Jerome

(V. 6.) But let the one who is being catechized communicate the word to the one who catechizes in all good things. Marcion interpreted this passage in such a way that he thought believers and catechumens should pray together and the teacher should communicate with the disciples in prayer; he was especially delighted that it follows in all good things. Certainly, if the discussion had been about prayer, it should not have been instructed to the one who is being catechized, but to the one who catechizes, that is, not to the disciple, but to the teacher. Then, also, the other things that follow, do not agree with his explanation: Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. And: But let us not tire of doing good: for in due season we will reap, not slacking off. Therefore, this is the sense: Because previously he had instructed them in spiritual matters, to instruct those who were preoccupied with some offense in the spirit of gentleness, and to bear one another's burdens, fulfilling the law of Christ: now, on the contrary, he instructs those who are still weaker, and disciples, and carnal, that just as they themselves harvest spiritual things from their teachers, they should also provide carnal things to their teachers: those who devote themselves entirely to the study of divine knowledge should be supported by the necessities of this life; and let what is written about the manna come to pass: He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack (2 Corinthians 8:15). But in the present place, according to the custom of the common people, he called food and clothing, and other things that people count among goods, good. For we are content with having food and clothing (1 Timothy 6:8). And it is not surprising that Paul referred to those things that are necessary for the body as goods: since even our Savior said to those who had not yet reached the summit of virtue, but were still walking humbly and were asking for faith to be added to them: If therefore you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him (Matthew 7:11)! I think that Job, when he spoke to his wife, as if he were speaking to one of the foolish women, with regard to her, who thought in this way, spoke about material wealth: 'If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord (Job 2:10): and again about hardships and pressures, and temptations that bring victory: Why do we not endure evil? For surely, good and evil are not placed in wealth and pressures, but in virtues and vices, as the righteous man says in the psalm: 'Who is the man who desires life, who desires to see good days?' Restrain your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good (Psalm 34:13-14 and 37:27). Properly, evil is said to be that which should be avoided, and good is said to be that which we should do. Also, in the Gospel, the rich man who did not have knowledge of good and evil rightly considered the abundance of his fields as good, saying: 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry' (Luke 12:19). And the one who was lying in purple and indulging in luxury heard in the underworld from Abraham: You received good things in your life (Luke 16:25). Also, we must pay attention to the fact that this could possibly be understood as the disciples being given the command to communicate the word to those who instruct them, to be obedient, docile, and accommodating. However, this applies only to those things that are good, spiritual, and not corrupted by heretical or Judaic perversity.

(Verse 7.) Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. Whatever a person sows, that will he also reap. By foreseeing with the Spirit, those who are being taught are able to provide for the needs and expenses of their teachers and to claim poverty, saying, 'My field has withered this year due to drought, my vineyard has been destroyed by hail, the taxes that could have been paid have been seized.' I do not have what is required to give. Therefore, do not be deceived, God is not mocked. He knows, he says, your hearts, he is not ignorant of your abilities. A plausible excuse can appease a person, but it cannot deceive God. And at the same time, he encourages them to do what is commanded, mentioning seed, so that they do not think it is lost, as they will receive it back with interest. He also teaches the Corinthians the principle of giving and receiving, using a similar example: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows in blessings will also reap blessings. Each person should give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (I Corinthians 9:6-7).

