Galatians 3:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"And the Scripture," he says, "foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and not by the law, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham."

What does this mean? By this he says: "The Lawgiver Himself, before He gave the law, appointed that the Gentiles should be justified by faith."

He did not say "revealed," but "preached the Gospel," so that you may know that the patriarch rejoiced over this manner of justification.

He also strongly desired that it should be brought to fulfillment.

But since they still feared something else, because it was written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in the book of this law, to do them" (Deut 27:26), he removes this fear too.

Wisely and prudently, he turns what was said in the law to the opposite side. He shows that those who leave the law are not only not cursed, but blessed.

Those who hold to the law are not only not blessed, but cursed.

The zealots of the law said that he who does not keep the law is cursed. But the Apostle shows that he who keeps the law is cursed, and he who does not keep it is blessed.

They also said that one who hopes in faith alone is cursed. But he shows that one who hopes in faith alone is blessed.

How does he prove all this? We have proclaimed to you no ordinary matter, and therefore one must be especially attentive to what will be said next.

The Apostle had already shown this above, saying that the Scripture proclaimed beforehand to the patriarch, "In you all nations shall be blessed."

At that time the law did not yet exist, but faith did. Therefore he drew the following conclusion.

The fact that the book of Joshua the leader speaks of a second circumcision of the people (cf. Josh 5:2-4) signifies two things. First, circumcision ceased in the wilderness, though it had been wisely used in Egypt.

Second, believers are to be circumcised by the Lord Jesus Christ with a spiritual circumcision.

Verses 8-9: “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”

This does not mean that Scripture itself, that is, ink and sheets of skin, which have no understanding in themselves, can foreknow the future.

Rather, the Holy Spirit and the meaning hidden beneath the letter announced beforehand what would take place many centuries later.

Further, the example taken from the book of Genesis reads thus in the scroll containing that book, proprio volumine: “And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 26:4).

What the Apostle explained concerning Christ, saying, “It does not say, ‘and to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘and to your seed,’ which is Christ,” must also be observed in almost all testimonies taken from the Old Testament books into the New Testament.

The apostles and evangelists handed them down from memory by explaining only the sense. They often changed the order of the words, sometimes omitted part of them, and sometimes added others.

No one doubts that absolutely all nations were not blessed in Isaac, or in Jacob, or in the twelve patriarchs, or in the others who came from the root of Abraham.

They were blessed in Jesus Christ, through whom all nations praise God, and through whom His name is blessed on the earth.

It may also be understood that the Apostle took the example concerning the seed from another place in Genesis, where it is written: “God brought him outside,” undoubtedly Abraham, “and said to him: Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them.

And He said to him: So shall your seed be. And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:5-6).

Therefore those who believe are blessed with faithful Abraham. Because of his surpassing faith in God, he is spoken of as having believed in God as though first.

So too Enos, because of his special hope in God, which was lofty in comparison with others, is portrayed as one who hoped to call upon the Lord God (Gen 4:26).

This is not because Abel, of whom the Lord says, “The voice of your brother’s blood cries to Me” (Gen 4:10), and the rest did not hope to call upon God.

Rather, each person is named according to the side of himself that is most prominently manifested in him.

"In you all the nations shall be blessed." And not even a hint is given that these nations must be circumcised. On this see more fully Rom 4:3 and following.

Why did the Apostle begin to speak about Abraham? One may suppose that the Jewish seducers especially insisted on Abraham.

They pointed to him as one whom the Lord God Himself declared to be the source and channel of blessing for all the tribes of the earth.

The Apostle therefore leads the Galatians to this thought: by what, precisely, did Abraham himself prove to be righteous?

Saint John Chrysostom says: "If Abraham, who lived before grace and was so adorned with good works, was justified by faith, how much more are you?

"What harm did he suffer because he was not under the law? None. Faith alone was sufficient for his justification."

They feared that they might lose kinship with Abraham if they abandoned the law. But Saint Paul dispels this fear, showing that faith especially establishes kinship with him.

The basis for this spiritual kinship is the sacred account of God's blessing through Abraham of all who believe in the Lord.

By the power of this promised blessing, they will receive all gifts of grace, beginning with justification.

According to Saint John Chrysostom, "The Lawgiver Himself, before He gave the law, appointed justification through faith for the Gentiles."

"The Galatians feared lest they fall under the curse if they did not join themselves to the law. But the Apostle shows the opposite.

"Those will be blessed who, apart from the law, cleave to faith, just as faithful Abraham was blessed for faith, though he did not know the law" (Theophan).

"Thus justification is explained by blessing, and blessing below, in verse 14, is identified with receiving the Spirit by faith.

"Consequently, justification is not the bare declaration that the justified man is righteous. It is also his complete sanctification by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

"In this action faith is the conditioning principle, not the producing power" (Theophan).

"In you" means either because they would become like you by faith, as Saint Chrysostom, Oecumenius, and Saint Cyril of Alexandria say.

Or it means "in you" because of the seed that was to come from you, that is, Christ, as the same Fathers, blessed Jerome, and others say.

The Apostle did not intend to define this precisely here. He does this below (Gal 3:15-16). Therefore there is no need to dwell on it.

The Apostle's chief purpose here is to imprint the conviction that believers, apart from the law and by the power of faith alone, already belong to Abraham and are included in the promise given to Abraham.

"What does this mean?" asks Saint Chrysostom concerning these words. He answers: "The Lawgiver Himself, before He gave the law, appointed justification through faith for the Gentiles.

"He did not say 'revealed,' but 'preached the Gospel beforehand,' so that you may know that the patriarch himself rejoiced over this manner of justification.

"He also greatly desired that it should sooner be brought to fulfillment."

We have not only now begun to proclaim the power of faith. "God long ago both appointed and foretold this," says blessed Theodoret.

Such from the beginning was the order of God's providence concerning men, sketched beforehand by God. And now it is being fulfilled in you.

God's good pleasure and blessing, every grace and salvation, are assigned only to faith, as in Abraham.

For His providential purposes, God set apart a people for Himself and clothed it with the law for a time.

He allowed the nations also to walk in their own wills until the proper time. For they too are His people, and for them He had kept the blessing which they were to receive in their time.

The law for receiving this blessing is always the same: faith, as in Abraham.

That time has been fulfilled. The nations are called to receive Abraham's blessing from God, and to receive it apart from the law, directly by faith.

This is the meaning of the present time. This is the significance of the faith handed down to you.

The thought that should have been impressed on the souls of the Galatians from this was this: by inclining toward the law, we depart from under this blessing of God.

We deprive ourselves of a good that cannot be recompensed by anything else. We bring upon ourselves an irreparable loss.