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

δοκοῦσι singles out the aestumatos from the body of Christians at Jerusalem. This, however, is not meant to apply to the esteemed members of the church generally (comp. ἄνδρας ἡγουμένους ἐν τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, Acts 15:22), but (see on Galatians 2:9) to James the brother of Christ, Peter, and John. The other apostles who were still alive appear already to have ceased from personal connection with the church at Jerusalem. Galatians 2:6-7; Galatians 2:9 show, that it is not the anti-Pauline partisan adherents of those three who are referred to (Grotius); and, indeed, it would have been entirely opposed to his apostolic character to lay his gospel specially before the δοκοῦσι in this sense. Moreover, the designation of the three apostles as οἱ δοκοῦντες is not “an ironical side-glance” (Schwegler, I. p. 120), nor has it proceeded from the irritation of a bitter feeling against those who had habitually applied this expression to these apostles (Cameron, Rückert, Schott, comp. Olshausen); but it is used in a purely historical sense: for an ironical designation at this point, when Paul is about to relate his recognition on the part of the earlier apostles, would be utterly devoid of tact, and would not be at all consonant either to the point of view of a colleague, which he constantly maintains in respect to the other apostles, or to the humility with which he regards this collegiate relation (1 Corinthians 15:8 ff.). He has, however, purposely chosen this expression (“the authorities”), because the very matter at stake was his recognition. Homberg, Paulus, and Matthies wrongly assert that τοῖς δοκοῦσι means putantibus, and that the sequel belongs to it, “qui putabant, num forte in vanum currerem.” Galatians 2:5-6; Galatians 2:9 testify against this interpretation; and the introduction of φοβεῖσθαι into the notion of δοκεῖν is arbitrary, and cannot be supported by such passages as Hom. Il. x. 97, 101 (see, on the contrary, Hartung, Partikell. II. p. 138 f.). Besides, it would have been inconsistent with apostolic dignity to give such a private account to those who were suspicious. In classical authors also οἱ δοκοῦντες, without anything added to define it, means those of repute, who are much esteemed, nobiles. See Eur. Hec. 295, and thereon Schaefer and Pflugk; Porphyr. de abstin. ii. 40, et al.; Kypke, II. p. 274; Dissen, ad Pind. Ol. xii. 56. Comp. also Clem. Cor. I. 57. Just so the Hebrew חָשַׁב . See Gesenius, Thes. I. p. 531; Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. p. 839 f. Comp. δόκι΄οι, Plat. Pol. x. p. 618 A Herod. i. 65; Blomfield, Gloss. in Aesch. Pers. p. 109.

But why did Paul submit his gospel not merely to the Christians in Jerusalem generally, but also specially to the three apostles? By both means he desired to remove every suspicion which might anywhere exist in the minds of others (comp. Chrysostom), that he was labouring or had laboured in vain; but how easy it is to understand that, for this purpose, he had to address to the apostles a more thorough and comprehensive statement, and to bring forward proofs, experiences, explanations, deeper dialectic deductions, etc.,⁽⁵⁵⁾ which would have been unsuitable for the general body of Christians, among whom nothing but the simple and popular exposition was appropriate! Therefore Paul dealt with his colleagues κατʼ ἰδίαν. But we must not draw a distinction as to matter between the public and the private discussion, as Estius and others have done: “publice ita contulit, ut ostenderet gentes non debere circumcidi et servare legem Mosis … privato autem et secreto colloquio cum apostolis habito placuit ipsos quoque Judaeos ab observantia Mosaicae legis … esse liberandos,” etc. In this way Paul would have set forth only the half of his gospel to the mass of the Christians there; and yet this half-measure, otherwise so opposed to his character, would not have satisfied the Jewish-Christian exclusiveness. Thiersch also (Kirche im apost. Zeitalt. p. 128) wrongly holds (comp. Lange, apost. Zeitalt. p. 100) that the subject of the private discussion was Paul’s apostolic dignity; it was nothing else than τὸ εὐαγγέλιον κ. τ. λ. and only in so far his apostolic legitimacy. The object of the private discussion was, in Winer’s opinion: “ut ne, si his (the δοκοῦσι) videretur P. castigandus, publica expostulatione ipsius auctoritas infringeretur.” But this also is not in accordance with the decided character of Paul; and if he had dreaded a public expostulation, he would not have ventured first to set forth his gospel publicly, because the apostles, in the event of disapproval, would not have been able to withhold public contradiction. The view that the private discussion with the δοκοῦσι preceded the general discussion with the church (so Neander, p. 277; Lekebusch, Apostelgesch. p. 295), runs counter to the account of our passage, which represents the course of events as the converse.

