Commentary on Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians Thessalonians Timothy Titus and Philemon John Calvin
John Calvin
6. Miror quod ita cito transferimini a Christo, qui vos vocavit in gratia, ad aliud evangehum;
7. Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
7. Quod non est aliud, nisi quod sunt quidant, qui vos turbant, ae volunt evertere evangelium Christi.
8. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
8. Verum etiamsi nos, aut Angelus e coelo evangelizet vobis praeter id quod evangelizavimus vobis, anathema sit.
9. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
9. Quemadmodum praediximus, nunc quoque iterum dico; si quis vobis evangelizaverit praeterquam quod accepistis, anathema sit.
6. I wonder. He commences by administering a rebuke, though a somewhat milder one than they deserved; but his greatest severity of language is directed, as we shall see, against the false apostles. He charges them with turning aside, not only from his gospel, but from Christ; for it was impossible for them to retain their attachment to Christ, without acknowledging that he has graciously delivered us from the bondage of the law. But such a belief cannot be reconciled with those notions respecting the obligation of ceremonial observance which the false apostles inculcated. They were removed from Christ; not that they entirely rejected Christianity, but that the corruption of their doctrines was such as to leave them nothing more than an imaginary Christ.
Thus, in our own times, the Papists, choosing to have a divided and mangled Christ, have none, and are therefore ``removed from Christ.'' They are full of superstitions, which are directly at variance with the nature of Christ. Let it be carefully observed, that we are removed from Christ, when we fall into those views which are inconsistent with his mediatorial office; for light can have no fellowship with darkness.
On the same principle, he calls it another gospel, that is, a gospel different from the true one. And yet the false apostles professed that they preached the gospel of Christ; but, mingling with it their own inventions, 32 by which its principal efficacy was destroyed, they held a false, corrupt, and spurious gospel. By using the present tense, (``ye are removed'') he appears to say that they were only in the act of failing. As if he had said, ``I do not yet say that ye have been removed; for then it would be more difficult to return to the right path. But now, at the critical moment, do not advance a single step, but instantly retreat.''
From Christ, who called you by grace. Others read it, ``from him who called you by the grace of Christ,'' understanding it to refer to the Father; but the reading which we have followed is more simple. When he says that they were called by Christ through grace, this tends to heighten the criminality of their in- 32"Leurs songes et inventions." "Their dreams and inventions."