Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 1:13

ἠκούσατε γὰρ, “as we might say: For you, who know my former life, may well believe that it was by nothing short of a miracle I was converted. I will tell you the whole tale, and you will see how unlikely I was to have received the Gospel from the word of others” (Jowett).

“Ye heard,” hardly from Jews, astonished at my conversion; but probably from me and those with me when I preached to you first (Galatians 1:8).

τὴν ἐμὴν�. The verb ἀναστρέφω presents nearly the same metaphor as περιπατεῖν, but neither it nor its substantive is ever hallowed to mean the religious life as such. It is “the going up and down among men in the various intercourse of life” (Hort on 1 Peter 1:15); our “mode of life,” “converse”; not “behaviour,” which has only an external connotation. Polybius (IV. 82. 1) has a suggestive parallel to our passage: ὁ δὲ Φίλιππος … ἐκεῖ τὸ λοιπὸν μέρος τοῦ χειμῶνος διέτριβε, κατά τε τὴυ λοιπὴν�.τ.λ. See reff. to the Inscriptions in Deissmann (Bible Studies, pp. 88, 194, Licht vom Osten, p. 226).

ποτε. Its position is “due to the verb included in ἀναστροφήν. As St Paul would have said ἀνεστρεφόμην ποτἐ, he allows himself to write τὴν ἐμὴν�” (Ellicott).

ἐν τῷ Ἰουδαϊσμῷ, Galatians 1:14; 2Ma 2:21; 2Ma 8:1; 2Ma 14:38 bis; 4Ma 4:26[46]. Judaism as a religion of faith and custom. Cf. Ἰονδαΐζειν Galatians 2:14[47], Ἰονδαϊκῶς Galatians 2:14, Ἰουδαϊκός Titus 1:14[48]. For the contrast between Ἰουδαϊσμός and Χριστιανισμός see also Ignat. ad Magn. §§ 8, 10.

[46] Is affixed it means that all the passages are mentioned where the word occurs in the Greek Bible.
[47] Is affixed to a word it means that all the passages are mentioned where that word occurs in the New Testament.
[48] Is affixed to a word it means that all the passages are mentioned where that word occurs in the New Testament.

ὄτι καθ ̓ ὑπερβολὴν. Peculiar to the 3rd group of St Paul’s Epp.

ἐδίωκον. Observe the three imperfects ἐδίωκον, ἐπόρθουν, προέκοπτον, descriptive of the long continuance of his “mode of life.”

τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ. Cf. Galatians 1:2 note. The exact phrase occurs elsewhere in the N.T. only in 1 Corinthians 1:2 (= 2 Corinthians 1:1), 1 Corinthians 10:32; 1 Corinthians 11:22; 1 Corinthians 15:9 and in St Paul’s speech, Acts 20:28. Compare also 1 Timothy 3:5; 1 Timothy 3:15, and the plural 1 Corinthians 11:16; 1 Corinthians 11:22; 1 Thessalonians 2:14; 2 Thessalonians 1:4. Observe the tacit assumption that the Ἰονδαῖοι do not form ἡ ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ (contrast the use of ἡ ἐκκλησία in Acts 7:38), although in 1 Thessalonians 2:14 his addition of ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ implies that there might be ἐκκλησίαι τοῦ θεοῦ not in Christ.

καὶ ἐπόρθουν αὐτήν, Galatians 1:23; Acts 9:21[49]. Cf. 4Ma 4:23 of Antiochus Epiphanes ὡς ἐπόρθησεν αὐτούς, δόγμα ἔθετο, ὅπως εἴ τινες αὐτῶν φάνοιεν τῷ πατρίῳ πολιτευόμενοι νόμῳ, θάνοιεν.

[49] Is affixed to a word it means that all the passages are mentioned where that word occurs in the New Testament.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 1:13

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