He exhorts to charity, humility and all virtue. He glories in nothing but in the cross of Christ.
If any do sinne, therest that do the vvorkes of the Holy Ghost, must not therfore take pride in them selues, but rather make humilitie of it, partly by fearing their ovvne fall, partly by looking straitly to their ovvne vvorkes. 6 He exhorteth earnestly to good vvorkes, assuring them that they shal reaps none other then here they sovv. 11 With his ovvne hand he vvriteth, telling them, the true cause vvhy those false Apostles preach circumcision, to be only to please the Ievves: 17 and a plaine argument that he preacheth it not, to be this, that he is persecuted of the Ievves.
1Brethren, and if a man be overtaken in any fault, you, who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.Fratelli, se un uomo sia stato preoccupato sgraziatamente in qualche fallo, voi, che siete spirituali, istruite questo tale in ispirito di dolcezza, e pon mente a te stesso, che tu pure non caschi in tentazione.BRETHREN, and if a man be preoccupared in any fault, you that are spiritual, instruct such an one in the spirit of lenitie, considering thine ovvne self, lest thou also be tempted.Fratres, etsi præoccupatus fuerit homo in aliquo delicto, vos, qui spirituales estis, hujusmodi instruite in spiritu lenitatis, considerans teipsum, ne et tu tenteris. 2Bear ye one another’s burdens: and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ.Portate gli uni i pesi degli altri, e così adempirete la legge di Cristo.Beare ye one an others burdens: & so you shal fulfil the lavv of Christ.Alter alterius onera portate, et sic adimplebitis legem Christi. 3For if any man think himself to be some thing, whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.Imperocché se alcuno si tiene di essere qualche cosa, mentre non è nulla, questi seduce se stesso.For if any man esteeme him self to be something, vvhereas he is nothing, he seduceth him self.Nam si quis existimat se aliquid esse, cum nihil sit, ipse se seducit. 4But let every one prove his own work: and so he shall have glory in himself only and not in another.Ma ciascheduno disamini l'opera sua, e così sol in se stesso avrà gloria, e non presso altrui.But let euery one proue his ovvne vvorke, & so in him self only shal he haue the glorie, and not in an other.Opus autem suum probet unusquisque, et sic in semetipso tantum gloriam habebit, et non in altero. 5For every one shall bear his own burden.Conciossiachè ciascheduno porterà il proprio peso.For euery one shal beare his ovvne burden.Unusquisque enim onus suum portabit. 6And let him that is instructed in the word communicate to him that instructeth him, in all good things.Quegli poi, che è catechizzato nella parola, faccia parte di tutto quello, che ha di bene, a chi lo catechizza.And let him that is catechized in the vvord, communicate to him that catechizeth him, in al his goods.Communicet autem is qui catechizatur verbo, ei qui se catechizat, in omnibus bonis. 7Be not deceived: God is not mocked.Non ingannate voi stessi: Iddio non si schernisce.Be not deceiued, God is not mocked.Nolite errare: Deus non irridetur. 8For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit of the spirit shall reap life everlasting.Imperocché quello, che l'uomo avrà seminato, quello ancor mieterà: onde chi semina per la sua carne, dalla carne mieterà la corruzione: chi poi semina per lo Spirito, dallo Spirito mieterà la vita eterna.For what things a mā shal sow, those also shal he reape. For he that sovveth in his flesh, of the flesh also shal reape corruptiō but he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shal reape life euerlasting.Quæ enim seminaverit homo, hæc et metet. Quoniam qui seminat in carne sua, de carne et metet corruptionem: qui autem seminat in spiritu, de spiritu metet vitam æternam.
9And in doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing.Non ci stanchiamo nel far del bene: Conciossiachè non istancandoci mieteremo a suo tempo.And doing good, let vs not faile. For in due time vve shal reape not failing.Bonum autem facientes, non deficiamus: tempore enim suo metemus non deficientes. 10Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith.Per la qual cosa fino che abbiam tempo, facciam del bene a tutti, massimamente però a quegli, che per la fede sono della stessa famiglia.Therfore vvhiles vve haue time, let vs vvorke good to al, but especially to the domesticals of the faith.Ergo dum tempus habemus, operemur bonum ad omnes, maxime autem ad domesticos fidei. 11See what a letter I have written to you with my own hand.Guardate, che lettera vi ho scritto di proprio pugno.See vvith vvhat maner of letters I haue written to you vvith mine ovvne hand.Videte qualibus litteris scripsi vobis mea manu. 12For as many as desire to please in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer the persecution of the cross of Christ.Tutti coloro, che vogliono esser graditi secondo la carne, questi vi sforzano a circoncidervi solo per non patire persecuzione per la croce di Cristo.Vvhosoeuer vvil please in the flesh, they force you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer the persecution of the crosse of Christ.Quicumque enim volunt placere in carne, hi cogunt vos circumcidi, tantum ut crucis Christi persecutionem non patiantur. 13For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law: but they will have you to be circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.Imperocché neppur quegli, che sì circoncidono, osservan la legge: ma vogliono, che vi circondiate per glorificarsi sopra la vostra carne.For neither they that are circumcised, do keepe the Lavv: but they vvil haue you to be circumcised, that they may glorie in your flesh.Neque enim qui circumciduntur, legem custodiunt: sed volunt vos circumcidi, ut in carne vestra glorientur. 14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.Ma lungi da me il gloriarmi d'altro, che della croce del Signor nostro Gesù Cristo, per cui il mondo è a me crocifisso, e io al mondo.But God forbid that I should glorie, sauing in the crosse of our Lord IESVS Christ: by vvhom the vvorld is crucified to me, and I to the vvorld.Mihi autem absit gloriari, nisi in cruce Domini nostri Jesu Christi: per quem mihi mundus crucifixus est, et ego mundo.
15For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision: but a new creature.Imperocché in Cristo Gesù non fa nulla l'essere circonciso, né l'essere incirconciso, ma la nuova creazione.For in Christ IESVS neither circumcision auaileth ought, nor prepuce, but a nevv creature.In Christo enim Jesu neque circumcisio aliquid valet, neque præputium, sed nova creatura. 16And whosoever shall follow this rule, peace on them and mercy: and upon the Israel of God.E quanti seguiranno questa norma, sopra di essi pace, e misericordia, e sopra Israele di Dio.And vvhosoeuer shal folovv this rule, peace vpō them, and mercie, and vpon the Israël of God.Et quicumque hanc regulam secuti fuerint, pax super illos, et misericordia, et super Israël Dei. 17From henceforth let no man be troublesome to me: for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body.Del rimanente nissuno mi inquieti: imperocché io porto le stimate del Signore Gesù nel mio corpo.From hencefurth let no man be troublesome to me for I beare the markesDe cetero, nemo mihi molestus sit: ego enim stigmata Domini Jesu in corpore meo porto. 18The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.La grazia del Signor nostro Gesù Cristo col vostro spirito, o fratelli. Così sia.of our Lord IESVS in my body. The grace of our Lord IESVS Christ be vvith your spirit brethren. Amen.Gratia Domini nostri Jesu Christi cum spiritu vestro, fratres. Amen.
6:2
Witham
One another's burdens. This is not contrary to what is added ver. 5, that every one shall bear his own burden, because in the first place the sense is, that we must bear patiently with one another's faults and imperfections; in the second, that every one must answer for himself at God's tribunal. (Witham)
Calmet
Every one has his failings and weaknesses, and stands in need of indulgence from his brethren; he must, therefore, grant to them what he so much desires to receive from them. (Calmet)
6:6
Witham
Communicate....in all good things: by this communication, is understood an assisting of others in their wants. (Witham)
St. Augustine
Such as are blessed with the goods of this world, should gladly communicate a share of their efforts to the preachers and teachers of the true faith; and this not merely as a return for what they have received, but also that they may be made thereby partakers of their merit. (St. Augustine, lib. 2. evang. quaest. q. 8.)
6:7
Calmet
This is addressed to the avaricious, who, under various pretexts, excused themselves from contributing to the support of their teachers. But they are here informed, that their excuses will not screen them from the anger of God. (Calmet)
6:8
Witham
He that soweth in his flesh, etc. The apostle represents the flesh and the spirit like two fields, on which men sow good or bad seed, according to which they shall reap. (Witham)
6:9
Works of mercy are the seed of life everlasting, and the proper cause thereof, and not faith only.
6:10
Witham
The household of the faith: those who profess the same true faith. (Witham)
6:11
Witham
What a letter I have written....with my own hand. St. Jerome understands this of what he is now beginning to write, the rest being written by the hand of another. Others understand the whole letter. (Witham)
Calmet
St. Chrysostom, Theophylactus, and Theodoret, suppose that the apostle wrote the whole epistle with his own hand, and here excuses himself for writing so ill the Grecian letters, which were so very different from those of his native language. But St. Jerome understands, that he wrote only this latter part of the epistle, as a testimony that the whole came from him. (Calmet)
6:12
Witham
He tells them the false teachers would have them circumcised first, to avoid persecution from the Jewish party; and secondly to glory in having made them their proselytes. (Witham)
6:14
Witham
As for my part, I will glory in nothing but in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, but in Christ crucified. (Witham)
6:15
Witham
But a new creature; but to be born anew, to receive the spiritual life of grace. (Witham)
6:17
Witham
I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body, by the stripes and wounds I have received for preaching the gospel. (Witham)
Formerly it was not unusual to stamp certain characters on the bodies of soldiers, fugitives, and of domestics, purposely to distinguish them. There are three principal parts in this epistle. The first is the history of the vocation of St. Paul, Galatians 1:and ii.; the second is on justification and the abrogation of the law; the third is an exhortation to persevere in Christian liberty, to avoid its abuse, and to perform the various duties of a Christian.
6:18
Ephesus was the capital of Lesser Asia, and celebrated for the temple of Diana, to which the most part of the people of the East went frequently to worship. But St. Paul having preached the Gospel there, for two years the first time and afterwards for about a year, converted many. He wrote this Epistle to them when he was a prisoner in Rome; and sent it by Tychicus. He admonishes them to hold firmly the faith which they had received and warns them, and also those of the neighbouring cities, against the sophistry of philosophers and doctrine of false teachers who were come among them. The matters of faith contained in this Epistle are exceedingly sublime, and consequently very difficult to be understood. It was written about twenty-nine years after our Lord’s Ascension.
6:5
Concordance 1. Cor. 9, 7.
6:6
6. Communicate] The great duety & respect that vve ought to haue to such as preach or teach vs the Cath. Duety to our spiritual teachers. faith. and not in regard onely of their paines taken vvith vs, and vvel-deseruing of vs by their doctrine: but that vve may be partakers of their merites, vve ought specially to do good to such, or (as the Apostle speaketh) cōmunicate vvith them in al our temporal goods, that vve may be partakers of their spiritual. See S. Augustine li. 2. Euang. quaest. q. 8.
6:9
Concordance 2. Thes. 3, 13.
The workes of mercie be the seede of life euerlasting, and the proper cause thereof, and not faith only.
6:10
10. Especially.] In almes whom to preferre. In giuing almes, though vve may do vvel in helping al that are in necessitie, as farre as vve can, yet vve are more bound to succour Christians, then Ievves or Infidels: and Catholikes, then Heretikes. See S. Hierom q. 1. ad Hedibiam.
6:14
In the liturgy The Epistle for S. Francis, Octob. 4.
Christ (saith S. Augustine) chose a kinde of death, to hang on the Crosse and to sixe or fasten the same crosse in the foreheads of the faithful, that the Christian may say, God forbid that I should glorie sauing in the crosse of our Lord IESVS CHRIST. Expos. in Euang. Io. tract. 43.
6:15
15. A nevv creature.] Iustice an inherent qualitie in vs. Note vvel that the Apostle calleth that here a nevv creature, vvhich in the last chapter he termed, faith vvorking by charitie, & (1 Cor. 7, 19) the obseruatiō of the cōmaundemēts of God. Vvhereby vve may learne that vnder the name of faith is conteined the vvhole reformation of our soules and our nevv creation in good vvorkes, and also that Christian iustice is a very qualitie, Faith with the other vertues is the formal cause of iustification. condition and state of vertue and grace resident in vs, and not a phantastical apprehension of Christes iustice only imputed to vs. Lastly, that the faith vvhich iustifieth, ioyned vvith the other vertues, is properly the formal cause, and not the efficient or instrumental cause of iustification, that is to say, these vertues put together, being the effect of Gods grace, be our nevv creature and our iustice in Christ.
6:1
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 51.18
… while yet, dearest brother, we ought to remember that it is written, “A brother that helpeth a brother shall be exalted;” and that the apostle also has said, “Let all of you severally have regard to yourselves, lest ye also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ;”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.10
To the Galatians: “Each one having others in consideration, lest ye also should be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so ye shall fulfil the law of Christ.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 12
But why in the fashion of a dove? Gentle is that creature, and pure. Forasmuch then as the Spirit too is “a Spirit of meekness,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 27
… For thou, he says, art powerful, and art no whit the worse for condescending. But to him the hazard is of the last consequence, if he is not borne with. And he does not say the infirm, but the “infirmities of the weak,” so drawing him and bending him to mercy. As in another place too he says, “Ye that are spiritual restore such an one.” (
Rufinus of Aquileia † AD 411 The Apology of Rufinus. Addressed to Apronianus, in Reply to Jerome's Letter to Pammachius 2.37
… It is they who cause you to pass sentence upon yourself and your own writings as upon words which you once spoke as a Christian. We all of us have become worthless in your eyes, while they and their evil acts are all your delight. If you had but listened to Paul where he says in his Epistle:
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 22.5
5. But that over which you then sorrowed you ought now to suppress, not harshly, but as it is written, “in the spirit of meekness.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 219.1
… For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 14.9
… They fear to be tempted, because they hear the injunction, “If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 15.6
… See that none render evil for evil unto any man.” And in another place, “If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Against Lying 22
… “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself also, lest thou be tempted.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Against Lying 26
… Therefore he becomes as though he were that person, not for that he deceives him, but for that he thinks himself as him. Whence is that of the Apostle, which I have before rehearsed, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Baptism, Against the Donatists 5.27
… and when they "restore a man that is overtaken in a fault in the spirit of meekness, they consider themselves, lest they also be tempted."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 38.20
… “If a man be overtaken in a fault,” as the same Apostle says, “ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so shall ye fulfil the law of Christ.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 38.21
… For pity, not insult, was due from them to the weak; even as the Apostle speaks: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;” and he combines the reason why: “considering thyself also, lest thou also be tempted.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 52.9
… “Wherefore let him that thinketh himself to stand, see that he fall not.” Wherefore “with trembling”? Because he saith in another place: “Brethren, if a man shall have been overtaken in any delinquency, ye that are spiritual instruct such sort in the spirit of gentleness; heeding thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 115.8
… 9 ). “For hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” But that this patience may endure to the end, “He is their helper and defender.” Do perhaps spiritual persons (by whom carnal minds are built up in “the spirit of meekness,”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 4.19
… “But the natural man perceiveth not the things that are of the spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him.” But concerning the spiritual: “But the spiritual man judgeth all things: and he himself is judged by no man.” And again “You who are spiritual instruct such ones in the spirit of meekness.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 2.10
… Whence Paul admonishes well, when he says, If a man be overtaken in any fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted (
Early Popes (Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals) The Epistles of Pope Callistus 2.5
… but let us reprove him with brotherly affection, as the blessed apostle says: “If a man be overtaken in any fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burden, and so will ye fulfil the law of Christ.”
6:2
St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to Hero, a Deacon of Antioch 1
I Exhort thee in God, that thou add [speed] to thy course, and that thou vindicate thy dignity. Have a care to preserve concord with the saints. Bear [the burdens of] the weak, that “thou mayest fulfil the law of Christ.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.4
… the gist of it all being concentrated in this one precept! But this condensation of the law is, in fact, only possible to Him who is the Author of it. When, therefore, he says, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 14.16
… for He saw that not every cause is a reasonable ground for the dissolution of marriage, and that the husband must dwell with the wife as the weaker vessel, giving honour, and bearing her burdens in sins;
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 3.22
… For friendship knows nothing of pride. So the wise man says: “Do not blush to greet a friend.” Do not desert a friend in time of need, nor forsake him nor fail him, for friendship is the support of life. Let us then bear our burdens as the Apostle has taught:
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 8
… And yet, how ashamed we ought to be of this; how we ought to weep and bewail at it! “What then, some may say, is to become of me? such and such an one is of ungainly temper, and vexatious.” Where then is your religion (Gr. philosophy)? where are the laws of the Apostles, which bid us bear one another’s burdens? (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 6
Ver. 2 . “Bear ye one another’s burdens.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Colossians 8
… and like as wool, of whatever kind it be, receiveth another aspect, and hides its former one: so truly is it also with the faithful. “Forbearing,” he saith, “one another”; he showeth what is just. Thou forbearest him, and he thee; and so he says in the Epistle to the Galatians, “Bear ye one another’s burdens.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 30
“Bear ye one another’s burdens,” saith he, “and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 11
… So, too, when the prodigal son returns, his father receives him with joy. Nay more, the apostle says: “Judge nothing before the time.” For “who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth.” And “let him that standeth take heed lest he fall.” “Bear ye one another’s burdens.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 15.6
This sickliness—that is to say, that disobedience of which we spoke in the fourteenth book—is the punishment of the first disobedience. It is therefore not nature, but vice; and therefore it is said to the good who are growing in grace, and living in this pilgrimage by faith, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 8.7
… because he who loves God must both needs do what God has commanded, and loves Him just in such proportion as he does so; therefore he must needs also love his neighbor, because God has commanded it: or whether it be that Scripture only mentions the love of our neighbor, as in that text, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 3.5
… for "every one of shall give an account of himself. Let us not therefore judge one another any more." For, so far as relates to the burdens of mutual love, "bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Harmony of the Gospels 2.30
… “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so ye will fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man thinketh himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But it is meet that every man should prove his own work; and then shall he have rejoicing in himself, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 41.9
… another visit the sick, another bury the dead. These are things which all may do, so that in a word it would be hard to find one who has not some means of doing good to others. And last of all comes that important duty which the Apostle speaks of; “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so shall ye fulfil the law of Christ.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 17.9
… So neither mayest thou take thy neighbor to be wood of any kind soever, but a bed. Then what is there in a bed, pray? What, but that the impotent man was borne on it; but, when made whole, he carries the bed? What does the apostle say? “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so shall ye fulfill the law of Christ.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 1.12
… As Paul saith, “Forbearing one another in love, studying to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” And to show that this is the law of Christ, hear the same apostle commending this very law. “Bear ye one another’s burdens,” saith he, “and so shall ye fulfill the law of Christ.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 10.4
… The commandment of God. What is the commandment of God? That “new commandment,” which is called new because it maketh new: “A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another.” Hear because this is the law of God. The apostle saith, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so shall ye fulfill the law of Christ.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 42.4
… by thus supporting what is burdensome, each in turn, they both accomplish their journey, and do not abandon each other. Are they not a kind of “harts” that the Apostle addresses, saying, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the Law of Christ”?
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 11.10
… for how will he be able to obtain perfection of heart, who is without that by which, as the Apostle has pointed out, the full requirements of the law can be fulfilled, saying: “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ,”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.9
… that is, let the mind of the elect keep patience, lest, stirred with the wind of impatience, it lose even that which it has wrought well. Well, too, this same trench is directed to be of one cubit, because, if patience fails not, the measure of unity is preserved. Whence also Paul says, Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so ye shall fulfil the law Christ (
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.27
… Husbands and wives are to be admonished, that those things wherein they sometimes displease one another they bear with mutual patience, and by mutual exhortations remedy. For it is written, Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so ye shall fulfil the law of Christ (
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St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 The Great Catechism 40
… Let such an one, therefore, who remains in the same moral condition as before, and then babbles to himself of the beneficial change he has received from baptism, listen to what Paul says: “If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 6
Ver. 3 . “For if a man thinketh himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 10.37
… Why am I more irritated at that reproach which is cast upon myself, than at that which is with equal injustice cast upon another in my presence? Am I ignorant of this also? or does it remain that I deceive myself,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 17.4
… And then it follows, “Do not glory so proudly, and do not speak lofty things, neither let vaunting talk come out of your mouth. For a God of knowledge is the Lord.” He knows you even when no one knows; for “he who thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing deceiveth himself.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 21.9
… "I fear lest, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and purity that is in Christ." To the same purpose are the words, "Evil communications corrupt good manners;" and when he speaks of a man deceiving himself, "Whoever thinketh himself to be anything, when he is nothing, deceiveth himself;"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 3.53
… But when would Petilianus say this, so that we should understand that he meant, Neither is Donatus of Carthage anything, neither Januarius, neither Petilianus? When would the swelling of his pride permit him to say this, which now causes the man to think himself to be something, when he is nothing, deceiving himself?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 19
… Wherein then lay their impiety? Because “when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, nor gave Him thanks, but became vain in their imaginations.” Vanity is a disease especially of those who mislead themselves, and “think themselves to be something, when they are nothing.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 17.6
… Why dost thou marvel then, if thine enemy seduce thee, when thou art thine own seducer? Hear the Apostle, “For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he seduceth himself.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 10.6
… let him come where he receives freely. Aye, brethren, and they do not blush, that, by these bitter and malicious dissensions of theirs, they have made of themselves so many parties, while they assume to be what they are not, while they are lifted up, thinking themselves to be something when they are nothing.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 102.2
… But if aught different from this is asked, there is nothing asked: not that the thing itself is nothing at all, but that in comparison with what is so great, anything else that is coveted is virtually nothing. For, of course, the man is not actually nothing, of whom the apostle says, “He who thinketh himself to be something, when he is nothing.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 78.25
… which evil thing to what vice is it more appropriately compared, than to what doth show itself least readily, like the trusting much in one’s self? For it is a blighting air which doth work this secretly among fruits: just like in morals, secret pride, when a man thinketh himself to be something, though he is nothing.
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret 4.3
… for Arius and his party endeavoured to corrupt it and to bring in impiety for its destruction, alleging the Son of God to be of the nonexistent, a creature, a Being made, and susceptible of change. By these means they deceived many, so that even men who seemed to be somewhat,
Pseudo-Clement The First Epistle of the Blessed Clement, the Disciple of Peter the Apostle 3
… For such persons as these “have the appearance only of the fear of God, but the power of it they deny.” For they “think with themselves that they are something, whilst they are nothing, and are deceived. But let every one constantly try his works,”
6:4
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 26
… And like reason in the soul, which is at one time the thought in the heart, and at another speech uttered by the tongue, so is the Holy Spirit, as when He “beareth witness with our spirit,” and when He “cries in our hearts, Abba, Father,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 78
… And the rest too reaped no small benefit from his denial, having come to know man’s weakness, and God’ s truth. For when He foretells anything, we must no longer be subtle, nor lift up ourselves above the common sort. For, “thy rejoicing,” it is said, “thou shalt have in thyself, and not in another.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 7
… “By what law? of works? Nay, but by the law of faith.” See he calls the faith also a law delighting to keep to the names, and so allay the seeming novelty. But what is the “law of faith?” It is, being saved by grace. Here he shows God’s power, in that He has not only saved, but has even justified, and led them to boasting,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 6
Ver. 4 . “But let each man prove his own work.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 2 Timothy 2
… For hear the exhortation of Paul, “Let every one prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 188.9
… For her glory is in herself, not in the words of another, as the apostle says: “Let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have glory (rejoicing) in himself alone, and not in another.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 5.12
… And therefore virtue is better, which is content with no human judgment save that of one’s own conscience. Whence the apostle says, “For this is our glory, the testimony of our conscience.” And in another place he says, “But let every one prove his own work, and then he shall have glory in himself, and not in another.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Lying 37
… “A son receiving the truth shall be far from destruction,” refers to that which is written, “Thou wilt destroy all that speak leasing.” But when it follows, “Receiving he receiveth for himself,” what other doth this insinuate than what the Apostle saith, “But let every man prove his own work, and then he shall have glorying in him self and not in another?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 2.46
… For what stands in our language as "Blessed is the man," is in Greek Μαχάριος ἀνήρ . But that Macarius who offends you, if he is a bad man, neither belongs to this division, nor is to its prejudice. But if he is a good man, let him prove his own work, that he may have glory in himself alone, and not in another.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 3.5
… "Let every man prove his own work; and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden,"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount 1.7
… and, by the prophet, “They who please men are put to shame, because God hath despised them;” and again, “God hath broken the bones of those who please men;” and again the apostle, “Let us not be desirous of vainglory;” and still another time, “But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 4.2
… Let every man,” saith he, “prove his own work, and then shall he have glorying in himself, and not in another.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 6.2
… these doubtless without charity do this. Let us come back then to conscience, of which the apostle saith: “For our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience.” Let us come back to conscience, of which the same saith, “But let each prove his own work, and then he shall have glorying in himself and not in another.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 11.45
… 20 ). For one who has the witness of his life in heaven ought not to be afraid of the judgments of men on earth. Paul also, a leader of good men, says, Our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience ( 2 Cor. i. 12 ). And he says again, Let every man prove his own work, and so shall he have glory in himself, and not in another (
6:5
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 44
… my wounds stank and were corrupt because of my folly.” ( Ps. xxxviii. 5 .) He therefore that committeth sin hath no understanding. For he is drunken and is in darkness. Do not then say these things, neither add that other remark, “I care not at all about it. ‘For each man shall bear his own burden.’” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 6
Ver. 5 . “For each man shall bear his own burden.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 87.5
… Perhaps you reply that it would as little become you to accuse him. Granted, by all means. Take, then, the course which lies between defending and accusing him. Say, “Every man shall bear his own burden;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 2.23
… for it must be remembered that you are proved a thief, not by our judgment, but by your own confession. For we say that every man must bear his own burden, as the apostle is our witness.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 2.36
… or, if one must believe the documents which are produced, who is both mine and yours; or, if we are to believe the communion of the whole world rather than the party of Donatus, who is not mine, but yours. But, by a better and a sounder judgment, because it is according to the words of the apostle, every one of us shall bear his own burden;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 2.97
… and that any who may have committed any such offenses, which, however, you have not proved in any case, have thereby shut the doors of the kingdom of heaven, not against us, but against themselves; "for every man shall bear his own burden."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 3.39
… But if the faults of the followers of Maximianus have not destroyed you, then are these opinions false which you entertain; and much less have certain indefinite unproved faults of the Africans been able to destroy the entire world. And accordingly, as the apostle says, "Every man shall bear his own burden;"
6:6
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 22.26
… that through the petition of all the Church of God; his sins may be forgiven. And let whoever reads understand what is written:— Let him that hears the word, communicate to him that causes him to hear, in all good things .
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) 55
… For often unawares we do things that we know not of; but the Lord seeth all things. Wherefore committing the judgment to Him, let us have sympathy one with another. Let us bear each other’s burdens
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 6
Ver. 6 . “But let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Lying 30
… And yet that it may more laudably not be done is sufficiently proved in the Apostle Paul: who, while he said, “Let him that is taught in the word, communicate unto him, that teacheth in all things,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Of the Work of Monks 17
… For, setting apart that power, which he saith himself had not used, which yet that the faithful must serve unto, he enjoins, saying, “Let him that is catechised in the word, communicate unto him that doth catechise him, in all good things:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints 2.3
… just as that giving of thanks is a mockery, if thanks are given to God for that which He did not give nor do? But what I have said there, I say also here again: “Be not deceived,” says the apostle, “God is not mocked.”
6:7
St Polycarp † AD 155 Epistle to the Philippians 5
… Wherefore, it is needful to abstain from all these things, being subject to the presbyters and deacons, as unto God and Christ. The virgins also must walk in a blameless and pure conscience.
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.4
… Christ, therefore, is the Creator’s Christ, as Christ’s law is the Creator’s law. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Modesty 2
… For God is “jealous,” and is One who is not contemptuously derided
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 67.5
… For he is not so much to be blamed who has been through heedlessness surprised by fraud, as he is to be execrated who has fraudulently taken him by surprise. But if Basilides could deceive men, he cannot deceive God, since it is written, “God is not mocked.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Lapsed 28
… of sacrifice to idols or of certificate, yet, since they have even thought of such things, with grief and simplicity confess this very thing to God’s priests, and make the conscientious avowal, put off from them the load of their minds, and seek out the salutary medicine even for slight and moderate wounds, knowing that it is written, “God is not mocked.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 2.101
… The followers of the holy patriarch, approved of God, cherish us not in a bodily bosom, but in a clothing as it were of good works. “Be not deceived,” says the Apostle, “God is not mocked.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 6
And here he points out the difference between ambition of this kind, and in temporal affairs, by saying, “Be not deceived
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 125.19
… It is not I but an apostle who says: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 1.38
… Against such there is no law. “And they that are of Christ have crucified their flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk.” Why do we who with Christ have crucified our flesh and its passions and desires again desire to do the things of the flesh?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints 1.39
… If he were to give thanks to man for that which he might either think or know that man had not given, it would be called a flattery or a mockery, rather than a giving of thanks. “Do not err, for God is not mocked;”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 106
By the godly bishops I salute you. I beseech you to give heed to the churches’ calm, and to disperse the waves of calumny. “Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap,”
6:8
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 5
… For instance, the Lord says, “I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.” Similarly we have frequently observed “of whom” used of the Spirit. “He that soweth to the spirit,” it is said, “shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 2.9
95. In like manner that you may recognize the Unity, it is also said of the Spirit: “For he that soweth in the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 24
… since both the extortioner, and the adulterer, and the false accuser, toil and weary themselves much to bring their wickedness to effect; but so far from reaping any profit from these their labors, they rather undergo great loss. For Paul too intimated this when he said, “He that soweth to his flesh, shall of his flesh reap corruption.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 42
… wherefore also he adds, “neither doth corruption inherit incorruption, ” i.e., neither shall wickedness inherit that glory and the enjoyment of the things incorruptible. For in many other places he calls wickedness by this name, saying, “He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption.” (
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 11.45
But, if there are any who say that penance is to be done for sin during any three years, and that after the three years one may live in pleasures, these know neither the preaching of the true faith nor the precepts of sacred Scripture. Against these the excellent preacher says, He that soweth in his flesh shall of the flesh also reap corruption (
6:9
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.4
… “Be not deceived, God is not mocked.” But Marcion’s god can be mocked; for he knows not how to be angry, or how to take vengeance. “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” It is then the God of recompense and judgment who threatens this. “Let us not be weary in well-doing;”
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 23
… Even as he says to the Galatians: “Let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap.”
St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: Three Homilies 2.17
17. O how gracious is the Lord! O how measureless are His mercies! Happy the race of mortals when God confesses it! Woe to the soul which He denies! Fire is stored up for its punishment. Be of good cheer, my son, in hope; sow good [seed]
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 6
Ver. 9 . “And let us not be weary in well doing.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 23
… “For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works as God did from His.” ( Heb. iv. 10 .) “Let us not then be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Correction of the Donatists 2
8. As then the apostle says, "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, not being weary in well-doing,"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 73.4
… For when we pray that the kingdom of God may come, it does not imply that He is not doing what we ask, because we do not begin at once to reign with Him in the everlasting kingdom: for what we ask is delayed, but not denied. Nevertheless, let us not fail in pray ing, for in so doing we are as those that sow the seed; and in due season we shall reap.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 37.3.6
… in what sense then will his seed be blessed? His seed is that which remains of him afterwards; that wherewith he soweth here, and will hereafter reap. For the Apostle says, “Let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore time,” he says, “let us do good unto all men.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 112.3
3. Next follows, “His seed shall be mighty upon earth” ( ver. 2 ). The Apostle witnesseth, that the works of mercy are the seed of the future harvest, when he saith, “Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 126.8
8. For the next words are, “They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy” ( ver. 5 ). In this life, which is full of tears, let us sow. What shall we sow? Good works. Works of mercy are our seeds: of which seeds the Apostle saith, “Let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.”
6:10
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.4
… “Be not deceived, God is not mocked.” But Marcion’s god can be mocked; for he knows not how to be angry, or how to take vengeance. “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” It is then the God of recompense and judgment who threatens this. “Let us not be weary in well-doing;” and “as we have opportunity, let us do good.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On Works and Alms 24
… Let us, while there is time, take thought for our security and eternal salvation, according to the admonition of the Apostle Paul, who says: “Therefore, while we have time, let us labour in what is good unto all men, but especially to them that are of the household of faith. But let us not be weary in well-doing, for in its season we shall reap.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Advantage of Patience 13
… and teaches them, saying, “Therefore, while we have time, let us labour in that which is good unto all men, but especially to them who are of the household of faith. But let us not faint in well-doing, for in its season we shall reap.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 214.2
… But your excellency has on the spot those who are able to tell you accurately what passed between the bishops in the reign of Jovian, and from them I beseech you to get information. I accuse no one; I pray that I may have love to all, and “especially unto them who are of the household of faith;”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 1.30
148. Perfect liberality is proved by its good faith, the case it helps, the time and place when and where it is shown. But first we must always see that we help those of the household of faith.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 10
… vii. 1 .) Do thou act for God’s sake. Nay, what am I saying? Even if we see a heathen in misfortune, we ought to show kindness to him, and to every man without exception who is in misfortunes, and much more to a believer who is in the world. Listen to Paul, saying, “Do good unto all men, but especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 54.12
… Give your riches not to those who feed on pheasants but to those who have none but common bread to eat, such as stays hunger while it does not stimulate lust. Consider the poor and needy. Give to everyone that asks of you, but especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 84.3
… They agree with David when he says: “Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee;” and when in another place he describes the righteous man as one “who speaketh truth with his neighbour,” that is with those who “are of the household of faith.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 130.14
… Everyone must follow his own judgment. And it is better to spend one’s money thus than to hoard it up and brood over it. However your duty is of a different kind. It is yours to clothe Christ in the poor, to visit Him in the sick, to feed Him in the hungry, to shelter Him in the homeless, particularly such as are of the household of faith,
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Vigilantius 14
14. You will reply that every one can do this in his own country, and that there will never be wanting poor who ought to be supported with the resources of the Church. And we do not deny that doles should be distributed to all poor people, even to Jews and Samaritans, if the means will allow. But the Apostle teaches that alms should be given to all, indeed,
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 16.14
It is possible then for all to show that love which is called ἀγάπη , of which the blessed Apostle says: “While therefore we have time, let us do good unto all men, but specially to them that are of the household of faith.”
