Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 4:18

ζηλοῦσθαι. for -αι אB read -ε, probably by mere indifference to spelling, but it is read as an imperative by Jerome and the Vulgate (aemulamini).

18. καλὸν δὲ ζηλοῦσθαι ἐν καλῷ πάντοτε. “It is good to be paid court to in a good cause always”: see notes on Textual Criticism. ζηλοῦσθαι must be passive, for the middle is found nowhere, as it appears, in Greek literature, although the verb is so common. But who is the subject? (1) Is it St Paul that ought to be courted by the Galatians? It is good for me to be the object of your zeal etc., but for some reason your affections have cooled towards me. This truth is so self-evident as to be hardly worth saying. (2) It is better therefore to understand the words to mean: “It is good for you to be paid court to always” by me or anybody else, so long as it is done in a good way. You need, that is to say, someone to take an interest in you; I do not grudge this for a moment, provided that it be taken honourably. I do not want you to be dependent on my presence for a true friend. But he implies by ἐν καλῷ what he has already stated in Galatians 4:17 that this interest has not been honourable on the part of the false teachers. Ramsay (Gal. pp. 444, 463) ingeniously, but unnecessarily, sees also in the words a hint that the Galatians had expressed their need of some such helper and guide, and that in Galatians 4:20 he foreshadows his intention of leaving a trusty representative (? Silas) with them.

καὶ μὴ μόνον. Elsewhere in the N.T. οὐ μόνον with an infinitive. Burton, Moods and Tenses, § 481.

ἐν τῷ παρεῖναί με πρὸς ὑμᾶς, “when I am present with you.” παρ. πρὸς Galatians 4:20; 2 Corinthians 11:9. In Acts 12:20 the underlying thought of motion is more evident, cf. Colossians 1:6.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Galatians 4:18

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