Commentary on Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians Thessalonians Timothy Titus and Philemon John Calvin (continued)
John Calvin cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
27. Scriptum est enim: Exulta, sterilis, qum non paris; erumpe et elama, quae non parturis; quaE plures erunt liberi desertae quam habentis maritum. (Isaiah 54:1.)
28. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 28. Nos autem, fratres, secundum Issac, promissionis sumus filii. (Romans 9:7.) 29. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
29. Sed quemadmodum tunc, qui secundum carnem erat genitus, persequebatur eum qui secundum Spiritum genitus erat; sic et nunc.
30. Nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
30. Sed quid dicit Scriptura? Ejice ancillam, et filium ejus; non enim haereditatem obtinebit filius ancillae cum filio liberae. (Genesis 21:10.)
31. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
31. Ergo, fratres, non sumus ancillae filii, sed liberae. 27. For it is written. The apostle proves, by a quotation from Isaiah, that the lawful sons of the Church are born according to the promise. The passage is in Isaiah 54 where the prophet speaks of the kingdom of Christ and the calling of the Gentiles, and promises to the barren wife and the widow a numerous offspring; for it is on this ground that he exhorts the Church to ``sing'' and ``rejoice.'' The design of the apostle, let it be carefully remarked, is to deprive the Jews of all claim to that spiritual Jerusalem to which the prophecy relates. Isaiah proclaims, that her children shall be gathered out of all the nations of the earth, and not by any preparation of hers, but by the free grace and blessing of God.
He next concludes that we become the sons of God by promise, after the example ({κατὰ} {᾿Ισαὰκ}) of Isaac, and that in no other way do we obtain this honor. To readers little skilled or practiced in the examination of Scripture, this reasoning may appear inconclusive; because they do not hold the most undoubted of all principles, that all the promises, being founded on the Messiah, are of free grace. It was because the apostle took this for granted, that he so fearlessly contrasted the promise with the law.
29. As then, he that was born after the flesh. He denounces the cruelty of the false apostles, who wantonly insulted pious persons that placed all their confidence in Christ. There was abundant need that the uneasiness of the oppressed should be soothed by consolation, and that the cruelty of their oppressors should be severely checked. It is not wonderful, he says, that the children of the law, at the present day, do what Ishmael their father at first did, who, trusting to his being the first-born, persecuted Isaac the true heir. With the