And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
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Ambrosiaster
AD 400
Did Paul merely pretend to be all things to all men, in the way that flatterers do? No. He was a man of God and a doctor of the spirit who could diagnose every pain, and with great diligence he tended them and sympathized with them all. We all have something or other in common with everyone. This empathy is what Paul embodied in dealing with each particular person. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
A person who nurses a sick man becomes, in a sense, sick himself, not by pretending to have a fever but by thinking sympathetically how he would like to be treated if he were sick himself. Letter , To Jerome.
"For not only for the Hebrews and those that are under the law "according to the apostle, "is it right to become a Jew, but also a Greek for the sake of the Greeks, that we may gain all.".
Also in the Epistle to the Colossians he writes, "Admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ.".
Let a man milk the sheep's milk if he need sustenance: let him shear the wool if he need clothing. And in this way let me produce the fruit of the Greek erudition.
, that evil has an evil nature, and can never turn out the producer of aught that is good; indicating that philosophy is in a sense a work of Divine Providence.
To them that are under the law, as under the law. To the Jews I became as one under the Mosaic law. This took place, e.g, says Å’cumenius, when he circumcised Timothy, when, after purifying himself, he went to the Temple, because he had a vow ( Acts 21:26).
I became to the Jews as a Jew. That is, upon occasions, not to hinder their conversion, I practised the ceremonies of their law; though I am not under their law, which is no longer obligatory, but only under the new law of Christ. (Witham)
Paul did not become a Jew in reality but only in appearance. How could it have been otherwise, since he was so determined to convert them and deliver them from their predicament? Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians
And I became, says he, to the Jews as a Jew, that I might gain Jews. And how did this take place? When he circumcised that he might abolish circumcision. Wherefore he said not, a Jew, but, as a Jew, which was a wise arrangement. What do you say? The herald of the world and he who touched the very heavens and shone so bright in grace, does he all at once descend so low? Yea. For this is to ascend. For you are not to look to the fact only of his descending, but also to his raising up him that was bowed down and bringing him up to himself.
To them that are under the law, as under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. Either it is the explanation of what went before, or he hints at some other thing besides the former: calling those Jews, who were such originally and from the first: but under the law, the proselytes, or those who became believers and yet adhered to the law. For they were no longer as Jews, yet 'under the law.' And when wa...
Doctrine into suspicion, I will put in a defence, as it were, for Peter, to the effect that even Paul said that he was "made all things to all men-to the Jews a Jew "to those who were not Jews as one who was not a Jew-"that he might gain all.".
Their truth may be inferred from their agreement with the apostle's own profession, how "to the Jews he became as a Jew, that he might gain the Jews, and to them that were under the law, as under the law"-and so here with respect to those who come in secretly,-"and lastly, how he became all things to all men, that he might gain all."