Socrates Scholasticus † AD 440 The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus 7.2
… For he not only united those of ‘the household of faith,’
6:11
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Church History of Eusebius 4.15.3
3. “The church of God which dwelleth in Philomelium, and to all the parishes of the holy catholic Church in every place; mercy and peace and love from God the Father be multiplied. We write
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 32
… ( 1 Thess. ii. 17 ; iii. 10 .) Fain would I see the dust of hands that were in a chain, through the imposition of which the Spirit was furnished, through which the divine writings were written, (for “behold how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand:” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 6
Ver. 11, 12 . “See with how large letters I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they compel you to be circumcised.”
6:12
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 6
Ver. 12, 13 . “As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they compel you to be circumcised; only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the Law; but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.”
6:13
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Apparel of Women ii.3
… Some one will say, “Why, then, if voluptuousness be shut out and chastity let in, may (we) not enjoy the praise of beauty alone, and glory in a bodily good?” Let whoever finds pleasure in “glorying in the flesh”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 2
Here we see another cause of evil, the love of power. Wherefore Christ said, “Be not ye called Rabbi” ( Matt. xxiii. 8 .); and the Apostle again, “For neither do they keep the law, but that they may glory in your flesh.” (
6:14
St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to the Tarsians 3
Mindful of him, do ye by all means know that Jesus the Lord was truly born of Mary, being made of a woman; and was as truly crucified. For, says he, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 1.3.5
… Moreover, they affirm that the Apostle Paul himself made mention of this cross in the following words: “The doctrine of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.” And again: “God forbid that I should glory in anything
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.4
… But “in due time we shall reap;” because in Ecclesiastes it is said, “For everything there will be a time.” Moreover, “the world is crucified unto me,” who am a servant of the Creator—“the world,” (I say,) but not the God who made the world—“and I unto the world,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 2.69
… Accordingly, as His crucifixion contains a truth, represented in the words, “I am crucified with Christ,” and intimated also in these, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world;”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 10.20
… But as that material body of Jesus was sacrificed for Christ, and was buried, and was afterwards raised, so the whole body of Christ’s saints is crucified along with Him, and now lives no longer; for each of them, like Paul, glories
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 12.18
… and it is fitting that he, who both believes and knows these things, should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 12.27
… also observe that at the beginning it is said, “Whosoever wills,” but afterwards, “Whoso shall lose.” If we then wish it to be saved let us lose it to the world, as those who have been crucified with Christ and have for our glorying that which is in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world is to be crucified unto us and we unto the world,
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 13.21
… to him, as being really of the world, shall come that which happens to the world, the “woe, because of occasions of stumbling.” But let him who wishes to avoid this woe not be a lover of life, but let him say with Paul,” “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Dress of Virgins 6
6. Paul proclaims in a loud and lofty voice, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.12
… For our conversation is in heaven, whence also we expect the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall transform the body of our humiliation conformed to the body of His glory.” Of this very matter to Galatians: “But be it far from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 13.1
1. Every deed of Christ is a cause of glorying to the Catholic Church, but her greatest of all glorying is in the Cross; and knowing this, Paul says, But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of Christ
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.56
56. Why should I enter into detail? He lived not to himself, but to Christ and his preaching. He crucified the world to himself,
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 5.3
… For he, who was able to make himself known by miracles so many and so great, says, “God forbid that I should glory in anything else, than in the Cross of Christ
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Baptism of Christ 1
… My way of living is regulated for another life: I have learnt to despise the things that are in the world, to pass by the things of earth, to hasten to the things of heaven, even as Paul expressly testifies, that the world is crucified to him, and he to the world
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 3.8
… for the brazen serpent is a type of the Cross; for although in His flesh Christ was lifted up, yet in Him was the Apostle crucified to the world and the world to him; for he says: “The world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose 63.24
74. The one then contends, the other retires; the one overcomes incitements, the other flees from them; by the one the world is triumphed over, the other rejoices over it; to the one the world is crucified, or itself is crucified to the world,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Against Marcionists and Manichæans 2
… The cross is the will of the Father, the glory of the Son, the rejoicing of the Spirit, the boast of Paul, “for,” he says, “God forbid that I should boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 1.9
… and taken part in such mysteries; and traversed the whole world, like some winged being, when he wrote to the Corinthians, said, I fear “lest by any means having preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” And if Paul was afraid after so many signal good works; he who was able to say, “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 15.4
… but every thing, yea even riches, and glory, and honour, and whatever else there be of that kind, will appear insignificant when thou regardest heavenly things. According to Paul all the glories of the present life appeared trifling, and more unprofitable than dead things. Hence his exclamation, “The world is crucified unto me.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 43
… For surely the type is not in truth, and the truth in mere appearance. For this cause we every where show forth His death, both in the mysteries, and in baptism, and in all the rest. Therefore Paul also cries with a clear voice, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 52
… I would that also with Paul I were able to say, “By which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 52
… Would that I could bring forward examples of all this from among ourselves: but since we are at a loss for such, we must needs betake ourselves to this same Paul. Observe him then, how he felt towards the whole world. “The world is crucified unto me,” he says, “and I unto the world” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 2
… What then is this which he says, and why does he thus speak? while yet he exults over it more than over heaven. At least, in writing to the Galatians, he said, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 7
… “By what law? of works? Nay, but by the law of faith.” See he calls the faith also a law delighting to keep to the names, and so allay the seeming novelty. But what is the “law of faith?” It is, being saved by grace. Here he shows God’s power, in that He has not only saved, but has even justified, and led them to boasting,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 12
… and in the husband’s place he puts the Law, but in the woman’s, all believers. Then he adds the conclusion in such way, that it does not tally with the premiss; for what the context would require would be, “and so, my brethren, the Law doth not rule over you, for it is dead.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 17
Hear then how Paul, who saw through these things thoroughly, is so far from seeking after them, that he even deprecates them, in the words, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 6
… so also, in truth, these things come of the passions which grow upon the soul. For if thou wilt hear a voice from a living soul, hear Paul saying, “Having food and covering, we shall be therewith content:” ( 1 Tim. vi. 8 .) and “Godliness is great gain:” ( ib. 6 .) and, “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 6
Ver. 14 . “But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 3
… how dost thou not live? Why boastest thou thyself? No boasting is here. For if indeed the fact did not witness to him, a man might with some show have called it boasting; but if facts do witness, how is boasting here? Let us then learn how he lives not, for he himself says in another place, “I have been crucified to the world, and the world to me.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 13
… Was not thy Master hung upon the tree? Do thou otherwise imitate Him. Crucify thyself, though no one crucify thee. Crucify thyself, not that thou mayest slay thyself, God forbid, for that is a wicked thing, but as Paul said, “The world hath been crucified unto me and I unto the world.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 2 Timothy 2
… I speak of the Cross of Christ. For there is not so great a sign of the love of God for mankind, not heaven, nor sea, nor earth, nor the creation of all things out of nothing, nor all else beside, as the Cross. Hence it is the boast of Paul, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 24
They called themselves therefore “strangers”; but Paul said somewhat much beyond this: for not merely did he call himself a stranger, but said that he was dead to the world, and that the world was dead to him. “For the world” (he says) “has been crucified to me and I to the world.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 17.3
… “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.” Let them climb up to heaven alone; for them alone Christ died; they possess all things and glory in all. Be it so. “But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.27
… Let us rather say: “Thou art my glorying,” and “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord,” and “If I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ,” and “Far be it from me to glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world hath been crucified unto me and I unto the world;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 55.24
… “If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Hence also he says of himself: “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 208.5
… Of this number was the apostle, who said: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” He was a light kindled by the Eternal Light, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and was placed on a candlestick because He gloried in His cross, concerning which he said: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 2.17
… of the resurrection);—or whether that even now, in whatever degree we spiritually understand the wisdom of God, by which all things were made, in that same degree we die to carnal affections, so that, considering this world dead to us, we also ourselves die to this world, and say what the apostle says, “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 38.12
… Who is he that crieth out unto Christ? Whoso despiseth the world, crieth out unto Christ. Whoso despiseth the pleasures of the world, crieth out unto Christ. Whoso saith not with his tongue, but with his life, “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 66.7
… Speak then, preach, preach Christ, spread His doctrine, O thou goodly leader of the flock, but lately a wolf. See him, mark him, who once was raging. “But for me, God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 75.9
… Why then did He not will to fast more than He had given His servants to do, but because in this number forty is the mystery of fasting, the restraint from this world? What is this to say? What the Apostle says; “The world is crucified to me, and I to the world.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 81.2
… believe on the Crucified; that thy faith may be able to ascend the Wood. Thou shalt not sink, but shalt be borne upon the Wood. Thus, even thus, amid the waves of this world did he sail, who said, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 36.4
… For He was to have that very cross as His sign; that very cross, a trophy, as it were, over the vanquished devil, He was to put on the brow of believers, so that the apostle said, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 43.9
… He grew as an infant, and showed Himself God by His miracles, and surpassed man in His weakness. Lastly, He chose also the manner of His death, that is, to be hung on the cross, and to fasten the cross itself on the foreheads of believers, so that the Christian may say, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 53.13
… who, if ever they did advance though this gateway of faith, would thereby also overcome that love of human glory which had been overcome by the apostle, when he said, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 98.2
… Was it such as Paul himself had, who could say, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 117.3
… For to Paul, who was yet to say, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 10.11
… “Thou wilt be a helper to the orphan,” that is, to him to whom his father this world, by whom he was born after the flesh, dies, and who can already say, “The world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 68.20
… but far different is the Mountain “prepared on the top of the mountains.” These mountains therefore in bearing that Mountain are glorious: one of which mountains saith, “but from me far be it to glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom to me the world hath been crucified, and I to the world:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 69.22
… Little it is, he saith, for me not to blush for it: nay, therein alone I glory, wherefore the enemy thinketh me to blush. “But from me far be it to glory, save in the Cross of Jesus Christ, through whom to me the world is crucified, and I to the world.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 122.12
… There is nought more powerful than it. Charity therefore is compared with its strength, in the words, “Love is strong as death.” And since this love slayeth what we have been, that we may be what we were not; love createth a sort of death in us. This death he had died who said, “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 149.4
… Nor must we keep back the mystical meaning of the “timbrel and psaltery.” On the timbrel leather is stretched, on the psaltery gut is stretched; on either instrument the flesh is crucified. How well did he “sing a psalm on timbrel and psaltery,” who said, “the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world”?
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 4.34
Renunciation is nothing but the evidence of the cross and of mortification. And so you must know that to-day you are dead to this world and its deeds and desires, and that, as the Apostle says, you are crucified to this world and this world to you.
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 7.4
… vi. 20 ). For indeed it is too bad, if these who have been made preachers of humility should glory in the elation of a vain name, when the true preacher says, But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (
Pseudo-Cyprian On the Glory of Martyrdom 28
… For you can neither desire martyrdom till you have first hated the world, nor attain to God’s reward unless you have loved Christ. And he who loves Christ does not love the world. For Christ was given up by the world, even as the world also was given up by Christ; as it is written, “The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 2.21
… Nor shall we have to watch against woman beguiling us, for ‘in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the Angels ;’ and in Christ Jesus it shall be ‘a new creation,’ and ‘neither male nor female, but all and in all Christ
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 2
… and why says he here, “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek?” What meaneth this difference? and yet he has often said, “Neither circumcision is anything, nor uncircumcision” ( 1 Cor. vii. 19 . See Gal. v. 6 and
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 6
Ver. 15, 16 . “For neither is circumcision any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 69.7
… If filthiness is cleansed, how much more is cleanness kept from defilement. “A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit.” Yes, for “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but a new nature.”
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Rufinus of Aquileia † AD 411 Translation of Pamphilus' Defence of Origen 1
… Let this then be taken as a record of our belief by any who desire to know it. Whatever we read and whatever we do is in accordance with this account of our faith; we follow the words of the Apostle, “proving all things, holding fast that which is good, avoiding every form of evil.”
Rufinus of Aquileia † AD 411 The Apology of Rufinus. Addressed to Apronianus, in Reply to Jerome's Letter to Pammachius 1.13
If then any one wishes to have a statement of our faith, he has it in these words. And whatever we read or affirm, or whatever translations we make, we do it without prejudice to this faith of ours, according to the words of the apostle:
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 68.39
39. “Give ye glory to God, above Israel is the magnificence of Him” ( ver. 34 ). Of whom saith the Apostle, “Upon the Israel of God.”
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St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to the Tarsians 2
… A swarm of such evils has burst in upon us. But ye have not “given place by subjection to them, no, not for one hour.” For ye are the fellow-citizens as well as the disciples of Paul, who “fully preached the Gospel from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum,” and bare about “the marks of Christ” in his flesh.
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.4
… The world , in the apostle’s sense, here means life and conversation according to worldly principles; it is in renouncing these that we and they are mutually crucified and mutually slain. He calls them “persecutors of Christ.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 10
… Moreover, we shall elsewhere take occasion to remark, that no reproaches can fairly be cast upon the flesh, without tending also to the castigation of the soul, which compels the flesh to do its bidding. However, let me meanwhile add that in the same passage Paul “carries about in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus;”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 33.2
… judged, and more sublime than those who judged him; and although his feet were bound on the rack, yet the serpent was trodden on and ground down and vanquished. In his glorious body shine the bright evidences of his wounds; their manifest traces show forth, and appear on the man’s sinews and limbs, worn out with tedious wasting away.
St Peter of Alexandria † AD 311 The Canonical Epistle, with the Commentaries of Theodore Balsamon and John Zonaras 1
… for they did not come to this of their own will, but were betrayed by the frailty of the flesh; for they show in their bodies the marks of Jesus,
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 On the Incarnation of the Word 9
… For since from man it was that death prevailed over men, for this cause conversely, by the Word of God being made man has come about the destruction of death and the resurrection of life; as the man which bore Christ
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 15.4
… But what is to become of me? I cannot bear to desist from this counsel, until I see that ye have put it in practice; since Paul also, when he saith to the Galatians, “Henceforth let no man trouble me,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 15
… The soldier who has received numberless wounds and is come home again, will he not return with exceeding delight, with his wounds as his title for speaking up boldly, and as evidence of his glory and renown? And thou, if thou be able to exclaim as Paul does, “I bear the marks of Jesus” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 39
… 6 ): he speaks the more vehemently as having already persuaded many. “I,” says he, “am clean.” Then we also are accountable for the blood of those entrusted to us, if we neglect them. “From this time forth I will go to the Gentiles.” So that also when he says, “Henceforth let no man trouble me” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 32
… ( 1 Cor. xv. 38 .) Would that it were now given me to throw myself round ( περιχυθἥναι ) the body of Paul, and be riveted to the tomb, and to see the dust of that body that “filled up that which was lacking” after “Christ” ( Col. i. 24 ), that bore “the marks” ( στίγματα ,) (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 1
… shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in a spirit of meekness?” ( 1 Cor. vi. 21 .) but to the Galatians, “O foolish Galatians.” ( Gal. iii. 1 .) And not once only, but a second time, also he has employed this reproof, and towards the conclusion he says with a reproachful allusion to them, “Let no man trouble me;” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 6
Ver. 17 . “From henceforth let no man trouble me.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 8
… Were I free from the cares of the Church, had I my body strong and vigorous, I would not shrink from undertaking so long a journey, only for the sake of beholding those chains, for the sake of seeing the prison where he was bound. The traces indeed of his miracles are numerous in all parts of the world, yet are they not so dear as those of his scars. (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philemon 1
Nothing is greater than this boast, to be called “the stigmatized of Christ.” “For I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 2.3
… so that he might at least name one of them all. Let us have the acts of his confessorship produced, for hitherto we have been in ignorance of them; and so let us have the satisfaction of reciting his deeds with those of the other martyrs of Alexandria, and that he may be able to meet the people who bark against him with the words:
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints 1.1
… the Epistle to the Philippians the apostle said, “To write the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous but for you it is safe;” yet the same apostle writing to the Galatians when he saw that he had done enough among them of what he regarded as being needful for them, by the ministry of his preaching, said, “For the rest let no man cause me labour,”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret 1.6
At this period many individuals were richly endowed with apostolical gifts; and many, like the holy apostle, bore in their bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ
Sharbil said: Thou hast well done in treating me thus: because I have heard that one of the teachers of the Church hath said,
Ecumenical Councils The Synodical Letter 1
… others again, even after their return from exile, found the passion of the heretics still at boiling heat, and, slain by them with stones as was the blessed Stephen, met with a sadder fate in their own than in a stranger’s land. Others, worn away with various cruelties, still bear in their bodies the scars of their wounds and the marks of Christ.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Commentary on Galatians 6
Ver. 18 . “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.”
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In the spirit of meekness. Gently, tenderly, kindly. Spirit here is used to denote the gift of the Spirit, as Chrysostom observes. The Spirit, by the words of admonishment He inspires men to use, breathes into him who uses them His own mildness and benignity. Rebuke is like a bitter medicine, bearing away the disease; hence it is to be sugared over with mild words and sympathetic temper, that its bitterness may not be tasted. S. Chrysostom (Hom. 52 ad. Populum) says, with equal truth and beauty, that our speech becomes the speech of Christ, if, throughout it all, we imitate His benignity. S. Dionysius (Ep. 8 ad Demophilum) says that it was the meekness of Moses which won for him his special intimacy with God, and says that if pastors feed Christ's flock with similar meekness, they will show thereby that they love Christ above all things, and will be so accepted by Him. Towards the end of the letter, S. Dionysius relates a striking proof of this, drawn from a vision, vouchsafed to S. Carpus, when he was bitterly enraged against some heathen who had seduced two Christians from the faith. Christ, chiding him, said: " Strike Me, for I am ready to suffer again for man's salvation, and to suffer gladly, if only other men do not sin." Hence, too, S. Augustine lays down the mode in which correction should be ministered: " The task of rebuking others' sins is never to be undertaken, except when after self-examination our conscience assures us in the presence of God that we do it simply out of love of the offender. Love, and then say what you will. In no way will that which sounds like a curse be a curse indeed, if you recollect and feel throughout that your only wish in using the sword of the word of the Lord is to be the deliverer of your brother from the snares of sin." If, however, any feeling of impatience or anger do assail us while we are administering our rebuke, let us, he says, bear in mind, " that we ought not to be rigid towards sinners, since we ourselves sin even while rebuking sin, inasmuch as we feel angry with the sinner more readily than we feel pity for his misery." So too S. Basil (Reg. 51), urges that Superiors, and all who engage in the work of healing spiritual diseases, should take a lesson from physicians, and not be angry with the patient, but attack his disease.
Considering thyself, lest Thou also be tempted. S. Paul passes from the distributive plural to each individual from brethren to thou. It would have been offensive to address the whole community, and to insinuate that it might as a whole be tempted and fall. His appeal was likely to be more effectual if addressed to any individual member, to remind him that God suffers those to fall who are hard towards others. Often, in the "Lives of the Fathers," we read that older men, who had reproved with excessive severity their juniors for lust or other sin, were themselves smitten with the same passion, that they might learn to have mercy on others. Cassian relates (de Instit. lib. v.) the saying of an abbot, that in three things he had judged his brethren, and through the same three things he had fallen, in order that the heathen might know themselves to be but men. Another of the Fathers was wont to exclaim, weeping, whenever he heard of any one falling: " He today, and I tomorrow." In the same way, whenever we hear of the fall of any neighbour, let us each say: " I am a man, and nothing that is human is foreign to me." As S. Gregory says (Hom. 34 in Evang.), " True righteousness is merciful, false is unforgiving." Cassian relates (Collat. ii. c. 13) that a certain young monk, who was grievously assaulted by the desire of fornication, went to an older monk, who was uncouth and void of discretion, and who forthwith scolded him bitterly for his impure imaginings. On this the young monk lost heart, and determined to return to the world, and to marry. Abbot Apollo, however, perceived what was amiss, and with gentle words induced him to remain true to his vow. Then going to the cell of the older monk, he prayed that God would subject him to the same temptation as that of the younger man. Soon the prayer was granted, and the older man became as one distracted. On perceiving this, Apollo went to the old man, and told him that God had sent him that temptation that he might learn to feel for those who were younger, so as not to drive them to despair, as he had recently done in the case of the younger monk who came to him. Cf. Isa 1:4; xlii. 3; S. Matt. xii. 20. S. Augustine (Serm. Dom. in Monte., lib. ii. c. 20) has these three excellent rules for the correction of our neighbour: " Great care must be taken that, when duty compels us to correct any one, we think (1.) whether the fault is such as we have never committed in the past, nor are subject to at the moment. (2.) If we have been addicted to it, and now are not, let some thought of human weakness touch the mind, so that our reproaches may spring not from hatred but from pity; and, whether our efforts succeed in reforming the offender, or only avail to confirm him in evil (for the issue is uncertain), in either case we may be certain that our own eye is single. (3.) If, however, we find on reflection that we ourselves are guilty of the same fault as he whom we undertake to correct, let us not rebuke him nor scold him, but only mourn together, and invite him not to obey us, but to unite with us in guarding against the common enemy." Ver. 2. Bear ye one another's burdens. 1. Let each bear with the weaknesses of others. Do you bear another's irritability and hasty words, and let him put up with your moroseness and sluggish temperament. Reflect that your neighbour's failings are a greater trouble to himself than they are to you, and sympathise with him accordingly.
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2. A better interpretation, and as being more general, is that burdens stands for whatever oppresses our neighbour his illnesses, his cares, his vices which call for compassion, help, and comfort. Be a foot to the lame, eye to the blind, staff to the aged. Cf. S. Augustine (Enarr. in Psa 76.).
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3. S. Basil's interpretation (Reg. Brev. reg. 278) is still more to the point: " Sin is a burden pressing on the soul, nay, weighing it down, and dragging it down to hell." As a beast sinks under a burden too heavy for him, so does the soul, burdened with sin, sink down to hell, without power of itself to raise itself. The fault of the preceding verse shows the nature of the burden here referred to, as does verse 5, following. Although every sin is here called a burden, yet the Apostle specially refers to that of Judaism, which was called a yoke of bondage in chap. v. 1. Hence the exhortation, strictly speaking, is that if any one be found sinking under the burden of Judaising ceremonies, he is not to be harshly censured, but gently and sympathetically lifted up, and restored to the Church. Just as an ass that has fallen under its load is able to rise when the load is taken from its back, so the sinner is able to rise from his sin when another, by his gentleness and kindness, shares the burden with him, and so removes it from him. So says S. Basil: " We remove this burden one from another as often as we take the trouble to bring to a better mind those who have sinned and fallen." Cf. Isa 53:4. We bear our neighbour's burden then (1.) by sympathetic correction of him; (2.) by prayer that God will take it from him; (3.) and most completely by penances, when, after Christ's example, we bear others' sins by undergoing in expiation of them voluntary fasts and hair-shirts, and other modes of discipline. 1. Sin is the heaviest burden man can be called on to bear. S. Augustine (Hom. 22 in, Loco) says: " See the man laden with the burden of avarice; see him sweating under it, gasping, thirsty, and making his load the heavier. What do you look for, O miser, as the reward for this so great labour of yours? Why do you toil thus? What do you long for? Merely to satisfy your avarice. It can oppress you, but you cannot satisfy it. Is it by any chance not grievous? So much so that you have even lost the power of feeling? Is not avarice grievous? If not, why is it that it wakes you from sleep, and sometimes prevents you from sleeping at all? Perhaps too with it you have a second load of indolence, and so two most evil burdens pulling you in different directions. They do not give you the same orders. Indolence says, 'Sleep;' avarice says, 'Rise.' Indolence says, 'Avoid the cold;' avarice says, 'Bear even the storms of the sea.' The one says, 'Rest;' the other, so far from allowing rest, bids you cross the sea, and venture on unknown lands." S. Augustine adds that Christ takes away this burden of lust, and puts in its place His own yoke of charity, which does not weigh down, but, like wings added to a bird, enables its possessor to rise. 2. It is the proper office of charity to teach us how to bear these burdens in turn, as S. Augustine points out from the beautiful image of stags (Hom. 21 in Eadem Verba) " It is the office of love to bear others' burdens in turns. It has been said that stags when crossing water are accustomed to help each other, by those in front carrying the weight of the heads of those behind. The foremost stag, having, no one on whom to rest his head, is relieved in turns by some stag who is less fatigued. Bearing one another's burdens, in this way they cross over the water, and so reach dry land once more. Perhaps Solomon was alluding to this peculiarity of stag life when he said, 'Let the friendly stag, and the young of thy thanksgiving, speak with thee; for nothing is such a test of a friend as his willingness to bear his friend's burdens.' You will bear your friend's bad temper by being not angry with him; and then when you are in your turn vexed, he will remain undisturbed. So too if one has mastered his own loquacity but not his obstinacy, while another on the other hand has overcome his own obstinacy but not his loquacity, let each bear the other's burdens until both be healed. So too did S. Paul write: 'Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others, adding: 'Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,' meaning that, as the Word became incarnate and took our sins upon Him, so should we, like Him, bear the burdens of others. Let us then show to those who are in trouble what we should wish shown to us, if our positions were reversed. 'I am made all things to all men, that I might gain all,' says S. Paul. He was made all things to all men by regarding it as possible that he himself might have been in the position of the man he was anxious to set free." Those who support the weaknesses and burdens of others are happily compared to bones by S. Basil, when explaining the words of Psa 34:20: "He keepeth all His bones:" " Just as bones are given us to support the weakness of the flesh, so in the Church there are some whose functions it is by their fortitude to strengthen the weaker brethren. And as the bones are fitly jointed, and formed into a unity by nerves and ligaments, so in the Church of God does charity bind all together into a perfect whole. It is of the solution of this continuity that the Prophet speaks when he cries, 'All my bones are out of joint.' And again it is of some internal weakness that he complains when he prays, 'Heal me, O Lord; for my bones, are sore troubled.' And it is of their preservation that he says, 'Not one of them shall be broken.' And when they are worthy to give honour and praise to Gad, he exclaims, 'All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto Thee?' "
3. From this it follows that those who feel for others' woes are strong in virtue, like bones, and have, therefore, the tokens of a perfect Christian, while, on the contrary, those who are devoid of sympathy are self-convicted of some concealed viciousness of character. This is what Cassian says (Collat. xi. c. 11): " It is an evident mark of a soul not yet freed from the dregs of wickedness that it does not compassionate the sinner, but judges him harshly. For how can he be perfect who wants that which fulfils the law, which bears others' burdens, which is not wrathful, is not puffed up, which thinketh no evil, which beareth all things, believeth all things, endureth all things? The righteous man hath regard for the life of his beasts, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. Therefore it is certain that the monk who judges others harsher is himself under the power of the same sins as the man he condemns." For other illustrations of this subject, see the notes to Num 11:12. And so fulfil the law of Christ. The law of Christ is love. Cf. S. John xxiv. 35; xv. 12. The most difficult act of love, and the one most expected by Christ, is that we bear one another's burdens. If we do this, we do our duty to our neighbour, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Again, we fulfil this law when we supply by charity others' breaches of the law. If one breaks the law by the use of angry words, let another supply his defects, and keep the law in his stead, by patience and sympathy. Or, what is more to the immediate purpose of the Apostle, if any bear with a Judaiser and bring him to a better mind, he supplies what the latter lacks, and so fulfils the law of Christ. S. Bernard (de Præcept. et Dispens.) says that a man who has sinned and then repented, and prayed for forgiveness, fulfils the law which he had previously broken. Ver. 3. For if a man think himself to be something., &c. If a man is proud of his superior spirituality, and despises his brother, and treats him harshly for sinning especially for Judaising he is nothing, and so he deceiveth himself. Ver-4. But let every man prove his own work. Let no one treat his neighbour as the Pharisee the publican, but rather take heed to his own works, and see whether the motive of them be pure. He will probably find many faults, and so will not think himself to be something. But even if he finds none, or very few, then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone that is, in his own conscience and this will be in the Lord, who gave him the power to do all his good deeds. He will not rejoice because he finds himself good by comparison with others, i.e., he will not have rejoicing in another, as S. Paul expresses it. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Anselm. S. Jerome says well: " The meaning is this: You who think yourself spiritual, and superior to another's weakness, ought to consider, not his weakness, but your own strength; for he does not make you a perfect Christian by any inability of his to pass from Judaism to Christianity. If indeed your own conscience does not reprove you, you have whereof to glory in yourself, but not in comparison with him. An athlete is not necessarily strong because he has overcome a competitor who was feeble. If he really is strong, he rejoices in his strength, not in his rival's weakness. Or we may understand the Apostle's words as meaning: If a man on due consideration finds nothing to reproach himself with, he is not to go and trumpet the fact abroad, that he may win the applause of men, but keep his knowledge to himself, and say, 'God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." But the first interpretation is closer to the text. Ver. 5. For every man shall bear his own burden. This seems primâ facie in conflict with ver. 2. Jerome harmonises the two by referring ver. 2 to the present, and ver. 5 to the future, i.e., to the day of judgment. In the world we can help each other, but at the dread Tribunal neither Job, Daniel, nor Noah can free the souls of their own sons even, but each shall bear his own iniquities. Cf. Eze 14:14. Christ will examine us, not as to the doings of others, but as to our own. Let us prove our own doings, therefore, to make sure that they will be able to stand the last great trial. The Protestants therefore are wrong in twisting these words into an argument against purgatory, and against the prayers we offer for souls there. The Apostle is not speaking of purgatory, but of the day of judgment, and then he says each shall bear his own burden. Before that day, however, we can, as required by the article of the Communion of Saints, help one another, whether those we help be living or in purgatory. Observe that each of us, as he leaves this life, takes with him nothing but his own works. These works are, as it were, burdens that we carry as we travel towards the judgment-seat of Christ, which, when examined, will show whether our destiny is heaven or hell. As is the burden, so will the bearer be declared, and so will be the burden of reward or punishment. Ver. 6. Let him that is taught in the word, &c. S. Ambrose understands this to refer to him who is taught through the word of a teacher or catechist. S. Jerome agrees with him in referring the duty of communicating good to the catechumen, who is to assist his benefactor, the catechist. Marcion, according to S. Jerome, explained these words to order the former to communicate with the latter in prayer, holy living, and all good spiritual things. The word rendered him that is taught shows the antiquity of catechising. In the earliest days indeed it was regarded as impious to divulge Christian mysteries, and all teaching was accordingly oral. S. Paul refers to the practice in 1 Cor. xiv. 19. The Apostles were followed by the Fathers, witness the catechetical lectures of S. Cyril of Jerusalem, the Liber de Catechizandis Rudibus of S. Augustine, and the great Catechetical Oration of Gregory of Nyssa. John Gerson, Chancellor of Paris, following this primitive custom, took delight in teaching the young and in hearing their confessions, as many men of religion, and many doctors, still do, to the great profit of the Church. While so many unlettered and ignorant men are in the Church, who do not know anything of the mysteries of the Holy Trinity, of the Incarnation, and of the redemption wrought by Christ, and who repeat their Creed like a parrot his "Good morning," the work of catechising will never be obsolete. See the decree on this point drawn up by the Council of Trent. Session xxiv. c. 4 and 7. John Gerson wrote a tract in praise of the custom and in defence of his practice. " It seems to many a work so unworthy of a doctor and a famous man of letters, or a dignitary of the Church, to catechise the young, that it has been made a reproach even against me that I have engaged in it. But they should be convicted of their error by the words of Christ, who said, 'Suffer little children to come unto Me.' O most holy Jesu, who after this can be ashamed of his condescension to children, when Thou, who art God, stoopest to receive their embraces? Give me a man who is spiritual, who seeks not his own but the things of Christ Jesus, who is filled with charity and humility, in whom is no place for vanity or covetousness, whose conversation is in heaven, who is as an angel of God, moved by neither blessing or cursing, whom no bodily delight can goad or entice, who dwells in the highest citadel of contemplation, and is learned in the science of souls. Such a man will understand what I mean. But people say that my position as Chancellor calls me to higher tasks. I do not know what can be a higher work than to snatch souls from hell, and to plant them and tend them as good plants in the fair garden of the Church. They retort that I should do this better by public preaching. This may indeed be a more imposing work, but in any judgment not so fruitful. The cask will long retain the perfume that it once acquired in its early days. Come then to me, children; I will teach you what is true: you shall repay me with your prayers. So shall we in turns rejoice our guardian angels." Ver. 7. Be not deceived. Do not, says Anselm, excuse yourselves from the duty of helping your catechists on the plea of poverty or family calls. This may deceive men; it cannot deceive God. So Jerome and Theophylact. These words, however, may perhaps be better referred to ver. 4 Let every man prove his works honestly before God. In this let him not err. He may throw dust in the eyes of men; he will not elude the vigilance of God. The words that follow show that this clause is to be taken in the wider sense.
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God is not mocked. The Greek word here is very vivid. It denotes the action of those who turn their back on a person, and then put out the tongue or point the finger at him.
