Galatians 1:23

Gal_1:23

But they had heard.

True fame

True glory takes root and spreads! All false pretences, like perishing flowers, fall to the ground: nor can any counterfeit last long. (Cicero.)

The widening success of missionary toil

The immediate influence of the labours of a missionary will, in all probability, be less than he anticipates: he will perhaps go down to the grave as one disappointed of his hope. But, like Abraham, he must against hope believe in hope. He has planted a seed, which will push itself forth on all sides. He has excited a spark, which will raise a flame through a kingdom. The flame once excited shall spread from breast to breast, from family to family, from village to village; in time from kingdoms to empires, and at length from empires to continents. But the flame must first be lighted from the fire that burns on the altar of God. How will the faithful missionary rejoice when by and by he shall meet not a straggling individual or two whom he has turned to God, but perhaps a nation of converts to whom he had been the original means of bringing salvation. (Professor Farish.)

Persecutor and preacher

Paul had the spirit of his ancestor, who sought to slay the Gibeonites in his zeal for the children of Israel; and when he was converted, he retained not only the recollection of Stephens death, but of the multiplied murders which he had ordered or encouraged, when, during the wild anarchy of Caligulas reign, he obtained authority from the chief priests to bind and slay. His resolution and strength of purpose were the traits of his youth, his manhood, and his age. Thus when the real work of Paul was understood the old fear of him vanished, and those who knew of him only by that work glorified God in him. Thus early in his career was the blessing of Jacob fulfilled in the greatest of the descendents of his youngest son--Benjamin shall devour in the morning as a ravenous wolf, and in the evening give nurture. (Paul of Tarsus.)

Conversion reverses mens lives

There was a man, while Messrs. Moody and Sankey were in London, who got out a little paper called The Moody and Sankey Humbug. He used to have it to sell to the people coming into the meeting. After he had sold a great many thousand copies of that number, he wanted to get out another number; so he went into the meeting to get something to put into the paper; but the power of the Lord was present, and the arrow of conviction went down deep into his heart. He went out, not to write a paper, but to destroy his paper that he had written, and to tell what the Holy Ghost had done for him. (Nye.)

The scoffer turned preacher

One evening a young man who had been educated for a barrister was seated with some gay companions in a London tavern, when his companions, knowing he was a clever mimic, requested him to go and hear Mr. Wesley preach, and then come and mimic the whole affair for their amusement. He went. The text, Prepare to meet thy God, frightened him like a bursting shell, and conviction deepened during the sermon. On his return to his friends they inquired, Well, have you taken him off? He replied, No, gentlemen; but he has taken me off. He left his companions, gave his heart to God, and became one of Mr. Wesleys most useful preachers.

Hard to forgive self

There are some sins which, even if forgiven by others, cannot easily be pardoned by the penitent mind. Dr. Bates tells us that the excellent Richard Baxter cherished such self-condemnation on account of his own sinfulness, that he was in the habit of saying, I can more easily believe that God will forgive me, than that I can forgive myself. Sin promises much in the outset, but dreadfully disappoints in the issue. What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? On the other hand, it becomes an irrefragable argument in favour of an early devotedness to the religious life, that whilst it bestows infinite blessings hereafter, it saves from incalculable misery here; and is at once favourable to a grateful retrospect of the past, and a happy anticipation of the future. (The Evangelist.)

