Galatians 3
1O
foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was
publicly portrayed as crucified?
These are the words of a man who is angry at the marvel that the
Galatians were so depraved that they did not even realize that they had been
led astray. He used the form of an introductory exhortation, for everyone who
is bewitched moves from the good to the bad, just as these people had moved
from freedom and security to slavery and anxiety.
It is clear that it was only in the eyes of stupid people that Christ
appeared to be proscribed, that is to say, degraded and condemned. To the eyes
and senses of the wise not only was he not condemned, but he appears as the one
who himself condemned death on his cross. The passion of the Lord is our life
and the destruction of death, but since these people had begun to think in a
way that was unworthy because they had gone over to the law, in their minds it
looked as though Christ had been condemned. Paul therefore adds the words: In you he has been crucified. This
means: “In your minds he has been crucified as a man. The full hope [of
salvation] is not to be found in him because he is only a man.” Therefore the
Galatians did not believe that the fullness of salvation was to be found in
Christ, and so they put the law on the same level with him. Christ dwells in
those who understand him correctly, but he was crucified in Photinus, since a
man in whom Christ is said to have been crucified is really dead. This
statement stands in place of an accusation [against such people]. (Ambrosiaster,
Commentaries on Galatians-Philemon [trans. Gerald L. Bray; Ancient
Christian Texts; Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2009], 14)