Galatia 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 –

Galatia 2:21

2:21 I do not set aside ⁵  God’s grace, because if righteousness ⁶  could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing! ⁷ 

Galatia 3:3

3:3 Are you so foolish? Although you began ⁸  with ⁹  the Spirit, are you now trying to finish ¹⁰  by human effort? ¹¹ 

Galatia 3:17

3:17 What I am saying is this: The law that came four hundred thirty years later does not cancel a covenant previously ratified by God, ¹²  so as to invalidate the promise.

Galatia 4:22

4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the ¹³  slave woman and the other by the free woman.

Galatia 4:30

4:30 But what does the scripture say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the son” ¹⁴  of the free woman.

Galatia 6:4

6:4 Let each one examine ¹⁵  his own work. Then he can take pride ¹⁶  in himself and not compare himself with ¹⁷  someone else.

Galatia 6:10

6:10 So then, ¹⁸  whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith. ¹⁹ 

Galatia 6:13

6:13 For those who are circumcised do not obey the law themselves, but they want you to be circumcised so that they can boast about your flesh. ²⁰ 

[1:6]  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).

[1:6]  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.

[1:6]  ³ tn Grk “deserting [turning away] to” a different gospel, implying the idea of “following.”

[1:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “another.”

[2:21]  ⁵ tn Or “I do not declare invalid,” “I do not nullify.”

[2:21]  ⁶ tn Or “justification.”

[2:21]  ⁷ tn Or “without cause,” “for no purpose.”

[3:3]  ⁸ tn Grk “Having begun”; the participle ἐναρξάμενοι (enarxamenoi) has been translated concessively.

[3:3]  ⁹ tn Or “by the Spirit.”

[3:3]  ¹⁰ tn The verb ἐπιτελεῖσθε (epiteleisqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534). This is something the Galatians were attempting to do, but could not accomplish successfully.

[3:3]  ¹¹ tn Grk “in/by [the] flesh.”

[3:17]  ¹² tc Most mss (D F G I 0176 0278 Ï it sy) read “ratified by God in Christ” whereas the omission of “in Christ” is the reading in Ì⁴⁶ א A B C P Ψ 6 33 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 pc co. The shorter reading is strongly supported by the ms evidence, and it is probable that a copyist inserted the words as an interpretive gloss. However, this form of the “in Christ” expression is somewhat atypical in the corpus Paulinum (εἰς Χριστόν [ei" Criston] rather than ἐν Χριστῷ [en Cristw]), a fact which tempers one’s certainty about the shorter reading. Nevertheless, the expression is used more in Galatians than in any other of Paul’s letters (Gal 2:16; 3:24, 27), and may have been suggested by such texts to early copyists.

[4:22]  ¹³ tn Paul’s use of the Greek article here and before the phrase “free woman” presumes that both these characters are well known to the recipients of his letter. This verse is given as an example of the category called “well-known (‘celebrity’ or ‘familiar’) article” by ExSyn 225.

[4:30]  ¹⁴ sn A quotation from Gen 21:10. The phrase of the free woman does not occur in Gen 21:10.

[6:4]  ¹⁵ tn Or “determine the genuineness of.”

[6:4]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “he will have a reason for boasting.”

[6:4]  ¹⁷ tn Or “and not in regard to.” The idea of comparison is implied in the context.

[6:10]  ¹⁸ tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what Paul has been arguing.

[6:10]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “to those who are members of the family of [the] faith.”

[6:13]  ²⁰ tn Or “boast about you in external matters,” “in the outward rite” (cf. v. 12).