Exposition of the Dominical Epistles and Gospels, Section 8
The Epistle. GALAT. 4.1.
I say, that the heire so long as he is a child differeth not from a seruant, &c.
IGnorant people behold rather an mGreg. Nyss…n. grat. de laude Theodor. solet pictura tacens in pariete loqui. The Papist calles it the lay mans gospell.Image well painted, then a booke well written, and are sooner perswaded with plaine similitudes and familiar examples, then with subtill reasons and accurate discourses Our Apostle therefore after hee had vsed for his purpose (namely, to proue that iustification is not by the law, but by faith in Christ) the comparison of a mans will, of the prison, of the schoolemaster in the former Chapter, addes also this of an heire; wherein as in eueryevery similitude two
points are remarkable: the
proposition: vers. 12.
reddition in the rest.
In which our twofold estate must bee considered, of
Thraldome, v…der Moses.
Freedome, by Christ, when the lawes tyrannical gouernement ends: and that is,
Two maner of waies, as nLuther. in loc.Interpreters out of the text:
1. By the cōming of Christ in the flesh once at the fulnes of time: vers. 4.5.
2. By the cōming of Christ in the spirit daily: vers. 6.7.
In his firstcomming, note the
Fact: vers. 4. and in it the
Giuer: God, whose good wil appeares in bestowing on vsus his Sonne:
Fitly: when the time was full come.
Freely: for hee was not bought or stolne, but sent.
Gift: Christ described heere by his
Diuinitie: his Sonne.
Humanity: made of a woman.
Humility: bond to the law.
Effect: vers. 5. to redeeme them which were bound vntounto the law, &c.
The heire as long as he is a child] This comparison is taken out of the Roman law by which it is ordained that a pupill, albeit he be Lord of all his fathers inheritance, should be kept vnderunder tutors and gouernours, vntill hee come to full age; to wit, vnderunder tutors till oIustinian. institut. l. 1. tit. 22.fourteene yeeres, vnderunder Curators vntill pIdem eodem tit. 23.fiue and twenty. qIdem codem tit. 20.Tutores dantur impub…ribus, Curatores puberibus. Tutors are guardians of the pupils rIdem codem tit. 14.person principally: so called, sL. 1. D. de Tutela.Quasituitores at que defensores; but tL. in copulandi…. 8. …. de nuptijs.Curators are factors especially for his goods and estate.
Now the Ward, during the time of his minority, suffers much bondage; differing, saith Paul, nothing from a seruant; nothing in respect of any present possession, or actuall administration of his owne estate, but very much in respect of his right and proprietie, being uGorran. in loc.dominus habitu, non vsu: as hauing xTermes of the law. pag. 103.free hold in law, though as yet not free hold in deede: and so the Ward doeth differ from the slaue; who was in old time no yL▪ quod attinet. 32. D. de reg. iuris.person in law, but a meere chattell, and as it were of the nature of zL. 2. D. ad legem Aquileam.cattell.
It was in Pauls age then a great slauery to be a pupill. And aSerm. at Pauls Crosse.Bishop Latuner complained of late, that there was not a schoole for the Wards, so well as a Court: a schoole for their learning, so well as a Court for their lands. It should seeme Gardians in his daies vsed young Noble men not as Lords, but as seruants; as Paul here, &c.
In like manner, when wee were little children, in our nonage we were heires, hauing the promise of an eternall inheritance to come, which should be giuen vntounto vsus by the seed of bGen. 12.3.Abraham: that is to say, by Christ, in whom all nations should be blessed; but because the fulnesse of time was not yet come, Moses our tutor and gouernor held vsus in bondage▪ The law doth threaten, accuse, condemne, so long as we be children in vnderstanding, dwarfes in faith, ignorant of Christ. Saint Paul cals the law rudiments of the world; not onelyonly cGorran. & Aquir. in loc.because it is our first dGalat. 3.24.schoolemaster, and A, B, C, to Christ, but eLuther. in loc.because it leaues a man in the world, and prepares not a way for him to heauen. I kill not, I steale not, I commit not adultery: this outward honest conuersation is not the kingdome of Christ, but the righteousnes of the world.
The law when it is in his principall vse, cannot iustifie, but accuse, terrifie, condemne. Now these are things of the world, which because it is the kingdome of the diuell, is nothing else but a puddle of sinne, death, hell, and of all euill: and so the whole law, especially the ceremoniall, are fGal. 4.9.beggerly rudiments of the world.
