sabbatical and jubilee years, was clearly enjoined by the ceremonial Law; and Paul admitted the obligations of that Law for himself and for all the Circumcision. He continued to frequent the Sabbath- worship of the synagogue, attended the feasts, bound himself under voluntary vows. What he condemns is the adoption of these practices by baptised Gentiles: for this imputed to them an inherent sacred- ness incompatible with the true freedom of the Spirit.
Vv. 11-20. DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE APOSTLE AT THE CHANGED FEELING OF HIS CONVERTS; REMINISCENCES OF THE PAST; PATHETIC APPEAL TO OLD AFFEC- TION; PROTEST AGAINST PRESENT ES- TRANGEMENT.—Ver. 12. Our versions abruptly sever the connection of this verse with the previous context, and do great violence to the Greek text in both clauses. They transpose the words ἀδελ- poi δέομαι ὑμῶν from their true place at the end of the verse to the beginning, and render γίνεσθε ὡς ἐγώ, Be ye as I am. But this makes it = γίνεσθε ὁποῖος ἐγώ εἰμι (cf. Acts xxvi. 29), though it is im- possible to understand εἰμι in the Greek text after γίνεσθε. The context points distinctly to ἐγενόμην as the proper supplement after ὡς ἐγώ. The last verse has carried back the author’s thoughts to his original ministry, and he proceeds to revive the remembrance of that period. “Act as I did (he exclaims); deal with me as I dealt with you.” Instead of a mere vague admonition to imitate his character he is holding up his actual conduct for an example to them, and proceeds to specify the particular occa- sion to which he refers.—8ri κἀγὼ . . .: For I too beseech you as you, brethren, besought me. It is an obvious error to detach κἀγώ from the following verb δέοµαι and supply εἰμι, as is done in our versions. The Greek requires a verb to be supplied after ὑμεῖς corresponding to κἀγὼ δέομαι ὑμῶν, and I understand accordingly ἐδεήθητέ pov.
The Galatians could not fail to recollect the occasion to which these words refer; for it was the true birthday of their
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Church, the memorable crisis when at the close of Paul’s address the Jews de- parted from the synagogue, but the Gen- tiles besought him to repeat to them the words of life on the following Sabbath ; after which many Jews and proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas persuading them to abide by the doctrine of the grace of God. (See Acts xiii. 42, 43. In the Greek text it is clear that the persuasion proceeded from them, and not from Paul and Barnabas.) The Galatians had then been suitors to Paul to maintain the free- dom of the Gospel, he was now a suitor to them in his turn for its maintenance. —ovdéy µε ἠδικήσατε: Ye had done meno wrong. The force of this clause appears from what follows: Paul is dwelling on the mutual relations between him and the Galatians at the time of that memorable petition. They on their side had done him no wrong, they had not driven him away by persecution or illtreatment, yet up to that time (τὸ πρότερον) he had only been induced by illness to preach to them. The Galatians had, in short, given him no excuse for passing them by, as he in- tended to do, until he was attacked by an illness which left him no option.
Ver. 13. δι ἀσθένειαν. This can only mean owing to infirmity of the flesh, {.ε., to illness. διά with accusative has the same causal force in the N.T. as in Attic Greek. A phrase like διὰ νύκτα, by night, is found in Homer, but διά subsequently lost its temporal force, and only regained it in the Latinised Greek of later centuries from confusion with the Latin fer. The
sition of δι’ ἀσθένειαν before the verb
ays stress upon the fact that the ministry was due to illness alone, and not to spon- taneous resolve.