Sermons of M. John Calvin upon the Epistle of Saint Paul to the GalatiansSermons of M. Iohn Caluine vpon the Epistle of Saincte Paule to the Galathians

Thus ye see how it behoveth us too behave our selves. And now let us mark what kind of men Saint Paul hath noted here. He sayeth that they were crept in as it were by stealth, too spy out the liberty which we have in our Lord Jesus Christ. The liberty that he speaketh of here, concerned Ceremonies. For (as we have touched already, and shall more fully see again hereafter) God had ordained many figures under the Law, too hold the Fathers in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, till he were come and showed too the world. The Sacrifices therefore with all their appendants and appurtenances, and the Sanctuary with all that was in it, served because our Lord Jesus Christ who is the truth and substance of those things, had not yet showed himself. It was for the fathers too be led and guided under such shadows.¹ And that is the cause why Saint Paul will use the similitude of young children that are under Tutors and governors. ⟨image 77⟩The ancient fathers therefore took profit by keeping the Ceremonies of the Law: for thereby they were always confirmed in the things that were promised concerning the Redeemer. And for that cause also it is said, that the Sanctuary was made according too the Pattern that Moses had seen in the Mount. Now, that Pattern was spiritual, that is too wit, [it was] our Lord Jesus Christ with his grace, which is uttered too us by his means now adays in his Gospel. For inasmuch as our Lord Jesus Christ is come into the world, he hath made an end of those shadows and figures. And therefore also the veil of the Temple rent asunder at his death,² too show how it was Gods will too have the faithful come more familiarly unto him. S. Paul sayeth now, that we have liberty in our Lord Jesus Christ: and that is, because we be no more subject too the bondage that lasted in the time of the Law, according as he will hereafter take example of circumcision, and as he treateth of it in another place also too the Colossians.³ We then are circumcised, not by the hand of man, but by the working of Jesus Christ in us through the power of his holy spirit. And in stead of the circumcision that was ordained for the Jews, we have Baptism, which witnesseth the same thing unto us: namely that we must become new creatures too dedicate our selves wholly too the seruis of God.