Ver. 11. γνωρίζω. Here, as in 1 Cor. xii. 3, xv. 1, this verb has the force of reminding rather than of making known. In all three passages the author calls attention to forgotten truths, which had once been well known.
Ver. 12. ἐγὼ. The personal pronoun is inserted, because the author is here laying stress on the special education he had received for his ministry of the Gospel. He had not learnt it, like his converts, from human teaching, but by direct communion with God in spirit, as the Twelve had learnt it from Christ’s own teaching. This independence of older Christians is a marked feature in the history of his life. The agency of Ananias was necessary for his admission into the Church, but after his baptism no older Christian appears on the scene at Damas- cus,
Ver. 13. Ἠκούσατε. The Galatians had no doubt heard from Paul himself of his former persecution of the Church. How frequently it formed the topic of his addresses to Jewish hearers may be gathered from his defence of himself at Jerusalem in Acts xxii., and before Agrippa in Acts xxvi.—lov8aiopo. The rendering of this word in our versions, Fewish religion, is unfortunate: it im- plies a definite separation between the two religions which did not then exist, for Christians were still habitual wor- shippers in the synagogue; and it puts
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Ἰουδαϊσμῷ, ὅτι καθ ὑπερβολὴν ἐδίωκον τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἐπόρθουν αὐτήν: 14. καὶ προέκοπτον ἐν τῷ ἸΙουδαϊσμῷ ὑπὲρ πολλοὺς συνηλικιώτας ἐν τῷ γένει µου, περισσοτέρως ζηλωτὴς
ὑπάρχων τῶν πατρικῶν µου παραδόσεων.
15. ὅτε δὲ εὐδόκησεν
ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ἀφορίσας µε ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός µου, καὶ καλέσας διὰ τῆς χάριτος αὑτοῦ, 16. ἀποκαλύψαι τὸν υἱὸν αὑτοῦ ἐν ἐμοὶ, ἵνα εὐαγγελί- ἵωμαι αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, εὐθέως οὐ προσανεθέμην σαρκὶ καὶ
this view into the mouth of Paul, who steadfastly persisted in identifying the faith of Christ with the national religion. The word ᾿Ιονδαΐζειν denotes the adoption of Jewish habits, language, or policy (εἴ. ii. 14). Soherelov8aiopes denotes Jewish partisanship, and accurately describes the bitter party spirit which prompted Saul to take the lead in the martyrdom of Stephen and the persecution of the Church. _Inci- dentally the partisanship was based on a false view of religion, for the narrow intolerance of the Scribes and Pharisees was a prevailing curse of Jewish society at the time; but ᾿Ιουδαῖσμός expresses the party spirit, not the ο Still more alien to the spirit of Paul is the language attributed to him in the next verse, I profited in the Fews’ religion (A.V.): for it indicates satisfaction at the success of his Jewish career, whereas he never ceased to regard it with lifelong remorse. His real assertion here is that he advanced beyond his fellows in sec- tarian prejudice and persecuting zeal— a statement borne out by the history of the persecution.—ore. This adverb is obviously attached to the preceding sub- stantive ἀναστροφήν.
The imperfects ἐδίωκον . . . describe che course of action continuously pursued by Saul down to his conversion.—éwép- θουν. This term is likewise applied in Acts ix. 21 to the havoc wrought by Saul in the Church.
Ver. 14. συνηλικιώτας. Saul had been educated at Jerusalem, and this word points to his contemporaries in the schools of the Pharisees.—yéva. This term sometimes denotes family, but here race and nation, as in Acts xviii. 2, 24. So also συγγενής in Rom. ix. 3, xvi. 7, 21.--ζηλωτῆς. This is not here the proper name of a sect, being coupled with a genitive, as in Acts xxi. 20. Saul had no sympathy with the anarchical sect of Zealots who preached the sacred duty of revolt from Rome, though he had the persecuting zeal of an orthodox Pharisee. -- πατρικῶν. This differs in sense from πατρῷος. The latter denotes the national
law and customs of Israel (Acts xxii. 3, xxviii. 17), the former the hereditary traditions of the family, as the addition of pov further signifies. In Acts xxiii. 6 Paul describes himself as a son of Phari- sees.