μήπως εἰς κενὸν τρέχω ἢ ἔδραμον] Taken by itself, ΄ήπως may signify either lest possibly, ne forte, and thus express directly the design of the ἀνεθέμην (so, following the Vulgate and the Greek Fathers, Erasmus, Luther, and most expositors, including Winer, Fritzsche, Rückert, Schott), or whether … not possibly, num forte (Usteri, Hilgenfeld, Hofmann, Wieseler), thus indirectly interrogative. The former interpretation is decidedly to be rejected, because the indicative aorist ἔδραμον does not suit it; for, according to the Greek use of the particles of design with the indicative aorist or imperfect (see on Galatians 4:17), the ἀνεθέ΄ην would not actually have taken place; and besides this, we should have to assume—without any ground for doing so in the context—that τρέχω and ἔδρα΄ον are said ex aliorum judicio,⁽⁵⁶⁾ and that τρέχω is subjunctive, although by its connection with ἔδρα΄ον it evidently proclaims itself indicative. Hence ΄ήπως must be rendered num forte, and the reference of the num is supplied by the idea, “for consideration, for examination,” included in ἀνεθέμην (Hartung, Partikell. II. pp. 137, 140). The passage is therefore to be explained: “I laid before them my gospel to the Gentiles, with a view to their instituting an investigation of the question whether I am not possibly running or have run in vain.” The apostle himself, on his own part, was in no uncertainty about this question, for he had obtained his gospel from revelation, and had already such rich experience to support him, that he certainly did not fear the downfall of his previous ministry (Holsten⁽⁵⁷⁾); hence μήπως is by no means to be understood, with Usteri and Hilgenfeld, also Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 303, and Holsten, as implying any uncertainty or apprehension of his own (in order to see, in order to be certain, whether). But he wanted to obtain the judgment and declaration of the church and the apostles (so, correctly, Wieseler); comp. Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 2, p. 44 f., who, however, heil. Schr. N.T. I. p. 86, supplies only ἀνεθέμην (without τὸ εὐαγγ. κ. τ. λ.) after τ. δοκοῦσι, thus making ΄ήπως κ. τ. λ. the matter itself laid before them; but this would be at variance with the essential idea of laying before them the gospel, of which Paul is speaking, for he does not repeat ἀνεθέμην, and that alone. According to Hofmann, the state of the case would amount to this, that Paul desired to have the answer to the question μήπως κ. τ. λ. from the δοκοῦσι only, and not also from the church,—a view which would neither harmonize with the position of the latter (comp. Acts 15:22 f.), nor would leave apparent in the text any object for his submitting his gospel to the church at all. Observe, moreover, that the apostle does not say εἴπως (whether possibly); but, with the delicate tact of one who modestly and confidently submits himself to the judgment of the church and the apostles, while hostile doubts as to the salutary character of his labours are by no means unknown to him, he writes μήπως, whether … not possibly (Galatians 4:11; 1 Thessalonians 3:5), that is, in the positive sense, whether perhaps.⁽⁵⁸⁾ In no case has the apostle in μήπως κ. τ. λ. expressed the intention of procuring for himself a conviction of the correctness of his teaching.⁽⁵⁹⁾

εἰς κενόν] in cassum. See Jacobs ad Anthol. VII. p. 328. Comp. the passages from Josephus in Kypke; from the LXX., Isaiah 65:23 et al.; from the N.T., 2 Corinthians 6:1, Philippians 2:16, 1 Thessalonians 3:5. Comp. also the use of εἰς κοινόν, εἰς καιρόν, εἰς καλόν, and the like, in Bernhardy, p. 221. Paul conceives his running as vain, that is, not attaining the saving result aimed at,⁽⁶⁰⁾ if his gospel is not the right and true one.

