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

And he will not come down too us for his part,¹ except it be by the Mediator, according also as it is showed in Jacobs vision in Genesis. For there it is said, that Jacob saw a Ladder, ⟨image 183⟩upon the top whereof sate God in his Majesty, and the Angels went up and down upon that ladder. And no doubt but that in that figure or Image, our Lord Jesus Christ was represented unto Jacob, to show that men are banished from Gods kingdom, till there be a mean that reacheth up from beneath, as our Lord Jesus Christ doth, who being on the one side God manifested, doth surmount all the heavens, and on the other side, being joined unto us in that he is clothed with our nature, and is become a man, (yea even a frail and mortal man, sin excepted,) hath taken upon him and borne our infirmities, though he himself were without spot. So then, ye see how the law was given long ago by the hand of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whereupon it followeth that there is no contrariety between the Law and the Gospel. For Jesus Christ is always one without any variableness. Now let us see what Saint Paul addeth, namely that the Mediator is not of one, but that God is one. In saying that the Mediator is not of one, he meaneth that our Lord Jesus Christ came too gather together again all things that were scattered both in heaven and earth, accordingly also as he speaketh of it in the first too the Colossians.² Truly some have taken the meaning of this text to be, that Jesus Christ was of more natures than one, or that although he were the Mediator between God & men, yet did it not follow that there was diversity between the Law and the Gospel. But doubtless, Saint Pauls meaning here, is to gather again the Jews, and the Gentiles: as if he had said, Jesus Christ was the Mediator in giving of the Law, as the party by whose means god meant to humble men, that they might be partakers of his grace. Howbeit let us mark that our Lord Jesus Christ who was the continual Mediator in giving the Law too the Jews, had therewithal a Commission that stretched yet further: that is to wit, to gather and knit together again the Gentiles, which were estranged from God. For although God did for a time prefer the linage of Abraham before all the rest of the world:

And hee will not come downe too vs for his part,