Galatia 1:6

Occasion of the Letter

1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one ¹  who called you by the grace of Christ ²  and are following ³  a different ⁴  gospel –

Galatia 1:16

1:16 to reveal his Son in ⁵  me so that I could preach him ⁶  among the Gentiles, I did not go to ask advice from ⁷  any human being, ⁸ 

Galatia 3:18

3:18 For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise, but God graciously gave ⁹  it to Abraham through the promise.

Galatia 4:4

4:4 But when the appropriate time ¹⁰  had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

Galatia 4:6

4:6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls ¹¹  “Abba! ¹²  Father!”

[1:6]  ¹ sn The one who called you is a reference to God the Father (note the mention of Christ in the following prepositional phrase and the mention of God the Father in 1:1).

[1:6]  ² tc Although the majority of witnesses, including some of the most important ones (Ì⁵¹ א A B F^c Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï f vg sy^p bo), read “by the grace of Christ” (χάριτι Χριστοῦ, cariti Cristou) here, this reading is not without variables. Besides alternate readings such as χάριτι ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (cariti Ihsou Cristou, “by the grace of Jesus Christ”; D 326 1241^s pc sy^h**) and χάριτι θεοῦ (cariti qeou, “by the grace of God”; 327 pc Thret^lem), a few mss (Ì^46vid F* G H^vid ar b Tert Cyp Ambst Pel) have simply χάριτι with no modifier. Internally, the reading that seems best to explain the rise of the others is the shortest reading, χάριτι. Indeed, the fact that three different adjuncts are found in the mss seems to be a natural expansion on the simple “grace.” At the same time, the witnesses for the shortest reading are not particularly impressive, being that they largely represent one textual strand (Western), and a less-than-reliable one at that. Further, nowhere else in the corpus Paulinum do we see the construction χάρις (cari", “grace”) followed by Χριστοῦ without some other name (such as κυρίου [kuriou, “Lord”] or ᾿Ιησοῦ). The construction χάρις θεοῦ is likewise frequent in Paul. Thus, upon closer inspection it seems that the original wording here was χάριτι Χριστοῦ (for it is difficult to explain how this particular reading could have arisen from the simple χάριτι, in light of Paul’s normal idioms), with the other readings intentionally or accidentally arising from it.

[1:6]  ³ tn Grk “deserting [turning away] to” a different gospel, implying the idea of “following.”

[1:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “another.”

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Or “to me”; the Greek preposition ἐν (en) can mean either, depending on the context.

[1:16]  ⁶ tn This pronoun refers to “his Son,” mentioned earlier in the verse.

[1:16]  ⁷ tn Or “I did not consult with.” For the translation “I did not go to ask advice from” see L&N 33.175.

[1:16]  ⁸ tn Grk “from flesh and blood.”

[3:18]  ⁹ tn On the translation “graciously gave” for χαρίζομαι (carizomai) see L&N 57.102.

[4:4]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the fullness of time” (an idiom for the totality of a period of time, with the implication of proper completion; see L&N 67.69).

[4:6]  ¹¹ tn Grk “calling.” The participle is neuter indicating that the Spirit is the one who calls.

[4:6]  ¹² tn The term “Abba” is the Greek transliteration of the Aramaic אַבָּא (’abba’), literally meaning “my father” but taken over simply as “father,” used in prayer and in the family circle, and later taken over by the early Greek-speaking Christians (BDAG 1 s.v. ἀββα).