified and saved, is a fruit of the Spirit acting in the hearts of believers and constituting, at the same time, the fundamental commandment of their moral life to be lived in responsible freedom.

Thus, the Christian family is inspired and guide by the new law of the Spirit and, in intimate communion with the Church, the kingly people, it is called to exercise its “service” of love towards God and towards its fellow human beings. Just as Christ exercises His royal power by serving us,(161) so also the Christian finds the authentic meaning of his participation in the kingship of his Lord in sharing His spirit and practice of service to man. “Christ has communicated this power to his disciples that they might be established in royal freedom and that by self-denial and a holy life they might conquer the reign of sin in themselves (cf. Rom. 6:12). Further, He has shared this power so that by serving Him in their fellow human beings they might through humility and patience lead their brothers and sisters to that King whom to serve is to reign. For the Lord wishes to spread His kingdom by means of the laity also, a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace. In this kingdom, creation itself will be delivered out of its slavery to corruption and into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (cf. Rom. 8:21). “(162) [John Paul II. 1981. Familiaris Consortio. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.]

Verbum Domini: 

9. Reality, then is born of the word, as creatura Verbi, and everything is called to serve the word. Creation is the setting in which the entire history of the love between God and his creation develops; hence human salvation is the reason underlying everything. Contemplating the cosmos from the perspective of salvation history, we come to realize the unique and singular position occupied by man in creation: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27). This enables us to acknowledge fully the precious gifts received from the Creator: the value of our body, the gift of reason, freedom and conscience. Here too we discover what the philosophical tradition calls “the natural law”.[26] In effect, “every human being who comes to consciousness and to responsibility has the experience of an inner call to do good”[27] and thus to avoid evil. As Saint Thomas Aquinas says, this principle is the basis of all the other precepts of the natural law.[28] Listening to the word of God leads us first and foremost to value the need to live in accordance with this law “written on human hearts” (cf. Rom 2:15; 7:23).[29] Jesus Christ then gives mankind the new law, the law of the Gospel, which takes up and eminently fulfils the natural law, setting us free from the law of sin, as a result of which, as Saint Paul says, “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it” (Rom 7:18). It likewise enables men and women, through grace, to share in the divine life and to overcome their selfishness.30 [Benedict XVI. 2010. Verbum Domini. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.]

APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS 6. 23:

 XXIII. For He did not take away the law of nature, but confirmed it. For He that said in the law, “The Lord thy God is one Lord; ”12 the same says in the Gospel, “That they might know Thee, the only true God.”13 And He that said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,”14 says in the Gospel, renewing the same precept, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.”15 He who then forbade murder, does now forbid causeless anger.16 He that forbade adultery, does now forbid all unlawful lust. He that forbade stealing, now pronounces him most happy who supplies those that are in want out of his own labours.17 He that forbade hatred, now pronounces him blessed that loves his enemies.18 He that forbade revenge, now commands long-suffering;19 not as if just revenge were an unrighteous thing, but because long-suffering is more excellent. Nor did He make laws to root out our natural passions, but only to forbid the excess of them.20 He who had commanded to honour our parents, was Himself subject to them.1 He who had commanded to keep the Sabbath, by resting thereon for the sake of meditating on the laws, has now commanded us to consider of the law of creation, and of providence every day, and to return thanks to God. He abrogated circumcision when He had Himself fulfilled it. For He it was “to whom the inheritance was reserved, who was the expectation of the nations.”2 He who made a law for swearing rightly, and forbade perjury, has now charged us not to swear at all.3 He has in several ways changed baptism, sacrifice, the priesthood, and the divine service, which was confined to one place: for instead of daily baptisms, He has given only one, which is that into His death. Instead of one tribe, He has appointed that out of every nation the best should be ordained for the priesthood; and that not their bodies should be examined for blemishes, but their religion and their lives. Instead of a bloody sacrifice, He has appointed that reasonable and unbloody mystical one of His body and blood, which is performed to represent the death of the Lord by symbols. Instead of the divine service confined to one place, He has commanded and appointed that He should be glorified from sunrising to sunsetting in every place of His dominion.4 He did not therefore take away the law from us, but the bonds. For concerning the law Moses says: “Thou shalt meditate on the word which I command thee, sitting in thine house, and rising up, and walking in the way.”5 And David says: “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law will he meditate day and night.”6 For everywhere would he have us subject to His laws, but not transgressors of them. For says He: “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that search out His testimonies; with their whole heart shall they seek Him.”7 And again: “Blessed are we, O Israel, because those things that are pleasing to God are known to us.”8 And the Lord says: “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”9

St Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Contra Gentiles, chapters 116-118.

St Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae I-II q.106-q.107.

St Augustine’s Tractate 65 (on Jn 13:34-35).

St Augustine’s A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter:

Now, amidst this admirable correspondence, there is at least this very considerable diversity in the cases, in that the people in the earlier instance were deterred by a horrible dread from approaching the place where the law was given; whereas in the other case the Holy Ghost came upon them who were gathered together in expectation of His promised gift. There it was on tables of stone that the finger of God operated; here it was on the hearts of men. There the law was given outwardly, so that the unrighteous might be terrified;9 here it was given inwardly, so that they might be justified.10 For this, “Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment,”—such, of course, as was written on those tables,—“it is briefly comprehended,” says he, “in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”11 Now this was not written on the tables of stone, but “is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.”12 God’s law, therefore, is love. “To it the carnal mind is not subject, neither indeed can be;”13 but when the works of love are written on tables to alarm the carnal mind, there arises the law of works and “the letter which killeth” the transgressor; but when love itself is shed abroad in the hearts of believers, then we have the law of faith, and the spirit which gives life to him that loves.

Father Callan’s Commentary on Galatians 4:21-31

Text in red are my additions.

CHRISTIANITY IS A NEW DISPOSITION REPLACING THE OLD ONE
A Summary of Galatians 4:21-30

The greatest argument for the observance of the Law was, from the Jewish standpoint, that the Scripture itself seemed to declare it to be a perpetual ordinance. St. Paul has already refuted this error in a general way by showing that the Law was only a guide, a pedagogue, with a temporary mission. But now, in order to turn against the Judaizers their own argument, he draws from Scripture a proof that the Law was not intended in the designs of God to be an enduring provision. A first, imperfect disposition engendering servitude, it was to be followed by another which would be perfect, making us children of the promise and sons of God.

Gal 4:21. Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, have you not read the law?

The Galatians were desiring to be under the Law. Very well, says St. Paul, let us see what the Law itself contains. In the history of Sara and Agar (Sarah and Hagar) he finds the Old and the New Covenants illustrated. The former resembles the Church, because she was the mother of the free-born; while the latter is like Judaism, a mother of the enslaved. Like Sara the Church was long sterile, but it is now fecund and assured of blessings. On the contrary, Judaism, a religion of fear and servitude, is to receive from God the same treatment which He gave to the son of the bondwoman; it is to be excluded from the inheritance. Those, therefore, who go back to the Law will likewise fail to inherit the promised blessings.

Whatever may seem the force of his argument for us, we must admit that it was conclusive for the Galatians; they understood it.

Under the law. The article is absent in the Greek, but the Mosaic Law is doubtless meant. The reference could be to the whole Old Testament, but is more to the Pentateuch in particular.

Have you not read. Better, “Do you not hear (ακουετε),” i.e., have you not understood the deeper meaning, the typical signification of that part of Scripture which gives the history of Abraham?

Gal 4:22. For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, and the other by a freewoman.

Two sons, namely, Ismael (Ishmael) by the bondwoman Agar (Hagar), and Isaac by the freewoman Sara (Sarah).

Bondwoman (παιδισκης) means “maid servant,” “slave,” in the New Testament. Cf. Gen 16:15; Gen 21:2.

Gal 4:23. But he who was of the bondwoman, was born according to the flesh: but he of the freewoman was by promise.

But he, i.e., Ismael, was born according, etc., i.e., according to the ordinary laws of nature: but he, i.e., Isaac, was by promise, i.e., was born in virtue of the promise. Isaac’s birth was miraculous inasmuch as, owing to the advanced age of Abraham and the sterility of Sara, it would have been physically impossible without a divine intervention.
There are then two differences between the two sons of Abraham: Ismael was of a slave and according to the flesh; Isaac was of a freewoman and in virtue of the promise. Cf. Gen 17:16, Gen 17:19; Gen 18:10.

Gal 4:24. Which things are said by an allegory. For these are the two testaments. The one from mount Sina, engendering unto bondage; which is Agar:

Which things are said, etc., i.e., those circumstances concerning the two sons of Abraham have, besides their historical and literal sense, a spiritual meaning, which the Apostle is now going to point out.

For these, i.e., these two women, Agar and Sara.

Are, i.e., represent two testaments, i.e., two covenants. The first was from Mt. Sinai, where it was contracted between God and Israel.

Engendering, i.e., bring forth unto bondage, i.e., for obedience to the Law.

Which is Agar, i.e., Agar was the type of the first covenant, because like it she brought forth unto bondage.

Gal 4:25. For Sina is a mountain in Arabia, which hath affinity to that Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

The Apostle now shows the relation between Agar and Sinai, thus emphasizing the fact that Agar represents the Old Covenant.

For Sina is a mountain, etc. There are several different readings of this phrase. The most important variation is in the omission or inclusion of the term Agar before Sinai. It is omitted by the Sinaitic and several other important MSS. (C F G), by many versions and a number of the Fathers. For its inclusion we have, besides the Vatican and Alexandrian MSS., a few others (D K L P), most of the cursives, and several versions and Fathers. The authorities are therefore fairly well divided. According to the first reading, which seems by far the more probable, because the more natural, we have as follows: “For Mount Sinai is in Arabia.” The Apostle is basing his argument upon the typical meaning of the condition of the two women, and consequently he makes the slave a type of the covenant contracted on Sinai, which supposes subjection. But that slave was Agar, the mother of Ismael, from whom sprang the principal tribe of the Arabs. St. Paul names her now to remind that Mount Sinai, being situated in Arabia, is appropriately connected with the allegory of Agar, the mother of the Arabs. Moreover her name is the same as that of the important Arab tribes mentioned in the Bible (Ps 83:6; 1 Chron 5:19). In her flight (Gen 16:6-8) she betook herself into the desert that led to Sinai. These facts explain perfectly how St. Paul found a connection between Agar and Mount Sinai, and he draws attention to the meaning of the coincidence, namely, that Agar the slave is a fitting representation of the alliance that was entered into on Mount Sinai in the desert of Arabia (Lagrange).

