Lectio 1 Lecture 1 Haeres exspectat ad tempus praefinitum The heir awaits the appointed time ^4:1 Dico autem: quanto tempore haeres parvulus est, nihil differt a servo, cum sit dominus omnium: [n. 191] ^4:1 As long as the heir is a child, he is no different than a servant, though he be lord of all: [n. 191] ^4:2 sed sub tutoribus et actoribus est usque ad praefinitum tempus a patre: ^4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father. ^4:3 ita et nos cum essemus parvuli, sub elementis mundi eramus servientes. [n. 197] ^4:3 So we also, when we were children, were serving under the elements of the world. [n. 197] 191. Postquam ostendit Apostolus legis defectum, hic consequenter ostendit gratiae dignitatem. Et 191. After pointing out the shortcoming of the law, the Apostle then shows here the dignity of grace. primo per exemplum humanum; First, with a human example; secundo per exemplum Scripturae, ibi dicite mihi qui sub lege vultis esse, et cetera. second, with an example from Scripture, at tell me, you who desire to be under the law (Gal 4:21). Circa primum duo facit. Regarding the first he does three things: Primo ostendit dignitatem gratiae supra primitivum statum veteris legis, per similitudinem a lege humana sumptam; first, he shows the pre-eminence of grace over the primitive state of the old law by a simile taken from human law; secundo ostendit, quod ipsi facti sunt participes huius dignitatis per fidem, ibi quoniam autem estis filii Dei, etc.; second, he shows that they have been made partakers of this pre-eminence through faith, at and because you are sons of God (Gal 4:6); tertio arguit ipsos, eo quod hanc dignitatem contemnebant, ibi sed tunc quidem ignorantes Deum, et cetera. third, he censures them for disdaining this preeminence, at but then indeed, not knowing God (Gal 4:8). Circa primum duo facit. As to the first, he does two things: Primo ponit similitudinem; first, he lays down the simile; secundo adaptat eam ad propositum, ibi ita et nos cum essemus, et cetera. second, he adapts it to his proposition, at so we also, when we were children. 192. Notandum est quod in proposita similitudine quatuor tangit Apostolus. 192. It should be noted that the Apostle touches upon four things in the simile he proposes. Primo quidem dignitatem, quia non est servus, sed haeres. Unde dicit quanto tempore haeres, etc., quod aptatur et refertur ad populum Iudaeorum, qui fuit haeres promissionis Abrahae, Ps. CXXXIV, 4: elegit nos in haereditatem sibi et ad Christum, qui est haeres omnium, Hebr. I, 2: quem constituit haeredem universorum. First of all, eminence, because he speaks not of a servant but of an heir. Hence he says, as long as the heir is a child. This is applied and referred both to the Jewish people—who were the heirs of the promise to Abraham: for the Lord has chosen Jacob unto himself; Israel for his own possession (Ps 134:4)—and to Christ, who is the heir of all things: whom he has appointed heir of all things (Heb 1:2). 193. Secundo eius parvitatem. Unde dicit parvulus est, quia et Iudaei parvuli erant secundum statum legis. Amos VII, 5: quis suscitabit Iacob, quia parvulus est? Similiter et Christus parvulus factus est per Incarnationem. Is. IX, 6: parvulus natus est nobis, et cetera. 193. Second, smallness; hence he says, is a child, because the Jews were children according to the state of the law: who shall raise up Jacob, for he is a little one? (Amos 7:5). Similarly, Christ, too, was become a child through the Incarnation: for a child is born to us and a son is given to us (Isa 9:6). Sed nota quod Apostolus aliquando assimilat parvulo statum legis, sicut hic, aliquando statum praesentis vitae. I Cor. XIII, v. 11: cum essem parvulus, et cetera. Cuius ratio est, quia status veteris legis est sicut parvulus, propter imperfectionem cognitionis, in ipsa comparatione ad statum gratiae et veritatis, quae per Christum facta est. Sic et status praesentis vitae, in qua videmus per speculum in aenigmate, est sicut parvulus, comparatus statui futurae vitae, in qua est perfecta Dei cognitio, quia videtur sicuti est. But note that the Apostle sometimes compares the state of the law to a child, as he does here, and sometimes the state of the present life: when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child (1 Cor 13:11). The reason for this is that the state of the old law, because of the imperfection of knowledge, is as a child, compared to the state of grace and truth which came through Christ. In like manner, the