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. ...

IN THE EPISTLES OF D. PAUL

How great is its utility, or what are the primary places of Christian doctrine within it.

In the first part, we are made certain here concerning the authority and the entire doctrine of Paul, so that we may safely believe him and adhere to him as one divinely approved.
In the second part, we learn the sum of the entire Gospel, namely, that men are justified by faith without the works of the law:
What the true use of the law is, namely, that the law is as it were our schoolmaster and tutor, by whom the external life ought to be governed:
What also is evangelical liberty, and that this differs from carnal liberty.
The third part also has its own places, which we have indicated briefly before.

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PAUL an Apostle, not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen.

The Apostle here illustrates the office of his apostleship beyond his custom.

Just as the entire epistle is sharp and agitated, and filled with the weightiest arguments: so the epigraph itself breathes a certain vehemence, and contains within itself certain arguments, which it is not very difficult to elicit. Since, therefore, he immediately calls himself an Apostle, an appellation which he omitted while writing to the Philippians and Thessalonians, but to the Romans he said he was a servant: he refutes the slander of his adversaries, who had spread about that he was by no means an Apostle, so that they might alienate men from his sound doctrine. Therefore, there is a certain Emphasis in the appellation of Apostle: And the sentiment is: Let it be, others in my absence may have boasted much among you about themselves, so as to obscure my glory, and have persuaded you that only they are true Apostles sent by Christ and not by the apostles: but yet I must constantly and rightly can assert that I am a true and legitimate apostle. For this reason, therefore, Paul wished to assert immediately that he was a true Apostle, so that he might blunt the slander of his adversaries, and by defending the dignity of his own person, retain all in sound doctrine. Thus, wherever the Apostle celebrates his office, or commends himself, he does not do it out of a desire for empty glory, much less out of envy or hatred of others: but out of duty and necessity, namely for the preservation of the dignity of the Gospel, which he himself faithfully and purely announces.

The true and celestial calling of an apostle depends upon Christ himself and God the Father.

Not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father. With these marks he amplifies his office: and teaches that he neither by his own rashness, nor by the suffrages of any of his own people, broke into the Apostolic office, nor did he receive it from any men having legitimate authority, but from Christ alone: and by the same work he strikes at the false apostles, as those sent to teach by their own ambition or only by the conspiracy of their own people.
These differences are to be noted: from men, and through man, and through Christ, so that it may be understood in how many various ways some are called to the office of teaching. Those are called from men, who without the mandate of God, or with God not approving, by certain few persons not having legitimate authority, are promoted to a public office: So that to be called from men is simply the same as not to be called by God. For thus