The second and less probable reading, “For Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia,” is explained by saying, with St. Chrysostom, that Agar is the name which the Arabs have always given to Mount Sinai.

Which hath affinity refers back to Agar, and consequently 25a must be regarded as parenthetical.

Hath affinity, i.e., is in the same class with that Jerusalem which is now the centre of Judaism, subject to the servitude imposed by the law.

Bondage means the slavery of the Law.

Children are those living in the Holy City under the yoke of the Mosaic Law.

In the Vulgate qui conjunctus est supposes Mount Sinai to be the subject of συστοιχει δε, instead of Agar, as explained above. If this were correct, then the mountain would also be the subject of et servit. Therefore the Vulgate should read: congruit autem, servit enim (Lagrange).

Gal 4:26. But that Jerusalem, which is above, is free: which is our mother.

In contrast to “the one” (covenant) of verse 24 we should expect St. Paul here to speak of the other covenant; but instead he takes up the contrast to the present Jerusalem, and speaks of the Jerusalem above. By above he does not mean only the Church Triumphant, for he says she is our mother, i.e., the mother of us Christians living yet on earth. And this Jerusalem is free, i.e., not subject to the Law; she is the Kingdom of God, governed by God’s Holy Spirit.

Gal 4:27. For it is written: Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not: break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband.

St. Paul now cites the LXX of Isaiah 54:1 to prove that the fecundity of the Jerusalem which is above, i.e., of the Messianic Kingdom, was foretold by the Prophet and miraculously ordained by God. Literally the Prophet’s words refer to the earthly Jerusalem which, although bereft of her inhabitants during the Babylonian captivity, would one day be more populous than ever. But spiritually the reference is to the heavenly Jerusalem, the Messianic Kingdom, which, born at the time of the promise made to Abraham (Cornely), or existing only in the designs of God (Lagrange), remained sterile, until the death of Christ, when her children became far more numerous than were the children of the earthly city.

Agar was a fitting type of the old Jerusalem, of the Synagogue; as Sara was of the Messianic Kingdom, the Church of Christ. And this the Prophet seems to have had in mind, for a few chapters ahead (Isa 51:1-2) he had invited the Jews to imitate the faith of Abraham and Sara, whose children they were. St. Paul makes the application more definite.

The words barren, break forth, desolate refer literally to Jerusalem during the captivity (or to Sara, in the Apostle’s application); but spiritually to the reign of Christ and His Church. She that hath a husband in the Prophet’s literal meaning referred to Jerusalem before the captivity (as applied by St. Paul, toAgar); spiritually the reference is to the Old Covenant, the Synagogue, which had the Law as a husband.

Gal 4:28. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

This verse is a conclusion from what has preceded.

We, i.e., we Christians, both Gentile and Jewish, having embraced the faith, are children of the free woman, of the Jerusalem that is above, typified in Sara. Like Isaac we are born of promise and heirs to the inheritance promised to Abraham; we are therefore free, and in nowise subject to the Law, of which Agar, the slave, was a figure.

The Vulgate nos . . . sumus does not represent the reading υμεις εστε of some of the best MSS., which would seem more natural in St. Paul addressing the Galatians who were forgetting their dignity as Christians.

Gal 4:29. But as then he, that was born according to the flesh, persecuted him that was after the spirit; so also it is now.

But (αλλ) here shows the sharp contrast to what might naturally have been expected; for as Ismael persecuted Isaac, so the Judaizers now persecuted St. Paul and the other faithful Christians.

Then, i.e., when Ismael and Isaac were actually living.

He, that was born, etc., i.e., Ismael.

Persecuted. What this persecution consisted in we do not know. In Gen 21:9-10 we read that the son of Agar played with Isaac, and from Sara’s indignation, as well as from Jewish tradition, we gather that there was something offensive, something of mockery, in that playing, which St. Paul here regards as a persecution. At any rate, history tells us that the Ismaelites were the bitter foes of the descendants of Isaac (cf. Ps 83:5-6; 1 Chron 5:10, 1 Chron 5:19).

Him that was after the spirit, i.e., Isaac, whose conception and birth were due to the miraculous intervention of the Spirit of God in virtue of the promise made by God to Abraham.

So … it is now. The allusion is to the persecutions sustained by St. Paul and the faithful Christians at the hands of the Judiazers.

Gal 4:30. But what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

St. Paul here cites Gen 21:10, according to the LXX, as illustrative of what should be the action of the Galatians against their false teachers. As Sara told Abraham to cast out the slave woman with her son—which Abraham did, so should the faithful of Galatia put away the enslaving Judaizers with their Mosaic observances. If they fail to do this, they and their leaders shall be cut off from the inheritance, i.e., from the Messianic benefits, just as Agar and her son Ismael were cut off. The words of Sara are cited by St. Paul as Scripture, because they were approved by God, as the obedient action of Abraham shows. That God gave wholesale approval to Sarah’s demands is problematic inasmuch as he showed concern for Abraham’s distress, and the well-being of Hagar and Ishmael-things Sarah herself appears to have taken no account of (Gen 21:12-13).

The Apostle’s conclusion is definite and practical for the Galatians: they must put out the false teachers.

Father Callan rounds off this section of his commentary by indicating why he ends the section at verse 30: In commencing the new section with Gal 4:31 we are following the division made by Bousset, Lagrange and Zahn. The recurrence of the word freedom joins it with what precedes, as a result with its sources. Many critics see in Gal 4:31 the last word of the allegory illustrating the two alliances, rather than the beginning of a practical conclusion. But the allegory was really concluded in verse 28, and is presupposed in verses 29, 30. It seems better then to regard 31 as the point of transition between what has preceded and the section that now follows (Lagrange).

Father de Piconio’s Commentary on Galatians 6:11-18

Text in red are my additions.

Gal 6:11. See with what letters I have written to you with my hand.

See how long a letter I have written to you, not as. usual, by the hand of another, but throughout with my own hand. For though this Epistle is not so long as. several others of St. Paul, the longer ones were written by an amanuensis at his dictation. There is, however, much difference of opinion as to the meaning of these words. Saint Jerome thinks that up to this point the letter was dictated to a writer, and that Saint Paul only added the concluding verses, from this point to the end, with his own hand. The Greek words πηλίκοις γράμμασιν (pelikois grammasin) signify with letters of how large a size, as if the Apostle had some affection of the eyes which injured his sight, and compelled him, whenever he wrote, to write very large (see Gal 4:13-15 and my note below). The words of the Vulgate, qualibus literis, seem to imply that the Latin translator took this view, as also did St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Theophylact, except that these three writers differ from St. Jerome in thinking that the Epistle was written throughout by the Apostle with his own hand. St. Chrysostom says it refers to the unskilful manner in which the letters were formed, as if the writer had said, I have written all this with my own hand, though I do not write well, and do not form the Greek characters correctly; and that he calls attention to the circumstance to prove that the document was really his own, and not a forgery passed off by another person in his name (see 2 Th 3:17 in relation to 2 Th 2:2). Saint Anselm, on the other hand, has the singular idea that Saint Paul is directing their attention to the beauty of the letters he forms, as if he would have said, see how well I write Greek. Yet the word πηλίκοις (pelikois) is an adjective of quantity, and cannot refer to anything but the size of the letters. However this may be, it is certain that the Apostle’s writing with his own hand was a mark of regard and affection for the Galatian Christians; and that he certainly wrote with his own hand the remainder of the Epistle from this point to the end. Note: it is rather clear that Fr. de Piconio thinks that Paul wrote the entire letter, but he also concedes that Paul might have produced only the closing now under discussion My own opinion (for whatever it’s worth to anyone) is that St Paul’s letters, including this one, were dictated to an amanuensis (one who takes dictation, or makes copies),  and that Paul wrote the closings.

Gal 6:12. For whoever aim at pleasing in the flesh, these desire you to be circumcised ; only that they may not suffer the persecution of the cross of Christ.
Gal 6:13. For not even those who are circumcised keep the law; but wish you to be circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.

Paul states at once, without apology or circumlocution, the real motive of those who were endeavouring to lead the Christians of Galatia astray. They wished not to offend the Jews, who were at that time influential and powerful, so that they might avoid the annoyance and persecution which commonly overtook the preachers of the Gospel of Christ. The Jews cared very little whether Christ was preached or not, so long as circumcision and the law of Moses were not abolished: because these were national customs, on the maintenance of which their influence and organization depended. These heretical teachers therefore preached Christ for gain, and circumcision and the law at the same time, to please the Jews. Notthat they cared to observe the law; but they would have you circumcised that they may boast of you to: the chiefs of the Jewish party as converts to Judaism.

Gal 6:14. But for me, God forbid I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom to me the world is crucified, and I to the world.

God forbid that I should glory. The Apostle puts his own motives, principles, and conduct in contrast with those of the men whom he has been describing. God forbid I should do anything, change anything in the doctrine of the religion of Christ, to avoid persecution, or obtain the goodwill and the praise of men. For all my glory,’and all my rejoicing, is in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, believing it, preaching it,in my measure sharing it. This is all my joy and all my glory. For the love of Christ our Lord all the universe is no more to me than the dead body of one who has been crucified, worthless and good for nothing, an object even of detestation and abhorrence, so far as there is any danger of its drawing away to itself, for one moment, or in the smallest degree, any part of the allegiance and adoration of my heart and soul, which is consecrated to him. And for his sake I am not only willing, but proud and joyful, and make it my highest boast and glorying, to be myself regarded by the world, as on his account I am regarded, and by all who love this world, as an outcast, beneath notice, utterly unworthy of consideration and regard, an object of scorn, detestation, and abhorrence, like the body of one who has been crucified. In anything but this, God forbid that I should glory. The world is crucified to me, and I to the world.

