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Gal_4:14. Still dependent on ὅτι , as is logically required by the contrast to οὐδέν με ἠδικ ., which is introduced by οἴδατε δὲ , ὅτι .
τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου κ . τ . λ .] As to the reading ὑμῶν , see the critical notes. The sense is: that ye were put to the proof as respected my bodily weakness (namely, as to your receiving and accepting my announcements, demands, etc., notwithstanding this my suffering and impotent appearance; see the antithesis, ἀλλʼ ὡς κ . τ . λ .); this proof ye have not rejected with disdain and aversion, but on the contrary have submitted yourselves to it so excellently, that ye received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. The καί is not and yet (Koppe, Winer, Matthies), but the simple and, continuing the address ( οἴδατε , ὅτι κ . τ . λ .).
ἑν τῇ σαρκί μου ] is the more precise definition of τὸν πειρασμ . ὑμῶν , specifying wherein the readers had to undergo a trial,—namely, in the fact of Paul’s having then preached to them in such bodily weakness. Comp. Plat. Phil. p. 21 A: ἐν σοὶ πειρώμεθα , upon thee we would make the trial. Hom. Il. xix. 384, πειρήθη … ἐν ἔντεσι . Comp. also βασανίζεσθαι ἐν , Plat. Pol. vi. p. 503 A. Hence ἐν τῇ σαρκί did not require the connecting article, as it is in reality blended with τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν so as to form one idea. See on Gal_3:26. And the definition of the sense of ἐν τῇ σαρκι μου is derived from διʼ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκός in Gal_4:13. Fritzsche, l.c. p. 245, objects to the sense which is given by the reading ὑμῶν : 1. sententiam ab h. l. abhorrere. But how aptly does the negative assertion, that the Galatians, when they were put to the trial by the apostle’s sickness, did not despise and reject this trial, correspond with the positive idea, that, on the contrary, they have received him as an angel of God! And how suitable are the two ideas together to the previous οὐδέν με ἠδικήσατε ! 2. Sententiam verbis parum aptis conceptam esse; expectaras καλῶς ὑπεμείνατε . But this καλῶς ὑπεμείνατε is in fact most exhaustively represented by the negative and positive testimony taken together; the negative testimony expresses the acceptance, and the positive the standing, of the πειρασμός . 3. The sense does not suit the following ἀλλʼ … ἐδέξασθέ με . But even with the adoption of the reading ὑμῶν the rejection of the apostle is in point of fact negatived; hence τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν … ἐξεπτύσατε cannot be inappropriate to the ἐδέξασθέ με which follows. Lachmann (comp. Buttmann in Stud. u. Krit. 1860, p. 379) makes καὶ τὸν πειρασμ . ὑμ . ἐν τ . σ . μ . dependent on οἴδατε (placing a colon after ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου ), whereby the flow of the discourse is quite unnecessarily broken.
ἐξεπτύσατε ] expresses the sense of ἐξουθ . figuratively and by way of climax, adding the idea of detestation. Comp. Rev_3:16, and the Latin despuere, respuere. So forcible an expression of the negative serves to give the greater prominence to the positive counterpart which follows. In the other Greek writers, besides the simple πτύειν (Soph. Ant. 649. 1217), there occur only καταπτύειν τινός , ἀποπτύειν τινά (4Ma_3:18; Eur. Troad. 668, Hec. 1265; Hes. ἔργ . 724), and διαπτύειν τινά (in Philo also παραπτύειν ) in this metaphorical sense (see Kypke, II. p. 280; Ruhnk. Ep. crit. p. 149; Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 17); but ἐκπτύειν is always used in the proper sense (Hom. Od. v. 322; Aristoph. Vesp. 792; Anthol. Theodorid. 2; Apoll. Rhod. 478), as also ἐμπτύειν τινί (Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 17). Even in the passage quoted by Kypke, Plut. de fort. vel virt. Alex. I. p. 328, it is used in the proper sense, because ὥσπερ χαλινόν stands beside it. We are bound to acknowledge this deviation from the Greek usage, and it must be considered as caused by ἐξουθ ., as in fact Paul is fond of repeating, not without emphasis, compounds presenting the same preposition (Gal_2:4; Gal_2:13; Rom_2:18; Rom_11:7, et al.).
ὡς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν ] a climax added asyndetically in the excitement of feeling, and presenting to a still greater extent than ὡς ἄγγελ . Θεοῦ (Heb_1:4; Php_2:10; Col_1:16) the high reverence and love with which he had been received by them, and that as a divine messenger. Comp. Mat_10:40; Joh_13:20. Observe also, that even among the Galatians Paul doubtless preached in the first instance to the Jews (whose loving behaviour towards the apostle was then shared in by the Gentiles also); hence the comparison with an angel and with Christ in our passage is in keeping with the apostle’s historical recollection, and does not render it at all necessary to assume an ὕστερον πρότερον in the representation, which would thus anticipate the already Christian view.
Note.
According to the Recepta τ . πειρ . μου τὸν ἐν τ . σ . μ ., or, as the first μου has special evidence against it, according to the reading τὸν πειρ . τὸν ἐν τ . σ . μ ., the explanation must be: “My bodily temptation ye have not despised or disdainfully rejected,” that is, “Ye have not on account of my sickness, by which I have been tried of God, rejected me, as the bodily impotence in which it exhibited me to you might have induced you to do.” Taken by itself, this sense, and the mode of expressing it, would be suitable enough (in opposition to Wieseler), even without the hypothesis, based on ἐξεπτ ., of some nauseous sickness (in opposition to Fritzsche).