state of the present life, in which we see through a mirror in a dark manner, is as a child, compared to the state of the future life, in which there is perfect knowledge of God, because he is seen as he is. 194. Tertio eius subiectionem, cum dicit nihil differt a servo, cum sit dominus omnium, sed sub tutoribus, et cetera. Proprium enim servi est, quod sit subiectus alicui domino. Puer autem, quamdiu parvulus est, quia non habet cognitionem perfectam et usum liberae voluntatis propter defectum aetatis, committitur custodiae aliorum, qui et bona sua defendant: et hi dicuntur tutores; et negotia agant: et hi actores nominantur. Et ideo licet sit dominus omnium rerum suarum, tamen in quantum subiicitur aliis, nihil differt a servo, quia nec voluntatem liberam habet, imo cogitur: et haec adaptantur ad populum Iudaicum Is. XLIV, 1: et nunc servus meus Iacob, et cetera. 194. Third, subjection, when he says, he is no different than a servant, though he be lord of all: but is under tutors and governors. For a servant is one who is subject to a lord. But a boy, as long as he is a child, because he does not have fullness of knowledge and use of free will through lack of years, is committed to the care of others who defend his possessions—and these are called tutors—and who handle his affairs—and these are called governors. Therefore, though he be lord of all his things, yet, in so far as he is subject to others, he is no different than a servant, because he does not have free will but is in fact constrained. And this is applied to the Jewish people: and now hear, O Jacob, my servant (Isa 44:1). 195. Sed notandum est, quod in populo Iudaico aliqui erant simpliciter servi, illi scilicet qui propter timorem poenae et cupiditatem temporalium, quae lex promittebat, legem servabant. Aliqui vero erant, qui non erant servi simpliciter, sed, quasi servi existentes, erant vere filii et haeredes: qui licet attenderent exterius ad temporalia et vitarent poenas, nihilominus tamen in eis finem non ponebant sed accipiebant ea, ut figuram spiritualium bonorum. Unde licet viderentur nihil exterius differre a servis, inquantum caeremonias et alia legis mandata servabant, tamen erant domini, quia non ea intentione eis utebantur, ut servi, quia illis utebantur amore spiritualium bonorum, quae praefigurabant: servi vero principaliter timore poenae et cupiditate terrenae commoditatis. 195. Here it should be noted that among the Jewish people some were servants in the strict sense; those, namely, who observed the law through fear of punishment and through a desire for the temporal things which the law promised. But there were others who were not servants in the strict sense, but living as servants, were really sons and heirs. These, although outwardly attending to temporal things and avoiding punishments, did not place their end in them but took them as a figure of spiritual goods. Hence, even though on the surface they seemed to differ nothing from servants, inasmuch as they observed the ceremonies and other commandments of the law, they were, nevertheless, lords, because they did not use them with the same frame of mind as servants; for they used them for love of the spiritual goods they prefigured, whereas servants used them chiefly through fear of punishment and with a desire for earthly convenience. Christus erat etiam quasi servus, quia, licet sit Dominus omnium, secundum illud Ps. CIX, v. 1: dixit Dominus Domino meo, etc., tamen nihil videbatur differre a servo in exterioribus, inquantum homo. Phil. II, 7: exinanivit semetipsum, formam servi accipiens, et habitu inventus ut homo. Sub tutoribus autem et actoribus erat, quia sub lege factus erat, ut dicitur infra eodem, factum sub lege, et hominibus subditus, ut dicitur Lc. II, 51: erat subditus illis. Christ, too was like a servant, because although he is the Lord of all things according to a psalm: the Lord said to my Lord (Ps 109:1), nevertheless outwardly, as man, he seemed no different than a servant: he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man (Phil 2:7). Furthermore, he was under tutors and governors, because he was made under the law, as is said below: made under the law (Gal 4:4); he was also subject to men, as is said in Luke: he was subject to them (Luke 2:51). 