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Whatsoever a man soweth. Our life is the seed-time; the future life is the harvest. What we sow now we shall reap then in blessing or in cursing. Ver. 8. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. He who does carnal works, and casts them as it were seed into his flesh, shall of this carnal seed reap death now and hereafter. The reference is chiefly to sins of gluttony and impurity. On the other hand, those who sow spiritual things strengthen the spirit within, and shall reap life everlasting. But although the phrase is couched in general terms, the Apostle's immediate reference is to the works of beneficence done by catechumens for their teachers. In either case the meaning is the same. Ver. 9. In due season we shall reap if we faint not. The "due season" is the Day of Judgment. If we are not tired here of doing well, we shall attain that perfect peace where fatigue cannot come. Ver. 10 - Let us do good unto all men. While the time of sowing lasts, let us do good to all not only to catechists, but to all even to the heathen, though specially to our fellow-Christians, who are members of the same household of God. S. Jerome relates a beautiful example of this in the Apostle S. John: " When he was living at Ephesus in his extreme old age, and was with difficulty carried into the Church in the arms of his disciples, nor could find breath for many words, he would say nothing time after time but, 'Little children, love one another.' At length, his hearers being tired of hearing nothing else, asked him, 'Master, why do you always repeat the same exhortation?' He replied in a sentence worthy of him: 'Because it is the Lord's command; and if this be done all is done.' " To this Jerome adds: " Brief is the course of this world. Titus, the son of Vespasian, was wont to say at evening, if he could recollect no good action during the day, 'I have lost a day.' We do not reflect that we lose an hour, a day, a moment, time, eternity, whenever we speak an idle word, for which we shall have one day to give an account." Posidippus, and, following him, Blessed Thomas More and Giraldus (Syntag. 1), happily describe this opportuni ty (καιρός): "'Who art thou? 'I am time, who destroys all things.' 'Why do you hasten by so quickly?' 'I am always in motion.' 'Why with wings on your feet?' 'I travel as does the light breeze.' 'Why carry razors in your hand?' 'To show that nothing is ke ener than I.' 'Why does a lock hang over your forehead?' 'That you may lay hold of me as I approach.' 'Why bald behind?' 'To show that when I have once flown by no one can bring me back, however much he may wish it.' " Would that we would reflect how short is the time of our trial, how time flies never to return, how on each moment hangs eternity! How zealous should we then be in all good works. What we now neglect, we shall never regain; for in a short time all opportunity for living, acting, meriting, will vanish away. Cf. Rev. x. 6. When time shall be no more, eternity will be with us. " Short is the time given us in this present life. Unless we employ it on needful things, what shall we do when we pass into the next world? " (S. Chrysostom, Hom. 17 in Joan.). The pagan Seneca (Ep. i.) can say the same: " It is a disgrace to lose time through mere carelessness; and if you will notice it, you will see that a great part of life glides by with those who do evil, the greatest part with those who do nothing, and the whole with those who do anything else." S. Gregory Nazianzen says, in his Iambics, that life is a market in which we can procure all wealth, i.e., all virtues; but when it is closed, there remains no more chance of buying. The time for buying is short, nay, it is a single day, when compared with eternity. Ver. 11. Ye see how large a letter. S. Chrysostom and Theophylact understand this to mean: You see what misshapen letters I have formed, but your love for me will excuse their imperfections. S. Augustine: Ye see how freely and openly I have written, without any fear of the Judaisers. S. Hilary, and others following him: Ye see what lofty ideas I have put before you. S. Jerome, however, thinks that the words show that up to this point S. Paul had used an amanuensis, but that from here to the end he wrote himself, to prevent any one from objecting to the genuineness of the Epistle. The best explanation is that which sees an allusion to the length of the letter, and a reference to S. Paul's affection for the Galatians, which had made him dispense with his usual amanuensis, and write a long letter with his own hand. Ver. 12. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh. This is a reference to the Judaisers, and their desire to commend themselves to their kinsmen after the flesh. Or the meaning may be that they desired to please by the observance of carnal circumcision. This latter is supported by the use of the term flesh in the next verse
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They constrain you to be circumcised. Because they hope to be secure from the persecutions of the Jews, who were bitterly hostile to the Cross of Christ, and all who preached it. Ver. 13. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law. They do not proselytise from zeal for the law, for they do not themselves observe it, but to obtain the praise of the Jews for having converted you to Judaism. Many other religious teachers unhappily pursue the same policy, and strive for their own glory, and gamble for others' skins, nay, rather for their very souls. Ver. 14. But God forbid that I should glory, &c. The adversative but marks a contrast between the glory of the Judaisers in circumcision and the glorying of S. Paul in the Cross. The Cross of course stands for itself and all the redemptive benefits it bestows, and in it is shown the greatness of man's sin and the depth of God's love. S. Augustine (Serm. 20 de Verbis Apost.) says: " The Apostle might well have gloried in the wisdom of Christ, or His majesty, or His power; but it was the Cross he specified. The philosopher's shame is the Apostle's boast. He glories in his Lord. What Lord? Christ crucified. In Him are conjoined humility and majesty, weakness and power, life and death. Would you come to Him? Despise not these; be not ashamed; you have received the sign of the Cross on your forehead as on the seat of shame." S. Bernard (Serm. 25 in Cant.) says: " He thinks nothing more glorious than to bear the reproach of Christ. The shame of the Cross is pleasing to him who is not unpleasing to the Crucified." And again he writes (Serm. 1 de S. Andrea): " The Cross is precious, capable of being loved, and is a cause of exultation. The wood of the Cross puts forth blossoms, bears pleasant fruit, drops the oil of gladness, exudes the balsam of temporal gifts. It is no woodland tree, but a tree of life, to those who lay hold of it. It bears life-giving fruits, else how should it occupy the Lord's land, that most precious soil, to which it was affixed by nails which were, as it were, its roots ?" So (in Ep. 190 ad Innocent. Pont.) he says: " I see three principal things in this work of our salvation: the form of humility, in which Christ emptied Himself; the measure of charity, which stretched itself even to death, and that the death of the Cross; the sacrament of redemption, whereby He bore that death He vouchsafed to take upon Him."
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By whom the world is crucified unto me. As the world shrinks from the Cross or any crucified corpse, so do I shrink from the pomps and vanity of the world. Whatever, as S. Bernard says, the world thinks of the Cross, that do I think of worldly pleasures; and whatever the world thinks of pleasure, that do I think of the Cross. A simpler explanation, however, is to take crucified in the general meaning of death, that being the consequence of crucifixion. The Apostle used the term crucified to maintain the continuity of his subject. Being crucified with Christ, he says, I am a new creature, and breathe a new life. I am dead to the worldly things clung to by the Jews (he still has these in his mind); I am not held by them or by the opinions, applause, or hatred of anybody whatsoever, as the Judaisers are. And by consequence all worldly things are, so far as I am concerned, dead they have no power to affect me. The world is crucified to me; it cannot hold me. I am crucified to the world; I do not regard it. The world cannot hurt me, nor do I desire anything from it. S. Ignatius, writing to the Romans, said: " My love is crucified, and hence corruptible food and worldly pleasure delight me not. I long for the bread of God, that bread which cometh down from heaven, which is the Flesh of Christ. With Him I am crucified." Cassian (de Institut. Renunt. iv. 34, 35) relates the beautiful description of the monastic ideal given to a novice by Abbot Pinusius. He put before him Christ crucified: " Renunciation of the world is nothing but the choice of the Cross and the mortified life. You know, therefore, that this day you have done with the world its activity and its delights, and that, as the Apostle says, you are crucified to the world, and the world to you. Consider, then, the conditions of life under the Cross, under the shadow of which you are henceforth to dwell. For it is no longer you that live, but He liveth in you who was crucified for you. As He hung on the Cross, so must we be in this life, mortifying our flesh in the fear of the Lord, with all its affections and lusts; not serving our own wills, but nailing them to His Cross. So shall we fulfil the Lord's command, 'He that taketh not up his cross and followeth not after Me is not worthy of Me.' " He then describes in detail the way we should be crucified with Christ: " If it be asked, How can a man take up his cross and be crucified while still living, I reply: Our cross is the fear of the Lord; as the crucified man has no power over his own members, so are we to order our wills, not after our own desires, but according to the fear of the Lord, which constraineth us. And just as the man fastened to a cross regards not things present, studies not his own feelings, is not anxious about the morrow, is stimulated by no worldly desires, grieves not over present injuries, thinks not of the past, and, while still breathing, holds that he has done with the elements of this world, sending on his spirit whither where he will soon be, so must we be crucified by the fear of the Lord to all these things, not only to sins of the flesh, but to all earthly things, keeping our eyes intent on the land to which we hope every moment to travel." The Apostle here is speaking not only to religious, but to all Christians, who by baptism have renounced the world, with its conventional ideals and low code of honour. The world may say: "Go to market adapt yourself to everybody; be a heretic with heretics, a politician with politicians; and when you dine with them, eat flesh as they do, even on a fast day." But the Christian will reply that he is dead to a life of this sort, and is bound to live the Christ life. Though he be called Papist, hypocrite, Jesuit, he will care nothing. The world scorns a man who refuses to fight a duel when challenged. The Christian will be content to know that duelling is forbidden by the law of Christ, and will despise the stupid opinions of a stupid world, preferring to follow the wisdom of Christ, which condemns all duelling as wicked and foolish. He will recollect that Christian fortitude is seen in bearing injuries in the defence of our country or ourselves, not in the retaliation of insults and injuries. S. Bernard (Serm. 7 in Quadrag.) says that there are three steps in the way of perfection through crucifixion to the world. " The first is to bear ourselves as pilgrims who, if they see men quarrelling, give no heed; if they see men marrying, or making merry, pass by as pilgrims who are longing to reach their country, and who, therefore, decline to trouble themselves with anything but food and raiment. The second is to bear ourselves as though we were dead, void of feeling, knowing no difference between praise or blame, between flattery or calumny, nay, deaf to everything, even as a dead man. Happy is the death which thus keeps us spotless, nay, which makes us wholly foreigners to this world. But as the Apostle says, he who lives not in himself, must have Christ living in him. All else must find him dead; the things of Christ alone must find him living. The third is that He be not merely dead but crucified. Sensual pleasure, honours, riches, fame all that the world delights in must be a cross to us. All that the world regards as painful must be gladly chosen by us and clung to." S. Bernard then adds a figurative explanation of this passage: " The Apostle might not improperly be understood to mean that the world was crucified to him so far as its character was concerned, it being bound by the chains of its vines, and that he was crucified to the world by the pity he felt for its condition."
And I unto the world. Blessed Dorotheus (Biblioth. SS. Patrum, vol. iii.) asks: " How is the world crucified to any one? When he renounces it and lives a life of solitude, having left father and mother and all earthly possessions. How is a man crucified to the world? Again, by renunciation; when any one, after retiring from the world, strives against his own lusts and his own will, and subdues the motions of the flesh within. We religious seem to ourselves to have crucified the world, because we have left it and retired to our monasteries; but we are unwilling to crucify ourselves to the world. Its blandishments still have power over us; we have still a lurking love for it; we hanker after its glory, its pleasures, its gaiety, and for these vile things cherish the passions which once swayed us. What madness is this to leave what is precious and worry ourselves over what is despicable. If we have renounced the world, we ought also to have renounced all worldly desires as well." This explanation is, however, too narrow. The Apostle is speaking to all, and not to religious alone. Moreover, crucifixion to the world and crucifixion of the world are not two distinct things, as Dorotheus seems to think, but two sides of the same thing. Ver. 15. In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything. Whether you be Jew or Gentile matters nothing; neither brings you nearer Christ. What is of importance is a new creature, i.e., a soul regenerated in baptism, and fortified by grace to walk in newness of life. Cf. Rev 3:14, where Christ is called "the beginning of the creation of God," and Isa 9:6, where He is called "the Father of the world that is to be " (Vulg.), for from Him began a new creation. Cf. too Virgil (Ecl. iv. 8), where Virgil transfers to Salonius, the newly born son of Asinius Pollio, Roman Consul, the predictions by the Cumæan Sibyl of the birth of Christ, in which the Christian era is described as a golden age. Ver. 16. And as many as walk according to this rule. The rule laid down by S. Paul as to justification, and the relation of Judaism to Christianity.
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Peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. On Jews and Gentiles alike who believe on Christ, according to Ambrose; but comparing this verse with Eph 1:1 and Col 2:8, it is better to explain the Israel of God as those who are Israelites indeed, i.e., who have embraced Christianity and renounced whether Gentilism or Judaism. Not those who are descended from Jacob according to the flesh are the Israel of God, but those who have embraced his faith. These find peace within, and on them God plentifully bestows His grace. There may be a reference to the meaning of Israel, i.e., he who sees God, says Theophylact. They who see Him by faith here will see Him under a fitting image in heaven. Or Israel may mean "he who has power with God," according to Gen 32:28. As Jacob by his prayers obtained success against Esau, so the people of God are by His grace masters over the world and all its lusts, and over Judaism. So S. Thomas and Haymo. Ver. 17. From henceforth let no man trouble me. Let no Jew trouble me in future by asking whose servant I am. He bears the marks of circumcision, I the marks of Christ. Maldonatus takes the words as a defence of his apostleship.
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For I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. The Greek word used here denotes marks burnt in, like those impressed on slaves. It also stands for the scars left by wounds. S. Paul gives reasons for believing that he bore these latter in 2 Cor. xi. 23. As soldiers are proud of their scars gained in honourable warfare, so does S. Paul point with pride to those he had gained in the service of Christ. S. Ambrose (in Psa 119:120) writes: " That man is pierced with the nails of God's fear who bears in his body the mortification of Jesus. He merits to hear his Lord saying: 'Set Me as a seal upon thy hears, as a seal upon thine arm.' Place then on thy breast and on thy heart the seal of the Crucified; place it too an thy arm, that thy works may be dead unto sin. Perchance not only fear but love also will pierce thee with its nails, for love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as the grave. May our souls be wounded by these nails of charity, that they may cry out: 'We bear the wounds of charity.' " In the same way did Blessed Theodorus Studita rejoice in the wounds he received in defence of the sacred images when they were assailed by Leo the Armenian, in A.D. 824. Baring his body to the scourge, he said: " Delightful to me is the scourging of this vile body, and delightful will it be to lay it aside altogether, that my liberated soul may flee to Him whom it thirsts for." And when the scourging was over, he wrote joyfully to Naucratius: " Is it not more glorious to bear the marks of Christ, than to wear earthly crowns? " See Baronius, Annals for that year. They bear the marks of Christ, says S. Jerome, who for love of Christ afflict their bodies, or who are afflicted with illness. S. Francis of Assissi, as S. Bonaventura relates in his Life of him (c. 13), received from a seraph nails in his hands and feet, out of his intense love of Christ crucified. These nails were not of iron but of hard, dead flesh, having their heads projecting, and the sharp end turned inwards, so that it was with pain and difficulty that he could walk. Pope Alexander IV testified that he saw these nails himself with his own eyes after the death of S. Francis, and from him S. Bonaventura learnt the fact. Let the impious blasphemy of Beza then do its worst, which speaks of this as a "stigmatic idol," fondly and fraudulently fashioned. S. Paul, however, is not claiming here such marks for himself, nor do the oldest likenesses of him show any of the sort. Indeed Sixtus IV., in a Bull quoted by Henry Sedulius, in his "Notes to the Life of S. Francis," forbade, under pain of excommunication, any other saint but S. Francis to be so painted. The Dominicans, who have lately depicted S. Catherine of Sienna in this way, claim a special privilege given them for the purpose by Pius V. G OD FORBID THAT I SHOULD GLORY SAVE IN THE C ROSS OF J ESUS C HRIST. T HE C ROSS IS THE LADDER OF BLESSED E TERNITY. O LONG AND BLESSED E TERNITY! Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSOM & Co Edinburgh & London 1908
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Postquam apostolus reduxit Galatas ad statum veritatis quantum ad res divinas, hic consequenter reducit eos quantum ad res humanas, instruens eos qualiter se habeant ad homines. Et primo qualiter se habeant ad rectos; secundo, quomodo ad perversos, ibi videte qualibus litteris, et cetera. Circa primum tria facit. Primo docet qualiter superiores se habeant ad inferiores; secundo qualiter aequales ad coaequales, ibi alter alterius, etc.; tertio qualiter inferiores ad superiores, ibi communicet autem is, et cetera. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ponit admonitionem; secundo assignat admonitionis rationem, ibi considerans teipsum, et cetera. Quia ergo de peccatis multa dixerat, ne aliquis a peccato immunis in peccatores desaeviret, ideo admonitionem de mansuetudine et misericordia eis proponit, dicens fratres, etsi praeoccupatus fuerit homo, et cetera. Ubi tria ponit quae faciunt admonitionem. Primum est surreptio. Nam quando aliqui ex malitia peccant, minus digni sunt venia. Iob XXXIV, 27: qui quasi de industria recesserunt, et cetera. Sed quando aliquis praeoccupatur tentationibus et inducitur ad peccandum, facilius debet ei venia concedi, et ideo dicit etsi praeoccupatus fuerit, etc., id est imprudenter et ex surreptione lapsus, ut nequeat vitare. Secundum est peccatorum paucitas. Nam aliqui ex consuetudine peccant. Os. IV, 2: maledictum, et mendacium, et homicidium, et furtum, et adulterium inundaverunt, et sanguis sanguinem tetigit, et cetera. Et contra tales severius est agendum. Et hoc excluditur, cum dicit in aliquo, quasi non usu quotidiano peccans. Tertium est peccatorum qualitas. Nam quaedam peccata consistunt in transgressione, quaedam vero in omissione. Graviora autem sunt prima secundis: quia illa opponuntur praeceptis negativis, quae obligant semper et ad semper, haec vero opponuntur praeceptis affirmativis quae cum non obligent ad semper, non potest sciri determinate quando obligant. Unde dicitur in Ps. XVIII, 13: delicta quis intelligit? et cetera. Et quantum ad hoc dicit delicto. Vel, secundum Glossam, delictum est peccatum ex ignorantia. His ergo praemissis, ad misericordiam eos qui corrigunt monet, et hi sunt spirituales, ad quos pertinet correctio. Unde dicit vos qui spirituales estis, huiusmodi instruite. I Cor. II, 15: spiritualis iudicat omnia, et ipse a nemine iudicatur, et cetera. Et huius ratio est, quia rectum iudicium habet de omnibus, quia circa unumquodque recte dispositus est, sicut qui sanum gustum habet, recte iudicat de sapore; solus autem spiritualis bene dispositus est circa agenda; et ideo ipse solus de eis bene iudicat. Sed quia nomen spiritus rigorem quemdam et impulsum designat, secundum illud Is. XXV, v. 4: spiritus robustorum quasi turbo impellens parietem, etc., non tamen est credendum quod viri spirituales sint nimis rigidi in corrigendo. Nam hoc spiritus huius mundi facit, sed spiritus sanctus suavitatem quamdam et dulcorem efficit in homine. Sap. XII, v. 1: o quam bonus et suavis est spiritus tuus, domine, et cetera. Et ideo dicit in spiritu lenitatis. Ps. CXL, 5: corripiet me iustus in misericordia, et cetera. Contra quod dicitur de quibusdam Ez. XXXIV, 4: cum austeritate imperabatis eis, et cetera. Dicit autem instruite, et non corrigite, quia loquitur de praeoccupatis delinquentibus, qui indigent instructione; vel quia omnis peccans est ignorans. Prov. XIV, 22: errant qui operantur malum. Rationem autem admonitionis subdit, dicens considerans teipsum, etc., quasi dicat: ita fiat, ut dixi, quia tu fragilis es. Nam quamdiu in hac vita mortali sumus, proni sumus ad peccandum. Nihil autem ita frangit hominis severitatem in corrigendo, quam timor proprii casus. Eccli. XXXI, 18: intellige quae sunt proximi tui ex teipso. Qualiter autem se habeant ad aequales ostendit, dicens alter alterius, et cetera. Et primo proponit admonitionem; secundo assignat eius rationem, ibi et sic adimplebitis, etc.; tertio excludit admonitionis implendae impedimentum, ibi nam si quis existimat, et cetera. Admonet autem ad mutuam supportationem, dicens alter alterius onera portate. Et hoc tripliciter. Uno modo defectum alterius corporalem, seu spiritualem, patienter tolerando. Rom. XV, 1: debemus autem nos firmiores, et cetera. Alio modo necessitati mutuae subveniendo, et cetera. Rom. XII, 13: necessitatibus sanctorum communicantes, et cetera. Tertio modo pro poena sibi debita satisfaciendo, orationibus et bonis operibus. Prov. c. XVIII, 19: frater qui iuvatur a fratre, et cetera. Ratio autem admonitionis est adimpletio legis Christi, quae similiter est charitas. Rom. XIII, 10: plenitudo legis est dilectio.
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Unde dicit et sic adimplebitis legem Christi, id est, charitatem. Dicitur autem charitas specialiter lex Christi triplici ratione. Primo, quia per hoc distinguitur lex nova a lege veteri: nam illa est timoris, haec vero amoris. Unde Augustinus dicit: parva differentia est veteris legis et novae: timor et amor. Secundo, quia per charitatem specialiter Christus legem suam promulgavit. Io. XIII, 35: in hoc cognoscent omnes, quia mei estis discipuli, si dilectionem, etc.; et iterum: mandatum novum do vobis, ut diligatis invicem, et cetera. Tertio quia ipsam implevit Christus, et exemplum eam implendi nobis reliquit. Nam ipse ex charitate peccata nostra tulit. Is. LIII, 4: vere languores nostros ipse tulit. I Petr. II, 24: qui peccata nostra pertulit in corpore suo super lignum, et cetera. Is. XL, 11: foetas ipse portabit. Sic ergo debemus alter alterius onera portare ex charitate, ut sic impleamus legem Christi. Impedimentum autem implendae admonitionis praedictae est superbia. Ideo hoc excludens, dicit nam si quis existimat, et cetera. Et primo vituperat ipsam superbiam; secundo ostendit modum vitandi eam, ibi opus autem suum, etc.; tertio vitandi rationem assignat, ibi unusquisque enim, et cetera. Dicit ergo: facite ut dixi. Sed contingit aliquem onus alterius non portare, quia praefert se aliis. Unde dicebat ille Lc. c. XVIII, 11: non sum sicut caeteri hominum, et cetera.
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Et ideo dicit nam si quis existimat se aliquid esse, id est in mente sua superbe iudicat se magnum esse in comparatione peccantis, cum nihil sit, ex se, quia quidquid sumus hoc est ex gratia Dei, secundum illud apostoli I Cor. XV, 10: gratia Dei sum id quod sum. Qui, inquam, tale aliquid facit, ipse se seducit, id est a veritate se dividit. Is. XL, 17: omnes gentes quasi non sint, et cetera. Lc. XVII, 10: cum feceritis omnia quae praecepta sunt vobis, dicite: servi inutiles sumus, et cetera. Remedium autem vitandi, est propriorum defectuum consideratio. Nam ex hoc quod aliquis alienos et non suos defectus considerat, videtur sibi aliquid esse in comparatione ad alios, in quibus defectus intuetur, et suos non considerans, superbit. Et ideo dicit opus autem, scilicet interius et exterius, suum, id est proprium, probet, id est diligenter examinet, unusquisque. I Cor. XI, v. 28: probet seipsum homo, et cetera.
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Et sic in seipso, id est in propria conscientia, gloriam habebit, id est gloriabitur et gaudebit. II Cor. I, 12: gloria nostra haec est, testimonium conscientiae nostrae. Et non in altero, id est non in laude alterius. Vel sic: in semetipso, id est per ea quae sui ipsius sunt, gloriam habebit, id est gloriabitur in consideratione sui, et non in altero, id est non consideratione alterius. II Cor. XII, 9: libenter gloriabor in infirmitatibus meis, et cetera. Vel in semetipso, id est in Deo qui in eo habitat, gloriabitur, id est eius erit gloria, et non in altero quam in Deo. II Cor. X, 17: qui gloriatur, in domino glorietur. Ratio vitandi superbiam est praemium vel poena unicuique pro merito vel demerito reddenda.
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Unde dicit unusquisque enim onus suum portabit. Quod videtur contrarium ei quod dixerat alter alterius onera portate. Sed sciendum est quod ibi loquitur de onere sustinendae infirmitatis, quod debemus mutuo portare; hic loquitur de onere reddendae rationis, quod quilibet pro se portabit, sive sit onus praemii, sive poenae. Nam onus aliquando quidem pondus poenae, aliquando praemii significat. II Cor. IV, 17: aeternum gloriae pondus operatur, et cetera. Is. III, 10-11: dicite iusto, quoniam bene, quoniam fructum adinventionum suarum comedet, vae impio in malum, et cetera. Si autem dicantur aliqui rationem reddere pro aliis, puta praelati pro subditis, secundum illud Ez. III, 18: sanguinem eius de manu tua requiram, etc., et Hebr. ult.: obedite praepositis vestris, ipsi enim pervigilant quasi rationem reddituri pro animabus vestris, non est contrarium dicto apostoli: quia non puniuntur pro peccatis subditorum, sed pro propriis, quae in custodia subditorum commiserunt. Est ergo vitanda superbia et peccatum, quia unusquisque onus suum, id est mensuram gratiae suae offert Deo in die iudicii, tamquam manipulos bonorum operum. Ps. CXXV, 6: venientes autem venient cum exultatione. Et hoc quantum ad bonos. Vel onus suum portabit, id est poenam pro proprio peccato.
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Postquam apostolus ostendit qualiter superiores se habeant ad inferiores, et aequales aequalibus, hic consequenter ostendit qualiter inferiores se habeant ad superiores, dicens inferiores debere superioribus ministrare et obsequi. Et circa hoc tria facit. Primo monet ut ministrent prompte; secundo ut ministrent perseveranter, ibi bonum autem facientes, non deficiamus, etc.; tertio, ut ministrent communiter, ibi ergo dum tempus habemus, et cetera. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ponit monitionem ministerii; secundo excusationem excludit, ibi nolite errare, et cetera. Dicit ergo: dictum est supra, quomodo superiores se debeant habere ad inferiores, scilicet leniter corripiendo et instruendo, nunc autem restat videre qualiter inferior superiori obsequatur, et ideo dicit communicet autem is, qui catechizatur, id est docetur verbo Dei, ei qui se catechizat, id est qui eum docet; communicet, inquam, in omnibus bonis. Sed notandum est quod discipulus potest dupliciter communicare se docenti. Primo ut accipiat bona doctoris, et sic dicitur communicet is qui catechizatur, id est commune sibi faciat quod est docentis, eum imitando. I Cor. XI, 1: imitatores mei estote, et cetera. Sed quia contingit doctores aliquando minus bona facere, ideo non sunt in hoc imitandi, et ideo subdit in omnibus bonis. Matth. c. XXIII, 3: quaecumque dixerint vobis, servate et facite: secundum opera eorum nolite facere. Secundo ut communicet bona sua docenti. Hoc enim a domino praecipitur I Cor. IX, v. 14, ubi dicitur: qui Evangelio serviunt, de Evangelio vivant. Unde Matth. X, 10: dignus est operarius cibo suo. Et Lc. X, 7: dignus est operarius mercede sua. Et apostolus dicit I Cor. IX, 11: si vobis spiritualia seminamus, et cetera. Et ideo hic dicit communicet autem is, etc., id est doctus doctori in omnibus bonis quae habet; nam etiam temporalia bona quaedam dicuntur. Is. I, 19: si volueritis et audieritis me, bona terrae comedetis. Matth. c. VII, 11: si vos cum sitis mali, nostis bona dare, et cetera. Dicit autem, in omnibus, quia non solum communicare debet indigenti, sed et sententiam et consilium, potentiam et quidquid habet, generaliter debet proximo communicare. I Petr. IV, 10: unusquisque sicut accepit gratiam, in alterutrum illam administrantes, et cetera. De ista communicatione dicitur Rom. XII, v. 13: necessitatibus sanctorum communicantes; Eccli. XIV, 15: in divisione sortis da et accipe. Consequenter cum dicit nolite errare, etc., excusationem excludit, et primo excludit eam; secundo rationem exclusionis assignat, ibi quae enim seminaverit homo, et cetera.
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Dicit ergo nolite errare, Deus non irridetur. Quod quidem dupliciter intelligi potest secundum duas praemissas expositiones. Secundum primam quidem sic: tu dicis quod debemus imitari doctores etiam in bonis, sed non possum eos imitari nisi in his quae faciunt: nihil autem video in ipsis nisi malum; ergo debeo eos imitari in malo. Sed hoc excludit, dicens nolite errare, Deus non irridetur. Error est hoc dicere. Nam mala praelatorum non excusant nos. Non enim sunt subditis in exemplum, nisi in his quibus imitantur Christum, qui est pastor absque peccato; unde et signanter dicit Io. c. X, 11: ego sum pastor bonus, et cetera. Et apostolus I Cor. IV, 16 et XI, 1 dicit: imitatores mei estote, sicut et ego Christi; quasi dicat: in his me imitamini, in quibus ego imitor Christum. Etsi per mala praelatorum excusatis vos apud homines, tamen Deus non irridetur, id est, non potest falli. Iob XIII, 9: aut decipietur ut homo fraudulentiis vestris? Unde dicitur Prov. III, 34: delusores ipse deludet. Secundum autem secundam expositionem sic introducitur. Possent autem dicere: pauperes sumus, nihil habemus quod communicare possimus. Sed hoc excludit, dicens nolite errare, id est nemo excusatum vane se existimet paupertatem praetendendo, Deus non irridetur, id est non potest falli, scit enim corda nostra et non ignorat facultates. Excusatio verisimilis hominem potest fallere et placare, Deum non potest fallere. Rationem autem huius assignat, dicens quae enim seminaverit homo, et cetera. Et primo in generali, secundo in speciali, ibi quoniam qui seminat, et cetera. Dicit ergo, secundum primam expositionem: vere erratis, hoc credentes, quia Deus reddet singulis pro meritis propriis. Nam quae seminaverit homo, haec et metet, id est secundum opera sua bona vel mala, parva vel magna, praemiabitur vel punietur. Secundum autem secundam expositionem: quae seminaverit homo, id est secundum beneficia sua parva vel magna, et quantum ad qualitatem operum, et quantum ad quantitatem beneficiorum praemiabitur. II Cor. IX, 6: qui parce seminat, parce et metet, et cetera.
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Rationem autem specialiter assignat, dicens quoniam qui seminat in carne sua, et cetera. Quae quidem ratio habet duas partes secundum duas seminationes carnis et spiritus. Primo ergo agit de seminatione carnis. Ubi dicendum est, quid sit seminare in carne; secundo quid est de carne metere corruptionem. Seminare quidem in carne, est operari pro corpore vel pro carne; sicut si dicam: ego multum expendi in isto homine, id est, multa feci pro eo. Ille ergo in carne seminat, qui ea quae facit, etiam si quae bona videantur, facit in fomentum et utilitatem carnis. De carne autem metere corruptionem, dicit et infert, quia semen fructificat ut plurimum secundum conditionem terrae. Unde videmus quod in aliquibus terris semen frumenti degenerat in siliginem, vel in aliquod aliud. Conditio autem carnis est, ut sit corruptibilis, et ideo qui in carne seminat, id est studium suum ponit et opera, oportet quod ipsa opera corrumpantur et pereant. Eccli. XIV, 20: omne opus corruptibile, in fine perdetur. Rom. VIII, 13: si secundum carnem vixeritis, moriemini. Secundo agit de seminatione spiritus, dicens: qui autem seminat in spiritu, id est ordinat studium suum ad servitutem spiritus, ex fide et charitate serviendo iustitiae, metet quidem de spiritu secundum conditionem eius. Conditio autem spiritus est quod sit actor vitae. Io. VI, 64: spiritus est qui vivificat. Non autem cuiuscumque vitae, sed vitae aeternae, cum spiritus sit immortalis, et ideo metet de spiritu vitam aeternam. Prov. XI, 18: seminanti iustitiam merces fidelis, quia numquam desiccatur. Sed nota, quod cum agit de seminatione carnis, dicit in carne sua, quia caro est nobis de natura nostra, sed cum loquitur de semine spiritus, non dicit suo, quia spiritus non est nobis a nobis, sed a Deo. Deinde cum dicit bonum autem facientes, etc., monet ad ministerii perseverantiam, quia non ad horam tantum, sed semper debemus benefacere. Quod quidem potest referri ad ea quae dicta sunt, scilicet ad superiores et ad aequales et ad inferiores, quasi dicat: quicumque sumus, sive praelati erga subditos, sive aequales erga aequales, sive subditi erga praelatos, bonum facientes non deficiamus, scilicet in bene operando, quia non deficiemus in metendo. Eccle. c. IX, 10: quodcumque facere potest manus tua, instanter operare. I Cor. XV, 58: stabiles estote et immobiles. Et merito non est deficiendum, quia expectamus remunerationem aeternam et indeficientem.
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Unde subdit tempore enim suo metemus non deficientes. Unde dicit Augustinus: si homo non imposuerit finem operi, nec Deus imponet remunerationi. Matth. c. XXV, 46: ibunt hi in vitam aeternam. Sed nota quod dicit tempore suo, quia sicut agricola non statim de illo quod seminat, fructum colligit, sed tempore congruo. Iac. ult.: agricola expectat gloriosum fructum terrae patienter ferens, donec accipiat temporaneum et serotinum, et cetera. De ista messione dicitur II Cor. IX, 6: qui seminat in benedictionibus, de benedictionibus et metet vitam aeternam. Deinde cum dicit ergo dum tempus habemus, etc., monet ad ministrandum communiter, dicens: quia metemus non deficientes, ergo dum tempus habemus, id est in hac vita, quae est tempus seminandi. Io. IX, 4: me oportet operari opera eius qui misit me, donec dies est; venit nox, et cetera. Eccle. IX, 10: quodcumque potest facere manus tua, instanter operare, quia nec opus, nec ratio, nec scientia, nec sapientia erunt apud Inferos, quo tu properas. Dum, inquam, illud habemus, operemur bonum, et hoc ad omnes, scilicet homines qui iuncti sunt nobis in divina similitudine, inquantum omnes ad imaginem Dei facti sumus. Sed contra, Eccli. XII, 5 dicitur: da iusto, et ne recipias peccatorem. Non ergo debemus operari bonum ad omnes. Respondeo. Dicendum est quod in peccatore duo sunt: natura scilicet et culpa. Natura quidem est in eo amanda, et sustentanda, etiam inimici. Matth. V, 44: diligite inimicos vestros, et cetera. Culpa vero in eo est expellenda. Sic ergo dictum est: da iusto, et non recipias peccatorem, ut scilicet peccatori non ideo benefacias, quia peccator est, sed quia homo. Unde Augustinus: non sis ad iudicandum remissus, nec ad subveniendum inhumanus. Persequamur ergo in malis propriam iniquitatem, misereamur in eisdem communem conditionem.
