Christianity, but to such as had been converted to the Gospel from Heathenism, and were lapsing into Judaism under the influence of false Teachers, who affirmed that Peter, and James, and all the Churches of Judæa had joined the Law with the Gospel, and had exacted a like observance of both. They also alleged that Paul was inconsistent with himself, that he did one thing in Judæa, and preached another to the Heathen; and that it would be vain for them to believe in Christ unless they conformed to those things which were observed by His principal Apostles. St. Paul, therefore, is obliged to steer a middle course, so as neither on the one hand to betray the Grace of the Gospel, nor yet, on the other, to disparage the authority of his predecessors in the Apostleship. (S. Jerome'.) Another difference may be remarked in the character of the two Epistles. In that to the Romans, the Apostle speaks with more deference and reserve to those whom he addresses, whom he had never seen, and who had been converted by others to Christ. In the Epistle to the Galatians he speaks with the affectionate sternness of a spiritual Father to his own children in the Faith, who were disparaging his authority, and renouncing his precepts, to the injury of their own souls, and the perversion of the Gospel of Christ. See Gal. iii. 1; iv. 8-20; v. 7. Proœm. in Epist. ad Gal. vol. iv. p. 223, ed. Bened. Paris, 1706. a διὰ 4 ver. 11, 12. Tit. 1. 3, Acts 9. 6. Ι. 1' ΠΑΥΛΟΣ, ἀπόστολος, οὐκ ἀπ ̓ ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲ δι ̓ ἀνθρώπου, ἀλλὰ In σoû Xpiσtoû kaì Оeoû Пaтpòs тoû ¿yeípavтos avròv èk vekρŵv, 2 kaì oi ἐμεὶ πάντες ἀδελφοὶ, ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τῆς Γαλατίας, 3 χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη Θεοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, 4 τοῦ δόντος ἑαυτὸν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν, ὅπως ἐξέληται ἡμᾶς ἐκ τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος αἰῶνος πονηροῦ, τῶν 1 Cor. 6. 14. & 15. 15. 2 Cor. 4. 14. Eph. 5. 2. 1 Tim. 2. 6. Tit. 2. 14. b Acts 2. 24, 32. 18 & 4. & 10. 40. & S. 11. Rom. 4. 25. ch. 2. 20. Пpòs Tanáras] So A, B, and many Cursives. And so Lach., | fulness and joy; and he does not address the Church of one city, Tuch., Meyer, Alf. CH. I. 1. Παῦλος, ἀπόστολος, κ.τ.λ.] Paul, an Apostle. A declaration extorted from St. Paul in self-defence. He thus replies to those who disparage his Apostolic authority, on the plea that he was not one of the original Twelve, and had been a Persecutor of the Church; and who contravened his teaching on the ground that in asserting the abolition of the Ceremonial Law of Moses, he was setting himself up against St. Peter and others who had been ordained to the Apostleship by Christ Himself upon earth. Cp. Jerome. These introductory words are not found in any other Epistle of St. Paul. By saying that he himself is an Apostle, not of men, or by men, but of God, he intimates that those persons who taught the doctrine which he refutes in this Epistle, were not of God, but of men. (Augustine.) By not associating any other person by name with himself (as Silas or Timotheus, see I Thess. i. 1), he declares here his own independent Apostolic authority. οὐκ ἀπ ̓ ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲ δι ̓ ἀνθρώπου] not from men-not sent from men-nor by men. My calling to the Apostleship was not from man as a source (and) nor through man as a channel (d), but through Jesus Christ Who called me, speaking to me with His own voice from heaven, without the intervention of man. Cp. Theodoret. Jesus Christ is here distinctly contrasted with man; an assertion of His Godhead. - dià 'Ingoû X. κal eoû Пarpós] by Jesus Christ and God the Father. The Son leads to the Father, and the Father reveals the Son. Irenates (iii. 14). In the Acts of the Apostles it is related that the Holy Ghost commanded the Church at Antioch to ordain St. Paul (Acts xiii. 1-4, where see note). Here his commission is ascribed to God the Father and the Son. The Power of all the three Persons of the Trinity is one. (Chrys. and Theoph.) TO ¿yelpavros abτóv] who raised Him from the dead. God raised Christ from the dead, and thus showed that the sacrifice offered by Him on the Cross for the sins of the whole world was accepted as a full satisfaction for them (see on Rom. iv. 25). Thus the Apostle prepares the way for his argument in this Epistle, that Christ's death is the true ground of our Justification. 