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Ambrosiaster

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 1,043 passages across 16 books

Commentary

601–620 of 1,043
Galatians 5:3

For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

There are some who serve the law to a certain extent without being circumcised; for many Romans in Judea served the law without circumcision.… Yet there is no one who is circumcised without being required to serve the whole law. He is a debtor, since the law was given to the circumcised. His meaning here was that they had become so negligent as to deserve to bear all the burdens of the law.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 5.3

Galatians 5:8

This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.

The truth is that the Jews imposed the yoke of the law on them by a human decision, not by the judgment of God, who was calling them to grace through his apostle.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 5.8

Galatians 5:10

I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.

He says that he has this ground for trusting in them, that they had entered on the path of error not of their own accord, but they had been taken unawares. Thus he trusts that when they are shown the true road they will easily be able to return.

Galatians 5:12

I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

[The point is] that those who had deprived the Galatians of the grace of God should themselves be cut off from the grace of God.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 5.12

Galatians 5:19

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

These and others like them are the members of sin, which the apostle calls “the works of the flesh” because these errors come from the world, from which also the flesh comes. For all these sins arise from the side of the flesh, not from that of the Spirit.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 5.21

Galatians 5:23

Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Paul did not mention more than ten excellent behaviors because he is referring to the fruits of the Spirit. These fruits embrace everything in the tablets of God’s covenant, in which no more than ten words of command are succinctly handed down.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 5.24.2

Galatians 5:26

Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

What he is saying is that if we live well and honestly we should also express this in good conduct. This is what it is to live in the Spirit: to have an unblemished life. We walk in the Spirit if we study peace. For this is what engenders love. It is, on the other hand, empty glory to seek a victory where there is no prize, so that someone would end up having only a zeal for strife and spiritual competition. These things tend toward discord and wrangling.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 5.26

Galatians 6:1

Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

Now Paul speaks to those who were spiritually stronger, lest by becoming proud in their own good life they should think it right to despise and reject one who had perhaps been overtaken by sin. And so they must be told that people struggling with sin are to be spurred toward reform with kindness. If they were to be more harshly punished with coercive authority, they would not accept reproof. They would begin to defend themselves against seeming to be base and worse. If you protect a person from strife and arrogance, he will become meek in relation to you, since humility tends to make even the proud humble.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 6.2.1-2

Galatians 6:3

For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

It is true, and no one is unaware of it, that if we consider honestly our acts and thoughts we find ourselves superior to no one and cannot easily pass judgment on another. For the person who is puffed up as if he were something special is misled, since he does not know that humility becomes a means of growth. For he does not have before his eyes the words and deeds of the Savior, who, though he be Lord of all, humbled himself so as to give us a pattern that we might follow should we wish to grow. If we were to exalt ourselves, we would stumble as a result of the ignorance of a heart elated by the hope of presuming to be more worthy of praise.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 6.4.1

Galatians 6:5

For every man shall bear his own burden.

Finally he wants it to be clear to those who are proud that nobody is incriminated for another’s sin. So no one should be afraid to associate with a sinner or to aid him if he comes to him so that he may be of benefit to him.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 6.5

Galatians 6:6

Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.

He says this so that hearers may share all their goods with their teachers. But if teachers practice otherwise than they teach, hearers should protest rather than share these goods. It may be clear thereby that the law is your guide rather than the person. For it will be his problem, not yours.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 6.6

Galatians 6:12

As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.

To please “in the flesh” means to please human beings. For those he calls false apostles, in order that they gain the approval of the Jews or at least not elicit their hostility, were preaching Christ in such a way that they also taught the necessity of observing the law. Paul was never intimidated by his opponents. He consistently refused to keep silent about the truth. He constantly was attentive to what he was teaching and how he was living.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 6.11

Galatians 6:17

From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

He does not wish to be annoyed any longer by people advocating circumcision—people who would force him to write another letter. He wants the Galatians to respond quickly to his letter and get rid of their mistakes. This hard work will result in genuine rest. If, however, they show themselves to be reluctant and stubborn, refusing to change, Paul wants to be left alone. Let the Galatians spend their time and effort trying to please the Judaizers in an empty search for temporary reward.

EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 6.17

John 14:10

Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

For the Son is the envoy of God the Father in accordance with nature. And so he says … “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” For the Father is understood through this to be in the Son, because their substance is one. For where there is unity, there is no differentiation. And they are interchangeable, because both their appearance and likeness are the same, with the consequence that he who sees the Son is said to have seen the Father too. As the Lord himself says, “He who has seen me has seen the Father too.” Therefore it is correct to say, God was in Christ.

COMMENTARY ON 2 CORINTHIANS 5.19-21.2

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The God of peace is Christ, who said, “My peace I give you, my peace I leave you.” … But the peace of God is one thing, the peace of the world another, because even malignant and foul people have peace, but [this is] to their damnation. The peace of Christ is free from sins. For it flees faithlessness, spurns trickery and rejects evil deeds. This peace is pleasing and congenial to God, hostile to the devil. A person who has peace will also have love and the God of both to keep him safely guarded forever.

COMMENTARY ON 2 CORINTHIANS 13.11.2

John 14:30

Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

The rulers of this age are not to be understood as merely people of the Jews and Romans but also those princes and powers referred to above, to whom this saying pertains and against whom is our struggle.… The rulers of this age crucified the Lord of majesty through their ignorance. For how can the rulers of this age be understood as the rulers of the Jews who were subject to the Roman Empire?

COMMENTARY ON 1 CORINTHIANS 2.8.1-2

John 16:9

Of sin, because they believe not on me;

In this way too the Holy Spirit reproved the world of sin, that is, by the mighty works he did in the name of the Savior who was condemned by the world.

QUESTIONS ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT 89.2

John 16:11

Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

The devils, seeing souls go from hell to heaven, knew that the prince of this world was judged. They saw that once he was brought to trial in the Savior’s cause, he had lost all right to what he held. This was seen on our Savior’s ascension but was declared plainly and openly in the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples.

QUESTIONS ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS 89.1-2

Matthew 6:2-4

Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

(Comm. in Tim. 4, 8.) The sum of all Christian discipline is comprehended in mercy and piety, for which reason He begins with almsgiving.
Matthew 7:21-23

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

(Comm. in 1 Cor. 12:3.) For all truth by whomsoever uttered is from the Holy Spirit.

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