Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 1:8

ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐὰν ἡμεῖς. I and those with me (Galatians 1:2) in spite of any such false statements as the Galatians may have heard (Galatians 1:10 note). They know the gospel that he preached on his first visit. He will afterwards remind them of the effect of it among them, briefly in Galatians 1:9 and more in detail in Galatians 3:1 sqq. Upholders of the South Galatian theory see an implied reference to St Paul’s circumcision of Timothy, a semi-Gentile, which might have suggested his sympathy with obedience to the Law on the part of Gentile Christians on his second visit (Acts 16:3).

ἤ ἄγγελος�ʼ οὐρανοῦ. ἀπʼ οὐρανοῦ is added probably only to enhance the dignity of the supposed preacher. But of course it does not exclude the bare possibility of ἄγγελος, when alone, meaning a human messenger. Upholders of the South Galatian theory compare the belief at Lystra in a divine visit, and the assertion that St Paul was Hermes the messenger of the gods (cf. Galatians 4:14 note and Introd. p. xxviii.).

εὐαγγελίσηται [ὑμῖν] παρʼ ὃ εὐηγγελισάμεθα ὑμῖν. παρά, “contrary to,” Romans 16:17. After so strong a word as μεταστρέψαι “besides” seems improbable. But Protestant commentators have not unnaturally deduced from παρά here a lesson against the addition of anything besides the Scriptures: “For he that delivers any doctrine out of them, and beside them, as necessary to be believed, is accursed” (Perkins). εὐηγγελισάμεθα. The reference is to St Paul’s companions on his first visit (Silas and Timothy, Acts 15:40; Acts 16:3), or on his second (probably Timothy). According to the South Galatian theory they would be Barnabas on the first visit (Acts 13:14) and Silas and Timothy on the second.

ἀναθέμα ἔστω = Galatians 1:9. ἀνάθεμα is in the LXX. the regular translation of cherem, a thing devoted to God either for preservation or destruction. In Rabbinic and modern times cherem often signifies excommunication from a visible society, and this meaning has been attributed to ἀνάθεμα here. But to the Apostle ἀνάθεμα is the very antithesis of nearness and likeness to Christ. Hence he names as the supreme example of demonic utterance the saying ἀνάθεμα Ἰησοῦς (1 Corinthians 12:3) and suggests as the most extreme form of his love to the Israelites that he could pray to be himself ἀνάθεμα� (Romans 9:3). Here therefore he is solemuly writing a curse in the strongest possible form, ἀπηλλοτριωμένος θεοῦ (Theodore on Zechariah 14:8, quoted by Swete). Deissmann sees in this passage and others (especially 1 Corinthians 5:4-5) examples of the influence upon St Paul of the heathen use of formulae devoting persons to gods of the underworld (Licht v. Osten, pp. 218 sqq.).

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 1:8

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