Galatians 3:22Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

If the law had not been given, all would have sunk into lawlessness, and none of the Jews would have wished to listen to Christ. But now, once the law was given, it brought a twofold benefit. First, it guided those who heeded it toward such virtue as was possible. Second, it awakened in each a consciousness of his sins, which especially disposed them to seek the Son of God.

Thus those who did not believe the law failed to believe because they did not wish to know their sins. Pointing precisely to this, he said elsewhere: "For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God" (Rom 10:3).

Thus the law was given not to destroy sin, but to shut all under sin. The law showed that what the Jews in their blindness could take for righteousness was sin. Through this humiliation they would know that their salvation was not in their own hands, but in the hand of the Mediator. Humiliation can do much when pride has seized us. Such a humble state allowed them to receive the grace of Christ, Who is Himself the pattern of humility.

In reality, however, as we said above, it was given because of transgressions. It rather exposes sinners, to whom it was given after the promise as a kind of guard, and, so to speak, as a prison. Those who did not wish to await the promised fulfillment in innocence by freedom of will were hindered by the bonds of the Law. They were brought into service to the commandments, so that they might be preserved until the coming faith in Christ, which represented the fulfillment, the finem, or end, of the promise.

But Scripture must not be regarded as the cause of sin because it appears to have shut up all under sin. The commandment, proceeding from lawful right, reveals and exposes sin rather than causing it. Likewise a judge is not the creator of crime when he puts chains on criminals. He shuts them in prison and declares guilt by his authoritative sentence, so that afterward, if he wishes, he may free those liable to punishment by higher clemency.

All this is said by the Apostle so that it may be clear that the law is by no means opposed to the promises of God. "Do you see," says Chrysostom, "that the law was given not only not against the promises of God, but even for the sake of the promises?"

Blessed Jerome writes: "It must not be thought that the law excludes the promise. On the contrary, since it could not give life or supply what the promise had promised, it is clear that the law itself was given to guard the promise, not to destroy it. If a law had been given that could supply life and fulfill what the promise had promised, then the promise would truly have been excluded by the law. But since it was given because of transgressions, it rather exposes those sinners to whom it was given after the promise as a guard. Since they did not wish to await the promised thing in purity by free will, they were bound by the bonds of the law and, as it were, handed over to slavery under legislation. Thus they were preserved for the coming of Christ, for faith in Him, in which are the fulfillment and end of the promise."

And St. John Chrysostom says: "God gave the Jews the law so that it would reveal their wounds and urge them to seek the Physician. It brought a double benefit. First, it guided those who heeded it toward such virtue as was possible. Second, it awakened in each a consciousness of his sins, which especially disposed them to seek the Son of God. By holding them in fear and in life according to the law, as within certain walls, the law thereby preserved them for faith."

"And the fact that they proved to be transgressors of the law served not to harm, but to benefit those who believed. For knowledge of a most dangerous disease makes one desire the Physician more strongly and love Him more fervently. For he to whom more is forgiven loves more" (Blessed Augustine).

Or “shut up” means that it held them under sin, as in bonds, in a kind of prison. Then “Scripture” will mean the Old Testament institution, handed down in writing from God and laid upon the Jews as a yoke.

For the center of the Old Testament Scripture is the law given through Moses. The books preceding it are an introduction to it, and the prophetic writings following it are its explanation.

Thus “Scripture shut up” will mean the same as: the law shut all under sin. It shut up all, that is, all who were under the law without exception.

This will correspond directly to the preceding thought. If the law could give life, it would replace the promise and give righteousness. But, he says, not only does it not do this. On the contrary, it keeps all under sin as in confinement.

It demands: do not do this, do not touch that, or be such and such. But it gives no strength for this. All acknowledge the obligation of its demands, yet all see that they are guilty before it at every point.

They are guilty through the law, and they cannot free themselves from guilt by means of the law. This is how the law, Scripture, shut all under sin. It held all in the consciousness of their sinfulness, and therefore of judgment and of having no answer.

Yet this consequence of the law was not at all for evil and destruction, but for salvation. God Himself established it so that, through the feeling of self-preservation implanted by God in our nature, He might lead those under the law to the true path of salvation.

For who is his own enemy? Seeing that the law only brings one into sinfulness and deepens the consciousness of all-sided sinfulness, everyone under the law was thereby moved to seek deliverance from sinfulness.

How then? By throwing off the yoke of the law? That would be still worse. No. By directing a hopeful gaze to Him to Whom the law pointed as a shadow of things to come, and Whom the Prophets portrayed.

So it was until the coming of this Promised One. After His coming, one must cleave by faith to Him alone and receive life from Him. The law did not give this life. It only intensified thirst for it. And of course the law must now be left, since it has already fulfilled its temporary service.

This precise meaning is contained in the Apostle’s words: “that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” Therefore, he says, the law shut all under sin, so that when the Deliverer came, all might hasten to Him.

Before that moment, all were to test every possible means of self-correction and self-justification. They were to be palpably convinced that nothing is strong enough to give us this good, not even the law given by God.

It was reserved for faith in Jesus Christ and is given to believers by it alone. But in this lies the essence of the promise. Consequently, the promise itself is fulfilled only by faith.

The promise is the blessing of Abraham, consisting in the reception of the Spirit of grace through faith in the Lord. This grace regenerates, gives new life in Christ Jesus, and sanctifies.

“The promise by faith is given to those who believe.” Here there is no tautology, but different meanings of faith. The words “by faith in Jesus Christ” signify the whole New Covenant institution, the entire economy of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.

They signify all the spiritual blessings that He obtained for men and entrusted to His holy Church. He means to say that the promise is fulfilled not by the Old Covenant, but by the New.

The words “given to those who believe” point to the personal faith of each Christian. By it he is counted worthy of the blessings with which the Lord Jesus Christ enriches him.

The one who hears the Gospel believes. The believer is baptized, and in baptism by water and the Spirit is born for a new life in Christ Jesus. He begins to live this life in undoubting hope.

He trusts that He Who began this work in him will also bring it to completion. Of course, this requires all possible attention, zeal, and labor on his own part.

From everything the Apostle has said, it followed that the law is in no way against the promises. On the contrary, it both kept those under the law for the promise and prepared them for its worthy reception.

Saint Chrysostom expresses the Apostle’s thought thus: “God gave the Jews a law that would reveal their wounds and move them to seek the physician. The word ‘shut up’ means the same as convicted, and, having convicted, held them in fear. Do you see that the law was given not only not ‘against the promises of God,’ but even for the sake of the promises? If the law had claimed for itself the work and authority of justification, then it would rightly have been said of it that it was contrary to the promises. But when it serves another and does everything for another, how is it contrary to the promises of God? If the law had not been given, all would have sunk into lawlessness, and no one of the Jews would have listened to Christ. But now, when the law was given, it brought a double benefit. First, it guided those who attended to it toward such virtue as was within their power. Second, it awakened in each person the consciousness of his sins, which especially disposed them to seek the Son of God.”