Commentary on Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians Thessalonians Timothy Titus and Philemon John Calvin (continued)
Chapter
Galatians 3:1-5
Galatians 3:1-5
1. O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
1. O stulti Galatae, quis vos fascinavit, ut non obediatis veritati? quibus ante oculos Iesus Christus depictus est inter vos crucifixus.
2. This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
2. Hoc solum volo discere a vobis: Ex operibus Legis Spiritum accepistis, an ex praedicatione fidei?
3. Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
3. Ita stulti estis, ut, exorsi a Spiritu, nunc carne eonsummemini? 4. Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. 4. Tanta passi estis frustra? si tamen etiam frustra. 5. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
5. Qui ergo subministrat vobis Spiritum, et operatur in vobis virtutes; ex operibus legis, an ex praedieatione fidei id (facit)?
1. O foolish Galatians. An expostulation is here interwoven --- I should rather say, inserted --- amidst his doctrinal statements. Some will wonder that he did not delay it to the close of the Epistle, but the very serious nature of the errors which he has brought forward unquestionably roused him to a burst of passion. When we hear that the Son of God, with all his benefits, is rejected, that his death is esteemed as nothing, what pious mind would not break out into indignation? He therefore declares that those who allowed themselves to be involved in so heinous a crime must have been {ἀνόητοι}, that is, ``disordered in mind.'' He accuses them not only of having suffered themselves to be deceived, but of having been carried away by some sort of magical enchantment, 67 which is a still more serious charge. He insinuates that their fall partook
67"{Βασκαίνειν}, `to enchant, to fascinate, to delude by magical charms,' --- -rather an uncommon word, {ἃπαξ} {λεγόμενον} in the New Testament. It may amuse to notice the etumon of the word. Some grammarians have strangely thought it derived from {φάεσι} {καίνειν}, `to kill with the eyes.' Its true etymology obviously is, {βάω}, {βάσκω}, {βασκάω} {βασκαίνω}. {βάσκω} (equivalent to {φάσκω},), `to say, to speak,' comes, in the form {βασκαίνω}, to signify {κακολογεῖν}, `to calumniate,' then `to deceive,' then `to deceive
John Calvin
more of madness than of folly.
Some think that Paul refers to the temper of the nation, that, being sprung from barbarians, it was more difficult to train them; but I rather think that he refers to the subject itself. It looks like something supernatural, that, after enjoying the gospel in such clearness, they should be affected by the delusions of Satan. He does not merely say that they were ``bewitched'' and ``disordered in mind,'' because they did not obey the truth; but because, after having received instruction so clear, so full, so tender, and so powerful, they immediately fell away. Erasmus has chosen to interpret the words, ``that ye should not believe the truth.'' I am not quite prepared to set aside that rendering, but would prefer the word obey, because Paul does not charge them with having, from the outset, rejected the gospel, but with not having persevered in obedience.
Before whose eyes. This is intended, as I have already hinted, to express an aggravation; for, the better opportunities they had of knowing Christ, the more heinous was the criminality of forsaking him. Such, he tells them, was the clearness of his doctrine, that it was not naked doctrine, but the express, living image of Christ. 68 They had known Christ in such a manner, that they might be almost said to have seen him.
Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth. Augustine's interpretation of the word {προεγράφη}, (``hath been set forth,'') is harsh, and inconsistent with Paul's design. He makes it to signify that Christ was to be thrust out from possession. Others propose a different phrase, (proscriptus,) which, if used in the sense of ``openly proclaimed,'' would not be inapplicable. The Greeks, accordingly, borrow from this verb the word {προγράμματα}, to denote boards on which property intended to be sold was published, so as to be exposed to the view of all. But the participle, painted, is less ambiguous, and, in my own opinion, is exceedingly appropriate. To shew how energetic his preaching was, Paul first compares it to a picture, which exhibited to them, in a lively manner, the image of Christ.
But, not satisfied with this comparison, he adds, Christ hath been crucified among you, intimating that the actual sight of Christ's death could not have affected them more powerfully than his own preaching. The view given by some, that the Galatians had ``crucified to themselves (Hebrews 6:6) the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame;'' that they had withdrawn from the purity of the gospel; or, at least, had lent their ear, and given their confidence, to impostors who crucified him, --- appears to me overstrained. The meaning therefore is, that Paul's doctrine had instructed them concerning Christ in by magical arts.' '' --- Brown.
68{Καὶ} {μὴν} {οὐκ} {ἐν} {τὣ} {Γαλατῶν} {χώρᾳ} {ἀλλ} {᾿} {ἐν} {̔ιεροσολύμοις} {ἐσταυρώθν}. {Πῶς} {οὖν} {φησιν}, {ἐν} {ὑμῖν}; {Τὢς} {πίστεως} {δεικνὺς} {τὴν} {ἰσχυν} {καὶ} {τὰ} {πόρ᾿ῥωθεν} {δυναμένης} {ὁρᾷν}. {Καὶ} {οὐκ} {εἶπεν}, {ἐσταυρώθη} {ἀλλὰ} {προεγράθη} {ἐσταυρωμένος} {δηλῶν} {ὅτι} {τοῖς} {τὢς} {πίστεως} {ὀφθαλμοῖς} {ἀκριβέστερον} {ἐθεώρησαν} {τῶν} {παρόντων} {ἐνίων} {καὶ} {τὰ} {γινόμενα} {θεωμένων} ``Yet it was not in the country of the Galatians, but in Jerusalem, that he was crucified. How, then, does he say, `Among you?' To demonstrate the power of faith, which is able to see even distant objects, And he does not say, `Was crucified,' but `Was painted crucified,' shewing that by the eyes of faith they beheld more distinctly than some who were present and saw the transactions.'' --- Chrysostom.