Levend Water
The Apostle of the Reconciliation - Charles H. Welch
Index - Page 62 of 159
THE APOSTLE OF THE RECONCILIATION
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2:2-14), and the one, or ones, who were responsible for the trouble at Galatia, should bear their own judgment. If
the anathema could descend upon an angel from heaven should such preach any other gospel, then the expression, `I
would they were even cut off which trouble you' (Gal. 5:12), is not too severe.
`THAN THAT WHICH WE HAVE PREACHED UNTO YOU'.- Much difference of opinion has been expressed as to the
precise meaning of the words par ho, `than that'; some take it to mean `things contrary to'; others, `things in addition
to'. Strictly speaking, the words include either or both as the case may be, for the meaning, beside the one, indicates
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something not absolutely identical, and this lack of identity may arise from addition, subtraction, or controversion.
Paul himself draws attention to the consistency of his utterances since the day he received the truth by revelation.
However much he may have expanded or expounded it, he never added to nor subtracted from its fulness or its
simplicity, as he says later, `lest I should be now running, or had been running, in vain'. This consistency he
impresses on Peter in chapter 2: `For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor': so
in this statement before us, the apostle links the present with the past:
` ... should preach ... unto you other than we preached unto you ... if anyone preaches ... unto you other than ye
received ... '
What `we preached' and what `ye received' was to be the criterion. The apostle first uses a hypothetical case; `we, or
an angel from heaven': he now comes nearer and is more personal; `if any man is preaching'. The woes of Christ,
like the curse of the apostle, are directed not to the sinner in his need, but to the false teacher in his hypocrisy and
evil work. The fact that the apostle could assert that `what we preached' is identical with `what ye received' would
dispose of any plausible pretension on the part of the Judaizers to the effect that the Galatians had not understood the
apostle aright, and that his words needed `interpreting'.
`FOR DO I NOW PERSUADE MEN, OR GOD?'.- Arti properly denotes a moment of time; if gar be understood, not
argumentatively, but interrogatively, as pos gar, `how then?'; ti gar, `what then?'- the meaning of the apostle is
plain, and much to the point. `Now then', these things being so, can there be any foundation for the gross libel that I
am a man-pleaser and a time server?
`PERSUADE'.- Sometimes this word peitho carries with it the thought of conciliating, as in Matthew 28:14, and
Acts 12:20. The word usually suggests subordination, as peitho is rendered in some places, `obey'. Chapter 2 tells
us that the apostle yielded subjection `no, not for an hour', when the truth was at stake. He was the bond-servant of
Jesus Christ, and the answer to his question is clear. No, he did not seek to ingratiate himself with men, however
high they stood in the church: God was the One from Whom he sought commendation. Paul follows this up by a
similar question:
`OR AM I SEEKING TO PLEASE MEN?'- He disposes of the idea that he framed his gospel to please his hearers as he
had disposed of the other imputations. This passage brings us to the completion of the first section of the chapter,
and gives substantial proof that the apostle Paul was an apostle not from men, neither through man. Just as he opens
with the statement that his apostleship was from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, so he closes it with the
assertion that, far from being a pleaser of men, he was a servant of Christ.
The limitations of space will not allow us to go through the epistle in this manner, much as we would delight in
the task. We only trust that the reader will be sufficiently stimulated to continue the investigations for himself,
while for the remainder of this chapter we shall have to be content with broader outlines.
How are we to reckon the various intervals of time indicated in this opening chapter? Some add the fourteen
years to the three, making seventeen in all. Professor Ramsay draws attention to the fact that to the apostle the great
outstanding period of his life was the day of his conversion. The following facts are recorded:
1. This is the starting point, and is therefore introduced by hote (1:15).
2. Eutheos, the retiring into Arabia; kai palin, the return to Damascus (1:16,17).
3. Epeita meta tria ete (`then after three years'), the first visit to Jerusalem, and the stay of fifteen days there
(1:18,19).
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A matter in dispute, a controversy.