I speake not this to disgrace the law, neither doth Paul so meane; for it is holy, righteous, spirituall, diuine: but because Paul is in the matter of iustification, it is, as gVbi supra.Luther obserues, exceeding necessary, that he should speake of the law as of a very contemptible thing. Wherefore, when Satan assaults thee with the terrors of the law, banish that stutting and stammering Moses far from thee: let him vtterly be suspected as an heretike, or as an excommunicate person, worse then the Pope, worse then the diuell himselfe, quoth Luther: bu… out of the matter of iustification, and conflict of conscience, reuerence Moses as a great Prophet, as a man of God, euen as God.
In the ciuill life Moses and Christ agree: for our Sauiour said, he came not to destroy, but to hMat. 5.17.fulfill the law; but in the spirituall life, the one cannot abide the other: for iGal. 3.11.no man is iustified by the la; but the iust shall …ue by faith. And therefore when Christ is presen…, the law must depart out of the conscience, and leaue the bed, which is so kEsay 28.20.strait that it cannot hold two, to Christ alone. Let him onelyonly raigne in righteousnesse, in peace, ioy, life, that the soule may sleepe and repose it selfe in the multitude of his mercies sweetly without any terror of the law, sinne, death, hell. And thus you see the law tyranniseth ouer our consciences, as the cruell tutor doth ouer his vnfortunate Ward, till God in fulnesse of time giueth vsus freedome by Christ.
When the time was full come] Not by fatall necessitie, but by Gods appointment. For there is a time for all things, and Almighty God doth all things in his due time; he created and redeemed vsus in his due time, preserueth, iustifieth, sanctifieth in his due time, and he will also glorifie vsus in his due time.
Now the comming of Christ in the flesh, is called the fulnesse of time for many respects: as,
1. For the lIohn 1.16.fulnesse of grace receiued by his comming.
2. Because Christ is the fulfilling of the m2. Cor. 1.20.promises of God, as being in him, yea and amen.
3. Because the nRom. 10.4.Law and the oLu…. 1.70.Prophets are fulfilled in him.
4. Because the times from Christ are the p1. Cor. 10.1….ends of the world, and it was fit hee should come so late, when the time was full, for qAquin. in loc.two reasons especially:
1. Because Christ is a Lord, yea the Lord, and therefore most meete there should be great preparation, and long expectation of so puissant a person.
2. Because Christ is the grand Physition of the world, and therefore very requisite al sinners, his patients, should throughly *Matth. 9.12. The whole need not a Physition.feele their sicknesse and misery before hee came to visit and redeeme them; vt conuincerentur homines de morbo, vt quantum ad defectum scientiae in lege naturae, & quantum ad defectum virtutis in lege scripta.
His Sonne] God is father of
All men, and all things, by creation generally.
His elect, by adoption specially.
Christ, by nature, singularly. See before the Creed: Art. His onelyonly Sonne.
Made of a woman] In expounding this clause, we must take heed of sundry wicked heresies, on the left hand, and on the right. On the left; first, of rAugust. b…res. 44.Paulus Samosatenus, and sIdem. b…res. 45Fotinus, affirming that Christ had his being and beginning from his mother Mary: whereas the Scripture teacheth plainly, that Christ was made of the seed of Dauid according to the tRom. 1.2.flesh: not according to his person, for that is eternall. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and that Word was God. Againe, we must take heed of uIren…us. lib. 1. cap. 25.Ebion, holding, that Christ was not conceiued of the holy Ghost, but begot of Ioseph: and the reason of his madnesse is taken hence; because Mary is called a woman, not a virgin. xGloss. & August. contra F…ustum, lib. 23. cap. 7. & Thom. 3. … p. quaest. 28. ar. 1. ad 3.….Our answere is, that a woman in scripture doth not alway signifie the maried, or one that hath knowne a man: but sometime it doth onelyonly denotate the sex, as Gen. 3.12. The woman which thou gauest to be with m…, she gaue me of the tree, and I did eat. Eua must needs be a virgin, because so soone as she was made she was maried: and yet the text calles her woman at that time, when there could bee no time for man to corrupt her.
On the right hand we must shun the rockes of Valentinus and Nestorius: of y…. haer. 11.Valentinus, who taught, Christ had not his body from Mary but that he brought it with him from heauen, and passed thorow the wombe of the virgin, as water thorow a conduit pipe: contrary to the text here; made of a woman. zGorran. in loc.Ex muliere, non in muliere: not in a woman, but of a woman. And the preposition aAquin. in loc.ex, notes the matter, as an house is made of timber and stone; bread is made of wheat; wine, of grapes: and therefore Christ had the materials of his body from Mary: so some copies hauehave it here, bErasmus annot. in loc.foreign, not foreign. Yet Christ had not his formale principium of Mary, for the holy Chost was agent in his wonderfull conception: and therefore fitly said here to be borne, or as we reade, to be made; not begotten of a woman.