Gal 6:15. Tor in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision of any value, nor uncircumcision, but new creation.

This verse contains in a few words what is in effect an epitome of the whole Epistle. In Christ Jesus, in the Christian religion, and before the presence of God, circcumcision has no value, nor uncircumcision, nor will either condition affect salvation; which depends upon the renewal of the soul by grace. The word creatura (in the Latin text), like the Greek word to which it corresponds (κτίσι = ktisis), may be rendered either in the abstract or the concrete: the act of creation, or the thing created. The new creature is the soul exteriorly regenerated by baptism, interiorly renewed by erace, walking in newness of life, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, and for charity observing his commands.

Gal 6:16. And whoever shall have followed this rule ; peace on them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Those who observe this rule of life, the Svriac, ‘those who walk along this path, just described, and further explained in the teaching of this Epistle, peace and mercy be upon them, whether they have been Jews or Gentiles before their conversion to Christ. — For the true Israel of -God are those who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the son promised to Abraham, and in him look for justification and salvation.

Gal 6:17. For the rest let no one give me trouble; for I bear in my body the stigmata of the Lord Jesus.

Henceforward let no one, whether a Judaizer or any other, give me further trouble, the Syriac, impose further toil or labour upon me, with regard to this question of circumcision, or Hebrew rites and ceremonies ; for I have fully stated the mind and teaching of Jesus Christ on this subject. If they are circumcised, so am I; but what is far greater, and an infinitely higher privilege, I bear in my body the marks which prove that I have been partaker of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, who was in a sense circumcised in his whole body. From the sole of his foot to the head there was no soundness, by the thorns that tore his head, the nails that pierced his hands and feet, the gashes of the scourge, the thrust of the lance. Marks, more or less, like these I also bear in my body, and ifthey glory in their circumcision, I will glory in sharing Christ’s sufferings. They can show nothing of this sort. The very purpose for which they preach circumcision is that they may escape all risk of ever doing so. Saint Paul had been thrice beaten with rods, to which perhaps he here particularly refers. At the very time he wrote these words he was living under arrest, in the city of Rome, and very probably fastened by a chain and handcuff to the soldier who guarded him.

Gal 6:18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with your spirit, brethren. Amen.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. In all the other Epistles, except the second to Timothy and that to Philemon, Saint Paul says, be with you. Saint Chrysostom thinks he here writes expressly with your spirit, in order to remind the Galatians that it is by faith, which is a spiritual act, not by any exterior ceremonies of the Hebrew law, that they were to look for salvation in Jesus Christ ; and that they had received the Holy Spirit of God by faith, not by the law.

COROLLARY OF PIETY

 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. There is no occasion to enter into metaphysical distinctions as to any difference there may be, or not be, between the spirit and soul, in man. Some have attempted to distinguish between them. It is enough to know that into the material frame, formed of the dust of the earth, by the hands of omnipotence, God breathed the breath of life, and man became a living soul, and an immortal spirit. Man is one, body, soul, and spirit. The Dominus vobiscum, and cum spiritu two, are not different prayers, but the same in a different phrase, and if the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with the spirit of man, the spirit of man is strengthened and vivified by that grace, and enabled to hold its proper place as sovereign over all faculties and functions of soul and body, over the will, the exercise of the intellectual powers, the affections, and the movements of physical action and life. When the powers of the mind, and the purpose of the will, are applied to what tends only to the preservation, the enlargement, or the enjoyment of this mortal state and what belongs to it, and is bounded by it, this is said to be (in philosophical language, not in poetry) the action of the soul. When they rise above this world, expand in faith, and strive after perfection and happiness in eternity, this is the life of the spirit. The higher faculties of man’s nature are formed by our Creator to answer to and receive the impress and impulse of that which is to raise them to glory, and give them wings to soar to heaven. This is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Creator, and who, in forming our nature, looked forward to investing himself with it, and, therefore, made the human nature capable of becoming the vehicle of the Divine. Without the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, man’s spirit, however wonderfully formed, is useless and imperfect, and cannot attain the end for which it was created. It is the almond tree that never blossoms, the vine that yields wild grapes, the chrysalis that dies in the earth, and never expands to the sun the wings folded within it. With the aid of that grace, there is no height of glory to which it may not rise. For Christ has enthroned the nature of man, spirit, soul, and body, at the right hand of the Majesty that is in the heavens, for the admiration of the universe and the adoration of the Angels. And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will not fall to accompany, animate, transform, guide through the perils and perplexities of life, and bring to the consummation of perfection and complete beatitude of soul and body in the life to come, all those who persevere till death in the faith of Christ, and the communion of the Holy Catholic Church. This is, in brief and in sum, the truth which Saint Paul enforces in the Epistle he concludes with these words, and which he so earnestly implores the Galatian Christians to accept and adhere to. Such are the true sons of God, the true heirs of the promises made to Saints of old, the true citizens of that Jerusalem which is from above, who is the mother of us all. The grace of Christ is that which alone can deliver human nature from corruption, can alone raise it to the life for which it was created, which is life eternal. And that grace all who believe in Christ have received and may retain, until the life of grace and hope is absorbed in the life of security and glory.

Father de Piconio’s Commentary on Galatians 6:1-10

Text in red, if any, are my additions.

In this chapter, the Apostle exhorts the Christians of Galatia to active charity ; and concludes the Epistle with a solemn and formal condemnation, written with his own hand, of the judaizing errors with which they were threatened.

Gal 6:1. BRETHREN, even if a man shall have been taken in any fault; you who are spiritual, instruct such one in a spirit of gentleness; considering thyself, lest thou be also tempted.

Saint Paul has pronounced the error of doctrine into which heretical teachers were endeavouring to draw the Christians of Galatia, as nothing less than apostasy from Christ, and involving the loss of their eternal inheritance. But he acts himself, and requires them to act, with the greatest gentleness and forbearance towards individuals who may, by ignorance or carelessness, have been led astray into these errors. The expression if a man, homo , shall have fallen into a fault, is a Hebrew idiom, in Greek and Latin this substantive (man) being rarely used where it is to be understood. If any among you shall have already fallen into these errors I have described, or any of them, and especially heresy, you who retain your faith and are led by the Spirit of God, instruct, or restore him; not condemn or punish him, but correct him in a spirit of gentleness. Not gently, only, but in genuine and interior spirit of charity, kindness, and desire for his salvation, an affection which comes from the Spirit of God, who inspires his own gentleness into your hearts. I am meek and humble of heart, not in words or appearance only, but in spirit and disposition.

Considering thyself, he adopts the singular number, as if to make his warning more personal, pointed, and direct. Lest thou also be tempted. The Syriac has: and beware lest ye also be tempted. Lest haply you yield to the same or a similar temptation.

Gal 6:2. Bear the burdens of one another, and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ. 

Bear the burdens of one another. Treat the fallen with compassion, and correct them with gentleness, as if their errors were your own, and you bore the burden of them. By burden the Apostle denotes any kind of sin, and more particularly that of apostasy, to which this passage refers, and we bear the burdens of our neighbours when we strive to correct them with sympathy, mildness, and compassion. Thus you will fulfil the law of Christ, which is the law of charity. The Greek has the imperative mood, and thus fulfil. St. Chrysostom observes that the Apostle does not say simply fill, but fulfil, absolutely and completely, as if every other duty of charity had been discharged, and this alone remained to make the observance of the law complete.

Gal 6:3. For if any one thinks himself to be anything when he is nothing, he is his own deceiver.

Every one who thinks himself anything, is guilty of self-deception, because in the presence of God we are all nothing.

Gal 6:4. And let each prove his own work; and then in himself only he shall have glory, and not in the other.
Gal 6:5. For each shall bear his own burden.

Let each prove his own work, that is, let each one examine and judge of his own works, not by comparison with others, like the Pharisee who thanked God he was not as other men, but by comparison with the rule of life, by which we shall be judged at the judgment of God. Every other standard but this is deceptive and fallacious. And so far as, judged by this standard, he finds his work to be just, right, and good, he will have the approval of his conscience, and will glory in God. This does not imply that he is to glory in himself. This the fear of the divine judgment forbids. For who is just before God ? and who, before the Saint of saints, will dare to boast of sanctity? But when the Apostle says that the Christian will have glory in himself alone, and not another, he means that his merit will be assigned according to what he has done, and not in comparison with any other. The Christian, therefore, is not to boast at the expense of another, and he who refrains from doing this, with due consideration of the reason, will not glory in himself, for he will recall his own sins, bearing the burden of which he must himself appear before God. For in the great judgment of God each one must bear his own burden, answer for his own sins, and receive God’s sentence, which will pass on the true merits of the case, without any alleviation or excuse on the ground that others are worse.

