Translated Excerpts
1. Judaism as Spiritually “Carnal” – Fixed in the Letter, Opposed to the Spirit
Passage A: Psalm 1 Commentary – Carnal vs. Spiritual Understanding
Latin:
Peccatores vocat transgressores legis, Judaeos scilicet sub lege; viam eorum, carnalem intelligentiam, id est: beatus ille qui spiritaliter legem intelligit, et ille beatus qui in cathedra pestilentiae non sedit sub tempore gratiae.
English Translation:
He calls sinners the transgressors of the law, namely the Jews under the law; their way is carnal understanding, that is: blessed is he who understands the law spiritually, and blessed is he who has not sat in the seat of pestilence in the time of grace.
Passage B: Psalm 92 Commentary – The Letter vs. the Spirit
Latin:
Propheta, videns Judaeos litteram attendentes, et non spiritum, Sabbatum grossum celebrare, et non delicatum, hortatur nos in hoc psalmo Sabbatum delicatum celebrare. Quod Sabbatum delicatum est serenitas conscientiae, tranquillitas mentis, requies cordis, cessatio ab operibus malis, quia non prodest manus abstinere ab opere, nisi mens etiam cesset a crimine, quia melius est arare quam saltare, et fodere quam usque ad crapulam bibere. Judaei vero, Sabbatum grossum celebrantes, hoc non attendebant, sed manus eorum feriabatur ab opere, mens [continued]…
English Translation:
The Prophet, seeing the Jews attending to the letter and not the spirit, celebrating the gross Sabbath and not the delicate one, exhorts us in this psalm to celebrate the delicate Sabbath. The delicate Sabbath is serenity of conscience, tranquility of mind, rest of heart, cessation from evil works, because it does not profit to abstain the hand from work unless the mind also ceases from crime, because it is better to plow than to dance, and to dig than to drink to the point of drunkenness. The Jews, however, celebrating the gross Sabbath, did not attend to this, but their hands rested from work, [while] the mind [did not]…
Passage C: Psalm 50 Commentary – Carnal Observance Changed to Spiritual Understanding
Latin:
Quoniam non defuerunt in priori populo, qui intelligerent sacrificium constitutum secundum ordinem Aaron esse immutandum in sacrificium secundum ordinem Melchisedech constitutum: placuit Spiritui sancto, in persona illorum per Prophetam hunc praenotari psalmum, ut in hoc psalmo colligerent secum suos contemporaneos et posteros ad intelligendum quod carnalis observantia in spiritualem intellectum esset immutanda, et quod haec mutatio esset futura per ipsum Dominum nostrum. Hoc etiam hic notatur, ne Judaeis mira videatur legis suae destructio: quia ipse Dominus venit, et novam attulit.
English Translation:
Since there were not lacking in the former people those who understood that the sacrifice established according to the order of Aaron was to be changed into a sacrifice established according to the order of Melchizedek: it pleased the Holy Spirit, in the person of those [who understood], through the Prophet to mark out this psalm beforehand, so that in this psalm they might gather together with themselves their contemporaries and descendants to understand that carnal observance was to be changed into spiritual understanding, and that this change was to come about through our Lord himself. This is also noted here, lest the destruction of their law seem strange to the Jews: because the Lord himself came, and brought a new [law].
Passage D: Genesis 21 Commentary – Legal Purification as “Carnal”
Latin:
Typice Agar Synagogam designat, Ismael plebem Judaicam. Portatur Ismael ab Agar: et peccator populus Judaeorum gravi maledictionis pondere cervices matris suae Synagogae premit. Panis quem portabat significat panes propositionis, qui in mensa sanctificati erant. Aqua quae eis defecit significat legalem purificationem, sive etiam carnalem Scribarum et Pharisaeorum doctrinam quae in pelle mortua, hoc est, in carnali observatione continebatur.
English Translation:
Typically, Hagar designates the Synagogue, Ishmael the Jewish people. Ishmael is carried by Hagar: and the sinful people of the Jews weighs down the neck of their mother the Synagogue with the heavy weight of malediction. The bread which she carried signifies the loaves of proposition, which were sanctified on the table. The water which failed them signifies legal purification, or also the carnal doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees which was contained in dead skin, that is, in carnal observance.
2. Explicit Contrasts Between Synagogue and Ecclesia
Passage E: Genesis 24 Commentary – Synagogue Left Behind, Church Joined
Latin:
Dereliquit matrem, id est, Synagogam, de qua et carnem assumpsit. Adhaesit uxori suae, id est, conjunxit sibi Ecclesiam non habentem maculam aut rugam. Et factae sunt duo in carne una, id est, Christus qui caput, et membra ipsius, id est Ecclesia.
English Translation:
He left behind his mother, that is, the Synagogue, from which he also assumed flesh. He clung to his wife, that is, he joined to himself the Church having neither spot nor wrinkle. And the two were made one flesh, that is, Christ who is the head, and his members, that is the Church.
