Commentary upon the Epistle to the Galatians

¹Paul, as a true and an excellent teacher of Faith, hath always these words in his mouth, By Faith, In Faith, Of Faith which is in Christ Jesus. He saith not: ye are the children of God because ye are circumcised, because ye have heard the law and have done the works thereof (as the Jews do imagine, and the false Apostles teach): but by Faith in Jesus Christ. The law then maketh us not the children of God, and much less mens traditions. It can not beget us into a new nature or a new birth: but it setteth before us that old birth whereby we were borne to the kingdom of the Devil: And so it prepareth us to a new birth which is by Faith in Jesus Christ and not by the law, as Paul plainly witnesseth: For ye are all the children of God by Faith. &c. As if he said: Albeit ye be tormented, humbled, and killed by the law, yet hath not the law made you righteous, or made you the children of God: this is the work of Faith alone. What Faith? Faith in Christ. Faith therefore in Christ maketh us the children of God, and not the law. The same thing witnesseth also John in the .1. chap. He gave power to as many as believed in him, ²to be the children of God. What tongue either of men or Angels can sufficiently extol and magnify the great mercy of God towards us, that we which are miserable sinners and by nature the children of wrath, should be called to this grace and glory,³