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Sed quia non possumus omnibus benefacere, ordinem benefaciendi subdit maxime autem ad domesticos fidei, qui scilicet non solum natura nobis sunt similes, sed etiam sunt uniti fide et gratia. Eph. II, 19: non estis hospites et advenae, sed estis cives sanctorum, et domestici Dei, et cetera. Ergo omnibus impendenda est misericordia, sed praeponendi sunt iusti, qui sunt ex fide: quia I Tim. V, 8 dicitur: qui suorum et maxime domesticorum curam non habet, fidem negavit, et est infideli deterior. Sed dubitatur hic, utrum liceat plus unum diligere, quam alium. Ad quod sciendum, quod amor potest dici maior vel minor dupliciter. Uno modo ex obiecto; alio modo ex intensione actus. Amare enim aliquem, est velle ei bonum. Potest ergo aliquis alium magis alio diligere, aut quia vult ei maius bonum, quod est obiectum dilectionis, aut quia magis vult ei bonum, id est ex intensiori dilectione. Quantum ergo ad primum, omnes aequaliter debemus diligere, quia omnibus debemus velle bonum vitae aeternae. Sed quantum ad secundum, non oportet quod omnes aequaliter diligamus: quia cum intensio actus sequatur principium actionis, dilectionis autem principium sit unio et similitudo, illos intensius et magis debemus diligere, qui sunt nobis magis similes et uniti.
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Postquam apostolus monuit Galatas qualiter se habeant ad homines rectos et iustos, hic docet quomodo se habeant ad haereticos et perversos. Et primo insinuat modum scribendi monitionem; secundo ipsam monitionem subiungit, ibi quicumque enim, et cetera. Circa primum sciendum quod consuetudo erat apud haereticos depravandi et falsificandi Scripturas canonicas, nec non et permiscendi aliqua eorum quae haeresim sapiant; propter hoc consuetudo fuit ab apostolo servata, quod quando aliqua contra eos scribebat, in fine litterae aliqua scriberet, ut depravari non posset, et ita innotesceret eis de eius conscientia processisse, sicut I Cor. c. ult. dicit: salutatio mea manu Pauli. Totam enim epistolam per alium, eo dictante, scribi faciebat, et postea in fine aliquid propria manu addebat. Et secundum hunc modum ea quae sequuntur, ab isto loco scripsit Paulus manu propria. Unde dicit videte qualibus litteris scripsi vobis manu propria, ut scilicet praedicta firmius teneatis, ut scientes a me hanc epistolam missam magis obediatis. Sic ergo praelati debent propria manu scribere, ut quod docent verbo et scripto, ostendant exemplo. Ideo dicitur Is. XLIX, 16: in manibus, id est in operibus meis, descripsi te, et cetera. Ex. XXXII, 15 dicitur de Moyse, quod descendit portans duas tabulas lapideas scriptas digito Dei. Monitionem autem subiungit, dicens quicumque enim placere volunt, et cetera. Et primo aperit seducentium intentionem; secundo ostendit suam intentionem eis esse contrariam, ibi mihi autem absit gloriari, etc.; tertio subdit suam admonitionem ad subditos, ibi quicumque hanc regulam, et cetera. Circa primum duo facit. Primo aperit seducentium malam intentionem; secundo probat quod dicit, ibi neque enim circumcisionem, et cetera. Circa primum ponit unum factum et duas intentiones ad invicem ordinatas. Factum autem erat istorum qui circumcisionem inducebant, et ex hoc duo intendebant. Unum propter aliud, scilicet ut placerent inde Iudaeis, ex hoc quod carnales observantias legis introducebant in Ecclesia gentium.
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Et hoc est quod dicit quicumque volunt placere, scilicet Iudaeis infidelibus, in carne, id est carnalibus observantiis, hi cogunt vos circumcidi, non coactione absoluta, sed quasi ex conditione dicentes: quia nisi circumcidamini, non poteritis salvi fieri, ut habetur Act. c. XV, 1. Intendebant autem ex hoc ulterius quamdam securitatem habere. Iudaei enim persequebantur discipulos Christi propter praedicationem crucis. I Cor. I, 23: nos autem praedicamus Christum crucifixum, et cetera. Et hoc quia per praedicationem crucis evacuabantur legalia. Nam si apostoli simul cum cruce Christi praedicassent debere servari legalia, nullam persecutionem Iudaei apostolis intulissent. Unde dicebat supra V, 11: ego autem, fratres, si adhuc circumcisionem praedico, quid adhuc persecutionem patior, et cetera. Ut ergo non haberent persecutionem a Iudaeis, inducebant circumcisionem. Et ideo dicit: et etiam hoc propter hoc tantum faciunt, ut crucis Christi persecutionem non patiantur, quae scilicet pro cruce Christi infertur. Vel hoc etiam faciebant ad vitandam persecutionem, non solum Iudaeorum, sed etiam gentilium infidelium. Nam Romani imperatores, Caius Caesar et Octavius Augustus promulgaverunt leges, ut Iudaei ubicumque essent, proprio ritu, propriis caeremoniis servirent. Et ideo quicumque in Christum credebat et circumcisus non erat, persecutionibus, tam gentilium quam Iudaeorum, fiebat obnoxius. Ut ergo non inquietarentur de fide Christi, et in quiete viverent, cogebant eos circumcidi, secundum quod habetur in Glossa. Sed quia possent dicere pseudo, quod non propter hoc circumcisionem inducunt, sed zelo legis solum, ideo hoc excludens probat quod dixit, cum dicit sic neque enim qui circumciduntur, et cetera. Constat enim quod si propter legis zelum aliquos ad legis observantias inducerent, mandarent etiam legem in aliis impleri. Sed neque illi qui circumciduntur, neque pseudo in aliis, scilicet in moralibus, quae potiora sunt in lege et in aliis observantiis custodiunt, Io. VII, 19: nemo ex vobis facit legem. Non ergo ex zelo legis circumcisionem inducunt. Rom. II, 25: circumcisio quidem prodest, si legem observes.
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Sed ideo volunt vos circumcidi, ut in carne vestra, id est in carnali vestra circumcisione, glorientur, apud Iudaeos, eo quod tam multos proselytos faciant. Matth. c. XXIII, 15: vae vobis, Scribae et Pharisaei, qui circuitis mare et aridam, ut faciatis unum proselytum, et cetera.
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Postquam apostolus exposuit pravam seducentium intentionem, hic insinuat suam. Et primo ponit suam intentionem; secundo ostendit intentionis huius signum, ibi per quem mihi mundus, etc.; tertio rationem intentionis assignat, ibi in Christo Iesu, et cetera. Dicit ergo: intentio seducentium apparet, quia illi gloriantur in carne, sed ego aliam gloriam quaero, scilicet in cruce. Et hoc est quod dicit mihi absit gloriari, et cetera. Vide quod ubi mundi philosophus erubuit, ibi apostolus thesaurum reperit. Quod illi visum est stultitia, apostolo factum est sapientia et gloria, ut dicit Augustinus. Unusquisque enim in ea re gloriatur, per quam reputatur magnus. Sic qui reputat se magnum in divitiis, gloriatur in eis, et sic de aliis. Qui enim in nullo alio se magnum reputat, nisi in Christo, gloriatur in solo Christo. Talis autem erat apostolus. Unde dicebat supra II, v. 20: vivo ego, iam non ego, vivit vero in me Christus. Et ideo non gloriatur nisi in Christo, praecipue autem in cruce Christi, et hoc quia in ipsa inveniuntur omnia, de quibus homines gloriari solent. Nam gloriantur aliqui de magnorum (puta regum aut principum) amicitia: et hoc maxime apostolus invenit in cruce, quia ibi ostenditur evidens signum divinae amicitiae, Rom. V, 8: commendat autem suam charitatem Deus in nobis, et cetera. Nihil enim sic charitatem suam ad nos ostendit, sicut mors Christi. Unde Gregorius: o inaestimabilis dilectio charitatis. Ut servum redimeres, filium tradidisti. Item gloriantur aliqui de scientia. Et hanc apostolus excellentiorem invenit in cruce. I Cor. II, 2: non enim aestimavi me aliquid scire inter vos, nisi Iesum Christum, et cetera. Nam in cruce est perfectio totius legis, et tota ars bene vivendi. Item gloriantur aliqui de potentia. Et hanc apostolus maximam habuit per crucem. I Cor. c. I, 18: verbum crucis pereuntibus stultitia est, his autem qui salvi fiunt, id est nobis, virtus Dei est. Item gloriantur aliqui de libertate adepta. Et hanc apostolus consecutus est per crucem. Rom. VI, 6: vetus noster homo crucifixus est, ut ultra non serviamus peccato. Item aliqui gloriantur in assumptione ad aliquod magnum collegium. Sed per crucem Christi assumuntur ad collegium caeleste. Col. I, 20: pacificans per sanguinem crucis eius, sive quae in caelis, sive quae in terris sunt. Item quidam gloriantur in triumphali signo victoriae. Sed crux triumphale signum est victoriae Christi contra Daemones. Col. II, v. 15: expolians principatus et potestates, traduxit confidenter, palam triumphans illos, et cetera. Sap. XIV, 7: benedictum lignum per quod fit iustitia. Signum autem suae intentionis subdit, dicens per quem mihi mundus, et cetera. Quia autem hoc quod dicit: mihi absit gloriari, nisi in cruce, etc., est propositio exceptiva, includens unam affirmativam et aliam negativam, ideo duplex signum ponit, probans utramque propositionem. Et primo quidem probat negativam, scilicet quod non gloriatur nisi in cruce; et hoc, cum dicit per quem mihi mundus crucifixus, et cetera. Illud enim in quo quis gloriatur, non est mortuum in corde eius, sed magis illud quod contemnit. Ps. XXX, 13: oblivioni datus sum tamquam mortuus a corde. Manifestum est autem, quod mundus, et omnia quae in mundo sunt, mortua erant in corde Pauli, Phil. III, 8: omnia arbitratus sum ut stercora, ut Christum lucrifaciam. Ergo non gloriatur in mundo, neque in his quae in mundo sunt, et hoc est quod dicit: vere in nullo alio glorior, nisi in cruce Christi, per quem, scilicet Christum crucifixum, mihi mundus crucifixus est, id est mortuus est in corde meo, ut nihil in eo cupiam. Secundo probat affirmativam, scilicet quod in cruce Christi gloriatur, dicens se crucifixum mundo. Qui enim gloriatur in aliquo, illud in se praetendit, et manifestare desiderat; sed apostolus nihil in se praetendit, nec manifestare desiderat, nisi quod pertinet ad crucem Christi, et ideo tantum in ea gloriatur. Et hoc est quod dicit et ego mundo, scilicet sum crucifixus; quasi dicat: porto insignia crucis, et sum reputatus ut mortuus. Et ideo sicut mundus horret crucem Christi, ita horret me. Col. III, 3: mortui enim estis, et vita vestra abscondita est cum Christo in Deo, et cetera. Rationem autem quare non in alio gloriatur, ostendit subdens in Christo enim Iesu, et cetera. In illo siquidem maxime gloriatur, quod valet et adiuvat ad coniungendum Christo, hoc enim apostolus desiderat, scilicet cum Christo esse. Et quia non valet ad hoc ritus Iudaicus, nec gentilium observantia, sed crux Christi solum, ideo solum in ea gloriatur.
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Et hoc est quod dicit in Christo neque circumcisio aliquid valet, id est ritus Iudaicus, neque praeputium, id est gentilitatis observantia, id est ad iustificandum et iungendum Christo, sed ad hoc valet nova creatura. Quod quidem patet ex his quae dicta sunt supra v. 6 (quasi eisdem verbis): in Christo enim Iesu neque circumcisio aliquid valet, neque praeputium, sed fides quae per dilectionem operatur. Fides ergo charitate formata est nova creatura. Creati namque et producti sumus in esse naturae per Adam; sed illa quidem creatura vetusta iam erat, et inveterata, et ideo dominus producens nos, et constituens in esse gratiae, fecit quamdam novam creaturam. Iac. I, 18: ut simus initium aliquod creaturae eius. Et dicitur nova, quia per eam renovamur in vitam novam; et per spiritum sanctum, Ps. CIII, 30: emitte spiritum tuum, et creabuntur, et renovabis faciem terrae. Et per crucem Christi, II Cor. V, 17: si qua est in Christo nova creatura, et cetera. Sic ergo per novam creaturam, scilicet per fidem Christi et charitatem Dei, quae diffusa est in cordibus nostris, renovamur, et Christo coniungimur.
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Aperta intentione seducentium, et insinuata sua, hic consequenter apostolus monet eos, et primo ad sui imitationem; secundo ut desistant ab eius molestatione, ibi de caetero nemo, etc.; tertio implorat eis gratiae auxilium ad praedictorum impletionem. Dicit ergo primo: intentio mea est, ut nonnisi in cruce Christi glorier, quod et vos debetis facere, quia quicumque hanc regulam, quam ego scilicet teneo, secuti fuerint, scilicet hanc rectitudinem gloriandi. II Cor. X, 13: non in immensum gloriamur, sed secundum mensuram regulae, et cetera. Pax super illos, scilicet gloriantes quia nonnisi in Christo gloriantur. Pax, inquam, qua quietentur et perficiantur in bono. Pax enim est tranquillitas mentis. Cant. VIII, 10: ex quo facta sum coram illo quasi pacem reperiens. Col. III, 15: pax Christi exultet in cordibus vestris, in qua, et cetera. Et misericordia, per quam liberentur a peccatis. Thren. III, 22: misericordiae domini, quia non sumus consumpti. Sap. IV, 15: gratia Dei et misericordia in sanctos eius, et respectus in electos illius, qui scilicet sunt Israel. Rom. II, 28: non enim qui in manifesto Iudaeus est. Ille ergo est Israel Dei, qui est spiritualiter Israel coram Deo. Io. I, 47: ecce vere Israelita, in quo dolus non est. Rom. c. IX, 6: non enim omnes qui sunt ex Israel, hi sunt Israelitae, et cetera. Sed qui filii sunt promissionis existimantur in semine. Unde et ipsi gentiles facti sunt Israel Dei per mentis rectitudinem. Israel rectissimus interpretatur. Gen. XXXII: Israel erit nomen tuum, et cetera. Consequenter cum dicit de caetero nemo, etc., monet, ut desistant a sui molestatione. Et primo ponit admonitionem; secundo rationem eius assignat, ibi: ego enim stigmata. Dicit ergo de caetero, etc.; quod potest dupliciter exponi. Uno modo, ut de caetero accipiatur in vi unius dictionis, ut sit sensus de caetero, id est amodo. Alio modo ut accipiatur in vi duarum dictionum, ut sit sensus: de residuo nemo, etc.; quasi dicat: ego gloriabor tantum in cruce, de omnibus aliis nemo mihi molestus sit, quia ego de nullo curo. Sed prima melior est.
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Quod autem dicit nemo mihi molestus sit, potest referri ad pseudo, qui molesti erant apostolo, movendo quaestiones, et murmurando de observantiis legalibus. Ps. XXXIV, 13: ego autem, dum mihi molesti essent, induebar Cilicio, et cetera. Vel potest referri ad auditores non recte sentientes, ut dicatur nemo mihi molestus sit, id est nullus auditor exhibeat se talem, ut rursum in eo necessitatem habeam laborandi, scilicet aliter sentiendo, quam doceam. Rationem autem horum assignat, dicens ego enim stigmata, et cetera. Stigmata enim proprie sunt quaedam notae impressae alicui cum ferro candenti sicut cum servus ab aliquo domino signatur in facie, ut nullus eum sibi vindicet, sed quiete dimittat domino suo, cuius stigmata portat. Hoc etiam modo apostolus dicit se stigmata domini portare, quasi insignitus sit ut servus Christi. Et hoc quia portabat insignia passionis Christi, patiens pro eo multas tribulationes in corpore suo, secundum illud I Petr. II, 21: Christus passus est pro nobis, vobis relinquens exemplum, et cetera. II Cor. IV, v. 10: semper mortificationem domini Iesu in corpore nostro circumferentes, et cetera. Et secundum hoc dupliciter potest continuari ad praemissa. Uno modo, ut dictum est nemo mihi molestus sit, nam ego porto insignia domini nostri Iesu Christi in corpore meo, et sic nullus super me ius habet nisi Christus. Alio modo nemo mihi molestus sit, quia ego habeo multos alios conflictus et stigmata, quae in persecutionibus quas patior me molestant, et grave est addere afflictionem afflicto. Unde conqueritur Iob XVI, 15: concidit me vulnere super vulnus. Sed prima melior est.
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Implorat autem auxilium gratiae Dei, dicens gratia domini nostri Iesu Christi, etc., per quam praedicta implere possitis, sit cum spiritu vestro, id est cum ratione vestra, ut veritatem intelligatis. Vel cum spiritu vestro, quo scilicet debetis legem observare, et non carnaliter. Rom. c. VIII, 15: non enim accepistis, et cetera.
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1. Fratres, etsi praeoccupatus fuerit homo in aliquo delicto; vos, qui spirituales estis, hujusmodi instruite in spiritu lenitatis. Nonrmlli putant, praesentem admonitionem Apostcli esse velut epitomen eorum, quae scribit epistola Rom. cap. 14. et initio 15. adversus eos, qui de ciborum discrimine Judaico disceptabant. Sunt enim illic similes huic loco sententiae: Infirmum in fide suscipite, non in cogitationibus disceptationum; et: debemus nos firmiores imbecillitates infirmorum sustine^e et non nobis placere. At sane non est necesse, doctrinam verbis ipsis generalem absque certiori conjectura restringere ad specialem materiam, cujus tota hac epistola non est facta mentio. Praeoccupatus, sive juxta Augustinum circumventus in aliquo delicto, dicitur, qui non malitia et animo destinato, sed infirmitate vel imprudentia lapsus est in peccatum. Nam et hujusmodi peccatum solet in Scripturis delictum vocari, Graece napaTCTioua, quasi lapsus hominis ex improviso impingentis. Pro verbo instruite, Graece est instaurate, reficite; vel ut Hieronymus vertendum fmsse putat: perficite. Syriaca translatio habet erigite. Porro spirituales, quos Apostolus hic alloquitur, Cajetanus doctores interpretatur. Quidam presbyteros Ecclesiae volunt intelligi, locum hunc referentes ad poenitentiae sacramentum, in quo presbyter eum, qui lapsus est, instaurare, id est, restituere priori integritati ac Deo reconciliare debeat; dicuntque, Apostolum admonere viros spirituales, id est, presbyteros, ut id faciant in spiritu mansuetudinis. Verum quis Apostolo spiritualis dicatur, exposuimus in comment. 1 Cor. 2. et 3. Sunt enim Apostolo iidem spirituales, perfecti et firmiores; eosque opponit carnalibus, animalibus, parvulis in Christo, et infirmis. Et quidem oportet presbyterum eo modo spiritualem esse; Non sed ut non omnis ille nec solus talis est, ita constat, apud Apostolum nomine presbyteri et spiritualis hominis diversa significari. Sensus igitur est: Nemo per inanem gloriam sese super alium efferat aut contendat, sed etsi qui&piam tentatione praeventus, ut est humana fragilitas, prolapsus fuerit in peccatum; vos qui spirituales estis, id est, qui geritis vos pro spiritualibus et perfectis, aut qui videmini tales, ne durius ac severius agite adversus hujusmodi hominem, sed cum mansuetudine eum admonentes et corripientes, restituite atque erigit3 a lapsu. Dicit autem in spiritu lenitatis, ut innuat, quod jam dixerat superius, mansuetudinem esse fructum et donum Spiritus sancti. Quod enim illic mansuetudinem, hic lenitatem vertit interpres, cum Graeca vox eadem sit. Quaeri potest, cur Apostolus suo ipsius praecepto non sit contrarius, qui Corinthiis virgam comminatur, dicens: Quid vultis? in virga veniam ad vos? an in charitate et spiritu mansuetudinis? 1 Cor. 4., quique Tito praecipit, ut Cretenses suos dure increpet, Tit. 1. Respondemus, pro diversitate personarum et peccatorum, modo severa increpatione vel etiam virga utendum esse, modo cum mansuetudine agendum cum iis, qui peccant. Rectissime enim Gregorius docet parte 3. curae pastoralis, peccantes aliis atque aliis, aliter atque aliter admonendos esse. Ubi inter caetera cap. 33: Aliter, inquit, admonendi sunt, qui repentina concupiscentia superantur, aliter, qui in culpa ex consilio ligantur. Atqui Cretensium multi erant mendaces, malae bestiae, ventres pigri, et propter hoc dure increpandi. Corinthios quoque eos alloquitur Apostolus, inquit Hieronymus, qui post peccatum, non sentientes errorem suum, nolebant majoribus suis subdi et poenitentia corrigi. Ubi vero peccator intelligens vulnus suum, tradit medico se curandum, ibi non est virga necessaria, sed spiritus lenitatis. Sic ille.
Considerans teipsum, ne et tu tenteris. Numerum subito mutat, non ex imperitia sermonis, ut censet Hieronymus, sed studio; propterea quod ad compellandam uniascujusque conscientiam aptior sit numerus singularis. Sic Dominus ad Scribas et Pharisaeos mulierem adulteram adducentes: Qui sine peccato est vestrum, inquit, primus in illam lapidem mittat Joan. 8. Certe apud Terentium optimi Latini sermonis autorem, similis permutatio numeri legitur non absque venustate. Adeon', inquit, homines immutarier ex amore, ut non cognoscas eundem esse? Caeterum in eo, quod ait: tenteris, causam pro effectu posuit, est enim sensus, teipsum considera, quicunque spiritualis es, ne et tu in tentationem incidas, tentatione vinearis, in aliquo delictopraeoccuperis. Qui te existimas stare, vide ne cadas. Nihil enim ad misericordiam sic inclinat, inquit Augustinus, quam proprii periculi cogitatio. Et Thomas in eandem sententiam: nihil ita frangit hominis severitatem in corrigendo, quam timor proprii casus. Docet hic locus, homines etiam spirituales et perfectos non esse de sua stabilitate securos, et inanem esse eorum 'fidem, qui sibi perseverantiam justitiae certo pollicentur.
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2. Alter alterius onerapoHate. Onera vo:at peccata, quae reatu suo nos deprimunt et poenis obnoxios reddunt. Est autem sermo rretaphoricus ab iis sumptus, qui in portandis oneribus invicem sublevant. Monet ergo Galatas, ut alii aliorum infirmitates et peccata quodammodo reputent sua, condolendo, dissimulando, ferendo, leniter admonendo, fraterne corripiendo, denique hoc agendo, ut corrigatur frater potius, quam puniatur. Addo fraternam correptionem, neque enim correptio fraterna supportationi infirmorum opponitur, sed potius ex ea consequitur, ut bene docet S. Thomas 2. 2. q. 33. art. 1. ad 3. In tantum enim, imjuit, uliquis supportat peccantem, in quantum adversus eum non turbatur, sed benevolentiam erga eum servat: ex quo fit, ut eum satagat emendare.
Et sic adimplebitis legem Christi. Ita legunt Latini omnes; tametsi Graeca habent imperativum modum adimplete, quod tamen parum refert ad sensum. Annotat Theophylactus, non esse dictum implete, sed adimplete, sive complete, id est, communiter omnes implete, quisque portando onus alterius. Sed quam legem Christi adimplent, qui hoc faciunt? Nimirum eam, quam ipse Christus tulit et tantopere commendavit dicens: Mandatum novum do vobis, ut diligatis invicem, sicut dilexi vos. In hoc cognoscent omnes, quia discipuli mei estis, si dilectionem habueritis ad invicem. Joan. 13. Quod suum mandatum postea subinde repetit in eodem sermone cap. 15., nec ab eo diversum estillud apud alios Evangelistas: Diliges proximum tuum sicut teipsum. Lex igitur Christi lex fraternae dilectionis est, quae dictat mutua onera ferenda esse. Quam legem superiori capite Paulus ipse expressit cum diceret: Per charitatem spiritus servite invicem. De qua et Joannes Apostolus, quemadmodum de eo Hieronymus in comment. refert, a fratribus admonitus, cur semper idem inculcaret dicens: Filioli diligite alterutrum, respondit: quia praeceptum Domini est, et si solum fiat, sufficit. Porro legem Christi eam, quam diximus, intelligunt omnes hujus loci interpretes, eandemque plenius edisserit Augustinus q. 71. inter 83. Ex quibus omnibus etiam patet, Christum non solum ut redemptorem hominibus datum esse, cui fidant, ut volunt haeretici; sed etiam ut legislatorem cui obediant.
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3. Nam si quis existimat se aliquid esse, cum nihil sit; ipse se seducit. Graece seipsum decipit, vel ut prossius ex Graeco verterunt ErasmusJeti Hentenius: suum ipse fallit animum. Hoc quidem/licituradversus^superbiam^eorum, qui sibi placentes, et existimantes se aliquid esse, durius tractabant infirmos. Attamen generaiis sententia est, omnem eum, qui se existimat aliquid esse, seipsum seducere, quia omnes nihil sumus. Nam illa particula interposita, cum nihil sit, non restringit sententiam, sed rationem ejus continet. Idcirco enim, quicunque se aliquid esse existimat, seipsum seducit, quia revera non aliquid, sed nihil est; sicut ipse de se Apostolus profitetur dicens: tametsi nihil sum. 2 Cor. 12. Et haec cogitatio, quae certe verissima est, plurimum facit ad humilitatem. Sensus autem est, hominem ex se nihiJ posse, quod ad pietatem et salutem aeternam pertineat, Domino dicente: Sine me nihil potestis facere Joan. 15. et ejus Apostolo attestante: non sumus sufficientes cogitare aliquid a nobis tanquam ex nobis 2 Cor. 3. Quanquam et universe verum est de omni bono tam naturae, quam gratiae, nos ad id agendum nihil esse; cum juxta canonem Arausicanum: nemo de suo habeat nisi mendacium et peccatum.
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4. Opus autem suum probet unusquisque. Pressius eos urget, qui tanquam ipsi puri a crimine facta aliena judicabant. Sensus est: Quisque scrutetur, discutiat, expendat, examinet opus suum, id est, vitam et conversationem suam, et videat, non solum cujusmodi opera fecerit, sed et qua intentione fecerit. Sic 1 Cor. 11. Probet seipsum homo, et 2 Cor. ultimo: Ipsi vos probate. Est autem emphasis ia vocabulo suum, cum dicit opus suutn, et infra onus suum, quasi dicat: Sicut pro suisoperibus quisqueretributionem inDomino judice exspectare debet, non pro alienis, ita sua consideret opera, non aliena.
Et sic in semetipso tantum gloriam habebit, et non in altero. Graece: Et tunc ad semetipsum tantum gloriationem habebit et non ad alium. Ita verterunt Hentenius et Theophylacti interpres, tametsi Erasmus cum nostro interprete mavult ablativos: in semetipso, in alio. Tempoiis adverbium etiam apud Augustinum ei Ambrosium legitur. Porro varie sententia Apostoli exponitur. Unp modo: Si quisque diligenti cura probet et examinet sua ipsius facta; tunc desinet sibi placere comparatione alterius, quem forte existimat se deteriorem. Nam si opus suum inveniat bonum et laude dignum: habebit in se, unde glorietur et pro quo gloriam a Deo exspectet, secundum iliad Rom. 2. Gloria et honor et pax omni operanti bonum. Si vero pravum, nec sincerum inveniat opus suum: habebit in se, unde sibi displiceat et pro quo damnationem metuat, sicut ibidem dicitur: Tribulatio et angustia tfi omnem animam hominis operantis malum. Hoc enim posterius membrum juxta hanc expositionem supplendum erit, et explicatur verbis sequentibus: Unu&quisque enim onus suum portabit, scilicet in judicio Dei. Igitur illud in altero sive ad alterum volunt idein esse, quod alterius comparatione, tanquam dicat Apostolus: Unusquisque judicabitur, et retributionem, vel gloriae vel ignominiae, recipiet pro opere suo, non quale fuerit alieni operis comparatione, sed quale in se. Ac proinde non debemus respicere ad alios, forte pejores aut minus bonos, quasi hoc nobis profuturum sit in die judicii, si dicere possimus: Vixi melius aut non tam male, quam ille aut ille; sed ad nosmetipsos. Alio modo: Si bonum inveniat opus suum, habebit, uude glorietur apud se in conscientia et coram Deo, ut non sit ei necesse gloriam mendicare ab aliis, reclamante conscientia, quam alii non vident. Hric sensui consonat illud 1 Cor. 14. Mihi pro minimo est, ut a vobis judicer. Quodque ibidem sequitur: Et tunc laus erit unicuique a Deo. Quidam vero ironiam subesse putant in verbis Apostoli, ut sensus sit: Qui sibi spirituales ac caeteris perfectiores videntur, quod vidoant aliorum lapsus et infirmitates; hi si vitam suam diligenter excutiant, invenient haud dubie lapsus proprios: in illis, si velint, glorientur; neque putent sibi gloriam per hoc accedere, quod alii peccent, quorum comparatione justi videantur. At medius sensus mihi prae reliquis probatur.
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5. Unusquisque enim onus suum portabit. Graece: proprium onus, et ita legit August. Similes ejusdem Apostoli sententiae sunt Rom. 14. Unusquisque pro se rationem reddet Deo. 1 Cor. 3. Unusquisque propriam mercedem accipiet secundum suum laborem, et 2 Cor. 5. Ut referat unusquisque propria corporis prout gessit, sive bonum, sive malum. In quibus omnibus notandum, quod dicit suum et proprium, et pro se, quod opponitur alieno. Sensus igitur est: Unusquisque in judicio divino portabitsarcinam suam, non alienam, id est, stipendium recipiet peccati sui, non alieni. Ex quo sensu liquet, hoc Apostoli dictum non pugnare cum eo, quod supra dixit: Alter alterius onera portate, nec contrarium esse satisfactionibus aliorum pro aliis, nihilo magis quam satisfactioni Christi pro nobis. Nam aliorum onera portare, sicut ante diximus, est proximorum ferre infirmitates, quod ad vitam praesentem pertinet, sicut et satisfacere pro aliorum peccatis; ac utrumque charitatis est officium erga proximos exhibendae. Onus autem suum portare, quomodo jam expositum est, ad tempus extremi judicii refertur. Eo namque et caeterae sententiae jam citatae spectant. Potest autem et onus hoc sic intelligi, ut sit debitum reddendae rationis Deo de factis. Hoc 'suum onus quisque portabit, quia unusquisque pro se rationem reddet Deo, ut jam ex cap. 14. ad Rom. allegavimus. Vocaturautem onus propter peccata, quibus nemo caret: quorum omnium est reddenda ratio. Et sic intelligit B. August. contra lit. Petil. lib. 3. cap. 5., ubi etiam breviterac perspicue hunc locum cum superiore conciliat, inquiens: Unusquisque proprium onus portabit, onus videlicet reddendae rationis, quia unus quisque nostrum pro se rationem reddet Deo. Nam quantum attinet ad onera mutuae charitatis, invicem onera vestra portate, et sic adimplebitis legem Christi.
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6. Communicet autem is, qui catechizatur verbo, ei, qui se catechizat, in omnibus bonis. Pro verbo quaedam MSS. habent verbum, Graecis et Syris codicibus et Hieronymo suffragantibus. Etenim verba docendi, etiam passiva, regunt accusativum rei, ut si dicam: hic pueri docentur bonas artes, id est, instituuntur in bonis artibus. Sic: qui catechizatur verbum, id est, qui instituitur in doctrina fidei, quam verbi nomine passim apostolicae literae significant. Quamvis autem in Graeco sit xaTY])(o6/jtsvoc, quod usu EccJesiae de iis tantum dicitur, qui ad baptismum rudimentis fidei praeparantur; non tamen hic de catechumenis hujusmodi sermo est, sed de fidelibus adhuc rudioribus, quos plenius oportebat institui in doctrina Christiana. Scribit enim Apostolus ad baptizatos: Quicunque, inquit, in Christo baptizati estis, Christum induistis, supra cap. 3- Neque sauc, (|ui non erant baptizati, teneri poterant praeceptis apostolicis, utpote nondum ingressi in Ecclesiam. Neque expediebat eos praecepto, quale h?c intelligi putamus, onerari, ne forte resilirent a proposito. Est autem catechizare, viva voce quempiam instituere in aliqua doctrina praesertim religionis. Solent enim religionis mysteria, etiam apud ethnicos, voce magis quam scripto discipulis tradi et ad posteros transmitti. Illud: in omnibus bonis, non ad proximum verbum catechizat referendum, sed adremotius: communicet. Exponitur autem dupliciter, aut de bonis moralibus aut de temporalibus. Priori modo sensus est: Is, qui docetur verbum fidei, communicetcum euodoctore non in malis operibus, quae facit, sed in bonis, quaecunque et facit et docet; juxta id, quod supra dixit cap. 4. Bonum aemulamini in bono semper. Sic exponunt Ambrosianus et Liranus cum glossa ini,erlineali. Posteriori modo: Qui instituitur in doctrina fidei, vicissim communicet, id est, tribuat doctori suo bona temporalia, quaecunque viderit ei necessaria: quia justum est, ut qui spiritualia ministrat, temporalia recipiat; quandoquidem et ipse Dominus ordin.avit iis, qui Evangelium annuntiant, de Evangelio vivere 1 Cor. 9. Haec expositio pene omnium aliorum est interpretum, tametsi Hieronymus et Thoroas etiam priorem sensum adferunt. Pro hac expositione facit ipsum verbum communicandi, per quod largitio bonorum temporalium in Scripturis non raro significatur, ut Rom. 12. Nectssitatibus sanctorum communicantes. Phil. 4. Benefecistis communicantes tribulationi meae. Et iterum: Nulla mihi Ecclesia communicavit in ratione dati et accepti, nisi vossoli; et Hebr. 13. Beneficientiae et communionis nolite oblivisci. Videtur autem Apostolus hoc praeceptum idcirco post praedicta subjungere, ne verbis superioribus, quibus inhumanitatem et arrogantiam magistrorum, qui spirituales esse debent, repressit, videretur ab illis alienare discipulos voluisse, quo minus eis liberaliter temporalia suppeditarent. Huic sensui apte cohaerent, quae sequuntur:
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7. Nolite errare: Deus non irridetur. Id est, nolite vosmetipsos fallere vanis excusationibus, quae valere possunt apud homines, sed non apud Deum, quia Deus non irridetur; id est, Deo, qui futurus est omnium judex et peccatorum vindex, nemo potest illudere tanquam a se decepto, quia novit omnia. Solent enim deceptores irridere eos, quos deceperint. Itaque ex posteriore intelligitur prius per metalepsim, ac si simpliciter dixisset: Deus a nemine fallitur.