Observe--

I. A mans character goes before him.

II. Greatly influences the reception he meets with.

III. Should be diligently taken care of. (J. Lyth.)

Paul--

I. The persecutor--full of pride--false zeal--bitterness--destroying the faith.

II. The preacher--full of humility--devotedness--love--glorying in the crucified Jesus. (J. Lyth.)

The conversion of St. Paul

As Gentiles by birth, we have peculiar interest in all that relates to St. Paul, not only in his conversion, as on this day commemorated by the Church, but generally, as sinners, we may often recur to this conversion, and derive from it instruction and encouragement. If there were such longsuffering on the part of the Redeemer, that He bore with a man who thirsted for the blood of the saints, and in place of visiting him with vengeance, constrained him by His grace to accept salvation through His death; who can ever have right to think his own case hopeless, and suppose himself beyond the reach of forgiveness? Now, we know of St. Paul that he sinned in ignorance, and that whilst persecuting the Church of God, and endeavouring to exterminate Christianity, he evidently thought that he was doing God service. He had been educated in the strictest forms of the Jewish religion; and felt a zeal for the law of Moses, whose authority he thought attacked by the followers of Jesus; and he regarded it as a most solemn duty to strive by every means to eradicate the rising superstition. Hence, it becomes a grave question how far this ignorance was an excuse for his crime--how far, that is, it can be taken as a palliation of doing wrong that a man suppose himself doing right. We certainly cannot admit that St. Paul was not to blame, because he all along obeyed the dictates of his conscience. It is clear that the apostle did not regard himself as, on this account, innocent, for he speaks of himself in the days of his unbelief, in terms which strongly mark a sense of the guiltiness of his conduct. St. Paul was answerable for cherishing such a blind and bigoted attachment to the law as prevented his admitting the pretensions of the gospel. He was answerable for that misguided and uncalculating zeal which allowed him not to see that the law was but fulfilled, in place of being destroyed, by the gospel. He was answerable for the rejection of all the evidence from miracle and prophecy, which we know to have been sufficient, and by which, therefore, he ought to have been convinced. We think it of great importance that men should rightly understand that they are to the full as answerable for their principles as for their practices--for the rule of conduct adopted as well as for their adherence to it when once it has been adopted. For we often hear of men acting up to their belief, and the assertion is made as conveying the opinion that a man is responsible for his conduct, but not for his creed. And what is done in ignorance is represented as necessarily done excusably; and thus the simple principle is overlooked, that there may be a sin of the understanding as well as a sin of the flesh, and that it may be just as easy to offend by closing the mind against truth, as by putting forth the hand to do wrong. All that can be said is just this--If a man sin in ignorance, obeying the dictates of a misinformed conscience, and if he die in his ignorance, and therefore without repentance, we have no right to think he will be pardoned at the judgment, unless his ignorance were unavoidable, so that it could not have been removed by any carefulness of his own. St. Paul indeed obtained mercy, but the form which mercy took was not immediately that of full forgiveness, but that of greater instruction, so that the persecutor might retract his error and turn his zeal to the right channel. Let us now consider the conversion of St. Paul as furnishing evidence to the truth of Christianity. You will all admit that the change which had been made in Saul was of the most extraordinary kind, and not to be accounted for by any of those sudden transitions which one sometimes sees in unstable and vacillating characters. He was a man whose whole prejudices, feelings, and interests were enlisted against Christianity. He could become a Christian only by the sacrifice of position, of property, and perhaps even of life. He must have thought Christianity attested by supernatural evidence, whether that evidence were real, or whether it was the product of his own excited feelings. And, accordingly, the scriptural account assigns a miraculous manifestation as the cause of Sauls conversion. The only man who would be likely to imagine a miracle on the side of Christianity would be a man pre-disposed to that side--anxious to embrace the religion if he can but prove it true. Such a man might possibly take that for miraculous which was only natural, and he persuaded by certain sounds that he was holding a dialogue, though he himself were the only speaker. But that a man in Sauls circumstances should have done this--indeed, it seems to us that it would have been a greater miracle than that which is said to have overcome the apostle. Besides, how could St. Paul have been altogether deceived? Perhaps he only fancied the great light; perhaps he only fancied the voice; but could he fancy his own blindness? He must have been sure that he could not see. This was not a point upon which he could deceive himself. And whence came the blindness? If you say from the great light, then it is almost saying that the light was supernatural; and, therefore, there was miracle. Or, if you think the apostle might have been struck blind by a common flash of lightning, what shall be said of the recovery of sight? Is this, also, natural? You may think it was. Observe what pains are taken to prove the recovery miraculous. St. Paul sees, in a vision, a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hands on him that he might receive his sight. A corresponding vision is granted to this Ananias. He is sent to visit Paul, and lay his hands on him that his blindness may be removed. And how came the two visions to tally with such precision? Ananias, left to himself, would never have thought of visiting Paul. The disciple would not have put himself in the hands of the persecutor; and so indisposed was he to go, that, even when directed by God, he remonstrated on the danger. We are sure, therefore, that Ananias really thought he saw a vision; and we may be equally sure that St. Paul really thought he saw a vision. But then men may easily fancy visions, and little dependence is to be placed on dreams. Admitted. But how will you account for the precise coincidence between the visions? for the thorough accuracy with which they fitted into each other? Will you call this accident? You may account for anything by such reasoning; but candid men will not go along with you in such theories as these. Pauls vision by itself might have proved nothing. Ananias vision by itself might have proved nothing. But when the two are precisely coincident, the correspondence demands authority for each. It is too surprising to be referred to accident, and if not to accident, it must be referred to Divine ordering; so that we unhesitatingly maintain the circumstances of the whole transaction to have been such, that Saul, who certainly could have had no interest in deceiving himself, could not himself have been deceived. And, this being established, we can point to the conversion of this apostle as irrefragable evidence of the truth of Christianity. The brightness which struck down Saul of Tarsus lights up the moral firmament of every after generation. The voice by which he was arrested sends its echoes to the remotest lands and the remotest times. Yea, even those unto whom the ends of the world are come, have derived their religion through the preaching of Paul, and may prove its divinity by his conversion. These, my brethren, are the chief points of view under which it is most interesting and instructive, to survey that great event which the Church this day commemorates. It may indeed moreover be, that the whole history we have been reviewing is typical, for it has been assumed by many learned men that St. Paul was throughout a type of the Jewish nation--a type in his opposition--a type in his conversion--a type in his preaching Christianity. You may easily trace the types if you remember that the Jews, after centuries of fierce and unrelenting hostility to Christianity, had been banished from the land of their fathers, and that after their conversion to the faith of Jesus, they became preachers to the heathen, and carried Christianity to the earths remotest families. We rather wish to guard you against an opinion, which has been often entertained and supported by such instances as that of St. Paul. The opinion is that if conversion be genuine, its period must be strongly marked, so that a man shall be able to fix the precise time of its occurrence, and the exact process by which it was wrought. Now we are sure that a rule such as this would decide against the genuineness of the religion of a great body of professing Christians. The operations of Gods Spirit are various. To profess to reduce them under a single description were to betray ignorance of their nature and effect. If the renovating process be in some eases rapid and vehement, in others it is gradual and silent, and is not to be discovered except by its results. One man may be converted by a sudden flash from heaven, and another through successive applications of the common means of grace. We know of no proof of conversion except the fruits by which it will be followed. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

