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NT References in the Ante-Nicene Fathers

Galatians 3:20

Epistle of Ignatius to the Antiochians

And those very apostles, who said "that there is one God,"[19]

Five Books in Reply to Marcion

Chiding)-Paul-written that such zeal hath he.[217]

Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments

but two,"[62]

A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity

the sources and reasons of their error and perversity; because when they perceived that it was written[267]

A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity

And in another place: "But a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one."[275]

Lactantius Divine Institutes Book IV

He was therefore both God and man, being placed in the middle between God and man. From which the Greeks call Him Mesites,[336]

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See also Galatians 3:20 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 20. _A MEDIATOR IS NOT_ A MEDIATOR _OF ONE_] As a mediator, μεσιτης, signifies a _middle_ person, there must necessarily be _two_ parties, between whom he stands, and acts in reference to both,...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    NOW A MEDIATOR IS NOT A MEDIATOR OF ONE ... - This verse has given great perplexity to commentators. “There is, unquestionably,” says Bloomfield, “no passage in the New Testament that has so much, and...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    II. CONTRASTS BETWEEN LAW AND GRACE CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The gift of the Spirit not by the works of the law, but by hearing of faith. (Galatians 3:1)_ 2. Righteousness not bestowed by the law, but by fai...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    The promise having once been given, no subsequent enactment like the Law can interfere with it. (Similarly Heb. emphasizes the priority in time of Melchizedek to Aaron.) Even in human affairs, a scrap...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    THE GIFT OF GRACE (Galatians 3:1-9)...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    Why, then, have the law at all? The law was added to the situation to define what transgressions are, until the seed should come, to whom the promise, which still holds good, had been made. That law w...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Probably no verse of Scripture has more exercised the ingenuity of commentators. Certainly of none other can it be said that it -has received 430 interpretations" (Jowett), if by that expression contr...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    Ὁ ΔῈ ΜΕΣΊΤΗΣ, “but a mediator.” The article is generic, or, perhaps better, recalls the mediator just mentioned: cf. Galatians 3:23; Galatians 3:25. ΔΈ, adversative, probably to the thought that a me...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    19–22. _The true place and purpose of the Law. It was subordinate to the promise, and preparatory, by developing the sense of sin_ (Galatians 3:19) (If the inheritance is by the Promise, not by the La...

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΜΕΣΊΤΗΣ (G3316) посредник. О значении этого отрывка _см._ Longenecker; Betz; Burton; Guthrie; Mussner; U. Mussner, "Galater III, 20: Die Universalitat des Heils" NTS 18(1967): 258-70....

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    NOW A MEDIATOR, &C.— To understand this verse, we must carry in our minds what St. Paul is here doing; and from Galatians 3:17 it is manifest that he is proving that the law could not disannul the pro...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    Superiority of the Gospel to the Law seen in that the law was a temporary arrangement. Galatians 3:19-29 TEXT 3:19, 20 (19) What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the see...

