* See Weizsicker, Apostolische Zeitalter (trans.), i. 112. McGiffert, The Apostolic Age, p. 177 ff. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, p. 62 ff.
144 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cz. IV.
ings or elsewhere. It does not suit the following but received me, etc. It lays the stress on the Galatians’ resistance of a temptation to despise Paul; whereas the idea of a temptation is incidental. On this construction we should rather expect Paul to say: “ Ye did despise and repudiate this temptation.” Better, make your temptation, etc., dependent on ye know (ver. 13); place a colon after flesh, and make both verbs govern me in the following clause. Rend. “Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel to you the first time, and (ye know) your temptation which was in my flesh: ye did not despise nor reject me, but received me.” The last clause thus forms one of a series of short and de- tached clauses beginning with ver. 10. ’Ov« éEou@evncate ye did not set at nought, from otéév nothing. The form oi@év occurs L. xxi, 80.3 xxi. 14 ; Acts .xix..2)2 mew 26 228 Core xis. 2 Cor. xi. 8. For the compound here, comp. L. xviii. 9; xxiii. 11; Acts iv. 11; 2 Cor. x. 10. Class. "E&emrricare spurned, N. T.°. Lit. spat owt. A strong metaphor, adding the idea of contempt to that of setting at nought. Comp. Hom. Od. v. 322; Aristoph. Wasps, 792. The two verbs express contemptuous indifference. ’*Eyécas to vomit, as a figure of contemptuous rejection, is found in Apoc. iii. 16. The simple wrvew to spit only in the literal sense in N. T. Mk, vii. 33; viii. 23; J. ix. 6, and no other compound occurs.
As an angel. Bengel says: “The flesh, infirmity, temp- tation, are unknown to angels; wherefore to receive as an angel is to receive with great veneration.”
As Jesus Christ. With even higher honour than an angel. Comp. Matt. x. 40; J. xiii. 20.
15. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of P (aod obv 6 wakapicpuos buoy). Maxapiopcs, P°. Comp. Rom. iv. 6, 9. Not blessedness, but pronouncing blessed, felicitation. “What has become of your self-gratulation on my presence and teaching?” Ye spake of is an attempt to render duav. Better, “ Where is then that gratulation of yours?”
Cu. IV.] THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 145
| bear you record (yaptuvp®). Better, witness. Bear record is common in A. V. for bear witness. Record is used both of a person, as God is my record, Philip. i. 8; I call God for a record, 1 Cor. i. 23, and in the sense of evidence or testimony. So Shaks. Richard IT. I. i. 30:
‘¢ First, Heaven be the record to my speech.”’
Plucked out (éfopvgavres). Lit. dug out. Only here, and ME. ii. 4, of digging up the roof in order to let down the paralytic before Jesus.
Your own eyes (rods dpOarpors tuav). Better, your eyes. Eyes, as most treasured possessions. Comp. Ps. xvii. 8; Proy. vii. 2; Zech. ii. 8. Some have found here evidence that Paul was afflicted with disease of the eyes. See Dr. John Brown’s Horae Subsecivae. Accordingly they explain these words, ‘‘ You would have given me your own eyes to replace mine.” But dyer is unemphatic, your. All attempts to connect the passage with Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. xii. 7) are to be dismissed as fanciful.
16. Therefore (Gcre). Better, so then: seeing that your love for me has waned. —
Your enemy (éyOpos tyav). "EyOpos enemy, in an active sense, as is shown by the next clause. Not passive, an object of hatred, which would have the pronoun in the dative. —
Because | tell you the truth (aAnGevor tyuiv). "ArAnOevev, only here and Eph. iv. 15, means to speak the truth or to deal truly. The present participle refers to the same time as yéyova I am become, the time of his second visit. The clause is usually construed as interrogative (A. V.). It is rather a direct statement with a slight interrogative suggestion. “¢So then, I am become your enemy, am I.”