Galatians 1:4
Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present wicked world, according to the will of God and our Father:
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- qui dedit semetipsum pro peccatis nostris, ut eriperet nos de præsenti sæculo nequam, secundum voluntatem Dei et Patris nostri,
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- τοῦ δόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν ὅπως ἐξέληται ἡμᾶς ἐκ τοῦ αἰῶνος τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος πονηροῦ κατὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ἡμῶν,
Haydock's commentary
On verses 1 to 5
The apostle begins by asserting his apostleship which the false teachers had called in question. He was called to it by Christ himself, in his miraculous conversion, being changed "into a vessel of election to carry his name before kings and nations, and the children of Israel." Thus chosen, we see him immediately after his conversion, preaching in Damascus and Arabia. (Calmet)
Let us beware of self-appointed teachers, who are neither called by God nor rightly ordained by men, and yet are observed to intrude themselves into the ministry.
Not from man, neither by man.1 The apostle here expressly says, all the brethren who are with me; to shew that he advanced nothing which was not conformable to the belief of all the faithful. (St. Jerome)
And again he says, (ver. 12.) neither did I receive it from man, nor did I learn it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. That is, not from him, who was a man only, but from Jesus Christ, who was both God and man. St. Jerome, who has left us a commentary on this epistle, (tom. iv. p. 222. Ed. Ben. as also St. Chrysostom, tom. iii. p. 709. Ed. Sav.) takes notice, that Christ's divinity is proved from these expressions, that St. Paul was not an apostle, nor had his mission from man only, but from Jesus Christ, who therefore was not a man only.
By Jesus Christ and God the Father. A second argument to shew the equality of the Son with the Father. And thirdly, it destroys another objection of the Arians, who used to pretend that the Father, being always first named, he only, and not the Son, was properly God. Fourthly, another of their arguments to prove only the Father truly God, was that he was called the God, with the Greek article; and here the Father is called God, without the said Greek article. Fifthly, they also pretended that the Son was not God, because the Father was said to deliver him to death: and here (ver. 3.) the Son is said to give and deliver himself. (Witham)
1 Non ab homine, on which words St. Jerome, ergo non homo tantum est Christus. See St. Chrysostom in his commentary, or ermeneia, on this epistle, p. 713, where he takes notice against the Arians, that here God the Father is called Theos, not o Theos; so that their argument from the Greek article is of no force; choris arthrou....ouk apo tou, alla apo theou patros, &c.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Pseudo-Ignatius Epistle to Hero, a Deacon of Antioch
Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to Hero, the deacon of Christ, and the servant of God, a man honoured by God, and most dearly loved as well as esteemed, who carries Christ and the Spirit within him, and who is mine own son in faith and love: Grace, mercy, and peace from Almighty God, and from Christ Jesus our Lord, His only-begotten Son, “who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from the present evil world,” and preserve us unto His heavenly kingdom.
St Augustine Reply to Faustus the Manichæan, Faustus denies that Manichæans believe in two gods. Hyle no god. Augustin discusses at large the doctrine of God and Hyle, and fixes the charge of dualism upon the Manichæans
9. Whoever, then, denies that our body and its members, which the apostle so approves and extols, are the handiwork of God, you see whom he contradicts, preaching contrary to what you have received. So, instead of refuting his opinions, I may leave him to be accursed of all Christians. The apostle says, God tempered the body. Faustus says, Not God, but Hyle . Anathemas are more suitable than arguments to such contradictions. You cannot say that God is here called the God of this world. And if any one understands the passage where this expression does occur to mean that the devil blinds the minds of unbelievers, we grant that he does so by his evil suggestions, from yielding to which, men lose the light of righteousness in God’s righteous retribution. This is all in accordance with sacred Scripture. …
St Augustine A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants, From the Epistle to the Galatians
Likewise to the Galatians the apostle writes: “Grace be to you, and peace, from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world.” While in another passage he says to them: “The law was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator belongs not to one party; but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.”
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Matthew XVI. 24
8. After this again, they seem to begin afresh, but they are keeping to the same argument. As Paul also in the beginning of an epistle, having closed with a doxology, where he says, “According to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever. Amen;”begins the subject again on which he was writing. And again in another place when he had said, “They worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever: Amen;”he completed not his discourse, but begins again.