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8. Quae enim seminaverit homo, haec et metet. Graece, numero singuUri: Quidquid enim etc. Augustinus et Anibrosianus: Quod enim. Monebat Apostolus eum, qui catechizatur, ne catechistam suum dobito fraudaret honorario. Qua occasione nunc generalem subjicit exhortationem ad bona opera, nominatim autem ad tribuendum ac benefaciendum proximis. Di<;it ergo, Deum judicem nemo fallet, nam procul dubio quaecunque seminaveril homo in hac vita, eadem metet in futuro Dei judicio. Id est, omnium operum suorum, quae fecerit, justam retributionem accipiet. Etenim haec vita quasi sementis quaedam est; semen, opera; messis autem juxta Christi testimonium consummatio saeculi Matth. 13. Seges vero, quod pro operibus redditur praemium aut supplicium; hoc enim est, quod sequitur: Quoniam qui seminat in carne sua, de carne et metet corruptionem. Graece: Quia qui seminat in carnem suam, ex carne metet corruptionem.
Qui autem seminat in spiritu, de spiritu metet vitam aeternam. Hic quoque Graece est: in spiritum, ex spiritu. Prudenter observat Hieronymus, Apostolum non dixisse in spiritu suo, sicut dixerat in carne sua, sed tantum in spiritu; quia qui bona seminat, inquit, non in suo quippiam, sed in Dei spiritu seminat. Vult enim intelligi Spiritum sanctum, sicut et in superioribus. Videtur autem Apostolus in his verbis, carnem et spiritutn considerare tanquam agrum vel terram, in quam semen mittitur, ut pro qualitate fr.ndi fructum referat, quasi dicat: Qui semen operum suorum projicit in terram carnis suae, id est, ea facit in obsequium carnalis suae concupiscentiae (unde et opera carnis vocantur), i9 ex eadem carne sua metet corruptionem, id est, referet interitum, miseriam et mortem sempiternam. Qui vero semen operum suorum seminat in agrum spiritus, id est, in Spiritu sancto ea tacit, ejusdem virtute perducenda ad fructum (unde et fructas spiritus ab Apostolo nominantur); is ex eodem spiritu, valorem velut infinitum operibus tribuente, recipiet pro eis vitam aeternam. Quam e diverso incorruptionem, hoc est immortalitatem, vocat Apostolus Rom. 2. Sensum autem hunc, quem dedimus, illustrant alia ejusdem Apostoli, ut Rom. 6., ubi operum peccati fructum ac finem dicit esse mortem; bonorum autem vitam aeternam, et cap. 8 cum ait: Si enim secundum carnem vixeritis, moriemini; si autem spiritu facta tarnis mortificaveritis, vivetis. Porro notaudus hic locus adversus sectarios pro meritis bonorum operam. Si enim metet homo non solum mala, quae seminavit, sed etiam bona; metet autem, qui bona seminavit, vitam aeternam, igitur hi bonis operibus velut in semine vita aeterna continetur. Atqui semen hujusmodi respectu vitae aeternae non alio, quamad causam meritoriam referri potest. Quaeret autem aliquis, quomodo dictum sit universaliter ab Apostolo juxta Graecam lectionem: Quidquid homo seminaverit, hoc et metet, cum tam in bonis operibus, quae peccato subsequente mortificantur, quaminmalis, quae per gratiam remittuntur, manifesta sit exceptio. Respondeo, loqui Apostolum de operibus ante messem, id est, diem judicii non extinctis et, ut ita dicam, ex Dei memoria deletis. Sic enim tam de bonis operibus cadentium, quam de malis resurgentium loquitur per Ezechielem Prophetam Dominus cap. 18., cum dicit sese talium non amplius recordari. Quanquam et haec ipsa deietio fit per judicium Dei, quod in hoc saeculo exercetur.
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9. Bonum autem facientes non deficiamus, vel ut alii vertunt: non defatigemur. Augustinus legit: non infirmemur. Sensus est: Ne taedio aut molestia victi unquam cessemus a benefaciendo proximis. Rationem subjicit ex praemio nunquam defecturo.
Tempore enim suo metemus non deficientes, vel, ut rursus alii vertunt: non defatigati, pro quo Ambrosiaster et Augustinus infatigabiles, tametsi in Graeco verba diversa sunt, quae interpretes similiter reddiderunt, deficiamus et deficientes, vel defatigemur et defatigati, quod moneo, ne quis in Graeco subesse putet anapboram, qualis in Latino. Sensus est: Tempore enim suo, Graece proprio, sicut et Augustinus legit, hoc est, cum venerit consummatio saeculi, quae est proprium tempus metendi, tunc metemus et fructum percipieraus incessanter et sine fine, nam fructus ille est vita aeterna. Posset etiam sic intelligi: tempore enim suo metemus, si prius non fuerimus defatigati bene operando. Porro Augustinus tractatu de cantico novo cap. 2., hoc infatigabiles jungit sequentibus: infatigabiles itaque, dum tempus habemus, operemur bonum ad omnes. Sed ex Graeco melius praecedentibus annectitur, nam illud apa ouv apud Graecos amat primum locum sententiae.
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10. JErgo dum tempus habemus, operemur bonum ad omnes. Id est, dum sumus in hac vita, quod est seminandi tempus, stuieamus erga quoscunque homines esse benefici, prout facultas et occasio tulerit. Hinc disce, proximi nomine in praecepto charitatis omnem hominem intelligi debere.
Maxime autem ad domesticos fidei. Id est, Christianos, qui domestici fidei dicuntur, quia in unam domum Ecclesiae per fidem congregati sunt, quos eosdem Ephes. 2. vocat domesticos Dei, quia Ecclesia domus Dei est. Praecipitur ordo charitatis, secundum quem, caeteris paribus, fideles infidelibus sunt praeferendi. Addit autem hanc partem Apostolus, ut innuat multo magis, quod superius praeceperat, illis esse benefaciendum, a quibus fidei doctrinam percipimus.
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11. Videte qualibus literis scripsi vobis mea manu. Finiturus epistolam Apostolus redit ad principale argumentum; volens bene inculcatum esse Galatis id, quod eos tota ferme epistola tam studiose docuit, de lege non miscenda cum Evangelio. Pro verbo videte textus Augustini habet vidistis. Erasmus vertit videtis. Neutrum meo judicio recte, nam idzxe, quod est in Graeco, sine controversia videte significat, quod et ex Syro versum habemus, non vidistis: nisi poetice sumas pro sf <§sis. At videtis, multo minus. Ilaec annotanda duxi, non quod ad sensum adeo referat; sed pro veritate textus apostolici et defensione nostri inteipretis. Porro Graeca dictione ttyjAixoic, quam interpres vertit qualibus, Hieronymus significari putat quantitatem, quasi dicat Apostolus: Videte, qttam grandem epistolam scripserim vobis mea manu, quod tamen idem Hieronymus non de magnituiline characternm, aut de prolixitate epistolae, sed de granditate sensuum vult intelligi. Ridet autem cujusdam docti commentarium, qui scripserat, Paulum, utpote Hebraeum et Graeca scribendi imperitum, exigente necessitate, ut Galatis aflectum erga eos suum commendaret, contra consuetudinem manu sua subscripsisse hanc epistolam, quod dum facit, curvos tramites literarum vix magnis apicibus expressisse. Atque hoc esse, quod dicit: videte quantis literis etc Hoc etsi non prorsus immerito rejiciat Hieronyous, quia non erat Paulo inconsuetum, epistolas a se dictatas sua manu subscribere, quemadmodum ex fine epistolarum 2. ad Cor., ad Col., 2 ad Thess. et ad Philem. manifeste probatur, attamen deformitatem literarum hic significari sentiunt Chrysostomus ac caeteri Graeci, quasi dicat Apostolus: Quamvis Graecos characteres non pulchre pingam, ut videre potestis, volui tamen totam hanc epistolam meis digitis exarare vestvi gratia, tum ut intelligatis, quantopere vestra salus mihi cordi sit, tum ut nulla vobis possit esse suspicio, ne alienae pro meis literae vobis obtruaantur. Nam sub nomine Pauli missas aliquando fuisse epistolas a falsis doctoribus, satis apparet ex eo, quod dicit 2 TLess. 2. Neque per epistolam tanquam per nos missam. Graecis consentit Ambrosianus in eo, quod dicunt, totam hanc epistolam Pauli manu scriptam fuisse. Ubi enim, inquit, holographa manus est, falsum dici non potest. Annuit et Cajetanus. Hieronymi ergo expositionem isti quadautenus sequuntur, quae potest ex eo confirmari, quod vox Ypa/jificrca apud Graecos pro epistola usurpatur, ut nomen literarum apud Latinos. Exemplum est Act. 28. Nos neque literas, ypa'uuaTa, accepimus, id est, epistolam. 1 2. Quicunque volunt placere in carne, hi cogunt vos circumcidi. Graecum verbum, quod interpres vertit placere, coraposituni est et significat: juxta faciem placere. Docet autem hac parte Apostolus, quales sint homines, qui legem Galatis imponere volebant, et qua ratione moti id faciant: intelligit autem pseudapostolos, contra quos haec et sequentia dicit. Sensus est: Qui gratiam hominum quaerunt carne sibi conjunctorum et ab iis laudari cupiunt, aut offendere eos nolunt, ii sunt, qui vos pertrahere nituntur ad circumcisionem. Loquitur de Judaeis, placere volentibus genti suae, quam hic vocat carnem, et idcirco laborantibus, ut quamplurimos ad legem Judaicam adducerent. Est autem hoc ipsum, quod Apost. 1. capite vocat hominibus placere, sic inquiens: An quaero hominibus placeme? Si adhuc hominibus placerem, Christi servus non essem.
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Tantum ut crucis Christi persecutionem non patiantur. In Graeco non est gonitivus crucis, sed dativus, per ablativum reddendus cruce, id est, ob crucem. Sensus enim est: Saltem id faciunt, ut ne propter crucem Christi persecutionem a fratribus suis Judaeis patiantur. Id est, Christiani quidem esse volunt et crucifixum colere, sed sine periculo persecutionis a Judaeis tolerandae. Nam Judaei plerique, ut ex Actis Apost. liquet, non tam persequebantur fidem crucifixi, quam doctrinam legis abrogatae vel abrogandae per crucem, quemadmodum et a Cajetano bene annotatum est.
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13. Neque enim, qui circumciduntur, legem custodiunt. Graece: ipsi legem custodiunt. Quod emphasim habet, nec ab Ambrosiano praetermissum est. Pro quo Hieronymus et Augustinus legunt: hi legem custodiunt. Sensus autem est: Nam nec ipsi quidem, quamvis circumcisi sint et circumcisionem profiteantur ac praedicent, legem observant; cura enim lex Mosaica sit jugum importabile, de quo Petrus Act. 15., quod neque nos, neque patres nostri portare potuimus, multa legis praecepta negligunt, quin et absque probabili causa, cura lubet, iu multis sibi indulgent. Confer, quae diximus 1 Cor. 11. ad illud: Accepit panem. Itaque circumcisionem extorquere a vobis volunt non zelo legis commoti:
Sed volunt vos circumcidi, ut in carne vestra glorientur. Id est, ut glorientur apud suos, se rem Judai^am egre^ie promovisse, si circumcisionem, quae fit in carne, vobis persuaserint, et per hoc ad legem suam vos traduxerint, ac proselytos feceriot. Quanto enim studio id agere soleant, declarat illa Salvatoris exprobratio: circuitis mare et aridam, ut faciatis unum proselytum etc. Matth. 23. Porro carnis nomine pudendas partes aliquando significari ex Ezechiele discimus cap. 23.
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14. Mihi autem absit gloriari, nisi in cruce Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Sensus est: IIK gloriam quaerunt apud homines, ex carne vestra circumcisa; at vero procul sit a me, ut in aliqua re glorier, nisi in cruce, id est, in passione et morte Domini nostri Jesu Christi, quam in crucis patibulo sustinuit, et por quam omne bonum salutare nobis promeiuit ac procuravit. Quidquid enim ad pietatem et salutem pertinet vitae aeternae, totum id nobis promanat de fontibus Salvatoris, id est, ex merito passionis Christi. Unde ipse dixit: Sine me nihil potestis facere Joan. 15. Hinc est, quod Leo Pontifex in serm. 8. de pass. Domini crucem Christi vocat omnium fontem benedictionum omniumque causam gratiarum. Non vetat autem Apostolus, ne quis glorietur in virtutibus, laboribus passionibus, periculis pro justitia susceptis, atque in caeteris, quae hujusmodi sunt, id quod recte fieri posse, si sit justa necessitas, ipse Paulus suo docuit exemplo 2 Cor. 11. et 12., sed vult, ne quis aliter de quibuscumque rebus glorietur, quam in cruce, ut intelligat quisquis aliquid boni habet, quod gloria dignum sit, id se non aliunde habere, quam ex fonte crucis Dominicae. Qua de re B. Hieronymus: Sciendum est, inquit, quod omnis illa gloriatio ad crucem relata, gloria crucis sit, et quidquid dignum in virtutibus perpetratur, hoc fieri ob Domini passionem. At dices: Paulus 1 Cor. 11. de quibusdam fconis gloriatur, quae non proveniunt ex cruce Christi, cum dicit: Hebraei sunt, et ego etc. Respondeo, in illis non gloriatur tanquam in bonis ad salutem vitae aeternae pertinentibus: recte tamen in illis gloriatur propter pseudapostolos, ne videatur illis iuierior, et ipsa talis gloriatio, licet non esset in cruce, erat tamen ex cruce, utpote salutaris.
Per quem mihi mundus crucifixus est, et ego mundo. Crucifixus, id est, mortuus seu mortificatus, sicut annotavimus ad illud capitis praecedentis: Qui sunt Christi, carnem suam crucifixerunt. Mortuus autem dicitur alicui, qui quasi mortuus, nullam amplius cum eo fcabet communicationem, sed sicut mortuus a vivis plane separatus atque alienatus est. Ita superius cap. 2. dixit se per legem legi mortuum esse, et Rom. 7. Mortificati estis, inquit, legi per corpus Christi, et ejusdem Epistolae cap. 6. Qui mortui sumus peccato, quomodo adhuc vivemus in illo? Mundum plerique intelligunt res mundanas, id est, eas, quae ab hominibus hujus saeculi expetuntur, ut opes, honores, voluptates. Verum Scripturae familiarius est, m undi nomine mundanos et carnales homines significare, quod ex innumeris locis facile potest ostendi: quae significatio etiam huic loco probe quadrat, nam de hominibas loquebatur paulo ante, cum diceret: Quicumque volunt placere in carne etc. An quaero hominibus placere? Quod utique est mundo placere, et hoc modo intellexit Augustinus. Itaque sensus est: Per quem Christum crucifixum, id est, cujus merito ac beneficio, mihi contigit, ut mundus et ego mutuo respectu plane mortui simus, nam nec mundus mihi afficitur, nec ego mundo, sed invicem alieni et aversi sumus, atque adeo adversi et contrarii. Mundus me odit et persequitur, ego illi placere nolo. Sic Dominus Joan. 15. Si de mundo fuissetis, mundus quod suum erat, diligeret; quia vero de mundo non estis, sed ego elegi vos de mundo, propterea odit vos mundus.
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15. In Christo enim Jesu neque circumcisio aliquid valet, neque praeputium, sed nova creatura. Non tam probatio est ejus, quod praecessit, quam conclusio totius doctrinae, quam hac Epistola tradidit, quasi dicat: Hoc est, quod dico, et repeto et extremis verbis commendo. In negotio salutis obtinendae per Christum neque circumcisionem aliquid prodesse, neque praeputium, sed novam creaturam; ideoque nullam vos habere causam, cur patiamini vos circumcidi, quando e contrario satis jam docui, nihil salutis ex Christo vos consecuturos, si circumcisionem admiseritis, sed per eam vos prolapsuros in miseram et mu tilem servitutem legis. Quid vocet novam creaturaui, intelligitur ex eo, quod superiori capite simili sententia dixit: sed fides, quae per charitatem operatur, et 1 Cor. 7., sed observatio mandatorum Dei. Igitur nova creatura, quemadmodum optime Cajetanus explicat, est vita spiritualis, a Deo creata per gratiam Jesu Christi. Comprehendit autem totam hominis renovationem ac justificationem ab iaitio fidei usque ad consummatam charitatem exspectandam in futuro saeculo, nec solum complectitur habitus virtutum ac donorum, sed et omnem actum verae pietatis. Haec enim est observatio mandatorum Dei.
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16. Et quicumque hanc regulam secuti fuerint, pax super illos et misericordia. Graece: Et quicumque hac regula incesserint, est enim idem in Graeco verbum, quod sub finem capitis praecedentis, pro quo interpres veterat ambulemus. De cujus verbi significatione sufficiant, quae ibi diximus. Hanc regulam, alii intelligunt totam doctrinam de justificatione traditam hac Epistola. Alii sententiam, quae proxime praecessit: Jn Christo Jesu etc. Ea namque potest accipi pro regula fidei ab omnibus tenenda. Alii rursus illud solum, sed nova creatura; ut illi incedere dicantur hac regula, qui ambulant in novitate vitae. Sic enim Chrysostomus et Theophylactus exponunt. Secundum hos Apostolus loquitur de regula vitae, secundum superiores de regula doctrinae. Et quidem omnes hi commentarii probabiles sunt. Coactius vero, quod Cajetanus regulam interpretatur, indicatam illis verbis: Mihi autem absit gloriari, nisi in cruce Domini etc Nam illa sententia ab hac divulsa est per aliam, quae intercessit, aeque notabilem, ut proinde multo commodius ad proxima verba, quam ad remotiora referatur praesensperiodus, praesertim id exigente pronomine demonstrativo hanc. Sensus autem est: Quicumque juxta hanc regulam (aliquam ex dictis) incesserint, eamque tenuerint, pacem illis imprecor et misericordiam a Deo.
Et super Israel Dei. Hoc addit, ne videatur excludere Judaeos. Verumtamen ne de omnibus secundum carnem Judaeis intelligatur, dicit Israel Dei, id est, qua parte Dei populus est, non qua parte Deo contrarius, ut erant Judaei infideles et pseudapostoli. Quamquam aliis placet Israelem Dei intelligi Israelem spiritualem, id est, quotquot per fidem veri sunt Israelitae et Abrahae filii tam ex gentibus quam ex Judaeis, ut haec pars sit expositio praecedentis. Mihi magis probatur, quod prius dixi.
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17. De caetero, nemo mihi molestus sit. Hieron. affirmat, melius in Graeco haberi: De caetero labores (graece xoTtoog) mihi nemo exhibeat. Augustinus quoque laborem legit, Ambrosianus molestias. Sensus est: Posthac nemo vestrum turbulentis contentionibus mihi laborem, molestiam, taedium adferat, de re nunc quantum satis est exposita et inculcata. Loquitur cum auctoritate tanquam Galatarum Apostolus et gentium magister.
Ego enim stigmata Domini Jesu in corpore meo porto. Stigma graeca dictio est, qua significatur nota cuti impressa aut inusta, quomodo notari solent servi propriis dominorum signis. Non est, inquit, quod mihi laborem ac molestias augeatis, qui ex frequentibus laboribus, plagis, vinculis, aliisque incommodis, etiam signa corpori meo impressa, tanquam notas Domini mei Jesu, cujus me servum profiteor, porto ac circumfero. Hujusmodi stigmata commemorat ipse Paulas in 2 Cor. 11.
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18. Gratia Domini nostrijesu Christi cum spiritu vestro, fratres, Amen. Cum spiritu vestro, id est, vobiscum, sicut dicitur in fine aliarum Epistolarum. Claudit Epistolam cum imprecatione gratiae Dei per Christum, idque more suo, de quo alibi diximus et amplius dicturi sumus in 2. ad Thess. In Graeco sequitur haec hypographe: ad Galatas scripta est ex Roma. De qua satis dictum in argu mento hujus Epistolae.
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1 Cor. 1, 10) £n spiritu lenitatis (npabvnvo; modestiae vel mansuetudinis cfr ad 5,23), considerans te ipsum , ne et tu tenteris. Neophylos spiritu vivere ac secundum spiritum ambulare Apostolus supponit quidem, sed fomitem peccati in eis, quamvis baptismo sint regenerati, non esse exstinctum probe quoque scit; fieri igitur posse, ut aliquis a recto tramite aberret spiritum ducem non secutus. Quo maiore autem cum vi opera carnis vitanda esse monuit, quia a regno Dei excluderent (5,21), eo magis curae ei esse debuit, ne ii, qui incauti in aliquod peccatum essent relapsi, nimia aliorum, qui de sua constantia ac firmitate gloriabantur, severitate opprimerentur « abundantioreque tristitia absorberentur » (cfr 2 Cor. 2,7). Hinc novum hoc monitum , quod cum praecedente arcte cohaeret, quum illud quodammodo compleat : non sufficit, ut erga fratres recte agentes caritatem exerceatis nec eos irritantes nec eis invidentes, sed ettam sz quis peccaverit, ad caritatem vestram ius habet; cum mansuetudine enim tractetur oportet, ut resipiscat. Ad expressionem i&v zpoAngo0n Chrys. adnotat : « non dixit ixv mp&t» (si fecerzt), sed iv xpoXnp.q03 i. e. cvvapra ys » (abreptus fuerit); qua explicatione totam tamen verbi wgoA«pGvecüxi vim non exhausit, ad praepos. «eo non attendens. Clarius pleniusque eam Vulg. suo praeoccupatus fuerit exprimit, siquidem de peccato agitur, in quod homo non tam obfirmata voluntate ex malitia ruit, quam ex carnis infirmitate incautus labitur : « praeoccupatus i. e. imprudenter et ex surreptione lapsus, ut nequeat evitare » (Thom., in cuius definitione tria ultima vocabula omittere maluerim). Eandem peccati naturam Hier. nomine Àomo indicatam videt : « pulchre, inquit, dixit praeoccupatum Aominem, ex ipso homine fragilitatem conditionis ostendens, ut dignus sit venia, qui velut homo errore deceptus et mersus in voraginem se ipsum sine auxilio et adiutorio erigere non possit »; nescio tamen , num satis recte, siquidem Paulus haud infrequenter nomen &v0prec (homo) per hebraismum pro pronomine indefinito usurpat. Rectius alii (cfr Thom. etc., Reithm. etc.) dictum esse monent zv 7wt zapamtOuatt (in aliquo delicto), non autem iv z2;2-z:6uacw (in delictis), ad excludendos eos, qui ex consuetudine peccant variisque vitiis se inquinant in iisque diutius degunt; « aliter enim admonendi sunt, qui repentina concupiscentia superantur, aliter qui in culpa ex consilio ligantur » (cfr S. Greg. M. Reg. past. curae III. 32.). Secum ipso igitur non pugnat Apostolus, si peccatorem, qualem descripsit , cum mansuetudine corripi vult, ipse vero incestuosum in crimine degentem pervicacesque pseudapostolos vehementius aggreditur Titumque cretenses seductores dure increpare iubet (1 Cor. 5,1 sqq.; 2 Cor. 10,1 sqq. ; Tit. 1,13 etc.). In spiritu lenitatis autem vel mansuetudinis ac modestiae (cfr 1 Cor. 5,91) instruit , vel potius corrigit et ad pristinam quam habebat perfectionem integritatemque (p1wóvnz efr dori; 2 Tim. 3,17) reducit (xavapz(;eve) peccantem , qui « nec rigidus nec iratus nec tristis » (cfr Hier.) eum tractat. lam ut hac ratione agant, Paulus admonet spirituales (vos qui spirituales estis ój.ei« ok mveup.xrixot) , qua appellatione non tam certam aliquam classem, aut presbyteros (uti aliqui antiquiores voluerunt, qui de poenitentiae sacramento hic agi erronee putarunt) aut doctores (uti vult Caz.) aut eos qui gratiis gratis datis ornati erant (cfr 1 Cor. 14,37, uti moderni multi censent), quam omnes neophytos designat, quatenus nimirum Spiritum acceperant spirituque ambulabant. Simili enim modo , quo 1 Cor. 2,1 sqq. carnalibus, i. e. parvulis in Christo, spirituales velut perfectiores opponit, hic quoque fratri peccanti, qui ipso suo lapsu carnalem se demonstravit , reliquos qui spiritum ducem semper sequebantur opponit; de praecepto igitur correctionis fraternae (Matth. 18,15) agit, quod per se omnes fideles obligat. Porro rationem addit, qua ad hane mansuetudinem permoveri queant : considerans te ipsum, ne et tu tenteris; suam quisque ipsius infirmitatem considerare ac perpendere iubetur, qua non tantum tentationi est expositus sed tentationi succumbere quoque potest; « nihil vero, inquit TÀonm. , ita frangit hominis severitatem in corrigendo, quam timor proprii casus ». llaud sine ratione autem dicit : ne et tu tenteris, quamvis nimirum spiritualem ac fortem te esse existimas; quare optimo iure Her. : « utamur hoc testimonio adversus haereticos, qui diversarum fingentes fabulas naturarum aiunt spiritualem (virum) bonam esse arborem et numquam malos afferre fructus; ecce Apostolus, cuius et ipsi auctoritatem sequuntur, dicit eos qui spirituales sunt posse peccare,'si per altitudinem cordis sui inflentur et corruant; quod et nos quoque fatemur, et 7oixo; (terrenos) spirituales fieri, si ad meliora revertuntur » (cfr 1 Cor. 10,12 etc.). magis aptus est ad compellandam uniuscuiusque conscientiam », atque Viet., quem utique Hier. velut virum traducit, » qui occupatus eruditione saecularium literarum Scripturas sanctas omnino ignoraverit » (Prol. in ep. ad Gal.), iam satis diu ante eum monuerat : « quasi ad unum ex ipsis, qui spirituales sunt, hoc ita protulit, ut consideret unusquisque eorum se ipsum, ne et ipse tentetur ». Si pluralem adhibuisset, aliquis verba eius ita interpretari potuisset, ut spirituales sese mutuo considerarent ac diiudicarent ; certe haec interpretatio inepta fuisset, at omne ambiguitatis periculum singulari adhibito est sublatum ; profundos igitur sensus aliena lingua Paulus non tantum expressit sed aptissime expressit. Pulcherrimum Aug. monitum adscribere placet, quamvis apostolicis verbis explanandis forte minus inserviat. « Numquam itaque, inquit, alieni peccati obiurgandi suscipiendum est negotium, nisi quum internis interrogationibus examinantes nostram conscientiam liquido nobis coram Deo responderimus, dilectione nos facere. Quod si convicium vel minae vel etiam persecutiones eius, quem argueris, laceraverint animum : si adhuc ille per te sanari posse videbitur, nihil respondeas, donec saneris prior, ne forte carnalibus motibus tuis ad nocendum consentias et exhibeas linguam tuam arma iniquitatis peccato (Rom. 6,13) ad reddendum malum pro malo aut maledictum pro maledicto (4 Petr. 3,9). Quidquid enim lacerato animo dixeris, punientis est impetus, non caritas corrigentis. Dilige et dic quod voles; nullo modo maledictum erit, quod specie maledicti sonuerit, si memineris senserisque te in gladio verbi Dei liberatorem hominis esse velle ab obsidione vitiorum. Quodsi forte, uti plerumque accidit, dilectione quidem talem suscipis actionem et ad eam corde dilectionis accedis, sed inter agendum subrepserit aliquid , dum tibi resistitur, quod te auferat ab hominis vitio percutiendo et ipsi homini faciat infestum, postea te lacrymis lavantem buiusmodi pulverem multo salubrius meminisse oportebit, quam non debeamus super aliorum superbire peccata, quando in ipsa eorum obiurgatione peccamus, quum facilius nos ira peccantis iratos, quam miseria misericordes facit ». Quod mansuetudinis praeceptum Apostolo tanti momenti est, ut illud universaliore forma repetat :
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2. alter alterius onera portate , et sic adimplebitis legem Christi. Quidnam nomine oneris hic intelligat, in controversia est. Tripliciter alterum alterius onus portare debere censet Thom. : « uno modo defectum alterius corporalem vel spiritualem patienter tolerando (Rom. 13,1), alio modo necessitati mutuae subveniendo (Rom. 12,13), tertio modo pro poena sibi debita satisfaciendo orationibus et bonis operibus (Prov. 18,18) ». Quae tria metaphora oneris portandi aptissime designari fatemur, quare etiam Aug. (serm. 169. n. 9) Apostoli verba ad sublevandam paupertatem, quia sit onus, accommodat. At contextu verba tam late intelligere prohibemur, ita ut de defectu corporali aut de necessitate temporali hie cogitare non liceat. Rectius cum TAeod. Mopsu. Hier. multisque iunioribus de solis peccatis defectibusque moralibus agi dicemus : « Tu habes, inquit TAeod., hunc defectum, illum vero non habes; alter vero illum habet, quem tu non habes, sed tuo caret : tu feras illius defectum , et ille tuum ». De defectibus autem sermo est, qui delictis externis sese manifestant, ac proin de peccatis aliorum , quae nos portamus, si « solatiis ac benignitate animam fratris conscientia peccati fractam reficimus » (Mopsu.). Quae uberius explicans Hier. « hoc onus, inquit, Salvator pro nobis tulit suo nos exemplo docens quid facere deberemus. Ipse quippe iniquitates nostras portat et pro nobis dolet, et eos qui peccatorum ac Legis onere sunt depressi ad leve onus virtutis invitat dicens : iugum meum suave est et onus meum leve. Qui igitur fratris non desperat salutem, sed manum porrigit deprecanti et quantum in se est flet cum flente, infirmus est cum infirmo, suaque iudicat aliena peccata, iste per caritatem adimplet legem Christi ». Legem Christi, quae nomine Salvatoris addito Legi mosaicae opponitur (cfr 1 Cor. 9,21), praeceptum caritatis intelligi, omnes consentiunt; hoc enim praecepto, quod Dominus velut novum mandatum ita promulgavit, ut ex eo discipuli sui veri cognoscerentur (loan. 13,34 sq.) nov& oeconomia a vetere distinguitur, atque uno illo praecepto omnia continentur, quae Dominus verbo et exemplo discipulis suis observanda proposuit (5,14; Hom. 13,9 etc.). Supra iam per caritatem unum alteri debere servire Apostolus monuerat atque inuno dilectionis sermone totam Legem rmpleri (xo0c0zt) docuerat; sed ut lex Christi adimpleatur (xvasY5200c021) , i. e. perfecte ac plene impleatur ut nihil iam desit, caritas ad peccatores quoque sese extendat oportet !. Generali modo Paulus omnibus, nullo excepto, ut alter alterius onera portaret, praecepit; cur vero neminem exceperit, ita nunc explicat, ut spirituales, vel potius eos, qui se spiritualibus adnumerant,, cavere iubeat, ne fratribus suis peccantibus sese praeferant, quum ipsi quoque aliquid, quod ab aliis ferri debeat, diligenti examine instituto in se ipsis inventuri sint :
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3. nam si quis existimat se aliquid esse, quum nihil sit, ipse se seducit (gotvasxvà Hier. : mentem suam decipit; cfr 774. 1,10 qprvazzrow deceptores, Vulg. : seductores). « Eorum, inquit 7ZAeod., qui propter quaedam recte facta intumescunt, supercilium deprimit », eorum sc., qui quamvis nihil sint, i. e. in sese non habeant quod coram Deo valeat (cfr ad 1 Cor. 13,2), tamen se aliquid magni et exiumiii esse (civa( vt aliquid esse cfr ad 2,2) existimant; hi utique se ipsi decipiunt, quia bona, quae forte habent, sibi ipsis attribuunt non intelligentes, se nihil habere quod non acceperint (1 Cor. &,7). Haec communior quidem est explicatio, iuxta quam verba ux39iv àv (quum, i. e. quamvis, niAd sit) ad prius membrum, ad ipsam nimirum conditionem, trahuntur. Verum Hier. rectissime monet, eadem ad alterum quoque membrum conditionatum trahi posse, ut hic sit sensus : si quis aliquid magni se esse existimat, se ipse decipit, quum nhi! sit, i. e. quia nihil est « neque de suo habet, nisi mendacium et peccatum » (Conc. M. Araus. c. 22). Utraque explicatio verbis congruit, sed cum Hier. alteram praeferendam ducimus utpote contextui magis consonam, siquidem Apostolus superbientes illos, qui se contra fratres suos peccantes extollunt, &d examen invitat, quo eos nihil esse constabit :
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&. opus autem suum probet unusquisque, et sic in semet ipso tantum gloriam habebit et non in altero , vcl iuxta graecum (x«i cóc eis £autóv uóvov vo xaDynpua £Get xa( oUx iq cóv Evspov) accuratius : e£ (unc (examine instituto) in (vel adversus) se zpsum gloriandi materiam habebit, et non in (adversus) alterum. Ad prioris membri verba singula non minus , quam ad eorum ordinem attendatur oportet. Locutus erat Apostolus de iis, qui aliquid se esse ezzsttmant , sed de existimatione, quae diligenti examini non innitatur, non quaeri monet; verum in opus (5 £pyov i. e. in totum actionum complexum seu integram sentiendi agendique rationem omniaque ac singula facta) inquiri iubet, ut exploretur, utrum a spiritu an à carne aliquis regatur. Neque vero aliorum opera hunc in finem sunt examinanda, ut ab eis mensurae ratio desumatur, sed sola propria (opus suum ipsius 1o £gyov £xvc00) iuxta mensuram divinitus datam sunt probanda; neque demum aliis, autamicis adulatoribus laudatoribusque aut etiam inimicis detractoribus, examen hoc permittere licet, sed «nusquisque opus suum ipse exquirere ac ponderare iubetur. Cuius examinis quis futurus sit eventus, alterum membrum docet, quod ironicum esse cum haud paucis censemus (cfr Oec. Cai. Salm. Iust. ec. — Beng. Olsh. PA. etc.). Spirituales enim opera sua perscrutantes, quam multa sibi ipsis desint quamque frequenter ipsi offendant ac labantur, facile deprehendent; omnibus autem suis ipsorum moribus aegritudinibusque perspectis habebunt, de quo adversus se ipsos glorientur, neque aliorum defectibus indigent, ut adversus alios glorientur. Illi nimirum, quos Apostolus hie corripit, aliorum defectibus suas ipsorum virtutes (existimatas) opponentes se fratribus illis meliores esse iudicabant contra eos gloriantes; at suis ipsorum defectibus virtutes quas iactant opponere iubentur, atque ita fiet, ut ab aliis despiciendis abstineant, se ipsos vero contemnant, quos tot defectibus onustos invenient. Aptissime iuxta hanc explicationem adnectitur sequens sententiola :
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5. unusquisque enim onus suum (vo lDiov qopríov Aug. : proprium onus, vel iuxta Ar^ : propriam sarcinam !) portabit. Nomine proprii oneris vel propriae sarcinae summam propriorum vitiorum, quorum conscientia aliquis premitur, designat. Nostra ipsorum sola peccata coram iudice aíferemus, aliorum vero defectus ac vitia nos ibi non oppriment; quare nunc quoque in aliorum defectus nobis non est inquirendum , ut iis meliores esse videamur et contra eos gloriemur; sed id unum nobis curae sit oportet, ut nostram ipsorum sarcinam probe cognoscamus. explicatione recedamus, licet aliqui moderni futurum nostrae sententiae (probabit) praecedenti (habebit) respondere ac proin de eodem huius vitae tempore esse intelligendum moneant : instituto examine habebit onus quod portet (conscientiam sc. peccatorum), et hoc onus eum absterrebit, ne sese aliis praeferens adversus eos glorietur. At nescio annon, si hic esset sensus, v. $. tautologice esset additus, quum integra haec argumentatio iam v. &. contineatur ; infirma quoque esset ista ratio neque sufficeret ad permovendos fideles, ut caritatis praeceptum adimplerent; gravissimi praecepti gravissima ea requiritur sanctio, quam futuri iudicii exspectatio praebet. Ironica v. 4. explicatio, quam praetulimus, plerisque interpretibus non probatur; sed inter sese quoque de eius genuino sensu non conveniunt. Antiquiores Latini, quia ablativum (in semet ipso... in altero) legerunt, haud levem invenerunt difficultatem, quoniam alibi Apostolus prohibet, ne quis in se ipso glorietur, ac solam gloriationem in Deo permittat suadeatque. At eadem difficultate Graecorum quoque explicatio premitur, quare addere solent, Paulum haec dicere per benignam concessionem, ut paullatim hanc gloriationem tollat, minime vero loqui velut legislatorem (cfr Chrys. etc.); atque similiter moderni quidam monent: « non ait Apostolus glorietur, sed simpliciter materiam gloriandi habebit, quibus verbis permittit quidem gloriari dummodo id fiat in Domino, abstinet tamen ab aperta suasione » (Paim.). Sed nulla ei ratio fuisset abstinendi ab aperta suasione, si illud « dummodo id fiat in Domino » hoc loco subintelligi voluisset. Moderni plerique ita interpretantur : « isto instituto examine habebit dumtaxat materiam gloriandi respectu sui ipsius (sl; £avxóv) , non respectu alterius (oüx slc tàv Évepov), i. e. poterit gloriari dumtaxat ratione illius boni quod in se invenerit, non vero ratione illius boni, quod aliis deest, in ipso autem invenitur : gaudebit recto sui examine, non deteriorum comparatione ». Verbís hanc explicationem per se consonare non plane negamus, sed eadem difficultate, quam diximus, eam premi manifestum est; cui accedit, quod contextui aegre concilietur. Apostolus enim spirituales alloquitur, quos bonis operibus non carere est clarum; examen igitur, quod postulat, eo tendere non potest, ut bona opera inveniant (eiusmodi enim examine magis intumescerent), sed ut suos ipsorum defectus cognoscant, quibus ab omni gloriatione atque maxime a contemnendis infirmioribus fratribus avertantur. lronica igitur explicatio iure praefertur. Primum hoc monitum futuro proposito iudicio aptissime terminavit; ad alia iam transit, in quibus ad eandem aeternam sanctionem neophytos attentos reddit. Exorditur autem a specialissimo praecepto, quo quid catechumenis erga suos magistros sit praestandum inculcat (v. 6); ab eo deinde ad commendandam beneficentiam futura remuneratione exhibita transit (7. 8), atque generali exhortatione monitis suis finem imponit (9. 10).
