The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 68

religion; a fooling whioh would be all the up to Jerusalem to make incp1iries 0r stronger through the consciousness thnt it Cephas. Neither would the general use of wns as yet the capita.I and centre also of t.he verb warrant us in understanding St. Christendom itself. To see Peter (l,nopr,r1a, faul to so.y that his object in making this K11,Piiv [Recoptus, nfrpov]) ; to acquaint my- Journey was to" see Cephas" in tlifLt sense self with Cephas. As the Greek verb here in which we sometimes empfoy the English used-which is found nowhere else in the verb, to denote a friendly visit; nor agn.iu New Tcsto.ment, and not found o.t a.II in the would it justify us in interpreUng it to Septuagint-has been often misunderstood, mean "to put myself on a footino- of ac- it seems desirable to give a somewhat full quaintanceship and friendship with him." account of the manner in which it is em- No instance has been adduced in which the ployed in other writers. The verb /r1.,-opiiv, word has eit.her of these two turns of merin- derived, through 1,,.,..,p or rrt.,-wp, knowing, ing. Its import in the present instance learned, from the conjectural root ,t5w, appears to be this: St. Paul was hearing in the older Greek most commonly means continually in all quarters a variety of "inquire of some one about some person or statements respecting Cephas, the leader of thing,"e.nd isconstrnctedlike eirepw.,-q:v and the apostles, Cephas's doctrine, Ccphas's other verbs of questioning. Thus, Eurip., manner of conduct both personal and minis- 'Phom.,' 621, '!ls.,-[µ.' /r1.,-op,is .,-65,; "Ask me terial,-statements, we may be sure, not this question;" Soph., ' <Ed. Tyr.,' 1156, always agreeing together. He knew the •ov ob.,-os lcTTopei," Whom this man is inquir- great importance of Cephas's position in jng about." So in Herod., ii. 19. But the Church, not only with reference to the sometimes, still in the older Greek, it means Jewish section of it with which that simply "knowing" or" personally knowing," apostle was tbe most immediately o.sso- witli no associated notion of asking ques- ciated, bnt also with reference to Gentile tions; as e.g. lEsch., 'Pers.,' 454, Ka,cois .,-b believers, he having been first of all the µe'A'Aov /r1.,-opoiv, "Ill apprised of the future;" apostles divinely commissioned to open the 'Eum.,' 455, Da-rlpa. 8' luropr:ls ,caAWs, "My door to the Gentiles. For the prudent father tliou lmowest well." In the later shaping, then, of his own course in the Greek it frequently denotes personally prosecution of his ministry as apostle, it was acquainting one's self .with some object, of deep moment for St. Paul that he should whether a person or a thing.· Here again, have a more exact understanding of Cephas's as in its use just exemplified from lEschylus, personality, and of Cepbas's principles of the notion of o.sking questions is altogether conduct in dealing both with Jews and absent. Thus, Josephus, 'Bell. Jud.,' vi. 1, Gentiles, than he could possibly gain from 8, 'Av1,p, &v l-yw Ka'T' lKeivov 1,,.,.&p11aa ..-o·v mere hearsay. He therefore resolved, most ,,-67'.eµov, "When I got personally to know ; JI assuredly under Divine guidance, himself to 'Ant.,' viii.2,5, 'lr1..-6p11r1a-ycl.p -riva ~E'Aea(apov, repair to Jerusalem, to o.pprise himself by "I have in person seen Eleazar, releasing persona.I observation o.nd intercourse of the demoniacs,'' oto. ; •Ant.,' i. 11, 4, '1a.,-6p11Ka. true character of this most highly gifted and Ii' a~.,-1,v, "I ha.ve myself been and seen it most influential leader of Jewish Christen- (i.e. the pillar of salt);" Plutllrch, 'Thes.,' dom. Thus much, and so for us I can per- 30, T¾w x,/,pav /r1.,-opr,r1a,, "See, inspect the eeive no more than this, does the usage of country; " 'Pomp.,' 40, 'l<11"0p;Jr1a1 Tnv 1r&l<iv, the verb in the Greek of the time warrant "See, or inspect the city." The result of us in finding in St. Paul's use of it in the this evidence is that, in all probability, the present passage. And this view of it is con- apostle means that he went up to Jeruso.lem firmed by its singular appropriateness, when to acquaint himself with Cephas. That thus understood, to the connection in which in the present instance the verb was not at it stands. No term eould have more signi- all meant to suggest the notion of question- fioantly implied the feeling which the writer ing, either directly or by implication, though entertained of the independence of his own no doubt in the older form of the language position as a messenger of Christ to the it often means questioning, appears from world. Cephas's own self, he intimates, wo.s two 'considerations: (1) The words," I went the object which he sought by tha.t journey to question Cepho.s,'' with no indication to get to know. That is, there is not the added, either epecifio or general, of tho fe.intest suggestion in the phraso employed matters to be inquired about, would present of his ho.ving felt his own knowledge of tho a very bald and imperfect sentence; (2) it gospel to be imperfect, and that he wished would seem strangely incongruous that the to confer with Peter for the purpose of in- apostle, just when ooncorned to give point tegrating his views. Whilo, 1.iowever, with to his o.flirmation that ho reoei ved not his the o.postle the ruling motive in ta.king that gospel from men, but fully and completely journey may he supposed to have been as now from God, should tell his readers that two stated, we are still at Ii borty to surmise that or three years after his oonvereion he went there were other aocessory induoements. If  33 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS, [ea, I. 1-24:,