2. οἱ σὺν ἐμοὶ πάντες ἀδελφοί] all the brethren that are with An answer to the objection of those who alleged that St. Paul's doctrine was novel and singular, and only his own. Others are with him, and they all agree with him in it. (Chrys.) ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τῆς Γαλατίας] to the Churches of Galatia. This is the only Epistle of St. Paul in which he addresses himself thus to the Churches of a country. See on 1 Thess. i. 1. A remarkable address in what it does not, as well as in what it does say. He does not speak to them as he does to other Churches, in the beginning of his Epistles, in terms of thank but all, for it appears that the evil which he deplores had propagated itself to all (Chrys.). See also Prof. Lightfoot, p. 62. Though they were infected with heresy, yet he still calls them Churches. Such is the character and condition of the Church in this world: the time is not yet come in which the Church will be cleansed from all spot and wrinkle (Eph. v. 27). Jerome. See on 1 Cor. i. 2. A caution to those who look for a perfect Church on earth, and who separate themselves from a Church on the plea of imperfections, real or supposed, in it. See on Matt. xiii. 30. The address, To the Churches of Galatia,' indicates that St. Paul intends, and takes for granted, that this Epistle will be circulated. Hence, also, there are no personal greetings in this Epistle. See below, vi. 18. Ts Taλarias] of Galatia or Gallo-Græcia, a central province of Asia Minor, which was occupied about 280 B.C. by a horde of Gauls and Celts, who were invited by Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, to assist him against his brother. About 240 B.C. they were restrained within the limits of the Halys and Sangarius by Attalus, king of Pergamus, and became incorporated with the Greeks, and were thence called Gallo-Græci,' Though the Greek Language was adopted by them, yet still the Celtic remained as a vernacular tongue among them. (See S. Jerome, Prolog. ad Epist.) In B.c. 189 they became subject to Rome; and they adopted the religious rites of the Greek and Phrygian mythology, especially the worship of Cybele. See on v. 12. Their principal cities were Ancyra, Pessinus, and Tavium. Cp. Strabo, xii. p. 566. Liv. xxxiv. 12; xxxvii. 8. Florus, ii. 11; Winer, R. W. B. i. p. 384. Prof. Lightfoot, pp. 1-16; and 17-34. A 3, 4. Xápis K.T.λ.] Grace be to you and-the fruit of GracePeace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. summary of the argument of the Epistle, which is a pleading for the doctrine of Free Grace in Christ, dying for our sins, as our only ground of Peace. 4. TEрl Twν åμapтiv] for our sins. So A, D, E, F, G, I, K, and several Cursives, and Gb., Sch., Ln., Tf., Mey., Alf., Ellicott. Elz. has únép. But væèp is, on behalf of,' i. e. with a view, a benefit for. Christ suffered for us and for our salvation, væÈP ἡμῶν and ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου ζωής (John vi. 51), and περὶ ἁμαρτ Tiv, for our sins,' or 'on account of our sins,' which made it necessary that He should die for us. Cp. Rom. viii. 3 for wepì, and see for examples of vwèp, Luke xxii. 19, 20. Rom. v. 6; xiv. 15. Gal. ii. 20; iii. 13; and Winer, p. 333. ἐκ τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος αἰῶνος πονηροῦ] Το deliver us from the present evil world in which we were imprisoned as captives and slaves sentenced to death. Aug. His blood was our AUTçov, or ransom, by which we have been redeemed from this bondage. And St. Paul says that this ransom was given freely by Christ, and that it was given according to the Father's will. A declaration of the truth against the Socinian allegation that the Doctrine of e Rom. 11. 36. & 16. 27. Eph. 1. 12. Phil. 4. 20. d ch. 5. 8. e Acts 15. 1. 1 Cor. 11. 4. ch. 5. 15. f 1 Cor. 16. 22. g Rev. 22. 