A Historical Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians

By W. M. Ramsay

Part 2

Historical Commentary

Chapter 5

“I Marvel” (Gal 1:6)

After the introductory address — the heading of the letter, Song of Solomon 1 to say — Paul usually begins the body of the letter with an expression of thanks (so Rom., 1 Cor., Phil., Colossians , 1 and 2 Thess., 2 Tim., Philem.), or of blessing (so 2 Cor., Eph.) — some acknowledgment of the Divine care and kindness in respect of his correspondents and himself.

In so doing he was following the customary polite form in ordinary Greek letters. In those letters, after the superscription giving the names and titles of the writer and of the person or persons addressed, there was usually added some acknowledgment of the Divine power, such as: “if you are well and successful, it would be in accordance with my constant prayer to the Gods:” or “before all things I pray that you may be in health;” but in case of haste, eagerness, excitement or anger, this conventional part of the letter was often omitted. Now “courtesy of address to all was valued by Paul as an element in the religious life; and he advised his pupils to learn from the surrounding world everything that was worthy in it, . . . ‘whatsoever is courteous, whatsoever is of fine expression, all excellence, all merit, take account of these,’ wherever you find these qualities, notice them, imitate them”.1 So here, “it is Paul’s Greek environment and his Greek education that are responsible for the expressions which he uses”.2 In all his own life and words, and in all his teaching to others, he takes up “the most gracious and polished tone of educated society”; but as all the forms of politeness and courtesy in ordinary life had a religious tone and acknowledged the gods, he changed them so far as to give them a Christian turn (though sometimes the change might almost have been adopted by an enlightened pagan), acknowledging God in place of the gods.

The exceptions are 1 Timothy and Titus (in which he plunges at once into the important business of Church order and teaching, the cause of the letters), and the Galatian letter, which differs from all others. Not merely is there no expression of thankfulness; Paul goes at once to the business in hand, “I marvel that ye are so quickly removing,” and then he pronounces a curse on any one, man or angel from heaven, who preaches to the Galatians “any gospel other than that which we preached unto you” — “any gospel other than that which ye received”. The reference, of course, is to the message which converted the Galatians, the Gospel which originally called them from darkness to light.

The intense feeling under which Paul was labouring is shown by the unique character of the opening, and by the strength — one might say, the violence — of the language. Anything that is said in this first paragraph must be understood as being of overwhelming importance. Paul here touches the crucial point of the Galatian difficulty.

 

[1] Deissmann, Bibelstudien, p. 207 ff; Rendel Harris, Expositor, Sept., 1898, p. 163 ff; St. Paul the Trav., p. 149.

[2] Harris, loc. cit., p. 165. So in St. Paul the Trav., p. 149, “it is the educated citizen of the Roman world who speaks in these and many other sentences”.

Book Navigation Title Page Preface Table of Contents Religion in Asia Minor      ► Chapter 1      ► Chapter 2      ► Chapter 3      ► Chapter 4      ► Chapter 5      ► Chapter 6      ► Chapter 7      ► Chapter 8      ► Chapter 9      ► Chapter 10      ► Chapter 11      ► Chapter 12      ► Chapter 13      ► Chapter 14      ► Chapter 15      ► Chapter 16      ► Chapter 17      ► Chapter 18      ► Chapter 19      ► Chapter 20      ► Chapter 21      ► Chapter 22      ► Chapter 23 Historical Commentary      ► Section 1      ► Section 2      ► Section 3      ► Section 4      ► Section 5      ► Section 6      ► Section 7      ► Section 8      ► Section 9      ► Section 10      ► Section 11      ► Section 12      ► Section 13      ► Section 14      ► Section 15      ► Section 16      ► Section 17      ► Section 18      ► Section 19      ► Section 20      ► Section 21      ► Section 22      ► Section 23      ► Section 24      ► Section 25      ► Section 26      ► Section 27      ► Section 28      ► Section 29      ► Section 30      ► Section 31      ► Section 32      ► Section 33      ► Section 34      ► Section 35      ► Section 36      ► Section 37      ► Section 38      ► Section 39      ► Section 40      ► Section 41      ► Section 42      ► Section 43      ► Section 44      ► Section 45      ► Section 46      ► Section 47      ► Section 48      ► Section 49      ► Section 50      ► Section 51      ► Section 52      ► Section 53      ► Section 54      ► Section 55      ► Section 56      ► Section 57      ► Section 58      ► Section 59      ► Section 60      ► Section 61      ► Section 62      ► Section 63      ► Section 64