Although the injunctions conveyed in these verses have direct and immediate reference to the case of the Galatians, and the danger of apostasy which threatened them, they include the principle on which Christian charity will deal with sinners in all cases. First every excuse should be made for the guilty. They may have been taken or overtaken, against their deliberate intention and will. Secondly they should be dealt with gently, leniently, and compassionately, not in words and appearance only, but in true charity of spirit. Thirdly those who correct others, aware of their own fragility, should fear for themselves. “He today, I tomorrow,” says an ancient Father. God not unfrequently punishes the hard and unmerciful by allowing them to be involved in temptations similar to the sins they have rebuked in others. Fourthly, we should bear the infirmities of others, as Christ bore ours. He bore our sins, by expiating and taking them away. So should we bear the burden of others, and do what is in our power to take them away, by compassion, by instruction, by prayer, and by doing penance for them. And this is imitation of Christ, who for us prayed, did penance, suffered and died. If a mule falls under its burden, the driver must remove the burden and take it in his arms, before he can raise the fallen animal. Thus must the burden of the sinner be removed, for his improvement and correction. And lastly, to beware, lest, like the Pharisee, we take pride in the evil deeds of others, than which nothing can be less consistent with Christian charity, or give greater offence to God. For as is observed by Optatus Milevitanus, quoted by Cornelius a Lapide, on Lk 18:14, It is better to sin with humility than to be “innocent” with pride. Note: I put the word innocent in quotes to highlight the sarcasm. The paraphrase Fr de Piconio just gave is actually to St Paulinus: “What righteousness built up (in the Pharisee), that pride pulled down. The publican, from a contrite heart, was accepted as an accuser of himself, and obtained pardon from his confession of sins, from the degree of his humility; that ‘holy’ Pharisee bearing away the pack-load of his sins from his boast of holiness.”

Gal 6:6. And let him who is catechized in the word communicate to him who catechizes him, in all good things.

He who is taught the Gospel of Christ, should freely contribute from his temporal goods to the support of his teacher. Having instructed those who are spiritual in the duty of charity and forbearance towards the weak, St. Paul now urges upon the laity the duty of supporting their pastors and teachers. The Greek verb ἠχέω (ēcheō) signifies to sound with the voice. Hence the word echo. κατηχούμενος (katechoumenos, from the root ēcheō) is to instruct vocally, and from this we obtain catechist, an instructor in the Christian mysteries; catechumen,  the person instructed; and catechism, the form of doctrine taught. The Apostles were catechists, and the later Fathers followed them, and the office, therefore, is of Apostolic origin.

Saint Chrysostom observes that God, who fed the ungrateful Israelites with manna, permitted the Apostles to live in poverty. This was for the attainment of two great objects, moderation and charity. Moderation in ihe teachers, who depend upon their disciples, charity in the disciples, in supplying the wants of the teachers. In the same spirit our father Francis, truly Apostolic and seraphic, would have us poor, that we may be the more humble and of greater service to our neighbours, even from absolute necessity. St. Chrysostom further says that a teacher who asks and receives only what is requisite for subsistence, loses no dignity thereby; for a teacher so assiduous in the ministry of the word asto pay no regard to the supply of his own wants, and willing to labour in poverty, is worthy of all praise. Evangelical poverty which despises earthly things to obtain, and communicate to others, the things of heaven, is laudable in the highest degree, and gives what is of much greater value than anything it can possibly receive. If we have sown to you what is spiritual, is it much if we reap from you what is carnal 1 Cor 9:11.

Gal 6:7. Do not err, God is not mocked.

Do mot mistake. God is not mocked, by false excuses you may offer for the neglect of this duty. He sees and knows all, and judges rightly, and your own conscience can also judge.

Gal 6:8. For what a man has sown, this he shall also reap: because he who sows in his flesh, from the flesh shall also reap corruption: and he who sows in the spirit, shall in the spirit reap life eternal. 

The injunction just given, with regard to the duty of supplying the teachers of the Gospel with the necessaries of life, is in these verses more generally extended, so as to apply to the use made of time, money, faculties. of the mind, and other gifts of God, especially with reference to the obligation of employing these for the benefit of our neighbours. What a man soweth, he shall reap. This life is the sowing time, the life of eternity the time of reaping. He who lives for this world, its pleasures or its ambitions, soweth to his flesh; that is, the flesh, the mortal nature and the mortal life, is the field in which he sows. We have already seen what are the works of the flesh. The flesh is but corruption, and corruption he will reap; disgrace, punishment, eternal death. He who lives for: charity and good works, throws the seed into the bosom of God, the field of the Holy Spirit ; whence he shall reap eternal beatitude of soul and body, through the power of the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit have been already enumerated; the perfection of them will constitute life eternal. St. Paul says, sows in his own flesh, because the: flesh is the fallen nature of man, but he does not say his own spirit, but in the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is. the fountain of grace and charity.

Gal 6:9. And doing good, let us not fail: for in its own time we shall reap, not failing.

The Greek has: Let us not weary in doing what is. generous and good, for in due time we shall reap, and not be weary. The Syriac: Let us do good, and not be weary; for one day we shall reap, and not be weary. For as St. Chrysostom observes, in this life sowing and reaping are both wearisome. The reaper faints in the summer heat, and his toil is never heavier. But in that harvest there shall be neither toil nor labour, but only rest and joy.

Gal 6:10. Therefore, while we have time, let us work good to all, and especially to those who are of the family of faith.

While we have time. It is not sowing time all the year round ; neither does the time of well-doing last for ever. The night cometh, when none can work. The foolish virgins went to purchase oil, but too late, and were excluded from the wedding feast, Matt. 25. The rich man feasted every day, until he died, and in hell he opened his eyes in torment, Lk 16:23. While we have time, let us do good, so far as is in our power, to all men, for all are our neighbours. Even the stranger, of a different faith, was neighbour to him who fell among thieves, Lk 10:36. But especially to the faithful in Christ, who by faith belong to his family or household. Literally, the domestics of the faith, domesticos fidei, for these have the first claim upon us. The Church is God’s house, and Christian people are inmates of that house, and members of God’s family. The Christian, therefore, has the first claim upon his brethren, as the servant and child of God, and among the faithful, those especially who have given up all means and opportunities of worldly gain to devote themselves to teaching the Gospel of Christ.

Father de Piconio’s Commentary on Galatians 5:13-26

Text in red are my additions.

Gal 5:13. For you have been called into freedom, brethren: only give not freedom for an occasion of the flesh, but through charity of spirit serve one another. 

I would they were cut off who trouble you, because: God has called you to freedom, and that freedom they would take away. In what does this freedom consist? The answer to this question occupies the remainder of this Epistle, as far as the concluding words, from Gal 6:11, which the Apostle adds with his own hand. Christian freedom consists 1. in freedom from the burdensome obligation of the ceremonies of the law, which in the first verse of this chapter he calls a yoke of servitude. 2. In freedom from servile fear, which he describes as the effect produced by the law, at the beginning of the fourth chapter. 3. Especially and above all, freedom from the service of sin, from which Christ died to redeem us, Rom 6:18. Only give not freedom for an occasion to the flesh. There is no verb in this sentence in the Greek text. The Vulgate supplies detis (for an); the Syriac, let not your liberty be an occasion, &c. The Apostle first indicates the misuse of this freedom, that they may avoid it; then its end and object, which is charity, that they may pursue it; then, in verse 16, the means of attaining it. Walk in the Spirit.

Freedom from the yoke of the law and the fear of its penalties is not given you that you may fulfil the desires of the flesh, neither are you set free for this purpose. Such a statement would hardly be required in these days, but in the time of St. Paul so many erroneous doctrines and systems of philosophy were current in the world, that the caution was not unnecessary.

By charity of spirit serve one another. The more complete your emancipation, by means of your Christian calling, from a series of troublesome and unprofitable restrictions and ceremonies, the more diligently endeavour to serve one another, by a voluntary interchange of good offices, in a spirit of charity. Charity, the spirit of love, is that which should animate Christians; make use of your freedom, therefore, for the cultivation of it. Not only refrain from injuring another, but by love serve one another. Christ has changed the heavy and insupportable yoke of the law into the gentle, happy, and voluntary yoke of kindness. Happy, who bears this yoke, for he serves God, the source of all good; for God is charity.

Gal 5:14. For all the law is fulfilled in one word: thou shalt. love thy neighbour as thyself.

All the law, so far as it regards our relation to others, is fulfilled in one word. Lev 19:18. Thou shalt love thy neighbour spiritually, for God’s sake, and in order to eternal life. There are two precepts of charity, according to the material distinction of the object, the love of God and of our neighbour; but there is only one charity, that by which God is loved, and our neighbour for God’s sake. The one command is therefore often included in the other. One word, but including all the business of all our lives. Love, and do what you will.

Gal 5:15. But if you bite and eat up one another, see that you are not consumed by one another.

But if you bite and eat up one another, by mutual animosities, slander, and detraction. The introduction of the new doctrine had. no doubt, introduced much of this strife among the Galatians, and the Apostle counsels first charity for the extinction of these angry feelings. Then he seeks to deter the Galatians from quarrels and dissensions by pointing to the evil end to which they so often lead, comparing the combatants to fighting dogs, who will bite and tear one another, sometimes to death. Contention brings corruption and death, not only upon the victims of it, but upon its authors and originators as well, says Saint Chrysostom. The fruit of strife is waste of life, says Ambrose. And St. Augustine says that human society, divided into two parties, is already in process of dissolution.

Gal 5:16. And I say: walk by the Spirit; and the desires of the flesh you shall not fulfil.

And I say, to emphasize what follows. As he has just reduced all the precepts of the law to the one precept of charity, so now he brings all the means of making charity perfect under one rule. Walk by the Spirit. Live according to the dictate of the Holy Spirit, and you will not fulfil the desires of the flesh. By the flesh, in this passage, is signified desire, either that of the physical appetites, as gluttony or luxury : or of irascible feeling, as envy, malice, or resentment: or of the rational appetite, as the desire of fame or distinction. Although these desires all influence the soul, they are called collectively the flesh, because for the most part it is from the animal nature that they arise. But the Apostle does not say, the desires of the flesh you shall not feel, or be sensible of, because this is in this life inevitable, but you shall not fulfil them, either by internal consent or outward act, for this you will easily avoid, by living according to the impulse of the Spirit of God.

Gal 5:17. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are antagonistic to one another, so that you do not everything you wish.