How to welcome new converts

How often, too, when some one who has been prominently connected with a denomination that is not generally considered evangelical comes out and declares himself for that which is counted orthodox, he is met with freezing suspicion, and kept at a distance by the picket-guard that is always peering out for spies; or if some, like Barnabas, should put themselves beside him, they will be suspected along with him, and draw down upon themselves abundant expostulation. Wait, say these cautious ones, until he has been duly quarantined; let him prove his steadfastness, and then we will receive him; not seeing that their cold reserve is just the thing most calculated to send him back. So, again, in dealing with young converts, how slow some are to believe in the thoroughness and genuineness of Gods own work. It was not so with Barnabas, and it ought not to be so with us. We knew a good Christian lady who went to her pastor for the addresses of those who were received from time to time into the Church, that she might personally call upon them, and congratulate them on the stand which they had made. There was a deaconess without the name!--a true daughter of consolation! and after her visits the friends to whom she had spoken began to discover that there was more in Church fellowship than the mere sitting down together at the communion-table. If there were more like her in all our Churches, these spiritual societies would become more like households of the faith, and the coming in of each new member would create a joy like that which hails the advent of a new-born babe into every rightly-constituted home. Where are ye, oh ye Barnabases? Look around, and see if there be not field enough to-night for beginning operations. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:23-24 Paul’s conversion was a source of rejoicing in the Jerusalem church. This change (cp. 1:13-14) and his message were both the work of God (cp. Acts 9:31). Paul was not out of sync with the church in Jerusalem.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Gal 1:23. Ὁ διώκων, he who persecuted) He had been very well known by this name, nor was the name Saul itself so celebrated, as that of the persecutor.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gal_1:23-24. Δέ] places μόνον ἀκούοντες ἦσαν in correlation to ἤμην ἀγνοούμενος τῷ προσώπῳ; it is not, however, to be understood as a mere repetition of the former δέ (Hofmann), for it introduces another[39] subject (Baeumlein, Partik. p. 97). The masculine refers to the persons of whom those ἐκκλησίαι consisted. See Pflugk, ad Eur. Hec. 39; Winer, p. 586 [E. T. 787]. The participle with ἦσαν, however, does not stand for the simple imperfect (Luther renders quite incorrectly, they had heard), but prominence is given to the predicate as the main point. See Pflugk, ad Eur. Hec. 1179. The clause expresses the sole relation in which they were to Paul; they were simply in a position to hear. Rumor apud illos erat, Erasmus. Comp. Vulgate: tantum autem auditum habebant.

ὅτι ὁ διώκων ἡμᾶς ποτε κ.τ.λ.] ὅτι is explained most simply, not by a supposed transition from the indirect to the direct form (so most expositors, including Rückert and Wieseler), but as the recitativum (Matthies, Schott, Hilgenfeld, Ewald, Hofmann), the use of which by Paul is certain not merely in quotations of Scripture, but also in other cases (Rom_3:8; 2Th_3:10). Moreover, the statement thus gains in vividness. In ὁ διώκων ἡμᾶς, ἡμᾶς applies to the Christians generally; the joyful information came to them from Christian lips (partly from inhabitants of Jerusalem, partly perhaps directly from Syrians and Cilicians). The present participle does not stand for the aorist (Grotius), but quite substantivally: our (former) persecutor. See Winer, p. 331 [E. T. 444]; Bremi, ad Dem. adv. Aphob. 17.

τὴν πίστιν] never means Christian doctrine (Beza, Grotius, Morus, Koppe, Rückert, and others), not even in Act_6:7, where faith in Christ is conceived as the authority commanding submission (comp. on Rom_1:5); it denotes the faithregarded, however, objectively. Comp. on Gal_3:2; Gal_3:23. He preaches the faith (in the Son of God, Gal_1:16), which formerly he destroyed. On the latter point Estius justly remarks, quia Christi fidelibus fidem extorquere persequendo nitebatur. Comp. Gal_1:13.

ἐν ἐμοί] does not mean propter me (as was generally assumed before Winer), in support of which an appeal was erroneously made to Eph_4:1 et al.: for ἐν, used with persons, is never on account of (Winer, p. 363 [E. T. 484]); but it means, they praised God on me, so that their praise of God was based on me as the vehicle and instrument of the divine grace and efficacy (1Co_15:10). God made Himself known to them by my case, and so they praised Him; ὅλον γὰρ τὸ κατʼ ἐμέ, φησί, τῆς χάριτος ἦν τοῦ Θεοῦ, Oecumenius. Comp. Joh_17:10; Sir_47:6. See generally Bernhardy, p. 210; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. I. p. 598. It was not, however, without a purpose, but with a just feeling of satisfaction, that Paul added καὶ ἐδόξαζον ἐν ἐμοὶ τὸν Θεόν; for this impression, which Paul then made on the churches in Judaea, stood in startling contrast to the hateful proceedings against him of the Judaizers in Galatia.

Mark further (in opposition to Holstein and others), how Gal_1:23 rests on the legitimate assumption that Paul preached in substance no other gospel than that which those churches had received from Jerusalem, although they were not yet instructed in the special peculiarities of his preaching; as, in fact, the antagonism between the Pauline teaching and Judaism did not become a matter of public interest until later (Act_15:1).

[39] Hofmann appeals to Eur. Iph. T. 1367. But in this, as in the other passages quoted by Hartung, I. p. 169, the well-known repetition of the same word with δέ occurs.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gal 1:23 . The faith seems to be here identified with the living body of believers, for this verse describes Saul as making havoc of the faith , while Gal 1:13 applies that term to the Church .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Translate as Greek, "They were hearing": tidings were brought them from time to time [CONYBEARE and HOWSON].

he which persecuted us in times past--"our former persecutor" [ALFORD]. The designation by which he was known among Christians still better than by his name "Saul."

destroyed--Greek, "was destroying."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 23. They had heard only] As a persecutor of the Church of Christ, I was well known; and as a convert to Christ I was not less so. The fame of both was great, even where I was personally unknown.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

23. Which once he destroyed. This does not mean that faith may actually be destroyed, but that he lessened its influence on the minds of weak men. Besides, it is the will, rather than the deed, that is here expressed.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(23) Had heard.—Rather, were hearing.

