Galatians 3:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore, if the law was given only until Christ's coming, why do you extend it further and beyond the appointed term?

"Ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator."

By angels he means either priests or the angels themselves, as ministers at the giving of the law. By mediator here he means Christ, showing that He existed before and that He Himself gave the law.

Yet the law was not given forever, but until the coming of Christ, to Whom the promise referred that in Him the nations would be blessed. If the law was given until Christ's manifestation, why do you extend its significance further?

"And it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator."

The law, he says, was given through the mediation of angels, either priests or actual angels. For the angels produced those trumpet blasts, thunders, and signs.

"By the hand of a mediator," that is, Christ. He shows that Christ also gave the law, and therefore He is free to abolish it.

The whole Old Testament was delivered through angels with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit and of the Word of truth Himself. He was not yet incarnate, but He was never absent from the proclamation of truth.

The law was given through angels, who sometimes acted in their own person and sometimes in the person of God, as the prophets also usually did.

Indeed, after the people’s rebellion in the wilderness, after the worship of the calf and the murmuring against the Lord, the law came into force in order to oppose transgressions. For the law is not appointed for the righteous man, but for the unrighteous, the disobedient, the ungodly, and sinners (1 Tim 1:9).

Returning to a higher point, I say that after the idolatry to which they had given themselves in Egypt, they forgot the God of their fathers. They even began to say: “Israel, these are your gods who brought you out of Egypt.”

Then the order, ritus, of divine worship and the punishment of transgressors against the law were established by the hand of the Mediator, that is, Jesus Christ. For all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made.

This includes not only heaven, earth, the sea, and all that we see. It also includes what was laid through Moses like a yoke of the law upon the hard-hearted people (Jn 1:1-14).

The Apostle also writes to Timothy: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5).

After, for our salvation, the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, was pleased to be born from the womb of the Virgin, He was called Mediator.

But before He received the body of man, in the beginning with the Father He was God the Word. He is called simply Mediator, without the addition “man,” which He had not yet assumed.

He was Mediator in relation to all the saints for whom He was the Word of God. These are Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and afterward Moses and all the prophets mentioned by Scripture.

His words, “The law was ordained through angels,” suggest this thought. In the whole Old Testament, where an angel is first depicted as speaking, afterward it is presented as though God were speaking.

Indeed, from among the very many ministering spirits, some one angel was visible. Yet through him the Mediator spoke, Who says: “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex 3:6).

It is no wonder if God speaks in angels, since even through angels found in men God speaks in the prophets, according to the word of the prophet Zachariah: “And the angel who spoke in me said” (Zech 1:9). At the beginning he had made the remark: “Thus says the Lord Almighty.”

For the angel who, according to Scripture, spoke in the prophet, did not dare to say in his own person: “Thus says the Lord Almighty.”

By the hand of the Mediator we must understand His might and power. Although according to the Godhead, secundum Deum, He Himself is one with His Father, according to the ministry of Mediator He is understood as distinct from Him.

Since the order of words here is tangled and the sense is made difficult by transposition, it seems to us that it should be restored in this way. The law was given through angels by the hand of the Mediator, ordained through angels because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise was given.

But it is beyond doubt that the seed signifies Christ. According to the words at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, He is shown to be the son of Abraham. For Scripture says: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Mt 1:1).

He also mentioned the angels in the Epistle to the Hebrews and said: "For if the word spoken through angels" (Heb 2:2). For the God of all appointed Michael over them. Blessed Daniel taught us this (Dan 10:21). And God promised the great Moses that He would send an angel with him to the people (Ex 32:34).

Indeed, the Apostle Paul says more than once that for those who live according to the Spirit, for the righteous, there is no law. It exists only for the unrighteous, with the aim of bridling their passions (Gal 5:23; 1 Tim 1:9).

"Ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator."

The Old Testament does not mention the participation of angels in the proclamation of the Sinai Law. Yet according to the testimony of New Testament writers, the law was given through the ministry of angels (Acts 7:53; Heb 2:2; Deut 33:2).

