Galatians

Ver 15. “We, being Jews by nature and not Gentile sinners,

John Chrysostom comments, "Observe how he represses the high thoughts of the Jews; each argument lays the ground for the next, and his language is authoritative. We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles. The phrase, Jews by nature, implies that we, who are not proselytes, but educated from early youth in the Law, have relinquished our habitual mode of life, and betaken ourselves to the faith which is in Christ." (Commentary on Galatians).

Jerome comments, "We know that we cannot be saved by the works of the Law but by faith in Christ. We have believed in Christ so that our faith in him might give us what the Law could not. We abandoned the Law in which we could not be saved, and we have gone over to faith, in which the devotion of a pure heart is demanded, not the circumcision of the flesh. By now withdrawing from the Gentiles we declare that whoever is uncircumcised is unclean. Therefore, is faith in Christ, by which we previously thought we were saved, the agent of sin rather than of righteousness, which abolishes [the need for] circumcision, the very thing without which one is deemed unclean? God forbid that I should uphold what I once attacked and knew would never again be beneficial to me. When I decisively departed from the Law, I died to it that I might live in Christ and be nailed to his cross and that I might be reborn as a new man and live by faith, not by the flesh, and leave the world in Christ. I remain steadfast in my original resolve. Christ did not die for me for nothing. If I was able to be saved by keeping the old Law instead of by having faith in him, then I have believed in Christ in vain." (Commentary on Galatians).

John Calvin comments, "Skilfully anticipating the objection, Paul turns it to the opposite conclusion. Since the Jews themselves, with all their advantages, were forced to betake themselves to the faith of Christ, how much more necessary was it that the Gentiles should look for salvation through faith?" (Commentary on Galatians).

Ver 16. yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.

Clement of Rome writes, "Nor were the rest of his tribes in any little glory: God having promised that their seed shall be as the stars of heaven. They were all therefore greatly glorified, not for their own sake, or for their own works, or for the righteousness that they themselves wrought, but through his will. And we also being called by the same will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, neither by our own wisdom, or knowledge, or piety, or the works which we have done in the holiness of our hearts. But by that faith, by which God Almighty has justified all men from the beginning; to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen." (Letter to the Corinthians, ch 32).

Jerome comments, "Some say that if Paul is right to assert that no one is justified by the works of the Law but by faith in Jesus Christ, then the patriarchs, prophets, and saints who lived prior to Christ's advent were lacking in something. We must remind these objectors that Paul is talking here about those who have not pursued righteousness and who believe that they can be justified only by works. The saints who lived long ago, however, were justified by faith in Christ. Abraham foresaw the day of Christ and rejoiced. 'Moses regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.' Isaiah beheld the glory of Christ, as John the Evangelist notes... Thus it is not so much the works of the Law that are condemned as those who are confident that they can be justified by them...

The flesh about which it is said, 'All flesh is like grass, and all of its glory is like the flowers of the field,' is not justified by the works of the Law. But the flesh spoken of in the mystery of the resurrection, 'All flesh will see God's salvation,' is justified through faith in Jesus Christ. According to the more common understanding, it used to be that the only flesh redeemable by the Law were those who lived in Palestine. Now, however, all flesh is justified by faith in Jesus Christ, as his churches are being established all over the world." (Commentary on Galatians).

Peter Lombard comments, "In short, there is no way that one can be justified except through the faith of Christ Jesus, referring to the faith by which one believes in Christ. It is for this reason, therefore, that we Jews, like the gentiles, believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. The Apostle does not say that by faith good works are thereby made meaningless, for God renders to each person according to that person's works. Rather, it is because works proceed from grace—not grace from works." (The Bible in Medieval Tradition: The Letter to the Galatians, Ian Christopher Levy, Eerdmans, 2011).

Martin Luther comments, "After we have taught faith in Christ, we teach good works. 'Since you have found Christ by faith,' we say, 'begin now to work and do well. Love God and your neighbor. Call upon God, give thanks unto Him, praise Him, confess Him. These are good works. Let them flow from a cheerful heart, because you have remission of sin in Christ.' " (Commentary on Galatians).

Ver 17. But if while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not!

John of Damascus comments, "Look at the absurd direction into which he leads those who are attached to the Law. If the faith in Christ, he says, is not sufficient to justify, but, once again there is a need to uphold the Law, and if those, having left the Law for Christ, are not justified in doing so, but rather are condemned, then Christ will be found to be the cause of our condemnation, since we left the law on his account in order to run towards the faith. 'God forbid,' he says. Seeing the absurdity, which this doctrine leads to, he immediately turns away from it by using this aphorism." (Commentary on St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians).

Anselm writes, "My merits were Thy Death; my iniquity Thy Chastisement. O wonderful compact of judgment; O arrangment of unspeakable mystery! The unjust sinneth, and the Just is punished; the guilty erreth, and the Innocent is beaten; the unloving offendeth, and the Loving is condemned; what the evil deserveth, the Good suffereth; what the slave perpetrateth, the Master payeth the penalty for; what man committeth, God endureth... For I have done wickedly, Thou sufferest the penalty: I have committed sin, Thou art visited with the vengeance: I have been guilty of crimes, and Thou art subjected to torment: I have been proud, Thou art humbled: I have been puffed up, Thou art emaciated: I have shewn myself disobedient, Thou, by being obedient to the Father, payest the penalty of my disobedience." (Second Prayer, pg 183).