By this also we may shun Nestorius his rocke, who thought Mary might not be called the mother of the Sonne of God: for the text is plaine; God sent his Sonne made of a woman: Ergo, the Sonne of God was the sonne of Mary. For the confutation of this error, the famous Councell of Ephesus was assembled, wherein it was cMagdeburg. Cent. 5. Col. 889.concluded, and that in the first canon, that Mary should be called the mother of God. See before, the Creed; Art. Borne of the virgin Mary.
Bond to the law] Though he were Lord of the law, yet made he himselfe subiect to the law, circumcised according to the law, and presented in the Temple, according to the law; yea it executed vponupon him all the iurisdiction it had ouer vsus. It doth by good right accuse, conuince, condemne vsus. For alas, all of vsus are dPsal. 14.4.sinners, and by nature the children of eEphes. 2.3.…: but Christ did no sinne, neither was there f1. Pet. 2.22.guile f…und in his mouth: yet notwithstanding the law was no lesse cruell against this innocent and blessed lambe, then it was against vsus cursed and damnable sinners: yea much more rigorous. For it made him guilty before God of all the sinnes of the whole world. It terrified and oppressed him with such an heauinesse of spirit, that he sweat blood; and in fine, condemned him to death, euen the death of the Crosse. Thus Christ was made bond vntounto the law, to redeeme them which were bond vntounto the law: for hee died for our sinnes, and indured all this for our sakes; and so being vnderunder the law, conquered the law by a gLuther in loc.double right: first, as the Sonne of God, and Lord of the law: secondly, in our person, which is as much as if our selues had ouercome the law; for his victory is ours.
And therefore remember alway this sweet and comfortable text in the midst of all dangers, all assaults of tyrants, all temptations of Satan, in the houre of death especially, saying to the law; Thou hast no power ouer me; for God the Father hath sent his Sonne to redeeme mee from thy bondage; thou dost accuse, terrifie, condemne in vaine: for I will hAugustin. manuel. cap. 23.creepe into the hole which bloudy Longinus made with his speare in my Sauiours side There will I hide my selfe from all my foes; I will plunge my conscience in his wounds, death, victorious resurrection, glorious ascension; besides him I will see nothing, I will heare nothing. i1. Cor. 15.56.The sting of death is sinne, and the strength of sinne is the law. But thanks be vntounto God, which hath giuen vsus victory, through our Lord Iesus Christ.
kDefence for not subscribing, part. 1. cap 9.The Nouelists exception against our translating naturall sonnes, is idle: for our Communion booke doth not call vsus naturall sonnes, as Christ is Gods naturall Sonne by eternall generation: but as it were naturalized by spiritual regeneration, adopted through election and grace: so Paul elsewhere termeth vsus lRom. 8.17.Cohe…res with Christ. Neither doth this paraphrase wrong the Patriarks before the law, nor the Prophets vnderunder the law: for as I hauehave noted out of Martin Luther; Chirst, who came in the flesh once, comes in the spirit daily, crying Abba Father, as it followeth in the text: he is one mHeb. 13.8.yesterday, and to day, and shall be the same for euer. Yesterday, before the time of his comming in the flesh: today, now he is reuealed in fulnesse of time: For euer the same lambe of God, nApoc. 13.8.slaine from the beginning of the world. The oLuther. in loc.Fathers then had Christ in spirit; which holy spirit made them free from the bondage of the law: so that they and we are saued by one and the same grace, by one and the same faith in one and the same pAnglican. Confes. art. 7.Christ.
How the blessed Spirit crieth in our hearts, assuring our spirit that we are the children of God; helping our infirmities, and making request for vsus with sighes, which cannot be expressed; see before, The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ, &c. This Epistle doth accord with the Gospell, which intimates in particular, how Christ became the Sonne of man, that hee might make vsus the sonnes of God: how Christ is Iesus and Emmanuel. Both fit the time, that in the midst of Christmas our soule might magnifie the Lord, and our spirit reioice in God our Sauiour: who was made of a woman, and made bond vntounto the law, to redeeme those who were bound vntounto the law: that wee might bee sonnes and heires of God through him.