The Syriac version reads this verse: Inasmuch as the flesh desires that which injures the spirit, and the spirit that which injures the flesh; and these two are contrary to one another, so that you do not what you would. The flesh desires what is pleasant and agreeable, the spirit what is holy; the flesh desires what is carnal, earthly, and temporal, the spirit what is spiritual, celestial, and eternal. And these are so opposed that frequently we cannot do all we would. We would not desire, yet in spite of ourselves we do desire. We would do good with fervour and alacrity, but the flesh resists the impulse of the will, and weighs down the soul, and makes us tepid and inactive.

These opposite movements of nature and of grace are described, with great simplicity of language, but with great force and truth, in the third book of the Imitation of Christ, cap. 54. Saint Augustine vividly describes the same conflict as carried on within himself, in the eighth book of the Confessions; and the final victory of the spirit, and overthrow of rebellion against its authority, in his commentary on Psalm 76.

It must be observed that in this passage, as elsewhere in the writings of St. Paul, the spirit does not signify the intellectual faculties of human nature as distinguished from the animal faculties; a sense in which the term is sometimes used in modern philosophy ; for the mind and body are so mysteriously allied and related that the same or similar impulses and motives govern both. The spirit means the supernatural power of the Spirit of God upon the human heart, the reality of which is proved by its results, though the mode of its action cannot ordinarily be traced.

Gal 5:18. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

If you are led by the Spirit you are not under law. A parenthetical statement, importing that we have here the real solution of the controversy about the law. Led by the Spirit, you do of your own accord, and from the inotive of affection, that which the law prescribes, and exacts by menace of penalty to be incurred by transgression. You are above the law, and beyond it, and there is no law opposed to you. If all Christians walked by the Spirit, and all mankind were Christians, no laws would be required. You have in that case, what the law cannot impart, the spirit of sons, not servants. We shall find this statement repeated in verse 23 (Gal 5:23).

Gal 5:19. And the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury,
Gal 5:20. Service of idols, magic, enmities, contentions, emulations, anger, quarrels, dissensions, sects,
Gal 5:21. Jealousies, homicides, drunkenness, revelling, and things like these: which I declare to you, as I have already declared, that they who do such things will not attain the kingdom of God.

Lest there should be any doubt, amid the general corruption of pagan society then prevailing, as to what is meant by the flesh and the spirit, or any should pretend to doubt, the Apostle proceeds to enumerate the effects of each ; observing that the works of the flesh are plainly manifest to all who have eyes to see. The four named in Gal 5:19 do not exactly correspond with the Greek, which has, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, luxury; this last term the Vulgate appears to divide into two. (Gal 5:20) Idolatry and magic were temptations of powerful influence in ancient times, though now in some degree out of date. Magic charms were supposed to control persons at a distance, or secure affection, or do injury to persous or property, and the pretenders to such powers as these made a profitable trade out of the wickedness and credulity of those who trusted to them. The Greek word for sects is heresies. It is interesting to observe that the Apostle considers that the motives which prompt men to cavil at the faith, and set up parties in opposition to the Church of God, have their origin in this world, and in man’s fallen nature, so that he classes these among the works of the flesh. Those who do these things, or things like them, shall not attain, in the Greek inherit, the kingdom of God, or a kingdom of God. This is a statement which Christians not unfrequently lose sight of. Of the seven mortal sins, or classes of mortal sin, two only, luxury and gluttony, have directly reference to the body. The others are spiritual. Yet most people, as is evident by their confessions, do: penance only for sins of the body, and pass over all the others as immaterial. And yet it is of all alike that the Apostle says, that they who do such things shall not inherit God’s kingdom.

Gal 5:22. And the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, long-suffering.
Gal 5:23. Gentleness, fidelity, modesty, continence, chastity ; against such there is no law.

Saint Paul (in Gal 5:19-21) speaks of the works of the flesh, and (here he speaks of) the fruits of the Spirit. Carnal and worldly passions move and work tumultuously in the soul, and produce crime, death,and ruin. But the Holy Spirit acts powerfully, yet insensibly, and is seen only in his effects, as the influence of the sunshine is seen in the harvest and the vintage. The fruits of his presence are charity, Joy, peace, and the others. Patience, modesty, and chastity, given in the list in the Vulgate, are wanting in the Greek, and in the same ‘ list as given both by Saint Jerome and Saint Augustine.. The Greek text gives, therefore, nine fruits of the Spirit, the Vulgate, twelve. The Syriac version also gives only nine; Ambrose includes ten. The Greek list is: charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, fidelity, meekness, continence. It would seem, and is observed by Estius, that the Greek word μακροθυμία (makrothymia), is translated in the Vulgate by the two words patience and long-suffering, πραΰτης (prautes), by gentleness and modesty, and ἐγκράτεια (enkrateia), by continence and chastity; thus increasing the list as given in the Greek by three. Charity is the principal fruit of the Spirit; and charity does no ill. The fruits of the Spirit. are opposed in general and in detail to the works of the flesh. Joy is opposed to envy, which is pain at another’s happiness; peace to enmity; patience to strife and quarrelling; goodness to magic and homicide; continence to luxury and gluttony.

Against such there is no law. Laws are not enacted for the just. The law is given for those who err, says Ambrose. If all men were such as the Apostle here describes, penal legislation would be altogether unnecessary.

It is to be observed that while the works of the flesh enumerated by the Apostle, are the ordinary and natural result of the passions and desires of human nature, directed to objects belonging to this mortal life, and not controlled by grace, the fruits of Spirit are all supernatural and the effect of the grace of the Holy Spirit acting on the powers and faculties of human nature.

Gal 5:24. And they who are of Christ crucified the flesh with the vices and concupiscences.

This enumeration of the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit now enables the Apostle to place the combatants in array, distinguishing the soldiers of Christ from those who are devoted to the interests of this world. ‘Those who belong to Christ crucify the aims, ambitions, and desires that belong to this mortal life, or contribute to the satisfaction of our animal nature. The verb is used by the Apostle in the Greek text, in the aorist, and may possibly have a general sense as regards time present, past, or future. The Vulgate reads crucifixerunt (see note below). A man crucified is bound to the cross, his body torn and dislocated, his life blood drained, life itself by slow degrees extinguished. So the Christian crucifies concupiscence, binds, crushes, enfeebles it to death. The flesh of Christ on the cross is the exemplar of Christian mortification. The Apostle does not say that the Christian crucifies the body, for the body is often thereby rendered stronger and more effective for the service of God; and the body will be raised one day from the grave to eternal strength and immortality. What is crucified, or mortified, is the flesh in a figurative sense, all desires, affections, and inclinations which find their satisfaction in anything that is limited and measured by this mortal life. And as Christ died for our sins in pain and suffering, so not without pain and suffering can sin be crucified in us.

Crucifixerunt. “They crucified.” Thus the Latin reads: “And they who are of Christ, They crucified the flesh with the vices and concupiscenes.” This is a bit more emphatic than the Greek.

Gal 5:25. If we live by spirit, by spirit also let us walk.

St. Paul repeats in this verse what he said in verse 16 (Gal 5:16). Walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfil the desires of the flesh. To crucify the flesh, walk by the guidance of God’s Spirit, whose presence is the life of the soul. The Syriac reads: Let us live by spirit, and follow spirit.

Gal 5:26. Let us not become desirous of empty glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

Let us not become desirous of empty glory. In this verse the Apostle reproves three spiritual faults, which are closely connected together; into which those are liable to fall who do not fall into sins of the flesh ; and which were doubtless frequent among the persons to whom he is writing. First, empty glory, that is the pursuit of honour where true honour is not to be found, as in science, eloquence, or riches, or delight in the distinction and respect which the possession of such things generally carries with it,in the false estimate which the world so often forms. The contempt of others who do not possess these things, with an inclination to expose their shortcomings. Lastly, envy of such as possess them in a greater degree than ourselves. For these also are included in the works of the flesh, which he that belongs to Christ, and walks under the guidance of the Spirit, will learn to crucify.

COROLLARY OF PIETY

The unspeakable dignity conferred by regeneration in Christ consists in this, that we are made thereby sons of God, instead of sons of man. For we have put on Christ; and we have the Spirit of Christ in our hearts. But being the sons of God, we no longer serve God as slaves, nor as children under age; we are sons of full age, grown up, free, placed already in part in possession of our Father’s inheritance, of which the Holy Spirit has. given us a pledge. For what purpose are we thus made sons of God; and for what purpose has the Spirit of God been infused into our hearts?

We have been made sons of God in order that we may love God, our most loving Father, with all our hearts, and serve him, not from fear of punishment, but from filial affection, fulfilling his commandments for charity, as his own dear sons. And as God is Charity, so the Christian, who is God’s son, as a partaker of the charity of God, should live in charity and by charity should act.

And the Spirit of God has been infused into our hearts, that we may walk by the Spirit, and mortify the deeds of the flesh. For as long as we are in this mortal state, there are two natures within us, the spirit and the flesh, struggling in antagonism to one another, and drawing us in opposite directions. In presence of this interior conflict, what course is the Christian to adopt? The Apostle answers this question. Take firmly and decidedly the side of the Spirit. Walk by the dictates of the Spirit, and fulfil not the desires of the flesh. Then will the flesh be crucified and perish at last, and the Spirit will triumph.

There are, therefore, three things which the Christian is to keep continually in view. 1. The end he aims at 2. That which he is carefully to avoid. 3. The means of attaining the one and escaping the other.

1. Charity is the end he aims at, and the object and intention of all the Christian religion, and of that freedom of sonship which we enjoy in Christ. We are to love God as sons, not servants. We are freed from the yoke of the law that we may for charity serve one another. The exercise and increase of charity is the end of our adoption and the ground and motive of our freedom.

2. What we have to guard against is the danger of making a wrong use of our Christian freedom, by following the desires of the flesh. Make not your freedom an occasion to the flesh. It is not the will of God that we should misuse our Christian freedom and so perish in sin.