The faith.—Not quite, as yet, “the body of Christian doctrine,” which was in process of forming rather than already formed, but the one cardinal doctrine of faith in Christ. (Comp. Rom_1:5, and Note there.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. the faith] Three principal senses attach to this word in the N. T.:

(1) Truth, or truthfulness, trustworthiness; e.g. Rom_3:3, “the faith of God.”

(2) Belief of, or confidence in a Person or thing. This is its most common meaning.

(3) The revelation of the character, will and purpose of God ‘who cannot lie’—the only thing certain and permanent in a mutable and transitory world, and therefore worthy of hearty belief and implicit confidence. So here, the Gospel of Christ as taught and accepted by believers.

23, 24. They only heard reports to the effect that, Our former persecutor is now preaching the faith which he once was seeking to destroy.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But they had heard only,.... What they knew of the apostle was only by hearsay; they had never seen him, nor heard him preach, nor conversed with him, only had it reported to them;

that he which persecuted us in times past; some few years ago, and not them personally, but such as were of the same faith with them, the church at Jerusalem and the members of it; which he made havoc of, committing men and women to prison, and causing others to flee to strange cities;

now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed; all as in him lay he endeavoured to destroy it, though he could not entirely root it up; he destroyed many of the disciples that held it, and did all he could to discourage others from embracing and professing it; he made use of the strongest arguments he was master of to confute it, and of the secular arm to crush and extirpate it, but now was become a preacher of it: by "faith" is meant not so much the grace of faith, though to show the nature, necessity, and usefulness of faith in Christ, and to direct and encourage sensible sinners, as he did the jailer, to believe in him, was a principal part of his ministry; but rather the doctrine of faith, which is always designed, when it is said, as here, to be preached or to be obeyed, stood fast in and contended for, or to be departed and erred from, to be made shipwreck of and denied. The Gospel is called the word of faith, the mystery of faith, the faith of the Gospel, common faith, most holy faith, the faith once delivered to the saints; it contains things to be believed; it proposes and directs to the great object of faith; and is the means of implanting and increasing that grace, and without which the ministry of it is of no use: it takes in all articles of faith, respecting the divine Being, the unity of God, the trinity of persons in the Godhead, the equal and proper deity of each person, their personal distinctions from each other, the attribution of all divine works, worship and honour to them; it relates to everything concerning man, in his original creation, in his state of innocence and integrity; concerning the fall of Adam, the imputation of his sin to all his posterity, the corruption of human nature, and the impotence of man to all that is spiritually good: it regards all the acts of grace of the Father, Son, and Spirit, in and towards any of the sons of men: it includes all the doctrines of it, as of the free, sovereign, everlasting, and unchangeable love of God; of eternal, personal, and irrespective election of some to grace and glory, by which both are secured; of the everlasting, absolute, unconditional, and sure covenant of grace; of particular redemption by Christ, proceeding on a full satisfaction to divine justice; of justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ; of reconciliation and pardon by his blood; of regeneration and sanctification by the Spirit; of the perseverance of the saints in faith and holiness, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal glory: now this faith, in the several momentous branches of it, the apostle preached, published, declared, spoke out openly and publicly; fully and completely, without dropping, concealing, or keeping back anything; clearly and plainly, without using ambiguous phrases, or words of double meaning, with all faithfulness and integrity, boldness and constancy.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

23 But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.

Ver. 23. Now preacheth the faith] A marvellous conversion. I was an obstinate Papist (saith Latimer of himself) as any was in England. Insomuch that when I should be made bachelor of divinity, my whole oration went against Philip Melancthon and his opinions.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But they had heard only ... - They had not seen me; but the remarkable fact of my conversion had been reported to them. It was a fact that could hardly be concealed; see the note at Act 26:26.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Though those churches in the country of Judea had never seen Paul’s person, yet they had heard of him:

1. That he had been a persecutor of those which professed the doctrine of the gospel, which he here calleth the faith, it being the object and the means of faith.

