《Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary Galatians》(Heinrich Meyer) Commentator

χριστῷ εἶναι (Galatians 5:6; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 3:6, et al. Comp. Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 3:12). Hence: in Christ, as our element of life by means of faith (comp. 2 Corinthians 3:17), as Christians.

ἵνα ἡμᾶς καταδουλώσουσιν⁽⁶⁹⁾] is the dangerous design which they had in view in their κατασκοπῆσαι. ἡμᾶς applies, as before, to the Christians as such, not merely to Paul and Titus (Winer, de Wette), or to Paul and the Gentile Christians (Baur); for it must be the wider category of those to whom, as the genus, the ὑμεῖς in Galatians 2:5 belong as the species. We must also notice δια΄είνῃ in Galatians 2:5, which is correlative to the ἔχο΄εν in Galatians 2:4. The future after ἵνα indicates, that the false brethren expected their success to be certain and enduring. See Matthiae, p. 1186; Klotz, ad Devar. p. 683; Rost, ad Duncan. Lex. p. 870. In classical authors we find only ὅπως, ὄφρα, and μή thus construed, and not ἵνα, as Brunck, ad Eur. Bacch. 1380, supposed (Klotz, ad Devar. p. 629), but in the Hellenists and Fathers ἵνα also. Comp. Winer, p. 271 [E. T. 361]; Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 202. κατά strengthens the idea of the simple verb: to make us wholly slaves (of Mosaism), to enslave us. Comp. 2 Corinthians 11:20; Plat. Pol. i. p. 315 B, δουλοῦσθαι ἀδίκως καὶ καταδεδουλῶσθαι: Thuc. iii. 70. 2, and Duker in loc. The mode in which the apostle looks at these people does not confound the result with the intention (de Wette); it represents the latter correctly according to the fact (they desire to bind the Christians to the law), but in the form which it assumed from the Pauline point of view. Comp. Galatians 6:12 f.

Verse 5

Galatians 2:5. Connection:—“On account of the false brethren, however, Titus was not compelled to be circumcised; to these we did not yield even for an hour. Had we consented to the suggestion, which was made to us by Christians at Jerusalem (see on Galatians 2:3), at least to circumcise Titus, we should have thereby yielded to the false brethren standing in the background, who declared the circumcision of Gentile Christians to be necessary; but this did not at all take place.”⁽⁷⁰⁾

οἷς] in the sense of τούτοις γάρ. See Stallbaum, ad Phil. p. 195 f.; Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 1. 64; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 371.

πρὸς ὥραν] not even for an hour, indicating a very short duration of time. Comp. 2 Corinthians 7:8; Philemon 1:15; John 5:35; 1 Thessalonians 2:17; also πρὸς μίαν ῥοπήν, Wisdom of Solomon 18:12; πρὸς ὀλίγον, πρὸς βραχύ, and the like.

εἴξαμεν] namely, I and Barnabas and Titus.

τῇ ὑποταγῇ] belongs not to διαμείνῃ (Matthias), an inverted arrangement which would be without motive, but to εἴξαμεν, beside which it stands: “through the obedience claimed by the false brethren,” that is, by rendering to them the obedience which they desired. On the matter itself, see Acts 15:1; Acts 15:5. Matthies regards τῇ ὑποταγῇ as an appositional explanation of οἷς (as to this usage, see Fritzsche, Diss. in 2 Cor. II. p. 135 f.). But the yielding takes place not to the obedience, but to the demand ( τῇ ἐντολῇ). Fritzsche correctly takes it in an ablative sense, but explains, “eo obsequio praestito, quod apostoli postularent.” But in combination with οἷς … εἴξαμεν, and with ἵνα ἡμᾶς καταδουλ. preceding, it would not occur to the reader to think of anything else than the obedience claimed by the ψευδάδελφοι. Besides, it was not the apostles at all who demanded the circumcision of Titus, but (see on Galatians 2:3) Christians at Jerusalem, acting on the instigation of the ψευδάδελφοι, so that these latter would have been obeyed by the circumcision in question. Comp. the state of matters at Acts 21:21. Holsten, without any indication of support in the context, interprets: “by the subordination to the δοκοῦντες, which had been demanded by the false brethren.” Lastly, Hermann (who is followed by Bretschneider), entirely in opposition to the context, explains it, “quibus ne horae quidem spatium Jesu obsequio segnior fui.”

