The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 111

(,rp&o-r.,,rov 0ebs lwOpcl,,rov ob l\au.{Jd.ve,), The for his person was evidenced by the fact order of the words in the Greek throws that Panl's knowledge of the gospel waa especial empho.eie upon "person:" person of already BO complete and hie work was so man God accepteth, not; that is, it is never honoured by God, that those whose person on aocount of hie person that God accepteth seemed to many BO markedly superior to a IIlllD, Thie phre.ee, " accept a man's per• his, found that e.11 they had to do was to son," is of frequent occurrence in the Bible. frankly recognize hie tea.ching e.s already In the New Testament it is always used in o. adequate and complete, and his work as bad sense, which in the Old is by no means etancling on a perfectly eq nal footing with the case. Thie difference is due, as Bishop their own. Lightfoot observe~, to the ,secondary sense Ver. 7.-But oontrariwise (ii.Ma Tovva.v• of actor's mask attaching to the Greek noun, -rlov); e.s 2 Cor. ii. 7; l Pet. iii. 9. This the actor on the Greek sto.ge, as alee, on the "contrariwise" is illustrated by the fore- Roman, being wont to wear e. mask suited going note. When they saw (ili&v-re,); when to the cha.ro.oter in which he appeared; they got to see. This implies that tbe fact whence alao ...p&ur.,,rov got to si~nify this was new to them. A few of them, no doubt, character itself. The corresponding tech- were apprised of it previously, Cephas in nical term among the Romans was pers011a, particular (see eh. i. 18 and note); but the a word never used of the natural face, ae majority of that assemblage of apostles and ,rpour.,,rov wae. Thie explains the adoption elders knew Paul chiefly by hearsay, and of this last term in its Anglicized form by hearsay not always the most friendly to our English translators in the phrase now him. The three named in the next verse before us. With the like metnphorical t>p• are to be conceived of as acting as they dicl plication of the idea as that which was so in order to give expressioa to this newly common among the Romane, the word "per- awakened feeling of the general body, and son" seemed well fitted to denote the part, not merely to their own individual judg- or certain accessories of the part, which a ment. That the gospel of the Ulloircumcision man plays on the stage, so to speak, of was committed =to me, 11S the gospel of the human life, in contradistinction to hie more oiroumoision was Ullto Peter (3n 'ITnr/,r-rev/La., interior o.nd essential character. The phrase -rb eVa:yybuov -rijs- a.J(po9va-rlas, ,caOWs- IlE-rpoS' denotes accepting a mo.n, for example, for -r,i, '11'ep,-ro/Lri<); thuJ; I had been put in trust hie worldly rank or position, for his office, of the gospel . . . as Peter of that of, etc. for hie nationality, even for hie Church The perfect present 'ITe1riu-revf-U',, viewed status (see Jas. ii. 1, 9; Acts x. 34; 1 Pet. from the time of their seeing it. So the i. 17). The special adjuncts of a man's present op801rolioiiu,v in ver. 14, e.nd /LEVEL pers011 referred to in the present passage in John i. 40. The perfect is used and ure those of the outward call o.foretime to be not the aorist ( cf. Rom. iii. 2), as mar king apostles e.nd personal attendants upon the the then still continuing holding of the Lord Jesus while upon earth, and, in the trust, and also perhaps, as implying the con- case of St. James the Lord's brother, per- tinuing identity of the doctrine preached. sonal relationship to him. And St. Paul (For the construction of the accusative eua-y- means to intimate that his knowledge of -y,l\rnv after '11'e1rlO'Tev/La,, comp. l Thess. ii. Divine truth and his ministerial fidelity and 4 ; I Tim. i. 11.) Gospel of the 11nmrcumcision. efficiency might be as real and as !(reat, if The word "gospel" is frequently used by God's will were so, as the knowledge and St. Paul to denote, not so much the sub- ministerial fidelity e.nd efficiency of the sto.nce of its doctrine as the business of pro- twelve and St. James, whom his gainsayers claiming it (comp. Rom. i. 1, 9; xv. 19; were honouring so far above him merely for I Cor. ix. 14, 18; 2 Cor. ii. 12); and thus their perB011'B sake. God made no such the gospel of the uncircumciBion does not difference between him and them, but indico.te any diversity in the doctrine com- wrought with him just as much. For they munico.ted to the uncircumcision from that who seemed to be somewhat in oonference communicnted to the Jews, but simply a. added nothing to me (I/Loi -yiip ol lio1eovv-res diversity in the sphere of its procl1tmation. ovliE11 ·1rpu,ra.11,8ev-ro) ;, for to me they who were 'A,cpo/3v,r-r/a. denotes the class of the uncir- of repute in conference added nothing. The cumcised in contrast to 'IT<piro,u../i, tbo.t of verb 'ITpu,rav,8,v-ro, as it stands here, appears the ciroumoieed, as in Rom. iii. 30. As related to the ave8</L71V of vcr. 2. I laid Peter of that of the circ11mci,-ion. This dis- before them my gospel; they imparted to tinction between the spheres of work en- me nothing fresh (...pds). Thus Chrysostom trusted severally to the two apostles held and Theodoret. In eh. i. 16, where the good of thorn only as viewed in the main in so.me verb oocure (see note), there is no- either case; for as St. Peter Wll3, in fact, the thing to accentuate the 'ITp&s, os there is here. first who opened tbo gospel to the Gentiles, '.rhe "for" appears related to the foregoing and afterwards, towards the close of his clause, That God does not respect man work, cared for the welfare of Gentile Chris.  76 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [OH, U, 1-21.