Galatians 1
Paul, an apostle — not from men nor through a man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father — to the assemblies of Galatia. He gave himself to rescue us out of the present evil age. No thanksgiving: I marvel that you are so quickly being carried over to a different gospel. If we or an angel from heaven preach otherwise, let him be accursed. My gospel is not according to man; I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. I who persecuted and ravaged the assembly of God in Judaism — he who set me apart from my mother’s womb was pleased to reveal his Son in me. I did not confer with flesh and blood but went to Arabia, then Damascus. After three years, fifteen days to visit Cephas — I saw no other apostle except James the Lord’s brother. Before God, I do not lie. Then Syria and Cilicia. The assemblies of Judea did not know me by face — they heard that the persecutor preaches the faith he ravaged, and glorified God in me.
Why this rendering
Gal.1.1 Observation
Syntactic observation
Παῦλος ἀπόστολος, οὐκ ἀπ’ ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲ δι’ ἀνθρώπου ἀλλὰ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ ἐγείραντος αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν … τοῦ δόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν ὅπως ἐξέληται ἡμᾶς ἐκ τοῦ αἰῶνος τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος πονηροῦ … ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων· ἀμήν — Paul, an apostle — not from men nor through a man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead … who gave himself for our sins, so that he might rescue us out of the present evil age … to whom be the glory to the ages of the ages. Amen. Three prepositions — ἀπό (‘from’, plural men) · διά (‘through’, a single man) · διά (‘through’, Jesus Christ and God). No thanksgiving follows the greeting — where Romans and both Corinthian letters have ‘grace to God’, this letter goes straight to ‘I marvel’ (v.6). In v.4 ‘the present evil age’ (τοῦ αἰῶνος τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος πονηροῦ) is the αἰών of Rom 12:2, ‘this age’, with the ἐνίστημι, ‘present’, of 1 Cor 7:26 (⸂⸃ — a variant of word order). ἐξαιρέω is the ‘rescue’ of Acts 7:10 and 26:17. In v.5 ‘to the ages of the ages’ doubles εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας — the first place in this corpus.
Rendering options · 3
Basis ἀπό and διά differ, and plural and singular differ — the text separates source from channel.
Basis The familiar paraphrase.
Rejected Two prepositions become two verbs the text does not have.
Basis ‘To the ages’ (Rom 11:36) with the genitive doubling added — not folded into ‘for ever and ever’.
Lost in translation
ἀπ’ ἀνθρώπων / δι’ ἀνθρώπου — ‘from / through’ and ‘men / a man’ both stand.
εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων — ‘to the ages of the ages’ carries the doubling.
The missing thanksgiving — nothing to translate; the absence stands.
Why this rendering
Gal.1.6 Observation
Syntactic observation
Θαυμάζω ὅτι οὕτως ταχέως μετατίθεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς ἐν χάριτι Χριστοῦ εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο· εἰ μή τινές εἰσιν οἱ ταράσσοντες ὑμᾶς καὶ θέλοντες μεταστρέψαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐὰν ἡμεῖς ἢ ἄγγελος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ εὐαγγελίζηται ὑμῖν παρ’ ὃ εὐηγγελισάμεθα ὑμῖν, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω — I marvel that you are so quickly being carried over … to a different gospel — which is not another; only there are some who trouble you and want to turn the gospel of Christ around. But even if we, or an angel out of heaven … let him be accursed. ἕτερον (of a different kind) ↔ ἄλλο (another of the same kind) — the pair of 2 Cor 11:4, here denying each other. μετατίθεσθε is the verb of Acts 7:16, ‘carried over’, in the present middle/passive — the moving is under way. ταράσσω is the word of Acts 15:24, ‘troubled you’ (the same people). ἀνάθεμα ἔστω twice, vv.8-9 — as at 1 Cor 16:22. In v.8 ⸀εὐαγγελίζηται · ⸀ὑμῖν.
Rendering options · 3
Basis English has two words; Korean has one, and the loss is recorded there as at 2 Cor 11:4.
Basis Supplying ‘gospel’ after ἄλλο.
Rejected The text has bare ἄλλο — ‘not another’.
Basis Not ‘deserting’ (the verb of 2 Cor 12:8); it is a word of moving something over, and the present tense is in progress.
Lost in translation
ἕτερον / ἄλλο — ‘different / another’ keep the two apart.
ἀνάθεμα ἔστω ×2 — ‘let him be accursed’ stands twice in one form.
