Galatians 4:13

Personal Appeal of Paul

4:13 But you know it was because of a physical illness that I first proclaimed the gospel to you,

Galatians 4:12

4:12 I beg you, brothers and sisters, ¹  become like me, because I have become like you. You have done me no wrong!

Galatians 4:3

4:3 So also we, when we were minors, ²  were enslaved under the basic forces ³  of the world.

Galatians 4:24

4:24 These things may be treated as an allegory, ⁴  for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar.

Galatians 2:12

2:12 Until ⁵  certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this ⁶  and separated himself ⁷  because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision. ⁸ 

Galatians 4:9

4:9 But now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless ⁹  basic forces? ¹⁰  Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again? ¹¹ 

Galatians 2:2

2:2 I went there ¹²  because of ¹³  a revelation and presented ¹⁴  to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so ¹⁵  only in a private meeting with the influential people, ¹⁶  to make sure that I was not running – or had not run ¹⁷  – in vain.

¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

¹ tn See the note on the word “minor” in 4:1.

² tn Or “basic principles,” “elemental things,” or “elemental spirits.” Some interpreters take this as a reference to supernatural powers who controlled nature and/or human fate.

¹ tn Grk “which things are spoken about allegorically.” Paul is not saying the OT account is an allegory, but rather that he is constructing an allegory based on the OT account.

¹ tn The conjunction γάρ has not been translated here.

² tn Grk “he drew back.” If ἑαυτόν (Jeauton) goes with both ὑπέστελλεν (Jupestellen) and ἀφώριζεν (afwrizen) rather than only the latter, the meaning would be “he drew himself back” (see BDAG 1041 s.v. ὑποστέλλω 1.a).

³ tn Or “and held himself aloof.”

⁴ tn Grk “the [ones] of the circumcision,” that is, the group of Jewish Christians who insisted on circumcision of Gentiles before they could become Christians.

¹ tn Or “useless.” See L&N 65.16.

² tn See the note on the phrase “basic forces” in 4:3.

³ tn Grk “basic forces, to which you want to be enslaved…” Verse 9 is a single sentence in the Greek text, but has been divided into two in the translation because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence.

¹ tn Grk “I went up”; one always spoke idiomatically of going “up” to Jerusalem.

² tn Or “in accordance with.” According to BDAG 512 s.v. κατά B.5.a.δ, “Oft. the norm is at the same time the reason, so that in accordance with and because of are merged…Instead of ‘in accordance w.’ κ. can mean simply because of, as a result of, on the basis of…κ. ἀποκάλυψιν Gal 2:2.”

³ tn Or “set before them.”

⁴ tn Grk “Gentiles, but only privately…to make sure.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started with “But” and the words “I did so,” an implied repetition from the previous clause, were supplied to make a complete English sentence.

⁵ tn L&N 87.42 has “important persons, influential persons, prominent persons” for οἱ δοκοῦντες and translates this phrase in Gal 2:2 as “in a private meeting with the prominent persons.” The “prominent people” referred to here are the leaders of the Jerusalem church.

⁶ tn Here the first verb (τρέχω, trecw, “was not running”) is present subjunctive, while the second (ἔδραμον, edramon, “had not run”) is aorist indicative.