196. Quarto ponit temporis congruitatem, cum dicit usque ad praefinitum tempus a patre, quia sicut haeres secundum determinationem patris praefinito tempore sub tutoribus est, ita et lex determinatum tempus habuit a Deo, quamdiu deberet durare, et quamdiu haeres, scilicet populus Iudaeorum, esset sub ea. Similiter et praefinitum tempus fuit a Patre, quo Christus non erat facturus miracula et ostensurus Dominium potestatis divinae. Io. II, 4: nondum venit hora mea. 196. Fourth, he touches on the correspondence of time, when he says, until the time appointed by the father, because just as the heir is under tutors for a definite period of time fixed by the father, so the law had a time fixed by God determining how long it was to endure and how long the heir, i.e., the Jewish people, were to be under it. Similarly, there was a time fixed by the Father during which Christ was not to perform miracles or show the lordship of his divine power: my hour is not yet come (John 2:4). 197. Hanc similitudinem adaptat, cum dicit consequenter ita et nos, et cetera. Et 197. He applies this simile when he says, so we also, when we were children, were serving under the elements of the world. primo adaptat eam quantum ad Iudaeos; First, he applies it as regarding the Jews; secundo quantum ad Christum, ibi at ubi venit plenitudo temporis. second, as regarding Christ, at but when the fullness of the time was come (Gal 4:4). 198. Dicit ergo: dico quod quanto tempore haeres parvulus, etc., et ita nos, Iudaei, cum essemus parvuli, in statu legis veteris, sub elementis mundi eramus servientes, id est sub lege, quae temporalia promittebat Is. I, 19: si volueritis et audieritis me, bona terrae comedetis et comminabatur poenas temporales. 198. He says therefore: I say that as long as the heir is a child he is no different than a servant; so, we Jews also, when we were children in the state of the old law, were serving under the elements of the world, i.e., under the law which promised temporal things—if you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land (Isa 1:19)—and threatened temporal punishments. Vel lex vetus dicitur elementum, quia sicut pueris, qui sunt instituendi ad scientiam, primo proponuntur elementa illius scientiae, per quae manuducuntur ad illam scientiam: ita lex vetus proposita est Iudaeis, per quam manuducerentur ad fidem et iustitiam. Supra III, 24: lex paedagogus noster fuit in Christo. Or the old law is called element, because just as boys who are to be trained in a science are first taught the elements of that science and through them are brought to the fullness of science, so to the Jews was proposed the old law through which they would be brought to faith and justice: the law was our pedagogue in Christ (Gal 3:24). Vel, sub elementis, id est corporalibus rerum ritibus quos servabant, sicut lunares dies, neomenias et sabbatum. Nec tamen instandum est quod propter hoc non differrent a paganis, qui elementis serviebant huius mundi, cum eis non servirent Iudaei, seu cultum impenderent; sed sub eis Deo serviebant, et eum colebant, gentiles vero elementis servientes, eis divinum cultum impendebant. Rom. I, 25: servierunt creaturae potius quam Creatori, et cetera. Or, under the elements, i.e., the corporeo-religious usages which they observed, such as days of the moon, new moons and the sabbath. But one should not object that on this account they differed nothing from the pagans who served the elements of this world, for the Jews did not serve them or pay them worship; but under them they served and worshipped God, whereas the pagans in serving the elements rendered them divine worship: they worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator (Rom 1:25). Fuit autem necessarium, quod Iudaei sub elementis huius mundi deservirent Deo, quia iste ordo est congruus naturae humanae, ut a sensibilibus ad intellectualia perducantur. Furthermore, it was necessary that the Jews serve God under the elements of this world, because such an order is in harmony with human nature which is led from sensible to intelligible things. Lectio 2 Lecture 2 Filius Dei venit ad adoptionem God’s Son comes for adoption ^4:4 At ubi venit plenitudo temporis, misit Deus Filium suum factum ex muliere, factum sub lege, [n. 199] ^4:4 But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law: [n. 199] ^4:5 ut eos, qui sub lege erant, redimeret, ut adoptionem filiorum reciperemus. [n. 209] ^4:5 That he might redeem those who were under the law: that we might receive the adoption of sons. [n. 209] 199. Hic adaptat Apostolus similitudinem propositam ad Christum. Et 199. Here the Apostle applies to Christ the simile he has proposed. primo ponitur adaptatio; First, he makes the application;