3. The means of accomplishing both these objects is to walk by the Spirit, and crucify the flesh. That is, mortify, by the refusal of gratification, all desires which are sinful in themselves, or purely worldly, having no object in view beyond what belongs to this miserable and transitory life of mortality. As Christ died on the cross, so are we to crucify sin.

God has been generous to us, and has given us freedom and adoption. Of this freedom and adoption we shall in return make a generous use, and the only use which is not base, treacherous, and ungrateful, if we make it the object of our lives to become worthy of our Heavenly Father’s affection, and struggle against and overthrow his enemies and ours.

Father De Piconio’s Commentary on Galatians 5:7-12

Gal 5:7. You ran well: who hindered you, not to obey the truth?

You ran well. A high commendation, following on what the Apostle has just said of the faith which operates through charity. In this course you were once actively engaged. Who is it who has suddenly stopped you in your course and thrown you back? This question, St. Chrysostom observes, is not for information, but an expression of sorrow and anxiety, like the who fascinated you in Gal 3:1. The object in view can have been only to hinder your obeying the truth.

Gal 5:8. This persuasion is not of him who called you.

God is never contrary to himself, and he who called you to the faith of his Son, has certainly not now persuaded you to reject that faith by receiving circumcision. This persuasion, whoever is the author of it, is not of him who called you.

Gal 5:9. A little leaven corrupts the whole mass. 

A little leaven spreads its effect through the whole mass of dough. A single error, though it may originate with only one or two individuals, will infect the whole community. The same words occur in 1 Cor. 5:6, with reference to error of another kind, but the principle is applicable equally to every description of evil introduced by the malice of the devil or of evil men. St. Paul’s words indicate that the sinister influence he refers to among the Galatian Christians sprang from a very small number of persons, perhaps only one in the first instance, only one being referred to in verse 10. It is impossible to overrate the mischief that may be done by one evil example, one word of scandal. One wicked man can poison a whole city with the infection of his example, one heretic lead astray a whole church or nation. Calvin, Luther, and other heretical teachers were a little leaven, ‘but they led away whole nations from the faith of ‘Christ.

Gal 5:10. I trust in you, in the Lord, that you will think no otherwise: but he who troubles you, shall bear the judgment, whoever he is.

I trust and confide in you, that when you have fully considered the question, in the light in which I have laid it before you in this Epistle, you will adopt or retain no opinion or conviction which is not part of, or consistent with, the doctrine I taught you. The author of all this confusion, whoever he may be—he was probably a person ‘of local authority and influence, and most likely a Jew— will pay the penalty of his guilt, by the justice of God, who is the avenger of all heresy. Woe to him by whom offence cometh.

Gal 5:11. And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution ; therefore the scandal of the cross 1s gone.

If I still preach circumcision. This falsehood must have been circulated, with others, regarding the doctrine and practice of Saint Paul, grounded probably on his having induced Timothy to receive circumcision, for special reasons, which were wholly inapplicable to the case of Gentile converts. As he observes, the persecution he suffered at the hands of the Jews was a sufficient proof that the doctrine he taught on this point was not such as suited their views. The scandal of the cross has ceased. They would have been offended in much less degree by the simple preaching of Christ crucified, than by the announcement that Christ had abolished the observances of the Jewish law. The removal of the greater stumblingstone would in effect have removed also the lesser.

Gal 5:12. I wish they may be even cut off who trouble you.

I wish they may even be cut off. St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, St. Jerome, Cajetan, and other writers, give a literal interpretation to this wish expressed by St. Paul. I wish these apostles of circumcision may be themselves not circumcised, for that they are, but cut off altogether. Erasmus and other modern writers appear to think this imprecation hardly consistent with Apostolic gravity: and understand the wish to mean, that they may: be cut off from God’s mercy and the hope of salvation in Christ. Ambrose considers both meanings included. He: curses them spiritually, and corporally as well, to multiply their pain. — It is possible the Apostle refers to ecclesiastical censure, but in the bitterness of his heart, and resentment and indignation against these troublers of the peace of the Church, uses this equivocal and pointed term.

Father de piconio’s Commentary on Galatians 5:1-6

In this chapter the Apostle, while urging the Galatian Christians to the preservation of their Christian freedom, explains that this freedom does not consist in carnal license.

Gal 5:1. STAND, and do not again become bound under a yoke of bondage.

Stand. The Greek text, as also the Syriac version, join to this verb the concluding words of the last chapter. We are children, not of the slave, but of the free. Stand, therefore, in the liberty in which Christ has made you free. The different arrangement of the words does not, however, materially affect the sense. The liberty with which Christ had made them free, was emancipation from the obligations of the Hebrew law, as appears from the last words of ch. 4. But the paganism from which the Galatians had escaped was also a state of bondage and slavery, for he adds, having escaped one yoke of servitude, be not caught, made captive, entangled in another. Do not again become bound.

Gal 5:2. Behold, I Paul say to you, that if you are circumcised, Christ will in nothing profit you.

Behold, I Paul say to you. The judaizing teachers had appealed to Moses. Unless you are circumcised as Moses prescribed, you cannot be saved, Acts 16. Saint Paul names himself, as an authority equal to Moses, and teaching, not only the negative of this proposition, but the direct contrary. You cannot be saved if you are circumcised. For you cannot be saved without Christ, and in that case Christ will not profit you. It is important to observe that this is not said to Jewish converts, but only to Gentiles. While circumcision was not necessary to salvation either to Jews or Gentiles, it was not as yet deadly or mortal for persons born of Jewish parents, and such often accepted it as a matter of custom, as in the case of St. Timothy, Acts 16:3. But for Gentile converts to receive it after baptism, was fatal, for such a proceeding implied that they relied upon circumcision and the Mosaic law for salvation, and had no confidence in the faith of Christ and the sacraments of the Church. It was an act of apostasy from Christ, and his incarnation, passion, and death, will not profit those who thus openly protest that his faith is not sufficient for salvation.

Gal 5:3. And I testify again to every man who circumcises himself that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Gal 5:4. You are emptied from Christ, who are being justified in the law: you have fallen away from grace.

The heretical teachers did not observe a great part of the law of Moses, or profess to do so. They told the Galatians that if they received circumcision and practised some few of the more prominent and characteristic of the Hebrew customs, such as were open to public observation, such as the solemnization of sabbaths and new moons, &c. referred to in Gal 4:10, this was all that was required. The object evidently was first, to bring them within the terms of the edicts and enactments of the Roman vovernment, which at that time protected the Jews, so that they might avoid persecution; and next, to withdraw them from communion with the Apostles. St. Paul here Insists that any man who received circumcision was bound to the fulfilment of every detail of the Mosaic law, of which it was a public profession, as baptism was a public profession of the Christian faith. This consideration was calculated to make them pause before taking such a step. It was an acceptance of a new religion, and abandonment of that which he had taught them. You are emptied, annihilated, abolished from Christ, have lost your hope in him, are no longer branches of the true vine, or capable of receiving his grace, inasmuch as you are seeking salvation by another law. This is further explained in the next verse.

Gal 5:5. For we by the spirit from faith expect the hope of justice.

We who are Christians seek for justification by faith, and by the action of the spiritual faculties of our nature, not in ceremonies and observances purely material and external. The hope of justice is a hebraisin. implying the justice hoped for: the remission of sins and grace of God promised to believers in Christ, and that eternal life which is the reward of justice hereafter.

Gal 5:6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision is of any value, nor uncircumcision, but faith which operates through charity.

For in the religion of Jesus Christ it is unimportant whether the believer is circumcised or uncircumcised. Faith has removed and obliterated all such external distinctions. God does not regard what belongs only to the body, but the condition of the heart. As the leaders of an army require in their soldiers not to be fair or dark, but courage and skill in their duties, says St. Chrysostom, so God considers in his soldiers not outward circumtances, but a mind and disposition animated and directed by faith, asits principle of life. Faith which operates through charity. The Greek, effectual through charity. The Syriac has: faith which is made perfect by charity. Shown to be always living, active, and effectual by the iove of Jesus Christ. The only faith which is of value in Christ Jesus is that which burns with charity, and toils unwearied in good works, says St. Anselm. This is the Christian’s faith. The faith that does nothing, and is destitute of charity, is the devils’ faith.

Father de Piconio’s Commentary on Galatians 4:21-31

Gal 4:21. Tell me, you who would be under the law, have you not read the law?
Gal 4:22. For it is written; that Abraham had two sons, one of a maid-servant, and one of a freewoman.
Gal 4:23. But he who was born of a maid-servant, was born According to the flesh : and he who of the free, through the promise.
Gal 4:24. Which is said in allegory. For these are the two Testaments ; one indeed in Mount Sinai, generating to ‘bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25. For Sina is a mountain in Arabia, which is joined to that Jerusalem which is now, and serves with her sons.
Gal 5:26. But that Jerusalem which is above, is free, who is our mother.

Since I do not know, at this distance, your disposition towards me, or how far you are prepared to listen to what I say, tell me at least, you who are so anxious to be under ‘the control of the law, have you not read it, the law to which you defer? The Greek, heard it? For it is written in the law, Gen. 21:15, 21:2, that Abraham had a son by Agar, and another by Sara. Agar was young, and fit to become a mother, and in the birth of her son there was nothing remarkable, or beyond the ordinary course of nature. Sara was old and sterile, and the birth of Isaac was supernatural and miraculous, in fulfilment of the proanise God had made to him long before. But these facts, beyond their historical sense, have a higher and figurative meaning, contemplated and intended by the Holy Spirit, who dictated these inspired and ancient records. These two mothers are the Old Testament, or covenant, and the New. One in, or (in the Greek) given from Mount Sinai in Arabia, has brought forth the Jews, under the yoke of the law, serving God, but doing so as slaves, and for fear of punishment.