One may suppose that, just as the guidance of the Hebrew people after the worship of the golden calf was entrusted to angels (Ex 33:2-3), so the inscription of the law on the new stone tablets was carried out through the mediation of angels. The Apostle may be indicating such an ordaining here.

The mediator here is Moses, as he himself considered himself to be (Deut 5:5), not Jesus Christ, as some interpreters thought. For nowhere is Jesus Christ called the mediator of the Old Covenant.

Gal. 3:19. "Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions." Thus, first, the law is not an original institution, but was given as something added, as Oecumenius says. Second, it was given for a subordinate and secondary purpose, namely because of transgressions. This means for the restraint of transgression. Or, as Chrysostom says, the law was given to the Jews as a bridle, so that they would not live without fear and fall into utter impiety. It was given for their instruction, correction, and restraint from violating, if not all the commandments, at least some of them. Thus the benefit of the law is not small.

The law was also given "until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made" (continuation of Gal. 3:19). This points to a third circumstance concerning the law, namely its temporariness and passing significance. If the law was given only until the coming of Christ, then why, says Chrysostom in the Apostle's person, do you extend it beyond that time?

Again concerning the law: it "was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator," that is, Moses (continuation of Gal. 3:19). The angels were not the creators of the law, but ministers at its institution. They acted on God's behalf (Deut 33:2), and Moses on behalf of the people. God inspired them, they transmitted it to Moses (Acts 2:2-7:53), and Moses to the people, as Bishop Theophan says. The Apostle mentioned this so that it might be clear that the law, which had an added and temporary significance in its very essence when compared with the promise, was also lower than it in its arrangement. "The promise was given face to face by God to Abraham. But the law was set in order by angels, and moreover by the hand of a mediator. Two levels separated the people from God: Moses below and the angels above. But God Himself gave the promise," says Bishop Theophan.

Still, this passage was understood and interpreted in various ways even by the Greeks themselves. This difference reached a large number. More than one hundred interpretations of this passage are counted.

This shows how even a native language sometimes loses its clarity when one or another meaning of a word gradually begins to pass out of use. The passage cited lost its clarity because of the meaning that the Apostle gives here to the word εἷς.

This meaning was always little used. With time it gradually passed almost entirely out of ordinary speech and remained only in the language of philosophers.

The word εἷς had, and for a philosopher still has, the meaning “one” not only in the sense of number. It also means unity, or constancy, of real and moral being. It has the meaning “one and the same,” the very same, unchanging.

Modern philosophers understand the word εἷς in this way in many places in Aristotle and Plato, for example in Legg. V.745.

Even in the first numeral itself, the meaning of unity, in the sense of constancy, appears in all languages and among all peoples. This is because the first numeral everywhere gives the tone to all those that follow.

No nation counts in this way: one, meaning a house; two, meaning no longer a house, but something else, for example a shed; three, a table; four, a chair; and so on.

On the contrary, among all peoples counting is done only with identical objects. Either houses alone are counted, or tables alone, or other objects, but always identical objects.

When heterogeneous objects must be counted, they are all brought under identical concepts: matter, thing, object, and the like. Thus one matter, two matters, and so on; one thing, two things, three things, and so on.

In the passage cited, the Apostle used the word εἷς precisely in this meaning. He placed it in the genitive case with the verb ἐστὶ. As is known, such a construction in Greek indicates belonging, property, naturalness, essential character, and the like.

This construction itself arose through the omission of the noun ἰδιοτης before the genitive case.

On the basis of all these considerations, I would propose the following reading of these two verses. I allow myself a few other minor changes as well.

“Why then the law? It was added afterward to the promise, because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise refers. It was ordained through angels, by the hand of a mediator. But a mediator is not required on the side of the One who is always one, that is, on the side of a being always one and the same, unchanging. And God is always one.”

