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Gal_2:7. Ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ] to be separated merely by a comma from the preceding, being still connected with γάρ . “To me they made no kind of communication; but, on the contrary, when they had seen etc., the three pillar-apostles concluded with me and Barnabas the apostolic alliance,” etc. (Gal_2:9). Hofmann, with a view to extort a regimen for ἀπὸ τῶν δοκούντων in Gal_2:6, very arbitrarily tears asunder the clear and simple connection which the words obviously present, taking ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον by itself and dissevered from what follows, and supplementing the sense by the insertion, “They have not proposed anything to me, but conversely, I to them.” Comp. on τοὐναντίον , 2Co_2:7, 1Pe_3:9; very frequently (also τἀναντία ) occurring in Greek authors (Schaefer, ad Bos. Ell. p. 297). But this strange ellipsis is a device utterly unprecedented.[77]
ἰδόντες ] after they had seen, namely, from the way in which I to them κατʼ ἰδίαν ἀνεθέμην τὸ εὐαγγ . ὃ κηρύσσω ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι (Gal_2:2). Usteri, “from the blessed result of my preaching.” So also Rosenmüller, Winer, Baur, Hilgenfeld, Holsten, Hofmann; Rückert, Schott, de Wette, Wieseler, mix the two views; and Fritzsche includes the previous labours of the apostle among the Gentiles, e.g. in Tarsus and Antioch, among the grounds of knowledge. But nothing beyond what we have just given can be gathered from the context. Erasmus appropriately paraphrases, “ubi communicato cum illis evangelio meo perspexissent.”
ὅτι πεπίστ . τ . εὐαγγ . τ . ἀκροβ . κ . τ . λ .] The emphasis is laid on καθὼς Πέτρος τῆς περιτ ., as Gal_2:8 shows. They saw that my having been divinely entrusted with the gospel for the Gentiles was just such (just as undoubted, true, direct, etc.), as was Peter’s divine trust with the gospel for the Jews; consequently there could be no question of any προσαναθεῖναι , and nothing could follow but complete recognition (Gal_2:9). The construction (comp. Rom_3:2; 1Co_9:17) in the sense of πεπίστευταί μοι τὸ εὐαγγ . (as F G, 19*, 46** actually read) is regular; as to the perfect, used of the enduring subsistence of the act, see Winer, p. 255 [E. T. 339].
τῆς ἀκροβυστίας ] that is, τῶν ἀκροβύστων (Rom_2:26; Rom_3:30; Eph_2:11), the gospel which belonged to the uncircumcised, and was to be preached to them.
καθὼς Πέτρος τῆς περιτομ .] Thus Peter appears as the representative of the Jewish apostles, in accordance with his superiority among them (Mat_16:18; Acts 2, 3, 4, 5 et al.). The destination of Peter as an apostle to the Gentiles also (Act_15:7; 1Pe_1:1) is not negatived, but a potiori fit denominatio.
That this passage relates not to two different gospels, but to the same gospel for two different circles of recipients, to whose peculiarities respectively the nature and mode of preaching required special adaptation, is obvious of itself, and is clear from Gal_2:8-9. But the passage cannot be worse misunderstood than it has been by Baur, according to whom there was a special gospel of the uncircumcision and a special gospel of the circumcision, differing in this respect, that the one maintained the necessity of circumcision, while the other allowed it to drop. Comp. Holsten, who discovers the distinctive feature of the Gentile gospel in the “gnosis of the death of the cross,” in spite of 1Co_1:23 f. In opposition to such a separation, see also Ritschl, altkath. K. p. 127 f.
[77] Certainly the ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον was, for Hofmann at least, the most refractory part of the sentence, which had in some sort of way to be forcibly torn from its natural connection with ἰδόντες ,—a connection justly unassailed by expositors. And he has managed it by the device of the above mentioned ellipsis!