Ἰάκωβος καὶ Κηφᾶς אBCKLP vulg. syrr. Πέτρος καὶ Ἰάκωβος DG old lat. Ἰάκωβος (without κ. Κηφᾶς) A.

9. καὶ γνόντες. ἰδ. the immediate impression; γν. the knowledge of reflection (Meyer).

τὴν χάριν τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι, i.e. to preach to the Gentiles, Ephesians 3:2; Ephesians 3:7-8 (vide supra Galatians 1:3 note). For τ. δοθ. cf. also 2 Peter 3:15 of St Paul.

Ἰάκωβος. Without the addition of “the brother of the Lord” here, because already so defined in Galatians 1:19. Possibly also because at the period referred to in our verse, long after the death of James the son of Zebedee, there could not be any doubt as to who was intended. Named first of the Three because of his position at Jerusalem, and the stress laid on his name by the false teachers. See Galatians 2:12 note.

κ. Κηφᾶς (Galatians 1:18) καὶ Ἰωάνης. The last here only in the Pauline epistles. Among the Twelve James the son of Zebedee had been their only equal (Matthew 17:1; Mark 5:37), and sometimes they were even more prominent than he (Luke 22:8; Acts 3:1 sqq., Acts 4:13; Acts 4:19; Acts 8:14; cf. the order in Acts 1:13).

οἱ δοκοῦντες (Galatians 2:2; Galatians 2:6 notes) στύλοι εἶναι. Winer-Schmiedel, § 6. 3. b, writes στῦλος because it is long in metre, e.g. Sibyll. III. 250 f. For the word see 1 Timothy 3:15; Revelation 3:12; Revelation 10:11[76]. Its metaphorical use occurs in the LXX., as it seems, only in 4Ma 17:3, apostrophizing the mother of the Seven, καθάπερ γὰρ σὺ στέγη ἐπὶ τοῦ στύλου (ἐπὶ τοὺς στύλους א) τῶν παίδων γενναίως ἱδρυμένη, ἀκλινῶς ὑπήνεγκας τὸν διὰ τῶν βασάνων σεισμόν. In T. B. Berachoth 28b R. Jochanan ben Zakkai (died c. 80 A.D.) is addressed by his disciples “Lamp of Israel! Right-hand Pillar!”

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

δεξιὰς ἔδωκαν. The phrase is unique in the N.T. but frequent in 1 and 2 Mac., e.g. 1Ma 6:58; 2Ma 14:19.

Probably a public manifestation of agreement. “When they bade farewell, it was not a parting like that when Luther in the castle at Marburg rejected the hand of Zwingli, or when Jacob Andreae at Montbéliard refused that of Theodore Beza” (Thiersch quoted by Meyer).

ἐμοὶ καὶ Βαρνάβᾳ. The order is that of Acts 15:2; Acts 15:22; Acts 15:35 (contrast Acts 11:30; Acts 12:25).

κοινωνίας. This explanatory genitive was needed, for δεξ. δοῦναι alone = yield. Here κοινωνία is more than the spirit of fellowship and communion, almost our “brotherliness” (Philemon 1:6, note), and is strictly “partnership,” cf. Philemon 1:17.

ἵνα. The object of the implied compact, cf. Galatians 2:10.

ἠμεῖς … περιτομήν. No verb. The emphasis lying on the fact of the partition it was virtually unnecessary.

Observe that the sphere of each is described as ethnographic not geographic, and that it would be impossible to draw the line with accuracy. St Paul does not appear to have taken it in a strict sense.

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Old Testament