 |  |
"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain" (Gal. 2: 21).
The word translated "frustrated" atheteo, is composed of a the negative, and thetos
"placed" from tithemi "to place". In a mild form this word is used in the sense of
"despising" or "rejecting" persons (Matt. 6: 24; Luke 10: 16; John 12: 48; I Thess. 4: 8;
Jude 8), the fuller sense of nullify, abolish or abrogate is seen in the noun form athetesis
(Heb. 7: 18; 9: 26), where it is used of the abrogation of the law and of the sin offering.
In both instances, something else that takes its place is in view. In Heb. 7: it is the
oath that appointed Christ a priest after the order of Melchisedec, and not the carnal
commandment that appointed the priests after the order of Aaron, and in the ninth chapter
it is the abrogation of the sin offering by reason of the once offered sacrifice of Christ.
In Gal. 2: 21 the sense is to nullify, bring to nothing (I Cor. 1: 19) the grace of God.
What is here intended by the expression "the grace of God"? Reading the entire verse
we observe that the death of Christ is substituted for the grace of God. The evil which
the apostle here condemned "frustrated" the grace of God, and proved that the death of
Christ was "in vain".
There is what is known as "a suppressed premise" in this verse, which can be supplied
as follows:
"I do not nullify the grace of God, which I should do, did I attempt to justify myself by
legal works, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in vain."
"In vain" is not a good rendering of dorean, for to say that Christ died "in vain" really
intimates that his death was "ineffectual", whereas the intention of the apostle is to give
the impression that Christ would have died "unnecessarily".
"I say ouk atheto, for it is an immediate inference, that if the law had been the medium
of dikaiosune, Christ's death would have been purposeless" (Ellicott).
Dorean "in vain" is from dorea a gift as in Rom. 5: 15. In the adverbial form, the
form in which it is used in Gal. 2: 21, it means (1) in a good sense, "freely", "gratis",
as in Rom. 3: 24 and (2) in a bad sense "undeservedly", "without cause",
"gratuitously", as in John 15: 25.
Calvin's comment on this passage is worth recording:
"If we could produce a righteousness of our own, then Christ hath suffered in vain;
for the intention of His sufferings was to procure it for us; and what need was there that a
work which we could accomplish for ourselves should be obtained from another? If the
death of Christ be our redemption, then were we captives--if it be satisfaction, we were
debtors--if it be atonement, we were guilty--if it be cleansing, we were unclean. On the
other hand, he who ascribes to works his sanctification, pardon, atonement, righteousness
or deliverance, makes void the death of Christ."
To which quotation we might add that of Theodoret who said: