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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Galatians 1:12 - 1:12
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
12. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐγὼ κ.τ.λ. Expanding the thought of κατὰ ἄνθρωπον. My Gospel is not after the measure of man, for indeed it came to me not through man at all but through the personal revelation of Jesus Christ. οὐδὲ apparently does not emphasize the ἐγώ, as though he was claiming equality with the Twelve, but refers to the whole clause.
παρὰ ἀνθρώπου παρέλαβον, “at the hands of man.” “In all cases where the idea of transmission is prominent παρὰ will be used in preference to ἀπό, be the communication direct or indirect; so Php 4:18” (Lightfoot). For παραλαμβάνω παρά see 1Th 2:13; 1Th 4:1; 2Th 3:6.
οὔτε. The marginal οὐδὲ (אAD*) suggests reception from man in a minor degree.
ἐδιδάχθην. Though received from God it might have been explained by man. This was not the case.
ἀλλὰ δι ̓ ἀποκαλύψεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. “But it came to me through revelation from Jesus Christ”; as his apostleship (Gal 1:1) so his reception of the Gospel. He is doubtless thinking only of the time of his conversion, not of his later experiences recorded in 2Co 12:1-7. ἀποκάλυψις (Gal 2:2, cf. verb Gal 1:16, Gal 3:23) always of the unveiling of Divine things (which therefore are presumably not far off), never of one man revealing a secret to another. “Revelation is distinguished from ordinary moral and spiritual influences by its suddenness. It shows us in an instant, what under ordinary circumstances would grow up gradually and insensibly. In the individual it is accompanied by a sudden transition from darkness to light; in the world at large it is an anticipation of moral truth and of the course of human experience” (Jowett).
Ἰησοῦ Χρ. is doubtless subjective, as even in Rev 1:1. Observe that the words form a claim parallel to the affirmation by our Lord about St Peter (Mat 16:17). Perhaps not unintentionally, if, as is probable, St Paul knew of our Lord’s saying.