ἐκ νεκρῶν.) 2. καὶ οἱ σὺν ἐμοὶ πάντες ἀδελφοὶ, ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τῆς Γαλατίας: 3. χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ Θεοῦ πατρὸς, καὶ Κυρίου ἡμῶν 1 Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, 4. τοῦ δόντος ἑαυτὸν περὶ" τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν Ίημων BDEFGKL,; placed after πατρος ΝΑΡ 17. 2 περι NADEFGKLP ; νπερ B 17, 67.
thereupon God had visibly sealed his appointment by the abundant blessing bestowed upon his labours, as the Gala- tians themselves could amply testify.— διὰ .. . πατρὸς. The previous com- bination of ἀπό and διά in the negative clauses invites a corresponding combina- tion here in the antithesis, ἀλλὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ Θεοῦ πατρὸς, declaring, on the one hand, the instru- mentality of the Son in the appointment of His Apostle, and, on the other, tracing back the authority with which he was in- vested to God the Father as its original source. But Paul prefers here, instead of contemplating his apostleship to the Gentiles by itself as a single act of the Divine Head of the Church, to connect it with the larger design of building up the Church of Christ, for which the united action of the Father and the Son was indispensable. The Father set that de- sign in motion by raising Him from the dead, and is here accordingly associated with the Son as directly co-operating in the government of the Church. In the subsequent review of his own personal life, Paul in like manner perceives the immediate hand of God in his pre- Christian life, setting him apart from his mother’s womb, and training him under the law for his future work as an Apostle, before he was brought to Christ at all.
Ver. 2. οἱ σὺν ἐμοὶ. No name is mentioned: neither Timothy nor Silas, nor any other companion of Paul known to the Galatians can have been with him when he wrote, nor is the name men- tioned of any Christian congregation ; probably he was residing in some Greek city in which no Church had yet been formed. The phrase οἱ σὺν ἐμοὶ seems, from its use in Phil. iv. 21, to describe a small group of brethren immediately surrounding the Apostle; for the saluta- tion from them is there followed by a separate salutation from the Roman Church in general. The position of the Apostle during his first few weeks at Corinth, before Silas and Timothy re- joined him, corresponds closely to the circumstances indicated by this phrase (see Introd., pp. 146-147).---ἐκκλησίαις.
There were four Churches in Southern Galatia, but they formed a single group, being all bound together by the great imperial highway that ran through them, and gave facility for constant intercourse. All would, therefore, respond speedily to any religious impulse, like the wave of Pharisaic reaction which the Apostle is combating in this Epistle.
Ver. 3. The apostolic blessing is here as elsewhere summed up in the com- prehensive words grace and peace. These include the lifegiving power of the spirit as well as the assurance of God's forgiving love in Christ and peace with an accusing conscience. This verse affirms once more the co-operation of the Father with the Son in devising and carrying out the scheme of man’s redemption.
Ver. 4. περὶ τ. ἁμαρτιῶν. The sin offerings of the Law were designated περὶ «θῖν (cf. Heb. κ. 6, 8), but περί and ὑπέρ were equally applicable with reference to Christ's offering of Himself for our sins; the former fixing attention on the effect of His sacrifice in doing away sin, the latter on the motive which prompted Him, viz., love for sinners. ‘The two prepositions are combined in τ Pet. iii. 18. It is often difficult to decide which is the genuine reading owing to the variation of MSS.: but here they are greatly in favour of περί, which is also more appropriate to the context: for in this clause a com- parison is intended between the sin- offerings of Christ and the typical sin- offerings of the Law; while the next