Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 4:15

ποῦ אABCGP vulg. syrpesh. Harcl. marg. τίς Text. Rec. with DKL etc. SyrHarcl. text.

15. ποῦ. See notes on Textual Criticism. What has become of it now? Romans 3:27.

οὖν. Logically it should still continue.

ὁ μακαρισμὸς ὑμῶν. Romans 4:6; Romans 4:9[125]. Cf. μακαρίζε, Luke 1:48; James 5:11. Not happiness, or “blessedness” (A.V.), which is μακαριότης, but “pronouncing blessing,” “gratulation,” R.V. The ὑμῶν is doubtless objective and reflexive, “of yourselves.” The meaning “gratulation of you” by other Christians is alien to the context, and for “your gratulation of me” (cf. Luke 1:48) as bearing so high and acceptable a message we should expect μακ. in the plural.

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

μαρτυρῶ γὰρ ὑμῖν. I freely bear witness to you of your love. There is no connotation of wishing to convict you of error now by my present testimony.

ὅτι εἰ δυνατὸν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑμῶν. While doubtless the eyes are carissima membra corporis (Pelag. in Zahn) it seems much more natural to find some special reason for the expression here. Apparently his eyes had been injured by the ἀσθένεια of Galatians 4:13. There is no reason for connecting it with the effect of the vision, Acts 9:17-18, nor with the σκόλοψ τῇ σαρκί (2 Corinthians 12:7).

ἐξορύξαντες. Mark 2:4[126]. Of the eyes Judges 16:21 (A); 1 Samuel 11:2.

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

ἐδώκατέ μοι. “In hypothetical sentences, where unreality is expressed, the indicative is used both in the protasis and the apodosis; in the latter the insertion of ἄν is not obligatory, John 15:24” (Blass, Gram. § 63. 3; cf. Burton, Moods and Tenses, § 249). Perhaps its omission suggests greater certainty.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 4:15

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