Galatians 1:1

Syriac Peshitta (NT Only)

ܦ݁ܰܘܠܳܘܣ ܫܠܺܝܚܳܐ ܠܳܐ ܡܶܢ ܒ݁ܢܰܝܢܳܫܳܐ ܘܠܳܐ ܒ݁ܝܰܕ݂ ܒ݁ܰܪܢܳܫܳܐ ܐܶܠܳܐ ܒ݁ܝܰܕ݂ ܝܶܫܽܘܥ ܡܫܺܝܚܳܐ ܘܰܐܠܳܗܳܐ ܐܰܒ݂ܽܘܗ݈ܝ ܗܰܘ ܕ݁ܰܐܩܺܝܡܶܗ ܡܶܢ ܒ݁ܶܝܬ݂ ܡܺܝܬ݂ܶܐ ܀

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

an: Romans 1:1, 1 Corinthians 1:1

not: Galatians 1:11, Galatians 1:12, Galatians 1:17

neither: Acts 1:16-26, Acts 13:2-4

but: Acts 9:6, Acts 9:15, Acts 9:16, Acts 22:10, Acts 22:14-21, Acts 26:16-18, Romans 1:4, Romans 1:5, 2 Corinthians 3:1-3, Ephesians 3:8, 1 Timothy 1:11-14, 2 Timothy 1:1, Titus 1:3

and: Matthew 28:18-20, John 5:19, John 10:30, John 20:21

raised: Acts 2:24-32, Acts 3:15, Romans 4:24, Romans 4:25, Romans 10:9, Romans 14:9, Ephesians 1:19, Ephesians 1:20, Hebrews 13:20, 1 Peter 1:21, Revelation 1:5, Revelation 1:18, Revelation 2:8

Reciprocal: Joshua 22:15 - General Matthew 6:9 - Our Mark 3:14 - he ordained John 3:27 - A man Acts 1:2 - the apostles Acts 20:24 - and the 1 Corinthians 9:1 - I not an 1 Corinthians 11:23 - I have 2 Corinthians 10:8 - though

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Paul an apostle, not of men, neither by man,.... The writer of this epistle, Paul, puts his name to it, as to all his epistles, excepting that to the Hebrews, if that be his, being neither afraid nor ashamed to own what is herein contained. He asserts himself to be "an apostle", which was the highest office in the church, to which he was immediately called by Christ, and confirmed in it by signs and wonders. This he chose to mention, because of the false teachers, who had insinuated he was no apostle, and not to be regarded; whereas he had received grace and apostleship from Christ, and was an apostle, "not of men", as were the apostles or messengers of the sanhedrim a; :- and as were the false apostles, who were sent out by men, who had no authority to send them forth: the apostle, as he did not take this honour to himself, did not thrust himself into this office, or run before he was sent; so he was not sent by men; he did not act upon human authority, or by an human commission: this is said in opposition to the false apostles, and to an unlawful investiture with the office of apostleship, and an usurpation of it, as well as to distinguish himself from the messengers and ambassadors of princes, who are sent with credentials by them to negotiate civil affairs for them in foreign courts, he being an ambassador of Christ; and from the messengers of churches, who were sometimes sent with assistance or advice to other churches; and he moreover says, "nor by man"; by a mere man, but by one that was more than a man; nor by a mortal man, but by Christ, as raised from the dead, immortal and glorious at God's right hand: or rather the sense is, he was not chosen into the office of apostleship by the suffrages of men, as Matthias was; or he was not ordained an apostle in the manner the ordinary ministers of the Gospel and pastors are, by the churches of Christ; so that as the former clause is opposed to an unlawful call of men, this is opposed to a lawful one; and shows him to be not an ordinary minister, but an extraordinary one, who was called to this office, not mediately by men, by any of the churches as common ministers are:

but by Jesus Christ; immediately, without the intervention of men, as appears from Acts 26:16. For what Ananias did upon his conversion was only putting his hands on him to recover his sight, and baptizing him; it was Christ that appeared to him personally, and made him a minister; and his separation with Barnabas, by the church, under the direction of the Holy Ghost, Acts 13:2 was to some particular work and service to be done by them, and not to apostleship, and which was long after Paul was made an apostle by Christ. Jesus Christ being here opposed to man, does not suggest that he was not a man, really and truly, for he certainly was; he partook of the same flesh and blood with us, and was in all things made like unto us, sin excepted; but that he was not a mere man, he was truly God as well as man; for as the raising him from the dead, in the next clause, shows him to be a man, or he could not have died; so his being opposed to man, and set in equality with God the Father, in this verse, and grace and peace being prayed for from him, as from the Father, Galatians 1:4 and the same glory ascribed to him as to the Father, Galatians 1:5 prove him to be truly and properly God. The apostle adds,

and God the Father; Christ and his Father being of the same nature and essence, power and authority, as they are jointly concerned and work together in the affairs or nature and Providence, so in those of grace; and particularly in constituting and ordaining apostles, and setting them in the church. This serves the more to confirm the divine authority under which Paul acted as an apostle, being not only made so by Christ, but also by God the Father, who is described as he,

who raised him from the dead; which is observed, not so much to express the divine power of the Father, or the glory of Christ, as raised from the dead, but to strengthen the validity of the apostle's character and commission as such; to whom it might have been objected, that he had not seen Christ in the flesh, nor familiarly conversed with him, as the rest of the apostles did: to which he was able to reply, that he was not called to be an apostle by Christ in his low and mean estate of humiliation, but by him after he was raised from the dead, and was set down at the right hand of God; who personally appeared to him in his glory, and was seen by him, and who made and appointed him his apostle, to bear his name before Gentiles, and kings, and the people of Israel; so that his call to apostleship was rather more grand and illustrious than that of any of the other apostles.

a Misn. Menachot, c. 10. sect. 3. & Yoma, c. 1. sect. 5.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Paul an apostle - See the note at Romans 1:1. This is the usual form in which he commences his epistles; and it was of special importance to commence the Epistle in this manner, because it was one design to vindicate his apostleship, or to show that he had received his commission directly from the Lord Jesus.

Not of men - “Not from ἀπ ̓ ap' men.” That is, he was not “from” any body of people, or commissioned by people. The word apostle means “sent,” and Paul means to say, that he was not “sent” to execute any purpose of human beings, or commissioned by them. His was a higher calling; a calling of God, and he had been sent directly by him. Of course, he means to exclude here all classes of people as having had anything to do in sending him forth; and, especially, he means to affirm, that he had not been sent out by the body of apostles at Jerusalem. This, it will be remembered (see the introduction to Galatians) was one of the charges of those who had perverted the Galatians from the faith which Paul had preached to them.

Neither by man - “Neither by or through δι ̓ di' the instrumentality of any man.” Here he designs to exclude all people from having had any agency in his appointment to the apostolic office. He was neither sent out from any body of people to execute their purposes; nor did he receive his commission, authority, or ordination through the medium of any man. A minister of the gospel now receives his call from God, but he is ordained or set apart to his office by man. Matthias, the apostle chosen in the place of Judas Acts 1:26, received his call from God, but it was by the vote of the body of the apostles. Timothy was also called of God, but he was appointed to his office by the laying on the hands of the presbytery; 1 Timothy 4:14. But Paul here says, that he received no such commission as that from the apostles. They were not the means or the medium of ordaining him to his work. He had, indeed, together with Barnabas, been set apart at Antioch, by the brethren there Acts 13:1-3, for a “special mission” in Asia Minor; but this was not an appointment to the apostleship. He had been restored to sight after the miraculous blindness produced by seeing the Lord Jesus on the way to Damascus, by the laying on of the hands of Ananias, and had received important instruction from him Acts 9:17, but his commission as an apostle had been received directly from the Lord Jesus, without any intervening medium, or any form of human authority, Acts 9:15; Acts 22:17-21; 1 Corinthians 9:1.

But by Jesus Christ - That is, directly by Christ. He had been called by him, and commissioned by him, and sent by him, to engage in the work of the gospel.

And God the Father - These words were omitted by Marcion, because, says Jerome he held that Christ raised himself from the dead. But there is no authority for omitting them. The sense is, that he had the highest possible authority for the office of an apostle; he had been called to it by God himself, who had raised up the Redeemer. It is remarkable here, that Paul associates Jesus Christ and God the Father, as having called and commissioned him. We may ask here, of one who should deny the divinity of Christ, how Paul could mention him as being equal with God in the work of commissioning him? We may ask further, how could he say that he had not received his call to this office from a man, if Jesus Christ were a mere man? That he was called by Christ, he expressly says, and strenuously maintains as a point of great importance. And yet, the very point and drift of his argument is, to show that he was not called by man. How could this be if Christ were a mere man?

