Deceiveth (dpevarara). N. T.°. °LXX, Class. See the noun ¢pevarrarns deceiver, Tit. i. 10. Denoting subjective deception ; deception of the judgment. The simple ararav to deceive, Eph. v. 6; 1 Tim. ii. 14; Jas. i. 26, and often in LXX. Lightfoot thinks the compound verb may possibly have been coined by Paul.t
* Quite a number of high authorities read dvardnpdcere, future, ye shall fulfil.
+ Blass, however (N. T. Gramm., p. 68, note), says that ¢pevardrns ap- pears in a papyrus of the second century B.c. He refers to Grenfell, An Al- exandrian Erotic Fragment, Oxford, 1896, p. 8. See also Sophocles, Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods, sub ppevardrns.
Cx. VI] THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 173
4. Prove (doximaférw). In Class. of assaying metals. Comp. LXX, Proy. viii. 10; xvii. 3; Sir. ii. 5: also 1 Cor. ili. 13; 1 Pet.i.7. It is the classical verb for testing money; see Plato, Zim. 65C. Aoximafew and rvpodcbae to burn or try by fire occur together, Jer. ix. 7; Ps. xi. 6; lxv. 10. Gen- erally, to prove or examine, as 1 Cor. xi. 28; 1 Th. v. 21. To accept that which is approved, 1 Cor. xvi. 3; 2 Cor. viii. weet th. ii. 4.
Rejoicing (76 cavynua). Better, as giving the force of the article, “his glorying.” Kadynua is the matter or ground of glorying, see Rom. iv. 2; 1 Cor. ix. 15; not the act (xav- xXnots), as Rom. iii. 27; 2 Cor. i. 12.*
In himself (eis éavrov). Better, with regard to himself, or as concerns. For this use of eis see Rom. iv. 20; xv. 2; xvi. 6; Eph. iii. 16. Not, he will keep his glorying to himself or abstain from boasting. He means that if, on examination, one finds in himself anything to boast of, his cause of boast- ing will lie simply and absolutely in that, and not in his merit as compared, to his own advantage, with that of another.
Another (rov érepov). Better, the other, or, as Rev., his neighbour. See on Matt. vi. 24.
5. Bear ye one another’s burdens: every man_ shall bear his own burden. A kind of paradox of which Paul is fond. See Philip, ii. 12,13; 2 Cor. vi. 8-10; vii. 10; xii. 10. Paul means, no one will have occasion to claim moral superiority to his neighbour, for (yap) each man’s self- examination will reveal infirmities enough of his own, even though they may not be the same as those of his neighbour. His own burdens will absorb his whole attention, and will leave him no time to compare himself with others.
* Still, this does not always hold. We find yévynua, dlwyua, bédnua, taya, Kypuvypa, wAnpwua for yévynots, Slwéts, OéAnots, tacis, kApvits, TANpwors.
174 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Ca. VI.
His own burden (70 iécov dopriov). For idvov own, see on 1 Tim. vi. 1. With qopriov burden comp. Bapn burdens, ver. 2. It is doubtful whether any different shade of mean- ing is intended. Originally Bdpy emphasises the weight of the burden, doptiov simply notes the fact that it is some- thing to be borne (pépetv), which may be either light or heavy. See Matt. xi. 80; xxiii. 4; Ps. xxxvii.4; L. xi. 46. Comp. Acts xxvii. 10, the lading of a ship.
6. But, although each man is thus individualised as regards his burdens, Christian fellowship in all morally good things is to be maintained between the teacher and the taught. The passage is often explained as an injunction to provide for the temporal wants of Christian teachers.* But this is entirely foreign to the course of thought, and isolates the verse from the context on both sides of it. As vv. 1-5 refer to moral errors, in all good things has naturally the same reference, as do good in ver. 10 certainly has. The exhortation therefore is, that the disciple should make common cause with the teacher in everything that is morally good and that promotes salvation. The introduction at this point of the relation of disciple and teacher may be explained by the fact that this relation in the Galatian community had been disturbed by the efforts of the Judaising teachers, notably in the case of Paul himself; and this disturbance could not but interfere with their common moral effort and life.