2. That there was such a change wrought in him, as that he was now become a preacher of that doctrine, for the profession of which he had formerly wasted and destroyed, the churches of Christ.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

23. They—The Judean Christians.

Had heard—Rather, were hearing; that is, while he was in Syria and Cilicia. Us—The sentence glides into the words of the Christians themselves.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But they had heard only (monon deontev h+san); and they only from time to time heard say. They did not see him in person, but only heard about him. The dilated imperfect, ajkouontev hsan, applying to the whole space of time here referred to, suggests the insertion in the translation of the words, "from time to time." The oti is inserted after the Greek idiom in introducing the very words spoken in oratio directa, as in Mat_7:23; Mar_2:1; kwn Joh_1:40 Joh_4:1, etc. That he which persecuted us in times past (oti o diw hJmav pote); he that once was persecuting us. The diwkwn is in the procter-imperfect participle, of which we have examples in Tuflopw, Joh_9:25; Oi pote ontev Eph_2:13; Toteron onta blasfhmon, 1Ti_1:13. Now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed (nun eujaggelizetai thstin hn pote ejporqei); now preacheth the faith which once he was making havoc of. The use of the term "faith" is the same as in Act_6:7, "Were obedient to the faith," which is equivalent to the "obeying the gospel" mentionedzomai Rom_10:16. The object to the verb eujaggeli is always something which is announced, never a thing which is required (cf. e.g. Luk_2:10; Act_5:42 Act_10:36; Eph_2:17 Eph_3:8) so that "faith" here cannot mean the faith which men are to render to Jesus, but the doctrine which they are to believe, to wit, that Jesus is Christ the Saviour. We have here the early beginnings of that objective sense in which afterwards the word got to be so commonly used in the Church to denote the Christian doctrine (see Bishop Lightfoot"s essay "Galatians," pp. 154-158). In the second clause, "which he was sometime making havoc of," the "faith" is identified with the Church which held it (comp. ver. 13). We may heartily accept Estius"s comment, cited by Meyer, "Quia Christi fidelibus fidem extorquere nitebatur," while we still think it intolerably harsh to understand "faith," as Meyer does, in a subjective sense.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

see note on vs 22

Martin Luther — Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (1535), English translation by Theodore Graebner (Zondervan, 1939) — public domain (U.S. copyright not renewed). Text from a community e-Sword module.

but they only heard say, He that once persecuted us now preacheth the faith of which he once made havoc

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

23. They had heard. Rather, they kept hearing. That he was busy planting churches in Syria and Cilicia at this time we know from the fact that we find them in existence soon after (Acts 15:41).

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

23. ἀκούοντες. Presumably from members of the Church at Jerusalem in particular (thus suggesting that his preaching was not contradictory to that of the elder Apostles), as well as from other Christian travellers.

ὅτι. Recitative, Rom 3:8.

ὁ διώκων. Timeless, 1Th 2:12 (where, however, see Milligan), Gal 5:24.

εὐαγγελίζεται τήν πίστιν. Cf. Gal 1:8; Gal 1:16. It is difficult to decide what exactly was in the mind of the speakers. (1) Did they use it in an objective sense, as a synonym of “the Gospel,” the good news brought, which could be received only by faith? This is the usage, apparently, in Act 6:7; Act 13:8, Jud 1:3; Jud 1:20 and sometimes in the Pastoral Epp., e.g. 1Ti 4:1. In this case the ἥν following regards this, so to say, external and objective possession, as laid waste together with those who accept it. Similarly, we say that the Christian faith was stamped out in the greater part of Japan for three hundred years, when the Christians there were, as it was supposed, all extirpated. (2) Or were they thinking of the characteristic of believers, faith subjective in contrast to works? Compare Eph 3:17, and 1Th 3:6, the personal faith of the Thessalonians, the good news of which Timothy carried to St Paul. In favour of this is the fact that πίστις is usually subjective in St Paul’s Epp., but seeing that he argues so much in favour of faith, as contrasted with works, we cannot lay stress on any merely numerical comparison of the senses in which it is used. In this case the ἥν regards the subjective faith of believers as injured together with its possessors.

On the whole the former seems to be the more probable.

ἥν ποτε ἐπόρθει, Gal 1:13. Cf. ταύτην τὴν ὁδὸν ἐδίωξα (Act 22:4).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23.] ‘So far was I from being a disciple of the Apostles, or tarrying in their company, that the churches of Judæa, where they principally laboured, did not even know me by sight.’

τῷ προσώπῳ, the referential, or adverbial dative: Donalds., Gramm. § 457.