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6. Communicat autem is qui catechizatur verbo (cum Vict. Hier. omnibusque melioribus Vulg. codd. lege : verbum !) ex qu: se catechizat in omnibus bonis. Particula í (autem) metabatica est; novum enim praeceptum cum praecedente internum nexum habere non videtur, sed varia Apostolus pro more in fine epistolae congerit, quae utiliora suis lectoribus iudicavit. Ceterum si quis eiusmodi nexum necessarium esse duxerit, eum eligat quem ier. innuit : « quia superius spiritualibus praeceperat, ut eos qui praeoccupati fuerint in aliquo delicto, instruerent in spiritu lenitatis,... nunc e contrario his, qui adhuc imbecilliores et discipuli et carnales erant, praecipit, ut quomodo ipsi a magistris spiritualia metunt, sic magistris carnalia praebeant » (cfr 1 Cor. 9,11). Quibus verbis usitatior quoque praecepti apostolici explicatio continetur, iuxta quam discipuli magistris suis partem concedere iubentur in omnibus suis bonis temporalibus, i. e. in omni genere facultatum suarum, prout iis magistri ad vitae suae sustentationem indigent. Verbum xowevetv igitur sensu transitivo plerique sumunt (i. q. communicare aliquid cum aliquo) atque * £ya0X de bonis temporalibus ad vitam necessariis intelligunt (cfr. CArys. Theod. etc., Aug. Hier. ec., Haym. Herv. etc., Cai. lust. Est, etc., Wind. Bisp. Reithm. etc. — Schm. Goeb. Lightf. etc.). Quod haec explicatio plerisque probetur, mirum non est, quum verbis omnino congruat, Apostoli doctrinae plane respondeat, qui quamvis ipse manibus suis victum sibi acquirere quam ab ecclesiis sustentari maluerit, frequenter tamen fidelibus inculcat magistris ius honestae sustentationis accipiendae competere (cfr 1 Cor. 9,&-14; 2 Cor. 11,7 sqq., PAH. &,10 sqq.; 1 Tém. 5,17 eic.), praxi demum antiquae Ecclesiae confirmetur ?. Alteram tamen interpretationem ab A'r? propositam et, quia in G/ int. recepta erat, ab antiquioribus nonnullis repetitam (Thom ?. Lyr. etc.) aliqui moderni praeferunt (Pa/m. — Mey Sieff.), iuxta quam xotvovttv intransitive sumitur et 7x dxa62 intelliguntur bona moralia , ut hic sensus oriatur : « in omnibus bonis moralibus discipulus partem habeat cum magistro, i. e. eum plene ac perfecte imitetur ». Quem sensum in verbis inveniri posse non diffitemur; sed Apostolum arbitramur, si tali praecepto Galatas, quia forte stolidiores essent, indigere censuisset, illud clarioribus verbis expressurum fuisse. Neque satis intelligimus, cur haud sine emphasi Galatas magistros zn bonis imitari iusserit; num tam stolidos eos habuit, ut sese efiam malos magistrorum mores sequi debere putarent? Si id timendum erat, prohibendum erat, ne in malis magistros imitarentur, vel potius praecipiendum, ut illos magistros relinquerent; quomodo enim simplices illi neophyti, qui eo usque verum Deum ignoraverant, ipsi discernere potuerunt, quid in magistris esset imitandum quidve non imitandum? Priorem igitur explicationem solam tenendam esse arbitramur; at Galatae restrictiores quam liberaliores fuisse vanisque excusationibus ab hoc gratitudinis debito suis magistris solvendo sese exemisse videntur. Quam parum largi essent, Apostolus forte ipse, quando eleemosynas pro lerosolymitanis conferri iussit (cfr 2,10; 1 Cor. 16,1), expertus erat; quapropter magna cum vi avarioribus futurum iudicium in memoriam revocat, in quo pro suis quisque operibus poenam mercedemve reportaturus sit :
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7. nolite errare (cfr 1 Cor. 6,9; 15,33); Deus enim non irridetur (o0 goxvnpt,eros sibi illudi non patitur inanibus ambagibus latebrisque); etenim « scit Deus corda vestra , nec ignorat facultates; excusatio verisimilis potest utcumque placere, Deum non potest fallere » (Hzer.). Proxime quidem Paulus ad discipulos respicit, qui magistros suos sustentare detrectant; sed dubium vix esse cum Hier. Chrys. etc. putaverim, quin simul aliis omnibus liberalitatem ac beneficentiam commendare voluerit; id enim similitudo insinuat, qua severum monitum continuatur. Vanas sc. esse excusationes, quibus aliqui et alios et saepe suam ipsorum conscientiam fallere conantur, Deus non statim (sed cfr Act. 5,1 sqq.) manifestat, sed tempus messis exspectat, ut zizania à frumento separet comburendaque proiiciat :
6:8
8. quae (0 Aug. A" etc. : quod) enzm semtnaverit homo , haec (vo9vo hoc) et metet; quoniam qui seminat in carne sua (tis àv oápxa ixvcov), de carne et metet corruptionem; qui autem seminat in spiritu (tic «à mveGy.x), de spiritu metet vitam aeternam. Sementi messem vespondere, vulgatissimum est proverbium (loó. 4,8; Prov. 92,8; Os. 8,7; cfr etiam Cic. de or. II. 65 etc.), quo Apostolus etiam Corinthiis liberalitatem commendat (2 Cor. 9,6. 10), ita ut illud hic quoque de liberalitate iure interpretemur. Quod vero aliqui censent, eum his verbis ad reprimendam carnis libertatem (5,19 sqq.) redire, id omni probabilitate caret. Pro seminis igitur varietate variam fore messem, prius membrum docet ; non tantum qui parce seminat parce et metet (2 Cor. 9,6), sed etiam qui zizania seminat, ex agro suo frumentum exspectare nequit. Altero hoc sensu hic similitudo sumitur, at simul ad agri, in quo seminatur, indolem attenditur; neque enim omne semen omni agro congruit, nec prudens agricola bonum semen in malo ac malum semen in bono agro seminat. Utraque porro ratione imaginem suam Apostolus adhiberi vult, neque vera, quam aliqui statuunt, imaginis mutatio adest. Recte ergo Hier. : « omne, quod loquimur agimus cogitamus, in duobus seminatur agris, carne et spiritu; si bona sunt, quae de manu ore corde promuntur, seminata in spiritu vitae aeternae fructibus redundabunt; sin mala, ab agro carnis excepta corruptionis vobis segetem pullulabunt ». Quid nomine carnis ac spiritus hic veniat, ex antea dictis patet (cfr ad 5,16); haud immerito cum Hier. nonnulli monent, Paulum non eodem modo de utroque agro loqui, siquidem hominem mala tn carne sua, bona vero £n spiritu seminare dicit, ut pronomine addito (sta) priorem agrum revera hominis esse, alterum pronomine omisso potius essc Dei significet, qui Spiritu dato eum praeparavit. Corruptionem deinde, quae vitae aeternae opponitur, idem esse quod interitum aeternum clarum est; neque satis recte Chrys., ut videtur (cfr Theoph.), de solius corporis corruptione loquitur, licet Paulus hanc expressionem ad aeternam poenam designandam probabiliter elegerit, quia caro corruptibilis regnum aeternum possidere nequit (1 Cor. 15,50. 53). Futurum iudicium cum poena ac mercede aeterna, quam afferet, proponens a speciali praecepto solis discipulis dato ad universaliorem liberalitatis commendationem iam transiit. Attamen de omnibus operibus iudex iudicabit; mirum ergo non est, quod Paulus nunc etiam omnia praecepto suo comprehendat :
6:9
9. bonum autem (xo 9$ xaX) facientes non deficiamus (y év«axóyev ne ignavi simus cfr ad 2 Cor. &,1); tempore enim suo metemus non deficientes (yÀà £&uóusvot. Afer, Aug. : infatigabiles; aptius : non languescentes, vel: cx fatigatione non desistentes). Nomen adhibitum (*ó z41dv honestum, quod Tà xax e diametro opponitur cfr Heór. 5,15 etc.), de sola liberalitate non iam agi ostendit, quamvis nonnulli id teneant, sed perseverantia in omni bono praecipitur. « Multi enim incipiunt, multi quasi perse- verant, postea tamen desinunt vel fatigati vel seducti; multi enim in hoc vitae genere, quod bonum dicitur, si aliquid mali patiuntur, putant se sine causa facere et defatigati desistunt bonum facere. Quid ergo adiunxit? Non deficiamus, quia licet hodie non consequemur fructum benefaciendi, postea metemus » (Vict.). Levis quaedam in priore membro habetur paronomasia (70 Jà xaAóv... obx éyxaxópev cfr 9 Thess. 3,13); magis autem attendas velim ad duorum synonymorum (Zyxaxetv et ixXócc0aw), quae a. Vulg. eodem verbo (deficere) redduntur, accuratum usum; si quis enim in bono faciendo :gnavus esse incipit (éyxax«t) difficultatibus perterritus, mox in via virtutis fatigatus deficit (&Mierax). In secundo igitur membro participium non modum significat, quo metemus (sine fatigatione metemus CArys. Ate", 8aut : incessanter, sine fine metemus Tor. etc.), sed conditionem sine qua non metemus (metemus si non deficimus fatigati). Quamdiu hac in terra degimus, fortes et constantes seminemus oportet, futuram messem exspectantes , quae suo tempore, 1. e. tempore à Dco praedefinito, adveniet. Tempore messis autem non amplius seminabitur, hinc ultimum monitum :
6:10
10. ergo dum (óc i. q. quamdiu Lwc. 19,58; loan. 12,35) tempus habemus, operemur bonum (75 c;xlóv) «d omnes, ma.cime autem ad domesticos fidei. Ex iis quoque, qui praecedente sententia nobiscum censent exhortationem generalem ad omne bonum agendum (19 xaXov) contineri, haud pauci lioc versu Paulum ad beneficentiam commendandam reverti statuunt; sed expressionem £ey27:5021 *& dyalióv arcto hoc sensu usurpari nullo exemplo demonstratur, quum ]latissima eius sit significatio (Hom. 2,10). Ipsa tamen constructione coarctari videtur; de bono enim erga alios operando, i. e. de caritatis praecepto, quo impleto reliqua quoque implentur, implendo agitur. HKaque beneficentia quidem commendatur, sed non sola; omnia potius caritatis officia inculcantur atque simul ordo ostenditur, «quo caritas exercenda est. Omnes enim omnino homines sicut nos ipsos diligere debemus, at non omnes eodem gradu, siquidem mazime domesticos fidei diligere iubemur. Domesticos fidei fideles codem modo vocari , quo a profanis philosophi oixetot QuXocogías aut geographi oixeiot yeeypaoizs appellantur (Strabo I. p. 13. 25), nonnulli moderni volunt (Palm. — Mey Sieff.); quae explicatio admodum ieiuna est, neque intelligitur, cur Paulus pro consueta appellatione (oi vrtócavzs; fideles) tam miram ac raram circumlocutionem elegerit. Cum antiquis potius retineatur oportet, fideles simili modo domesticos fide? vocari, quo vocantur domestic Dei (Eph. 9,19.). Fide et baptismo in Christum inserti uti unam per- 'sonam myslicam, ita unam familiam constituunt atque unam eandemque domum incolunt, quae est Ecclesia Dei vivi (1 Tim. 3,15). Epistolae terminatae Paulus sua manu epilogum addit (v. 11), in quo perversis, quibus pseudapostoli ducebantur, causis suam ipsius agendi rationem opponit (12-14); summum deinde epistolae argumentum quasi repetens in sola unione cum Christo pacem inveniri insinuat (15. 16), ac neophytos demum precatur, ne sibi, utpote genuino Domini crucifixi Apostolo, novas molestias creent (v. 1"). Brevi autem gratiae apprecatione eum terminat (v. 18). Pro more suo epistolam banc amanuensi dictaverat; sed quaedam nunc sua ipsius manu subiicere voluit, non tam ut Galatas de eius authentia certiores redderet (quem fineni in aliarum epistolarum subscriptionibus maxime habuit cfr 2 Tess. 3,17 et 2,9; Col. &,18; 1 Cor. 16,21 etc.), quam ut ipsa maiore literarum suarum forma , quanti momenti argumentum haberet, illis significaret. Itaque illos suam scripturam intueri iubet :
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11. videte qualibus (wnXMxow) literis scripsi vobis mea manu. De duobus in hac sententia explicanda disceptatur : utrum nimirum verbum scripsi de iis solis, quae sequuntur, intelligi oporteat (uti innuimus) an potius ad totam epistolam sit extendendum, et deinde quae significatio vocabulo v7Xo;, quod Vulg. vertit latino qualis (Vict. : quantus), hic competat. Utraque quaestio inter Patres iam controversa erat atque adhuc sub iudice lis est. antiquorum consuetudine in stylo epistolari pro praesente est, quia scribens mente sese in illud tempus transfert, quo epistola legetur. lam vero in hoc loco sensu isto co magis adhiberi potuit ac debuit, quia Paulus neophytos suam scripturam intueri iubens (videte) epistolam in eorum manibus iam esse supposuit. Quemadmodum igitur in priore ep. ad Cor. subscriptioni sua manu scriptae gravissimam sententiam adiecit, qua omnes, quos corrigere et vituperare debuerat, non levi perculit terrore (cfr ad 4 Cor. 16,21 sq.), ita hic gravissimam quam dictaverat epistolam summum eius argumentum sua ipsius manu repetens efficacius inculcat, « ut scilicet, inquit 75om., praedicta firmius teneant scientesque ab ipso hanc epistolam missam magis obediant ». Hinc etiam insolita literarum forma, ad quam (Galatas attendere vult. Graecum vocabulum «xo; latino quaztus (quam magnus, quam grandis) respondet, neque iterum ulla est ratio, cur ab hac significatione, quam Chrys. et Theod. quoque, quamvis eam hic non approbent, primo in loco afferunt, recedamus. Sicuti hodie in epistolis nostris ea, quae maioris momenti esse significare volumus, maioribus literis scribimus aut alio signo distinguimus , ita Apostolus subscriptionem suam magnitudine literarum attentioni neophytorum velut rem magni momenti commendavit : « grandibus, inquit Hier., Paulus literis scripsit [lege : subscripsit] epistolam, quia sensus erat grandis in literis et spiritu Dei vivi, non atramento nec calamo, exaratus ». Admodum obvia et simplex haec explicatio, quam AMopsu. iam indicavit et fere omnes moderni tenent, antiquioribus non arrisit ; Graecis plerisque et haud paucis iunioribus praeplacuit Chrys. sententia, « vocabulo zxÀixe; non magnitudinem sed deformitatem literarum significari », quamvis satis acerbe iam Hier. eam irrisisset : « in. hoc loco vir apprime nostris temporibus eruditus (sc. ipse S. Chrys.; miror quomodo remi ridiculam locutus sit; Paulus, inquit, Hebraeus erat et graecas literas nesciebat; et quia necessitas expetebat, ut manu sua epistulam subscriberet, contra consuetudinem curvos tramites literarum vix magnis apicibus exprimebat, etiam in hoc suae ad Ualatas indicia caritatis ostendens, quod propter illos id quoque quod non poterat facere conaretur ». Revera ut praetermittamus , vocem zv^ix»e aegerrime istum sensum admittere, adnotasse sufficit, Paulum Tarsenseim literis graecis ita excultum, ut interdum graecos poetas allegaret, graecas literarum notas ignorare nou potuisse. tGienuinum sensum vocabuli zzXxe; quidem retinent, sed. constructionem pervertunt, qui Paulum dicere censent : videte 4uam longam epistolam vobis scripserim ; licet enim plur. yoxuyuazz , uti latinum erae, scriptum aliquod vel etiam epistolam significet (2 Zim. 3.15; Act. 28,21), dici tamen nequit ypiuuatv coax (literis scripsi), ut sijgnificetur : scripsi epistolam. Inter ea, quae magnitudine literarum Paulus sinzulari neophytorum attentioni commendat, primum locum tenet perversus, quem pseudapostoli in pervertendis Galatis prosequuntur, finis. 12. Quicumque (enzm ) volunt placere in carne, hi cogunt vos circumctdi , tantum ut crucis (*à evavgio Aug. et cod. Fuld. : in cruce) Christi persecutionem non patiantur. Pulcherrime pseudapostoli vocantur 8£Xovceg türgocovoa i aapxt : etenim eUzpdowroc est formosus facie, unde eingocetiv formosam speciem prae se ferre; pseudapostoli igitur sunt homines, qui in carne, i. e. in rebus exterioribus, formosi apparere aliisque placere volunt, ad internum animi sui statum non attendentes. Iuxta Chrys. etc. iv o«pxi hic idem est quod apud Aomines, iuxta Est. Lap. etc. i. q. apud homines eis carne coniunctos s. apud Iudaeos; at hae explicationes isti expressioni non congruunt. Melius alii Legem caeremonialem significari censent, quae tota circa carnem versabatur, ita ut n carne siti. q. in carnis circumcisione aliisquecarnalibus observationibus (TAom. etc., Caé. Iust. Palm. etc. — Olsh. Lightf. etc). Hypocritae igitur sunt, qui hominum tantum favorem captant (xvUpováproxo. EpA. 6,6) Pharisaeis similes, quos Dominus tam vehementer increpaverat. Ex qua eorum indole jam elücet, eos in propaganda Lege mosaica bonum finem non sectari; in adigendis autem Galatis ad circumcisionem (attende ad praesens dvey«dtovew cogunt, i. e. in cogendo occupati sunt, sed nondum coegerunt) id unum quaerunt, ne crucis Christi persecutionem patiantur, velaccuratius : ne persecutionem cruce (79 67226) Christi provocatam patiantur, « ne iniuriis afficiantur, et in vincula coniiciantur, sicut nos, qui Christum praedicamus » (TAeod.). Bene ad haec verba, quae superiora (5,11) quoque illustrant, Hier. adnotat, imperatores romanos ludaeis in imperio dispersis permisisse, ut proprio ritu viverent et patriis caeremoniis deservirent : cireumcisos autem, licet in Christum crederent, a gentibus pro ludaeis esse habitos, illos vero Christianos, qui circumcisi non essent, et zentilium et Iudaeorum odio fuisse obnoxios ; utrorumque ergo, et ludacorum et gentilium, persecutiones a sese pseudapostoli declinare studebant cireumcisione praedicata. Alium porro scopum eos non habere nequeamore Legis mosaicae eos duci clarum est :
6:13
13. neque entm qui circumciduntur (cum Vict. A'ro, Aug. Ilier. melius : qué circumcisi sunt oi vegerevunpévoc) ipsi legem custodiunt , sed volunt vos circumcidi , ut in carne vestra glorientur. Subiecto (i mepirezuxqpevot vel mipvespovópevot. (qui. circumceisi sunt. vel qué circumciduntur) pseudapostolos designari clarum est, quum Galatas circumceidere velle dicantur; sed pseudapostoli erant circumcisi, quare participium perf. participio praes. praeferendum est , nisi forle quis censeat, toj; «tptrepvopévou; hie esse eos, qui vi originis suae praecepto circumcisionissubiaceant. Quam alteram explicationem si admiseris, nihil obstat, quominus lectionem Vu/g. sequaris, quam plerique moderni critici ob maiorem (?) testium auctoritatem praeferunt; cave vero, ne cum nonnullis iunioribus subiecto isto Galatas, qui ad circumcisionem adigendi erant, intelligas ( Wind. Bisp. ec. — Wies. etc.); id enim totius sententiae constructio non permittit. [psi pseudapostoli Legem non observabant , non tantum quia integra ob infirmitatem carnis a nullo adimpleri potuit (cfr Acc. 15,10), uti cum Hier. iuniores ac moderni multi censent, neque tantum quia eis, utpote in Palaestina non degentibus, totius Legis observatio physiceerat impossibilis, uti cum aliis Theod. monet de festis, quae Ierosolymis erant peragenda, de sacrificiis, quae in solo templo offerri potuerunt etc. loquens, sed etiam quia eis ipsis Lex curae non erat, uti satis clare Paulus innuit, quum id ostendat, quod solum illi quaerunt : velut hypocritae, qui propter crucem Christi persecutionem pati nolunt, fudaeorum privilegii frui volunt ideoque sese veros Iudaeos esse probare conantur non sua ipsorum observatione Legis, sed gloriatione sua de Lege inter Ethnicochristianos propagata. Cui perverso iudaizantium fini Apostolus eum opponit, quem ipse solum prae oculis habet; isti in aliena carne, quam Legi subiiciunt, gloriantur,
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15. mihi autem absit gloriari , nisi in cruce Domini nostri Iesu Christi, per quem (vel : per quam) mihi mundus cructfirus est et ego mundo. « Non dicit : ego non glorior, nec : ego nolo zloriari. sed : ne mihi contingat ut glorier; velut rem ignominiosam deprecatur gloriationem et ad eam avertendam quasi implorat divinum auxilium » (CArys.). Una sola in re utique gloriari non tantum non abnuit. sed ardenter desiderat, nimirum £n eruce Domini N. I. Chr. Crux ludaeis non tam erat instrumentum mortis, siquidem non nisi occisi in ligno suspendebantur, quam signum infamiae et maledictionis (Deu. 27,26); ideo Iudaei, quamvis eorum Lex poenam crucifixionisignoraret, Domini crucifixionem postulacant, ut ei doctrinaeque eius indelebilem ignominiae maculam inurerent omnesque absterrerent , ne infami ac maledicto viro sese addicerent. Neque plane irriti fuerant eorum conatus; etenim iudaizantes, quum scandalum crucis timerent, eam pro viribus occultare studuerunt, et prae timore, ne vclut infamis viri discipuli ipsi quoque infames haberentur, fructus crucis necessitate circumcisionis aliarumque caeremoniarum cruce abrogatarum asserta non tantum diminuerunt sed destruxerunt (2,91 etc.). At longissime ab Apostolis iste timor scandali abfuit; uti Petrus prima vice ludaeos et prima vice ethnicos alloquens per solum crucifixum Iesum salutem esse aperte docuit (Act. 2,292.36. 38; 10,36. 39. 42), ita Paulus in itinere damasceno divinitus illustratus (uti Aug. pulchre adnotat) « ubi mundi philosophi (et iudaizantes) erubuerunt, ibi invenit thesaurum et non contemnendo vile involucrum pervenit ad pretiosum involutum » (S. Aug. serm. 160,4). Ab eo tempore solum Christum et hunc crucifixum in suis praedicationibus annuntiavit (cfr 1 Cor. 2,2) et in sua vita exprimere voluit (cfr 2 Cor. &,8 sqq. etc.); a crucifixione Christi describenda atque a salute per solam Christi crucem asserenda inter Galatas quoque missionem suam inchoaverat (3,1 cfr Act. 13,21 sqq. 38 sq.) atque inter eos commorans etiam infirmitatibus et persecutionibus , quas sustinuit, crucem Christi in corpore suo exprimere non . erubuerat (v. 17; 4,13; cfr Act. 13,50; 15,5. 18). Quamvis enim, uti egregie habet S. Cyr. Ier. (catech. 13,1), omnem Christi actionem materiam gloriandi esse Ecclesiae catholicae non ignoraret, crux famen Christi ei gloriatio gloriationum (vel : excelsissima materia gloriandi xayrx ^ov x2vynt rov) fuit. . « Praecipue, inquit Thom., in cruce Christi gloriatur, quia in ipsa inveniuntur omnia, de quibus homines gloriari solent. Nam gloriantur aliqui de magnorum, regum aut principum, amicitia; et hoc maxime Apostolus invenit ín cruce, quia ibi ostenditur evidens signum divinae amicitiae (Rom. 5,8); nihil enim sic caritatem eius ad nos ostendit, sicut mors Christi. Item gloriantur alii de scientia, et hano Apostolus excellentiorem invenit in cruce (1 Cor. 2,2); nam in cruce est perfectio totius Legis, et tota ars vivendi. Item gloriantur aliqui de potentia, et hanc Aposto- ]us maximam habuit per crucem (1 Cor. 1,18); item gloriantur aliqui de libertate adepta, ct hanc Apostolus consecutus est per crucem (Rom. 6,6); item aliqui gloriantur in assumtione ad aliquod magnum collegium; sed per crucem Christi assumuntur ad coeleste collegium (Col. 1,20); item quidam gloriantur in triumphali signo victoriae; sed crux Christi est triumphale signum victoríae eius contra daemoncs (Col. 2,15) ». — Interroganti, quomodo Paulus se in sola cruce gloriari dicat, quum ctiam in aliis glorietur, Hier. recto respondet : « sciendum, quod omnis gloriatio illa a4 crucem relata gloria crucis sit : ct quidquid dignum in virtutibus perpetratur, hoc fieri ob Domini passionem ». — Demum adscribere mihi liceat practicum monitum, quod Aug. (scrm. 160,5) ex apostolicis his verbis colligit : « haec est doctrina christiana, humilitatis praeceptum, humilitatis commendatio, ut non gloriemur nisi in cruce Domini N. I. Chr.; nam non est magnum in Christi sapientia gloriari, agnum est in cruce Christi gloriari. Unde tibi insultat impius, índe glorictur pius; unde insultat superbus, inde glorietur Chrístianus : noli erubescere de cruce Christi; idco in fronte tamquam in sede pudoris signum ipsum accepisti ; recole frontem tuam, ne linguam expavescas alienam ». Neque mirum, quod in cruce Christi Paulus glorietur, qui fructus crucis tam bene cognovit, quos paucis sed gravissimis verbis indicat : per quam nul mundus crucifixus est et ego mundo. Graecum óv o) et ad praecedens iv 1à evavpó (in cruce) et ad genetivum apposit. 700 Kupíou duGv 'Insoó Xpiwroo0 grammatice referri potest. Latinus interpres sua versione per quem alterum nexum expressit, qui aptus est, dummodo cum latinis Patribus explices : per quem Iesum Christum crucifixum, seu : per quam Christi crucifixionem. Aptior tamen esse prior videtur (per quam sc. crucem Christi), quem Graeci in suis explicationibus sequuntur, siquidem de cruce velut redemtionis instrumento maxime agitur : iudaizantes et Iudaei eam refugiunt, quia in eo non vident nisi infamiae lignum; Paulus eam amplectitur in eaque gloriatur, quia gloriosos eius fructus videt, quorum particeps fieri nequit, nisi qui cum Christo in ea mortuus sit. Mundi porro nomine CArys. « res temporales , laudes ex hominibus, amicorum cohortem, gloriam, opes, brevi omnia quae vulgo habentur magnifica » significari censet. Satis id quidem recte; addatur tamen oportet, omnia ista hic considerari, quatenus a Deo aversa « principi huius mundi » et « deo huius saeculi » sunt subiecta ac soli « carni » subserviunt (cfr ad 1 Cor. 1,20; 2 Cor. &,&; Eph. 2,9 sq. etc.); immo significatio vocabuli tam late patet, ut nihil obstet, quominus, uti vult Est., homines mundanos carnalesque omniaque eorum studia comprehendantur. Hic mundus, quem Christus morte sua devicit (oan. 16,33.), perChristi crucem Apostolonon tantum estmortuus, ita utab eo plane sit separatus neque ab eo ullo modo, sive eius blanditiis incitamentisque sive eius odiis persecutionibusque, afficiatur moveaturque, sed etiam crucifixus, 3. e. infami morte interemtus, ita ut ab eo et omnibus eius deliciis pompisque velut a rebus infamibus abhorreat eaque omnia detestetur. At ipse vicissim crucifixus est mundo, ita ut mundus ille a Dco aversus nullam in eo habeat partem nihilque in eo "inveniat, quod non abhorreat, sicut abhorret ipsam Christi crucem (« sicut mundus horret crucem Christi, ita horret me » 7/om.). Hinc etiam non miratur, quod a mundo persecutiones sustineat, e contra omnia, quae mundus contra eum molitur, ei sunt argumento, quod revera Christo sit confixus cruci neque ipse amplius vivat, sed in ipso vivat Christus (2,19. 20), qui mundum principemque eius cruce sua conculcavit. Praeclarissimus hic est fructus crucis, qua omnes, qui in Christi mortem baptizantur, cum similitudine mortis eius complaritantur mundoque ac peccato plane moriuntur, ut novam vitam in Christo inserti iam degant (cfr Rom. 6,3 sqq.). Unde satis clarum est, cur Apostolus in cruce glorietur; cur vero in nulla alia re gloriari velit, explicat addens :
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15. in CAristo enim Iesu neque circumcisio Utrum priora verba lv Xpiozó "Insoó (in Christo Iesu) velut genuina sint retinenda, an utpote ex 5,6 huc translata rectius omittantur, dubitari potest, quia testes critici sunt divisi (cfr VV. LL.). Bi numerandi tantum essent testes, sine ullo dubio verba essent retinenda; sed auctoritatem quoque eorum, qui illa exhibent, praevalere arbitror, sí ponderantur. Fieri quidem potuisse, ut scioli quidam librarii ca ex 5,6 huc transferrent, non diffiteor, sed id revera factum esse nondum est probatum; fieri enim etiam potuit, ut aliqui ad 1 Cor. 7,19 respicientes ea omitterent. Ceterum quaestio haec vix ullius est momenti, quum illi quoque critici, qui ea omittenda ducunt, ea bonam glossam esse, quae Apostoli menti respondeat, ultra concedant. Illis tamen omissis maiorem vim sententiae inesse arbitrantur : « quo brevior, eo efficaclor hoc in loco videtur » (Palm. — Sieff. Lightf. etc.); at brevitas claritati interdum nocet !. Facilius admittam, pro io;ótt (valet) legendum esse dociv (est), quia secundam lectionem plures et graviores testes tuentur; sed haec quoque differentia ipsum sententiae sensum non attingit. Simili igitur medo, quo supra iam docuit, in iis qui Christum induerunt eique inserti sunt, omnes illas formas, quibus antea secundum veterem hominem distinguebantur, plane disparuisse, quum in Cbristo Iesu omnes unus sint (cfr ad 3,97 sq.), hoc in loco omnes illas formas, quia ad: mundum pertineant qui baptizatis sit crucifixus, nihil esse docet aut valere, ita ut in considerationem venire nequeant, si Christianus gloriari vult. Duas autem tantum formas, : cireumcisionem et, praeputium, hic nominat, quia de his solis inter Galatas iudaizantesque quaestio agitabatur. Unum solum valet et aliquid est, nimirum id quod ipsa insertione in Christum obtinetur, nova creatura (cfr ad 2 Cor. 5,17), i. e. homo in supranaturalem statum gratia sanclificante elevatus, qui fide per caritatem operante ornatus (5,6) mandata Dei observans (1 Cor. 1,19) in operibus bonis, quae praeparavit Deus, ambulat (EpA. 2,10), qui igitur Christum indutus (3,27) ct complantatus resurrectioni Christi in Christo Iesu vivit Deo (Rom. 6,5. 11) Dei factus filius adoptivus et haeres (5,6..7; Rom. 8,16), vel potius in quo Christus ipse vivit (2,20; Col. 3,10. 11). Hac ratione Paulus ipse vivit omniaque aestimat, sed eadem ratione omnes vivere et res omnes diiudicare tenentur, qui in Christum baptismo inserti veterem hominem cum actibus suis exuerunt novumque induerunt renovatum secundum imaginem creatoris sui (Col. 3,9 sq.); hoc nunc docet pacem iis precans, qui eandem quam ipse regulam sectantur :
