 Chapter 4, Verses 6b-8 on the Commentary of St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. This is a LibriVox recording, or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Lars Rolander. Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther, translated by Theodor Grebner. Chapter 4, Verses 6b-8 on the Commentary of St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. Paul might have written, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, calling Abba Father. Instead, he wrote, Crying Abba Father. In the 8th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, the apostle describes this crying of the Spirit as groanings which cannot be uttered. He writes in the 26th verse, Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. The fact that the Spirit of Christ in our hearts cries unto God and makes intercession for us with groanings should reassure us greatly. However, there are many factors that prevent such full reassurance on our part. We are born in sin. To doubt the good will of God is an inborn suspicion of God with all of us. Besides the devil, our adversary, goeth about seeking to devour us by roaring. God is angry at you and is going to destroy you forever. In all these difficulties we have only one support, the gospel of Christ. To hold on to it, that is the trick. Christ cannot be perceived with the senses. We cannot see Him. The heart does not feel His helpful presence. Especially in times of trials a Christian feels the power of sin, the infirmity of His flesh, the goading darts of the devil, the orcs of death, the scowl and judgment of God. All these things cry out against us. The law scolds us. Sin screams at us. Death thunders at us. The devil roars at us. In the midst of the clamour the Spirit of Christ cries in our hearts. Abba, Father! And this little cry of the Spirit transcends the hula-baloo of the law, sin, death and the devil and finds a hearing with God. The Spirit cries in us because of our weakness, because of our infirmity the Holy Ghost descends forth into our hearts to pray for us according to the will of God and to assure us of the grace of God. Let the law, sin and the devil cry out against us until their outcry fills heaven and earth, the Spirit of God outcries them all. Our feeble groans, Abba, Father, will be heard of God sooner than the combined racket of hell, sin and the law. We do not think of our groanings as a crying. It is so faint we do not know we are groaning. But he, says Paul, that searcheth the hearts, knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit. Romans 8, 27. To this searcher of hearts our feeble groaning, as it seems to us, is a loud shout for help. In comparison with which the howls of hell, the din of the devil, the gels of the law, the shouts of sin are like so many whispers. In the fourteenth chapter of Exodus the Lord addresses Moses at the Red Sea. Wherefore, Christ, thou unto me! Moses had not cried unto the Lord. He trembled so he could hardly talk. His faith was at low end. He saw the people of Israel wedged between the sea and the approaching armies of Pharaoh. How were they to escape? Moses did not know what to say. How then could God say that Moses was crying to him? God heard the groaning heart of Moses, and the groans to him sounded like loud shouts for help. God is quick to catch the sigh of the heart. Some have claimed that the saints are without infirmities, but Paul says, The Spirit helpeth our infirmities and maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. We need the help of the Holy Spirit, because we are weak and infirm. And the Holy Spirit never disappoints us. Confronted by the armies of Pharaoh, retreat cut off by the waters of the Red Sea, Moses was in a bad spot. He felt himself to blame. The devil accused him. These people will all perish, for they cannot escape. And you are to blame because you led the people out of Egypt. You started all this. And then the people started in on Moses. Because there were no graves in Egypt, has thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. Exodus 14, verses 11 and 12. But the Holy Ghost was in Moses, and made intercession for him with unutterable groanings, signs unto the Lord. O Lord, at thy commandment have I led forth these people. So help me now. The Spirit intercedes for us, not in many words or long prayers, but with groanings, with little sounds like abba. Small as this word is, it says ever so much. It says, my Father, I am in great trouble, and you seem so far away. But I know I am your child, because you are my Father for Christ's sake. I am loved by you because of the beloved. This one little word, abba, surpasses the eloquence of the demostraness and a Cicero. I have spent much time on this verse in order to combat the cruel teaching of the Roman church, that a person ought to be kept in a state of uncertainty concerning his status with God. The monasteries recruit the youth on the plea that their holy orders will assuredly recruit them for heaven. But once inside the monastery, the recruits are told to doubt the promises of God. In support of their error, the Papists quote the saying of Solomon. The righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. No man knows either love or hatred by all that is before them. Ecclesiastes 9 verse 1. They take this hatred to mean the wrath of God to come. Others take it to mean God's present anger. None of them seem to understand this passage from Solomon. On every page, the Scriptures urge us to believe that God is merciful, loving and patient, that He is faithful and true, and that He keeps His promises. All the promises of God were fulfilled in the gift of His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. The gospel is reassurance for sinners. Yet this one saying from Solomon misinterpreted at that is made to count for more than all the many promises of all the Scriptures. If our opponents are so uncertain about their status with God and even go so far as to say that the conscience ought to be kept in a state of doubt, why is it that they persecute us as vile heretics? When it comes to persecuting us, they do not seem to be in doubt and uncertainty one minute. Let us not fail to thank God for delivering us from the doctrine of doubt. The gospel commands us to look away from our own good works to the promises of God in Christ, the Mediator. The Pope commands us to look away from the promises of God in Christ to our own merit. No wonder they are the eternal prey of doubt and despair. We depend upon God for salvation. No wonder that our doctrine is certified, because it does not rest in our own strength, our own conscience, our own feelings, our own person, our own works. It is built on a better foundation. It is built on the promises and truth of God. Besides, the passage from Solomon does not treat of the hatred and love of God towards men. It merely rebukes the ingratitude of men. The more deserving a person is, the less he is appreciated. Often those who should be his best friends are his worst enemies. Those who least deserve the praise of the world get most. David was a holy man and a good king. Nevertheless, he was chased from his own country. The prophets Christ the apostles were slain. Solomon in this passage does not speak of the love and hatred of God, but of love and hatred among men. As though Solomon wanted to say, there are many good and wise men whom God uses for the advancement of mankind. Seldom, if ever, are their efforts crowned with gratitude. They are usually repaid with hatred and ingratitude. We are being treated that way. We thought we would find favor with men for bringing them the gospel of peace, life, and eternal salvation. Instead of favor, we found fury. At first, yes, many were delighted with our doctrine and received it gladly. We counted them as our friends and brethren, and were happy to think that they would help us in sowing the seed of the gospel. But they revealed themselves as false brethren and deadly enemies of the gospel. If you experience the ingratitude of men, don't let it get you down. Say with Christ, they hated me without cause, and for my love they are my adversaries. But I give myself unto prayer. Psalm 109 verse 4 Let us never doubt the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, but make up our minds that God is pleased with us, that He looks after us, and that we have the Holy Spirit who prays for us. Verse 7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son. This sentence clinches Paul's argument. He says, With the Holy Spirit in our hearts crying, Abba, Father, there can be no doubt that God has adopted us for His children, and that our subjection to the law has come to an end. We are now the free children of God. We may now say to the law, Mr. Law, you have lost your throne to Christ. I am free now, and a son of God. You cannot curse me any more. Do not permit the law to lie in your conscience. Your conscience belongs to Christ. Let Christ be in it, and not the law. As the children of God, we are the heirs of His eternal heaven. What a wonderful gift heaven is! Man's heart cannot conceive, much less describe. Until we enter upon our heavenly inheritance, we are only to have our little faith to go by. To man's reason our faith looks rather forlorn. But because our faith rests on the promises of the infinite God, His promises are also infinite, so much so that nothing can accuse or condemn us. Verse 7 And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. A son is an heir, not by virtue of high accomplishments, but by virtue of his birth. He is a mere recipient. His birth makes him an heir, not his labours. In exactly the same way, we obtain the eternal gifts of righteousness, resurrection, and everlasting life. We obtain them not as agents, but as beneficiaries. We are the children and heirs of God through faith in Christ. We have Christ to thank for everything. We are not the heirs of some rich and mighty man, but heirs of God, the almighty creator of all things. If a person could fully appreciate what it means to be a son and heir of God, he would rate the might and wealth of nations small change in comparison with his heavenly inheritance. What is the world to him who has heaven? No wonder Paul greatly decided to depart and to be with Christ. Nothing would be more welcome to us than early death, knowing that it would spell the end of all our miseries and the beginning of all our happiness. Yes, if a person could perfectly believe this, he would not long remain alive. The anticipation of his joy would kill him. But the law of