Passage F: Genesis 16 Commentary – Hagar/Sarah as Synagogue/Church
Latin:
Allegorice hae duae mulieres, exponente Apostolo (Galat. iv, 22 et seq.), Synagogam et Ecclesiam significant. Agar quidem Synagogam quae in servitutem generat populum Judaeorum qui feri sunt et agrestes, jugum Domini leve et fidem ejus nolentes recipere, ideoque dispersi, et vagabundi sunt per totum orbem et omnibus maxime Christianis contrarii. Sara vero Ecclesiam quae primum sterilis et infecunda fuit, postea [fertilis facta est]…
English Translation:
Allegorically these two women, as the Apostle explains (Gal. 4:22 ff.), signify the Synagogue and the Church. Hagar indeed [signifies] the Synagogue which generates into servitude the people of the Jews who are wild and savage, unwilling to receive the light yoke of the Lord and his faith, and therefore are scattered, and are wanderers throughout the whole world and contrary to all, especially to Christians. Sarah truly [signifies] the Church which was at first sterile and barren, afterwards [made fertile]…
Passage G: Genesis 24 Commentary – Synagogue Replaced by Church
Latin:
[Isaac] constituit [Rebeccam] dominam domus et Synagogae constituit de qua carnem assumpserat. Accepit eam uxorem. Quia gratiam quam illa quondam habebat novae sponsae attribuit, despondens eam sibi non habentem maculam, neque rugam. Ut dolorem qui ex morte matris acciderat temperaret. Mors matris est infidelitas Synagogae pro qua Christus multum doluit.
English Translation:
[Isaac] established [Rebecca] as lady of the house and established [her over] the Synagogue from which he had assumed flesh. He took her as wife. Because the grace which that [Synagogue] once had he attributed to the new bride, espousing to himself [one] having neither spot nor wrinkle. So that he might temper the sorrow which had happened from the death of his mother. The death of the mother is the infidelity of the Synagogue over which Christ greatly grieved.
Passage H: Genesis 38 Commentary – From Synagogue to Church, From Harlot to Bride
Latin:
Tunc Tamar vidit, id est misertus est Ecclesiae, et mutato nomine et habitu fecit eam de Synagoga Ecclesiam, de meretrice sponsam.
English Translation:
Then Tamar saw, that is [God] had mercy on the Church, and with name and habit changed he made her from Synagogue into Church, from harlot into bride.
Passage I: Genesis 39 Commentary – Synagogue as Faithless Wife Wanting Carnal Observance
Latin:
Mulier haec typum tenet Synagogae, quae habebat virum, legem videlicet ipsam, qua regebatur et docebatur. Haec Christum in homine apparentem voluit lenocinando decipere: quia Synagoga volebat ejus legem carnaliter observare, Sabbatum et omnia quae illi in figura data fuerant, juxta litteram implere. Cui cum Christus nollet obtemperare, pallium ei rejecit, quia tegmen litterae legalis illi dimisit. Unde, sicut Apostolus dicit, usque hodie, dum legitur Moyses, velamen positum est super cor ejus (II Cor. iii, 15). Sicque illam plebem dimisit Dominus dicens: Relinquetur vobis domus vestra deserta (Matth. xxiii, 38), et ad gentes transiit cum spiritali Scripturarum intellectu. Accusavit eum mulier, in argumentum marito pallium ostendens, quia Synagoga Christum accusabat legis destructorem, et quia se Deum dicebat, aequalem se faciens Deo.
English Translation:
This woman holds the type of the Synagogue, which had a husband, namely the law itself, by which it was ruled and taught. She wished to deceive Christ appearing in man by enticement: because the Synagogue wanted to observe his law carnally, [wanting] to fulfill the Sabbath and all things which had been given to it in figure, according to the letter. When Christ did not wish to comply with her, he rejected her garment, because he left to her the covering of the legal letter. Whence, as the Apostle says, even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil is placed over their heart (2 Cor. 3:15). And thus the Lord dismissed that people saying: Your house will be left to you desolate (Matt. 23:38), and he passed over to the gentiles with the spiritual understanding of the Scriptures. The woman accused him, showing the garment to her husband as proof, because the Synagogue accused Christ as a destroyer of the law, and because he said he was God, making himself equal to God.
Summary of Key Themes
1. Carnal vs. Spiritual
Remigius consistently portrays Judaism as trapped in “carnal understanding” (carnalis intelligentia) and “carnal observance” (carnalis observantia), unable to grasp the spiritual meaning of Scripture and religious practice.
2. Letter vs. Spirit
Jews are depicted as “attending to the letter and not the spirit” (litteram attendentes, et non spiritum), celebrating the “gross Sabbath” rather than the “delicate Sabbath” of spiritual rest.
3. Synagogue vs. Church
The Synagogue is repeatedly allegorized as:
- The abandoned mother (Rebecca/Sarah contrast)
- The barren woman replaced by the fertile bride
- The harlot transformed into the pure bride (Church)
- The faithless wife who misunderstands her husband’s (Christ’s) intentions
- Associated with servitude, wandering, and opposition to Christians
The Church is portrayed as:
- The new bride “without spot or wrinkle”
- The one who receives the grace formerly belonging to the Synagogue
- The recipient of spiritual understanding
- The community that properly interprets Scripture
4. Theological Framework
These passages exemplify medieval Christian supersessionist theology, wherein:
- The Old Covenant is “carnal” and preparatory
- The New Covenant is “spiritual” and fulfilling
- The Synagogue has been definitively replaced by the Church
- Jewish observance is portrayed as stubborn literalism preventing salvation
Source. Patrologia Latina – Translated by Claude.AI. Remigius of Auxerre, Commentaries. Migne, PL 131. 1884.