ἵνα ἡ ἀλήθεια κ. τ. λ.] Object of this non-compliance at that time, which, although in the nature of the case it concerned Pauline Christians generally, is represented concretely as referring to the Galatians: “in order that the truth of the gospel may abide with you; in order that by our conduct the principle of Christian freedom should not be shaken, and ye should not be induced to deviate from the truth, which forms the subject-matter of the gospel (Galatians 2:14; Colossians 1:5), by mixing it up with Mosaism” (comp. ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, Galatians 1:6). A purpose, therefore—and this the readers were intended to feel—to which their present apostasy entirely ran counter!

πρὸς ὑμᾶς] as πρὸς αὐτόν, Galatians 1:18, comp. 1 Corinthians 16:7; here also it is not the with of simple rest, but expresses the relation of an active bearing on life; Bernhardy, p. 265. Besides, Paul might justly say πρὸς ὑμᾶς, as the Galatians were for the most part Gentile Christians, and in that opposition to the false brethren it was the freedom of the Gentile Christians which he sought to maintain. The ὑμᾶς individualizes the readers of the letter (Galatians 3:26, Galatians 4:6; Colossians 1:25; Ephesians 3:2, and frequently). The reference to the yet unconverted Gentiles, whom the truth of the gospel had still to reach ( πρὸς ὑμᾶς), as suggested by Hofmann,⁽⁷¹⁾ is in complete opposition to the text.

διαμείνη] permaneret; denoting the abiding continuance. The truth which they have received was not again to be lost. Hebrews 1:11; 2 Peter 3:4; Luke 22:8; and frequently in Greek authors.

Note.

As by the ψευδάδελφοι (Galatians 2:4-5) cannot be meant the Judaizers at work among the Galatians (which is assumed by Fritzsche entirely in opposition to the connection), but only the same persons mentioned in Acts 15:1; Acts 15:5; they cannot be described as false brethren in relation to any one particular church (e.g. to the church of Antioch, into which they had crept from Jerusalem, as Baur and Reiche think). On the contrary, the general form of their antagonism, Galatians 2:4-5, as well as the further account in Galatians 2:7-10, and the whole argument of the epistle, admit only of one point of view,—that the apostle, out of the certainty of the ἀλήθεια τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, styles them false brethren in relation to Christianity generally, of which they had, as regards their Judaizing character and action looked at from a Pauline standpoint, falsely pretended to be professors. This does not in itself exclude the fact that they had come from Jerusalem to Antioch (Acts 15:1). The inflexible opposition offered to them by the apostle in Jerusalem doubtless contributed much to the bringing about of the apostolic decree. Comp. Märcker, l.c. p. 539.

Verse 6

Galatians 2:6. Paul having described in Galatians 2:3-5 the momentous result of his relations towards the Christians in Jerusalem ( αὐτοῖς, Galatians 2:2), now passes on (corresponding to the κατʼ ἰδίαν δὲ τοῖς δοκοῦσι, Galatians 2:2) to his relations towards the apostles, explaining that the same result had then followed his discussions with them.