τρέχω] a figurative expression, derived from the running in the stadium, for earnestly striving activity—in this case, official activity, as in Philippians 2:16, 2 Timothy 4:7; in other passages, Christian activity in general, as 1 Corinthians 9:24 f., Galatians 5:7, Hebrews 12:1. Comp. Romans 9:16. The present indicative transfers us into the present time of the ἀνεθέμην, from which ἔδραμον then looks back into the past. A clear and vivid representation. As to the indicative generally with the indirect interrogative μή, whether not, see Bernhardy, p. 397; Hermann, ad Viger. p. 810; also Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 104.

Note.

Acts 15:4; Acts 15:12 must not be adduced as proof either for or against (Fritzsche, Wieseler, and others) the identity of our journey with that of Acts 15. The two facts—that related in Acts 15:4; Acts 15:12, and that expressed by ἀνεθέμην κ. τ. λ. in Galatians 2:2—are two different actions, both of which took place at that visit of the apostle to Jerusalem, although what is stated in our passage was foreign to the historical connection in Acts 15, and therefore is not recorded there. The book of Acts relates only the transactions conducive to his object, in which Paul took part as deputy from the church at Antioch. What he did besides in the personal interest of his apostolic validity and ministry,—namely, his laying his gospel as well before the church (not to be identified with the assembly of the council) as before the δοκοῦντες also separately,—forms the subject of his narrative in Galatians 2, which is related to that in the Acts, not as excluding it and thereby impugning its historical character, but as supplementing it (contrary to the view of Baur, Schwegler, Zeller, Hilgenfeld). Comp. on Acts 15:19 f. As to the non-mention of the apostolic decree, see Introd. § 3.

Verse 3

Galatians 2:3. Observe, that Paul does not pass on to the result of his discussions with the δοκοῦσι until Galatians 2:6, and consequently it is Galatians 2:6 ff. which corresponds to the κατʼ ἰδίαν δὲ δοκοῦσι in Galatians 2:2; so that Galatians 2:3-5 have reference to the result of the laying his gospel to the Gentiles before the Christians in Jerusalem generally, and correspond with the first part of Galatians 2:2 ( ἀνεθέμην αὐτοῖς τὸ εὐαγγ. ὃ κηρ. ἐν τ. ἔθν.).

But so little had that exposition of my gospel to the church at Jerusalem a result counteracting it and implying the εἰς κενὸν τρέχω ἢ ἔδραμον, that, on the contrary, not even Titus, etc. Thus ἀλλʼ οὐδέ (comp. Luke 23:15; Acts 19:2) introduces a fact which—in contrast to the idea of “running in vain,” which had just been brought forward as the point for inquiry in that exposition of his gospel—serves as the surest palpable proof how triumphantly the Gentile gospel of the apostle (which rejected the necessity of circumcision for the Hellenes) maintained its ground then before the church of Jerusalem, and how very far people were from ascribing to the apostle a running, or having run, in vain. For otherwise it would have been absurd, if the church had not pleaded for, and carried out, the circumcision at least of Titus.⁽⁶¹⁾ “But not even this was done, to say nothing of its being a duty of the church to reject my gospel which was altogether opposed to the circumcision of Gentiles, and to decide that I εἰς κενὸν τρέχω ἢ ἔδραμον!” This line of argument involves a syllogism, of which ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ … περιτμηθῆναι is the minor.

ἕλλην ὤν] Although a Hellene, a Gentile.⁽⁶²⁾ We have no further details as to his descent.

