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

his vocation. It is the greatest thing, and as necessary as it is useful, to have a regard for one's vocation at all times, and by the consideration of it, to rouse oneself to diligence and sedulity in the office. And therefore you who give yourselves to the study of sacred letters ought to think from time to time that you are divinely called to these studies, and also that the condition or way of life to which you are called to be undertaken in the future is highly honorable. For the administration of the word in the church ought now to be valued in the same place as the Apostle held it when he first announced the Gospel, [namely] his apostolic office. Let them object who will that you are stipendiaries: but you, on the contrary, will glory in that vocation, and you will value it not less, nay more, than if you had been called to the administration of public affairs.

Furthermore, he added "God the Father," at once to amplify his vocation, because he was designated an Apostle not only by Christ but also by God the Father: and at once to declare that when he was called by Christ, he was called by God himself: since Christ is God, and his power and will are in all things equal and the same as the power and will of the Father: As this place clearly proves the divine nature in Christ. For when the Apostle says that he was called to the office of teaching the Gospel, not from men, nor through man, but through Christ: it is worth just as much as if he were to say that he was called immediately by Him who is more than man, and is God by nature.

The excellence of the Pauline vocation.

Who raised him from the dead. This also pertains to the amplification of the vocation: for it indicates that he was called by Christ, not now acting on earth, but glorified: in a far more excellent way than the other apostles were called. For while the others were called by Christ acting on earth, here he signifies that he was called by Christ glorified, after he had risen by divine power. And necessity demanded this particle concerning the resurrection of Christ. For some would have said, how could Paul be Christ's Apostle, when long after the death of Christ he was still an enemy of the Gospel, and never associated with the living Christ? He answers that he was called by Christ now resurrected and glorified, who can now no less create apostles than before his death. Nor is it to be understood from these words that Christ did not also rise by his own power, as if he were inferior to the Father. For many other places testify that Christ rose by his own power, which is clearly divine: as in John 2, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Again in John 10, "I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again, etc."

1. And all the brethren who are with me. So that he may confirm more certainly that he is a true apostle, he enumerates also other pious believers who could testify concerning his legitimate apostleship: and to whom greater faith ought to be held if, by one who boasts much about himself, he were less believed. Nay, he also confirms his doctrine, as being received and approved by as many pious ones as possible, lest he be thought to be alone, just as perhaps the false apostles had spread about, [claiming] he handed it down, and all others dissented from him. Likewise, he also ascribes salvation in the name of other brethren, and most gravely urges the Galatians to repentance. For understanding that many are solicitous for their salvation, who together with Paul would reprove them for their defection from the Gospel, they ought to be moved by this reason, so that they might quickly return to a straighter path.

3. To the churches of Galatia. The apostle writes to many churches, because in the ample region of Galatia there were diverse congregations of saints in diverse towns (among which the more famous are counted Ancyra, Gordium, Laodicea, Pessinus), to all of which it is likely that the spoilers, the false apostles, had penetrated and subverted the minds of many. For otherwise one only universal church dispersed and spread over the whole world is recognized: but there are many particular congregations of the pious, somewhere enclosed in narrow limits. But one might wonder how the Apostle calls them churches, where however there are not truly pious, and truly believing [people], just as it is certain among the Galatians the phari-