Ambrosiaster — Commentary on Scripture

Galatians 1:3

He shows that the human race is sustained by the goodness of both, as much Father as Son. Nor does he indicate that the Son is less than the Father when he calls him our Lord, nor that the Father is greater when he calls him our God. He will not be a true Father unless he is also Lord, nor will the Son be a true Lord unless he is also God.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 1.3

Galatians 1:4

Now Christ by atoning for our transgressions not only gave us life but also made us his own, so that we might be called children of God, made so through faith. What a great error it is, therefore, to go under the law again after receiving grace.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 1.4.2

Galatians 1:4

For when the human race was held in the dominion of the devil, the Savior offered himself to the willing devil, so that deceiving him by the power of his virtue—for the devil wanted to take possession of one whom he was unable to hold—he could carry off those whom the devil was detaining by a false right.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 1.4.1

Galatians 1:8

Let no one be surprised that the apostle, when quieting ferocious characters, was so annoyed. He is indignant, for the sake of the Galatians’ salvation, with the enemies of the Christian way of life. For this indignation shows that it is no light sin to transfer allegiance to the law after receiving faith.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 1.9.1

Galatians 1:15

Just as he said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,” so, knowing what Paul would be, God called him because he was able to serve.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 1.16.2

Galatians 1:16

When he had faith in the law, not knowing that it was not the time for observance of the law, and was intensely striving to resist the gospel of Christ, he thought that he acted by God’s will. God, seeing that his zeal was good, though he lacked knowledge, chose to summon him into his grace. He knew that this man was suitable to preach his gospel to the Gentiles. For if he was so swift and faithful in so poor a cause through boldness of conscience, not through adulation of anyone, how much more constant would he be in preaching the gift of God through the hope of the promised reward?

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 1.15.1

Galatians 1:17

He set out from Damascus to Arabia, therefore, to preach where none of the apostles had been and where Judaizing had not been promoted through the intrigues of pseudoapostles. And from there he returned again to Damascus so that he could attend to those who were still immature when he preached to them the gospel of God’s grace.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 1.17.2

Galatians 2:1

His renown had been growing for a long time among all the Jews, though he had not been seen face to face … but on account of the law he had acquired a bad reputation among the Jews, as though his preaching was out of harmony with the preaching of the other apostles. Many were having doubts on account of this, which were sufficient to make the Gentiles anxious, in case they had been trained in something other than that which was preached by the apostles who had been with the Lord. For on this precise occasion the Galatians were undermined by Jews who were saying that Paul taught something other than Peter taught. This is the reason for his going up to Jerusalem, at the bidding of the Lord’s revelation, disclosing to them the implications of his preaching, with Barnabas and Titus as witnesses of his preaching, one from the Jews and one from the Gentiles, so that if any took offense at him it might be assuaged by their testimony.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.2.1

Galatians 2:3

The implication is “Why should you be circumcised, when Titus was not compelled to undergo circumcision by the apostles? Titus, who had an important role, was accepted without circumcision.”

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.3

Galatians 2:4

By “secretly” he means that they had entered by deception, passing themselves off as brothers when they were enemies. By “slipped in” he means that they came in a humble manner, feigning friendship.… To “spy out” is to enter in such a way as to invent one thing and discover another, whereby they may challenge our liberty.… “Liberty in Jesus Christ” means not being subject to the law. “That they might bring us into bondage” means … to subject us to the law of circumcision.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.5.3-4

Galatians 2:7

He names Peter alone because he has received the primacy in the founding of the church; and he himself had likewise been chosen to have the primacy in the founding of Gentile churches, but with the proviso that Peter should preach to the Gentiles, should cause arise, and Paul to the Jews.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.7.8

Galatians 2:9

Just as he allots to Peter companions who were the outstanding men among the apostles, so he joins to himself Barnabas, who was associated with him by God’s appointment. Yet he claims that the grace of his primacy was entrusted to him alone by God, just as the primacy among the apostles was entrusted solely to Peter.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.10.1-2

Galatians 2:20

One who is fixed to the cross of Christ is one who, in imitation of his footsteps, is not ensnared by any worldly desire. Living to God, he appears dead to the world.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.19

Galatians 2:20

There is no doubt that Christ lives in the one who is delivered from death by faith. When Christ forgives the sins of one who is worthy of death, he himself lives in that person, since by his protection the person is snatched from death.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.20

Galatians 2:21

The law could not give remission of sins, nor triumph over the second death nor free from captivity those who were bound because of sin. The reason for Christ’s death was to provide those things that the law could not. He did not die in vain, for his death is the justification of sinners.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.21

Galatians 2:21

Since a future life is promised to Christians, the one who now lives with God’s assistance lives in the faith of the promised life. For this one contemplates his image, having the pledge of the future life, which was procured for us by Christ’s love in accordance with God’s will. The one who is grateful to Christ is therefore the one who endures in faith toward him. He knows that he has no benefit from anyone but Christ and treats Christ with dishonor if he compares any other to him.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.21

Galatians 3:2

He sets forth a tenet that could not at that time be denied: the Holy Spirit dwells in believers. This gift was manifested by God to recollect the rudiments of the faith, as it was at the beginning when it was practiced among the apostles and the other disciples. … On these the Holy Spirit descended and gave the capacity to speak in many tongues, with the gift of interpretation, so that no one dared deny the presence of the Spirit of God in them.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 3.3.3

Galatians 3:4

At that time believers were subject to reproach from others, whether at home or abroad, being pointed out as guilty of treason. Hence the Galatians, who had likewise suffered a great deal, were more perverse than those who had been spared, because they had lost the merit of their suffering by their resubmission to the law.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 3.4

Galatians 3:13

Since no one could obey the law, all were convicted by the curse of the law, so that it was right to punish them. But Christ, born as a man and offered for us by his Father, redeemed us from the devil. He was offered for those who were liable to the curse of the law. Jesus was made a curse in the way that under the law a victim offered for sin is said to be sin.… Thus he did not say “cursed for us” but “made a curse.”

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 3.13.1-2

Galatians 3:17

Once the promise had been established, the law was given subsequently, not so that it could undermine the promise but so that it might point to what was to be fulfilled and when it would come.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 3.17