Who raised him from the dead - See the notes at Acts 2:24, Acts 2:32. It is not quite clear why Paul introduces this circumstance here. It may have been:

1. Because his mind was full of it. and he wished on all occasions to make that fact prominent;
2. Because this was the distinguishing feature of the Christian religion, that the Lord Jesus had been raised up from the dead, and he wished, in the outset, to present the superiority of that religion which had brought life and immortality to light; and,
3. Because he wished to show that he had received his commission from that same God who had raised up Jesus, and who was, therefore, the author of the true religion. His commission was from the Source of life and light, the God of the living and the dead; the God who was the Author of the glorious scheme which revealed life and immortality.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE GALATIANS.

Chronological Notes relative to this Epistle.

Usherian year of the world, 4056.

-Alexandrian era of the world, 5554.

-Antiochian era of the world, 5544.

-Constantinopolitan era of the world, 5560.

-Year of the Eusebian epocha of the Creation, 4280.

-Year of the Julian period, 4762.

-Year of the minor Jewish era of the world, 3812.

-Year of the greater Rabbinical era of the world, 4411.

-Year from the Flood, according to Archbishop Usher, and the English Bible, 2400.

-Year of the Cali yuga, or Indian era of the Deluge, 3154.

-Year of the era of Iphitus, or since the first commencement of the Olympic games, 992.

-Year of the Nabonassarean era, 799.

-Year of the era of the Seleucidae, 364.

-Year of the Spanish era, 90.

-Year of the Actiac or Actian era, 83.

-Year of the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 52.

-Year from the building of Rome, according to Varro, 805.

-Year of the CCVIIth Olympiad, 4.

-Year of Ananias, high priest of the Jews, 8.

-Common Golden Number, 15.

-Jewish Golden Number, 12.

-Year of the Solar Cycle, 5.

-Dominical Letters; it being Bissextile or Leap year, BA.

-Jewish Passover, April lst.

-Easter Sunday, April 2d.

-Epact, or the moon's age on the 22d of March, or the Xth of the Calends of April, 4.

-Year of the reign of Claudius Caesar, the fifth emperor of the Romans, 12.

-In the last year of Ventidius Cumanus, governor of the Jews.

-Year of Vologesus, king of the Parthians, 2.

-Year of Cains Numidius Quadratus, governor of Syria, 1.

-Roman Consuls; Publius Cornelius Sylla Faustus, and Lucius Salvius Otho Titianus; and for the following year, viz. A. D. 53, (which is supposed by some to be the date of the epistle,) Decimus Junius Silanus, and Quintus Haterius Antoninus.

CHAPTER I.

St. Paul shows that he was especially called of God to be an

apostle, 1.

Directs his epistle to the Churches through the regions of

Galatia, 2.

Commends them to the grace of Christ, who gave himself for their

sins, 3-5.

Marvels that they had so soon turned away from the grace of the

Gospel of Christ, to what falsely pretended to be another

gospel, 6, 7.

Pronounces him accursed who shall preach any other doctrine than

that which he had delivered to them, 8, 9.

Shows his own uprightness, and that he received his doctrine

from God, 10-12.

Gives an account of his conversion and call to the apostleship,

13-17.

How three years after his conversion he went up to Jerusalem,

and afterwards went through the regions of Syria and Cilicia,

preaching the faith of Christ to the great joy of the Christian

Churches in Judea, 18-24.

NOTES ON CHAP. I.

Verse Galatians 1:1. Paul, an apostle, not of men — Not commissioned by any assembly or council of the apostles.

Neither by man — Nor by any one of the apostles; neither by James, who seems to have been president of the apostolic council at Jerusalem; nor by Peter, to whom, in a particular manner, the keys of the kingdom were intrusted.

But by Jesus Christ — Having his mission immediately from Christ himself, and God the Father who raised him from the dead, see Acts 22:14; Acts 22:15, and commanded him to go both to the Jews and to the Gentiles, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might obtain remission of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified. See Acts 9:1, &c., and the notes there.