(Verse 8) For he who sows in his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh. But he who sows in the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. Everything we speak, do, and think is sown in two fields, the flesh and the Spirit. If the things that are spoken, done, and thought are good, sown in the Spirit, they will abound with the fruits of eternal life. But if they are evil, taken from the field of the flesh, they will produce for us a harvest of corruption. Another interpretation: Whoever understands the law carnally also expects carnal rewards, which are corrupted in the present age. But whoever is a spiritual listener, sows in the spirit, and will reap eternal life from the spirit. Let us also note the consistency of the discourse and connect it with the previous statements: the person who is called a seed sower in the spirit, when they begin to reap eternal life, they may cease to be a human. Cassianus, who introduces the supposed flesh of Christ, considers every sexual union between a male and a female to be unclean, and is the most fervent heresiarch of the Encratites. He uses the following argument against us under the pretext of the present testimony: 'If anyone sows in the flesh, they will reap corruption from the flesh; but they sow in the flesh who are joined to a woman; therefore, those who use a wife and sow in her flesh will reap corruption from the flesh.' He will be answered, first, that he did not say that Paul, who sows in the flesh, but in his own flesh. However, no one lies with himself, and sows in his own flesh. Then, in order to observe this which we have noted, in his own flesh, let it be granted to him additionally, that those who eat and drink, and sleep and do something for the refreshment of the body, sow in the flesh according to that, and reap corruption from it. But if he resorts to this, to say that those who, whether they drink, or eat, or sleep, in the name of the Lord nonetheless do everything with reason, do not sow in the flesh but in the spirit; and we will respond similarly to him, that those who also follow God’s first commandment, doing things with reason: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth (Gen. I, 22), sow not in the flesh but in the spirit. Therefore, this syllogism is futile and fallacious, first deceiving the listener with a sophism. However, upon careful examination, it is easily dissolved: For we cannot say that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and other holy men who were born from the promise, as well as the precursor of the Lord himself, sprouted from the corrupt seed, because he was born in the flesh. It is also worth noting that the one who sows in the flesh is identified with his own flesh, but the one who sows in the spirit is called simply in the spirit. For whoever sows good things, does not sow something of his own, but sows in the spirit of God, from which eternal life will be reaped.

(V. 10) Therefore, while we have time, let us do good to all, especially to those who belong to the family of faith. It is the time of sowing, as we have said, the present time, and the lifespan we are running. In this life, we are allowed to sow what we desire; when this life passes, the time for action is taken away. Thus, the Savior says: Work while it is day; night is coming when no one can work (John 9:4). The word of God has risen for us, the true sun, and the beasts have returned to their dens. Let us proceed as humans to our task, and let us labor until evening, as it is mystically sung in the psalm: You have set darkness, and it is night. The wild animals themselves will pass by, roaring lion cubs, to snatch and seek food from God. The sun rises, and they are gathered, and they sleep in their dens. Man goes out to his work, and to his labor until evening. (Ps. 103, 20-23). Whether we are sick or healthy, humble or powerful, poor or rich, unknown or honored, hungry or satisfied, let us do everything in the name of the Lord with patience and equanimity, and that which is written will be fulfilled in us: For those who love the Lord, all things work together for good. Anger itself and desire, and the harm that desires vengeance, if I restrain myself; if for the sake of God I hold my tongue; if, at every prick of disturbance and the incentives of vice, I recall the sight of God watching over me, they become opportunities for triumph. Let us not say in giving alms: 'This person is a friend, that person I do not know; this one deserves to receive, that one should be despised.' Let us imitate our Father, who makes His sun rise upon the good and the evil, and causes rain to fall upon the just and unjust (Matt. V). The fountain of goodness is open to all. The servant and the free, the commoner and the king, the rich and the poor all likewise drink from it. When a lamp is lit in a house, it shines equally for everyone. But if the reins of generosity are loosened for all indiscriminately, how much more so for members of the household of faith and for Christians, who have the same Father and are called by his name as their master! Moreover, it seems to me that this passage can be connected to the previous ones, in which he calls the members of the household of faith 'masters,' to whom he had ordered all good things to be ministered by their listeners. The course of this life is short. This very thing that I speak, that I say, that I write, that I correct, that I reread, from my time either grows or diminishes for me. Titus, son of Vespasian, who, after the revenge for the blood of Domitian, having overthrown Jerusalem, entered Rome as conqueror, is said to have been of such goodness, that one evening, late, while he was remembering, at dinner, that he had done nothing good that day, he said to his friends: Today, I have lost the day. We think that we do not lose for ourselves the hour, the day, the moments, the time, the ages, when we speak idle words, for which we will have to give an account on the day of judgment (Matt. XII)? But if he said and did this naturally without Law, without the Gospel, without the Savior, and the doctrine of the apostles: what should we do, in whose condemnation Juno holds all, and Vesta holds the virgins, and other idols? Blessed John the evangelist, while he was staying in Ephesus until his extreme old age, and was barely brought to the church among the hands of the disciples, and could not join words into more sentences, he used to say nothing else in each collection but this: Little children, love one another. Finally, the disciples and brothers who were present, tired of hearing the same things always, said: Master, why do you always speak like this? He responded with a worthy sentence from John: Because it is the commandment of the Lord, and if it is done alone, it is enough. This is why the present commandment of the Apostles is: Let us do good to all, especially to the household of faith.

