Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 2:6

[ὁ] θεὸς. The article is read by אRevelation 17 but omitted by Text. Rec. with BCD.

6. ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν δοκούντων εἶναί τι. The Apostle now reverts to Galatians 2:2, after his parenthesis about Titus (Galatians 2:3-5). I conferred privately with those of repute, but (he was going to say) I received nothing fresh from them. The warmth of his feelings, however, leads him to add point to point, so that he never completes this new sentence.

τ. δοκ. εἶναί τι. See on Galatians 2:2. The present tense of the R.V. marg. is preferable to the past of A.V. and R.V. text.

ὁποῖοί ποτε (Galatians 1:13; Galatians 1:23) ἦσαν, “whatever kind of persons they once were.” St Paul breaks off in view of a possible objection that he ought to have submitted to the authority of the Twelve who had held the position of personal followers of Christ while He was on earth (see Galatians 1:16 note). ποτέ most naturally is temporal (as in Galatians 1:13; Galatians 1:23) and only by accident follows ὁποῖοι. Its classical use of making a relative more general and inclusive (cf. 2Ma 14:32 μὴ γινώσκειν ποῦ ποτʼ ἐστὶν ὁ ζητούμενος) is not found in the N.T.

οὐδέν μοι διαφέρει, “it makes no matter to me.” The phrase occurs only here in the Greek Bible.

πρόσωπον … λαμβάνει. Another parenthesis explaining why he pays no special regard to the Twelve as such. I am impartial because God is.

[ὁ] θεὸς. See notes on Textual Criticism. For the reference to God cf. Galatians 6:7.

πρόσωπον … ἀνθρώπου οὐ λαμβάνει. The exact phrase only here. Cf. Matthew 22:16 and the parallel passages, Mark 12:14; Luke 20:21; and Jude 1:16. On the meaning of προσωπολημψία see Colossians 3:25 note. It is a translation of the Hebrew “to lift up the face” of a prostrate suppliant, with, probably, the further connotation, from the Greek, of accepting the mask for the person, the outside service for the reality.

ἐμοὶ γὰρ. This clause is in the form of another reason why he did not submit to the Twelve—“for, in fact, they did not give me any fresh information”—but at the same time it serves as the completion of the sentence begun by ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν δοκούντων. See note there.

οἱ δοκοῦντες οὐδὲν προσανέθεντο, Galatians 1:16; cf. Galatians 2:2. The emphasis is on ἐμοί. Before me they laid nothing by way of communication, i.e. I learned nothing from them. I told them much, likely to deepen their knowledge of God’s will. They told me nothing of the kind. The πρός in itself does not here suggest anything additional, see on Galatians 1:16. The connotation of consulting a person is absent here.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 2:6

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