A06492:1155
Commentary upon the Epistle to the Galatians
A commentary of M. Doctor Martin Luther upon the Epistle of S. Paul to the Galatians first collected and gathered word by word out of his preaching, and now out of Latin faithfully translated into English for the unlearned. Wherein is set forth most excellently the glorious riches of Gods grace ...A commentarie of M. Doctor Martin Luther vpon the Epistle of S. Paul to the Galathians first collected and gathered vvord by vvord out of his preaching, and novv out of Latine faithfully translated into English for the vnlearned. Wherein is set forth most excellently the glorious riches of Gods grace ...
London: printed by Thomas Vautroullier dwelling wihtin sic, 1575London: printed by Thomas Vautroullier dvvelling vvihtin sic, 1575
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Verse. 18. But it is a good thing to love earnestly always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.
Verse. 18. But it is a good thing to loue earnestly alvvayes in a good thing, and not onely vvhen I am present vvith you.
As if he should say: I commend you for this, that ye loved me so entirely when I preached the Gospel amongst you in the infirmity of the flesh. Ye ought to have borne the same affection towards me now when I am absent, even as if I had never departed from you. For although I be absent in body, yet have ye my doctrine, which ye ought to retain & maintain, seeing ye received the holy ghost through it: thinking with your selves that Paul is always present with you as long as ye have his doctrine. I do not therefore reprehend your zeal, but I praise it, & so far forth I praise it, as it is the zeal of God or of the spirit,1 and not of the flesh. Now, the zeal of the spirit is always good: for it is an earnest affection and motion of the heart to a good thing, and so is not the zeal of the flesh. He commendeth therefore the zeal of the Galatians, that thereby he may pacify their minds, and that they may patiently suffer his correction. As if he would say: Take my correction in good part: for it proceedeth not of an angry but of a sorrowful heart and careful for your salvation.2 This is a lively example to teach all ministers how to be careful for their sheep, and to assay every way, that by chiding, fair speaking or entreating, they may retain them in sound doctrine, and turn them from subtle seducers and false teachers.