Galatians 1:6

Occasion of the Letter

1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one ¹  who called you by the grace of Christ ²  and are following ³  a different ⁴  gospel –

Galatians 1:17

1:17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem ⁵  to see those who were apostles before me, but right away I departed to Arabia, ⁶  and then returned to Damascus.

Galatians 3:2

3:2 The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law ⁷  or by believing what you heard? ⁸ 

Galatians 4:1

4:1 Now I mean that the heir, as long as he is a minor, ⁹  is no different from a slave, though he is the owner ¹⁰  of everything.

Galatians 4:20

4:20 I wish I could be with you now and change my tone of voice, ¹¹  because I am perplexed about you.

Galatians 5:1

Freedom of the Believer

5:1 For freedom ¹²  Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke ¹³  of slavery.

Galatians 5:3

5:3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey ¹⁴  the whole law.

Galatians 6:9

6:9 So we must not grow weary ¹⁵  in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up. ¹⁶ 

¹ sn The one who called you is a reference to God the Father (note the mention of Christ in the following prepositional phrase and the mention of God the Father in 1:1).

² tc Although the majority of witnesses, including some of the most important ones (Ì⁵¹ א A B F^c Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï f vg sy^p bo), read “by the grace of Christ” (χάριτι Χριστοῦ, cariti Cristou) here, this reading is not without variables. Besides alternate readings such as χάριτι ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (cariti Ihsou Cristou, “by the grace of Jesus Christ”; D 326 1241^s pc sy^h**) and χάριτι θεοῦ (cariti qeou, “by the grace of God”; 327 pc Thret^lem), a few mss (Ì^46vid F* G H^vid ar b Tert Cyp Ambst Pel) have simply χάριτι with no modifier. Internally, the reading that seems best to explain the rise of the others is the shortest reading, χάριτι. Indeed, the fact that three different adjuncts are found in the mss seems to be a natural expansion on the simple “grace.” At the same time, the witnesses for the shortest reading are not particularly impressive, being that they largely represent one textual strand (Western), and a less-than-reliable one at that. Further, nowhere else in the corpus Paulinum do we see the construction χάρις (cari", “grace”) followed by Χριστοῦ without some other name (such as κυρίου [kuriou, “Lord”] or ᾿Ιησοῦ). The construction χάρις θεοῦ is likewise frequent in Paul. Thus, upon closer inspection it seems that the original wording here was χάριτι Χριστοῦ (for it is difficult to explain how this particular reading could have arisen from the simple χάριτι, in light of Paul’s normal idioms), with the other readings intentionally or accidentally arising from it.

³ tn Grk “deserting [turning away] to” a different gospel, implying the idea of “following.”

⁴ tn Grk “another.”

⁵ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁶ sn As a geographical region Arabia included the territory west of Mesopotamia, east and south of Syria and Palestine, extending to the isthmus of Suez. During the Roman occupation, some independent kingdoms arose like that of the Nabateans south of Damascus, and these could be called simply Arabia. In light of the proximity to Damascus, this may well be the territory Paul says he visited here. See also C. W. Briggs, “The Apostle Paul in Arabia,” Biblical World 41 (1913): 255-59.

⁹ tn Grk “by [the] works of [the] law,” a reference to observing the Mosaic law.

¹⁰ tn Grk “by [the] hearing of faith.”

¹³ tn Grk “a small child.” The Greek term νήπιος (nhpios) refers to a young child, no longer a helpless infant but probably not more than three or four years old (L&N 9.43). The point in context, though, is that this child is too young to take any responsibility for the management of his assets.

¹⁴ tn Grk “master” or “lord” (κύριος, kurios).

¹⁷ tn Grk “voice” or “tone.” The contemporary English expression “tone of voice” is a good approximation to the meaning here.

²¹ tn Translating the dative as “For freedom” shows the purpose for Christ setting us free; however, it is also possible to take the phrase in the sense of means or instrument (“with [or by] freedom”), referring to the freedom mentioned in 4:31 and implied throughout the letter.

²² sn Here the yoke figuratively represents the burdensome nature of slavery.

²⁵ tn Or “keep”; or “carry out”; Grk “do.”

²⁹ tn Or “not become discouraged,” “not lose heart” (L&N 25.288).

³⁰ tn Or “if we do not become extremely weary,” “if we do not give out,” “if we do not faint from exhaustion” (L&N 23.79).