Galatia 1:11-13

Paul’s Vindication of His Apostleship

1:11 Now ¹  I want you to know, brothers and sisters, ²  that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. ³  1:12 For I did not receive it or learn it from any human source; ⁴  instead I received it ⁵  by a revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁶ 

1:13 For you have heard of my former way of life ⁷  in Judaism, how I was savagely persecuting the church of God and trying to destroy it.

Galatia 2:5-9

2:5 But ⁸  we did not surrender to them ⁹  even for a moment, ¹⁰  in order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. ¹¹ 

2:6 But from those who were influential ¹²  (whatever they were makes no difference to me; God shows no favoritism between people ¹³ ) – those influential leaders ¹⁴  added ¹⁵  nothing to my message. ¹⁶  2:7 On the contrary, when they saw ¹⁷  that I was entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised ¹⁸  just as Peter was to the circumcised ¹⁹  2:8 (for he who empowered ²⁰  Peter for his apostleship ²¹  to the circumcised ²²  also empowered me for my apostleship to the Gentiles) ²³  2:9 and when James, Cephas, ²⁴  and John, who had a reputation as ²⁵  pillars, ²⁶  recognized ²⁷  the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me ²⁸  the right hand of fellowship, agreeing ²⁹  that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ³⁰ 

[1:11]  ¹ tc ‡ The conjunction δέ (de) is found in Ì⁴⁶ א*^,2 A D¹ Ψ 1739 1881 Ï sy bo, while γάρ (gar) is the conjunction of choice in א¹ B D*^,c F G 33 pc lat sa. There are thus good representatives on each side. Scribes generally tended to prefer γάρ in such instances, most likely because it was more forceful and explicit. γάρ is thus seen as a motivated reading. For this reason, δέ is preferred.

[1:11]  ² tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:11]  ³ tn Grk “is not according to man.”

[1:12]  ⁴ tn Or “I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it.”

[1:12]  ⁵ tn The words “I received it” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

[1:12]  ⁶ tn It is difficult to determine what kind of genitive ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (Ihsou Cristou) is. If it is a subjective genitive, the meaning is “a revelation from Jesus Christ” but if objective genitive, it is “a revelation about Jesus Christ.” Most likely this is objective since the explanation in vv. 15-16 mentions God revealing the Son to Paul so that he might preach, although the idea of a direct revelation to Paul at some point cannot be ruled out.

[1:13]  ⁷ tn Or “lifestyle,” “behavior.”

[2:5]  ⁸ tn Grk “slaves, nor did we…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, οὐδέ (oude) was translated as “But…even” and a new sentence started in the translation at the beginning of v. 5.

[2:5]  ⁹ tn Or “we did not cave in to their demands.”

[2:5]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “even for an hour” (an idiom for a very short period of time).

[2:5]  ¹¹ sn In order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. Paul evidently viewed the demands of the so-called “false brothers” as a departure from the truth contained in the gospel he preached. This was a very serious charge (see Gal 1:8).

[2:6]  ¹² tn Or “influential leaders.” BDAG 255 s.v. δοκέω 2.a.β has “the influential men Gal 2:2, 6b. A fuller expr. w. the same mng., w. inf. added…vss. 6a, 9.” This refers to the leadership of the Jerusalem church.

[2:6]  ¹³ tn Grk “God does not receive the face of man,” an idiom for showing favoritism or partiality (BDAG 887-88 s.v. πρόσωπον 1.b.α; L&N 88.238).

[2:6]  ¹⁴ tn Or “influential people”; here “leaders” was used rather than “people” for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy with the word “people” in the previous parenthetical remark. See also the note on the word “influential” at the beginning of this verse.

[2:6]  ¹⁵ tn Or “contributed.” This is the same word translated “go to ask advice from” in 1:16, but it has a different meaning here; see L&N 59.72.

[2:6]  ¹⁶ tn Or “added nothing to my authority.” Grk “added nothing to me,” with what was added (“message,” etc.) implied.

[2:7]  ¹⁷ tn The participle ἰδόντες (idontes) has been taken temporally to retain the structure of the passage. Many modern translations, because of the length of the sentence here, translate this participle as a finite verb and break the Greek sentences into several English sentences (NIV, for example, begins new sentences at the beginning of both vv. 8 and 9).

[2:7]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “to the uncircumcision,” that is, to the Gentiles.

[2:7]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “to the circumcision,” a collective reference to the Jewish people.

[2:8]  ²⁰ tn Or “worked through”; the same word is also used in relation to Paul later in this verse.

[2:8]  ²¹ tn Or “his ministry as an apostle.”

[2:8]  ²² tn Grk “to the circumcision,” i.e., the Jewish people.

[2:8]  ²³ tn Grk “also empowered me to the Gentiles.”

[2:9]  ²⁴ sn Cephas. This individual is generally identified with the Apostle Peter (L&N 93.211).

[2:9]  ²⁵ tn Or “who were influential as,” or “who were reputed to be.” See also the note on the word “influential” in 2:6.

[2:9]  ²⁶ sn Pillars is figurative here for those like James, Peter, and John who were leaders in the Jerusalem church.

[2:9]  ²⁷ tn The participle γνόντες (gnontes) has been taken temporally. It is structurally parallel to the participle translated “when they saw” in v. 7.

[2:9]  ²⁸ tn Grk “me and Barnabas.”

[2:9]  ²⁹ tn Grk “so,” with the ἵνα (Jina) indicating the result of the “pillars” extending the “right hand of fellowship,” but the translation “they gave…the right hand of fellowship so that we would go” could be misunderstood as purpose here. The implication of the scene is that an agreement, outlined at the end of v. 10, was reached between Paul and Barnabas on the one hand and the “pillars” of the Jerusalem church on the other.

[2:9]  ³⁰ tn Grk “to the circumcision,” a collective reference to the Jewish people.