The present μετατίθεσθε — ‘being carried over’ keeps it in progress.
Why this rendering
Gal.1.13 Observation
Syntactic observation
Ἠκούσατε γὰρ τὴν ἐμὴν ἀναστροφήν ποτε ἐν τῷ Ἰουδαϊσμῷ, ὅτι καθ’ ὑπερβολὴν ἐδίωκον τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐπόρθουν αὐτήν … ὅτε δὲ εὐδόκησεν ὁ ἀφορίσας με ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου καὶ καλέσας διὰ τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ ἀποκαλύψαι τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐμοί … εὐθέως οὐ προσανεθέμην σαρκὶ καὶ αἵματι — For you heard of my former conduct in Judaism — that I was persecuting the assembly of God exceedingly and ravaging it … But when he who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me through his grace was well pleased to reveal his Son in me … at once I did not confer with flesh and blood. Ἰουδαϊσμός (vv.13, 14 — two places in the New Testament, both here). καθ’ ὑπερβολήν is the ‘exceedingly’ of Rom 7:13 and 2 Cor 1:8. ἐδίωκον · ἐπόρθουν (two imperfects) — the verb of Acts 9:21, ‘the one who ravaged’, returning in v.23. Verse 15 names no subject — ‘he who set me apart … and called’ (⸀ — the Received Text adds ‘God’). ἀφορίζω is the ‘set apart’ of Rom 1:1. ἀποκαλύψαι … ἐν ἐμοί is open between ‘in me’ and ‘to me’. σαρκὶ καὶ αἵματι is the ‘flesh and blood’ of Matt 16:17.
Rendering options · 3
Basis ‘God’ is not in the base text (⸀); the two participles are the subject.
Basis The Received Text and the familiar rendering.
Rejected The base text names no one — ‘he who set me apart’ echoes the calling of Isaiah and Jeremiah without naming God.
Basis ‘To me’ would be a bare dative; the text has ἐν — the same phrase as v.24, ‘in me’.
Lost in translation
ἐπόρθουν (v.13) · ἐπόρθει (v.23) ↔ Acts 9:21 — one word ‘ravage’ for three places.
ἐν ἐμοί (v.16) — ‘in me / to me’; ‘in me’ closes it.
ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός — ‘from my mother’s womb’, the phrase of Luke 1:15.
Why this rendering
Gal.1.18 Observation
Syntactic observation
Ἔπειτα μετὰ ἔτη τρία ἀνῆλθον εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα ἱστορῆσαι Κηφᾶν, καὶ ἐπέμεινα πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡμέρας δεκαπέντε· ἕτερον δὲ τῶν ἀποστόλων οὐκ εἶδον, εἰ μὴ Ἰάκωβον τὸν ἀδελφὸν τοῦ κυρίου. ἃ δὲ γράφω ὑμῖν, ἰδοὺ ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ ὅτι οὐ ψεύδομαι — Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and stayed on with him fifteen days; but another of the apostles I did not see, except James the brother of the Lord. Now what I write to you — look, before God — I do not lie. ἱστορέω (once in the New Testament) is a word for going to get to know someone. The base text reads Κηφᾶν (⸀ — the Received Text ‘Peter’), and ⸂ἔτη τρία⸃ is a variant of order. Three counts — three years · fifteen days · ‘another … except James’. Verse 20 has the shape of an oath — the verbless ‘look, before God’ breaks into the sentence. In v.22 ἀγνοούμενος τῷ προσώπῳ is the participle of 2 Cor 6:9, ‘unknown’, with ‘by face’. Verse 23 reports what they heard without quotation marks — Ὁ διώκων … ἐπόρθει echoes v.13.
Rendering options · 3
Basis As fixed at John 1:42 and 1 Cor 1:12; the Received Text’s ‘Peter’ is not followed. In chapter 2 the base text uses both names.
Basis The Received Text and the familiar name.
Rejected Not the base text; it would merge the Πέτρος of 2:7-8 with the Κηφᾶς of 2:9, 11, 14.
Basis The text breaks in without a verb; ‘I swear before God’ is not supplied.
Lost in translation
Κηφᾶς (1:18; 2:9, 11, 14) / Πέτρος (2:7, 8) — ‘Cephas / Peter’ keep the two names apart.
The verbless oath of v.20 — ‘look, before God’ stands without a verb.
ἱστορέω — ‘visit’ keeps the going, not the inquiring inside the word.