Galatians 4:14

14 τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν א*ABD*G vulg. τὸν πειρασμόν μου τὸν Text. Rec. with DbcKL etc. syrHarcl. τὸν πειρασμὸν τὸν אcC* (ut videtur) syrpesh. τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν τὸν C2 Orig. (ut videtur).

14. καὶ τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν. See notes on Textual Criticism. “And this which was a trial to you, I mean in my flesh.” His illness tested their character, καί is of course dependent on ὅτι.

ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου. Defining the sphere in which the trial lay.

οὐκ ἐξουθενήσατε, i.e. the illness which served as your test. ἐξουθ. is used of St Paul’s λόγος (2 Corinthians 10:10), and of our Lord’s treatment by Herod (Luke 23:11; cf. Mark 9:12). So of the Servant in lowly and even leper’s form Symmachus twice, and Aquila and Theodotion once, use the epithet ἐξουδενωμένος (Isaiah 53:3).

οὐδὲ ἐξεπτύσατε[124]. Elsewhere only literally. It may contain an allusion to the then superstitious habit of spitting when meeting sick persons, and especially epileptics, for fear of infection from them (see Clemen, Religionsgeschichtliche Erklärung des N.T., 1909, pp. 266, 288). Used here because “St Paul is fond of repeating, not without emphasis, compounds presenting the same preposition, Galatians 2:4; Galatians 2:13; Romans 2:17; Romans 11:7 et al.” (Meyer).

[124] Is affixed it means that all the passages are mentioned where the word occurs in the Greek Bible.

ἀλλὰ ὡς ἄγγελον θεοῦ ἐδέξασθέ με. ἄγγ. Galatians 1:8. Probably “angel” (not “messenger”) as always in St Paul, though the commonness of the word prevents our laying stress on this fact. Observe that they receive him as this in spite of the illness from which he was evidently suffering at the time. This seems to exclude a reference, naturally made much of by Ramsay in support of the South Galatian theory, to the men of Lystra calling St Paul Hermes (the messenger of the gods) because he was the chief speaker (Acts 14:12). Apparently the coincidence is purely accidental. See Introd. p. xxviii.

ὡς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν. The connexion in St Paul’s mind was probably due to his reminiscence of Malachi 3:1 ἰδοὺ ἐξαποστέλλω τὸν ἄγγελόν μου … καὶ ἐξέφνης ἥξει εἰς τὸν ναὸν ἑαυτοῦ κύριος ὃν ὑμεῖς ζητεῖτε, καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος τῆς διαθήκης ὃν ὑμεῖς θέλετε, where, as here, ἄγγελος suggests both its meanings. St Paul means that they could not have received him better if he had been an angel, yea, if he had been Christ Himself.