The construction is anacoluthic. For when the apostle wrote ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν δοκούντων εἶναί τι, he had it in view subsequently to finish his sentence with οὐδὲν ἔλαβον, οὐδὲν ἐδιδάχθην, or something of that kind; but by the intervening remarks ὁποῖοί ποτε … λαμβάνει he was completely diverted from the plan which he had begun, so that now the thought which floated before his mind in ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν δοκούντων εἶναί τι is no longer brought into connection with these words, but is annexed in the form of a ground ( γάρ) to πρόσωπον θεὸς ἀνθρώπου οὐ λαμβάνει; and this altered chain of thought occasions ἐμοί to be now placed emphatically at the beginning. Properly speaking, therefore, we have here a parenthesis beginning with ὁποῖοι, which, without any formal conclusion, carries us back again by ἐμοὶ γὰρ κ. τ. λ. to the main thought, leaving the words ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν δοκούντων εἶναί τι entirely unconnected, and merely pointing back by means of οἱ δοκοῦντες, as by a guide-post, to that abandoned commencement of the sentence. For it is only in substance, and not in form, that the parenthesis is concluded with λαμβάνει. Comp. Romans 5:12 ff.; Ephesians 2:1 ff. An anacoluthon is also assumed by Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, Piscator, Cornelius a Lapide, Grotius, Estius, Morus, Koppe, Rosenmüller, Winer, Usteri, Matthies, Schott, Baumgarten-Crusius, de Wette, Hilgenfeld, and others; so that—according to the usual view (Wieseler takes the correct one)—with ἐμοὶ γὰρ κ. τ. λ. Paul again takes up the thread of the discourse which had broken off with ἀπὸ δὲ δοκούντων εἶναί τι, and merely continues it actively instead of passively (Winer, p. 529 [E. T. 711]). But this is opposed both by ἐμοί, which logically would not be in its proper place at the head of the resumed sentence, and also by γάρ, which does not correspond to the mere inquam ( οὖν, δέ) after parentheses, but in the passages concerned (also Romans 15:27; 1 Corinthians 9:19) is to be taken as explaining or assigning a reason. Hermann makes out an aposiopesis, so that quid metuerem? has to be supplied after ἀπὸ … εἶναί τι.⁽⁷²⁾ But this is not suggested by the context, nor is it permitted by the tranquil flow of the discourse, in which no such emotion as warrants an aposiopesis is discoverable. Fritzsche supplies the very same thing which in Galatians 2:4 was to be supplied after ψευδαδέλφους, making Paul say, “a viris autem (nempe), qui auctoritate valerent [circumcisionis necessitatem sibi imponi non sivit].” But however easy and natural this supplement was in Galatians 2:4 after ψευδαδέλφους, because it was suggested as a matter of course by the words immediately preceding, in the present case it appears both harsh and involved, as the whole body of ideas in Galatians 2:4-5 intervenes and hinders the reader from going back to that supplement. And how abrupt would be the position of the following ὁποῖοι κ. τ. λ.! Lastly, the (erroneous) idea, that the apostles had demanded the circumcision of Titus, is thus violently imported into the text. Holsten’s involved construction (z. Evang. d. Paul. u. Petr. p. 273 f.)—according to which ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν δοκ. κ. τ. λ. is to be carried on to Galatians 2:9 in conformity with the notion of δεξιὰς λαμβάνειν ἀπό—is shown by ἐμοὶ γὰρ κ. τ. λ., where the δοκοῦντες already reappear, to be an impossible solution of the anacoluthon, which even thus is not avoided. The passage is explained without supposing either supplement or anacoluthon:—1. Most simply, and without violence to the language, by Burk, in the Stud. u. Krit. 1865, p. 734 ff., making εἶναί τι belong to οὐδέν μοι διαφέρει: “That on the part of those in authority (by their recognition) I am something (namely, as respects my outward position), I reckon of no value.” But, in reality, Paul attached to his recognition by the original apostles the true and great value which it necessarily had for him in confronting his opponents; and hence he very carefully relates it in Galatians 2:7. This interpretation therefore runs counter to the context. Comp. also, against it, Märcker in Stud. u. Krit. 1866, p. 532 ff. 2. Just as little allowable is it (with Märcker) to connect ἀπο δὲ τ. δοκ. ἐ. τ. with the words preceding, “but certainly (this enduring confirmation of Christian freedom was only possible) through the authority of the δοκοῦντες εἶναί τι.” But to the signification of ἀπό, from the side of, a sense would thus be arbitrarily ascribed, which is not justified by passages such as Matthew 16:21, and must have been expressed by some such explanatory addition as in Acts 2:22. It was impossible also for Paul—above all in this epistle—to conceive the maintenance of the truth of his Gentile gospel as conditional on the authority of the original apostles. Lastly, instead of the sentence which next follows asyndetically ( ὁποῖοι κ. τ. λ.), we should expect an emphasized antithesis (such as ἀλλʼ ὁποῖοι κ. τ. λ.). 3. The Greek Fathers, Castalio, Calovius, Zachariae, Bolten, Borger, and others, interpret the passage, “But as regards those of repute, it is one and the same thing to me,” etc., by which, however, ἀπό is quite in violation of language interchanged with περί. So also Rückert,⁽⁷³⁾ who at the same time wishes to preserve for ἀπό its due signification (“on the part of any one, it makes no difference to me; that is, what concerns him, is quite indifferent to me”), without authority, however, from any actual linguistic usage. 4. Following Homberg, Ewald understands it as if it stood τῶν δὲ δοκούντων … οὐδὲν διαφέρω, “But compared with those who etc., however high they once stood, I am in nothing inferior.” 5. Hofmann (comp. above, against Holsten) brings ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν δοκούντων εἶναί τι ( ἀπό, from the side of) into regimen with Galatians 2:9, and in such a manner that the three δοκοῦντες στῦλοι εἶναι in Galatians 2:9 are supposed to form the subject of the period beginning with ἀπὸ κ. τ. λ. in Galatians 2:6; but this mode of construction is decisively condemned by its very inherent monstrosity, with its parentheses inserted one within another; and besides this, the repetition of οἱ δοκοῦντες in Galatians 2:6 would be entirely without aim and simply perplexing, if the continuation of the construction as regards ἀπὸ δ. τ. δ. ε. τ. were still to follow, as is supposed by Hofmann. Nevertheless, Laurent, neut. Stud. p. 29 f., has agreed with the latter, but has at the same time arbitrarily removed from the disjointed construction ὁποῖοι … τοὐναντίον as a marginal note of the apostle,—another makeshift, whereby ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον, so violently dealt with by Hofmann, finds the connection with ἰδόντες, which it evidently has (see below), dissevered.