the members strives against the law of the mind and makes perfect joy and faith impossible. We need the continued help and comfort of the Holy Spirit. We need his prayers. Paul himself cried out, Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The body of this death spoiled the joy of his spirit. He did not always entertain the sweet and glad expectation of his heavenly inheritance. He often felt miserable. This goes to show how hard it is to believe. Faith is feeble because the flesh wars against the spirit. If we could have perfect faith, our loathing for this life in the world would be complete. We would not be so careful about this life. We would not be so attached to the world and the things of the world. We would not feel so good when we have them. We would not feel so bad when we lose them. We would be far more humble and patient and kind. But our faith is weak because our spirit is weak. In this life we can have only the first fruits of the spirit, as Paul says. Verse 7 Through Christ The apostle always has Christ on the tip of his tongue. He foresaw that nothing would be less known in the world some day than the gospel of Christ. Therefore he talks of Christ continually. As often as he speaks of righteousness, grace, the promise, the adoption and the inheritance of heaven, he adds the words in Christ or through Christ to show that these blessings are not to be had by the law or the deeds of the law, much less by our own exertions or by the observance of human traditions but only by and through and in Christ. Verse 8 and 9 How great then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereon too ye desire again to be in bondage. This concludes Paul's discourse on justification. From now to the end of the epistle the apostle writes mostly of Christian conduct. But before he follows up his doctrinal discourse with practical precepts, he once more reproves the Galatians. He is deeply displeased with them for relinquishing their divine doctrine. He tells them, You have taken on teachers who intend to recommit you to the law. By my doctrine I called you out of the darkness of ignorance into the wonderful light of the knowledge of God. I led you out of bondage into the freedom of the sons of God, not by the prescription of laws, but by the gift of heavenly and eternal blessings through Christ Jesus. How could you so soon forsake the light and return to darkness? How could you so quickly stray from grace into the law, from freedom into bondage? The example of the Galatians of Anabaptists and other sectarians in our day bears testimony to the ease with which faith may be lost. We take great pains in setting forth the doctrine of faith by preaching and by writing. We are careful to apply the gospel and the law in their proper turn. Yet we make little headway because the devil seduces people into misbelief by taking Christ out of their sight and focusing their eyes upon the law. But why does Paul accuse the Galatians of reverting to the weak and beggarly elements of the law when they never had the law? Why does he not say to them, At one time you Galatians did not know God. You then served idols that were no gods. But now that you have come to know the true God, why do you go back to the worship of idols? Paul seems to identify their defection from the gospel to the law with their former idolatry. Indeed, he does. Whoever gives up the article of justification does not know the true God. It is one and the same thing whether a person reverts to the law or to the worship of idols. When the article of justification is lost, nothing remains except error, hypocrisy, godlessness and idolatry. God will and can be known in no other way than in and through Christ according to the statement of John chapter 1 verse 18. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him. Christ is the only means whereby we can know God and His will. In Christ we perceive that God is not a cruel judge, but a most loving and merciful Father who, to bless and to save us, spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us all. This is truly to know God. Those who do not know God in Christ arrive at this erroneous conclusion. I will serve God in such and such a way. I will join this or that order. I will be active in this or that charitable endeavor. God will sanction my good intentions and reward me with everlasting life. For is he not a merciful and generous Father who gives good things even to the unworthy and ungrateful? How much more will he grant unto me everlasting life as a due payment in return for my many good deeds and merits? This is the religion of reason. This is the natural religion of the world. The natural man receiveeth not the things of the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14 There is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God. Romans 3 verse 11 Hence there is really no difference between a Jew, a Mohammedan and any other old or new heretic. There may be a difference of persons, places, rites, religions, ceremonies, but as far as their fundamental beliefs are concerned they are all alike. Is it therefore not extreme folly for Rome and the Mohammedans to fight each other about religion? How about the monks? Why should one monk want to be counted more holy than another monk because of some silly ceremony, when all the time their basic beliefs are as much alike as one egg is like the other? They all imagine if we do this or that work, God will have mercy on us. If not, God will be angry. God never promised to save anybody for his religious observance of ceremonies and ordinances. Those who rely upon such things do serve a God, but it is their own invention of a God and not the true God. The true God has this to say, No religion pleases me whereby the Father is not glorified through his Son Jesus. All who give their faith to this Son of Mine, to them I am God and Father. I accept, justify and save them. All others abide under my curse because they worship creatures instead of me. Without the doctrine of justification there can be only ignorance of God. Those who refuse to be justified by Christ are idolaters. They remain under the law, sin, death and the power of the devil. Everything they do is wrong. Nowadays there are many such idolaters who want to be counted among the true confessors of the gospel. They may even teach that men are delivered from their sins by the death of Christ. But because they attach more importance to charity than to faith in Christ, they dishonor Him and pervert His word. They do not serve the true God but an idol of their own invention. The true God has never yet smiled upon a person for his charity or virtues, but only for the sake of Christ's merits. The objection is frequently raised that the Bible commands that we should love God with all our heart, true enough. But because God commands it, it does not follow that we do it. If we could love God with all our heart, we should undoubtedly be justified by our obedience, for it is written, which if a man do, he shall live in them. Leviticus 18 verse 5 But now comes the gospel and says, Because you do not do these things, you cannot live in them. The words, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, require perfect obedience, perfect fear, perfect trust, and perfect love. But where are the people who can render perfection? Hence this commandment, instead of justifying men, only accuses and condemns them. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. Romans 10 verse 1 How may these two contradictory statements of the apostle? Ye knew not God, and ye worshiped God, be reconciled. I answer, By nature all men know that there is a God, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen. Romans 1 verse 19 and 20 Furthermore the different religions to be found among all nations at all times bear witness to the fact that all men have a certain intuitive knowledge of God. If all men know God, how can Paul say that the Galatians did not know God prior to the hearing of the gospel? I answer, There is a twofold knowledge of God, general and particular. All men have the general and instinctive recognition that there is a God who created heaven and earth, who is just and holy, and who punishes the wicked. How God feels about us, what his intentions are, what he will do for us, or how he will save us, that men cannot know instinctively. It must be revealed to them. I may know a person by sight and still not know him, because I do not know how he feels about me. Men know instinctively that there is a God, but what his will is toward them they do not know. It is written, There is none that understandeth God. Romans 3 verse 11. Again, no man hath seen God. John 1 verse 18 Now what good does it do if you know that there is a God, if you do not know how he feels about you, or what he wants of you? People have done a good deal of guessing. The Jew imagines he is doing the will of God if he concentrates on the law of Moses. The Mohammedan thinks his Quran is the will of God. The monk fancies he is doing the will of God if he performs his boughs. But they deceive themselves and become vain in their imaginations, as Paul says. Romans 1 verse 21. Instead of worshiping the true God, they worship the vain imaginations of their foolish hearts. What Paul means by saying to the Galatians, When ye knew not God is simply this. There was a time when you did not know the will of God in Christ, but you worshiped God's of your own invention, thinking that you had to perform this or that labor. Whether you understand the elements of the world to mean the law of Moses or the religions of the heathen nations, it makes no difference. Those who lapse from the gospel to the law are no better off than those who lapse from grace into idolatry. Without Christ all religion is idolatry. Without Christ men will entertain false ideas about God, call their ideas what you like, the laws of Moses, the ordinances of the Pope, the Quran of the Mohammedans, or what have you. End of chapter 4 verses 6b through 8 of commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. Read by Lars Rolander. Chapter 4 verses 9 through 17 of commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Lars Rolander. Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther, translated by Theodor Grebner. Chapter 4 verse 9 but now after that ye have known God. Is it not amazing, Christ Paul, that ye Galatians who knew God intimately by the hearing of the gospel, should all of a sudden revert from the true knowledge of his will, in which I thought you were confirmed to the weak and beggarly elements of the law, which can only enslave you again? Verse 9 or rather are known of God. The apostle turns the foregoing sentence around. He fears the Galatians have lost God altogether. Allas, he cries, have you come to this that you no longer know God? What else am I to think? Nevertheless, God knows you. Our knowledge of God is rather passive than active. God knows us better than we know God. Ye are known of God means that God brings his gospel to our attention and endows us with faith and the Holy Spirit. Even in these words the apostle denies the possibility of our knowing God by the performance of the law. No man knoweth who the Father is but the Son, and he ye to whom the Son will reveal him. Luke 10 verse 22 By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear the inquities. Isaiah 53 verse 11 The apostle frankly expresses his surprise to the Galatians that they who had known God intimately through the gospel should so easily be persuaded by the false apostles to return to the weak and beggarly elements of the law. I would not be surprised to see my church perverted by some fanatic through one or two sermons. We are no better than the apostles who had to witness the subversion of the churches which they had planted with their own hands. Nevertheless, Christ will reign to the end of the world and that miraculously as he did during the dark ages. Paul seems to think rather ill of the law. He calls it the elements of the world, the weak and beggarly elements of the world. Was it not irreverent for him to speak that way about the holy law of God? The law ought to prepare the way of Christ into the hearts of men. That is the true purpose and function of the law. But if the law presumes to assert the place and function of the gospel, it is no longer the holy law of God but absurd of gospel. If you care to amplify this matter, you may add the observation that the law is a weak and a beggarly element because it makes people weak and beggarly. The law has no power and affluence to make men strong and rich before God. To seek to be justified by the law amounts to the same thing as if a person who is already weak and feeble should try to find strength in weakness, or as if a person with a dropsy should seek a cure by exposing himself to the pestilence, or as if a leper should go to a leper and a beggar to a beggar to find health and wealth. Those who seek to be justified by the law grow weaker and more destitute right along. They are weak and bankrupt to begin with. They are by nature the children of wrath. Yet for salvation they grasp at the straw of the law. The law can only aggravate their weakness and poverty. The law makes them ten times weaker and poorer than they were before. I and many others have experienced the truth of this. I have known monks who seamlessly labored to please God for salvation, but the more they labored, the more impatient, miserable, uncertain and fearful they became. What else can you expect? You cannot grow strong through weakness and rich through poverty. People who prefer the law to the gospel are like a sub-stog who let go of the meat to snatch at the shadow of the water. There is no satisfaction in the law. What satisfaction can there be in collecting laws with which to torment oneself and others? One law breeds ten more until their number is legion. Who would have thought it possible that the Galatians, taught as they were by that efficient apostle and teacher Paul, could so quickly be led astray by the false apostles? To fall away from the gospel is an easy matter because few people appreciate what an excellent treasure the knowledge of Christ really is. People are not sufficiently exercised in their faith by afflictions. They do not wrestle against sin. They live in security without conflict. Because they have never been tried in the furnace of affliction, they are not properly equipped with the armor of God and know not how to use the sword of the Spirit. As long as they are being shepherded by faithful pastors, all is well. But when their faithful shepherds are gone and wolves disguised as sheep break into the fold, they go to the weak and beggarly elements of the law. Whoever goes back to the law loses the knowledge of the truth, fails in the recognition of his sinfulness, does not know God nor the devil nor himself and does not understand the meaning and purpose of the law. Without the knowledge of Christ, a man will always argue that the law is necessary for salvation, that it will strengthen the weak and enrich the poor. Wherever this opinion holds sway, the promises of God are denied. Christ is demoted, hypocrisy and idolatry are established. Verse 9. Where unto ye desire again to be in bondage? The apostle pointedly asked the Galatians whether they desire to be in bondage again to the law. The law is weak and poor. The sinner is weak and poor as two feeble beggars trying to help each other. They cannot do it. They only wear each other out. But through Christ a weak and poor sinner is revived and enriched unto eternal life. Verse 10. Ye observed days and months and times and years. The apostle Paul knew what the false apostles were teaching the Galatians, the observance of days and months and times and years. The Jews had been obliged to keep holy the Sabbath day, the new moons, the Feast of the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles and other Feasts. The false apostles constrained the Galatians to observe these huge feasts under threat of damnation. Paul hastens to tell the Galatians that they were exchanging their Christian liberty for the weak and beggarly elements of the world. Verse 11. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. It grieves the apostle to think that he might have reached the gospel to the Galatians in vain. But this statement expresses more than grief. Behind his apparent disappointment at their failure lurks the sharp reprimand that they had forsaken Christ and that they were proving themselves to be obstinate unbelievers. But he does not openly condemn them for fear that over sharp criticism might alienate them altogether. He therefore changes the tone of his voice and speaks kindly to them. Verse 12. Be as I am, for I am as ye are. Up to this point, Paul has been occupied with the doctrinal aspect of the apostasy of the Galatians. He did not conceal his disappointment at their lack of stability. He had rebuked them, he had called them fools, crucifiers of Christ, etc. Now that the more important part of his epistle has been finished, he realizes that he has handled the Galatians too roughly. Anxious less he should do more harm than good, he is careful to let them see that his criticism proceeds from affection and a true apostolic concern for their welfare. He is eager to mitigate his sharp words with gentle sentiments in order to win them again. Like Paul, all pastors and ministers ought to have much sympathy for their poor straying sheep and instruct them in the spirit of meekness. They cannot be straightened out in any other way. Over sharp criticism provokes anger and despair, but not repentance. And here let us note, by the way, that true doctrine always produces concord. When men embrace errors, the tie of Christian love is broken. At the beginning of the Reformation, we were honored as the true ministers of Christ. Suddenly certain false brethren began to hate us. We had given them no offense, no occasion to hate us. They knew then, as they now know, that ours is the singular desire to publish the Gospel of Christ everywhere. What changed their attitude toward us? False doctrine seduced into error by the false apostles. The Galatians refused to acknowledge St. Paul as their pastor. The name and doctrine of Paul became obnoxious to them. I fear this epistle recalled very few from their error. Paul knew that the false apostles would misconstrue his censor of the Galatians to their own advantage and say, So this is your Paul whom you praise so much. What sweet names he is calling you in his letter. When he was with you, he acted like a father, but now he acts like a dictator. Paul knew what to expect of the false apostles, and therefore he is worried. He does not know what to say. It is hard for a man to defend his cause at a distance, especially when he has reason to think that he personally has fallen into disfavor. Verse 12 Be as I am, for I am as ye are. In beseeching the Galatians to be as he is, Paul expresses the hope that they might hold the same affection for him that he holds for them. Perhaps I have been a little hard with you, forgive it. Do not judge my heart according to my words. We request the same consideration for ourselves. Our way of writing is incisive and straightforward, but there is no bitterness in our heart. We seek the honor of Christ and the welfare of men. We do not hate the Pope as to wish him ill. We do not desire the death of our false brethren. We desire that they may turn from their evil ways to Christ and be saved with us. A teacher chastises the pupil to reform him. The rod hurts, but correction is necessary. A father punishes his son because he loves his son. If he did not love the lad, he would not punish him, but let him have his own way in everything until he comes to harm. Paul beseeches the Galatians to look upon his correction as a sign that he really cared for them. Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Hebrew 12 verse 11. All the Paul seeks to soften the effect of his reproachful words. He does not take them back. When a physician administers a bitter potion to a patient, he does it to cure the patient. The fact that the medicine is bitter is no fault of the physician. The malady calls for a bitter medicine. Paul wants the Galatians to judge his words according to the situation that made them necessary. Verse 12. Brethren, I beseech you, ye have not injured me at all. Would you call it beseeching the Galatians to call them bewitched, disobedient, crucifiers of Christ? The apostle calls it an earnest beseeching, and so it is. When a father corrects his son, it means, as if he were saying, My son, I beseech you, be a good boy. Verse 12. Ye have not injured me at all. I am not angry with you, says Paul. Why should I be angry with you since you have done me no injury at all? To this the Galatians reply. Why then do you say that we are perverted, that we have forsaken the true doctrine, that we are foolish, bewitched, etc., if you are not angry? We must have offended you somehow. Paul answers. You Galatians have not injured me. You have injured yourselves. I chide you not because I wish you ill. I have no reason to wish you ill. God is my witness, you have done me no wrong. On the contrary, you have been very good to me. The reason I write to you is because I love you. The bitter potion must be sweetened with honey and sugar to make it palatable. When parents have punished their children, they give them apples, pears, and other good things to show them that they mean well. Verses 13 and 14 You know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first, and my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye despised not, nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. You Galatians were very good to me. When I began to preach the gospel to you in the infirmity of my flesh and in great temptation, you were not at all offended. On the contrary, you were so loving, so kind, so friendly towards me. You received me like an angel, like Jesus himself. Indeed, the Galatians are to be commended for receiving the gospel from a man as unimposing and afflicted all around as Paul was. Wherever he preached the gospel, Jews and Gentiles reigned against him. All the influential and religious people of his day denounced him, but the Galatians did not mind it. That was greatly to their honor, and Paul does not neglect to praise them for it. This praise Paul bestows on none of the other churches to which he wrote. St. Jerome and others of the ancient fathers allege this infirmity of Paul's to have been some physical defect or concupitions. Jerome and the other diagnosticians lived at a time when the church enjoyed peace and prosperity, when the bishops increased in wealth and standing, when pastors and bishops no longer sat over the Word of God. No wonder they failed to understand Paul. When Paul speaks of the infirmity of his flesh, he does not mean some physical defect or carnal lust, but the sufferings and afflictions which he endured in his body. What these infirmities were, he himself explains in the second Corinthians 12 verses 9 and 10. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong. And in the eleventh chapter of the same epistle, the apostle writes, In labours more abundant, in stripes about measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes, say one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, etc. Second Corinthians 11 verses 23 to 25. By the infirmity of his flesh Paul meant these afflictions and not some chronic disease. He reminds the Galatians how he was always in peril at the hands of Jews, Gentiles, and false brethren, how he suffered hunger and want. Now the afflictions of the believers always offend people. Paul knew it, and therefore has high praise for the Galatians, because they overlooked his afflictions and received him like an angel. Christ forewarned the faithful against the offence of the cross, saying, Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. Matthew 11 verse 6. Surely it is no easy thing to confess him, Lord of all, and Saviour of the world, who was a reproacher men, and despised of the people, and the laughing stock of the world. Psalm 22 verse 7. I say to value this poor Christ so spitfully scorned, spit upon, scorched, and crucified more than the richest of the richest, the strength of the strongest, the wisdom of the wisest, is something. It is worth being called blessed. Paul not only had outward afflictions, but also inner spiritual afflictions. He refers to these in the second Corinthians, 7 verse 6. Without were fighting, within were fears. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul makes mention of the restorations of Epaphroditus as a special act of mercy on the part of God. Lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Considering the many afflictions of Paul, we are not surprised to hear him loudly praising the Galatians for not being offended at him as others were. The world thinks us mad because we go about to comfort, to help, to save others while we ourselves are in distress. People tell us, Physician, heal thyself. Luke 4 verse 23. The apostle tells the Galatians that he will keep their kindness in perpetual remembrance. Indirectly, he also reminds them how much they had loved him before the invasion of the false apostles, and gives them a hint that they should return to their first love for him. Verse 15. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? How much happier you used to be, and how you Galatians used to tell me that you were blessed, and how much did I not praise and commend you formally? Paul reminds them of former and better times in an effort to mitigate his sharp reproaches, lest the false apostles should slander him and misconstrue his letter to his disadvantage and to their own advantage. Such snakes in the grass are equal to anything. They will pervert words spoken from a sincere heart and twist them to mean just the opposite of what they were intended to convey. They are like spiders that suck venom out of sweet and fragrant flowers. The poison is not in the flowers, but it is the nature of the spider to turn what is good and wholesome into poison. Verse 15. For I bear your record that if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me. The apostle continues his praise of the Galatians. You did not only treat me very cautiously, if it had been necessary, you would have plucked out your eyes and sacrificed your lives for me, and in very fact the Galatians sacrificed their lives for Paul. By receiving and maintaining Paul, they called upon their own heads the hatred and malice of all the Jews and Gentiles. Nowadays the name of Luther carries the same stigma, whoever praises Luther is a worse sinner than an idolater, perjurer, or thief. Verse 16. Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? Paul's reason for praising the Galatians is to avoid giving them the impression as if he were their enemy because he had reprimanded them. A true friend will admonish his erring brother, and if the erring brother has any sense at all, he will thank his friend. In the world truth produces hatred, whoever speaks the truth is counted an enemy, but among friends it is not so, much less among Christians. The apostle wants his Galatians to know that just because he had told them the truth, they are not to think that he dislikes them. I told you the truth because I love you. Verse 17. They seamlessly affect you but not well. Paul takes the false apostles to task for their flattery. Satan satellites soft soap the people. Paul calls it by good words and fair speeches to deceive the hearts of the simple. Romans 16 verse 18. They tell me that by my stubbornness in this doctrine of the sacrament I am destroying the harmony of the church. They say it would be better if we would make some slight concession rather than cause such commotion and controversy in the church regarding an article which is not even one of the fundamental doctrines. My reply is cursed be any love or harmony which demands for its preservation that we place the word of God in jeopardy. Verse 17. Yeah, they would exclude you that ye might affect them. Do you Galatians know why the false apostles are so sealous about you? They expect you to reciprocate, and that would leave me out. If their seal were right, they would not mind your loving me, but they hate my doctrine and want to stamp it out. In order to bring this to pass, they go about to alienate your hearts from me and to make me obnoxious to you. In this way Paul brings the false apostles into suspicion. He questions their motives. He maintains that their seal is mere pretence to deceive the Galatians. Our Saviour Christ also warned us saying, Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing. Matthew 7 verse 15. Paul was considerably disturbed by the commotions and changes that followed in the wake of his preaching. He was accused of being a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world. Acts 24 verse 5. In Philippi the townspeople cried that he troubled their city and taught customs which were not lawful for them to receive. Acts 16 verse 20 and 21. All troubles, calamities, famines, wars were laid to the charge of the gospel of the apostles. However, the apostles were not deterred by such columnists from preaching the gospel. They knew that they ought to be God rather than men, and that it was better for the world to be upset than to be ignorant of Christ. Do you think for a moment that these reactions did not worry the apostles? They were not made of iron. They foresaw the revolutionary character of the gospel. They also foresaw the dissensions that would creep into the church. It was bad news for Paul when he heard that the Corinthians were denying the resurrection of the dead, that the churches he had planted were experiencing all kinds of difficulties, and that the gospel was being supplanted by false doctrines. But Paul also knew that the gospel was not to blame. He did not resign his office because he knew that the gospel he preached was the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes. The same criticism which was levelled at the apostles is levelled at us. The doctrine of the gospel we are told is the course of all the present unrest in the world. There is no wrong that is not laid to our charge. But why? We do not spread wicked lies. We preach the glad tidings of Christ. Our opponents will bear us out when we say that we never fail to urge respect for the constituted authorities because that is the will of God. All of these vilifications cannot discourage us. We know that there is nothing the devil hates worse than the gospel. It is one of his little tricks to blame the gospel for every evil in the world. Formerly when the traditions of the fathers were taught in the church, the devil was not excited as he is now. It goes to show that our doctrine is of God, else be himoth would lie under shady trees in the coverage of the reed and fence. The fact that he is again walking about as a roaring lion to stir up riots and disorders is a sure sign that he has begun to feel the effect of our preaching. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Eric Longman. Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. By Martin Luther. Translated by Theodore Grebner. Chapter 4. Verse 18. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. When I was present with you, you loved me, although I preached the gospel to you in the infirmity of my flesh. The fact that I am now absent from you ought not to change your attitude towards me. Although I am absent in the flesh, I am with you in spirit and in my doctrine which you ought to retain by all means because through it you receive the Holy Spirit. Verse 19. My little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. With every single word the apostle seeks to regain the confidence of the Galatians. He now calls them lovingly his little children. It's the simile of whom I travail in birth again. As parents reproduce their physical characteristics in their children, so the apostles reproduce their faith in the hearts of the hearers until Christ was formed in them. A person has the form of Christ when he believes in Christ to the exclusion of everything else. This faith in Christ is engendered by the gospel as the apostle declares in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 15. In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. And in 2 Corinthians 3.3. Ye are the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God. The word of God falling from the lips of the apostle or minister enters into the heart of the hearer. The Holy Ghost impregnates the word so that it brings forth the fruit of faith. In this manner every Christian pastor is a spiritual father who forms Christ in the hearts of his hearers. At the same time Paul indicts the false apostles. He says, I have begotten you Galatians through the gospel, giving you the form of Christ, but these false apostles are giving you a new form, the form of Moses. Note the apostle does not say of whom I travail in birth again until I be formed in you, but until Christ be formed in you. The false apostles had torn the form of Christ out of the hearts of the Galatians and substituted their own form. Paul endeavors to reform them or rather reform Christ in them. Verse 20. I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice. A common saying has it that a letter is a dead messenger. Something is lacking in all writing. You can never be sure how the written page will affect the reader because his mood, his circumstances, his affections are so changeable. It is different with the spoken word. If it is harsh and ill-timed it can always be remodeled. No wonder the apostle expresses the wish that he could speak to the Galatians in person. He could change his voice according to their attitude. If he saw that they were repentant he could soften the tone of his voice. If he saw that they were stubborn he could speak to them more earnestly. This way he did not know how to deal with them by letter. If his epistle is too severe it will do more damage than good. If it is too gentle it will not correct conditions. But if he could be with them in person he could change his voice as the occasion demanded. Verse 20. For I stand in doubt of you. I do not know how to take you. I do not know how to approach you by letter. In order to make sure that he leaves no stone unturned in his effort to recall them to the Gospel of Christ he chides, entreats, praises, and blames the Galatians, trying every way to hit the right note and tone of voice. Verse 21. Tell me ye that desire to be under the law. Do ye not hear the law? Here Paul would have closed his epistle because he did not know what else to say. He wishes he could see the Galatians in person and straighten out their difficulties. But he is not sure whether the Galatians have fully understood the difference between the Gospel and the Law. To make sure he introduces another illustration. He knows people like illustrations and stories. He knows that Christ himself made ample use of parables. Paul is an expert at allegories. They are dangerous things. Unless a person has a thorough knowledge of Christian doctrine he had better leave allegories alone. The allegory which Paul is about to bring is taken from the book of Genesis which he calls the Law. True, that book contains no mention of the Law. Paul simply follows the custom of the Jews who included the first book of Moses in the collective term Law. Jesus even included the Psalms. Verses 22 and 23. For it is written that Abraham had two sons. The one by a bond maid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh. But he of the free woman was by promise. This is Paul's allegory. Abraham had two sons, Ishmael by Hagar and Isaac by Sarah. They were both the true sons of Abraham with this difference. That Ishmael was born after the flesh, i.e. without the commandment and promise of God, while Isaac was born according to the promise. With the permission of Sarah Abraham took Hagar, Sarah's bond woman, to wife. Sarah knew that God had promised to make her husband Abraham the father of a nation, and she hoped that she would be the mother of this promised nation. But with the passage of the years her hope died out. In order that the promise of God should not be annulled by her barrenness, this holy woman resigned her right and honor to her maid. This was no easy thing for her to do. She abased herself. She thought, God is no liar. What he has promised he will perform. But perhaps God does not want me to be the mother of Abraham's posterity. Perhaps he prefers Hagar for the honor. Ishmael was thus born without a special word or promise of God at the mere request of Sarah. God did not command Abraham to take Hagar, nor did God promise to bless the coalition. It is evident that Ishmael was the son of Abraham after the flesh and not after the promise. In the ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul advances the same argument which he amplifies into an allegory in writing to the Galatians. There he argues that all the children of Abraham are not the children of God. For Abraham had two kinds of children, children born of the promise like Isaac and other children born without the promise as Ishmael. With this argument Paul squelched the proud Jews who gloried that they were the children of God because they were the seed and the children of Abraham. Paul makes it clear enough that it takes more than an Abrahamic pedigree to be a child of God. To be a child of God requires faith in Christ. Verse 24 Which things are an allegory? Allegories are not very convincing, but like pictures they visualize a matter. If Paul had not brought in advance indisputable arguments for the righteousness of faith over against the righteousness of works this allegory would do little good. Having first fortified his case with invincible arguments he can afford to inject this allegory to add impressiveness and beauty to his presentation. Verses 24 and 25 For these are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. In this allegory Abraham represents God. Abraham had two sons, born respectively of Agar and Sarah. The two women represent the two testaments. The Old Testament is Mount Sinai, the bond woman, Agar. The Arabians call Mount Sinai Agar. It may be that the similarity of these two names gave Paul his idea for this allegory. As Agar bore Abraham a son who was not an heir but a servant, so Sinai, the law, the allegorical Agar, bore God a carnal and servile people of the law without promise. The law has a promise, but it is a conditional promise, depending upon whether people fulfilled the law. The Jews regarded the conditional promises of the law as if they were unconditional. When the prophets foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews stoned them as blasphemers of God. They never gave it any thought that there was a condition attached to the law which reads, if you keep the commandments it shall be well with thee. Verse 25 An answereth to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children. A little while ago Paul called Mount Sinai Agar. He would now gladly make Jerusalem the Sarah of the New Testament, but he cannot. The earthly Jerusalem is not Sarah, but a part of Agar. Agar lives there in the home of the law, the temple, the priesthood, the ceremonies, and whatever else was ordained in the law at Mount Sinai. I would have been tempted to call Jerusalem Sarah or the New Testament. I would have been pleased with this turn of the allegory. It goes to show that not everybody has the gift of allegory. Would you not think it perfectly proper to call Sinai Agar and Jerusalem Sarah? True, Paul does call Sarah Jerusalem, but he has the spiritual and heavenly Jerusalem in mind, not the earthly Jerusalem. Sarah represents that spiritual Jerusalem where there is no law, but only the promise, and where the inhabitants are free. To show that the law has been quite abolished, the earthly Jerusalem was completely destroyed with all her ornaments, temples, and ceremonies. Verse 26 But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. The earthly Jerusalem, with its ordinances and laws, represents Agar and her offspring. They are slaves to the law, sin, and death. But the heavenly Jerusalem is Sarah, the free woman. This heavenly Jerusalem is the church, that is to say the number of all believers throughout the world, having one and the same gospel, one and the same faith in Christ, one and the same Holy Ghost, and the same sacraments. Do not mistake this one word, above, to refer to the triumphant church in heaven, but to the militant church on earth. In Philippians chapter 3 verse 20 the apostle uses the phrase, Our conversation is in heaven, not locally in heaven, but in spirit. When a believer accepts the heavenly gifts of the gospel, he is in heaven. So also in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ? Jerusalem here means the universal Christian church on earth. Sarah, the church, as the bride of Christ, bears free children who are not subject to the law. Verse 27 For it is written, Rejoice, Thou barren that barris do not, break forth and cry thou that travailest not, for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath than husband. Paul quotes the allegorical prophecy of Isaiah to the effect that the mother of many children must die desolately, while the barren woman shall have an abundance of children, referring to Isaiah 54 verse 1. He applies this prophecy to Hagar and Sarah, to the law and the gospel. The law, as the husband of the fruitful woman, procreates many children. For men of all ages have had the idea that they are right when they follow after the law, and outwardly perform its requirements. Although the law has many children, they are not free, they are slaves. As servants they cannot have a share in the inheritance, but are driven from the house as Ishmael was cast out of the house of Abraham. In fact the servants of the law are even now barred from the kingdom of light and liberty, for he that believeth not is condemned already, as it says in John 3 18. As the servants of the law they remain under the curse of the law, under