Commentary on Galatians, Chapter 4 · Verse extract 26
Verſe. 26. But Ieruſalem vvhichwhich is aboue, is free: vvhichwhich is the mother of vsus all.
That earthly Ieruſalem (ſayth he) which is beneath, hauing the policie and ordinances of the law is Agar, and is in bondage with her children: that is to ſay, ſhe is not deliuered from the lawe, ſinne and death. But Ieruſalem, which is aboue, that is to ſay, the ſpirituall Ieruſalem, is Sara (albeit Paule addeth not the proper name of Sara, but geueth her an other name, calling her the free woman), that is to ſay, that true Ladie and freewoman, which is the mother of vsus all, begetting vsus vntounto libertie, and not vntounto bondage as Agar doth.
Now, this heauenly Ieruſalem which is aboue, is the Church, that is to ſay,VVho are the citizens of the church. the Faithful diſperſed thorow out the whole world: which hauehave one and the ſame Goſpell, one and the ſame Faith in Chriſte, the ſame holy Ghoſt, and the ſame Sacraments.
Aboue.Therfore vnderſtand not this word [Aboue] of the triumphant Church (as the Schoolemen do) which is heauen:The church triumphant & militant. but of the militant church in earth, as they call it. For the godly are ſayd to hauehave theyr conuerſation in heauen, Philip. 3. Our conuerſation is in heauen, not locally:Philip. 3.20. but in that a Chriſtian beleueth, in that he layeth holde of thoſe ineſtimable, heauenly and eternal gifts he is in heauen, Epheſians. 1. VVhichWhich hath bleſſed vsus vvith all ſpiritual bleſſing in heauenly things in Chriſt. Epheſ. 1.3.We muſt therfore diſtinguiſh ye heauēly & ſpiritual Bleſſing from the earthly.The earthly and heauenly bleſſing. For the earthly Bleſſing is to hauehave a good ciuill gouernment both in common weales & families: to hauehave children, peace, riches, frutes of the earth, and other corporall commodities. But the heauenly Bleſſing is to be deliuered from the law,The heauenly bleſſing. ſinne, and death: to be iuſtified and quickened to life: to hauehave peace with God: to hauehave a faithfull heart, a ioyfull conſcience, and ſpirituall conſolation: to hauehave the knowledge of Ieſus Chriſte: to hauehave the gift of Propheſie and the reuelation of the Scriptures: to hauehave the giftes of the holy Ghoſt, and to reioyce in God. Theſe are the heauenly bleſſings which Chriſt geueth to his Church.
Wherfore Ieruſalem which is aboue, that is to ſay, the heauenly Ieruſalem is the church which is now in the world: and not the citie of the life to come,The interpretation of the Monkes. or the Church triumphant, as the idle and vnlearned Monks and the Schooledoctors dreamed, which taught that the Scripture hath foure ſenſes: the literall ſenſe, the figuratiue ſenſe, the allegoricall ſenſe,The foure ſenſes of the ſcripture, according to the Papiſtes. and the morall ſenſe, and according to theſe ſenſes they hauehave fooliſhly interpreted almoſt all the wordes of the Scriptures. As this word Ieruſalem literally ſignified that citie which was ſo named: figuratiuely a pure conſcience: allegorically ye church militāt: morally the celeſtiall Citie or the church triumphant. With theſe trifeling and fooliſh fables, they rent the Scriptures into ſo many and diuers ſenſes, that ſeely poore conſciences could receaue no certaine doctrine of any thing. But Paule ſayeth here that the olde and earthly Ieruſalem belongeth vntounto Agar,The heauenly Ieruſalem vvhichwhich is yet vponupon earth. and that it is in bondage with her children, and is vtterly aboliſhed. But the new and heauenly Ieruſalem, which is a Queene and a freewomā, is appoynted of god in earth and not in heauen, to be the mother of vsus all, of whom we hauehave bene engendred, and yet daily are gendred. Therefore it is neceſſary that this our mother ſhould be in earth among men, as alſo her generation is. Notwithſtanding ſhe gendreth by the holy Ghoſt, by the miniſtery of the word and ſacraments, and not in the fleſh.
