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Gal_1:14. Still dependent on ὅτι .
καί ] the προκόπτειν ἐν τῷ Ἰουδαϊσμῷ had then been combined in Paul with his hostile action against Christianity, had kept pace with it.
Ἰουδαϊσμός , not Jewish theology (Grotius, Rückert), but just as in Gal_1:13. Judaism was the sphere in which he advanced further and improved more than those of his age by growth in Jewish culture, in Jewish zeal for the law, in Jewish energy of works, etc. On προκόπτειν as intransitive (Luk_2:52; 2Ti_2:16; 2Ti_3:9; 2Ti_3:13), very frequent in Polyb., Lucian, etc., comp. Jacobs, ad Anthol. X. p. 35; on ἐν τ . Ἰουδ ., comp. Lucian, Herm. 63, ἐν τοῖς μαθήμασι , Paras. 13, ἐν ταῖς τέχναις .
συνηλικιώτης ] one of the same age, occurring only here in the N.T., a word belonging to the later Greek (Diod. Sic. i. 53? Alciphr. i. 12). See Wetstein. The ancient authors use ἡλικιώτης (Plat. Apol. p. 33 C, and frequently).
ἐν τῷ γένει μου ] a more precise definition of συνηλικ .; γένει is therefore, in conformity with the context (comp. ἐν τῷ Ἰουδ .), to be understood in a national sense,[27] and not of the sect of the Pharisees (Paulus). Comp. Php_3:5; 2Co_11:26; Rom_9:3; Act_7:19.
περισσοτέρως ζηλωτὴς ὑπάρχων κ . τ . λ .] a more detailed statement, specifying in what way the προέκοπτον … γένει μου found active expression; “so that I” etc.
περισσοτέρως ] than those ΠΟΛΛΟΊ . They, too, were zealous for the traditions of their fathers (whether like Paul they were Pharisees, or not); but Paul was so in a more superabundant measure for his.
τῶν πατρικῶν μου παραδόσεων ] endeavouring with zealous interest to obey, uphold, and assert them. On the genitive of the object, comp. 2Ma_4:2; Act_21:20; Act_22:3; 1Co_14:12; Tit_2:14; Plat. Prot. p. 343 A. The πατρικαί μου παραδόσεις , that is, the religious definitions handed down to me from my fathers (in respect to doctrine, ritual, asceticism, interpretation of Scripture, conduct of life, and the like), are the Pharisaic traditions (comp. Mat_5:21; Mat_15:2; Mar_7:3); for Paul was Φαρισαῖος (Php_3:5; Act_26:5), ΥἹῸς ΦΑΡΙΣΑΊΩΝ (Act_23:6). So also Erasmus (Annot.), Beza, Calovius, de Wette, Hofmann, and others. If Paul had intended to refer to the Mosaic law, either alone (Erasmus, Paraphr., Luther, Calvin, and others) or together with the Pharisaic traditions (Estius, Grotius, Calixtus, Morus, Koppe, Flatt, Winer, Usteri, Rückert, Schott, Olshausen, Hilgenfeld, Wieseler, “the law according to the strict rule of Pharisaism,” comp. Möller), he would have named the law either by itself or along with the traditions (Act_21:20; Act_22:3; 2Ma_4:2); but by μου he limits the ΠΑΤΡΙΚᾺς ΠΑΡΑΔΌΣΕΙς to the special elements resulting from his descent, which did not apply to those who were in different circumstances as to descent; whereas the law applied to all Jews. Comp., as parallel, Act_26:5. That Paul had been zealous for the law in general, followed as a matter of course from προέκοπτ . ἐν τ . Ἰουδαϊσμῷ ; but here he is stating the specific way in which his own peculiar προκόπτειν ἐν Ἰουδαϊσμῷ had displayed itself—his Pharisaic zealotry. It would have been surprising if in this connection he had omitted to mention the latter.
πατρικός , not found elsewhere in the N.T., means paternal. Comp. LXX. Gen_50:8; Lev_22:13; Sir_42:10; 3 Esd. 1:5, 29; 4Ma_18:7; Plat. Lach. p. 180 E, Soph. p. 242 A; Isocr. Evag. p. 218, 35; Diod. Sic. i. 88; Polyb. i. 78. 1; Athen. xv. p. 667 F. In this case the context alone decides whether the idea a patribus acceptus ( πατροπαράδοτος , 1Pe_1:18) is conveyed by it, as in this passage by ΜΟΥ , or not (as, for instance, Polyb. xxi. 5, 7). The former is very frequently the case. As to the much discussed varying distinction between ΠΆΤΡΙΟς , ΠΑΤΡΙΚΌς , and ΠΑΤΡῷΟς , comp. on Act_22:3.
[27] For with Hellenist associates, of whom likewise in Jerusalem there could be no lack, he does not desire to compare himself.