“who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”
Galatians 1:4, ESV
“Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:”
Galatians 1:4, KJV
- Galatians 1:4 Meaning – Who gave himself for our sins
- Galatians 1:4 Meaning – for our sins
- Galatians 1:4 Meaning – that he might deliver us from this present evil world
- Galatians 1:4 Meaning – according to the will of God and our Father
Galatians 1:4 Meaning – Who gave himself for our sins
Thus it appears, that the ministry which He undertook was free and uncompelled; that He was delivered up by Himself, not by another.
Let not therefore the words of John, that the Father gave His only-begotten Son for us, lead you to derogate from the dignity of the Only-begotten, or conceive any thing of earth in Him.
For the Father is said to have given Him, not as implying that the Son’s ministry was a servile one, but to teach us that it was willed by the Father, as Paul too has shewn here, according to the will of God, and our Father.
Chrysostom, John – Commentary on the epistle to the Galatians (407)
He says not “by the command,” but “according to the will,” for inasmuch as there is an unity of will in the Father and the Son, that which the Son wills, the Father wills also.
Chrysostom, John – Commentary on the epistle to the Galatians (407)
Galatians 1:4 Meaning – for our sins
For our sins, says the Apostle; we had pierced ourselves with a thousand evils, and had deserved the gravest punishment; the Law not only could not deliver us, but in that it had rendered sin more manifest, without the power to release us from it, or to stay the anger of God, it condemned us.
But the Son of God overcame this impossibility, for He remitted our sins.
He restored us from enmity to the condition of friends.
He bestowed on us numberless other blessings.
Chrysostom, John – Commentary on the epistle to the Galatians (407)
Galatians 1:4 Meaning – that he might deliver us from this present evil world
Another class of heretics seize upon these words of Paul, and pervert his testimony to an accusation of the present life.
Lo, say they, he has called this present world evil, and what does “world” [age] mean but time measured by days and seasons?
Is then the distinction of days and the course of the sun evil; it were the height of folly to assert it.
But it will be said that it is not the time, but the present life, which he hath called evil.
Now the words themselves do not in fact say this; but the heretics do not rest in them, and frame their charge therefrom, but propose to themselves a new mode of interpretation.
At least therefore they must allow us to produce our interpretation, and the rather in that it is both pious and rational.
We assert then that evil cannot be the cause of good, and that the present life is productive of a thousand prizes and rewards.
The blessed Paul himself extols it abundantly in the words, But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not; and then placing before himself the alternative of living upon earth, and departing and being with Christ, he decides for the former.
But were this life evil, he would not have thus spoken of it, nor could any one, however strenuous his endeavour, draw it aside into the service of virtue.
For it is impossible for man to use vice for good purposes, fornication for chastity, envy for benevolence.
And so, when he says, that the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be, he means that vice, as such, cannot become virtue; and the expression, evil world, must be understood to mean evil actions, and a depraved moral principle.
Again, Christ came not to put us to death and deliver us from the present life, but to leave us in the world, and prepare us for a worthy participation of our heavenly abode.
Wherefore He saith to the Father, But these are in the world, and I come to Thee; I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil, i.e. from sin.
Further, those who will not allow this, but insist that the present life is evil, should not blame those who destroy themselves; for as he who withdraws himself from evil is not blamed, but deemed worthy of a crown, so he who by a violent death, by hanging or otherwise, puts an end to his life, ought not to be condemned.
Whereas God punishes such men more than murderers, and we all regard them with horror, and justly; for if it is base to destroy others, much more is it to destroy one’s self.
Moreover, if this life be evil, murderers would deserve a crown, as rescuing us from evil.
Besides this, they are caught by their own words, for in that they place the sun in the first, and the moon in the second rank of their deities, and worship them as the givers of many goods, their statements are contradictory.
Now the wellbeing of that life which, as they themselves assert, is evil, is promoted by these and other heavenly bodies, for they impart nourishment and light to animals, and bring vegetables to maturity.
How is it then that the constitution of this evil life is so ministered to by those, who according to you are gods? gods indeed they are not, far from it, but works of God created for our use; nor is this world evil.
And tell me not of murderers, of adulterers, of robbers of tombs, these things have nothing to do with the present life, for these offences proceed not from that life which we live in the flesh, but from a depraved principle of action.
For, if they were necessarily connected with this life, no man would be free or pure from them, for no man can escape the characteristic accidents of humanity, such as, to eat and drink, to sleep and grow, to hunger and thirst, to be born and die, and the like; these no man hath vanquished, neither sinner nor just man, king nor private person, all are subject to the law of nature.
And so if vice was an essential element of this life, no one could avoid it, any more than the former things.
And let me not be told that good men are rare, for natural necessity is insuperable by all, so that as long as one virtuous man shall be found, my argument will in no wise be invalidated.
Miserable, wretched man! what is it thou sayest?
Is this life evil, wherein we have learnt to know God, and meditate on things to come, and have become angels instead of men, and take part in the choirs of the heavenly powers?
What other proof do we need of an evil and depraved mind?
In calling then the present world [age] evil, Paul has accommodated himself to our usage, who are wont to say, “I have had a bad day,” thereby complaining not of the time itself, but of actions or circumstances.
And so Paul complains of evil principles of action, and shews that Christ hath both delivered us from our offences, and secured us for the future.
The first he has declared in the words, Who gave Himself for our sins; and by adding, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, he has pronounced our future safety.
For neither of these did the Law avail, but grace was sufficient for both.
Chrysostom, John – Commentary on the epistle to the Galatians (407)
Galatians 1:4 Meaning – according to the will of God and our Father
Since they were terrified by their notion that they should disobey God, who gave the Law, by deserting that old Law and adhering to the new, he corrects their error, and says, that this seemed good to the Father: and not simply “the Father,” but “our Father,” which he does in order to affect them by shewing that Christ has made His Father our Father.
Chrysostom, John – Commentary on the epistle to the Galatians (407)