1. Levitatis calumniae Paulus assertionem constantiae suac opponit (1,15-22).. ........ 4... enn 2. Calumniae fundamentum explicata mutati consilii itineris 3. Gratias agit Deo, & quo sincerus minister sil approbatus (219-11)... e ER soo nt ib menm o] COCA e jen Re s 2. ex cuius celsitudine fiduciam Joquendi hausit, quae arrogantia putatur (3,7-4,6).. V^ ui uus s Ce enun d. e 1.) Ob summam enim Nov. Test. praestantiam S desde magna competit gloria (3,7-11). . . ... . . 2.) ideoque Apostolos fiducia loquendi ut decet (3,12- 48). 3.) Ministerii igitur memores praedicatione aperta sese commendant (41-6) , . ....«- - 3.) Quam spem denuo asserens se id unum quaerere docet, ut placeat Christo iudici (5,1-10). ... 136 2. De causa, qua ad munus exercendum itépellvatür (5,tt- 6/10); ci uetesr IUE x» Xem oo thes eos 155 1:) Quid in hac apologia intendat, brasaihens (9,11-13). 155 2.) caritate Christi Apostolos impelli ac gubernari docet PARS ALTERA PARAENETICA. EXHORTATIO AD COLLECTAS PRO IEROSOLYMITANIS TERMINANDAS (8,1-9,15). 210 8 1. De modo quo collectae Corinthiis sint terminandae (8,1-15). 211 1. Quid Macedones in collectarum negotio praestiterint (8,1-0) 211 2. Quid Corinthios in eo praestare deceat (8.7-15). . . . . 218 8 2. De ministris, per quos collectae sint terminandae (8,16-9,5). 228 1. Titus eiusque duo socii commendantur (8,16-24). . . . . 228 2. Cur Apostolus eos iam nunc Corinthios mittat (9,1-5) . . 237 $ 3. De hilari liberalitate, qua collectae sint terminandae (9,6-15). 242 PARS TERTIA POLEMICA. PSEUDAPOSTOLORUM IUDAIZANTIUM OPPCONATIO (10,1203,10) 236 1. Corinthiorum silentio Paulus sese ipse commendare coactus est (12,41-18)... 2... elles 330 II. — EPISTOLA AD GALATAS. doléS. 2 vo ow 9 c ooecectome v woes. sow 09 nibus accipere potuit 8,011214)... ... le Neque post conversionem &b Apostolis eam accepit (1,15-24) Pauli Evangelium ab auctoritatibus Ecclesiae Ierosolymis 1.) De Titi circumcisione a iudaizantibus postulata, ab auctoritatibus negata (2,1-5). . . . . . . .. 2.) De Pauli doctrina et apostolica dignitate ab Ecclesiae Pauli Evangelium controversia eius cum Petro comprobatum (911-91)... ... e 1.) Controversiae initium et reprehensio Petri (2,11-14). 2.) Reprehensio abolitione Legis demonstrata confirmatur (2,1921) . . . . . . Qui ex fide, sunt soli ius habent &d benedictiones Abrahae . Promissio Abrahae facta promulgatione Legis non est mu- Quem igitur locum Lex in salutis oeconomia tenuerit explcatur (3,019-4,6). . . .... .. 2» 9 en n 1) Lex paedagogus fuit ad Christum (3,19-24). . . . . 2.) Adveniente fide Lex munere paedagogi defuncta est . Argumentum exhortatione terminatur (4,8-20) . MERE 1.) Galatae ad servitutis statum ne revertantur (4,8-11) . 2.) sed pristini sui erga Apostolum amoris memores eum egis inutilitas iuxta typicum historiae duorum filiorum Abrahaesensum (421-31). . ........ 2e ee INDEX. 619 PARS TERTIA PARAENETICA. CONSECTARIA PRACTICA ET MONITA (5,1-6,10) ,.. sls 558 S I. Doctrinae propositae consectaria practica (5,1-25). . . . . . 558 1. Caveant Galatae, ne Legi sese subiicientes gratíam Christi amittant (5,1-6). . . . . . .. e m h.n n $58 ?. Gravem poenam Galatarum seductores merentur (5,7-12). 568 3. Caveant neophyti, ne libertatem evangelicam in servitutem carnis convertant (5,13-25). P 974 1.) A Lege liberati servitutem evitent exercitio cáritatis (5,13-15) . oem oe o9 o. 9 ot as m ht] t n. 574 2.j Ut carnis servitutem evitent, spiritu ambulent(5,16-25) 578
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16. et. quicumque hanc regulam secuti fuerint (vel : secantur), paz super illos et misericordia, et super Israel Dei. Nomen xxvóvos (regulae), quod sensu proprio amussin mensuramque artificum significat, a nonnullis modernis hic sensu proprio sumitur, quatenus viam indicet, in qua incedendum sit; sed nulla est ratio, cur ab antiquorum sententia recedatur, qui metaphorico sensu nomen explicant de regula credendi et agendi; nam ad eandem significationem priores quoque in tota sententia explicanda reverti coguntur. Recte igitur Hier. : « ad normam omnia diriguntur et utrum prava rectave sint, quum regula apposita fuerit, arguuntur; ita et Dei doctrina norma quaedam sermonis est, quae inter iusta iudicat et iniusta ». Velut regulam, iuxta quam vivendum agendumque sit, a Paulo hic proponi integram doctrinam de iustificatione in hac epistola traditam, aliqui iuniores censent (Just. Lap. Nat. Pic?.); quae explicatio per se quidem vera est, quia tota epistolae doclrina paucis verbis sententiae praecedentis (v. 15.) continetur. At haec ultima sententia sola (minime vero solus v. 1&., uti volunt Cai. Palm. — Hofm. etc., non attendentes ad sententiae v. 15. gravitatem cfr Est.) est regula a Paulo designata. ld ex arcto vv. 15. et 16. nexu satis elucet, siquidem iuxta priorem explicationem particula xa (e£) inepte esset adhibita. Itaque Paulus vult, ut Christianus, qui in Christum est baplizatus, neque circumcisis neque praeputiatis sese accenseat , sed solam suam insertionem in Christum aliquid esse ducat. Hac quippe veteres illae differentiae sunt sublatae, ipse vero in sublimiorem statum est elevatus, factus nova creatura, cuius conversatio est in coelis (PA/. 3,20) et quae cum Christo mundo eiusque elementis mortua cum Christo conresurrexit novamque vitam agit absconditam cum Christo in Dco (Col. 2,90 sqq. ; 3,1sqq.). Similiter graecus quidam interpresin Caten. : « neque circumciditur (iudaico more) Christianus, neque gentium more praeputiatus est, habet enim suam propriam circumcisionem (sc. non manu factam); cum ludaeis non circumciditur, quia pulchriorem circumcisionem possidet, et cum gentibus non est in praeputio, quia circumcisus est (in circumcisione Christi Co/. 2,11); qui igitur nec inter gentes nec inter Iudaeos est, nova creatura est; et quotquot ambulant secundum hanc regulam , regulam sc. novae creaturae, i. e. quotquot nec ludaei sunt nec gentes sed Christiani, pax super illos et misericordia : misericordia in remissione peccatorum, pax in unione cum Christo ». Utrum eum nonnullis (CArys. A'r? etc.). ad verba eizáva xxi £Xeo; (pax et misericordia) futurum suppleas (£eva« erit), an cum aliis (Theod. Vict. etc.) optativum vel imperativum (etn, £c-9 sit), parum referre patet; promissione tamen in fine epistolae aptior esse precatio videtur. Omnibus ergo, qui hanc regulam sectantur (cz0t7o5ow) aut juxta alteram lectionem (crovyácovcw) in posterum sectabuntur, pacem precatur, qua fruentur in sua unione cum Christo, et misericordiam divinam, quam utpote genuina Christi membra in omnibus suis necessitatibus experientur ac maxime in die iudicii (cfr 9 77m. 4,16. 18). Addit autem : et super Israel Dei; « Israelem Dei, inquit Theod., fideles appellat, utpote qui Deum per fidem videant; hoc enim nomen significat », vel iuxta Aug. : « qui vere ad visionem Dei praeparantur, nonqui vocantur hoc nomine et carnali caecitate Deum videre nolunt ». Communior haec est explicatio, ut nomine Israe/ Dei, quod Israeli secundum carnem (1 Cor. 10,18) opponitur, omnes fideles, sive ex Iudaeis sive ex gentibus venerunt, designentur (cfr Chrys. Oec. eic., Hier. Haym. Thom. etc., Cai. Salm. Iust. Lap. Pic. etc., Wind. Bisp. etc. — Olsh. Mey Sieff. Lightf. etc.), licet etymologicam TAeod. et Aug. expositionem nominis Jsrae/ plerique jure praetermittant. Particula xx (e?) hoc in loco non tam est copulativa quam epexegetica; minus vero apte, ni fallor, alii cum A''? et Vict. copulativam significationem particulae retinent atque nomine Israel Dei solos Iudaeochristianos designatos vident, qui ethnicis conversis addantur (Herv. Lyr. Est. Nat. etc., Retithm. Palm. Schaef. etc — Ew. Ead. etc.). Tam amplum enim est prius membrum (qgwcumque sectantur), ut ad solos Ethnicochristianos aegre restringatur, praesertim quia etiam Israe/ Dei pacem misericordiamque consequi nequit, nisi eandem regulam sequatur. Demum lectores suos Paulus monet, « ut desistant a sui molestatione » (Thom.) :
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17. de cetero (92 30x92 posthac) nemo mihi molestus sit; ego enim stigmata Domini Iesu in corpore meo porto. luxta. Vig. versionem (de cetero) sermonem quasi abrumpere videtur; sed particula graeca 702 loto) temporalis est (i. q. posthac. in posterum) atque latinum de cetero eodem modo multi interpretantur (Vct. : ultra, Pel. : amplius, G/ int. Thom. etc. : amodo, Hier. : rursus etc.). Monet autem Hier. « melius in graeco legi : de cetero labores inihi nemo exhibeat (z9) Xouo wózeo; ot wndns wxt/ií-e), ne rursum scilicet in vobis necessitatem habeam laborandi; laborem praestat magistro, qui aliter et vivit et sentit, quam magister et docuit et fecit. Potest ct contentionem eorum, si qui contradicere deinceps voluerint, praevenire quod etiam ad Corinthios in velando mulieris capite post multa complexus est dicens : Si quis autem videtur contentiosus esse, nos talem consuetudinem non habemus (1 Cor. 11,16); hoc est : nos diximus quae nobis honesta videbantur et iusta; si quis autem nolens acquiescere veritati quaerit quid respondeat, sciat se responsione non dignum, qui magis contendere paratus est, quam doceri ». Auctoritate igitur sua contentionibus neophytorum finem imponit et pro auctoritatis suae demonstratione addit : ego enim stigmata Domini Iesu in corpore meo porto. « Stigmata, inquit Aug., dicuntur notae quaedam poenarum servilium »; apud: Romanos enim solis:fugitivis servis nota quaedam («b vel FU G) ferro candenti imprimebatur, ac similis erat Graecorum mos. In Oriente tamen omnibus servis nota quaedam inurebatur, qua cuius domini essent cognoscerentur; atque ad hunc usum procul dubio Apostolus alludit, ac se genuinum Christi servum et Apostolum esse, ex stiginatis Christi, quae in corpore suo gerat, cognosci vult. Porro iuxta communem fere omnium interpretationem hoc nomine intelligit cicatrices verberum vulnerumque, quae propter Christum multa accepit , vestigiaque alia reliquarum persecutionum tribulationumque , quas in ministerio apostolico innumeras pertulit (2 Cor. 11,93 sqq. etc.). His enim eum ad Christum pertinere demonstrabatur, quum semper mortificationem Iesu in corpore suo circumferret (2 Cor. 4,10); neque minus eum genuinum Apostolum esse ex iis patebat, quum ostenderent eum illa tractari ratione, qua Deus Apostolos tractari voluit (cfr 4 Cor. 4,9 sqq. etc. ; Matth. 10,17 sqq. etc.); quapropter etiam de iis non lerubescit sed gloriatur * (cfr 2 Cor. 41,30; 12,9 sqq. etc.). Galatae ipsi in eo haec stigmata viderant, quando in infirmitate carnis inter eos Evangelium annuntiabat (4,13) ab una civitate in alteram fugatus, ubique contradictiones persecutionesque expertus, quin etiam Lystris lapidatus et pro mortuo extra civitatem in viam proiectus (Act. 13,50; 14,5 sq. 18 sq.). luxta Aug., quem pauci iuniores sequuntur, Paulus tribulationes suas hic commemorat, ut se iam satis molestiarum ferre significans Galatas re-- tineat, ne continuatis contentionibus ipsi novas molestias creent : at nescio num satis. digna sit Apostolo haec explicatio, quod quasi morosus epistolam terminaverit dicens : « nolite mibi esse molesti, quia aliunde satis habeo quod feram ». Aptius Chrys. haec verba afferri censet, ut Paulus continuatis persecutionibus se doctrinam non mutasse confirmet (cfr 3,14); arctior tamen haec est explicatio, atque melius eum nexum retinebimus, quem iuxta 7'eod. Hier. et plerosque iam indicavi : « Non amplius ad vos scribere volo, sed pro literis vibices ostendam et plagarum signa; haec testimonium ferant veritati praedicationis; pro illa enim omnia perpeti non refugio » (ZAeod.) atque hisce me genuinum servum et Apostolum Christi exhibeo. — Num Apostolus simul etiam stigmata Christi opponere voluerit circumcisioni, uti cum Hier. nonnulli putant, non liquet. « Consuetam benedictionem velut quoddam sigillum epistolae imponit » (TAeod.) :
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18. Gratia Domini nostri Iesu Christi cum spiritu vestro , fratres. Amen. Satis magna cum vehementia epistolam inchoaverat neque consueto fratrum nomine Galatas ab initio erat allocutus; suam autem perdurare caritatem nunc ostendit ultimo epistolae vocabulo eis fratrum titulum confirmans. Polemicam quandam tamen rationem in ipsa hac benedictione antiqui aliqui viderunt, quia pro consueta formula vobiscum Paulus dixerit cum spiritu vestro; sed haud recte. A'** quidem putat, solis iis, qui spirituales sint, illum benedicere voluisse, alios autem, qui iam defecerant, a benedictione exclusisse; at eodem loquendi modo utitur in epistolis ad PA., PAilem. et 9 Tim., in quibus de eiusmodi exclusione nemo cogitare potest. Aptius CArys. illa formula Paulum eos a carnalibus avocare censet atque gratiam eis in memoriam revocare, per quam poterant ab omni errore iudaico liberari; nam Spiritum non ex operibus Legis sed ex auditu fidei acceperant. Verum haec quoque longius sunt quaesita neque tribus aliis epistolis, in qua eadem formula habetur, ullo modo adaptari possunt. Itaque dicendum videtur, ideo cum spiritum hic nominasse, quia gratia Domini N. in spiritu et a spiritu recipitur et in spiritum agit; sensu autem haec formula ab altera non L — ALTERA EPISTOLA AD CORINTHIOS. . 1. Quae epistolae 2. ad Cor. scribendae Paulo fuerit occasio et quis finis. . 2. Quae epistolae 2. ad. Cor.sitindoles. . . , . . . . . 3. Quibus subsidiis criticis et exegeticis in ca explicanda usi DM MEDI P2 REFCTATIO CALUMNIARUM. PSEUDAPOSTOLORUM (15-7,16)
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M. Loisy termine le commentaire du chap. v sur cette pensée : «ἃ lire Paul, on dirait que le chrétien est impeccable » etc. Or, Paul prévoit ici que le chrétien ἃ succombé, et demande aux autres de ne pas l'abandonner, même dans ce cas, ἐὰν καί, Le sens de προλημφθῇ est ou bien : « a été surpris dans tel péché » (Zighi.), ou bien : « a été entraîné par surprise » (Corn. Stef. Lips., après la Vg. praeoccupatus fuerü). Les deux façons tiennent compte de προ : l'homme est saisi « d'avance », avant d'avoir pris ses mesures pour échapper; toute la question est de savoir par qui? Si c'est par un autre homme, ce pourrait être dans un crime très grave, qui exigcrait un traitement plus sévère. Il est donc plus probable que Paul a voulu parler d'un péché de faiblesse, auquel l'homme s'est laissé entrainer (συναρπαγῇ Chrys.) par surprise. Le mot ἄνθρωπος ne fait pas allusion à la faiblesse humaine (Jér.); il est syzonyme de « quelqu'un » (vi, 7 etc.). — ἔν τινι παραπτώματι est plus facile à expliquer dans la première manière : on surprend l’homme dans sa faute. Avec le second sens il faut supposer une construction prégnante; surpris par la tentation, l'homme se trouve dans le peché auquel il s’est laissé entrainer. — ὑμεῖς οἱ πνευματιχοί s'adresse en principe à tous les chrétiens; ils ont en euxmêmes un principe spirituel, c’est à eux de s’en servir dans ce cas délicat, et 8115 ont conscience d'être vraiment spirituels, de mettre en usage l'esprit de douceur. — xarapritew se disait de l'opération chirurgicale qui remboîtait les membres; ici c'est simplement redresser, corriger. Ce ne peut être instruite {V£g.) comme a noté Jérôme qui propose perficere : sive ut melius habetur in graeco perficiat in spiritu lenitatis. — L’Apôtre suppose que quelqu'un des spirituels ἃ actepté cette tâche qui doit être le fait d’un seul, pour ne pas accabler le coupable de confusion, et c’est à cette personne charitable qu'il rappelle sa condition. Le changement du pluriel au singulier π᾿ οὐδ pas étonné les classiques, e,. ne manque pas de naturel. Paul prend le moniteur à part comme lui-même fait pour l'inculpé. Rien de plus propre à tempérer un zèle excessif que le sentiment personnel de la faiblesse en présence de la tentation. — μή après σχοπέω comme après βλέπω, avec le subj. aoriste, d'une chose qui risque d'arriver bientôt.
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La métaphore du fardeau montre les chrétiens accablés par certaines charges, : et suggère de leur aider à les porter. Le sens n’est donc pas : supportez-vous les uns Les autres, comme l’a compris Chrys. : « il est irascible, tu es somnolent; supporte son activité excessive, afin qu'il supporte ta paresse », car dans ce sens le fardeau de chacun pèserait sur le voisin, non sur lui-même. La réciprocité mise très en vedette par ἀλλήλων au début de la phrase n’exige pas non plus qu’on change de fardeaux, ce qui n'équivaudrait à aucune réalité psychologique. Il faut donc entendre βαστάζειν « aider à porter », « alléger le poids ». Chacun a son fardeau qui pèse parfois lourdement sur les épaules; le secours d’un autre le rend plus léger. Que désigne la métaphore du fardeau? On pourrait entendre à la fois les peines de la vie, le sentiment des fautes commises, les vices dont le coupable est la première victime et même les défauts de caractère qui retombent sur lui. Il semble que Paul, dans ce contexte, l'entend surtout des fautes morales ou de ce qui les précède et les suit, la tentation et le remords. C'est la charge propre des chrétiens, celle qu'un autre peut alléger par ses encouragements, sa compassion, une affection que rien ne lasse : ὅταν διὰ παραινέσεως χαὶ χρηστότητος ἐπιχουφίζῃς αὐτῷ τὴν ψυχήν, ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ ἁμαρτήματος συνειδήσεως βεθαρημένην (Théod, de Mops. dans Cram. Cat.) ou encore : qui igitur fratris non desperat salutem, sed manum porrigit deprecanti, et quantum in se est, flet cum flente, infirmus est cum infirmo, suaque iudicat aliena peccata, iste per caritatem adimplet legem Christ. qui clementiam non habet, nec indutus est viscera misericordiae et lacrymarum, quamois spiritualis sit, non adimplebit legem Christi (Jér.); et en un mot πάντας βάσταζε ὡς ναί σε 8 Κύριος (Ἰανατ. Polyc. 1). — ἀναπληρώσετε (Nesile), le futur, où ἀναπληρώσατε l'impér. aor. qui paraît plus probable d’après les mss. grecs, et dont le sens, moins aisé, est peut-être plus expressif : « et soyez sûrs que vous avez rempli ». D'ailleurs, le verbe est plus fort que πληροῦν (v, 14); cette fois, la mesure remplie par la charité est pleine, presque surabondante, le zèle étant adouci par la miséricorde, — τὸν νόμον τοῦ Χριστοῦ est une ample satisfaction donnée aux Galates qui veulent une loi. Le précepte unique de la charité (v, 14) comprend tous les autres. C'est une loi, puisque le chrétien s’y sent obligé; il est ἔννομος Χριστοῦ (1 Cor. 1x, 21), c'est la loi de l'esprit de vie (Rom. vin, 2) qui remplace l’autre en accomplissant ce qu'elle avait de meilleur.
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On peut lier ce verset au v. 1 (Lighe.), mais il faudrait regarder le v. 2 comme une parenthèse. Le lien entre 2 et 8 est bien indiqué par Jér. : celui qui refuse de porter le fardeau d'un autre estime sans doute qu'il n'aura pas besoin d'être aidé, en quoi il se trompe! Le même Jér. unit μηδὲν &v à ce qui suit : iste ex hac ipsa arrogantia nihil fil ei ipse se decipit où comme dit Cornely : si quis aliquid magni se esse existimat, se ipse decipit, quum nihil sit, i. e. quia nihil est. Mais cette coupure méconnaît le caractère de phrase toute faite du début ; PLar. Apol. αἱ E ἐὰν δοχῶσί τι εἶναι μηδὲν ὄντες, Éprcr. II, 24 δοχῶν μέν τι εἶναι, ὧν δ᾽ οὐδείς, 1] faut donc joindre μεδὲν &v à ce qui précède. Celui qui croit être quelque chose alors qu'il n’est rien, n'étant par lui-même que pécheur (Rom. τι, 23), ou plutôt parce que cette vanité même prouve qu'il n’est rien de bon, — celui-là se trompe, se fait illusion à lui-même, et cette illusion, pour n'être pas perçue par lui, n’en est pas moins coupable dans sa source. — φρεναπατᾶν n'a pas été trouvé en dehors de ce texte, si ce n’est à une date beaucoup plus basse. Jér. le traduit, ou plutôt le transcrit en latin mentem suam decipit.
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Au lieu de se séduire, que chacun s’examine; opposition marquée par δὲ. Celui qui croyait être quelqu'un se jugeait sans doute aussi favorablement parce qu'il se comparait à d’autres. Paul le ramène de cette fausse grandeur, mal assise sur Les défauts du prochain, à l'examen de ce qu'il y a de réel en lui, à soi-même : τὸ ἔργον, et ἑαυτοῦ, — δοχιμάζειν dit une enquête conduisant à une appréciation motivée; cf. 1 Cor. x1, 28; c’est l'examen de conscience qui tient tant de place dans la vie chrétienne. Si 16 résultat est satisfaisant, et il peut l'être dans une certaine mesure, de façon à éviter la pusillanimité et la fausse humilité, alors (τότε), à la bonne heure! ce chrétien aura matière à se glorifier, mais seulement par rapport à lui-même, avec une base solide, et non sous prétexte qu'il vaut mieux qu'un autre. — χαύχημα est en principe la base de la glorification (καύχησις); cf. Rom, iv, 2 et II Cor. 1, 14. Cette explication (Chrys. etc.) est parfaitement conforme au texte et rend bien compte de l'opposition entre εἰς ἑαυτόν et εἰς τὸν ἕτερον,
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L'examen prescrit au v. 4, même s’il est favorable, a déjà pour résultat de mettre le prochain hors de cause, et sûrement il aura révélé bien des défectuosités. En reconnaissant qu'il peut y avoir matière à se glorifier, — et seulement dans le Seigneur (I Cor. 1, 31), — l'Apôtre n'a pas employé l'ironie {contre Corn.), mais il laisse entrevoir ici qu'il y a un revers à la médaille. 11 conclut donc de cela (γάρ) que chacun a son fardeau à porter, βαστάσει, 16 futur pour indiquer ce qui doit toujours être. Pour éviter une apparence de contradiction avec le v. 2, quelques Pères (encore Corn., mais non Chrys. qu'il cite à tort) ont pensé que chacun porterait son paquet dans la comparution du jugement dernier. Mais ce jugement n'apparaît pas dans la perspective, et la prétendue contradiction n’est qu'un aspect piquant et paradoxal sous lequel sont présentées les choses. Car c'est précisément parce que chacun a quelque chose à porter qu'on doit s’aider les uns les autres. Personne ne peut se mettre en dehors de la série. Lietzmann subtilise beaucoup en entendant le φόρτιον des καυχήματα, comme si Paul avait voulu dire les autres ont leur fardeau d'épreuves, lui a le fardeau de ses mérites! Ce serait assez pittoresque comme ironie, mais plus dans le goût de La Rochefoucauld que dans le ton de Paul. — φορτίον se distingue de βάρος comme un terme plus général; c’est la charge qu'on impose aux gens et aux bêtes; les φορτία peuvent être « lourds » (Mt. xxinr, 4), ou « légers » (Mt. χι, 30). Chrys. commente excellemment ce verset : « Il n’a l'air de raisonner que pour empêcher qu'on se glorifie aux dépens d’un autre, mais de plus ἢ] corrige celui qui se glorifie, de façon à ne pas même se trop élever pour ce qu'il vaut en lui-même, lui rappelant ses péchés propres, et pesant sur sa conscience par ces mots de fardeau et de charge. »
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Deux opinions : a) D'après la plupart des anciens (ot Corn. Light. Zahn, Bousset, Loisy\ Paul recommande à ceux qui sont catéchisés de s’associer à ceux qui les instruisent en leur donnant leurs biens temporels. On prend κοινωνεῖν dans le sens de « donner une part à » qu'il paraît avoir dans Barnabé, ép. χιχ, 8 : κοινωνήσεις ἐν πᾶσι τῷ πλησίον σου καὶ οὐχ ἴδια ἐρεῖς εἶναι, Zahn cite encore pour ce sens Héracléon (dans Orig, ἐπι Jo. t. XIII, 32) sur Jo. IV, 84 : ἐδούλοντο χοινωνεῖν αὐτῷ ἐξ ὧν ἀγοράσαντες ἀπὸ τῆς Σαμαρείας χεχομίχεισαν, Clém. Strom. vu, 80; Sextus Sent. 266; Eus. 27... IV, xxm, 1; Const. ap. τι, 25. Et c'est incontestablement la doctrine de Paul que le disciple doit fournir le temporel à celui qui lui donne le spirituel; cf. I Thess. π|, 6. 9: I Cor. 1x, 14; I] Cor. x1, 7 8.; Phil. 1v, 10 8, ; I Tim. v, 17. 18. δὴ D'autres objectent que Paul ne dit nulle part qu'il faut mettre tout en commun, et l’on serait contraint de prendre ἐν πᾶσιν ἀγαθοῖς dans un sens très atténué : de bonis temporalibus ad vitam necessariis (Corn.). De plus, rien dans le contexte, ni avant, ni après, ne fait soupçonner un changement aussi complet dans l'objet des avis donnés aux Galates, objet qui est de l’ordre spirituel, 11 faut donc avec Ambrosiaster, Jér. 29, Thom. 2° {Sief. Lips.) entendre ἐν πᾶσιν ἀγαθοῖς des biens spirituels, sens ordinaire de ἀγαθόν (I Thess. v, 15; Rom. vu, 13. 49; vin, 28; xn1, 2. 9. 21; χπὶ, 3. 4; xiv, 16; xv, 2; xvi, 19; IT Cor. v, 10) et de ἀγαθά (Rom. ur, 8) dans les épîtres de Paul. Cornely objecte que les Galates n'étaient pas assez stupides pour qu’on fût obligé de leur dire qu'ils devaient s'associer à leurs apôtres in bonis, mais Paul dit in omnibus bonis, ce qui n'allait pas sans difficulté. Comme partout dans cette épître, il prêche l'union des esprits. D'ailleurs l’unique sens de χοινωνεῖν dans le Ν, T. est intransitif, c'est « prendre sa part de ». Dans Rom. χα, 13, « prendre sa part des nécessités des saints » aboutit à leur faire l’aumône, mais ici cette idée intermédiaire fait défaut, et Le sens actif dérivé n'est pas indiqué clairement comme dans Barnabé, La première opinion nous paraît s'imposer par la comparaison avec Phil. 1v, 15, passage semblable. Donc après avoir parlé (1-5) des devoirs imposés aux spirituels par la charité fraternelle, Paul expose aussi (δέ d'opposition) ce qui convient à ceux qui sont dans la situation d’enseignés. — κατηχούμενος n'a point encore son sens technique, instruit en vue du baptême, c’est quiconque est instruit dans l'évangile, la parole par excellence, la voie du Seigneur {Act, xvrr, 25), — τῷ κατηχοῦντι, missionnaire de passage ou à demeure, quiconque enseigne avec autorité; le datif de celui auquel on fait une part comme dans Phil. 1v, 45. — ἐν πᾶσιν ἀγαθοῖς, s'il s'agissait de s'associer aux biens spirituels, on pourrait viser à les acquérir tous. Il serait trop sévère d'exiger que le catéchisé se dépouille de tous ses biens maïs il peut en donner une partie à son instructeur.
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μὴ πλανᾶσθε commence absolument, sans liaison avec ce qui précède, et se rapporte à ce qui suit comme dans I Cor. vi, 9; xv, 33; cf. Jac. 1, 16. — θεὸς οὐ μυχτηρίζεται, terme très énergique : μυχτηρίζειν signifie froncer le nez pour se moquer, cf. sur μυκτήρ Diog. Laërce II, 19; μυχτηρισμός IT Macch. vit, 39; μυχτηριστής Athén. IV, 182 A (Sie/f.). Rien de plus solennel que ce début. On ne gaurait sans subtilité l'entendre de ceux qui ne donnent pas leur temporel en échange du spirituel, obligation certaine, mais non pas la plus grave, ni la plus précise de toutes. Jérôme s’en tire avec plus d'esprit que de vraisemblance : on objectera sa pauvreté : Ager meus hoc anno aruit siccitate; vineam grando contrivit; redditus qui esse potuerunt, tributa rapuerunt; non habeo unde tribuam quod iubetur. — En réalité il s’agit de toute la conduite chrétienne. Qui professe le christianisme et vit selon la chair se moque de Dieu, mais Dieu aura son heure, et on récoltera ce qu'on aura semé! Sur la comparaison, cf. Job, 1v, 8 : « pour moi, je l'ai vu, ceux qui labourent l'ini= quité et qui sèment l'injustice en moissonnent les fruits », et Arist. Rhét. ΠῚ, 3 où δὲ ταῦτα αἰσχρῶς μὲν ἔσπειρας κακῶς δὲ ἐθέρισας, Paul garde au proverbe sa forme la plus vague comme dans Οἷς, De Orat 11, 65 : ut sementem feceris, ta metes, se réservant de donner plus loin les développements dans l'ordre moral. Il s'est servi de la comparaison de là semence à propos des aumônes (1 Cor. 1x, 6), mais pour dire : qui donne peu récoltera peu, qui donne beaucoup récoltera beaucoup. Cela ne prouve nullement qu'au v. 6 il pensait aux dons à faire aux catéchistes, puisqu'il va expliquer que sa comparaison doit s'appliquer à la chair et à l'esprit.