18. C κατὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ἡμῶν, 5 ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, ἀμήν. 6 d e Θαυμάζω ὅτι οὕτω ταχέως μετατίθεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς ἐν χάριτι Χριστοῦ εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, 7° ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο, εἰ μή τινές εἰσιν οἱ τα· ράσσοντες ὑμᾶς, καὶ θέλοντες μεταστρέψαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ· δ' ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐὰν ἡμεῖς ἢ ἄγγελος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ εὐαγγελίζηται ὑμῖν παρ ̓ ὅ εὐηγγελισάμεθα ὑμῖν, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω· 9 ε ὡς προειρήκαμεν, καὶ ἄρτι πάλιν λέγω, εἴ τις ὑμᾶς the Atonement is not reconcileable with Divine Love. See on Matt. xvii. 5; xx. 28; and John x. 17. Neque Filius se dedit pro peccatis nostris absque voluntate Patris, neque Pater tradidit Filium sine Filii voluntate. Sed hæc est voluntas Filii, voluntatem Patris implere. (Jerome.) TOÙ Eоû κal Пaтpós] God who is also our Father (Phil. iv. 20. Eph. v. 20. Bp. Middleton on Eph. v. 5), and is specially our Father by the redemption of us His children by the blood of His Son. 6. θαυμάζω ὅτι οὕτω ταχέως μετατίθεσθε] I marvel, that ye are so quickly shifting off from. "Miror quòd sic tam citò transferimini." Tertull. de Præs. c. 27. Cp. 2 Macc. vii. 24, μetaBéμevos and πaтрiwv vóμwv. And on the sense of taxéws, easily, at once, see Judges ii. 17, ἐξέκλιναν ταχὺ ἐκ τῆς ὁδοῦ. The sense is, I marvel that you are shifting yourselves from God to a different Gospel, and that you are doing this so quickly (cp. 2 Thess. ii. 2); that is, (on the first impulse and) without due consideration of what is to be said on the other side. Instead of making a vigorous defence, or calling on me to protect you, you are capitulating immediately, you are revolting from God Who enlisted you at your Baptism as His soldiers under the banner of the Cross, and after this defection you are joining the ranks of the enemy. So Chrys., who says, "The Apostle brings two charges against them-their change, and its suddenness." Such a change was in character (as Grotius observes) with the desultory fickleness which is attributed by ancient writers as a national trait to the race from which the Galatians sprung. See Cæsar, Bell. Gall. iv. 5, and the characteristic lines describing their conduct in the battle which decided the fortunes of the world, "Ad hoc frementes verterant bis mille equos Galli canentes Cæsarem."-Horat. Epod. ix. 16. It must be remembered that the Galatians had been converted from Heathenism (iv. 8), and that the national superstition of Galatia, the worship of Cybele, would predispose them readily to receive Circumcision as a rite of religion. See on v. 12; and on the national character of the Galatians, Prof. Lightfoot, pp. 1-16. 6, 7. εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο, εἰ μή τινές elow oi rapdoσovтes vμâs] I marvel that you are so soon revolting to a different Gospel which is not another for there are not two Gospels of Christ; but one and the same Faith for all. "ETEpos is diverse in kind, &λos is other in number. Cp. Tittmann, Syn. N. T. p. 155; Quod post primum Evangelium infertur non jam secundum est, sed nullum; and see the similar uses of these words erepos and ǎλλos in 2 Cor. xi. 4, which is the best comment on this verse. εἰ μή τινές εἰσιν οἱ ταράσσοντες ὑμᾶς] The meaning of this clause has been much controverted. It has been usually rendered, except that there are certain persons who are troubling you.' But this version appears to be incorrect. For (1) It supposes an awkward ellipse, and does not cohere with the context, and ་ (2) The definite article of prefixed to TapáσσovTES shows that they who were troubling' them, are the subject of the proposition, and not the predicate of it. Cp. below, v. 10, 8 Taράσσων ὑμᾶς (he that troubleth you) βαστάσει τὸ κρῖμα, ὅστις ἂν ᾖ. The true rendering seems to be this,' Unless they, who are troubling you, are somebody,' i. e. are persons of some substantial weight and Apostolic authority, with a commission, such as St. Paul himself had, from God; and