On δοκεῖν εἶναί τι, which may mean either to reckon oneself to be something great, or to be esteemed great by others (so here), see Wetstein. Comp. Plat. Euthyd. p. 303 C, τῶν πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῶν σεμνῶν δὴ καὶ δοκούντων τι εἶναι οὐδὲν ὑμῖν μέλει. The same persons are meant who are referred to in Galatians 2:2 by τοῖς δοκοῦσι. But the addition of τι εἶναι, and the ὁποῖοι κ. τ. λ. which follows, betray here a certain irritation in reference to the opponents, who would not concede to Paul an estimation equal to that given to the original apostles, as if εἶναί τι belonged pre-eminently to the latter.

ὁποῖοί ποτε ἦσαν] Now come the parenthetical remarks, on account of which Paul leaves his ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν δοκ. εἶναί τι standing alone, but which he introduces, lest the high estimation of those apostles—which in itself, according to the real (and by him undisputed) circumstances of the case, he by no means calls in question—should lead to the inference that he had needed instruction from them. Comp. the subsequent ἐμοὶ γὰρ οἱ δοκ. οὐδὲν προσανέθ., and the thought already floating before the apostle’s mind in the anacoluthic ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν δοκούντων εἶναί τι (see above). Wieseler affirms too generally, that “Paul desired to check the overvaluing of the older apostles.” The real state of the case is this: Paul, with all decision, by way of countervailing that δοκεῖν εἶναί τι of those men of high standing which he does not dispute, throws into the scale his own independence of them. And the weight of this countervailing lies precisely in ὁποῖοί ποτε ἦσαν, so far as the latter belongs to οὐδέν μοι διαφέρει, and is not, as Hofmann will have it, an appendage to τῶν δοκοῦντων εἶναί τι.

The ποτέ, with a direct or indirect interrogative, is the strengthening cunque or tandem which occurs constantly in Greek authors (Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 1), although not elsewhere in the N.T. (comp. 2 Maccabees 14:32); see also Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 615 f. Whosoever they were, in whatsoever high repute they stood⁽⁷⁴⁾ while I was then with them, it is all the same to me. Rückert makes ὁποῖοι mean, “whether high or low, apostles or what else;” holding that Paul speaks intentionally in an indefinite way of these men in high repute, as if he did not exactly know that they were apostles (?), in order to give the less offence in what he said. How strange this would be! for every reader knew whom he meant. And how unsuitable to his purpose! for what Paul desires to tell, is the recognition he received from the apostles. Many refer ὁποῖοι ποτε ἦσαν back to the lifetime of Jesus, when those apostles had been His trusted disciples: some taking ποτέ as olim (Vulgate, Jerome, Pelagius, Luther, Beza, and others, including Matthies, Schott, Olshausen, Hilgenfeld, Wieseler, Ewald); and others, with us, as cunque (“quiqui illi fuerunt, etiam si ab ipso Jesu instituti, perinde est,” Hermann; comp. Winer). But in the case of James (see on Galatians 2:9) this reference would not be even historically applicable, or it would need at least to be applied to a different kind of relation (that of kinship); see Hilgenfeld. And besides, there is nothing at all to indicate any such retrospective reference to that remote past; the context points merely to the time of Paul’s sojourn in Jerusalem. Hence also it must not, with others still, be referred to—what was quite foreign to the apostle’s aim—the pre-Christian condition of the apostles, in which they had been sinners (Estius; comp. Augustine), or ἰδιῶται and fishermen (Ambrose, Thomas, Cajetanus, Cornelius a Lapide, and others), ποτέ being likewise understood as olim.⁽⁷⁵⁾

οὐδέν μοι διαφέρει] matters to me nothing. See Schaefer, ad Dion. Hal. p. 294; Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 394.

