{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-5464","native_reference":{"book_number":550,"chapter_from":3,"chapter_to":3,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":21,"verse_to":21},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Gaius Marius Victorinus</b>: Since God gave the law, it is not plausible that that same law should be seen as having been given against the promises. It is certainly against the promises if it embroils us in other things, namely, that we should fulfill the works required by the law and not expect from faith what is promised, that we should obtain through faith an inheritance in God. But let us see what is his answer to this. He first denies it unequivocally: \"Certainly not!\" That is, it is not right that God should make the giving of the law contrary to the promises.… And next he adds the reason.<br/><i>— EPISTLE TO THE Galatians 2.3.21</i></p><p><b>Gaius Marius Victorinus</b>: We have said that the law given by Moses teaches nothing but sins, admonishing us what sins are and how they are to be avoided. And Scripture draws no other conclusion but lays down all its precepts in the light of and with reference to sin.… It is not given so that life may be sought from it but is given so that by its written form it may both include all sins in its teaching and show that they should be avoided. Therefore righteousness is not from the law; that is, justification and salvation come not from the law but from faith, as is promised.<br/><i>— EPISTLE TO THE Galatians 2.3.21</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: (v21 onwards) So is the law against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Therefore, it should not be understood that the promise is excluded because what followed seems to abolish what came before; but rather, it is clear that it is given for the preservation of the promise, not for its overthrow, because it was not able to give life or to bestow what the first promise had pledged. For if a law had been given that could give life and bring about what the promise had promised, then the promise would truly be regarded as excluded by the law. Now, however, on account of the transgressions, as we have said above, it more strongly argues against those sinners to whom, after the promise had been made, custody, and, so to speak, imprisonment, had been given, so that because they had not wanted to await the promised ones while innocent through the freedom of the will, they were hindered by legal chains, and, reduced to the servitude of commandments, they might be guarded until the coming of the future faith in Christ, which would bring an end to the promise. Nor should it be thought that Scripture is the author of sin because it is said to have concluded all things under sin, since the commandment which is prescribed by law rather shows and condemns sin than is the cause of sin. In the same way, a judge is not the author of crime by condemning wicked men, but he concludes them and pronounces his sentence by the authority of his judgment, so that he may afterwards absolve the guilty if he wishes by the forgiveness of the penalty.<br/><i>— Commentary on Galatians</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: For if the blessing is given in the seed of Abraham, but the Law brings in the curse, it must be contrary to the promises. This objection he meets, first, by a protest, in the words,</p><p>\"God forbid:\" And next he brings his proof;</p><p>\"For if there had been a law given which could make alive. verily righteousness would have been of the Law.\"</p><p>His meaning is as follows; If we had our hope of life in the Law, and our salvation depended on it, the objection might be valid. But if it save you, by means of Faith, though it brings you under the curse, you suffer nothing from it, gain no harm, in that Faith comes and sets all right. Had the promise been by the Law, you had reasonably feared lest, separating from the Law, you should separate from righteousness, but if it was given in order to shut up all, that is, to convince all and expose their individual sins, far from excluding you from the promises, it now aids you in obtaining them. This is shown by the words...<br/><i>— Homily on Galatians 3</i></p><p><b>Oecumenius</b>: — [GENNADIUS] Therefore the promises bless, but the law makes accursed; consequently the law was given against the promises of God, that is, to hinder them from blessing. [end of the excerpt by Gennadius] —</p><p>This indeed resolves the opposition, both by what follows and by the prohibition: For let it not be, he says.</p><p>— In another way. [PHOTIUS] \"Then is the law against the promises of God?\" On the contrary, it dissolves them. For some might say, the law has seized the entitlement of the promises, and has stood against them. But may it not be. For if it had the power to give life, one would reasonably think it to be set against the promises and to have seized their entitlement, since it is able to justify by its own power. But since it has no power to do any such thing, neither to give life nor to justify, it is clear that it was not appointed against the promises. For these promises will show their proper right, saving and justifying the one who is of faith. And see the wisdom. What another might have brought forward as an accusation against the law, that it neither gives life nor justifies, this very thing he has turned into a defense of the charge and into its praise. For this reason, he says, the law was not set against the promises, because it had no power either to save or to justify. Not only did he not act against them, but in a certain way he cooperated with them and served them. For what he did not save nor justify by other means, he urged to take refuge in faith. And by which he brought them to faith, he also conspired to bring about the fulfillment of the promises. [end of the excerpt by Photius] —</p><p>\"For if a law had been given that could impart life.\" For on the one hand, he says, the law had the power to save, so that faith would not even be necessary. But for this reason it did not have the power to give life, so that faith might have room; except that it beforehand purified and led as a kind of guardian [παιδαγωγοῦ] and made us capable and receptive of faith. How then does the one who makes progress by the promises oppose the promises of God? It is therefore neither possible nor reasonable to say that the law was given for the removal of the blessings.</p><p>\"then righteousness would indeed have been based on the law.\" But now, Paul says, he himself did not have strength, so that faith might have strength.<br/><i>— Commentary on Galatians</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"ff086f51ba2d2ad7c4ad54b94d34cb272d560055e186ec440ca1ce5c16ad84d7","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":5464,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"17f08480e03880bb8af3d3fe4abebdebec0a648b445a5e886cae9d2f6b23e2bc","translator":null,"work":null}