are not mere usurpers and intruders. This version is also confirmed by the Vulgate and old Latin Version in the Codex Augiensis, which have the pronoun aliqui here, not quidam: "Nisi sunt aliqui qui vos conturbant," i. e. unless they who trouble you are aliqui, men of authority, true Apostles; and not (as, in fact, these my opponents and your false teachers are) mere unauthorized persons. St. Paul says that this different Gospel of these false teachers is no Gospel at all, ei μǹ, unless (forsooth) the false teachers who are troubling you, and whose will it is to pervert the Gospel of Christ, are somebody; which they are not. Indeed, so far from being Twès, men of any mark or likelihood, they are worse than nobody; for, by the very fact of their perverting Christ's Gospel, they are Anathema, or accursed; as he proceeds solemnly to declare twice in vy. 8, 9. Ei un, unless, is used by St. Paul, with a tone of irony, in order to introduce an incredible supposition, which he only puts, in order to explode it. So 2 Cor. iii. 1, ei μǹ xpÝŠoμev ovora. TIKŵv, unless forsooth we, your Apostles, need letters of commendation from you,-our children! Tivès here is emphatic, and is to be illustrated by Acts v. 36, λέγων εἶναι τινὰ ἑαυτὸν, professing himself to be somebody, and Ignatius (Eph. 3), où diaтáoσoμai is wv rís, I do not dictate to you, as if I were somebody. The present passage is best explained by what St. Paul says below, vi. 3, If any one imagine himself to be something (Tl) when he is nothing (as these false Teachers, of whom he here speaks, are), he deceives himself as well as others." So rì, 'something of importance,' 1 Cor. iii. 7; x. 19, and Gal. ii. 6; vi. 15. Compare also the similar use of Tivès in Demosth. c. Mid. p. 582, #λovσioi #oÀÃÎÌ τὸ δοκεῖν τινὲς εἶναι δι ̓ εὐπορίαν προσειληφότες, and the Latin aliquis and aliquid (somebody and something of note), e. g. as in Juvenal, i. 73,— "Aude aliquid brevibus Gyaris et carcere dignum, Si vis esse aliquis;" and in somewhat a similar sense (ii. 149),— "Esse aliquos Manes et subterranea regna This interpretation renders the sentence clear and coherent. "I marvel that ye are so soon shifting yourselves to a different Gospel, which is not a second Gospel, unless, forsooth, those persons who are troubling you, and whose will it is to pervert the Gospel of Christ, are somebody. But no: even though we or an Angel from heaven preach to you any other Gospel beside what we preached to you, let him be accursed." 7. BÉλOVTES μETAσтpéya] willing to pervert; that is, whose will (0éλnua) it is to pervert. On the sense of éλw see Philem. 14. 8, 9. årrà xaí] but even if these persons were Tivès, aliqui, somebodies, and not nobodies, even if they were men worthy of your attention and confidence, I now add (kal), that if I (an Apostle of Christ, v. 1, which they are not), or if even an Angel from heaven, or if any one in the world, preach to you, not only different Gospel, but any thing whatsoever beside (wapà) or be yond what I preached to you, and ye received from me, when I evangelized you, let him be accursed ! a Пapà præter,' properly by the side of,-i. e. not in the same line, but by the side of it, or swerving from it; and thus it expresses difference, whether by defect or excess. See Tertullian, de Præsc. Hær. 6 (who interprets rapà by aliter), and ibid. 29, by aliter citrà quàm,' and c. Marcion. iv. 4, and v. 2; and cp. as to the use of wapà Matt. iv. 18; xiii. 4. Rom. i. 25, 26; xiv. 5; and Winer, p. 359. not say, As Chrys. and Theoph. expound the words, the Apostle does "if they preach things contrary to the Gospel and subvert the whole," but "if they preach any thing divergent from what we preached;" even if they make any alteration whatever in it, "let them be accursed!" A solemn warning against those who (as the Church of Rome does) venture to make any addition to, or to take any thing from, the Faith once for all delivered to the Saints. See Jude 3. ávábeμa] anathema: accursed, a thing devoted, by a solemn malediction, to God's wrath and indignation. See Acts xxiii. 