ἠναγκάσθη] From Galatians 2:4-5 it follows that, on the part of certain Christians at Jerusalem (not of the apostles also, who are not referred to until Galatians 2:6, where the κατʼ ἰδίαν δὲ τοῖς δοκ. is resumed), the circumcision of Titus had been urged, but had not been complied with on the part of Paul, Barnabas, and Titus, and this resistance was respected by the church;⁽⁶³⁾ hence the οὐκ ἠναγκάσθη περιτμηθῆναι, there was not imposed on him the necessity of submitting to be circumcised. Most expositors, however, adopt the common opinion that οὐδὲ … ἠναγκάσθη περιτ. implies that the circumcision of Titus had not been demanded, which is adduced by Paul as a proof of his agreement with the apostles. See Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius, and many others, including Winer, Usteri, Matthies, Schott, de Wette, Hofmann. This view is decisively set aside by the sequel (see on Galatians 2:4), apart from the fact that here the relation to the apostles is not yet under discussion. Moreover, if the circumcision of Titus had not been demanded, there would have been no occasion for the expression ἠναγκάσθη. Certain individuals in the church, no doubt instigated by the false brethren (Galatians 2:4), had really come forward with the demand that Titus must submit to be circumcised. Comp. the subsequent case of Timothy, who under different circumstances was circumcised by Paul himself (Acts 16:3). To look upon the false brethren themselves as those who demanded the circumcision of Titus (Bleek, Wieseler, and others) does not suit Galatians 2:4, in which they appear only as the more remote cause of the demand; they kept in the background.⁽⁶⁴⁾

Note.

An inconsistency with Acts 15, in which the argument and decision are against the necessity of circumcision, would only emerge in Galatians 2:3, if the matter in question here had been the principal transactions of the council itself, and if those who required the circumcision of Titus had been the apostles (or had at least included the apostles), as Fritzsche, Baur, Hilgenfeld, Holsten, and others assume. But as neither of these is the case, and as, indeed, it does not even follow from our passage that the apostles had so much as merely advised the circumcision of Titus (Wieseler’s earlier opinion, which he has now rightly abandoned), this passage cannot furnish arguments either against the identity of the journey Galatians 2 with that of Acts 15 (Fritzsche, p. 224), or against the historical character of Acts 15 (Baur and his followers).

Verse 4

f

Galatians 2:4 f. The motive, why the demand of circumcision made as to Titus was not complied with by Paul, Barnabas, and Titus (comp. εἴξαμεν, Galatians 2:5). It was refused on account of the false brethren, to whom concession would otherwise have been made in a way conducive to their designs against Christian freedom.

