Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Galatians 1:8 - 1:8
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Gal_1:8. Ἀλλά , not but, as an antithesis to οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο (Hofmann), which has already been fully disposed of by εἰ μὴ κ . τ . λ . It is rather the however confronting most emphatically the τινές εἰσιν οἱ ταράσσοντες κ . τ . λ . “There are some, etc.; whoso, however, it may be who so behaves, let him he accursed!” This curse pronounced by the apostle on his opponents is indirect, but, because it is brought about by a conclusion a majori ad minus, all the more emphatic.
καὶ ἐάν ] to be taken together, even in the case that. See Herm. ad Viger. p. 832; Hartung, Partikell. I. p. 140 f.
ἡμεῖς ] applies primarily and chiefly to the apostle himself, but the σὺν ἐμοὶ πάντες ἀδελφοί (Gal_1:2) are also included. To embrace in the reference the associates of the apostle in founding the Galatian churches (Hofmann) is premature, for these are only presented to the reader in the εὐηγγελισάμεθα which follows.
ἄγγελος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ] to be taken together: an angel οὐρανόθεν καταβάς (Hom. Il. xi. 184). Comp. ἄγγελοι ἐν οὐρανῷ , Mat_22:30. If Paul rejects both his own and angelic authority—consequently even the supposed superhuman intervention (comp. 1Co_13:1)—with reference to the case assumed, as accursed,[20]every one without exception (comp. ὅστις ἄν ᾖ , Gal_5:10) is in the same case subject to the same curse. The certainty, that no other gospel but that preached by the apostle to his readers was the true one, cannot be more decisively confirmed.
παρʼ ὅ εὐηγγελισ . ὑμῖν ] This ὅ , which is not to be explained by εὐαγγέλιον (Schott, Flatt, Hofmann), is simply that which, namely, as the context shows, as contents of the gospel; “beyond that which we,” etc. (Bernhardy, p. 259.) This may mean either praeterquam (Vulgate, Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Erasmus, Beza, Calovius, Rambach, and others) or contra (so Theodoret and the older Catholics, Grotius, and many others; also Winer, Rückert, Usteri, Matthies, Schott, Baumgarten-Crusius, de Wette, Wieseler, Hofmann). For the two meanings, see Matthiae, p. 1381; Winer, p. 377 [E. T. 503]. In earlier times a dogmatic interest was involved in this point: the Lutherans, in order to combat tradition, laying the stress on praeterquam; and the Catholics, to protect the same, on contra. See Calovius and Estius. The contra, or more exactly, the sense of specific difference, is most suitable to the context (see Gal_1:6, ἕτερον εὐαγγέλ .). Comp. Rom_16:17.
εὐηγγελισάμεθα ὑμῖν ] that is, “I and my companions at the time of your conversion” (comp. παρελάβετε , Gal_1:9). The emphasis, however, lies on παρʼ .
ἀνάθεμα ἔστω .] Let him be subject to the divine wrath and everlasting perdition ( çÅøÆí ), the same as κατάρα and ἐπικατάρατος , Gal_3:13; see on Rom_9:3. The opposite, Gal_6:16. To apply it (Rosenmüller, Baumgarten-Crusius, comp. also Grotius and Semler) to the idea of excommunication subsequently expressed in the church (Suicer, Thes. I. p. 270) by the word ἀνάθεμα , is contrary to the usage of the N.T. (Rom_9:3; 1Co_12:3; 1Co_16:22), and is besides in this passage erroneous, because even a false-teaching angel is supposed in the protasis. Comp., on the contrary, Gal_5:10, ΒΑΣΤΆΣΕΙ ΤῸ ΚΡῖΜΑ ; 2Th_1:9. See generally the thoroughly excellent discussion of Wieseler, p. 39 ff. Mark, moreover, in the use of the preceptive rather than the mere optative form, the expression of the apostolic ἘΞΟΥΣΊΑ , Let him be!
[20] Comp. Ignatius, ad Smyrn. 6, where it is said even of the angels, ἐὰν μὴ πιστεύσωσιν εἰς τὸ αἷμα Χριστοῦ , κἀκείνοις κρίσις ἐστίν .