Commentary on Galatians, Chapter 3 · Verse extract 8
Verſe. 8. For the ſcripture foreſeing that God vvould iuſtifie the Gentiles through faith.
The vaine bragging of the Ievves.Theſe things doe pertaine to the former argument. As if he ſhould ſay: Ye Iewes doe glory in the law aboue meaſure: ye highly commend Moſes becauſe God ſpake vntounto him in ye buſh &c: As the Iewes doe proudly bragge againſt vsus, (as I hauehave my ſelfe at ſundry times heard) ſaying: ye Chriſtians hauehave Apoſtles, ye hauehave a Pope and ye hauehave Biſhops: but we Iewes hauehave Patriarkes, Prophets, yea we hauehave God him ſelfe, who ſpake vntounto vsus in the buſh, in Sinai where he gaue vntounto vsus the law, and in the temple &c. Such a glory and ſuch an excellent teſtimony alledge ye for your ſelues againſt vsus, if ye can. To this aunſwereth Paule the Apoſtle of the Gentiles: This your proude bragging & boaſting is to no purpoſe. For the ſcripture preuēted it, & foreſaw long before the law, yt the Gentiles ſhould not be iuſtified by the law, but by the bleſſing of Abrahams ſeede, which was promiſed vntounto him (as Paule ſaith afterwards) .430. yeares before the law was giuen. Now the law being geuen ſo many yeares after, could not empech or aboliſh this promiſe of the bleſſing made vntounto Abraham, but it hath continued firme and ſhall continue for euer. What can the Iewes aunſwere to this?
An argument grounded vponupon the certaintie of time. Geneſ. 15.6. Geneſ. 22.16.This argument grounded vponupon ye certaintie of time, is very ſtrong. The promiſe of bleſſing is geuen vntounto Abraham .430. yeares before ye people of Iſraell receaued the law. For it is ſaid to Abraham: Becauſe thou haſt beleued God and haſt geuen glory vntounto him, therefore thou ſhalt be a father of many nations. There Abraham by the promiſe of God is appointed a father of many nations,Rom. 4.20. and the inheritaunce of the world for his poſteritie and iſſue after him, is geuen vntounto him before the law was publiſhed. Why doe ye then bragge, O ye Galathians, yt ye obtaine forgeuenes of ſinnes, and are become children, and doe receaue the inheritaunce through the law, which followed a long time, that is to ſay .430. yeares after the promiſe.
Thus the falſe Apoſtles did aduaunce the law and the glory therof aboue meaſure: but the promiſe made vntounto Abraham .430. yeares before the law was geuen, they neglected and deſpiſed, and would in no wiſe know that Abraham (of whom they gloried notwithſtanding as the father of their whole nation) being yet vncircumciſed, and liuing ſo many ages before the law, was made righteous by no other meanes then by faith onelyonly, as the ſcripture moſt plainly witneſſeth:Geneſ. 15.6. Rom. 4.18. Abraham beleued God, and it vvas counted to him for righteouſnes. Afterwards, when he was now accounted righteous becauſe of his faith, the ſcripture maketh mention of circumciſion in the .17. of Geneſis, where it ſaith:Geneſ. 17.1…. This is my couenaunt vvhichwhich ye shall keepe betvvene me and you &c. With this argument Paule mightely conuinceth the falſe Apoſtles,Abraham vvas iuſtified before Circumciſion & .430. yeares before the lavv. and ſheweth plainely that Abraham was iuſtified by faith onelyonly, both without and before circumciſion, and alſo .430. yeares before the lawe. This ſelfe ſame argument he handleth in the fourth chapter to the Romaines: to witte, that righteouſnes was imputed to Abraham before Circumciſion,Rom. 4.10.11.12. and that he was righteous being yet vncircumciſed: much more then was he righteous before the law.
Therefore (ſaith Paule) the ſcripture did well prouide againſt this your glorious bragging of the righteouſnes of the law and workes. When? before Circumciſion and before the law.Galat. 3.8. For the law was geuen 430. yeares after the promiſe, whereas Abraham was not only iuſtified without the lawe and before the lawe, but alſo deade and buried: and his righteouſnes without the lawe did not onelyonly flouriſh vntill the lawe, but alſo ſhall flouriſh euen to the end of the world. If then the father of the whole Iewiſh nation was made righteous without the lawe and before the lawe, much more are the children made righteous by the ſame meanes that their father was. Therfore righteouſnes cometh by faith onelyonly, and not by the law.