Galater 1:13

Schlachter Bibel

Denn ihr habt von meinem ehemaligen Wandel im Judentum gehört, daß ich die Gemeinde Gottes über die Maßen verfolgte und sie zerstörte

Parallel Translations

Lutherbible (1912)
Denn ihr habt ja wohl gehört meinen Wandel weiland im Judentum, wie ich über die Maßen die Gemeinde Gottes verfolgte und verstörte

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

ye: Acts 22:3-5, Acts 26:4, Acts 26:5

how: Acts 8:1, Acts 8:3, Acts 9:1, Acts 9:2, Acts 9:13, Acts 9:14, Acts 9:21, Acts 9:26, Acts 22:4, Acts 22:5, Acts 26:9-11, 1 Corinthians 15:9, Philippians 3:6, 1 Timothy 1:13

Reciprocal: John 16:2 - the time Acts 20:28 - the church Acts 26:10 - I also Ephesians 3:2 - ye Ephesians 4:22 - former

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For ye have heard of my conversation in time past,.... His manner and course of life, in his state of unregeneracy, how diametrically opposite his education and behaviour, his principles and practices, were to the Gospel; which show that he had not received it, nor was he taught it of men. This they might have heard of, either from himself, when he first preached among them, who was very free to acknowledge his former sins and errors; or from the Jews, who were scattered abroad in the several countries; and it may be, from them, who were forced to fly to strange cities, and perhaps to some in Galatia, on account of his persecution: now his life and conversation, before his conversion, were spent

in the Jews' religion; or "in Judaism". He was born of Jewish parents, had a Jewish education, was brought up under a Jewish doctor, in all the peculiarities of the Jewish religion, and so could have received no hints, not in a notional way, of the truths of the Gospel; which he might have done, had he been born of Christian parents, and had had a Christian education: besides, he was brought up in the religion of the Jews, not as it was founded and established by God, but as it was corrupted by them; who had lost the true sense of the oracles of God committed to them, the true use of sacrifices, and the end of the law; had added to it a load of human traditions; placed all religion in bare doing, and taught that justification and salvation lay in the observance of the law of Moses, and the traditions of the elders: add to this, that he was brought up in the sect of the Jewish religion, Pharisaism, which was the straitest sect of it, and the most averse to Christ and his Gospel; so that he could never receive it, or have any disposition to it from hence; so far from it, that he appeals to the Galatians, as what they must have heard,

how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God; which he now knew, and believed to be the church of God; though then he did not, but rather a synagogue of Satan; and this he mentions, as an aggravation of his sin, under a sense of which he was humbled all his days: when he is said to persecute it "beyond measure", the meaning is not, as if there were any lawful measure, or due bounds of persecution, but that he persecuted the saints in a most violent and outrageous manner, beyond all others that were concerned with him: the church of God at Jerusalem is particularly designed, and the members of it, the disciples of Christ; whom he hated, and committed to prison, and breathed out threatenings and slaughter against, and destroyed: wherefore it follows, and wasted it; or destroyed it; as much as in him lay, he sought to do it, though he was not able to effect it entirely; he made havoc of it, dispersed its members, caused them to flee to strange cities, persecuted them to death, gave his voice against them to have them punished and put to death: such an aversion had he to the followers of Christ, and the Christian doctrine.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For ye have heard of my conversation - My conduct, my mode of life, my deportment; see the note at 2 Corinthians 1:12. Probably Paul had himself made them acquainted with the events of his early years. The reason why he refers to this is, to show them that he had not derived his knowledge of the Christian religion from any instruction which he had received in his early years, or any acquaintance which he had formed with the apostles. At first, Paul had been decidedly opposed to the Lord Jesus, and had been converted only by God’s wonderful grace.

In the Jews’ religion - In the belief and practice of Judaism; that is, as it was understood in the time when he was educated. It was not merely in the religion of Moses, but it was in that religion as understood and practiced by the Jews in his time, when opposition to Christianity constituted a very material part of it. In that religion Paul proceeds to show that he had been more distinguished than most persons of his time.

How that beyond measure - In the highest possible degree; beyond all limits or bounds; exceedingly. The phrase which Paul uses here (καθ ̓ ὑπερβολὴν kath' huperbolēn), by hyperbole, is one which he frequently employs to denote anything that is excessive, or that cannot be expressed by ordinary language; see the Greek text in Romans 7:13; 1Co 12:31; 2 Corinthians 1:8; 2Co 4:7, 2 Corinthians 4:17.

I persecuted the church - See Acts 8:3; Acts 9:1 ff.

And wasted it - Destroyed it. The word which is used here, means properly to waste or destroy, as when a city or country is ravaged by an army or by wild beasts. His purpose was utterly to root out and destroy the Christian religion.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 13. Ye have heard of my conversation — τηνεμην αναστροφην. My manner of life; the mode in which I conducted myself.

Beyond measure I persecuted the Church — For proofs of this the reader is referred to Acts 9:1-2 (note); Acts 22:4 (note), and the notes there. The apostle tells them that they had heard this, because, being Jews, they were acquainted with what had taken place in Judea, relative to these important transactions.