14, and on 1 Cor. xii. 3; xvi. 22. Fritz. on Rom. ix. 3, and Trench, Synonyms, § v. on the distinction between àrdenua, a thing offered for God's honour, and ȧváleμa, a thing devoted for destruction. Cp.the Hebrew cherem. See Lev. xxvii. 28. Josh. vi. 17. 9. is πроειрhкаμev] as we have said before. Lest any one should suppose that the awful denunciation which I have just uttered against all who make any alteration in the doctrine preached by me, had escaped me in a momentary excitement εὐαγγελίζεται παρ ̓ ὃ παρελάβετε, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω. i πείθω, ἢ τὸν Θεόν; * ἢ ζητῶ ἀνθρώποις ἀρέσκειν ; εἰ ἔτι ἀνθρώποις ἤρεσκον, Χριστοῦ δοῦλος οὐκ ἂν ἤμην. h & 5. 29. 24 James 4. 4. j1 ver. 1. 11 Γνωρίζω δὲ ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοὶ, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τὸ εὐαγγελισθὲν ὑπ' ἐμοῦ, ὅτι cor. 15. 1, 3 οὐκ ἔστι κατὰ ἄνθρωπον· 12 * οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐγὼ παρὰ ἀνθρώπου παρέλαβον αὐτὸ, k Eph. 3. 3. οὔτε ἐδιδάχθην ἀλλὰ δι ̓ ἀποκαλύψεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. yàp 1 Acts 8. 3. & 9. 1. 13 1Ἠκούσατε γὰρ τὴν ἐμὴν ἀναστροφὴν ποτὲ ἐν τῷ Ἰουδαϊσμῳ, ὅτι καθ' ὑπερβολὴν ἐδίωκον τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἐπόρθουν αὐτὴν, 14 και προέκοπ- 1. 1.13. & 26. 9. Phil. 3. 6. Tim. of passionate indignation, produced by a sense of personal injury, I solemnly repeat it. (Chrys.) St. Paul (adds Chrys.) grounds his doctrine on the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. In the Gospel, Christ had introduced the Patriarch Abraham saying, that if the Jews heard not Moses and the Prophets, i. e. the Old Testament, neither would they be persuaded though one rose from the dead (Luke Ivi. 31). Thus Christ preferred the witness of the Scriptures to that of one from the grave. So Paul here, or rather Christ Himself— for it was Christ who inspired Paul-prefers the testimony of the Scriptures to that of an Angel from heaven. For Angels, though mighty, are servants; but the Holy Scriptures are not the words of servants, but of the Lord of all. (Chrys.) 10. ̓́Αρτι γὰρ ἀνθρώπους πείθω] Do I now, when I utter such words as these, endeavour (as my enemies pretend that I do) to gain the favour of men? On this use of weiew see Acts xii. 20, welσavtes Bλdotov, having made Blastus their friend. This question, and what follows-' Do I seek to please men-is doubtless an answer to objections raised against the Apostle by his adversaries alleging that he was inconsistent in his practice, and a time-server, and a men-pleaser (cp. 1 Cor. ix. 22; x. 24. Rom. xv. 1); and that he preached against Circumcision, and yet had circumcised Timothy (Acts xvi. 3; cp. below, on v. 11); that he taught that the Levitical Law was abrogated, and yet observed it in his own person (Acts xviii. 18). On such pleas as these, grounded on his preaching and his practice, not rightly understood, the false Teachers asserted that the Apostle, with all his professions of independence, was only an àreparáрeσкоs, a men-pleaser, and was influenced by a love of popularity, and not by a zeal for the truth and for the glory of God. These and similar objections are tacitly implied in this and other portions of the Epistle, which (it is to be remembered) is of an apologetic character throughout. They account for the mention of many incidents in it, e. g. of the non-circumcision of Titus (ch. ii. 2-11), and the Apostle's opposition to St. Peter at Antioch; and must be carefully borne in mind in its perusal. How far St. Paul made himself all things to all men, and sought to please all, and how far all ought to imitate him, has been well stated as follows by one of the best expositors of St. Paul's writings,-Bp. Sanderson; St. Paul professeth that he sought to please all men in all things, not seeking his own profit, but the profit of many (1 Cor. ix. 20-22). And it was no flourish neither. St. Paul was a real man, no bragger; what he said, he did. He became as a Jew to the Jews, as a Gentile to the Gentiles; not to humour either, but to win both. And at Corinth he maintained himself a long while with his own hand-labour, when he might have challenged maintenance from them as the Apostle of Christ. But he would not, only to cut off