διὰ δὲ τοὺς παρεισάκτους ψευδαδέλφους] sc. οὐκ ἠναγκάσθη περιτμηθῆναι.⁽⁶⁵⁾ These words, however, are not, properly speaking, to be supplied; in διὰ δὲ τ. π. ψ. they receive their more precise definition, made specially prominent by δέ, autem: on account, however, of the false brethren. Though Paul might have subjoined this immediately without δέ, he inserts the δέ not superfluously (Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylact), but on account of the important bearing of the matter on his argument. The case is similar when a more precise definition is made prominent by δέ, the same word being repeated, as in Galatians 2:2. So, in substance, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Augustine, Camerarius, Erasmus, Castalio, Piscator, Bos, Calovius, Estius, Bengel, and others; more recently, Schott, Fritzsche, Baumgarten-Crusius, de Wette, Ellicott, Reithmayr; also Matthies, who, however, so explains the passage that we should rather expect it to run, διὰ δὲ τῶν παρεισάκτων ψευδαδέλφων. On δέ Bengel justly remarks, “declarat et intendit,” as in fact δέ is often used by classical authors for giving prominence to an explanatory addition in which the previous verb is of course again understood (Klotz, ad Devar. p. 359). As to the matter itself, observe how Paul under other circumstances, where there was no dogmatic requirement of opponents brought into play, could bring himself to allow circumcision; see Acts 16:3. Consequently after Galatians 2:3 a comma only is to be placed, not a full stop, or even a colon (Lachmann, Tischendorf). Others, as Zachariae, Storr, Borger, Flatt, Hermann, Matthias, supply ἀνέβην, which, however, after Galatians 2:3, could not possibly occur to the mind of a reader.⁽⁶⁶⁾ Rinck, Lucubr. crit. p. 170 f. (so previously Grotius, and recently Wieseler), assumes an anacoluthon,—that οὐκ εἴξαμεν was intended to follow on διὰ δὲ τοὺς παρεισάκτ. ψευδαδέλφ., but that Paul had been led off by the long parenthesis and had then added οἷς. Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 329 f., leaves the choice to be made between this view and ours. But if Paul had intended to write, on account of the false brethren we have not yielded, he would not in doing so have represented the false brethren as those to whom he had not yielded; by using οἷς he would thus have altered⁽⁶⁷⁾ the sense of what he had begun to say, and would simply have occasioned perplexity by the mixture of on account of and to whom. But there is no need to resort at all to an anacoluthon when, as here, what immediately precedes presents itself to complete the sense. This remark holds good also against Winer, p. 529 [E. T. 711], who (comp. Hilgenfeld) assumes that Paul mixed up the two thoughts: “We did not have Titus circumcised on account of the false brethren;” and, “I might nowise yield to the false brethren.” Hofmann (comp. his Schriftbew. II. 2, p. 46) also produces an unnecessary anacoluthic derangement of the sentence, by supposing that a new sentence begins with διὰ δὲ παρεισάκτ. ψευδ., but that the relative definition οἵτινες κ. τ. λ. does not allow it to be completed; that, in fact, this completion does not take place at all, but with Galatians 2:6 a new period is begun, attached to what immediately precedes. Following the example of Tertullian, c. Marc. v. 8, Ambrose, Pelagius, and Primasius (opposed by Jerome), Rückert, who is followed by Elwert, supplements the passage as follows: “But on account of the false brethren I withal allowed Titus to be circumcised” (consequently περιετμήθη). According to his view, this is the course of thought in the passage: “Even Titus was at that time not forced to be circumcised; there was not, and could not be, any question of compulsion; but because I saw that there were false brethren, whose sole endeavour was to discover a vulnerable point in us, I considered it advisable to give them no occasion (?), and had Titus circumcised. Nevertheless, to yield out of obedience to them, and to acknowledge a necessity in respect to all Gentiles, never occurred to me for a moment,” etc. Against this view it may be decisively urged, first, that in Galatians 2:3 the emphasis is laid on τίτος and not on ἠναγκάσθη, and in Galatians 2:5 on πρὸς ὥραν and not on τῇ ὑποταγῇ; secondly, that the idea of “acknowledging a necessity in respect to all Gentile Christians” is not even hinted at by any word of Paul; and thirdly, the general consideration that a point so important and so debateable as the (alleged) permission of the circumcision of Titus would have been, would have needed, especially before the Galatians (comp. Galatians 5:2), a very different elucidation and vindication from one so enigmatically involved, in which the chief ideas could only be read between the lines. But such a compliance itself shown towards false brethren,—not for the sake, possibly, of some weak brethren, who are imported into the case by Elwert, nor on account of the Jews, as in the circumcision of Timothy (Acts 16:3),—would have been quite unprincipled and wrong. Very near to the interpretation of Rückert comes that of Reiche, who places the (supposed) circumcision of Titus not at the time then being and at Jerusalem, but at an earlier period, at which it took place either in Antioch or elsewhere: “At vero … ut rem aliam hic interponam, Galatians 2:3-6 (nam Galatians 2:6 oratio ad apostolos redit), Titi nimirum circumcisionem, quam quis forte modo dictis Galatians 2:2 opponat, quasi apostolorum aliorumve auctoritate vel jussu fecerim, aut ipse circumcisionem legisque observationem necessariam duxerim 6 f. parum mihi constans, sufficiat monuisse:—nec Titus ille comes meus et adjutor, Graecus natus, minime est coactus circumcidi a me vel a quocunque; propter falsos autem fratres, qui tum nos speculabantur, quomodo immunitate a lege Mos. a Christo nobis parta uteremur, eo consilio, ut denuo nos sub legis servitium redigerent … propter hos dico Titus ritum hunc externum … suscepit volens, ut istis calumniandi nocendique ansa et materies praeripiatur,” etc. But against this view may be urged partly the arguments already used against Rückert, and in addition the arbitrary procedure involved in shifting Galatians 2:3-6 to an earlier time; although τίτος ὁ σὺν ἑμοί, evidently referring back to συ΄παραλαβὼν καὶ τίτον in Galatians 2:1, precludes our taking this event out of the course of the narrative begun in Galatians 2:1. Moreover, περιετ΄ήθη as supplied by Reiche cannot be invested with the sense “liber et volens circumcisionem suscepit,”—a sense which, for the very sake of the contrast, since the emphasis lies on liber et volens, would need to be expressed (by ἐθελοντὴν περιετμήθη or the like). Lastly, an un-Pauline compliance⁽⁶⁸⁾ would be the result of the sense which would follow from the omission of οἷς οὐδέ in Galatians 2:5 (see the critical notes): “But on account of the false brethren … I gave way momentarily and caused Titus to be circumcised,” to which also the sentence of purpose which follows, ἵνα ἡ ἀλήθεια κ. τ. λ., would be utterly unsuitable; for, according to the point of view of our epistle, the “truth of the gospel” could only continue with the Galatians if such a compliance did not take place.