(Verse 11) See with what letters I have written to you with my own hand. Those who wanted the Galatians to be circumcised had spread the rumor that Paul was doing one thing and preaching something else, and by his own actions, he was destroying the message. They claimed that anyone who asserted that the Law was abolished would themselves be found to be within the Law. Paul was unable to personally refute this belief with everyone present because he was restrained by the chains he bore for the sake of Christ's martyrdom. Therefore, he represents himself through letters. And so that no suspicion of forged letters should arise, he himself wrote by his own hand from this place to the end, showing that the previous [letters] were written by someone else. And he also demonstrates that letters were sent in his name by false teachers, writing to the Thessalonians: But we ask you, brothers, through the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together with him, not to be quickly shaken from your senses, nor be alarmed, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter supposedly from us, as if the day of the Lord is imminent, so that no one deceives you in any way (2 Thessalonians 2, 1 seqq.). And in order to dispel any suspicion of falsehood about the entire letter that he was sending, he subscribed with his own hand at the end, saying: My greeting in the hand of Paul, which is the sign in every letter; this is how I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you (2 Thess. 3:17-18). He also marked with his own hand the letters he dictated to the Colossians, saying: My greeting in the hand of Paul; remember my chains. And wherever he knew that false teachers were present, who could spread new doctrines through the authority of the Apostles, he subscribed the letter with his own hand. Finally, writing to the Corinthians, among whom there were schisms and heresies, with each one saying, 'I am of Paul,' and 'I am of Apollos,' and 'I am of Cephas' (I Cor. 1:12), he signed his letter with this annotation: My greeting [is] in the hand of Paul: If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Maranatha, and so on. Therefore, desiring to remove any occasion for false teachers who had corrupted the Galatians from the truth of the Gospel, he completed the end of the letter with the annotation of his hand, saying: See with what letters I have written to you; not that the letters were large (for this indeed signifies 'great' in Greek), but that his hand was known to them by distinct traces, so that while they recognize the tops of the letters, they might suppose that they were seeing the very person who had written [the letter]. In this place, a man most learned in our times, I wonder how he spoke such a ridiculous thing. Paul, he says, was a Hebrew and did not know Greek letters. And because necessity demanded it, that he himself would subscribe the letter by his own hand, contrary to the usual curving paths of the letters, he barely expressed with large points: also showing in this his signs of love towards the Galatians, that for their sake he would even attempt that which he could not. Paul, the great writer, wrote a letter, because there was great meaning in his words, and it was written with the Holy Spirit, not with ink or pen. But what he added, with my hand, let us understand in his works. For this reason, it is often written in the prophets: The word of God that was made in the hand of Jeremiah, or Haggai, so that we also know through this similarity that the word of God was made in the hand of Paul. Paul writes great letters not only to the Galatians back then, but also to everyone today, and although the tips with which his letters are written are small, the letters themselves are great, because there is great meaning in them.