occasion (2 Cor. xi. 12) from those that slandered him, as if he went about to make a prey of them, and would have been glad to find any occasion against him to give credit to that slander; But what, is St. Paul now all on a sudden become a manpleaser? Or how is there not yea and nay (2 Cor. i. 18) with him that he should profess it so largely, and yet elsewhere protest against it so deeply? Do I seek to please men? (Gal. i. 10.) No, saith he, I scorn it; such baseness will better become their own slaves,-I am the servant of Christ. Worthy resolutions both, both savouring of an apostolic spirit, and no contrariety at all between them. Rather that seeming contrariety yieldeth excellent instruction to us, how to behave ourselves in this matter of pleasing. Not to please men, be they never so many or great, out of flatness of spirit, so as, for the pleasing of them, either, First, to neglect any part of our duty towards God and Christ; or, But then, by yielding to their infirmities for a time (Rom. xv. 1), in hope to win them, by patiently expecting their conversion or strengthening, by restoring them with the spirit of meekness (1 Thess. v. 14. Gal. v. 26; vi. 1) when they had fallen, by forbearing all scornful jeering, provoking, or exasperating language and behaviour towards them, but rather with 25), so did he, so should we, seek to please all men, for their meekness instructing them that opposed themselves (2 Tim. ii. profit and for their good. For that is Charity (1 Cor. x. 33. Rom. xv. 2). Bp. Sanderson (i. p. 316). εἰ ἔτι ἀνθρώποις ἤρεσκον] if I were yet pleasing men, as my adversaries allege, I should not have been, as I am, the servant of Christ. The fact is, as I well know, I am encountering their hatred for the sake of Christ, Whom I serve, and Whom I seek to please. Before Ti Elz. inserts yap, which is not in the best MSS., and weakens the sense. The Ti, yet, appears to intimate, that when he was a rigid observer of the Law, and a persecutor of the Church, he did please men; but now he has renounced all human favour and applause for the service of Christ, for which he has sacrificed all earthly advantages and counts them as loss. 11. Tvapíça dé] But I certify you. Having vindicated himself from the charge of pleasing men, by denouncing a solemn imprecation on all persons who tamper with the doctrine delivered by him, he now declares that he was not indebted to men for that doctrine, but had received it immediately by revelation from God. The MSS. fluctuate between dè and yàp, and the authorities are almost equally balanced. On internal grounds dè seems preferable, as marking a transition. δακτος. δάχθην. See This use of aλλà has sometimes been lost sight of. Matt. xx. 23, where an important article of doctrine is involved in it. Our Lord there says, "It is not Mine to give (ảλλà) save to those for whom it is prepared of My Father." It is Mine to give (for I am Judge of all), but only to those for whom it has been prepared by My Father. 13. τὴν ἐμὴν ἀναστροφὴν ποτέ] my conversation (or manner of life, Eph. iv. 22) in time past; conversationem meam aliquando.'. Jerome, Aug. 'Loudaïou] Judaism, as distinguished from Gentilism. Cp. ii. 14. See Dean Trench's Synonyms of N. T. xxxix. кað væерßоλh] exceedingly,-going beyond other persecutors in my zeal. See 1 Cor. xii. 31. ἐδίωκον—ἐπόρθουν-προέκοπτον] Observe the imperfect tenses describing the condition in which he was at that very time when he had his first revelation from Christ; showing that he could not have derived his Gospel from man before that time. He then proceeds to describe what happened to him after that time. m Acts 9. 15. n Matt. 16. 17. 1 Cor. 2. τον ἐν τῷ Ἰουδαϊσμῷ ὑπὲρ πολλοὺς συνηλικιώτας ἐν τῷ γένει μου, περισσοτέρως ζηλωτὴς ὑπάρχων τῶν πατρικῶν μου παραδόσεων. 15 m ̔́Οτε δὲ εὐδόκησεν ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ἀφορίσας με ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου, καὶ καλέσας διὰ τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ, 16 η ἀποκαλύψαι τὸν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐμοὶ, ἵνα n Η 11-13 εὐαγγελίζωμαι αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, εὐθέως οὐ προσανεθέμην σαρκὶ καὶ αἷματι, 2 Cor. 4. 