πρόσωπον θεὸς ἀνθρώπου οὐ λαμβάνει] פְּנֵי אִישׁ אֱלֹהִים לֹא נֹשֵׂא, an asyndetic, and thereby more forcible and weighty, statement of the reason for οὐδέν ΄οι διαφέρει. “Dei judicium sequebatur Paulus,” Bengel. נָשָׂא פָּנִים, πρόσωπον λαμβάνειν, properly, to accept the countenance of any one (not to dismiss), is used in the O.T. both in a good sense (to be inclined, or gracious, to any one, Genesis 19:21; Genesis 32:21, et al.) and in a bad sense, implying a favour and respect which is partial, determined by personal considerations (Leviticus 19:15; Deuteronomy 10:17, et al.; Sirach 4:27; 3 Esr. 4:39). In the N.T. it is used solely in this bad sense (Matthew 22:16; Mark 12:14; Luke 20:21; Jude 1:16. Comp. Acts 10:34; James 2:9; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 3:25; James 2:1). The transposed arrangement of the words lays the chief emphasis upon πρόσωπον, and then by θεὸς ἀνθρώπου makes us sensible of the contrast between the manner and dignity of the divine procedure and such partiality for human authority. Comp. Hom. Od. xix. 363 f., ἦ σε περὶ ζεὺς ἀνθρώπων ἤχθηρε θεουδέα θυ΄ὸν ἔχοντα.

ἐ΄οὶ γὰρ οἱ δοκοῦντες οὐδὲν προσανέθεντο] Proof, not of his independence of the apostles generally, but specially for what he had just said, πρόσωπον θεὸς ἀνθρ. οὐ λαμβάνει, from personal experience. Hence ἐ΄οί is emphatically placed first: “for to me for my part—although others may have received instruction from them, to me—they have communicated nothing.” Paul’s idea therefore is, that if God had been partial, He would not have placed him on such parity with the δοκοῦσι, that to him, etc. Rückert, wrongly anticipating, says that the prefixed ἐ΄οί finds its antithesis in Galatians 2:11 : “to me they have communicated nothing, etc.; but indeed, when Peter came to Antioch, I was compelled to admonish him.” But in this case, at least Galatians 2:11 must have begun with ἐγὼ δὲ or ἀλλʼ ἐγώ. According to Wieseler, Paul in ἐμοί is thinking of “to me, the former persecutor,” an idea gratuitously introduced. In Hofmann’s view the antithesis is intended to be, that not to him from the others was anything submitted, but the converse. Comp. τινές in Chrysostom, and the paraphrase of Erasmus. But if this were so, Paul must have written οὐ γὰρ ἐ΄οὶ κ. τ. λ., just as afterwards ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον αὐτοὶ κ. τ. λ., in order to have given at least a bare indication of this alleged antithesis.

οὐδὲν προσανέθεντο] quite as in Galatians 1:16 (comp. also Hofmann): they addressed no communications (“nihil contulerunt,” Vulgate) to me, namely, in order to instruct and advise me,—a sense which is here also demanded by the context; see the sequel, and comp. Galatians 1:12. It is usually understood: οὐδὲν προσέθηκαν, οὐδὲν διώρθωσαν (Chrysostom), “nihil illi praesumserunt iis adjicere, quae prius a Christo accepta docueram inter gentes,” Beza; as also Valla, Estius, Grotius, Bengel, Koppe, Morus, Borger, Flatt, Winer, Usteri, Matthies, Schott,⁽⁷⁶⁾ and others. Comp. Wieseler, Märcker, and Hilgenfeld: “They submitted nothing in addition to that which had been submitted by me; they approved the gospel, which I am preaching among the Gentiles.” But πρός expresses merely the direction, and not insuper (see on Galatians 1:16). Should ἀνατίθημι, however, be understood as to impose, πρός would certainly express the idea novum, opus imponere (Xen. Mem. ii. 1. 8); as Rückert (so also Bretschneider and Lechler, p. 412) explains it, “they imposed on me no further obligations,” the observance of the law being the point principally alluded to. Comp. also Zeller, Apostelgesch. p. 235. But in opposition to this view, apart from the fact that it involves a quite needless departure from the signification of the same word in Galatians 1:16, the circumstance is decisive, that προσανατίθημι in the middle would necessarily mean “suscipere novum opus,” as Xen. Mem. l.c., and not “imponere novum opus,” even though the comparison of the apostle’s obligation to a burden (comp. 1 Corinthians 9:16 f.) should appear sufficiently justified by the legal nature of the matters imposed.