sin and death, under the power of the devil, and under the wrath and judgment of God. On the other hand Sarah, the free church, seems barren. The gospel of the cross, which the church proclaims, does not have the appeal that the law has for men, and therefore it does not find many adherents. The church does not look prosperous. Unbelievers have always predicted the death of the church. The Jews were quite certain that the church would not long endure. They said to Paul, as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against, in Acts 28 verse 22. No matter how barren and forsaken, how weak and desolate the church may seem, she alone is really fruitful before God. By the gospel she procreates an infinite number of children that are free heirs of everlasting life. The law, the old husband, is really dead. But not all people know it, or want to know it. They labor and bear the burden and the heat of the day, and bring forth many children, children that are bastards like themselves, children born to be put out of the house like Ishmael to perish forever. A curse to be that doctrine, life and religion, which endeavors to obtain righteousness before God by the law and its creeds. The scholastics think that the judicial and ceremonial laws of Moses were abolished by the coming of Christ, but not the moral law. They are blind. When Paul declares that we are delivered from the curse of the law, he means the whole law, particularly the moral law, which more than the other laws accuses, curses and condemns the conscience. The Ten Commandments have no right to condemn that conscience in which Jesus dwells, for Jesus has taken from the Ten Commandments the right and power to curse us. Not as if the conscience is now insensitive to the terrors of the law, but the law cannot drive the conscience to despair. There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8.1. If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed, John 8.36. You will complain, but I am not doing anything. That's right. You cannot do a thing to be delivered from the tyranny of the law. But listen to the glad tidings which the Holy Ghost brings to you in the words of the Prophet, Rejoice Thou barren. As Christ is greater than the law, so much more excellent is the righteousness of Christ than the righteousness of the law. In one more respect the law has been abolished. The civil laws of Moses do not concern us, and should not be put back in force. That does not mean that we are exempt from obedience to the civil laws under which we live. On the contrary, the Gospel commands Christians to obey government not only for wrath, but also for conscience's sake. That's Romans 13.5. Neither do the ordinances of Moses or those of the Pope concern us. But because life cannot go on without some ordinances, the Gospel permits regulations to be made in the church in regard to special days, times, places, etc. In order that the people may know upon what day, at what hour, and in what place to assemble for the Word of God, such directions are desirable that all things be done decently and in order, 1 Corinthians 1440. These directions may be changed or omitted altogether as long as no offence is given to the weak. Paul, however, refers particularly to the abolition of the moral law. If faith alone in Christ justifies, then the whole law is abolished without exception. And this the apostle proves by the testimony of Isaiah, who bids the baron to rejoice because she will have many children, whereas she that has a husband and many children will be forsaken. Isaiah calls the church baron because her children are born without effort by the Word of Faith through the Spirit of God. It is a matter of birth, not of exertion. The believer, too, works, but not in an effort to become a son and an heir of God. He is that before he goes to work. He is born a son and an heir. He works for the glory of God and the welfare of his fellow men. Verse 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. The Jews claimed to be the children of God because they were the children of Abraham. Jesus answered them, John 8, 39 and 40, If you were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth. And in verse 42, If God were your Father, ye would love me. In other words, you are not the children of God. If you were, you would know and love me. Brothers born and living together in the same house recognize each other. You do not recognize me. You are of your Father, the devil. We are not like these Jews, the children of the bond woman, the law, who were cast out of the house by Jesus. We are children of the promise, like Isaac, born of grace and faith unto an everlasting inheritance. Verse 29 But as that he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. This is a cheering thought. We who are born of the gospel and live in Christ and rejoice in our inheritance have Ishmael for our enemy. The children of the law will always persecute the children of the gospel. This is our daily experience. Our opponents tell us that everything was at peace before the gospel was revived by us. Since then the whole world has been upset. People blame us and the gospel for everything, for the disobedience of subjects to their rulers, for wars, plagues and famines, for revolutions and every other evil that can be imagined. No wonder our opponents think they are doing God a favor by hating and persecuting us. Ishmael will persecute Isaac. We invite our opponents to tell us what good things attended the preaching of the gospel by the apostles. Did not the destruction of Jerusalem follow on the heels of the gospel? And how about the overthrow of the Roman Empire? Did not the whole world seethe with unrest as the gospel was preached in the whole world? We did not say that the gospel instigated these upheavals, the iniquity of man did it. Our opponents blame our doctrine for the present turmoil. But ours is a doctrine of grace and peace. It does not stir up trouble. Trouble starts when the people, the nations and their rulers of the earth rage and take counsel against the Lord and against his anointed, Psalm 2. But all their counsels shall be brought to naught. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision, Psalm 2-4. Let them cry out against us as much as they like. We know that they are the cause of all their own troubles. As long as we preach Christ and confess Him to be our Saviour, we must be content to be called vicious troublemakers. These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also, and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, so said the Jews of Paul and Silas, Acts 17, 6 and 7. Of Paul they said, We have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. The Gentiles uttered similar complaints. These men do exceedingly trouble our city. This man, Luther, is also accused of being a pestilent fellow who troubles the papacy in the Roman Empire. If I would keep silent all would be well, and the Pope would no more persecute me. The moment I open my mouth the Pope begins to fume and to rage. It seems we must choose between Christ and the Pope. Let the Pope perish. Christ foresaw the reaction of the world to the Gospel. He said, I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I, if it be already kindled, Luke 12-49? Do not take the statement of our opponents seriously that no good can come of the preaching of the Gospel. What do they know? They would not recognize the fruits of the Gospel if they saw them. At any rate our opponents cannot accuse us of adultery, murder, theft, and such crimes. The worst they can say about us is that we have the Gospel. What is wrong with the Gospel? We teach that Christ, the Son of God, has redeemed us from sin and everlasting death. This is not our doctrine. It belongs to Christ. If there is anything wrong with it, it is not our fault. If they want to condemn Christ for being our Saviour and Redeemer, that is their lookout. We are mere onlookers, watching to see who will win the victory, Christ or his opponents. On one occasion Jesus remarked, If ye were of the world, the world would love his own. But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateeth you, John 15-19. In other words, I am the cause of all your troubles. I am the one for whose sake you are killed. If you did not confess my name, the world would not hate you. The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. Christ takes all the blame. He says, You have not incurred the hatred and persecutions of the world. I have. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Verse 30 Nevertheless, what saith the Scripture, Cast out the bond woman and her son, for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. Sarah's demand that the bond woman and her son be cast out of the house was undoubtedly a blow to Abraham. He felt sorry for his son Ishmael. The Scripture explicitly states Abraham's grief in the words, and the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son, Genesis 21-11. But God approved Sarah's action and said to Abraham, let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad and because of thy bond woman. In all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice, for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Genesis 21-12 The Holy Ghost contemptuously calls the admirers of the law the children of the bond woman. If you do not know your mother, I will tell you what kind of a woman she is. She is a slave, and you are slaves. You are slaves of the law, and therefore slaves of sin, death, and everlasting damnation. You are not fit to be heirs. You are put out of the house. This is the sentence which God pronounces upon the Ishmaelites, the Papists, and all others who trust in their own merits and persecute the Church of Christ. Because they are slaves and persecutors of the children of the free woman, they shall be cast out of the house of God forever. They shall have no inheritance with the children of the promise. This sentence stands forever. The sentence affects not only those popes, cardinals, bishops, and monks who were notoriously wicked and made their bellies their gods. It strikes also those who lived in all sincerity to please God and merit the forgiveness of their sins through a life of self-denial. Even these will be cast out, because they are children of the bond woman. Our opponents do not defend their own moral delinquency. The better ones deplore and abhor it. But they defend and uphold their doctrine of works, which is of the devil. Our quarrel is not with those who live in manifest sins. Our quarrel is with those