WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM. [CHAPTER 1. minded, morose, and peevish ; just as it is that of the more indolent and sluggish to lose heart in weighty ones. Such a one was not Paul. What then was the offence which roused him ? it was grave and momentous, one which was estranging them all from Christ, as he himself says further on, " Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye receive circumcision, Christ will pro fit you nothing;" (Gal. v: 2.) and again, " Ye who would be justified by the Law, ye are fallen away from Grace." (Gal. v 14.) What then is this ? For it must be explained more clearly. Some of the Jews who believed, being held down by the preposessions of Judaism, and at the same time intoxicated by vain-glory, and desirous of obtaining for themselves the dig nity of teachers, came to the Galatians, and taught them that the observance of circumcis ion, sabbaths, and new-moons, was necessary, and that Paul in abolishing these things was not to be borne. For, said they, Peter and James and John, the chiefs of the Apostles and the companions of Christ, forbade them not. Now in fact they did not forbid these things, but this was not by way of delivering positive doctrine, but in condescension to the weakness of the Jewish believers, which condescension Paul had no need of when preaching to the Gentiles ; but when he was in Judsea, he em ployed it himself 1 also. But these deceivers, by withholding the causes both of Paul s condes cension and that of his brethren, misled the simpler ones, saying that he was not to be tol erated, for he appeared but yesterday, while Peter and his colleagues were from the first, that he was a disciple of the Apostles, but they of Christ, that he was single, but they were many, and pillars of the Church. They ac cused him too of acting a part ; saying, that this veryman who forbids circumcision observes the rite elsewhere, and preaches one way to you and another way to others. Since Paul then saw the whole Galatian people in a state of excitement, a flame kindled against their Church, and the edifice shaken and tottering to its fall, filled with the mixed feelings of just anger and despondency, (which he has expressed in the words, I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my voice," Gal. iv: 20.)he writesthe Epistle asan answer to these charges. This is hisaim from the very commencement, for the underminers of his reputation had said, The others were disciples of Christ but thisman of the "Apostles." Where fore he begins thus, "Paul, an Apostle not from men, neither through man." For these deceivers, as I was saying before, had said that this man was the last of all the Apostles and was taught by them, for Peter, James, and John, were both first called, and held a primacy among the disciples, and had also received their doctrines from Christ Himself ; and that it was therefore fitting to obey them rather than this man ; and that they forbad not circumcision nor the observance of the Law. By this and similar language and by depreciating Paul, and exalting the honor of the other Apostles, though not spoken for the sake of praising them, but of deceiving the Galatians, they in duced them to adhere unseasonably to the Law. Hence the propriety of his commencement. As they disparaged his doctrine, saying it came from men, while that of Peter came from Christ, he immediately addresses himself to this point, declaring himself an apostle "not from men, neitherthrough man. It was Ananias who bap tized him, but it was not he who delivered him from the way of error and initiated him into the faith ; but Christ Himself sent from on high that wondrous voice, whereby He inclosed him in his net. For Peter and his brother, and John and his brother, He called when walking by the seaside, (Matt, iv : 18.) but Paul after His ascension into heaven. (Acts, ix: 3, 4.) And just as these did not require a second call, but straightway left their nets and all that they had, and followed Him, so this man at his first voca tion pressed vigorously forward, waging, as soon as he was baptized, an implacable war with the Jews. In this respect he chiefly excelled the other Apostles, as he says, "I labored more abundantlythan they all; "(iCor. xv: 10.) atpres- ent, however, he makes no such claim, but is con tent to be placed on a level with them. Indeed his great object was, not to establish any superi ority for himself, but, to overthrow the founda tion of their error. The not being "from men has reference to all alike for the Gospel s root and origin is divine, but the not being "through man" is peculiar to the Apostles; for He called them not by men s agency, but by His own.2 Butwhy doeshe not speak ofhisvocation rather than his apostolate, and say, "Paul" called " not by man ? " Because here lay the whole question ; for they said that the office of a teacher had been committed to him by men, namely by the Apostles, whom therefore it be hooved him to obey. But that it was not entrusted to him by men, Luke declares in the [As is narrated, for example, in Acts xxi: 20-26,which was, Baur and his Tubingen critics to the contrary notwithstanding, in accordance with Paul s principle and practice, as announced in i Cor. ix: 20. G. A.] Not from men as an ultimate, nor through man as a mediate authority." Ellicott "In the first clause, from men, he distinguishes himselffrom the false apostles who did not derive their authority from God at all ; in the second, through man, he ranks himself with the twelve who body foot. [" Paul has in second clause used the singular because the con trast is through Jesus Christ. " Meyer. G. A.]