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Gal_2:5. Connection:—“On account of the false brethren, however, Titus was not compelled to be circumcised; to these we did not yield even for an hour. Had we consented to the suggestion, which was made to us by Christians at Jerusalem (see on Gal_2:3), at least to circumcise Titus, we should have thereby yielded to the false brethren standing in the background, who declared the circumcision of Gentile Christians to be necessary; but this did not at all take place.”[70]
οἷς ] in the sense of τούτοις γάρ . See Stallbaum, ad Phil. p. 195 f.; Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 1. 64; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 371.
πρὸς ὥραν ] not even for an hour, indicating a very short duration of time. Comp. 2Co_7:8; Phm_1:15; Joh_5:35; 1Th_2:17; also πρὸς μίαν ῥοπήν , Wis_18:12; πρὸς ὀλίγον , πρὸς βραχύ , and the like.
εἴξαμεν ] namely, I and Barnabas and Titus.
τῇ ὑποταγῇ ] belongs not to διαμείνῃ (Matthias), an inverted arrangement which would be without motive, but to εἴξαμεν , beside which it stands: “through the obedience claimed by the false brethren,” that is, by rendering to them the obedience which they desired. On the matter itself, see Act_15:1; Act_15:5. Matthies regards τῇ ὑποταγῇ as an appositional explanation of οἷς (as to this usage, see Fritzsche, Diss. in 2 Cor. II. p. 135 f.). But the yielding takes place not to the obedience, but to the demand ( τῇ ἐντολῇ ). Fritzsche correctly takes it in an ablative sense, but explains, “eo obsequio praestito, quod apostoli postularent.” But in combination with οἷς … εἴξαμεν , and with ἵνα ἡμᾶς καταδουλ . preceding, it would not occur to the reader to think of anything else than the obedience claimed by the ψευδάδελφοι . Besides, it was not the apostles at all who demanded the circumcision of Titus, but (see on Gal_2:3) Christians at Jerusalem, acting on the instigation of the ψευδάδελφοι , so that these latter would have been obeyed by the circumcision in question. Comp. the state of matters at Act_21:21. Holsten, without any indication of support in the context, interprets: “by the subordination to the δοκοῦντες , which had been demanded by the false brethren.” Lastly, Hermann (who is followed by Bretschneider), entirely in opposition to the context, explains it, “quibus ne horae quidem spatium Jesu obsequio segnior fui.”
ἵνα ἡ ἀλήθεια κ . τ . λ .] Object of this non-compliance at that time, which, although in the nature of the case it concerned Pauline Christians generally, is represented concretely as referring to the Galatians: “in order that the truth of the gospel may abide with you; in order that by our conduct the principle of Christian freedom should not be shaken, and ye should not be induced to deviate from the truth, which forms the subject-matter of the gospel (Gal_2:14; Col_1:5), by mixing it up with Mosaism” (comp. ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον , Gal_1:6). A purpose, therefore—and this the readers were intended to feel—to which their present apostasy entirely ran counter!
πρὸς ὑμᾶς ] as πρὸς αὐτόν , Gal_1:18, comp. 1Co_16:7; here also it is not the with of simple rest, but expresses the relation of an active bearing on life; Bernhardy, p. 265. Besides, Paul might justly say πρὸς ὑμᾶς , as the Galatians were for the most part Gentile Christians, and in that opposition to the false brethren it was the freedom of the Gentile Christians which he sought to maintain. The ὑμᾶς individualizes the readers of the letter (Gal_3:26, Gal_4:6; Col_1:25; Eph_3:2, and frequently). The reference to the yet unconverted Gentiles, whom the truth of the gospel had still to reach ( πρὸς ὑμᾶς ), as suggested by Hofmann,[71] is in complete opposition to the text.
διαμείνη ] permaneret; denoting the abiding continuance. The truth which they have received was not again to be lost. Heb_1:11; 2Pe_3:4; Luk_22:8; and frequently in Greek authors.
[70] Paul was therefore by no means “nearly compelled to have Titus circumcised” (Hilgenfeld in his Zeitschr. 1860, p. 121).
[71] Comp. Windischmann.
Note.
As by the ψευδάδελφοι (Gal_2:4-5) cannot be meant the Judaizers at work among the Galatians (which is assumed by Fritzsche entirely in opposition to the connection), but only the same persons mentioned in Act_15:1; Act_15:5; they cannot be described as false brethren in relation to any one particular church (e.g. to the church of Antioch, into which they had crept from Jerusalem, as Baur and Reiche think). On the contrary, the general form of their antagonism, Gal_2:4-5, as well as the further account in Gal_2:7-10, and the whole argument of the epistle, admit only of one point of view,—that the apostle, out of the certainty of the ἀλήθεια τοῦ εὐαγγελίου , styles them false brethren in relation to Christianity generally, of which they had, as regards their Judaizing character and action looked at from a Pauline standpoint, falsely pretended to be professors. This does not in itself exclude the fact that they had come from Jerusalem to Antioch (Act_15:1). The inflexible opposition offered to them by the apostle in Jerusalem doubtless contributed much to the bringing about of the apostolic decree. Comp. Märcker, l.c. p. 539.