among them who think they live like angels, claiming that they do not only perform the Ten Commandments of God, but also the sayings of Christ and many good works that God does not expect of them. We quarrel with them because they refuse to have Jesus' merit count alone for righteousness. Saint Bernard was one of the best of the medieval saints. He lived a chaste and holy life, but when it came to dying he did not trust in his chaste life for salvation. He prayed, I have lived a wicked life, but thou, Lord Jesus, has to heaven to give unto me. First, because thou art the Son of God. Secondly, because thou hast purchased heaven from me by thy suffering and death. Thou givest heaven to me not because I earned it, but because thou hast earned it for me. If any of the Romanists are saved, it is because they forget their good deeds and merits and feel like Paul, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ. Philippians 3.9 Verse 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the free. With this sentence the apostle Paul concludes his allegory of the barren church. The sentence forms a clear rejection of the righteousness of the law and a confirmation of the doctrine of justification. In the next chapter Paul lays special stress upon the freedom which the children of the free woman enjoy. He treats of Christian liberty the knowledge of which is very necessary. The liberty which Christ purchased for us is a bulwark to us in our battle against spiritual tyranny. Therefore we must carefully study this doctrine of Christian liberty, not only for the confirmation of the doctrine of justification, but also for the comfort and encouragement of those who are weak in faith. End of Chapter 4 Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians Recording by Eric Longman, Marietta, Georgia Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians By Martin Luther Translated by Theodore Grebner Chapter 5 In this chapter the apostle Paul presents the doctrine of Christian liberty in a final effort to persuade the Galatians to give up the nefarious doctrine of the false apostles. To accomplish this purpose he adduces threats and promises trying in every way possible to keep them in the liberty which Christ purchased for them. Verse 1 Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Be steadfast, not careless. Lie not down and sleep, but stand up, be watchful. Hold fast the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free. Those who lull cannot keep this liberty. Satan hates the light of the gospel. When it begins to shine a little he fights against it with might and main. What liberty does Paul mean? Not civil liberty, for which we have the government to thank, but the liberty which Christ has procured for us. At one time the emperor was compelled to grant to the Bishop of Rome certain immunities and privileges. This is civil liberty. That liberty exempts the clergy from certain public charges. Then there's also another kind of liberty. When people obey neither the laws of God nor the laws of men, but do as they please. This carnal liberty that people want in our day. We are not now speaking of this liberty. Neither are we speaking of civil liberty. Paul is speaking of a far better liberty. The liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Not from material bonds. Not from the Babylonian captivity. Not from the tyranny of the Turks. But from the eternal wrath of God. Where is this liberty? In the conscience. Our conscience is free and quiet because it no longer has to fear the wrath of God. This is real liberty compared with which every other kind of liberty is not worth mentioning. Who can adequately express the boon that comes to a person when he has the heart assurance that God will never more be angry with him, but will forever be merciful to him for Christ's sake. This is indeed a marvelous liberty to have the sovereign God for our friend and father who will defend, maintain, and save us in this life and in the life to come. As an outgrowth of this liberty we are at the same time free from the law, sin, death, the power of the devil, hell, etc. Since the wrath of God has been assuaged by Christ no law, sin, or death may now accuse and condemn us. These foes of ours will continue to frighten us but not too much. The worth of our Christian liberty cannot be exaggerated. Our conscience must be trained to fall back on the freedom purchased for us by Christ. Though the fears of the law, the terrors of sin, the horror of death assail us occasionally. We know that these feelings shall not endure, because the prophet quotes God as saying, In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, Isaiah 54-8. We shall appreciate this liberty all the more when we bear in mind that it was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who purchased it with his own blood. Hence Christ's liberty is given us not by the law or for our own righteousness, but freely for Christ's sake. In the eighth chapter of the Gospel of St. John, Jesus declares, If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. He only stands between us and the evils which trouble and afflict us and which he has overcome for us. Reason cannot properly evaluate this gift. Who can fully appreciate the blessing of the forgiveness of sins and of everlasting life? Our opponents claim that they also possess this liberty, but they do not. When they are put to the test, all their self-confidence slips from them. What else can they expect when they trust in works and not in the Word of God? Our liberty is founded on Christ himself, who sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Therefore our liberty is sure and valid as long as we believe in Christ. As long as we cling to him with a steadfast faith we possess his priceless gifts. But if we are careless and indifferent we shall lose them. It is not without good reason that Paul urges us to watch and stand fast. He knew that the devil delights in taking this liberty away from us. Verse 1 And be not entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Because reason prefers the righteousness of the law to the righteousness of faith, Paul calls the law a yoke, a yoke of bondage. Peter also calls it a yoke. Why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Acts 15.10 In this passage Paul again disparages the pernicious notion that the law is able to make men righteous before God, a notion deeply rooted in man's reason. All mankind is so wrapped up in this idea that it is hard to drag it out of people. Paul compares those who seek to be justified by the law to oxen that are hitched to the yoke. Like oxen the toil in the yoke all day and in the evening are turned out to graze along the dusty road and at last are marked for slaughter when they no longer can draw the burden. So those who seek to be justified by the law are entangled with the yoke of bondage and when they have grown old and broken down in the service of the law they have earned for their perpetual reward, God's wrath and everlasting torment. We are not now treating of an unimportant matter. It is a matter that involves everlasting liberty or everlasting slavery. For as a liberation from God's wrath through the kind of office of Christ is not a passing boon but a permanent blessing. So also the yoke of the law is not a temporary but an everlasting affliction. Rightly are the doers of the law called devils martyrs. They take more pains to earn hell than the martyrs of Christ to obtain heaven. There's is a double misfortune. First they torture themselves on earth with self-inflicted penances and finally when they die they gain the reward of eternal damnation. Verse 2 Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing. Paul is incensed at the thought of the tyranny of the law. His antagonism to the law is a personal matter with him. Behold, I, Paul, he says, I who have received the gospel not from men but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. I who have been commissioned from above to preach the gospel to you. I, Paul, say to you, if you submit to circumcision Christ will profit you nothing. Paul emphatically declares that for the Galatians to be circumcised would mean for them to lose the benefits of Christ's suffering and death. This passage may well serve as a criterion for all the religions to teach that besides faith in Christ other devices like works or the observance of rules, traditions or ceremonies are necessary for the attainment of righteousness and everlasting life is to make Christ and his salvation of no benefit to anybody. This passage is an indictment of the whole papacy. All priests, monks, and nuns, and I am now speaking of the best of them who repose their hope for salvation in their own works and not in Christ whom they imagine to be an angry judge, hear this sentence pronounced against them that Christ shall profit them nothing. If one can earn the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life through one's own efforts, to what purpose was Christ born? What was the purpose of his suffering and death, his resurrection, his victory over sin, death, and the devil if men may overcome these evils by their own endeavour? Tongue cannot express nor heart conceive what a terrible thing it is to make Christ worthless. The person who is not moved by these considerations to leave the law and the confidence in his own righteousness for the liberty in Christ has a heart that is harder than stone and iron. Paul does not condemn circumcision in itself. Circumcision is not injurious to the person who does not ascribe any particular importance to it. Neither are works injurious, provided a person does not attach any saving value to them. The apostle does not say that works are objectionable, but to build one's hopes for righteousness on works is disastrous, for that makes Christ good for nothing. Let us bear this in mind when the devil accuses our conscience, when that dragon accuses us of having done no good at all, but only evil say to him, you trouble me with the remembrance of my past sins, you remind me that I have done no good, but this does not bother me, because if I were to trust in my own good deeds or despair because I have done no good deeds, Christ would profit me in either way. I am not going to make him unprofitable to me. This I would do if I should presume to purchase for myself the favor of God and everlasting life by my good deeds, or if I should despair of my salvation because of my sins. Verse 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law. The first fault with