οὐδέν] either the accusative of the object, or more strongly (comp. Galatians 1:16), in no point, in no respect whateGalatians Galatians 2 :The idea that a revelation is intended as the contents of προσαν. (Holsten), must be sought for in the context: it is not conveyed by the words per se.

Verse 7

Galatians 2:7. ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον] to be separated merely by a comma from the preceding, being still connected with γάρ. “To me they made no kind of communication; but, on the contrary, when they had seen etc., the three pillar-apostles concluded with me and Barnabas the apostolic alliance,” etc. (Galatians 2:9). Hofmann, with a view to extort a regimen for ἀπὸ τῶν δοκούντων in Galatians 2:6, very arbitrarily tears asunder the clear and simple connection which the words obviously present, taking ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον by itself and dissevered from what follows, and supplementing the sense by the insertion, “They have not proposed anything to me, but conversely, I to them.” Comp. on τοὐναντίον, 2 Corinthians 2:7, 1 Peter 3:9; very frequently (also τἀναντία) occurring in Greek authors (Schaefer, ad Bos. Ell. p. 297). But this strange ellipsis is a device utterly unprecedented.⁽⁷⁷⁾

ἰδόντες] after they had seen, namely, from the way in which I to them κατʼ ἰδίαν ἀνεθέμην τὸ εὐαγγ. ὃ κηρύσσω ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι (Galatians 2:2). Usteri, “from the blessed result of my preaching.” So also Rosenmüller, Winer, Baur, Hilgenfeld, Holsten, Hofmann; Rückert, Schott, de Wette, Wieseler, mix the two views; and Fritzsche includes the previous labours of the apostle among the Gentiles, e.g. in Tarsus and Antioch, among the grounds of knowledge. But nothing beyond what we have just given can be gathered from the context. Erasmus appropriately paraphrases, “ubi communicato cum illis evangelio meo perspexissent.”

ὅτι πεπίστ. τ. εὐαγγ. τ. ἀκροβ. κ. τ. λ.] The emphasis is laid on καθὼς πέτρος τῆς περιτ., as Galatians 2:8 shows. They saw that my having been divinely entrusted with the gospel for the Gentiles was just such (just as undoubted, true, direct, etc.), as was Peter’s divine trust with the gospel for the Jews; consequently there could be no question of any προσαναθεῖναι, and nothing could follow but complete recognition (Galatians 2:9). The construction (comp. Romans 3:2; 1 Corinthians 9:17) in the sense of πεπίστευταί μοι τὸ εὐαγγ. (as F G, 19*, 46** actually read) is regular; as to the perfect, used of the enduring subsistence of the act, see Winer, p. 255 [E. T. 339].

τῆς ἀκροβυστίας] that is, τῶν ἀκροβύστων (Romans 2:26; Romans 3:30; Ephesians 2:11), the gospel which belonged to the uncircumcised, and was to be preached to them.

καθὼς πέτρος τῆς περιτομ.] Thus Peter appears as the representative of the Jewish apostles, in accordance with his superiority among them (Matthew 16:18; Acts 2, 3, 4, 5 et al.). The destination of Peter as an apostle to the Gentiles also (Acts 15:7; 1 Peter 1:1) is not negatived, but a potiori fit denominatio.

That this passage relates not to two different gospels, but to the same gospel for two different circles of recipients, to whose peculiarities respectively the nature and mode of preaching required special adaptation, is obvious of itself, and is clear from Galatians 2:8-9. But the passage cannot be worse misunderstood than it has been by Baur, according to whom there was a special gospel of the uncircumcision and a special gospel of the circumcision, differing in this respect, that the one maintained the necessity of circumcision, while the other allowed it to drop. Comp. Holsten, who discovers the distinctive feature of the Gentile gospel in the “gnosis of the death of the cross,” in spite of 1 Corinthians 1:23 f. In opposition to such a separation, see also Ritschl, altkath. K. p. 127 f.

Verse 8

Galatians 2:8. A parenthetic historical substantiation of the preceding πεπίστευμαι τὸ εὐαγγ. τῆς ἀκροβ., καθῶς πετρ. τῆς περιτ.: for He who has been efficacious for Peter as regards the apostleship to the circumcision, has also been efficacious for me as regards the Gentiles; that is, “for God, who has wrought effectually⁽⁷⁸⁾ in order to make Peter the apostle to the Jews, has also wrought effectually for me, to make me an apostle to the Gentiles.” The stress lies on ἐνεργήσας and ἐνήργησε: God has been not inactive, but efficacious, etc. But that in ὁ