6. ch. 2. 8. Eph. 3. 1, 8. 17 οὐδὲ ἀνῆλθον εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα πρὸς τοὺς πρὸ ἐμοῦ ἀποστόλους, ἀλλ ̓ ἀπῆλθον • Acts 9 26, 20. εἰς ̓Αραβίαν, καὶ πάλιν ὑπέστρεψα εἰς Δαμασκόν. & 22. 17, 18. p Mark 6. 3. q Rom. 1. 9. & 9. 1. 2 Cor. 1. 23. & 11. 31. 1 Thess. 2. 5. 1 Tim. 5. 21. 2 Tim. 4. 1. 18 ο Επειτα μετὰ ἔτη τρία ἀνῆλθον εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα ἱστορῆσαι Κηφᾶν, καὶ ἐπέμεινα πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡμέρας δεκαπέντε· 19 ν ἕτερον δὲ τῶν ἀποστόλων οὐκ εἶδον, εἰ μὴ Ἰάκωβον τὸν ἀδελφὸν τοῦ Κυρίου. 20 9' δὲ γράφω ὑμῖν, ἰδοὺ ἐνώπιον 9A Sè vμîv, idoù τοῦ Θεοῦ ὅτι οὐ ψεύδομαι. 14. ζηλωτὴς ὑπάρχων] being a zealot ; but ὑπάρχων is stronger than v. My previous existence (see ii. 14, and on 1 Cor. xi. 7) was one of zeal. Compare the report of the speech from St. Paul's mouth from the stairs of the castle at Jerusalem, Acts xxii. 3-5, ζηλωτὴς ὑπάρχων τοῦ Θεοῦ κ.τ.λ. 15. Oeds] God. Omitted by B, F, G, but found in A, D, E, I, K, and N. It marks the contrast between God and man. He had studiously repeated the word av@pwmos no less than six times (v. 1. 10 thrice, 11, 12), now he passes to speak of God. The sense therefore is weakened by the omission. 8 apopíras] He who set me apart, an important word in the history of St. Paul. See on Acts xiii. 2, and on Rom. i. 1. 16. ἀποκαλύψαι—ἐν ἐμοί] to reveal his Son in me. "Revelare Filium suum in me, ut evangelizarem eum gentibus." Iren. (v. 5), who adds " revelatione ei de coelo facta, et colloquente cum eo Domino." A striking contrast. He who had been stricken by blindness as a Persecutor, has now Christ, the Light of the world, revealed in him as a Preacher. He who was himself dark, has become a light to others, a light revealing to them Christ. S. Jerome well compares 2 Cor. xiii. 3, èv euol λaλoûvтos Xploтou. Gal. ii. 20, év éμol Xpioтós. So Chrys. He does not say, "God revealed His Son to me," but "in me," showing that he did not learn the Gospel merely by words from God, but that he was filled in his heart with the Holy Spirit, so that the knowledge of the Gospel was, as it were, dyed into his inner man. Chrys., Theophyl. The Father revealed the Son in me, not in order that the revelation of the light of Christ so kindled in me should be confined to me, but that it should be diffused by my preaching to the world. (Chrys.) He gave me this grace that I should preach not the Law, but the Gospel. (Theodoret.) оù проσανεbéμпν] I did not resort; non retuli,' Tertullian (de Resur. 51); non acquievi' (Vulg., Cod. Aug., and Boern.). I resorted not, literally referred not myself to them for counsel, guidance, instruction, and assurance. So Diod. Sic. xvii. 116, cited by Mintert, προσανατίθεσθαι τοῖς μάντεσι, and Lucian (Jov. Trag. init.), ἐμοὶ προσανάθου, λάβε μὲ σύμβουλον πόνων. Cp. ii. C. σapki Kal aiμari] flesh and blood, as distinguished from spirit and God. Compare our Lord's words, Matt. xvi. 17, σàp καὶ αἷμα οὐκ ἀπεκάλυψέ σοι (addressed to St. Peter) ἀλλ ̓ ὁ Πατήρ μου. May not St. Paul be referring here to those remarkable words of our Lord to St. Peter? It was not flesh and blood, but the Father who revealed His Son to St. Peter, and by him to the world. So now St. Paul says that God revealed His Son in him, and he did not commune with flesh and blood in order to obtain further knowledge. Does not therefore St. Paul thus intimate (as he was constrained to do by those who placed St. Peter in opposition to him) that his own Apostolic privileges and revelations were not a whit inferior to those of St. Peter? Cp. 1 Cor. i. 12. 2 Cor. xi. 5; xii. 11. On the practical duties arising from a consideration of St. Paul's case, as having a special call, see Bp. Sanderson, ii. 114. 17. àvñλov] I went up. B, D, E, F, G have dжĥλov, I went away, which some Editors have adopted; but A, I, K, and N, and the Greek Fathers, have àλov, which is preferable as to sense; and άov appears to be only an error introduced from confusion with the word in the following line. There is a contrast between ἀνῆλθον εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα and ànλlov eis 'Apaẞiav, which adds much force to the argument. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem, the Holy City, as I should have done if I had needed or desired instruction from man, but I went away into Arabia, a heathen wilderness, where I could not expect any such instruction, but where I received revelations from God. Hence the Latin versions (Vulg., Cod. Aug., Boern.) have 'veni' for the former word, and 'abii' for the latter. As to the history of this retirement into Arabia, see note on Acts ix. 23. Some have supposed that he went to Sinai (Lightfoot, p. 81). But would he have gone as a pilgrim to a place whose shadows had now passed away into the Gospel? Cp. below, iv. 24. 18. μεтà ěτη Tрia] after three years. On the chronological arrangement of these dates, see above, Chronological Synopsis prefixed to the Acts of the Apostles. ance. ioTopñoa] to visit Cephas (Peter) and make his acquaintSee the illustrations of ioropeiv, sometimes applied to a place, in Wetstein's note. St. Paul went to visit St. Peter, "ut fraternam charitatem etiam corporali notitiâ cumularet” (Aug.), and not to learn any thing from him (Primasius). He introduces this incident in order to show that he had never known Peter before, and therefore could not have derived any thing from him. At the same time this circumstance indicates that this visit was a spontaneous overture on St. Paul's part, and that he felt conscious that though he had derived nothing from the other Apostles, yet that the Gospel he had received from heaven was perfectly in harmony with the doctrine taught by those who were called by Christ upon earth, and that he expects them to own him as a brother, as he owns them. In the fulness of this persuasion he voluntarily repaired to Jerusalem in order to visit Peter, for whom the Jewish Christians, and therefore the Galatians, entertained the highest respect. Knpav] Cephas. So A, B, and Lach., Sch., Tisch., Meyer, Alf., Ellicott. Elz. has Пéтpor, which is grounded on good MS. authority, viz. D, E, F, G, H, K, but seems to be a gloss for the less familiar name Cephas, which, being the Hebrew form, was more likely to be used by St. Paul in deference to the feelings and practice of the Jewish Christians. But he afterwards used the name Peter also (ii. 7, 8), for the sake of his Gentile Readers, and to show the identity of the person who bore these two names. ἐπέμεινα π. αὐτὸν ἡ. δεκαπέντε] I abode with him fifteen days. He thus shows that Peter cordially received hiin (Primasius), Fifteen days; ample time for Peter to have seen what I was, and to have proclaimed me to the world as a deceiver, if the Gospel which I preached was not consistent with his own. Therefore they who cavil at me, involve Peter also in the charge of conniving at error and delusion. 19. Ἰάκωβον] James. The mention of Peter, one of the Twelve, is followed by the words, other of the Apostles saw I none save James the Lord's Brother. It seems to be a reasonable conclusion from this passage, that James the brother (i. e. cousin) of our Lord, and Bishop of Jerusalem, was also one of the Twelve Apostles. James was the son of Cleophas, and his Mother was Sister of the Mother of our Lord (Theodoret). Cp. Euseb. H. E. ii. 1; Hooker vii. 4. 2; and Bengel here, and note on Acts i. 13; xii. 17; xxi. 18, and note on Matt. xii. 46, and Ellicott's note here. See further below, the Introduction to his Epistle, p. 6. See also Prof. Lightfoot, pp. 241–275. St. Paul shows his respect for St. James, by calling him the Lord's Brother, as he had shown his respect for St. Peter by saying that he himself went up to Jerusalem in order to visit him (v. 18). By these preliminary expressions of reverence for those two Apostles, he wisely guards himself against any imputations on the part of his Judaizing adversaries, that he, a new Apostle, was liable to the charge of disparaging the original Apostles of Christ. And he prepares the way for what he is about to say in the next Chapter concerning his resistance to St. Peter, and to those who professed to come from St. James (ii. 12); and shows that he would not have acted as he did, except under a stern sense of duty. |