τῆς Ἰουδαίας excludes Jerusalem, where he was known. Jowett doubts this: but it seems to be required by Act 9:26-29. Chrys. seems to mistake the Apostle’s purpose, when he says, ἵνα μάθη̣ς, ὅτι τοσοῦτον ἀπεῖχε τοῦ κηρύξαι αὐτοῖς περιτομήν, ὅτι οὐδὲ ἀπὸ ὄψεως γνώριμος ἦν αὐτοῖς: and Olshausen, in supposing him to be refuting the idea that he had learned the Gospel from other Christians in Palestine.

23. ἀκ. ἦσαν] They (the members of the churches: cf. Eurip. Hec. 39, πᾶν στράτενμʼ Ἑλληνικόν, πρὸς οἶκον εὐθύνοντας ἐναλίαν πλάτην) heard reports (not ‘had heard,’ as Luth.: the resolved imperfect gives the sense of duration: see reff. and passim) that (not the recitative ὅτι, but the explicative, following ἀκ. ἦσαν. Mey. remarks that no example is found of the former use of ὅτι by St. Paul, except in O. T. citations, as ch. 3:8) our (better taken as a change of person into the oratio directa, than with Mey. to understand ἡμᾶς as ‘us Christians,’ the Apostle including himself as he writes) former persecutor (not, as Grot., for διώξας, but as ὁ πειράζων, taken as a substantive: see reff.) is preaching the faith (objective, as in reff., and 1Ti 1:19 b; 1Ti 3:9; 1Ti 4:1, &c.; but not = the doctrine of the Gospel) which he once was destroying (see on ver. 13). And they glorified God in me (‘in my case:’ i.e. my example was the cause of their glorifying God:—not, ‘on account of me,’see reff., and cf. ἐν ἀρεταῖς γέγαθε, Pind. Nem. iii. 56,—ἐν σοὶ πᾶσʼ ἔγωγε σώζομαι, Soph. Aj. 519. Bernhardy, Syntax, p. 210). By thus shewing the spirit with which the churches of Judæa were actuated towards him, he marks more strongly the contrast between them and the Galatian Judaizers. Thdrt. says strikingly: μανθάνοντες γὰρ τὴν ἀθρόαν μεταβολήν, κ. ὅτι ὁ λύκος τὰ ποιμένων ἐργάζεται, τῆς εἰς τὸν θεὸν ὑμνῳδίας τὰ κατʼ ἐμὲ πρόφασιν ἐλάμβανον.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. μόνον δὲ ἀκούοντες ἦσαν ὅτι Ὁ διώκων ἡμᾶς ποτὲ νῦν εὐαγγελίζεται τὴν πίστιν ἥν ποτε ἐπόρθει, “only they heard (kept hearing), Our former persecutor is now preaching the faith which formerly he ravaged.” μόνον doubtless limits the whole statement, indicating that it constitutes the only exception to the ignorance of him referred to in the preceding clause. The logical subject of the sentence is the members of the churches mentioned in v. 22; note the gender of the participle ἀκούοντες. ὅτι is recitative, the following words being shown by the pronoun ἡμᾶς to be a direct quotation. The present participle διώκων describes the persecution as a thing in progress, assigning it to the past, in contrast with the present νῦν. The aorist would have presented it simply as a (past) fact. Cf. GMT 140, BMT 127. ἡμᾶς refers, of course, not directly to those to whom he was unknown by face, but to Christians in general. On εὐαγγελίζεται see v. 8. πίστιν is not the body of Christian doctrine, in which sense the word is never used by Paul, but the faith in Christ which the preachers of the gospel bade men exercise. Concerning its nature see more fully under 2:20. On ἥν ποτε ἐπόρθει cf. v. 13. What is there described as a ravaging of the church is here called a ravaging of the faith, which is the principle of the church’s life; the aim of Paul’s persecution was the extermination of the church and its faith in Jesus as the Christ. The tense is here, as there, conative.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They had heard [ακουοντες ησαν] . Correlative with I was unknown, verse 22. Note the periphrasis of the participle with the substantive verb, expressing duration. They were hearing all the time that I was thus unknown to them in person.

The faith. See on Act 6:7, and comp. 2Th 3:2. The subjective conception of faith as trustful and assured acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior, tends to become objective, so that the subjective principle is sometimes regarded objectively. This is very striking in the Pastoral Epistles.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.