Lecture 3 — Fulfillment of the law

^5:13^ For you, brethren, have been called unto liberty. Only do not make liberty an occasion to the flesh: but by charity of the Spirit serve one another. [n. 298]

^5:14^ For all the law is fulfilled in one word: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. [n. 303]

^5:15^ But if you bite and devour one another: take heed that you be not consumed one of another. [n. 306]

298. Having proposed an example of standing fast, and having eliminated an obstacle thereto, he now establishes its mode.

First, he establishes the mode of standing;

second, he gives an explanation, at for all the law.

As to the first he does three things:

first, he sets down the condition of a state;

second, he describes its abuse;

third, he asserts its mode.

299. The condition of standing fast is liberty. For the condition of any given state pertains either to liberty or to bondage; but the state of faith in Christ, to which the Apostle urges them, pertains to liberty and is liberty itself. Hence he says: for you, brethren, have been called unto liberty. As if to say: they are indeed troubling you; for they are drawing you from what is better to what is worse, because you have been called by God unto* the *liberty of grace: you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption of sons (Rom 8:15); we are not the children of the bondwoman but of the free woman (Gal 4:31). You, I say, who are free in Christ, they want to lead into bondage.

300. But a state is being misused if it declines, and if liberty of the spirit is perverted into slavery of the flesh. Now the Galatians were free of the law; but lest they suppose this to be a license to commit sins forbidden by the law, the Apostle touches on abuse of liberty, saying, only do not make liberty an occasion to the flesh. As if to say: you are free, but not so as to misuse your liberty by supposing that you may sin with impunity: but take heed, lest perhaps this your liberty become a stumbling-block to the weak (1 Cor 8:9).

301. Now the mode of standing fast is through charity; hence he says: but by charity of the Spirit serve one another.

In fact the whole state consists in charity, without which a man is nothing (1 Cor 13:1ff.). Moreover, it is according to the various degrees of charity that various states are distinguished. Consequently, the state of grace does not exist in virtue of a desire of the flesh but by charity of the Spirit, i.e., a charity which proceeds from the Holy Spirit, through whom we should be subject to and serve one another: bear one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2); with honor preventing one another (Rom 12:10).

302. But since he said earlier that they have been called unto liberty, why does he now say, serve one another?

I answer that charity requires that we serve one another; nevertheless, it is free. Here one might interject that, as the Philosopher says, he is free who is for his own sake; whereas he is a slave who is for the sake of another as of a mover or an end. For a slave is moved to his work not by himself but by a master and for the benefit of his master. Charity, therefore, has liberty as to its moving cause, because it works of itself: the charity of Christ presses us spontaneously, to work (2 Cor 5:14). But it is a servant when, putting one’s own interests aside, it devotes itself to things beneficial to the neighbor.

303. Then when he says, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, he explains what he says:

first, about charity;

second, about not making liberty an occasion to the flesh, at **walk in the Spirit **(Gal 5:16).

As to the first, he admonishes them to follow charity:

first, because of the benefit we obtain in fulfilling charity;

second, because of the injury incurred by neglecting charity, at but if you bite.

304. Now the benefit we obtain in fulfilling charity is of the highest order, because in it we fulfill the whole law; hence he says, for all the law in fulfilled in one word. As if to say: charity must be maintained, because the whole law is fulfilled in one word, namely, in the one precept of charity: he that loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law (Rom 13:8) and love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom 13:10). Wherefore he says in 1 Timothy: the end of the commandment is charity (1 Tim 1:5).

However, it is said in Matthew: on these two commandments, namely, of the love of God and of neighbor, depends the whole law and the prophets (Matt 22:40). Therefore, it is not fulfilled in the one precept alone.

I answer that in the love of God is included love of neighbor: this commandment we have from God, that he, who loves God, love also his brother (1 John 4:21). Conversely, we love our neighbor for the love of God. Consequently, the whole law is fulfilled in the one precept of charity.

For the precepts of the law are reduced to that one precept. Indeed, precepts are either moral or ceremonial or judicial. The moral are the precepts of the Decalogue: three concern the love of God, and the other seven the love of neighbor. The judicial are, for example, that whosoever steals anything shall restore fourfold, and others like this; and they pertain absolutely to the love of neighbor. The ceremonial concern sacrifices and related matters which are reduced to love of God.

And so it is plain that all are fulfilled in the one precept of charity, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, which is also written in Leviticus (Lev 19:18).

305. He says, as yourself, not as much as yourself, because according to the order of charity a man should love himself more than his neighbor.

Now this is explained in three ways: first, as referring to the genuineness of the love. For to love is to will good to someone: hence we are said to love both the one to whom we will a good and the very good which we will to someone; but not in the same way. For when I will a good to myself, I love myself absolutely for myself, but the good which I will to myself, I do not love for itself but for myself. Accordingly, I love my neighbor as myself in the same way that I love myself, when I will him a good for his sake, and not because it is useful or pleasant for me.

In a second way, as referring to the justice of love. For each thing is inclined to want for itself that which is most eminent in it; but in man, understanding and reason are the most eminent. He, therefore, loves himself who wants for himself the good of understanding and reason. Accordingly, you then love your neighbor as yourself, when you will him the good of understanding and reason.

In a third way, as referring to order, i.e., that just as you love yourself for the sake of God, so you love your neighbor for the sake of God, namely, that he may attain to God.

306. Then when he says, but if you bite and devour one another, he urges them to follow charity, because of the harm we incur if we neglect it. Here he continues to speak to the Galatians as to spiritual men, not bringing up their greater vices but mentioning ones that seem to be minor, such as sins of the tongue.

Hence he says: if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. As if to say: all the law is fulfilled in love; but if you bite one another, i.e., partially destroy the good name of your neighbor by slander (for one who bites takes not the whole but a part) and devour, i.e., destroy his good name entirely, and completely shame him by slander (for he that devours, consumes all): detract not one another, my brethren; he that detracts his brother detracts the law (Jas 4:11).

If you neglect charity in that way, I say, take heed for the calamity that threatens you, namely, that you be not consumed one of another: beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision (Phil 3:2); I have spent my strength without cause and in vain (Isa 49:4). For as Augustine says, by the vice of contention and envy, pernicious rivalries are bred among men, and both life and society are thereby brought to ruin.