A mediator is chosen because the parties who conclude an agreement or condition with one another may fail to fulfill them. They may change their promise. Then the mediator appears as the accuser of the party that has changed.

But such a change of will or covenant is unthinkable in a being who is always one and unchanging (Rom 3:4). Therefore a mediator on the side of such a being is superfluous.

This means that if, at the institution of the law, a mediator proved necessary, then both the mediator and the law were required by the state of the people of Israel. They were not, like the promise, the gift of the all-good and immutable will of God.

The first things, that is, the mediator and the law, like the people of Israel themselves, are passing and temporary. The last thing, that is, the promise, is immutable and eternal.

From this comes the conclusion. The law, as a temporary means called forth by the sinful state of the people of Israel, restrained them from sin, so that they might worthily meet the promised Messiah. It is lower than the promise, the good and immutable gift of the all-good and wholly immutable God.

This is precisely the thought that the holy Apostle Paul proves in the third chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians.

Thus there is no opposition between the law and the promises of faith. But the law had a serving significance in relation to the promises of faith. That is, it had to act for their preservation and direct men toward their center, Christ.

This subordinate significance of the law in relation to the promises of faith was expressed, among other things, in this. The promises to Abraham were given by God Himself. The laws to the Hebrew people were given through their mediator Moses and through God’s mediators, the angels.

Concerning these thoughts of the Apostle, Bishop Theophan writes: “The angels are not the makers of the law, but ministers at its institution. They stood on God’s behalf, and Moses on the people’s behalf. God inspired them, they transmitted it to Moses, and he to the people. By appearing on Sinai, God showed that the law comes from Him. Yet the law had many details, and it was more convenient to transmit them through angels. Moses himself testified before his death: ‘The Lord came from Sinai with myriads of holy ones; at His right hand were angels with Him’ (Deut 33:2). The protomartyr Stephen says that the law was received by the arrangement of angels (Acts 7:53; cf. Heb 2:2).”

As for the twentieth verse, which is very difficult to understand, the closest meaning of the context seems to be this. By the word “one” we should understand the one promised seed, Christ Jesus. He is, in the proper sense, the one Mediator of God and men.

Since He Himself is God and man, He has no need of another mediator. Consequently, the promises of faith receive the significance of things eternal, as proceeding from the one unchanging God.

Blessed Theodoret draws attention to this and says: “God is one: He Who gave the promise to Abraham, He Who established the law, and He Who now has shown us the fulfillment of the promise. For it was not one God Who administered the first things, and another Who administered the last.”

In one of the more recent explanations it is said: “A mediator is not needed from a Being and for a Being that is unchanging. God is precisely such a Being. Therefore the promises of God do not bear a temporary character.”

In any case, this place is truly hard to understand (2 Pet 3:15). It has more than four hundred explanations.

In the opinion of one profound investigator, the Apostle’s thought here is this: “A mediator is not the mediator of one party. Two are necessary. But God is only one. This means that the law given through Moses is not exclusively divine, but is limited by regard for the second party, both in content and in form (cf. Ezek 20:25; Mt 19:8). The Redeemer, however, is God and man, and therefore unites both sides in Himself. Here there is not a third between two, but one in two. Likewise, in the act of justification, each person is inwardly joined to the Savior, and in Him and through Him to the first source of all being. In this case no dividing wall exists. Instead we see direct contact. It was altogether different at Sinai. There the mediator is lower than the angels and cannot be a perfect substitute for Jehovah. The Apostle does not present this position dogmatically, so as not to arouse suspicion.”

For this reason, when the Lord came and all such people cleaved to Him, the remaining part of Israel was scattered over the face of the earth. Though outwardly it was more visible, it was scattered for its own rebuke and for the confirmation of God’s truth.

