You see with what large letters I have written unto you with my own hand.
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Ye see how large a letter. S. Chrysostom and Theophylact understand this to mean: You see what misshapen letters I have formed, but your love for me will excuse their imperfections. S. Augustine: Ye see how freely and openly I have written, without any fear of the Judaisers. S. Hilary, and others following him: Ye see what lofty ideas I have put before you. S. Jerome, however, thinks that the words show that up to this point S. Paul had used an amanuensis, but that from here to the end he wrote himself, to prevent any one from objecting to the genuineness of the Epistle. The best explanation is that which sees an allusion to the length of the letter, and a reference to S. Paul"s affection for the Galatians , which had made him dispense with his usual amanuensis, and write a long letter with his own hand.
What a letter I have written. With my own hand. St. Jerome understands this of what he is now beginning to write, the rest being written by the hand of another. Others understand the whole letter. (Witham)
St. Chrysostom, Theophylactus, and Theodoret, suppose that the apostle wrote the whole epistle with his own hand, and here excuses himself for writing so ill the Grecian letters, which were so very different from those of his native language. But St. Jerome understands, that he wrote only this latter part of the epistle, as a testimony that the whole came from him. (Calmet)
Those who wanted the Galatians to be circumcised had put it about that Paul preached one way and acted another, destroying his words by his own deeds, since he who proclaimed the abolition of the law was found to be obeying the law. Because Paul could not refute their opinions in person in the sight of all (being prevented by the chains that he bore as a testimony to Christ), he acts as his own lawyer through his letter. So that no suspicion that the letter was false might arise, he himself has written it from this point right to the end, showing that the preceding part was copied by another’s hand. … It is not that the letters were larger (though indeed the word would bear this sense in Greek) but because the marks of his own handwriting were known to them. So when they recognized the angles and contours of his own letters, they would feel that they had encountered him…. Paul wrote his letter in great characters because the meaning of the characters was great and had been traced out b...
Observe what great grief occupies that blessed soul [Paul]…. Having said a little about morals, he now returns to the things that were causing the greatest disturbance to his soul, saying “See in what large letters I have written to you.” Here he hints at nothing except that he himself wrote the whole letter, which is a sign of the greatest authenticity. For in the other epistles he may have composed, but another wrote…. By “so large” he seems to me to be indicating not the size but the poor form of the characters, all but saying, “Although I do not write well, I have nonetheless been compelled to write for myself, so as to silence those who slander me.”
Observe what grief possesses his blessed soul. As those who are oppressed with some sorrow, who have lost one of their own kindred, and suffered an unexpected calamity, rest neither by night nor day, because their grief besieges their soul, so the blessed Paul, after a short moral discourse, returns again to that former subject which chiefly disturbed his mind, saying as follows: see with how large letters I have written unto you with my own hand. By this he signifies that he had written the whole letter himself, which was a proof of great sincerity. In his other Epistles he himself only dictated, another wrote, as is plain from the Epistle to the Romans, for at its close it is said, I Tertius, who write the Epistle, salute you; Romans 16:22 but in this instance he wrote the whole himself. And this he did by necessity, not from affection merely, but in order to remove an injurious suspicion. Being charged with acts wherein he had no part, and being reported to preach Circumcision yet t...
