Commentarii D. Andreae Hyperii, doctissimi ac clarissimi theologi, in omnes D. Pauli Apostoli epistolas, atque etiam in epistolam D. Iudae: Commentarii D. Andreae Hyperii, doctissimi ac clarissimi theologi, in epistolas D. Pauli ad Galatas & Ephesios. ...

PREFACE.

Against such men, therefore—not only the pseudo-apostles of his own age, who were undermining the glory of Christ with human merits, and who even now, selling their Sicilian trifles and Hibernian nonsense to the ignorant multitude (whom they keep away from the reading and knowledge of the sacred scriptures), trample underfoot the true way of God and salvation—the Apostle begins a spiritual battle in these two epistles, and, having stripped off their masks, defends the cause of truth and faith with great gravity. For do not these very men, who proclaim with a loud mouth that they are Catholics, impugn the justification of faith and ascribe the salvation of man to dead and unclean works? Do not the same men, by denying the power of faith, subvert the fulcrum of human salvation and, tearing away the foundation of divine and eternal election from the grace and mercy of God and αὐθεντία authority, transfer it to the uncertain and doubtful deeds of men? The Spirit of Christ, who is promised to the Apostles as the one who will denounce things to come, long ago provided for these things: Wherefore, it is not without reason that the Apostle so sharply refutes the most false dogmas of the Antichrist by defending the truth in these [epistles]. For just as he recalls his Galatians, who had been fascinated by pseudo-apostles and had turned aside to Judaism, to the integrity of faith: so he proves with firm arguments taken from the word of God and the prophecies of the Prophets that justice happens to man by faith alone, without works: and that the reason for the blessing is no other proposition than that which was once shown to the believing fathers in the blessed seed, namely Christ. And in the same way, he instructs the church of the Ephesians, which he had foreseen would be infested by most grave wolves after his departure, and teaches how firm their faith and salvation exists, inasmuch as it is supported by the eternal grace of God: for he makes this, as it were, the most robust foundation of the salvation of the Church of God and the faithful. And from this, he proves that there is no reason for any of the believers to doubt the grace and love of God, upon which depends the election, calling, justification, and glorification of men (hence he confirms that πληροφορίαν full assurance of his, in Colossians 2, 1 Thessalonians 1, Hebrews 6, 10), and yet, that one should not more securely decline into the filth of crimes. Truly, the Apostle wisely describes the duty of the justified and elect children of God in the treasures of divine grace set forth in both epistles, and exhorts them to contain themselves within the fences of faith, so that they do not transgress the boundaries of Christian piety and religion. And thus, he meets both present and future seducers on both sides, and satisfies the faith and instruction of the pious. And, just as he testifies in the latter [letter] to the Corinthians in the tenth chapter that his epistles are grave and robust: so there is much of strength and gravity in these two.