  • Combined Bible Commentary

    _ VERSE 20. NOW A MEDIATOR IS NOT A MEDIATOR OF ONE._ Of this better Mediator Paul says: "A mediator is not a mediator of one." We are the offending party; God is the party offended. The offense is of...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. 'Now a mediator [in the essential idea: ho (G3588) mesitees (G3316): the article is generic] cannot be of one (but must be of two parties wh...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    3 Paul now appeals to the experience of the Galatians themselves. Before the Judaisers came they received the Spirit of God, and suffered for the evangel, and did mighty works quite apart from the law...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    3:20 a (c-2) Or 'the.' It is abstract -- 'that kind of person.'...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    There is no place for a mediator where there is but one party to a transaction. Now, in issuing His promise to Abraham, God stands forth independent and alone. The point is the contrast between the co...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    JUSTIFICATION IS BY FAITH, NOT WORKS 1-14. The Apostle upbraids the Galatians with their speedy change from faith to legal observances, reminding them of the fact that their reception of the Spirit h...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    CHRIST HAS MADE US FREE GALATIANS _HELEN POCOCK_ CHAPTER 3 LIVE BY GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT, NOT BY YOUR OWN EFFORTS V1 You Galatians are foolish. You behave as if someone has used magic powers to lead...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    This is a very difficult verse to understand. Nobody is sure what it really means. God’s laws went from God to the *angels. The *angels gave them to Moses. Then Moses gave the laws to the people. But...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    If such was not the function of the Law — if it had _no_ power to modify the promise — what was its true function? It was a sort of measure of police. Its object was to deal with transgressions. It wa...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    The mention of the word “mediator” implies a contract to which there are at least two parties. But where there is a contract there must be also conditions, and if these conditions are not observed the...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 14 THE DESIGN OF THE LAW. Galatians 3:19 "WHAT then is the law?" So the Jew might well exclaim. Paul has been doing nothing but disparage it.-"You say that the Law of Moses brings no righteo...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    The rendering of the first clause in our versions, _Now a mediator is not a mediator of one_, reduces it to an unmeaning truism. The author is not treating of mediators in the abstract, but writes of...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    THE LAW WAS A TEMPORARY ENACTMENT ORDAINED TO DEAL WITH THE OFFENCES WHICH IT DENOUNCES UNTIL THE COMING OF THE PROMISED SEED. THE GOD FROM WHOM IT PROCEEDED WAS THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, BUT HE PROMULGATED...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE LAW LEADS TO CHRIST Galatians 3:20 The Mosaic law was not designed to be the final code of the religious life, but to prepare the soil of the human heart to receive Jesus Christ in all the fullne...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Here begins the second division of the epistle, in which Paul deals with the doctrine of liberty. He begins with the exclamation, "O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you?" He then inquired, Did they...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Now a mediator is not [a mediator] of one, (24) but God is one. (24) A taking away of an objection, lest any man might say that sometimes by consent of the parties which have made a covenant, somethi...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (15) Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. (16) Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises ma...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    Galatians 1:1-24. We saw the second of Corinthians characterized by the most rapid transitions of feeling, by a deep and fervent sense of God's consolations, by a revulsion so much the more powerful i...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    _THE ONE MEDIATOR_ ‘How a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.’ Galatians 3:20 This short sentence is so difficult in its conciseness, so abstruse, and capable of so many meanings, th...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    20._Now, a mediator is not a mediator of one. _Some are disposed to philosophize on this expression, and would make Paul’s meaning to be, that the twofold nature of Christ is not one in essence. But t...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    What a loss, dreadful and irreparable, to lose such a Christ, as we, under grace, have known Him; such a righteousness; such a love; the Son of God our portion, our life; the Son of God devoted for us...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    NOW A MEDIATOR IS NOT A MEDIATOR OF ONE,.... A mediator supposes two parties he stands between, and these at a distance from, or disagreeing with each other; where there is but one party, there can be...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Now a mediator is not _a mediator_ of one, but God is one. Ver. 20. _Is not a mediator of one_] _q.d._ God and men were at odds, else what use of a mediator? Sin is the makebate (mischief maker), as...

  • Jonathan Edwards' Notes On The Scriptures

    Gal. 3:19, 20. "It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediato...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Now a mediator is not a mediator of one_ There must be two parties, or there can be no place or use for a mediator: but God, who made the free promise to Abraham, is only one of the parties; the othe...

  • Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament (1851)

    OF ONE; one party. IS ONE; one party, the other party being man....

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    PROOFS FOR THE LIBERTY OF A CHRISTIAN FROM THE NATURE AND MEANING OF THE LAW. The secondary office of the Law:...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    NOW A MEDIATOR IS NOT A MEDIATOR OF ONE, BUT GOD IS ONE....

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    FAITH IS THE ONE PRINCIPLE OF BLESSING (vs.1-9) "0 foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?" (v.1). Little wonder, as Paul considers the principles and tremendous issues involved, that he speaks out...

  • Manly Luscombe Commentary on New Testament

    To be a mediator requires two other persons. Jesus is the mediator between God and us....