St John Chrysostom The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians, Galatians 1:1--3
Ver. 4 . “Who gave himself for our sins.”
St John Chrysostom The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians, Galatians 1:1--3
Ver. 4 . “That He might deliver us out of this present evil world.”
St John Chrysostom The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians, Galatians 1:1--3
Ver. 4 . “According to the will of our God and Father.” Since they were terrified by their notion that by deserting that old Law and adhering to the new, they should disobey God, who gave the Law, he corrects their error, and says, that this seemed good to the Father also: and not simply “the Father,” but “our Father,” which he does in order to affect them by showing that Christ has made His Father our Father.
St John Chrysostom The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians, Ephesians 2:1-3
Here again he means, that Satan occupies the space under Heaven, and that the incorporeal powers are spirits of the air, under his operation. For that his kingdom is of this age, i.e., will cease with the present age, hear what he says at the end of the Epistle; “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against powers, against the world rulers of this darkness;” ( Eph. vi. 12 .) where, lest when you hear of world-rulers you should therefore say that the Devil is uncreated, he elsewhere ( Gal. i. 4 .) calls a perverse time, “an evil world,” not of the creatures. For he seems to me, having had dominion beneath the sky, not to have fallen from his dominion, even after his transgression.
St John Chrysostom The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians, Ephesians 6:5-8
By “evil day” he means the present life, and calls it too “this present evil world” ( Gal. i. 4 .), from the evils which are done in it. It is as much as to say, Always be armed. And again, “having done all,” saith he; that is, both passions, and vile lusts, and all things else that trouble us. He speaks not merely of doing the deed, but of completing it, so as not only to slay, but to stand also after we have slain. For many who have gained this victory, have fallen again. “Having done,” saith he, “all”; not having done one, but not the other. For even after the victory, we must stand. An enemy may be struck, but things that are struck revive again if we do not stand. But if after having fallen they rise up again, so long as we stand, they are fallen. So long as we waver not, the adversary rises not again.
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 5.1-3
And what he means is this, ‘He is readily listened to.’ For since they had not yet the right opinion concerning Him, he said that He was heard. Just as He Himself also when consoling His disciples said, “If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I go to My Father” ( John xiv. 28 ), and “My Father is greater than I.” But how did He not glorify Himself, He who “made Himself of no reputation” ( Philip. ii. 7 ), He who gave Himself up? For, it is said, “He gave Himself” up “for our sins.” (See Gal. i. 4 .) And again, “Who gave Himself a ransom for us all.” ( 1 Tim. ii. 6 .) What is it then? Thou seest that it is in reference to the flesh that lowly things are spoken concerning Himself: So also here, “Although He were Son, He was heard in that He feared,” it is said. He wishes to show, that the success was of Himself, rather than of God’s favor. …
St Ambrose On the Holy Spirit, Chapter II. The Son and the Spirit are alike given; whence not subjection but one Godhead is shown by Its working
9. And not only did the Father send the Son, but also gave Him, as the Son Himself gave Himself. For we read: “Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for our sins.” If they think that He was subject in that He was sent, they cannot deny that it was of grace that He was given. But He was given by the Father, as Isaiah said: “Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given;” but He was given, I dare to say it, by the Spirit also, Who was sent by the Spirit. For since the prophet has not defined by whom He was given, he shows that He was given by the grace of the Trinity; and inasmuch as the Son Himself gave Himself, He could not be subject to Himself according to His Godhead. Therefore that He was given could not be a sign of subjection in the God-head.
St Ambrose Exposition of the Christian Faith, Chapter XVII. That Christ is very God is proved from the fact that He is God's own Son, also from His having been begotten and having come forth from God, and further, from the unity of will and operation subsisting in Father and Son. The witness of the apostles and of the centurion--which St. Ambrose sets over against the Arian teaching--is adduced, together with that of Isaiah and St. John
109. Lest, however, men should wrest the Scripture, that “God gave Him up,” the Apostle himself has said in another place, “Peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for our sins;” and again: “Even as Christ hath loved us, and given Himself for us.” If, then, He both was given up by the Father, and gave Himself up of His own accord, it is plain that the working and the will of Father and Son is one.
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