(Verse 12) Whoever wants to please in the flesh, these compel you to be circumcised, only so that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. He shows above where he has subscribed with his own hand: now he repeats what he has written. Gaius Caesar, and Octavian Augustus, and Tiberius, successor of Augustus, had promulgated laws that the Jews who were scattered throughout the entire Roman Empire should live according to their own customs and perform their ancestral ceremonies. Therefore, whoever was circumcised, even if they believed in Christ, was considered a Jew by the Gentiles. But those who claimed that they were not Jews because they were uncircumcised, were subject to persecution by both the Gentiles and the Jews. Now, those who had deceived the Galatians wanted to avoid these persecutions, so they were persuading the disciples to be circumcised for their own protection. The Apostle calls this confidence in the flesh, because they were proposing circumcision in persecution to both the Gentiles whom they feared and the Jews whom they wanted to please. Neither the Jews could persecute them, nor the Gentiles, whom they ((wanted)) to see and circumcise, and to keep the precepts of the Law themselves.

For neither those who are circumcised keep the Law, but they wish to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. For the law cannot be fulfilled, he says, because of the weakness of the flesh. Therefore, the Jews keep the precepts and teachings of men more than the commandments of God, neither fulfilling the bodily Law, for it is indeed impossible, nor the spiritual Law, which they do not understand. Therefore, this is all that they strive for, that they do, that they exert themselves, so that they may boast among the Jews of the injury to your flesh, and boast of their Gentiles circumcised by their teaching. But they do all of this in order to please the Jews, and the envy of the conquered Law may subside.

(Verse 14.) But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. But that world is crucified to the just one, of whom the Savior says: I have conquered the world (John 16:33). And: Do not love the world. And: You have not received the spirit of the world. To whom the world is crucified, to him the world is also dead: and now the end of the world has come to him, and he is worthy of the new heaven and the new earth, and the new Testament, he sings a new song, and receives a new name written in a book, which no one knows except the one who receives it. It is asked how now Paul says: But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14). And in another place concerning others: That in this boasting I may not be put to shame. (2 Corinthians 9:4). And again: But he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9). And in another place: But though I should have a mind to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I will say the truth. But I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth in me or any thing he heareth from me. (2 Corinthians 12:6). And so on, such as are written in this manner. But it must be known that all that boasting related to the cross, let the glory be to the cross: and whatever worthy is accomplished in virtues, let it be done because of the Lord's passion.

(v. 15) For neither circumcision is anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. As faithful and unfaithful, when there is one in substance, are divided into two according to the diversity of understanding, the Apostle saying: Stripping yourselves of the old man with his works, and putting on the new, who is renewed unto knowledge according to the image of the Creator (Colossians 3:9-10): in the same way, the world, although it is one in substance, is made different according to the understanding. Sinners, the old world is: holy, new. For when the world has been crucified with the holy, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is to it: not Jew, nor Gentile: but a new creature, into which the body of our humility is transformed, conformed to the body of the glory of Christ: For the old things have passed away, behold all things have become new (II Cor. V). And as the glory of the sun is different from the glory of the moon, and the glory of the stars: for star differs from star in glory: so also is the resurrection of the dead (I Cor. XV, 41, 42). About this, Daniel agrees with the same voice, saying: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt (Dan. XII, 2); and: Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky. And concerning the righteous: Many shall be like the stars forever. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation without these parts of the body, which can be cut. So we also who love God, and the things that are prepared for us, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him (1 Corinthians 2), when we shall be transformed in the body of the humility of Christ, into the body of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, shall have that kind of body that neither a Jew can oppose nor a Gentile preserve with circumcision. Not that it is anything else in substance, but that it is different in glory. For it is necessary for this mortal to put on immortality, and for this corruptible body to be clothed with incorruption (I Cor. XV, 53). This is similar to what the blessed evangelist John said: Beloved, we are now children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know that when it is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (I John III, 2). Therefore, since that body of the glory of Jesus Christ, which had the marks of the nails after the resurrection and entered through closed doors, has not yet been revealed, let us who have already been raised up with Christ in baptism, as new-born men, not serve circumcision or uncircumcision, but believe that we are already what we shall be in the future.