circumcision is that it makes Christ unprofitable. The second fault is that it obligates those who are circumcised to observe the whole law. Paul is so very much in earnest about this matter that he confirms it with an oath, I testify, he says, I swear by the living God. Paul's statement may be explained negatively to mean I testify to every man who is being circumcised that he cannot perform the law in any point. In the very act of circumcision he is not being circumcised and in the very act of fulfilling the law he fulfills it not. This seems to be the simple meaning of Paul's statement. Later on in the sixth chapter he explicitly states they themselves which are circumcised keep not the law. The fact that you are circumcised does not mean you are righteous and free from the law. The truth is that by circumcision you have become debtors and servants of the law. The more you endeavor to perform the law the more you will become tangled up in the yoke of the law. The truth of this I have experienced in myself and in others. I have seen many work themselves down to the bones in their hungry effort to obtain peace of conscience. But the harder they tried the more they worried. Especially in the presence of death they were so uneasy that I have seen murderers die with better grace and courage. This holds true also in regard to the church regulations. When I was a monk I tried ever so hard to live up to the strict rules of my order. I used to make a list of my sins and I was always on the way to confession. And whatever penances were enjoined upon me I performed religiously. In spite of it all my conscience was always in a fever of doubt. The more I sought to help my poor, stricken conscience the worse it got. The more I paid attention to the regulations the more I transgressed them. Hence those that seek to be justified by the law are much further away from the righteousness of life than the publican's sinners and harlots. They know better than to trust in their own works. They know that they cannot ever hope to obtain forgiveness by their sins. Paul's statement in this verse may be taken to mean that those who submit to circumcision are thereby submitting to the whole law. To obey Moses in one point requires obedience to him in all points. It does no good to say that only circumcision is necessary and not the rest of Moses' laws. The same reasons that obligate a person to accept circumcision also obligate a person to accept the whole law. Thus to acknowledge the law is tantamount to declaring that Christ is not yet come. And if Christ is not yet come then all the Jewish ceremonies and laws concerning meats, places and times are still in force and Christ must be awaited as one who is still to come. The whole scripture however testifies that Christ has come that by his death he has abolished the law and that he has fulfilled all things which the prophets have foretold about him. Some would like to subjugate us to certain parts of the Mosaic law but this is not to be permitted under any circumstances. If we permit Moses to rule over us in one thing we must obey him in all things. Verse 4 Christ is become of no effect to you. Whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace. Paul, in this verse, discloses that he's not speaking so much of circumcision as the trust which men repose in the outward act. We can hear him say, I do not condemn the law in itself. What I condemn is that men seek to be justified by the law as if Christ were still to come or as if he alone were unable to justify sinners. It is this that I condemn because it makes Christ of no effect. It makes you void of Christ so that Christ is not in you nor can you be partakers of the knowledge, the spirit, the fellowship, the liberty, the life or the achievements of Christ. You are completely separated from him so much so that he has nothing to do with you any more or for that matter you with him. Can anything worse be said against the law? If you think Christ and the law can dwell together in your heart you can be sure that Christ dwells not in your heart for if Christ is in your heart he neither condemns you nor does he ever bid you to trust in your own good works. If you know Christ at all you know that good works do not serve unto righteousness nor evil works unto condemnation. I do not want to withhold from good works their due praise nor do I wish to encourage evil works. But when it comes to justification I say we must concentrate upon Christ alone or else we make him non-effective. You must choose between Christ and the righteousness of the law. If you choose Christ you are righteous before God. If you stick to the law Christ is of no use to you. Verse 4. You are fallen from grace. That means you are no longer in the kingdom or in the condition of grace. When a person on board ship falls into the sea and is drowned it makes no difference from which end or side of the ship he falls into the water. Those who fall from grace perish no matter how they go about it. Those who seek to be justified by the law are fallen from grace and are in grave danger of eternal death. If this holds true in the case of those who seek to be justified by the moral law what will become of those I should like to know who endeavor to be justified by their own regulations and vows? They will fall to the very bottom of hell. Oh no they say we will fly straight into heaven If you live according to the rules of St. Francis, St. Dominic, St. Benedict you will obtain the peace and mercy of God. If you perform the vows of chastity, obedience, etc. you will be rewarded with everlasting life. Let these play things of the devil go to the place where they came from and listen to what Paul has to say in this verse in accordance with Christ's own teaching He that believeth in the Son of God hath everlasting life but he that believeth not in the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth in him The words ye are fallen from grace must not be taken lightly they are important To fall from grace means to lose the atonement the forgiveness of sins the righteousness, liberty, and life which Jesus has merited for us by his death and resurrection To lose the grace of God means to gain the wrath and judgment of God and life, the bondage of the devil and everlasting condemnation Verse 5 For we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith Paul concludes the whole matter with the above statement You want to be justified by the law, by circumcision, and by works We cannot see it To be justified by such means would make Christ of no value to us We would be obliged to perform the whole law We rather through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness The apostle is not satisfied to say justified by faith he adds hope to faith Holy writ speaks of hope in two ways as the object of the emotion and hope as the emotion itself In the first chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians we have an instance of its first use for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven i.e. the thing hoped for In the sense of emotion we quote the passage from the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans for we are saved by hope As Paul uses the term hope here in writing to the Colossians we may take it in either of its two meanings We may understand Paul to say we wait in spirit through faith for the righteousness that we hope for which in due time will be revealed to us or we may understand Paul to say we wait in spirit by faith for righteousness with great hope and desire True, we are righteous but our righteousness is not yet revealed As long as we live here sin stays with us not to forget the law in our members striving against the law of our mind When sin rages in our body and we through the spirit wrestle against it then we have cause for hope we are not yet perfectly righteous perfect righteousness is yet to be attained hence we hope for it This is sweet comfort for us and we are to make use of it in comforting the afflicted We are to say to them, brother you would like to feel God's favor as you feel your sin but you're asking too much Your righteousness rests on something much better than feelings Wait and hope until it will be revealed to you in the Lord's own time Don't go by your feelings but go by the doctrine of faith which pledges Christ to you The question occurs to us What difference is there between faith and hope? We find it difficult to see any difference Faith and hope are so closely linked that they cannot be separated Still, there is a difference between them First, hope and faith differ in regard to their sources Faith originates in the understanding while hope arises in the will Second, they differ in their regard to their functions Faith says what is to be done Faith teaches, describes, directs Hope exerts the mind to be strong and courageous Thirdly, they differ in regard to their objectives Faith concentrates on the truth Hope looks to the goodness of God Fourthly, they differ in sequence In sequence, faith is the beginning of life before tribulation from Hebrews 11 Hope comes later and is born of tribulation, Romans 5 Fifthly, they differ in regard to their effects Faith is a judge It judges errors Hope is a soldier It fights against tribulations The cross, despondency, despair and waits for better things to come in the midst of evil Without hope, faith cannot endure On the other hand, hope without faith is blind, rashness and arrogance because it lacks knowledge Before anything else, a Christian must have the insight of faith so that the intellect may know its directions in the day of trouble and the heart may hope for better things By faith we begin by hope we continue This passage contains excellent doctrine and much comfort It declares that we are justified not by works, sacrifices or ceremonies but by Christ alone The world may judge certain things to be ever so good without Christ they are all wrong Circumcision and the law and good works are carnal We, says Paul, are above such things We possess Christ by faith and in the midst of our afflictions we hopefully wait for the consummation of our righteousness You may say The trouble is I don't feel as if I am righteous You must not feel but believe Unless you believe that you are righteous you do Christ a great wrong for He has cleansed you by the washing of regeneration He died for you so that through Him you may obtain righteousness and everlasting life End of chapter five Verses one through five of commentary on St. Paul's epistle to the Galatians Recording by Eric Longman Marietta, Georgia