NOT FROM MEN, NEITHER THROUGH MEN (ουκ απ' ανθρωπων ουδε δι' ανθρωπου). The bluntness of Paul's denial is due to the charge made by the Judaizers that Paul was not a genuine apostle because not one of the twelve. This charge had been made in Corinth and called forth the keenest irony of Paul (Gal... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE BRETHREN WHICH ARE WITH ME (ο συν εμο παντες αδελφο). The same phrase in Philippians 4:21 in distinction from the saints in verse Galatians 1:22. Probably the small company of travelling companions.UNTO THE CHURCHES OF GALATIA (ταις εκκλησιαις της Γαλατιας). A circular letter therefore... [ Continue Reading ]
GRACE TO YOU AND PEACE (χαρις υμιν κα ειρηνη). As in I Thess., II Thess., I Cor., II Cor. (already written) and in all the later Epistles save that in I and II Timothy "mercy" is added. But this customary salutation (see on 1 Thessalonians 1:1) is not a perfunctory thing with Paul. He uses it her... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR OUR SINS (υπερ των αμαρτιων). Some MSS. have περ (concerning). In the _Koine_ this use of υπερ as like περ has come to be common. He refers to the death of Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:3; Galatians 2:20; Romans 5:6). As a rule περ occurs of things, υπερ of persons.DELIVER (εξελητα). Second... [ Continue Reading ]
TO WHOM BE THE GLORY (ω η δοξα). No verb in the Greek. For like doxologies see Romans 9:5; Romans 11:36; Romans 16:27; Ephesians 3:21; 1 Timothy 1:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE ARE SO QUICKLY REMOVING (ουτως ταχεως μετατιθεσθε). The present middle indicative of μετατιθημ, to change places, to transfer. "You are transferring yourselves" and doing it "so quickly" either from the time of their conversion or most likely from the time when the Judaizers came and tempted t... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH IS NOT ANOTHER (ο ουκ εστιν αλλο). It is no "gospel" (good news) at all, but a yoke of bondage to the law and the abolition of grace. There is but one gospel and that is of grace, not works. The relative ο (which) refers to ετερον ευαγγελιον (a different gospel) "taken as a single term and... [ Continue Reading ]
IF WE (εαν ημεις). Condition of third class (εαν and aorist middle subjunctive ευαγγελισητα). Suppose I (literary plural) should turn renegade and preach "other than" (παρ' ο), "contrary to that which we preached." Preachers have turned away from Christ, alas, and preached "humanism" or some othe... [ Continue Reading ]
SO SAY I NOW AGAIN (κα αρτ παλιν λεγω). Paul knows that he has just made what some will consider an extreme statement. But it is a deliberate one and not mere excitement. He will stand by it to the end. He calls down a curse on any one who proclaims a gospel to them contrary to that which they ha... [ Continue Reading ]
AM I PERSUADING? (πειθω?). Conative present, trying to persuade like ζητω αρεσκειν (seeking to please) where the effort is stated plainly. See 2 Corinthians 5:11.I SHOULD NOT BE (ουκ αν ημην). Conclusion of second class condition, determined as unfulfilled. Regular construction here (ε and impe... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH WAS PREACHED (το ευαγγελισθεν). Play on the word ευαγγελιον by first aorist passive participle of ευαγγελιζω, "the gospel which was gospelized by me."IT IS NOT AFTER MAN (ουκ εστιν κατα ανθρωπον). Not after a human standard and so he does not try to conform to the human ideal. Paul alone... [ Continue Reading ]
NOR WAS I TAUGHT IT (ουτε εδιδαχθην). He did not receive it "from man" (παρα ανθρωπων, which shuts out both απο and δια of verse Galatians 1:1), whether Peter or any other apostle, nor was he taught it in the school of Gamaliel in Jerusalem or at the University of Tarsus. He "received" his gospel... [ Continue Reading ]
MY MANNER OF LIFE (την εμην αναστροφην). Late word in this sense from Polybius on from αναστρεφομα. In the older writers it meant literally "return" or "turning back." See 1 Peter 1:15. It is absent in this sense in the papyri though the verb is common.IN THE JEWS' RELIGION (εν τω Ιουδαισμω). ... [ Continue Reading ]
I ADVANCED (προεκοπτον). Imperfect active again of προκοπτω, old verb, to cut forward (as in a forest), to blaze a way, to go ahead. In N.T. only here, Romans 13:12; 2 Timothy 2:16; 2 Timothy 3:9; 2 Timothy 3:13. Paul was a brilliant pupil under Gamaliel. See Philippians 3:4-6. He was in the lead... [ Continue Reading ]
IT WAS THE GOOD PLEASURE OF GOD (ευδοκησεν ο θεος). Paul had no doubt about God's purpose in him (1 Thessalonians 2:8).WHO SEPARATED ME (ο αφορισας με). Αφοριζω is old word (from απο and ορος) to mark off from a boundary or line. The Pharisees were the separatists who held themselves off from o... [ Continue Reading ]
TO REVEAL HIS SON IN ME (αποκαλυψα τον υιον αυτου εν εμο). By "in me" (εν εμο) Paul can mean to lay emphasis on his inward experience of grace or he may refer objectively to the vision of Christ on the way to Damascus, "in my case." Paul uses εν εμο in this sense (in my case) several times (verse... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE ME (προ εμου). The Jerusalem apostles were genuine apostles, but so is Paul. His call did not come from them nor did he receive confirmation by them.INTO ARABIA (εις Αραβιαν). This visit to Arabia has to come between the two visits to Damascus which are not distinguished in Acts 9:22. In... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN AFTER THREE YEARS (επειτα μετα τρια ετη). A round number to cover the period from his departure from Jerusalem for Damascus to his return to Jerusalem. This stay in Damascus was an important episode in Paul's theological readjustment to his new experience.TO VISIT CEPHAS (ιστορησα Κηφαν).... [ Continue Reading ]
EXCEPT JAMES THE BROTHER OF THE LORD (ε μη Ιακωβον τον αδελφον του Κυριου). James the son of Zebedee was still living at that time. The rest of the twelve were probably away preaching and James, brother of the Lord, is here termed an apostle, though not one of the twelve as Barnabas is later so c... [ Continue Reading ]
I LIE NOT (ου ψευδομα). So important does he deem the point that he takes solemn oath about it.... [ Continue Reading ]
INTO THE REGION OF SYRIA AND CILICIA (εις τα κλιματα της Σψριας κα της Κιλικιας). This statement agrees with the record in Acts 9:30. On κλιματα, see 2 Corinthians 11:10. Paul was not idle, but at work in Tarsus and the surrounding country.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WAS STILL UNKNOWN (ημην δε αγνουμενος). Periphrastic imperfect passive of αγνοεω, not to know.BY FACE (τω προσωπω). Associative instrumental case.OF JUDEA (της Ιουδαιας). As distinct from Jerusalem, for he had once scattered the church there and had revisited them before coming to Tarsu... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ONLY HEARD (μονον ακουοντες ησαν). Periphrastic imperfect, "They were only hearing from time to time."THAT ONCE PERSECUTED US (ο διωκων ημας ποτε). Present active articular participle, a sort of participle of antecedent time suggested by ποτε, "the one who used to persecute us once upon a... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY GLORIFIED (εδοξαζον). Imperfect, kept on doing it.IN ME (εν εμο). In my case as in Galatians 1:16.... [ Continue Reading ]