In Gal 4:25 the Greek text reads: Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; and so the Syriac. The name Agar, on the testimony of St. Chrysostom and Theophylact, is the Arabian appellation of Mount Sinai, and is therefore an additional illustration of the allegory ; and Grotius says the mountain, or the region in which it rises, is so called because it contains the town of Agar, or Agara, for which statement he cites Pliny, Dion, and Strabo. Hence the term Agarenes, Ps. 83:7.

Mount Sinai is distant from Jerusalem twenty days’ journey, and is therefore only figuratively joined to Jerusalem. The Greek text and all the interpreters have corresponds with, or answers to. The Jerusalem which now is, is a Slave, like Agar, and can only be the mother of slaves. She serves with her sons.

Gal 4:26. Sara is a figure of the New Testament, or of the Church of Christ, a statement which, as being obviously implied, and therefore unnecessary, the Apostle has omitted. This is the Jerusalem which is above, or on high. I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, descending from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, Rev 21:1, because the Son of God, descending from heaven, founded the Church on earth. Jerusalem signifies the vision of peace. Peace I leave to you, my peace I give you, Joh. 14:27. This Jerusalem is free, bearing children to freedom, by the spirit of adoption of sons, by which we cry Abba, Father. Lastly, she is the fruitful mother of us all, Jews and Gentiles. Lift thine eyes all around and see; these all are assembled and come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall spring up at thy side. Then shalt thou see, and overflow, and thy heart shall be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be turned unto thee, and the might of the nations has come to thee. Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows? (Is. 60:4-5, 8.) Thy deserts, and solitudes, and the land of thy ruin, shall be too narrow for its inhabitants. And the sons of thy sterility shall say in thine ears: the place is too narrow, give us space to dwell. And thou shalt say in thy heart, Who has begotten me these? (Is. 49:19-20.)

Gal 4:27. For it is written; Rejoice sterile one, who bearest not; break forth and cry, thou who dost not bring forth children; for many are the sons of the forsaken, more than of her who has a husband.

For it is written: Isa 54:1. The sterile one and the forsaken is the Gentile world, which before the coming of Christ brought forth no fruit to God. She who has a husband is the synagogue, and the prophecy implies that the children of the Catholic Church would be beyond all comparison more numerous than the Jewish nation, a prediction which had only begun to be fulfilled when these words of Saint Paul were written. The Apostle proceeds to give three applications of his parable.

Gal 4:28. And we, brethren, like Isaac are sons of promise.

We, like Isaac, are the children of promise, the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham that in him, and in Christ, who was to descend from him, all nations should be blessed. This the Jews cannot claim, for the benediction of all nations is through Christ alone; any more than Ismael could claim it of old.

Gal 4:29. But as then he who was born after the flesh persecuted him who was born after the spirit, so also now.

He who was born after the flesh persecuted him who was born after the Spirit. The words referred to in. Gen. 21:9, are, Sara saw the son of Agar the Egyptian playing with Isaac her son. This is variously explained as a quarrel about the inheritance, in which Isaac, as the younger, would of course be worsted; or that Ismael mocked at the piety of Isaac; or that Ismael had made gods of clay, after the Egyptian fashion, and endeavoured to induce Isaac to worship them ; or by other conjectures. It was undoubtedly persecution, corporal or spiritual, and stands for a figurative representation of the persecution of the early Christian Church by the Jews. So also now.

Gal 4:30. But what says the Scripture? Cast out the maidservant and her son ; for the son of the maidservant shall not be heir, with the son of the free.

What says the Scripture ? Gen. 21:10: Cast out the maidservant and her son. This is the third and principal application of the allegory, and signifies the exclusion of the synagogue and the unbelieving portion of the Jewish nation from the communion of the Church of God, into which admittance can be found only through faith in Christ. The Galatians could not but see that the synagogue being cast out, or repudiated, they had reason to dread the loss of their inheritance, like Ismael, if by rersisting in legal observances, they made themselves children of the synagogue, and therefore slaves.

Gal 4:31. Therefore, brethren, we are not sons of the maidservant, but of the free; for with this liberty Christ has made us free.

You therefore, Galatian Christians, are not sons of the synagogue, nor bound to tbe rites and obligations of the Jewish law; but to the commands of God, as your Father, and the precepts of the Church of Christ, your spiritual mother, who is free. And this freedom we owe, not to merit of our own, but to the grace of Christ, who by his passion and death has emancipated us from the yoke of that law which, in fulfilling, he has abrogated and done away with.

It may be observed, with reference to this allegory, that the Scriptures of the Old Testament have throughout a prophetic reference to the New, and are intended to be read with that fact in view. This prophetic meaning was doubtless not always known to the ancient writers, who could not have had.within their mental vision the whole series of the events of future times ; but it was known to, and intended by, the Spirit of God, who inspired and dictated the sacred records. Neither is it confined to such notices and references to the Old Testament as the writings of the New Testament contain; for the whole of the ancient narrative is full of such applications, which may often be found by those who look for them diligently, and are sometimes striking and startling. Nevertheless, this imposes upon students of the Old Testament the obligation of carefully observing that these typical correspondences and coincidences are to be found and noted for edification only, and as probable and reasonable con-. jectures, and are never absolutely certain, except where © they are confirmed by the authority of Christ, or the sacred writers of the New Testament, or other writers of approved authority. Subject to this caution, any reader can find many for himself, or study with profit and pleasure those which have been collected by Catholic writers. The acts and proceedings of the patriarchs, kings, and leaders of the ancient people of Israel, very often have this prophetic character, and the incidents in their lives which have not, are generally omitted in the sacred narrative, in which many are inserted which, but for this prophetic reference, would not seem to be greatly important; such as the comparatively trivial incident of Esau’s pretending to sell his birthright for pottage.

COROLLARY OF PIETY

We are not children of the bondslave; we are children of the free. The first statement was what it was most important for St. Paul to impress upon the Christians of Galatia, eighteen hundred years ago, in consequence of the errors of their belief; the second is the more interesting tous. Weare children of God, and of our mother, the Church. Be followers of God, as beloved children, and walk in love. We love God as our Father, and from love obey him, and look forward to, and long for, as our promised inheritance, the things that are spiritual, celestial, eternal, and divine. Yet, even now, says St. Anselm, there are to be met with those who seem to be born after the flesh, and love above all things else the things of time. Such are children of the Old Testament, transplanted into the days of the New. Children of the bond-slave, they too often persecute the lovers of celestial things, whose hopes are fixed upon things eternal, and who are the children of the Free. As then, says the Apostle, so also now. And this now will last to the end of the world. Always in this world, the flesh and the spirit will be opposed, and the children of the flesh, who live for earthly aims and objects, will annoy and persecute the children of freedom, whose hope and inheritance is in eternity. All who will live piously in Christ will suffer persecution, 2 Tim. 3:12. Every believer in Christ, who is honest and fears God, must make up his mind to this. This life is no place of peace and rest; yet it is to peace and rest that temporal persecution leads, and of peace and rest that temporal persecution is a pledge. Blessed who endure persecution; for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us, at the final emancipation and freedom of the glory of the sons of God. That is our inheritance and destiny, for the Holy Catholic Church, the Jerusalem, which is from above, is free, who is the mother of us all.

Father de Piconio’s Commentary on Galatians 4:8-20

Gal 4:8. But then indeed being ignorant of God you served gods who are not by nature gods.
Gal 4:9. But now that you know God, yes, are known of God, how is it you turn back again to the feeble and destitute elements, which you desire to serve anew?
Gal  4:10. You observe days, and months, and seasons, and years.

(Gal 4:8-10) Either in serious reproach or severe sarcasm, St. Paul describes the Judaizing superstition of the Galatians as a relapse into paganism. For your old idolatry some excuse can be found. You worshipped gods who are not gods in reality, but only in popular belief, because at that time you knew not the true God. But now that you know him, or rather are known by him (so the Greek ; the Syriac reads now that you know God, and what is more, are known to God). To be known to God means to be received, recognised, and approved as his sons. Why, as if you had become children again, do you go back to the alphabet of your infancy, the observance of rites and customs which are weak, because they have no power of sanctification, poor because they contain not, and cannot confer, the riches of celestial grace. These you are willing to serve anew, not in the same manner, but with no greater profit to your souls. Formerly you worshipped idols which had no realities corresponding to them ; now you look for purification in customs and observances which have no efficacy for the sanctification of the soul. You observe the sabbath, the new moons, the feast of tabernacles, the day of propitiation, the feast of trumpets, the sabbatical year, the year of jubilee: all which the Judaizing teachers instruct you to keep as holy, and as included in the obligations incurred by circumcision. The Christian festivals are not, as some heretical writers maintain, included in this condemnation, for they are not observed with any superstitious end or belief, nor as being directly of divine appointnient. They are the appointment of the Church, for objects evidently of advantage to Christian people, and tending manifestly to the promotion of devotion and piety. In the Christian calendar all days are holy. And the heretical argument is inconsistent with itself, and proves too much, for if the observation of the Christian festivals is condemned indirectly by the Apostle in this passage; that of Sunday is condemned among them, a day which almost all heretics observe as sacred.

Paganism is spoken of by St. Paul as a condition of ignorance and slavery. You were ignorant of God; you did service to imaginary gods who do not exist in the universe. The faith of Christ is a condition of light and freedom. But on this account the relapse into sin is evidently graver and more serious in the Christian, than in the pagan. 

Gal 4:11. I fear you, lest haply I have laboured among you to no purpose. 

I fear for you. The Apostle’s love and affection for the Galatian Christians was tossed on the waves of anxiety. He fears and trembles for their salvation. St. Chrysostom. Lest haply I have laboured in vain. The gravity of the danger consisted in this, that since the new moons, and sabbaths, an.1 other similar observances, were never alleged to be appointed by Jesus Christ, or by his authority, the observance of them indicated that the Galatians reposed only a partial trust in Christ, if they reposed any at all, and looked for sanctification and salvation to another religion and another system. The object of the teachers in whom they had placed their confidence was plainly to withdraw them altogether, if possible, from the faith of Christ. They were becoming Jews instead of Christians, and might as well have remained pagans, as far as regarded any advantage to their spiritual state. But, as St. Chrysostom observes, he says if haply, not to drive them to despair. He says not, I have laboured m vain (Isa 49:4), but I fear lest I have. The ship is not wrecked, but I see the tempest rising; I fear, I despair not; it is still within your power to correct the evil, to sail forth again into smooth waters, and find refuge: from the storm.