(Verse 16.) And whoever follows this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. All things are directed according to the standard; and whether they be right or wrong, when the rule is applied, they are judged. So too the teaching of God is like a standard of speech, which judges between what is just and unjust: whoever follows it will have peace within themselves that surpasses all understanding; and after peace, mercy, which is foremost in the Israel of God. But the true Israel is called, in distinction from those who ceased to be God's Israel. For they say they are Jews, and they are not; but they lie, being of the synagogue of Satan. And do not be surprised, if, in imitation of spiritual Israel, carnal Israel neither has peace nor mercy, of whom it is also written to the Corinthians: See Israel according to the flesh (I Cor. X, 18); since also in imitation of God and the Lord, there are many gods and many lords, whether in heaven or on earth. Beautifully, however, in one discourse, in order to conclude the letter according to the proposed argument, he called Israel the people of God; so that all the things that have been said above, not apart from the cause, but from the cause debated, may be taught.

(Verse 17.) From now on, let no one bother me. Not as if he has failed in teaching; but so that even a farmer will have this labor, if the little plants he has planted wither; and a shepherd will have worry, if the sheep he has gathered are torn apart. Therefore, it is better read in Greek, 'From now on, let no one present me with labor;' lest of course I have the need to work among you again. It is better for the teacher to excel in labor, who lives and feels differently than the teacher who has taught and done otherwise. He can also preempt their argument, if anyone should wish to contradict thereafter, by mentioning that he has addressed the issue of women covering their heads and men not covering theirs among the Corinthians, saying: But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the Church of God (I Cor. XI, 16): that is, we have expressed what seemed fitting and just to us; but if anyone refuses to accept the truth, let them consider what answer to make and on what grounds to oppose, knowing that they are not worthy of a response, as they are more inclined to argue than to learn.


But I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body. For whoever is circumcised after the coming of Christ does not bear the marks of the Lord Jesus; but he has glory in his shame. But those who endure wounds beyond measure, who are frequently beaten with rods in prisons, who once were stoned, and who have other things written in the catalog of boasting, they bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in their body. And perhaps he who afflicts his own body and subjects himself to servitude, lest while preaching to others he himself should become reprobate, bears the marks of the Lord Jesus in his body (1 Corinthians 9). The apostles rejoiced because they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus (Acts 5).

(Verse 18) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. There is no dissension, no bondage to the Law, no quarrel, no dispute, but rather may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Not at all with the flesh, not at all with the soul; whether because you have become spiritual, or because even those things that are lesser are included in the principal. For the soul and the flesh are subject to the spirit. Regarding this, both the Ecclesiastes and Paul speak: 'The spirit will return to the one who gave it' (Eccl. XII, 7). And Paul in another place: 'The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit' (Rom. VIII, 16). But this grace of the Lord Jesus is not with everyone, but with those who deserve to be called brothers by the apostle, faithful brothers, and true brothers, which the Hebrew word Amen signifies. For Amen, the Septuagint interpreters have translated as 'let it be'; Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotius have faithfully and truly interpreted it. And how God confirms his words in the Old Testament through a certain custom of swearing, saying, 'As I live,' says the Lord (Num. XIV, 28); he also swears by the saints: 'As your soul lives'; so too our Savior in the Gospel demonstrates by the word 'Amen' that what he speaks is true. And indeed, 'Amen' signifies the consent of the hearer and is a seal of truth, as the first letter to the Corinthians also teaches us, in which Paul says: 'But if you bless with the Spirit, who supplies the place of the untaught?' How can someone say 'Amen' to your blessing if they do not understand what you are saying? (I Cor. XIV, 16) This shows that an ignorant person cannot respond truthfully to what is being said unless they understand what is being taught.