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    19-22 If that promise was enough for salvation, wherefore then serveth the law? The Israelites, though chosen to be God's peculiar people, were sinners as well as others. The law was not intended to...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    This is a text acknowledged by all interpreters to be very obscure; not so much as considered in itself, (for all know, that a mediator speaks one that goes in the middle between two persons that are...

  • McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries

    Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but God is one. [This verse has been interpreted in more than three hundred different ways.]...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Galatians 3:20 Now G1161 mediator G3316 does G2076 (G5748) not G3756 one G1520 but G1161 God G2316 is...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    WHAT THEN WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW? (GALATIANS 3:19). He now raises the question as to what the purpose of the Law is....

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘What then is the Law? It was added because of transgressions until the seed should come to whom the promise has been made, ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not of...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    Galatians 3:20. The natural translation and meaning of this famous cross of interpreters seems to be this: NOW A MEDIATOR (every mediator, including Moses, Galatians 3:19) [1] IS NOT OF ONE (of one pa...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    _The Educational Mission of the Law_. Paul now assumes a milder tone, and reasons with the Galatians from the common dealings of men. Even a human covenant is sacred and cannot be set aside, much more...

  • Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

    IS NOT A MEDIATOR OF ONE (ενος ουκ εστιν). That is, a middleman comes in between two. The law is in the nature of a contract between God and the Jewish people with Moses as the mediator or middlema...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Paul, writing, to those changeable Galatians, who had so soon deserted the faith, says to them in this chapter Galatians 3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?_ These Galatians thought that...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Galatians 3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I lea...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Galatians 3:1. _O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you,_ Paul writes as if they had come under some kind of witchcraft, and been deluded by it. This seemed to astonish the apostle, so he cries o...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Gift of Spirit by faith apart from law-works. Man under law-works is under the law curse. Christ bears the law curse that we might have the faith blessing. The true intent of the law. CHARA...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Galatians 3:1. _Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you:_ εβασκανε, who hath fascinated, beguiled, or seduced you by subtlety and cunning, and sought by ingenious malice to draw you from the trut...

  • The Bible Study New Testament

    IS NOT NEEDED. "When God makes a promise, no go-between is needed!" See the contrast in Hebrews 12:18-24....

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one._ I. The key to the apostle’s argument--“One.” 1. (Galatians 3:16) One is the seed of Abraham, to whom the promise was made. “In thee shall al...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    GALATIANS—NOTE ON GALATIANS 3:20 Because GOD IS ONE, his ultimate revelation comes not through an intermediary but from him alone. This assumes that whatever comes from Christ comes from the one true...

  • The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide

    CHAPTER 3 SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER S. Paul proceeds to prove by five reasons that we are justified not by the law, or the works of the law, but by Christ. I. The first proof is drawn (ver. 2) from e...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES_ Galatians 3:19. WHEREFORE THEN SERVETH THE LAW?—As it is of no avail for justification, is it either useless or contrary to the covenant of God? IT WAS ADDED BECAUSE O...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION GALATIANS 3:1 O FOOLISH GALATIANS (ὦ ἀνόητοι Γαλάται). In thus apostrophizing them, the apostle brands their present behaviour, not any lack of intelligence on their part in general...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Shall we turn now in our Bibles to Galatians chapter three. Background: Paul the apostle had been in the area of Galatia. Galatia was a general area like a county or a state. It was not a city. There...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Timothy 2:5; Acts 12:20; Deuteronomy 6:4; Galatians 3:17; Genesis

  • Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament (4 Volume Set)

    Now a mediator is not a mediator of one [ο δ ε μ ε σ ι τ η ς ε ν ο ς ο υ κ ε σ τ ι ν]. Observe, 1. De is explanatory, not antithetic. The verse illustrates the conception of mediator. 2. The article,...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE CROSS AND ITS OBJECTIVES Galatians 3:10; Galatians 4:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS The Cross must ever stand forth in the limelight of Bible and spiritual study. Apart from Christ's Calvary work we have...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Now the mediator is not a mediator of one — There must be two parties, or there can be no mediator between them; but God who made the free promise to Abraham is only one of the parties. The other, Abr...

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Old Testament