Gal 4:12. Be as I, because I as you. Brethren, I beseech you, in nothing you have injured me.

Lest I should have laboured among you in vain, I entreat you now to follow the example I have set, and abandoning the Jewish observances, assert your Christian freedom as I have done. I have left the wrecked ship and swum to shore, do you also the same. There have been suggested other explanations of these words, but the above is the most simple and natural one. Do not think, he adds, that I write in anger, under a sense of injury. You have done me no wrong.

Gal 4:13. And you know that through infirmity of the flesh: I preached the gospel to you long ago, and your temptation in my flesh.

Not only have you done me no wrong, but when I was among you, you exhibited extraordinary kindness and charity towards me. I must have appeared to you, being subject to slander and persecution, vile, abject, miserable; one whom you could have reasonably overlooked, neglected, and despised. The infirmity of the flesh referred to was the poverty of his surroundings, in which the Apostle was then placed, or else the weakness of bodily presence, and what the prejudiced or unobservant took for deficiency of eloquence, remarked by his opponents at Corinth, 1 Cor 2:3; 2 Cor. 10:4, 10. Your temptation in my flesh is another reference to the same thing, as interposing a difficulty in his reception by the Galatians. The present Greek text has my temptation, but the reading of the Vulgate, which is more intelligible, is confirmed by the Syriac version.

Gal 4:14. You despised me not, nor rejected, but received’ me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

Yet you did not despise or spurn me. On the contrary, you received me as if I were an angel from heaven, or Christ himself, and testified the most extreme joy and satisfaction at my presence, on account of the message of reconciliation with God which I brought you.

Gal 4:15. Where then is your beatitude? For I bear my testimony to you, that if it could be done, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.

Where is this joy and enthusiasm vanished to ? For I declare my belief that you would have pulled out your eyes and given them to me, as more precious to you than sight, if it could have done me any good. Why has this confidence and affection been changed into suspicion and dislike? The Greek text has what is your beatitude, but the Syriac reads as the Vulgate.

Gal 4:16. Then am I become an enemy to you, telling you the truth?

Can it be that I am become an enemy to you, or come to be regarded as your enemy, because I have told you what is true? Or is it not rather, that others have studiously laboured to bring me into suspicion, and prejudice your minds against me, with a view of depriving you of the faith I taught you?

Gal 4:17. They seek you earnestly, not well, but they wish to exclude you, that you may seek them.

Your teachers leave no stone unturned, move heaven and earth, to effect your conversion to their views, and obtain their confidence. But this is not with any good motive, nor zeal for vour spiritual advantage, but in the desire to detach you from me, and shut you out from the faith and communion of the Catholic Church, that you may become followers of them, for their own aggrandizement and renown. This sort of restless activity has been a characteristic of teachers of heresy in all ages.

Gal 4:18. Seek earnestly the good in what is good always, and not only when I am present with you.

Follow earnestly and zealously the counsels of a good and faithful teacher, but only when he guides you to: what is good, not when he leads you into heresy. The Greek text reads the introductory words of this verse as a general proposition. It is good, reasonable, and salutary, zealously and earnestly to attach yourselves to your religious teachers, but only in what is good. And it  would be irrational to follow his advice only when he is present to give it, for if it is sound, it is equally excellent and obligatory in his absence. You were once zealous adherents of the doctrine I taught you: why should my absence make any difference in your attachment to it, if it was sound and true? The Apostle here states the three conditions indispensable for zeal on behalf of a. religious teacher, that it may be just and salutary : the teacher must be good and faithful ; he is to be followed only in what tends to good ; and in these cases, the attention paid to his instructions should be constant and unwavering, not affected by his presence or absence.

Gal 4:19. My little children, of whom again I am in labour, until Christ be formed in you.

In writing to the Corinthians, 1 Cor 4:15, Saint Paul claimed to be their spiritual father, because he had converted them to the faith. He calls himself the mother of the Galatians, whom with many pangs, sorrows, and troubles he had brought to the birth. A literal birth is only once; but now he had all this sorrow and anxiety over again, and laboured in delivery of them once more. Until Christ be formed in you, for Christ, or Christ’s faith, is the form and life of the soul. The just liveth of faith.

Gal 4:20. But I wish I were with you now, and could change my voice, because I am confounded in you.

I earnestly wish I could return and see you again, to know more accurately your condition of mind, that I might adapt my words to the state in which I find you, and address to you warning or encouragement, as the case may require. Perhaps there is further reference to the metaphor of the last verse, for a mother will change her voice in addressing her young child, according as it requires for the moment blame or praise. I am confounded in you. The Greek: I have lost my way in you. The Syriac: I am amazed in you. 1 am in doubt how to write to you, whether as still Christians and Catholics, or as having already deserted Christ for heresy.

The prelate is the mother of his flock. All his life he is bearing them to Christ. He must alternately pray, entreat, lament, argue, reprove for the advancement and perfection of his subjects. Patience and perseverance are requisite for this, and will do all. The Blessed Virgin brought Christ forth, without the pains of labour; but the preacher must bring forth children to Christ with toil, and pain and suffering, that he may form in his people the spirit and faith of Christ, accommodating his words to the disposition and condition of his hearers, but all with charity, like the varying accents of maternal affection, to ‘bring forth souls to Christ.

Father de Piconio’s Commentary on Galatians 4:1-7

Text in red, if any, are my additions.

In this chapter the Apostle asserts and illustrates the nobility and freedom of the Christian in the Catholic Church of Christ.

Gal 4:1. And I say as long as the heir is a little child, he nothing differs from a slave, though he is lord of all;
Gal 4:2. But is under guardians and agents, up to the time .appointed by his father.

As long as the heir is a child. The Apostle takes up the word heirs, which is the concluding word of the last chapter, in the Greek and in the Vulgate, and makes it the subject of the reflections and illustrations by which he expands and developes the idea, in this chapter. The heir when a child, and though the real possessor of all things round him, has nevertheless to be treated as if he were a servant, as regards the control of himself and choice of his movements and proceedings, on account of his inexperience of life. He himself is controlled by his guardians, and his property managed by agents and factors, under their superintendence, until his arrival at full age.

Gal 4:3. So we also, when were little children, were in service under the elements of the world.

So we, the Jews, though heirs of the promise, were like little children, and treated as such. Children in intelligence, we saw only outward signs, without understanding their significance, or understanding it inperfectly. Children in affection, we regarded only the temporal promises of the law, the gifts of God for this mortal life. We were instructed by the law of Moses,, which God gave to the world as conveying the first elements or rudiments of piety and religion, the alphabet of faith, the elementa, or elevamenta, as Ambrose says, the first rudiments of education: like the first lessons given to infancy. We were in bondage or service to the ritual of the Hebrew religion, not perceiving that these things were only signs of something else ; and controlled by threats or fear of punishment, to obedience to the commands of God.

Gal 4:4. And when the fulness of time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under law,
Gal 4:5. To redeem us who were under law, that we might receive the adoption of the sons of God.

(Gal 4:4) Thee fulness of the time. When the time came which was marked out and appointed by God the Father, for the fulfilment of the great promise made to Abraham, and when the race of man were ready to enter upon the inheritance then pledged to them, which was to be the benediction of all the nations: He sent Christ, the promise, the benediction, the inheritance, his onlybegotten Son, born of woman, like all other men who have come into this world, and therefore human, but with no sire but his heavenly Father, because he was divine.

Made under the law, that is born of a Hebrew mother, and therefore subject to the obligation of the law, in consequence of which he received circumcision and practised the requirements of the Mosaic institutions, by his own free will. (Gal 4:5) Not to be cleansed by the law, says St. Anselm, but to set at liberty those who were subject to the pressure of its claims. And that both Jews and Gentiles might receive the adoption of the sons of God. The Greek, receive the sonship. Recover that adoption as sons- of God which was lost by the fall of Adam, and the restoration of which was promised to the sons of Abraham.

Gal 4:6. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying: Abba Father.

 Because you, are sons. Because you, Galatians, who’ were originally pagans and not Jews, have become by adoption sons of God, equally with those who were Jews- before they received the faith of Christ, therefore God has- sent his Holy Spirit into your hearts, that is into your souls into which you receive the grace of God, and by this filial love you are enabled and encouraged to say to God^ in Christ’s words, Our Father. See some further observations on this subject in the commentary on Rom. 8:15.

Gal 4:7. Therefore now there is not a servant, but a son; and if a son, also an heir through God.

The Greek has: therefore thou art no more a servant, but a son. The Vulgate has the verb est for es. The spirit of God is called indifferently the Spirit of the Father, and the Spirit of the Son. The Apostle says in this place the Spirit of his Son, because he is engaged in. proving the adoption of Christian believers to be the sons of God. The fact that the Galatian Christians had received the Spirit of God, was one that required no- proof, because the miracles which had been wrought, and were even then wrought continually, among them,, afforded an unanswerable demonstration of it. The Apostle’s argument is that you have undoubtedly received the Holy Spirit, and that spirit is the Spirit of the Son, therefore you have received the adoption of sons. If a son, you are an heir of God. A father will sometimes distribute to his sons, when of full age, a portion of his inheritance, as a pledge and earnest for the remainder which they are one day to inherit. God is our eternal inheritance, to be enjoyed in heaven ; in pledge and earnest of which, and as a portion of it given in advance, he has sent the Spirit of his Son into our souls, the pledge of our sonship, and earnest of our inheritance, to be .received in full hereafter.