Ver 18. For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker.

Ignatius writes, "Let us not, therefore, be insensible to His kindness. For were He to reward us according to our works, we should cease to be. Therefore, having become His disciples, let us learn to live according to the principles of Christianity. For whosoever is called by any other name besides this, is not of God. Lay aside, therefore, the evil, the old, the sour leaven, and be changed into the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ. Be salted in Him, lest any one among you should be corrupted, since by your savour you shall be convicted. It is absurd to profess Christ Jesus, and to Judaize. For Christianity did not embrace Judaism, but Judaism Christianity, that so every tongue which believes might be gathered together to God." (Epistle to the Magnesians, ch 10).

Ver 19. For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God.

Justin Martyr writes, "For Isaiah did not send you to a bath, there to wash away murder and other sins, which not even all the water of the sea were sufficient to purge; but, as might have been expected, this was that saving bath of the olden time which followed those who repented, and who no longer were purified by the blood of goats and of sheep, or by the ashes of an heifer, or by the offerings of fine flour, but by faith through the blood of Christ, and through His death, who died for this very reason" (Dialogue with Trypho, Ch 13).

Ver 20. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.

Mathetes writes, "But when our wickedness had reached its height, and it had been clearly shown that its reward, punishment and death, was impending over us; and when the time had come which God had before appointed for manifesting His own kindness and power, how the one love of God, through exceeding regard for men, did not regard us with hatred, nor thrust us away, nor remember our iniquity against us, but showed great long-suffering, and bore with us, He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for those who are mortal. For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than His righteousness? By what other one was it possible that we, the wicked and ungodly, could be justified, than by the only Son of God? O sweet exchange!" (The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus, Ch 9).

William Nicoll comments, "Why did St. Paul love Christ with such an overwhelming passion? To answer it aright would be to retrace the whole history. But first we say that St. Paul's love was the love of gratitude. 'He loved me and gave Himself for me' that is the burning centre. Christ died for the ungodly. We are justified by faith in His blood. St. Paul knew the great desolation of the Victim of Love. Christ was made a curse for him on the tree of Calvary. Christ kept knocking by the voice of interior grace at the door of his heart till his heart opened. Then the soul that had been separated from the Author of Peace was restless and weary no longer. To him the meritorious death of Christ became the beautiful gate of the temple whereby he entered into the treasure-house of God. The full, finished, and perfect sacrifice and atonement for the sins of the whole world blotted out the transgressions that were past. More than that: if any man be in Christ there is a new creation. There is the stroke that ends him and the touch that begins him afresh. The faith of St. Paul apprehended the dying of the Lord Jesus, and the Spirit that raised up Christ from the dead quickened his mortal body. Mystically he died and rose again in Christ." (Expositor's Dictionary of Text).

Ver 21. I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”

Marius Victorinus comments, "I am not ungrateful to God’s grace (2: 21), so that, God having redeemed me through Christ and Christ having handed himself over for my sake, I would return to the hope of the Law—all the hope I have in Christ being disregarded—and would believe myself to be justified based on the works of the Law. That would be ungrateful to the one who did so much for me, who for my sake would put himself in the line of fire in order to liberate me from my sins by taking their penalties upon himself." (Commentary on Galatians, translated by Stephen Andrew Cooper).

Bernard writes, "As for your justice, so great is the fragrance it diffuses that you are called not only just but even justice itself, the justice that makes men just. Your power to make men just is measured by your generosity in forgiving. Therefore the man who through sorrow for sin hungers and thirsts for justice, let him trust in the One who changes the sinner into a just man, and, judged righteous in terms of faith alone, he will have peace with God." (Sermons on the Song of Solomon, 22.8)

Charles Spurgeon comments, "They who say that the death of Christ goes only part of the way, but that man must do something in order to merit eternal life,— these, I say, make this death of Christ to be only partially effective, and, in yet clearer terms, ineffectual in and of itself. If it be even hinted that the blood of Jesus is not price enough till man adds his silver or his gold, then his blood is not our redemption at all, and Christ is no Redeemer! If it be taught that our Lord’s bearing of sin for us did not make a perfect atonement, and that it is ineffectual till we either do or suffer something to complete it, then in the supplemental work lies the real virtue, and Christ’s work is in itself insufficient. His death cry of 'It is finished,' must have been all a mistake, if still it is not finished; and if a believer in Christ is not completely saved by what Christ has done, but must do something himself to complete it, then salvation was not finished, and the Saviour’s work remains imperfect till we, poor sinners, lend a hand to make up for his deficiencies. What blasphemy lies in such a supposition!" (Salvation by Works, a Criminal Doctrine, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Vol 26).