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. ...

D. ANDREAS HYPERIUS'S COMMENTARIES ON THE EPISTLE OF D. PAUL TO THE GALATIANS.

CHAPTER I

A decorative initial letter 'G' begins the text.
The Galatians are Greeks, situated between Cappadocia and Bithynia, descended from certain Gauls seeking new homes, according to the testimony of Strabo in book 4: whence they were sometimes called Gallo-Greeks. Pliny mentions them in book 5, chapter 32, and Livy in the fourth decade, book 8. Paul was among them twice, though on his first arrival he was forbidden by the Holy Spirit to teach, as is found in Acts 16. But when he came the second time, he delivered the entire doctrine concerning the justification of faith most exactly and happily, which is read in Acts 18.

Not long after Paul had departed, behold, false apostles from the Jews arrived in Galatia, daring to teach that men could not be justified by faith in Christ unless they were also circumcised and observed the Mosaic law. This impious doctrine, which tended toward the subversion of the entire Gospel, they confirmed by the authority and examples of the primary bishops, Peter, John, and James (from whom they claimed to have been sent), whom they said had acted in such a way and abstained from certain foods and from the company of the Gentiles (concerning which matter, Acts 10 and 11). But they also astutely elevated Paul's authority, saying that he had never walked with Christ, and therefore was not a true Apostle, but had only learned some things from certain disciples, and that his doctrine was much different from that of the highest Apostles and their doctrine, and was even condemned by them. Furthermore, they argued that he was inconsistent, and taught as if he were saying contradictory things, since he taught elsewhere that men are justified by faith without the works of the law: yet elsewhere, when he was with the highest apostles, he himself observed the law. Because of this matter, the church of the Galatians was not lightly perturbed, and almost passed over from Christianity to Judaism. Therefore, when the Apostle heard of this, he wished both to confirm his doctrine concerning justification through faith without the works of the law, and to defend the dignity of his office against the calumnies of his adversaries.

Why it was written

What it contains, or how many parts it has.

Therefore, this epistle is divided into two main parts, or rather three. The first is apologetic, as it is in which he defends the dignity of his person. For he asserts that he was called to the apostolic office by Christ Himself, and was most fully taught all things by Him, not by any men: that his doctrine agrees in all things with the doctrine of the other apostles: and that he has always defended the same most constantly: that he is also inferior to no other apostles: which he proves clearly by various arguments almost to the very end of the second chapter. The second part is didactic, and is spent entirely in the dispute concerning justification by faith; in it, the Proposition, Confirmation (and this is furnished with most valid arguments), Refutation, and Conclusion are disposed very aptly. And this is in the third chapter, the fourth, and a good portion of the fifth.

A third, parænetic exhortatory part is added concerning the doctrine of works, which exhorts them to perform works of charity and to avoid the works of the flesh, but especially in chapter 6, that they should lift up the weak and assist the pious ministers of the word: finally, that they should beware of the False Apostles and adhere indivisibly to sound doctrine.

Since the Apostle wrote this principally to teach that justification is obtained by faith Genre of the cause and not by works, it is correctly referred entirely to the didactic genre, even if the first part seems to pertain to the judicial. Nor is it absurd for causes of different genres to be mixed in one epistle.

The state of the case is almost the same as that of the epistle to the Romans. For it is defined here that men are justified by faith, not by works: so that you might correctly call this epistle an epitome of the one that is to the Romans. Definitive state.