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ὅτι explicatif. À suivre rigoureusement les termes du proverbe, il eût fallu dire : « qui aura semé la chair, récoltera la chair » etc. Maïs Paul no pouvait abandonner la doctrine posée plus haut qui fait de la chair et de l'esprit deux principes, chacun avec les œuvres qui en découlent. Comme principes de production, la chair et l'esprit ressemblent plus au sol qu’à la semence; le proverbe n'est pas modifié, mais la semence est censée analogue au sol qui la produit, car la nature du sol ne transforme pas la semence. On sait d’ailleurs que Paul est peu soucieux de fonder ses comparaisons sur une observation minutieuse de la nature (cf. Comm. Rom., p. 283). Puisque c'est la chair qui produit, c'est dans la chair qu’on sème, et chacun dans sa propre chair; celui qui en est là vit selon la chair, et fait les œuvres énumérées ci-dessus (v, 19 ss.). La comparaison évolue encore, Car ce ne sont pas ces œuvres qu'il moïissonne, mais la corruption (φθοράν), terme choisi comme répondant bien à la nature même de la chair au sens biblique (Gen. vi, 8), mais qui signifie la perte définitive par opposition à la vie éternelle. — À l'opposé se trouve celui qui sème dans l'esprit. Ici il est bien clair que l’homme ne sème pas dans l'Esprit de Dieu (contre Sée/ff.), mais dans le principe spirituel que Dieu a déposé en lui; s'il n'y a pas ἑαυτοῦ comme après σάρχα, c'est que cet esprit n’est pas sa chose propre et naturelle. Les fruits de l'esprit sont connus; Ce n'est pas eux qu'on moissonne, mais la vie éternelle. Omne quod loquimur, dit Jérôme, agimus, cogitamus, in duobus seminatur agris, carre etspiritu. Si bona sunt, quae de manu, ore, corde promuntur, seminata in spiritu, vilae aeternae fructibus redundabunt. Si mala, ab agro carnis excepta, corruptionis nobis segetem pullulabunt. La moisson est la récompense naturelle de celui qui a semé. Il semble donc bien qu'ici la vie éternelle est la récompense des bonnes œuvres: non que les œuvres de l’homme en elles-mêmes la méritent, mais parce que ces œuvres procèdent de l’homme par l'esprit, c’est-à-dire que ce sont des œuvres de la grâce.
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Cornely et Lightfoot avouent enfin qu'il ne s'agit point ici de libéralité mais de persévérance dans les bonnes œuvres. Comme ce verset conclut ce qui précède (δέ explique à quelle condition), le thème était bien déjà celui de la vie éternelle en général. —- τὸ καλόν, toutes les œuvres belles et bonnes qui sont le fruit de l'esprit. — μὴ ἐνχαχῶμεν (Nestle) ou ἐκχαχῶμεν (Soden) ou ἐγκαχῶμεν. Ce verbe, comprenant κακόν, forme un léger jeu de mots avec χαλόν (οἵ. II Thess. πὶ, 13 μὴ ἐγχακήσητε χαλοποιοῦντες); il signifie se montrer poltron, se décourager, lâcher (Le. xvinr, 1). — χαιρῷ γὰρ ἰδίῳ au temps qui convient pour cela, quand le maitre du champ juge qu'il est temps de moissonner. — μὴ ἐχλυόμενοι, pourvu que nous ne nous lassions pas (cf. Mt. xv, 32; Mc. vin, 8); une condition pour qu'on fasse la moisson, c’est de ne pas reculer devant les travaux préalables nécessaires. La persévérance dans l'énergie, malgré l'usure de la routine et de l'ennui, est la grande difficulté de la vie spirituelle. — Chrys. et d’autres ont compris que la moisson se faisait sans peine; maïs Jérôme a bien vu le sens; il ajoute : Quale est autem, ut cum peccatores quotidie in malis eperibus augeantur, nos in beno opere lassemur?
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Conclusion, marquée par ἄρα οὖν, non pas dans l'ordre logique, mais dans l'ordre des résolutions pratiques : mettons-nous donc à l'œuvre, et l'œuvre c'est surtout la charité. — ὡς dum (Vg.), « pendant que », comme dans Le. xn, 58 et Jo. x11, 35 [avec ἔχομεν (Soden); mais ἔχωμεν (NB.) supposant à ὡς le sens de ἕως est plus expressif]. —— καιρόν l'opportunité d'agir, comme au v. 9 καιρῷ le temps opportun pour la moisson. Ces mots ne disent rien sur la proximité ou l'éloignement de la parousie. — ἐργαζώμεθα τὸ ἀγαθόν, non pas « faisons l’aumône » (Chrys. Jér. Loisy), maïs « faisons le bien », comme Rom. τε, 10. Ce sens est adopté même par Corn. et Light. qui voyaient la libéralité aux vv. 6 ss., à cause du sens propre de ἐργάζεσθαι, « produire, réaliser », et parce que τὸ ἀγαθόν (noter l’article) est synonyme de τό καλόν au v. précédent. On ne peut donc pas dire que le « bien » signifie principalement « le secours matériel dû à tout homme dans le besoin, surtout au fidèle » (Loisy). Il est vrai que ce bien a rapport à d’autres, mais par la charité communicative, si fortement recommandée (vi, 1-2). Le bien exerce son influence sur tout 16 monde, πρός πάντας (cf. Rom. χιν, 18), mais surtout envers ceux qui sont οἰκεῖοι τῆς πίστεως, compagnons de la même foi; cf. Eph. 11, 19 συνπολῖτα, τῶν ἁγίων καὶ οἰχεῖοι τοῦ θεοῦ, Par rapport à Dieu, 165 chrétiens sont les employés de sa maison; dans l'expression οἰχεῖοι τῆς πίστεως le sens étymologique (οἶχος, comme domestici de domus) est atténué, comme dans d'autres exemples, où le second nom est abstrait, οἰκεῖα φιλοσοφίας (STras. J, 13 B) etc, vi, 11-17. LES PRÉDICATEURS PROFANES ET L'APÔTRE DE JÉSUS CRUCIFIÉ. — Paul prend fui-même la plume des mains du secrétaire auquel ἢ dictait pour donner un dernier et solennel avis à ses chers Galates. Ils sont soîlicités par des prédicateurs qui poursuivent un succès personnel, évitant Ia Croix et ses souffrances. Mais le véritahle Apôtre ne veut connaître que la Croix. C'est là aussi qu'est le salut pour ceux qui se résoudrent à suivre la même voie. 45 Le plus grand nombre des Pères, grecs et latins, ἃ opiné que Paul avait écrit toute la lattre aux Galates ds sa main. Les modernes, après Théod. de Mops. et Jér.. sont d'accord sur ce point que Paul prend iei la plume pour terminer la lettre qu'il avait dictée. I1 y a plusieurs autres cas semblables (1 Cor. xwt. 21: Col. 1v. 181. D'après ΠῚ Thess. ur. 17, 1 semble que c'était son usage constant. du moins pour la salutation qui termine. Cicéron |4d 4rtic. VILI, 1, 1) parle d'une lettre de Pompée écrite in ertremo ipsius mana Liet:.\. ΤῈ n'y aurait jamais eu de doute sur ce point sans la difficulté de l'aoriste ἔγραψα qui n’a pas toujours été compris. — ἴδετε appelle l'attention sur le phénomène qui se présente ici: les caractères ou lettres sont de plus grande dimension. selon le sens normal de πηλίκοις, οἵ, Théod. de Mops. μείζοσιν ἐχρήσατο γράμμασιν, Car γράμμασιν au pluriel et au datif ne peut signifier que les caractères d'écriture dont Paul s' est servi non la leitre qu'il a écrite. — ὑμῖν entre πηλίχοις et γοάαμασιν n'a pas tout à fait le même sens que s'il était avant ἔγραψα, ce n'est pas « je vous ai écrit » mais « j'ai écrit pour vous avec de grosses lettres — ἔγραψα à l'aoriste, selon l'usage assez courant des lettres missives, cf. Philém. 19:1 Jo. v, 18 (Vg. seriboi. même au début d'une lettre, cf. Mart Polye. ὃ ἃ ἐνοκίαμεν δεῖν, ἀδελφοί, τὰ κατὰ τοὺς μαρτυούίσαντας. La lettre était dsjà écrite au moment où celui qui la reçoit entre en cummunication avec son correspondant. Les Latins employaient de préférences l'imparfait, nous mettrions le présent. Si toute La lettre avait été écrite de la main de Paul avec de grandes lettres, il eût été inutile de les faire remarquer. Pourquoi donc ces grandes lettres et autographes? Parce que Paul attache une grande importance à ces dernières paroles: une fois encore, il met en avant toute son autorité : ἐμφαίνων ὅτι οὔτε αὐτὸς ἐρυθοιᾷ οὔτε ἀρνεῖται τὰ λεγόμενα (Théo. de Mops,\. L'usage était établi soit dans les inscriptions, soît dans les papyrus de souligner les passages importants par de plus grandes lettres. Dans un papyrus cité par Wilcken (Zwm alerandr. Antisemitismus, dans Abh. d. sächs. Ges. d. Wiiss. Bd. 27, n° 23, p. 8331 les paroles du juge sont en lettres plus grosses que celles des parties {Lietz.).
6:12
ὅσοι... οὗτοι « ce sont ceux-là, et ceux-là seulement ». — εὐπροσωπῆσαι verbe inconnu, sauf cet endroit, et qui vient de εὐπρόσωπος, « de belle apparence ». On peut souhaiter faire belle figure sans être mû par la plus vile hypocrisie, ii suffit pour cela de l'amour-propre. Mais la détermination ἐν σαρχί est évidemment peu favorable. Le sens est obscur. « Parmi les hommes » (Chrys.) est un peu superficiel. « En gens charnels » est peut-être trop dur- Cependant le mot doit avoir quelque attache avec la chair, opposée à l'esprit, et avec la chair de la circoncision au v. suivant. C’est probablement « dans l'ordre de la chair », en suivant des inspirations qui ne sont point surnaturelles, ni en esprit et en vérité. — ἀναγκάζουσι ne peut signifier une contrainte absolue; de la part des judaïgants ce ne sont que des tentatives mais des tentatives voulues et réfléchies, comme celle de 11, 3, non pas une simple conséquence de l'exemple, comme dans 11, 44. On ne peut dire avec certitude dans quelle mesure les judaïsants avaient réussi auprès de certains; du moins la masse n’était pas entamée. — μόνον « seulement », à suppléer « dans le but »... τῷ σταυρῷ +. X., datif de la cause. C’est la même raison que v. 11. Ce que les Juifs ne peuvent tolérer chez les chrétiens, ce n’est pas leur croyance au Messie, mais leur foi en un Messie crucifié, et dont la mort assure le salut des hommes et rend la Loi surannée. Les judaïsants qui ont la bonne fortune de circoncire des gentils sont bien vus des Juifs; ils leur amènent des prosélytes, et des prosélytes circoncis on peut être sûr qu'ils seront attachés au judaïsme, quand mêrne ils seraient négligents sur quelques points. Les Juifs ne songeront pas à regarder ces chrétiens judaïsants comme des apostats, à les exclure de la synagogue, à les maudire et à les persécuter.
6:13
Malgré l'autorité du ms. B, la leçon περιτετμημένοι ne peut être qu'une leçon plus facile pour περιτεμνόμενοι, Le parfait indiquerait sans conteste Les Juifs circoncis (dès leur enfance), mais ce doit être aussi le sens du présent, car on ne saurait songer d'après l'ensemble à des Galates gentils qui se feraient circoncire. οἱ περιτεμνόμενοι indique donc ceux qui se circoncisent habituellement (cf. Act. Petr. et Paul. ὃ 63), le groupe des circoncis, et, d’après le contexte, les judaïsants. Même ceux-là, Juifs d'origine, ne gardent pas la Loi. D’après Corn., Light., c'est parce qu'ils n’en ont cure, étant des hypocrites. Mais pourquoi toute cette catégorie serait-elle si sévèrement condamnée? Les judaïsants valaient-ils donc moins que les Juifs qui péchaient sans doute plus souvent par fanatisme (Rom. x, 2) que par hypocrisie? Il est vrai que les judaïsants cherchent à se glorifier, mais la vanité est compatible avec une certaine sincérité. Jérôme a parfaitement compris cette psychologie : Propter infirmitatem, inquit, carnis, Lex impleri non potest. Unde e: laduei praccente mais Rome ἐς docrrines. gaas Dei δ Cusrodiun:, megue corporeren fecienses Legem. umpossièie guippe est πέξος spiriiuasen, quem men inreltigans. {πᾶς lee est omime ges ἐτεῦσας, ge Ὶ -, ας ἀρ lnisess de résine CURE 5 ere Mure, et iactirent sue Gemtes magistonte οὐπουῖξας, Les judaisents, pas plus que les Juifs. n'arrivent à observer toute la Loi: etant chretiens, ils devraient comprendre plus aisenrent qu'une loi si diffeils ἃ vbserver ge saurait être dans les desseins de Dieu le moren Gone peur le selut. AMors pourquoi s'obstinent-ils à cirvoucire les gentils? parve qu'ils sont fiers de ees recrues pour la cause du jadetsme. L'mterét naionat, la sersfection d'être bien vus des chefs les aveugtent. Ils reganient comme tous les Juiis la cirvoncision comme mecessaire au salat at ils le prèchent aux gentils comme telle, sans quoi ils n'auraient aucune chance de se glorifer dans leur chair, c'est-à-dire par le caractère sensible de la civercision imprime dens ls chair. Et cette gloritication elle-mêunre n'est pas necesseiremen de l'hypecrisie. Ils croient avoir fait œuvre pie, et ils en sont fers. Le contraste que va marquer l'Apètre prouve surtout que l'obret de leur gloritication est mal choisi. non que lintention seit pure hrpecrisie. 1ἰ est toujours plus facile à un groupe de se faire illusion sur la pures de ses intentions qu'à des particuliers. Quand on travaille pour ua interèt commun. ft-ce dens un esprit sectaire. l'aypocrisie est moins consciente. Les judsisants crovaient bien meriter d'une cause religieuse. Il leur manquait surtout l'intelligence et be goit des choses de Dieu: aussi leur activite se deploie dans Ia chair, tromphe dans la chair... des autres, — Qu'il v ait eu dans ka conduite des udaisants de Galatie plus ou moins d'insine srité ou d'inconsequence.s. Jaqnes n'y est pour rien. M. Loisv dit ici « Jacques et les judaïisants ». alors que Jacques avait promis de ne point gèner l'apostokst de Paul cher les gentils mn, 6 ss.) et assarement. s'il avait manque à sa parole, Paul re se serait Pss era oblige à plus de ménagements envers lui qu'envers Pierre. 44 Les judaïsants se complaisent dass un ordre de choses purement bemain. y cherchent leur glrirs et rougissent de là eruir. Paul ne se αἰ ὑόν το que dans la croix. L'éclat de la Croix du Christ cher es chretiens et l'admiration qu'ont excitee parmi eux ces paroles ardeates nous voilent le handiesse du contraste : au moment où Paui écrivait, la croix n'etait qu'un gibet, une potence. et la mort sur la croix une ignominie: et c'est dans la croix seulement que Paul se glorifie. y clouant le mende avee ses attraits, δὲ s'y wtachant lui-même avec sa chair de peché. — ἐθισὶ ὃς oppose sex pre cants qui se font une reputation aux dépens des Galrtes celui qui fut leur apôtre. — uù γένοιτο avec l'infiniif est ἀπὸ construction de ka Bible grecque, Gren. eur, 7. 47: Jos. au, 29: χχῖν, 16:1 Regn. x. δ. 1 Macch. 1x. (0: x, à. mais d'après un usage de la langue classique : ᾧ Ζεῦ μέγιστε, λαξεῖν ue vsverte αὐτὸν (Nes. Cyr. VL 3, 14: cf. Acerrar. epp. 1, 288 — ἐν τῷ vase, men pas « dant ἴδε nouffrances que j'ai endurées pour le Chriet κα cf 1 Cor. χα, 3e, mais dupe La croix où Jénus-(Chriet cat mont pour sauver Ve horsses, Gare Ιῷ onoix qui ent le sosudale don Joie, 3 come de ls honte d'un sapplise dolsenent, ΘΔ 3 une de 'éfficsoité sabutaire de celte το τε mile ne veslert pas Τολ τη tre τρεῖς qui eat les 4 Ὁ pourra τὸ rapporter à Jésus, dépendre de sue, du nomen regens plis 45e da gésnif qui seit. Dableurs ls croix ot je move, Tioetrament de 19. creciiaion Fouine ponvait ètre lé par έφων».(,Ἐ τισὶ, soaûe en 14] on avec lei. © eut le sens den Grece. les lgés de πούτες ls ireducton per qauem, révisnaent 9 1ÉSMe Re pas 52 crudfinon, pat 59 ΠΡΟΣ Corn. — Wu par démus en ‘ant que cru. véa0m van srécle, étant on moi une wnité détermiate Ce nent pas le monde des bros ἔρηται να où bout Je monde orne ls créstion Diem criomnée de Men, ei, paiscse [1465] de Paul ent cpponé 4 πο: des juds-sonts. 5 : ÿ 7 pr H ly sphere des jogimences et des smitions qu'il corartériesit par ἐν παραὶ γι, 12. Ce monde ont ποτὰ pons Jui, οὐ duse mort infème, ΕἾ bien qe Ἡ ne fers en pour lei ploire mi pour éviter Les rguenrs; οἱ loi Pouf ét προσ sgoen June vort que de snonde Vert jour abieste, si Ὁ que Îe τεῦς Lonterait en κοΐ ἢ ser acces dans son ἔτος τ 26, οἵ, Col. σι, 20 εἰ ἀπεϑάνετε dur Ἀρ στῶ ἀπὸ τῶν πτοιρεῖων τὴ pan. 06 lon voit que dans À pensée de l'Apdwe, ce qu Ἡ ἄτι ὅς ΕΒ - τρέξε devenit étre le fit de tout chrétien, « C'est ὁ mysgue à l'égerd de lsquelle ἢ πὶ πήτησί pes les bolsgique » Loiry . Maïs quelles pressions de la résité ἀπε τε ας σὰ par iéenodes οὐ quelle psronclogie glordeuse sont sorties de cette ve at Je début reprend Ticée de v. 6; Ἡ nest pes étonnant qme motre tente, plus nerveux et plus concis, 2it été οὐρά por des copistes d'apres νυ Ὁ Où τ Aomc Va ἐν 2 Χριστῷ nent ὅτε on Venu de οὔτε τάς. qui sefnssit apres ce qui venait ἃ étre dit de Le crix de Jésus, et mie ᾿πρόει plus expressif mis noms radicsl, a Men de ἐστίν. Dans +, 6, l'oppastion était entre desx svstemes religieux, celui de 15 circomcision οἱ σία de 15. foi avec ls daté. Ici qu voi les choses de phas bout, per masses plis compartes, La crooncision et le prépuce 2ppartiennen 5. Le monte nr qui Lex plus, comme monde da péché, ét en face 5e présenté I5 créature mosveile, dans lordre du τρί. — τάξ : on ne pent Βα glorier que daus La Croix, eur le sujet de giorficstion des judsissnts Le cornpte pas. nos pins ἃ 81] que le prépuce, qui appartient σὰ sobme ordre parement chersel, — aies, οτος ΠῚ Cor. +, 17, expression qui ἐπὶ! probablement des jors er plorée parles Juifs d'un paien qui se Tsissit ciroomeire, RQ NUE. Schyett. gen, 1, 298, 70%, douc #54, dans le sens de créature Ron. 1, 25; He. iv, 18), non de création. Paul s'empare de ce terme, beaucoup plus juste d’après son évangile, puisque le chrétien mort avec le Christ commence une vie nouvelle, animée d’un principe nouveau. Si ce passage se trouvait réelle: ment dans une Apocalypse de Moïse, il y aura été placé d’après notre épitre, car il est tout à fait invraisemblable que Paul ait fait une citation dans ces quelques mots écrits de sa main, et quelle citation! il serait plus juste de dire qu'il s’est cité lui-même (ν, 6). On produit sur ce sujet Photius, Amphil, qu. 183; G. Syncelle, Chronogr. p. 27. Dans la table des citations d'Euthalius (deuxième moîtié du vue siècle), cette sentence est citée comme de Μωυσέως ἀποχρύφου (v. Sopen, Die Schriften des N. F. 1, 660). En tout cas il n'est pas question de l’Assumptio Mosis (contre Sieffert), 6 ans environ ap. J.-C. (cf. RB. 1905, p. 481 s8.), mais d’un apocryphe de basse époque.
6:16
Le v. 15 ἃ la fermeté et la concision lapidaire d'un principe. Paul le compare à une indication du chemin qu'on doit suivre. Comme le sens propre de κανῶν est « règle », instrument dont on se sert pour tracer droit, et non pas « corde », « fil conducteur », il faut prendre ici ce mot au sens métaphorique de règle de conduite; le mot στοιχήσουσιν ne prouve pas que raviy est à prendre au sens propre, maïs simplement que l'écrivain suit sa métaphore par un mot approprié (avec Corn. contre Light. Sieff.) — ὅσοι « tous ceux », et il est certain que le canon vaut pour tout le monde, mais comme Paul s'adresse aux Galates, il s'agit de ceux d’entre eux qui voudront se conformer à la règle qu’il leur donne, marcher en ligne droite selon son indication. Sur ceux-là donc, εἰρήνη et ἔλεος, comme une promesse, ou plutôt comme un vœu, car la fin d'une lettre est le moment pour exprimer des souhaïts. L'ordre ἔλεος et εἰρήνη ( Tim. 1, 2; II Tim. 1, 2; Jude, 2; IT Jo, 3) est plus rationnel, la paix étant le résultat de la miséricorde accordée par Dieu. Mais dans l'ordre des faits on peut regarder la paix comme l'état qui permet à Dieu de répandre ses bénédictions, qui viennent de sa miséricorde. L'Israël de Dieu, pour qui a lu l'épître aux Romains (Rom. 1x, 6), et même d’après les principes posés ici même (ir, 29), est tout le peuple chrétien, le véritable Israël, non selon la chair (1 Cor. x, 18), mais selon Les desseins de Dieu. La difficulté est d'expliquer καί avant ἐπί +. 1 =, @. Il n’est pas explicatif (Light et Corn.), dans le sens de « à savoir » que rien ne suggère ici, mais simplement copulatif, ouvrant un plus large horizon. Ce qui est vrai des Galates fidèles l'est aussi de tout le peuple chrétien ; idée de l'Église qu'il faut retenir.
6:17
Ce souhait sera-t-il réalisé par la docilité des Galates? Quoi qu'il en soit, Paul ne supporterait pas que désormais on lui cherche chicane, ou, littéralement, on lui cause des ennuis. — τοῦ λοιποῦ, « à l'avenir » comme Eph. vi, 10; de cetero (Vg.) serait τὸ λοιπόν. —- χόπους παρέχειν, comme Mt. xxvi, 10; χιν, 6; Le. x1, 7; ΧΥΠῚ, 5. — Qu'on ne dise plus qu'il n'est pas le vrai serviteur de Jésus-Christ; il porte sur son corps les marques de sa dépendance et de sa fidélité. — στίγματα sont des marques, souvent de véritables tatouages ou des brûlures, usitées dès les temps préhistoriques, plus tard lettres ou signes, qui exprimaient l'appartenance d’un esclave à son maître, d’un soldat à l’armée, d'un dévot à son dieu ou à sa déesse. Ce dernier usage n’était point distinct des autres, du moins chez les anciens; on marquait les esclaves d'un temple comme les autres, Hérod. 11, 113 ὁτέῳ ἀνθρώπων ἐπιδάληται στίγματα ἱρά, ἑωυτὸν διδοὺς τῷ θεῷ, οὐκ ἔξεστι τούτου ἅψασθαι. C'est comme esclave de Jésus-Christ que Paul allègue les marques qu'il ἃ reçues, c'est-à-dire les mauvais traitements qui ont laissé des traces dans sa chair, et qui prouvent qu'il est bien le serviteur du Christ (IT Cor. xr, 23 ss.). Ces marques qu'un esclave cachaït soigneusement, l'Apôtre les « porte » comme des trophées {Chrys.). Deissmann (Bibelstudien. p. 270) a fait un rapprochement intéressant avec un papyrus gréco-démotique de Leyde dont le grec porte : Μή με δίωκε ὅδε. avoy[raminet(ou] μετουόανας" βαστάζω τὴν ταφὴν | τοῦ Ὀσίρεως χαὶ πάγω καταστῆσαι αὐτὴν ἐς [᾿Αὄὔιδος, χαταστῆσαι εἰς Τάστας χαὶ καταθόσθαι | εἰς [ἌλΊ]χας. ἐάν μοι ὁ δεῖνα κόπους παράσχῃ προσ | ρέψω (προσρίψω 7) αὐτὴν αὐτῷ, c'est-à-dire : « Ne me poursuis pas, un tel. Je suis Papipetou Metoubanas; je porte la bière d'Osiris et je vais la déposer à Abydos, la déposer à Tastas, et l'ensevelir à Alchas; si un tel me fait des ennuis, je la jetterai contre lui ». La ressemblance, c'est qu’on oppose une protection surnaturelle à des vexations; mais l'Égyptien ne se contente pas d'être protégé, il menace, ce dont il n'y a aucune trace dans Paul, et l'arme de l'Égyptien est un talisman, tandis que Paul allègue pour sa défense les traces corporelles de souffrances qui font de lui le serviteur éprouvé du Christ. Il faut laisser à M. Loisy la responsabilité de son exégèse : « Ce n’est pas de prière qu'il s’agit, maïs bien plutôt de menace.. La marque de Jésus protège son ministre, et malheur à qui tourmenterait celui qui est ainsi gardé! » Il suffirait de dire que refuser de reconnaitre l'autorité de Paul, serait manquer d'égard à un serviteur du Christ, et rejeter le message du Christ lui-même. On sait que depuis la grâce accordée à 8. François d'Assise, le mot de stigmates ἃ pris dans l'Église un sens nouveau. — Soden ajoute xupfou avant Ἰησοῦ. 18, SALUT FINAL. — Paul ne termine pas par une menace, mais par un souhait affectueux, — μετὰ τοῦ πνεύματος ὑμῶν n'est point une de ses formules s non plus sans exemple; cf. Philém. 25; II Tim. normales, mais elle n’est pa lement à une élite de spirituels; tous les chréτιν, 21. II ne s'adresse pas seu donne comme une seconde nature plus tiens ont reçu l'Esprit qui leur πνεῦμα n'est pas l'Esprit divin en luidivine. Ici il est en effet bien clair que tre où la vie de l'esprit joue un si même. Ce souhait termine bien une épi grand rôle, comme étant le caractère du christianisme, des observances charnelles.
6:2
… St. John delights in fusing them into a single commandment (1 Jn. 4:20-21), while St. Paul recapitulates the whole substance of the Christian law in the second precept (Gal. 5:14; 6:2; Rom. 13:8).
4. Ethics. - Moral theology finds a more modest harvest in the writings of P. who, while in the letters to the Romans and to the Galatians he solemnly declares the end of the Mosaic Law as a whole, is less explicit in showing in what "the law of Christ" (Gal. 6, 2; I Cor. 9, 21) or of Grace (cf. Rom. 6, 15) consists. …
6:3
… gaze of the Lord (Lk. 18:9-14) and makes one avoid ostentation in the fulfillment of the duties of prayer, penance and almsgiving (Mt. 6:3-18). St. Paul recommends humility to his faithful with particular insistence (Phil. 2:3-11; Eph. 4:2; Rom. 12:16; Gal. 6:3, 5). St. Peter says to the faithful, "Clothe yourselves with humility, because God resists the proud and gives his Grace to the humble; humble yourselves under the mighty
6:6
… κατηχημένος τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ Κυρίου (Acts 18:25); by St. Paul, who speaks in the assembly (ἐκκλησία) in order to instruct (ἵνα κατηχήσω, I Cor. 14:19) and wills that he who is instructed (ὁ κατηχοῦμενος) communicate with him who catechizes (τῷ κατηχοῦντι, Gal. 6:6); Rom. 2:18 means religious instruction in general. …
6:8
Calvin (Calvinus, Cauvin, Chauvin, Calvin Jean)
… salvation of all (cf. Io. 3, 16; II Cor. 5, 15; I Tim. 2, 1-6), and that one will reap what one has sown, so that he who sows in his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, he who sows in the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life (cf. Gal. 6, 8). No one is reprobated except he who, freely sinning, has rejected the means of salvation offered to him by divine Goodness, because contributing to salvation are not only the efficacy …
6:9
… Thus the exhortations of Jesus to vigilance, activity, perseverance make sense (Mt. 24, 42-51; 25, 13; Mk. 13, 33; Lk. 12, 35-40), since after the "night" no one can work any longer (cf. Jn. 9, 4). The same thought and the same exhortations are found in the Apostles (cf. Gal. 6, 9-10; I Cor. 9, 24 ff.; II Cor. 5, 1-10; I Thess. 5, 2-3; I Pt. 1, 3-8; II Pt. 3, 10; Jas. 4, 13-15; Apoc. 11, 10-11; 16, 15). Especially St. Paul teaches clearly (I Cor. 15, 24-28) that …
6:10
… The individual is bound to succor the indigent members of his own family (1 Tim. 5:8), the indigent members of his own or of other communities, and finally non-Christians (Gal. 6:10). A moving picture of private beneficence in the primitive Christian community is offered by the account of the Acts concerning Tabitha (Acts 9:36).
II. CONDITIONS OF THE MERIT OF MAN OF THE U. — 1. On the part of the one acting. — He must be: a) in statu viae, because "when night comes (death), no one can work any longer" (John 9, 14); one must do good "while we have time" (Gal. 6, 10); b) in statu gratiae (v. the Council of Trent and the condemnation of the errors of Baius, cited above), that is, he must be vitally inserted, as a living member, into Christ, from …
6:12
… The Apostle constantly uses τοῦ Χριστοῦ (with the article) after terms of soteriological import: Ἰεσσαγγέλων (8 times), "the cross" (I Cor. 1:17; Gal. 6:12; Phil. 3:18), "the sufferings" (II Cor. 1:5 and Col. 1:24; cf. Act. 3:18; 17:3; 26:23), Ἰάγιπτη (Rom. 8:35; II Cor. 5:14; Eph. 3:19), "the Blood" and "the Body" of his …
Circumcision (From Lat. circumcisio, «cutting around»; Gr. περιτομή; Heb. Milāh)
… converts from the Gentiles to circumcision, the Apostles took a stand at the assembly of Jerusalem (Acts 15:1 ff.) and above all St. Paul, who repeatedly demonstrated the uselessness of the rite after the redemptive death of Christ (cf. Gal. 5:2 ff.; 6:12 ff.; Col. 2:11 ff.; etc.).
6:14
… The Messiah comes to console the afflicted (Is. 61:2 nāḥam, Septuagint τοὺς πενθοῦντας; cf. Is. 25:8). As a condition of eternal happiness, the cross of Christ already brings "peace and joy" (cf. Mt. 10:38; 16:24; Lk. 9:23; 14:27; I Cor. 1:17 ff.; Gal. 6:14).
… The second cross of Kōṭṭayam, besides the Pahlavi inscription, also bears one in Syriac, in Estrangelo characters, reproducing Gal. 6, 14. The crosses are carved on rectangular tablets ending at the top in a semicircle: only the smallest of Kōṭṭayam, instead of a semicircular form, has that of a pointed arch. …
… "superabundant" charity (Eph. 2:4), compensatory, victorious, which from the opened heart of the Divine Redeemer pours itself into the whole structure of ecclesial life, in order to form it upon the consummate exemplar of reparative action (Eph. 4:11-16; Gal. 6:14). The reparative will finds its verbal expression in the "acts" or formulas of reparation (Act. 4:24-31), and its affective expression in compassion for the sufferings of Christ (I …
… The entire "world" (in a pejorative sense: Io. 1:10; 7:7; 15:18; 16:20; 17:9-16; I Io. 2:16; 5:19; Mt. 18:7; Gal. 6:14) is subject to S. because of the extreme sharpening of the ontological-ethical dilemma (God or nothingness, life or death, holiness or iniquity) tending toward the unity that excludes all dualism.
… the intervention, in support of the internal enemy, of two other terrible external enemies: the world (that is, the aggregate of those who oppose Christ, with their doctrine and form of life, to which the Christian must be "crucified" and vice versa: Gal. 6:14; cf. I Cor. 7:31); the devil, through whose envy sin, death and unbridled concupiscence entered the world, and against whom one must perpetually struggle (Eph. 6:12).
6:15
… The Christian as such is the effect not of an evolution brought about in his conduct, but of a creation (II Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:10, 13 [ἐκτίζω], Gal. 6:15), of a regeneration: "(God) saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, …
"New heavens and a new earth" are likewise simple images, to express the profound renewal that the Messiah will bring about among men (Isa. 65:17; 66:22; 2 Pet. 3:13; cf. the παλιγγενεσία of Matt. 19:28; the καινὴ κτίσις of Gal. 6:15; 2 Cor. 5:17; the passage from death to life of John 5:24-28; E. B. Allo, op. cit., p. 325). Finally the various elements (angels, cloud, fire, etc.) that accompany the manifestations …
… does one comprehend why it is called in Sacred Scripture "rebirth" (Jn. 3:5; 3:8, 47) from water and the Holy Spirit; "rebirth from God" (ibid., 1:13; 2:29); "regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit" whereby we become a "new creature" (II Cor. 5:12; Gal. 6:15); "a new man renewed in the inner self of the spirit in justice and true holiness" (Eph. 4:23 ff.); through it we are admitted to the "partaking of the divine nature" (II Pt. 1:4),
… fundamentally the divine Holy Spirit, in the interior of the regenerated man is the new spirit introduced by God (foretold by Ez. 11:19-20; 36:26-27; cf. Ps. 50:12), which constitutes the new man or new creature (Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:9-10; II Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15); it removes "the body of the flesh" or carnal body (Col. 2:11).
6:16
In a figurative sense the word canon was used in grammar, in literature (canones were the classical authors), in art (canon of Polyclitus: Quintilian, Inst. orat., X, 1, 54), in matters of faith (Gal. 6, 16), in matters of morals (Phil. 3, 16), in liturgy (St. Clement, Ep. I Cor., I, 41).
… It does not seem, however, that he means all Christians, as if "the twelve" tribes were equivalent to Paul's "Israel of God" (Gal. 6, 16).
6:17
… In the New Testament the term occurs only in Gal. 6:17 (stigmata Domini Iesu in corpore meo porto): St. Paul, with evident reference to the Eastern custom, calls the traces on his body of the sufferings endured for the name of Jesus "stigmata …
6:18
… his way of thinking (ibid. 2:12 "spirit of the world"; etc.), and the activity of the Holy Spirit in man (ibid. 14:12, 32; I Thess. 5:16; II Thess. 2:2: the charisms) or man under the influence of the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 14:14-16; "with your spirit"; Gal. 6:18; Phil. 4:23; II Tim. 4:22; Philem. 25), and the person of the Holy Spirit. …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.