This I ſay to the ende that in this matter we ſhould not be caried away with our cogitations into heauen, but that we ſhould know that Paule ſetteth the Ieruſalem which is aboue,The heauenly Ieruſalem is ſet againſt the earthly, not locally but ſpiritually. againſt the earthly Ieruſalem, not locally but ſpiritually. For there is a diſtinction betwene thoſe things which are ſpirituall, and thoſe which are corporall or earthly. The ſpirituall things are aboue, the earthly are beneath: So Ieruſalem which is aboue, is diſtinguiſhed from the carnall and temporall Ieruſalem which is beneath, not locally (as I hauehave ſayd) but ſpiritually. For this ſpirituall Ieruſalem which tooke her beginning in the corporall Ieruſalem,The ſpirituall Ieruſalem diſperſed thorovv out the vvhole vvorld hath not any certaine place as hath the other in Iudea: but it is diſperſed thorow out the whole world, and may be in Babylon, in Turkie, in Tartarie, in Scythia, in Iudea, in Italie, in Germanie, in the Iſles of the ſea, in the mountaines and valleis, and in all places of the world where men dwel which hauehave the Goſpel and beleue in Ieſus Chriſt.
Wherfore Sara or Ieruſalem our free mother, is the Church it ſelfe, the ſpouſe of Chriſte, of whom we all are gendred. This mother gendreth free children without ceaſing to the ende of the world, as long as ſhe exerciſeth the Miniſterie of the word, that is to ſay, as long as ſhe preacheth and publiſheth the Goſpell: for this is truely to gender. Now, ſhe teacheth the Goſpell after this maner: to witte, that we are deliuered from the Curſe of the lawe, from ſinne, death and all other euils through Ieſus Chriſt, & not by the law, neither by workes. Therefore Ieruſalem which is aboue, that is to ſay, the Church, is not ſubiect to the law and works, but ſhe is free and a mother, without the law, ſinne and death. Now, ſuch a mother as ſhe is, ſuch children ſhe gendreth.
This allegorie teacheth very aptly that the Church ſhould doe nothing elſe but preach and teach the Goſpell truely and ſincerely,The Church begetteth children by teaching. and by this meanes ſhould gender children. So, we are all fathers and children one to an other: For we are begotten one of an other. I being begotten by other through the Goſpell, doe now beget other, which ſhall alſo beget other hereafter: and ſo this begetting ſhall endure to the ende of the world. Now, I ſpeake of the generation, not of Agar the bondmaid, which gendreth her bondſeruauntes by the lawe, but of Sara the freewoman, who gendreth heires without the law, and without mans workes or endeuours. For in that Iſaac is heire and not Iſmael (albeit notwithſtāding that both of them were the naturall ſonnes of Abraham) Iſaac had the inheritaunce by the word of promiſe,Iſaac is heir through the promiſe. Geneſ. 17.19. namely: Sara thy vvife shall bring thee a ſonne, and thou shalt call his name Iſaac. This did Sara well vnderſtand, and therefore ſhe ſayeth: Caſt out the bondvvoman and her ſonne: And Paule alſo aledgeth theſe words afterwards. Wherfore as Iſaac hath ye inheritance of his father onelyonly by the promiſe and by his birth, wtout the law and without works: euen ſo we are borne through the Goſpel of that freewomā Sara, true heires of the promiſe. She, that is to ſay, the church enſtrueteth vsus, nouriſheth vsus, and carieth vsus in her wombe, in her lappe, and in her armes: ſhe formeth and faſhioneth vsus to the image of Chriſte,Epheſ. 4.13. vntill we grow vppe to a perfect man, &c. So all things are done by the miniſterie of the word. Wherefore the office of the freewoman is to gender children to God her huſband without ceaſing and without end: that is to ſay, ſuch children as know that they are iuſtified by Faith and not by the lawe.