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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Galatians 3:1 - 3:1
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Foolish (ἀνόητοι)
See on Luk 24:25. In N.T. and lxx always in an active sense. See Luk 24:25; Rom 1:14; 1Ti 6:9; Tit 3:3. Νοῦς is used by Paul mainly with an ethical reference, as the faculty of moral judgment. See on Rom 7:23. Ἀνόητος therefore indicates a folly which is the outgrowth of a moral defect. Paul is not alluding to a national characteristic of the Galatians.
Hath bewitched (ἐβάσκανεν)
N.T.o. In Class. with accusative, to slander, malign; with dative, to envy, grudge, use ill words to another, bewitch by spells. For the verb in lxx, see Deu 28:54, Deu 28:56; Sir. 14:6, 8. The noun βασκανία (not in N.T.) in lxx, Wisd. 4:12 (the bewitching); 4 Macc. 1:26 (the evil eye); 4 Macc. 2:15 (slander). See also Plato, Phaedo, 95 B (evil eye). The adjective βάσκανος (not in N.T.) appears in lxx, Pro 23:6; Pro 28:22 (having an evil eye); Sir. 14:3; 18:18; 37:11 (envious). See also Aristoph. Knights, 103; Plut. 571 (slanderous, a calumniator). Ignatius (Rom. iii.) uses it of grudging the triumph of martyrdom. The two ideas of envy or malice and the evil eye combine in the Lat. invidere, to look maliciously. The ὀφθαλμὸς evil eye is found Mar 7:22. Paul's metaphor here is: who hath cast an evil spell upon you? Chrysostom, followed by Lightfoot, thinks that the passage indicates, not only the baleful influence on the Galatians, but also the envious spirit of the false teachers who envy them their liberty in Christ. This is doubtful.
Before whose eyes (οἷς κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς)
The Greek is stronger: unto whom, over against your very eyes. The phrase κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς N.T.o , but quite frequent in lxx. Comp. κατὰ πρόσωπον to the face, Gal 2:11.
Hath been evidently set forth (προεγράφη)
The different explanations turn on the meaning assigned to προ: either formerly, or openly, publicly. Thus openly portrayed. The use of προγράφειν in this sense is more than doubtful. Previously written. In favor of this is the plain meaning in two of the three other N.T. passages where it occurs: Rom 15:4; Eph 3:3. Was posted up, placarded. It is the usual word to describe public notices or proclamations. The more probable sense combines the first and third interpretations. Rend. openly set forth. This suits before whose eyes, and illustrates the suggestion of the evil eye in bewitched. Who could have succeeded in bringing you under the spell of an evil eye, when directly before your own eyes stood revealed the crucified Christ?
Crucified among you (ἐν ὑμῖν ἐσταυρωμένος)
Ἑν ὑμῖν among you is omitted in the best texts. Crucified emphatically closes the sentence. Christ was openly set forth as crucified.