The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 72

.,.c;; "'r""tf.,"'1'• "by fRce," or "in person," derived the gospel which he had then and me.rks (•ee Winer,' Gram. N. T.,' § 31, 6, a) ever since been proclaiming. If we tl\ke the sphere to which R wider term is re- the bee.ring of the clause, "which were in stricted, RS .-ais cf>pe<riv (1 Oor. xiv. 20). Its Christ," as above proposed, we hl\ve no need addition prepe.res the reader for the subse- of_~cui:neniu~'s remark, endorsed by various quent intimation that, though unknown by critics, mcludmg Alford and even Bishop personal presentment, he was not unknown Lightfoot, that it was added to distinguish by repnte (comp. 1 Thess. ii. 17, npo<rC:,.,,.q, ob the t1<1<>..-l,<T1a., of Christil\ns from synagogues ,capliiq.). The widened form of the verb, l\µ'11" of non-Christian Jews. Indeed, the re- a-yvootlµevos, instead of 1ryvoo6µ'1v, intimates mark is itself open to grave exception. the long-continued pniod, represented by It is true that ,i,,,,>..'l!<r[a in the singular the words "all the while" in our rendering, number is used of the; whole Israelite com- for which the statement held good; which munity antecedently to tile Christian dis- observation applies also to the a,co6ov'TEs pensation ; but it is never found either in -i\<rav of ver. 23. The word "still," intro- the New Testament or in the Septuo.gint to duced in the Revised Version, imports, as denote, as <Tvva-yo,~ does, an organized col- I humbly venture to think, an idea not lection of Israelites as such, dwelling in a actually expressed in the Greek. The particular neighbourhood, in the way that apostle states no more than that the it is applied to Rn organized collection of Churches of Judrea had at that time no Christians in a neighbourhood ; neither is opportunity of coming to 1--now him per- the noun ever applied to Israelites as such sonally. There is no h·,. They had, that in the plural number. The term l1<1<>..-l,<r1a1 is (for this is what seems intended), no would, of course, be taken to mean Christian opportunity of knowing him in his new Churches and no other. character as a disci pie of Christ. Whether Ver. 23.-:But they had heard only (µ&vov or not they had known him in the terrible Ii~ l.t,co6ov'TEs ,1uav); and they only from time to aspect of an unrelenting persecutor, is a time heard say. They did not see him in matter which for the present lies out of the person, but only heard about him. The :field of view. The period to wl..tich the dilated imperfect, a1<060.,.,.es -i\<rav, applving apostle means this remark of his to apply to the whole space of time here referred to, ma:v be assumed to be the whole time be- suggests the insertion in the translation tween his conversion and the close of this of the words, "from time to time." The stay of his in "Syria and Cilicia." This, 3-r, is inserted after the Greek idiom in in- as we learn from the Acts, terminated with troducing the very words spoken in oratio Barnabas's fetching him to join him in his directa, as in Matt. vii. 23 ; Mark ii. 1 ; wark at Antioch. After this he did be- John i. 40; iv. 1, etc. That he whioh per- come known to the disciples of Judma. secuted 118 in times past (8-r, 8 a,,:,,,.,,, -1,µiis Unto the Churches of J'udlea which were in 1ro'TE) ; he that once was pe-rsecuting us. Christ (-r&Us E,clCA"f}t1lrus T1]s 'Iov~alas Tais Ev The B,C:,,c.,., is in the prreter-imperfect parti- Xp,<r.-,ij). This honorific form of designa- ciple, of which we have examples in Tucp>..bs tion, " which were in Christ," breathes a t:Jv, 6-pn f3>..{1r.,, John ix, 25; 01 'frOTE lv-r,s feeling on the parl of the apostle of reve- Eph. ii. 13; Tb 1rp&-r,pou lf.,.,.a {3>..rl.<Tcf>'1µov, rential respect for those Churches, as already 1 Tim. i. 13. Now preaoheth the faith organized communities vitally united to which onoe he destroyed (viiv ,.lan•>..l(e-ra, Christ, while he was as yet only beginning .,..,., .,,[u-rw ljv 'fron l..-&p8e,); now preacheth his Christian life ( comp. Rom. xvi. 7, "Who the faith which once he was making haooc of. were also in Christ before me"). This The use of the term "faith" is the same as ceremonious respectfulness is the more in in Acts vi. 7, "Were obedient to the faith," place, inasmuch as the apostle ha.d reason which is equivalent to the "obeying the to know that the doctrinal position which gospel" mentioned Rom. x. 16. The object he felt himself set to defend. in reference to to the verb •~ayye>..i(oµa, is always some- obedience to the Mosaic Law, was generally thing which is announced, never o. thing distasteful to Jewish believers. Grateful is which is required (cf. e.g. Luke ii. 10 ; Acts it, however, to his own feelings to recollect, v. 42 ; x. 36; Eph. ii. 17; iii. 8); so that nnd now thus publicly to recognize, the "faith" here cnnnot mean the faith which kindness and devout thankfulness which in men o.re to render to Jesus, but the doctrine tLose early days of his Christian career they which they are to believe, to wit, that Jesus had evinced with reference to him (see is Christ the Saviour. We have here the note on ver. 24). At the same time, his early beginnings of that objective sense in entire independence of the whole Jewish which afterwards the word got to be so cowrnunity when first beginning to preach commonly used in Uie Church to denote the is plainly indicated. It was from no Christian doctrine (see Bishop Lightfoot's Jud=n Church any more than from Jeru- essay • Gala.tians,' pp. 154-158). In the mlew and its apostles and elders that he second clause, "which he was aometime OH, I, 1-24,] THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 37