Saint Chrysostom says on the words “because of transgressions”: “Therefore the law is not superfluous. Do you see how he harmonizes everything, and with how many eyes he looks at all things? Since he exalted faith and showed that it is older than the law, lest anyone think the law superfluous, he resolves this difficulty also. He says that the law was given not in vain, but with very great benefit, because of transgressions. That is, so that the Jews might not live without fear and reach the height of impiety. For this reason the law was given to them as a bridle, for their instruction, taming, and restraint. It kept them from transgressing, if not all the commandments, at least some. Therefore there is no small benefit from the law.”

“It was added.” To whom, and to what? One may have neither object in mind and understand “was added” in the sense that the law is something supplementary. It has no independent significance and does not stand by itself.

Oecumenius writes: “He said well, ‘was added,’ to show that the law is not the original institution, but was given as something supplementary. It was not given for endless time, but until Christ should come, in Whom blessing was promised to all nations.”

Or else, it was added to the promise, to serve as a means toward its realization. The purpose of the law and of the people organized under it was that, in due time, the promise given to Abraham might be fulfilled.

Or else, it was added to the people, in the sense that it was laid upon the people, or that the people were enclosed by it. For the Jew was indeed enclosed by the law in every manifestation of life, at home, in the temple, at work, and on the road.

If the law was a healing plaster for morals, no more suitable treatment could have been devised. Yet the first meaning is the most direct.

“Until the Seed should come, to whom the promise was made,” that is, the Seed of Whom it is said in the promise that in Him all nations shall be blessed. He indicates this limit intentionally, to suggest that, if he insists on the abolition of the law, he does nothing unjust.

Such is the lot of the law according to its original purpose. Since the Seed of promise has come, it is evident that the law has fulfilled its work and now must cease. “If the law was given only until the coming of Christ, why do you prolong it further, beyond the limits of that time?” (Saint Chrysostom).

“Ordained through angels.” The angels are not the makers of the law, but ministers at its institution. They stood on God’s behalf, and Moses on the people’s behalf. God inspired them, they transmitted it to Moses, and Moses to the people.

By appearing on Sinai, God showed that the law came from Him. Yet the law had many details. It was more fitting for these to be transmitted and interpreted through angels.

It is said to Moses: “See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain” (Ex 25:40). Since the Old Testament service was wholly typological, Moses had to see it in images. He saw the images of everything on the mountain, and the angels interpreted them, explaining what each thing meant and why it was needed.

Yet everything was from God. Moses himself testified before his death: “The Lord came from Sinai,” and “He came with myriads of holy ones; at His right hand were angels with Him” (cf. Deut 33:2).

All the Jews believed that “God spoke to Moses” (Jn 9:29). At the same time they held that the law was received by the arrangement of angels (Acts 7:53), as the protomartyr Stephen said before all and to all.

Therefore, in another place, when writing to the Hebrews, Saint Paul did not think he was saying anything repellent or contrary to their faith. He said that the whole law is “the word spoken through angels” (cf. Heb 2:2).

Why did the Apostle mention this, when for his purposes he could have done without it? He was led to it by the mediating significance of the law just expressed. The promise, he says, had original and independent significance, but the law was added, and that only for a time, “until.”

Since it has such a lower significance before the promise, it was also lower than the promise in its arrangement. The promise was given face to face by God to Abraham. The law was ordained through angels, and also by the hand of a mediator.

Two stages separated the people from God: Moses below and the angels above. But the promise was given personally by God Himself.

From this one could also infer the superiority of the New Covenant over the law, since it is the fulfiller of the promise. The Apostle does not unfold this here. He did so in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

“By the hand of a mediator” means through a mediator. This is a Hebrew turn of speech, since the hand is the most convenient organ of the widest activity. But who is the mediator here?

Most directly, it is Saint Moses. The discussion concerns the law, and at its institution Moses was the mediator from Israel’s side, by God’s election. He spoke to the people on God’s behalf, and the people themselves chose him for this (cf. Ex 20:19).

Moses later confesses this in his farewell speeches to the people: “I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the words of the Lord” (cf. Deut 5:5).

For this reason Saint John the Evangelist sets the work of Moses alongside the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, saying: “The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (cf. Jn 1:17).