παρεισάκτους] subintroductos (Vulgate), brought in by the side, that is, privily and illegitimately,—namely, into the association of Christian brotherhood, of which they are not at all true members. See the note after Galatians 2:5. The word does not occur elsewhere in ancient authors (Prol. Sir. in Biel, III. p. 43, and Schleusner, IV. p. 228, πρόλογος παρείσακτος ἀδήλου); but it must have been employed on several occasions, as παρείσακτον is quoted by Hesychius, Photius, Suidas, and παρεισάκτους by Zonaras, being explained by ἀλλότριον and ἀλλοτρίους. The word has also been preserved as a name (by-name) in Strabo, xvii. 1, p. 794, παρείσακτος ἐπικληθεὶς πτολεμαῖος. The verb παρεισάγω is very current in later authors (Plut. Mor. p. 328 D Polyb. ii. 7. 8, vi. 56. 12; Diod. xii. 41; 2 Peter 2:1). Comp. παρεισέδυσαν, Jude 1:4.

ψευδαδέλφους] as in 2 Corinthians 11:26, persons who were Christians indeed, but were not so according to the true nature of Christianity—from the apostle’s standpoint, anti-Pauline, Judaizing reactionaries against Christian freedom. The article points out that these people were historically known to the readers, Acts 15:1; Acts 15:5.

οἵτινες κ. τ. λ.] quippe qui, contains the explanation as to the dangerous character of these persons, by which the διὰ δὲ τ. π. ψ. is justified.

παρεισῆλθον] Comp. Lucian, Asin. 15, εἰ λύκος παρεισέλθοι; Polyb. ii. 55. 3. The idea of being smuggled in (which is denied by Hofmann) is here accordant with the context, and indicated purposely by the twice-repeated παρεις. Comp. generally on Romans 5:20, and see Chrysostom on our passage.

κατασκοπῆσαι] in order to spy out, hostilely to reconnoitre, to watch. Comp. Joshua 2:2-3; 2 Samuel 10:3; 1 Chronicles 19:3; Eur. Hel. 1623; Polyb. 10:2; also κατάσκοπος, a spy.

ἥν ἔχομεν ἐν χριστῷ ἰησ.] a more precise definition of the preceding ἡ΄ῶν. Comp. Ephesians 2:4 et al. This freedom is, as may be gathered from the entire context, nothing else than the freedom from Mosaism (Romans 10:4) through justification by faith. Comp. Galatians 3:13, Galatians 5:1. Matthies introduces also the Christian life, but without warrant; the spying of the pseudo-Christians was directed to the point, whether and to what extent the Christians did not conform to the enactments of the Mosaic law. ἐν χριστῷ implies as its basis the solemn idea of the ἐν