Thomas Aquinas Commentary Galatians 2:15-16

"We being Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." — Galatians 2:15-16 (ASV)

Having demonstrated the truth of the apostolic doctrine he preached, based on the authority of the other apostles, he now shows the same thing from their way of life and example. In this regard, he does two things:

1. He proves his proposition from the apostles' way of life.
2. He addresses an objection raised by his adversaries (verse 17).

Regarding the first point, he does three things:

1. He presents the status of the apostles.
2. He describes their way of life (verse 16).
3. He states the intended conclusion (verse 16): because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

The status of the apostles, including Paul, is that by natural origin they were born Jews. This is why he says that they—he and the other apostles—are Jews by nature, that is, by birth, and not proselytes: They are Hebrews: so am I (2 Corinthians 11:22). This is a high compliment, because, as it is said, Salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22). He adds, and not of the Gentiles, sinners, meaning, "we are not sinners in the same way as the Gentiles, who are idolatrous and unclean."

However, one might object with the words of 1 John 1:8: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. Therefore, the Jews were also sinners. I answer that it is one thing to sin and another to be a sinner. The first refers to an act, while the second refers to a disposition or habit of sinning. Thus, Scripture typically calls the wicked and those heavily burdened by sin, sinners.

The Jews, therefore, being proud because of the Law and, as it were, restrained from sin by it, called the Gentiles sinners, since they lived without the Law's restraint and were prone to sin: Be no more carried about with every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14). Therefore, when the Apostle says, not of the Gentiles, sinners, he means that they are not part of that group of sinners found among the Gentiles.

Then, when he says, But knowing that man is not justified by the works..., he presents the apostles' way of life, which consists not in the works of the Law but in faith in Christ. Concerning this, he does two things:

1. He gives the reason for the apostles' way of life.
2. He describes their way of life (verse 16): we also believe in Christ Jesus.

The apostolic life, therefore, rested on faith in Christ and not on the works of the Law. The reason for this is that even though they were Jews by nature and raised in the works of the Law, they knew for certain that a person is not justified by the works of the Law but by faith in Jesus Christ. For that reason, they left the Law and are living according to the principles of the faith: For we account a man to be justified by faith, without the works of the Law (Romans 3:28); For there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

However, it is said in Romans 2:13: For not the hearers of the law are just before God; but the doers of the law shall be justified. Therefore, it seems that a person could be justified by the works of the Law. I answer that "to be justified" can be understood in two senses: first, as doing what is just, and second, as being made just. But no one is made just except by God through grace.

It should be known, therefore, that some works of the Law were moral and others were ceremonial. The moral works, although contained in the Law, could not, strictly speaking, be called "works of the Law," because a person is led to them by natural instinct and the natural law. The ceremonial works, however, are properly called the "works of the Law." Therefore, a person is justified by the moral laws to the extent that it concerns the execution of justice, and also by the ceremonial laws that pertain to the sacraments, insofar as their observance is an act of obedience. And this is how the Apostle's words in Romans 2:13 are to be understood.

But with respect to being made just by the works of the Law, a person is not justified by them, because the sacraments of the Old Law did not confer grace. How turn you again to the weak and needy elements?—that is, elements that neither confer grace nor contain it in themselves. The sacraments of the New Law, however, although they are material elements, are not "needy elements"; therefore, they can justify.

Furthermore, if any in the Old Law were just, they were not made just by the works of the Law but only by faith in Christ, Whom God hath proposed to be a propitiation through faith, as is said in Romans 3:25. Thus, the sacraments of the Old Law were declarations of faith in Christ, just as our sacraments are, but not in the same way. This is because those sacraments were oriented toward the grace of Christ as something yet to come, whereas our sacraments testify to a grace that is present and contained within them. Therefore, he says pointedly that it is not by the works of the Law that we are justified, but by faith in Christ, because although some who observed the works of the Law in the past were made just, this was accomplished only by faith in Jesus Christ.

From this knowledge that the apostles possessed—namely, that justification is not by the works of the Law but by faith in Christ—he draws a conclusion about their way of life, in which they chose faith in Christ and abandoned the works of the Law. Thus he adds, we also believe in Christ Jesus, because as is said in Acts 4:12, There is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.

Therefore, he continued, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ. As it is written, Being justified, therefore, by faith, let us have peace with God (Romans 5:1). But so that no one might suppose that the works of the Law justify alongside faith in Christ, he adds, and not by the works of the law, for, we account a man to be justified by faith, without the works of the Law (Romans 3:28).

From this, he derives his main proposition. He argues that if the apostles, who are Jews by nature, do not seek to be justified by the works of the Law but by faith, then it follows that by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified—that is, no person whatsoever can be justified by the works of the Law. Here, "flesh" is used to mean "person"—a part representing the whole—just as in the verse, All flesh shall see the salvation of the Lord (Isaiah 40:5).

Then, by saying, because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified, he concludes, as it were, with an a fortiori argument. For it would seem more reasonable for the Jews, more than anyone else, to be justified by the works of the Law rather than by faith. But since this is not the case, therefore...