Galatians Chapter 1 verse 9 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 9. - As we said before, so say I now again (ὡς προειρήκαμεν καὶ ἄρτι πάλιν λέγω); as we have said before, now also (or, and as now) I am saying again. The complexion of the sentence, especially in the Greek, a good deal resembles that in 2 Corinthians 13:2," I have said beforehand, and I do say beforehand (προείρηκα καὶ προλέγω), as when I was present the second time, so now being absent." In this latter passage, the perfect, "I have said beforehand," points to the time indicated in the words," as when I was present the second time." The resemblance between the two passages, notwithstanding the somewhat different senses in which the verb (προλέγειν) is used in them, suggests the view that here likewise in the first clause the verb refers to some former occasion on which the apostle was personally present with those he is writing to. The Greek verb (προλέγειν), "say before," is sometimes equivalent to "forewarn," as 1 Thessalonians 4:6; Galatians 5:21; and 2 Corinthians 13:2 (twice). Sometimes it means "say on a former occasion," as 1 Corinthians 7:3, and most probably here. The first clause has by some been supposed to refer to the preceding verse. But recent critics generally agree in feeling that both the verb "we have said before" and the adverb "now" suggest the sense of a wider interval of time. The use of the verb in 2 Corinthians 7:3 has been cited on behalf of the other view. But even if the somewhat doubtful idea be admitted that 2 Corinthians 7:3 points back to the twelfth verso of the preceding chapter, it would still fail to furnish an adequate parallel. For not only is it parted from the earlier passage by the number of verses which intervene, but also by a succession of varying moods of feeling and diverse styles of address. Account has to be taken of the change of number between "we have said before" and "I am saying again." The only probable explanation is that the "we" recites the same persons as in the words "we preached" in ver. 8; whereas Paul, as now writing (probably) with his own hand, presents himself individually as reiterating that solemn affirmation. The words, "now also I am saying again," as marking a time contrasted with that earlier one referred to, contemplate the asseveration made in the eighth verso as well as in this. In the "now" the apostle indicates, not so much the moment of his writing, as the just then subsisting juncture of circumstances in Galatia, which called for the renewal of his commination. Its earlier utterance referred to may have occurred either in the second visit to Galatia, mentioned in Acts 18:23, or in the first, mentioned in Acts 16:6. When taking leave of his disciples on either occasion he may have been led to thus emphatically insist upon the sacred, inviolable character of the gospel, by his observation on the one hand of the fickleness and impressionableness which characterized this people, and on the other by the frequency with which perversions of Christian doctrine were already seen to be infesting the Churches. Compare also the apostle's warning to the Ephesians (Acts 20:28-31). If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (εἴ τις ὑμᾶς εὐαγγελίζεται παρ ο{ παρελάβετε, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω); if any man is preaching unto you a gospel other than that which ye received, let him be anathema. The verbal variations in these words, as compared with those in ver. 8, are slight. One, however, deserves attention: "If any one is preaching" compared with "If... an angel should... preach." By this change in the form of making the supposition, the denunciation seems to come down out of the region of bare hypothesis to that of, perhaps, present reality. If so, the thunder of the apostle's anathema would be felt by his readers approaching nearer and nearer to the head of seine particular individual among themselves, towards whom their eyes would at once be directed with the feeling that it was, perhaps, his doom that the apostle was now pronouncing. The construction in the Greek of the verb "preach the gospel" (εὐαγγελίζομαι), with the accusative of the person to whom the message is brought, is found also in Acts 13:32; Acts 14:21. In sense there seems to be no appreciable difference between this construction of the verb and that with the dative as found in the preceding verse and often.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(9) As we said before.--Probably, upon his last (i.e., his second) visit, at the beginning of this, his third, great missionary journey (Acts 18:23). The germs of the apostasy in the Galatian Church would be already visible.