Galatians 1:11
Not devised by man
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγελίζομαι euangelizomai · to speak good news
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγέλιον euangelion · gospel
Original
Translations
For I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached was not devised by man.
But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
And I make known to you, brothers, the good news that was proclaimed by me, that it is not according to man,
형제들아 내가 너희에게 알게 하노니 내가 전한 복음이 사람의 뜻을 따라 된 것이 아니라
그러나 형제들아, 내가 너희에게 확실히 알리노니 내가 선포한 복음은 사람을 따라 나지 아니하였느니라.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Gal 1:10-14 as a whole
In preaching the gospel, the apostle sought to bring persons to the obedience, not of men, but of God. But Paul would not attempt to alter the doctrine of Christ, either to gain their favour, or to avoid their fury. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Gal 1:11
But I certify you, brethren - He does not till now give them even this appellation. That the gospel which was preached by me among you is not according to man - Not from man, not by man, not suited to the taste of man.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
Here a long section of the letter begins. To the end of chapter 2 Paul tells his own story: how a persecutor was called, how he stood with the apostles in Jerusalem, what happened with Peter at Antioch. The story is evidence, and this sentence is what it sets out to prove: "the gospel I preached was not devised by man."
Paul puts the noun and the verb side by side: to euangelion to euangelisthen hup' emou, "the gospel that was gospelled by me." The noun and an aorist passive participle of share one phrase. The passive keeps the gospel in front; Paul appears only as the one by whom it was preached (hup' emou). And it is not kata anthrōpon, "according to man": not human in origin (verse 12), and not cut to human measure. Wesley puts it in three phrases: "Not from man, not by man, not suited to the taste of man" Wesley.
The opening, gnōrizō … humin, adelphoi, "I want you to know, brothers," is the formula Paul uses again in Greek when he sets out the gospel's content to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:1). Wesley notices that this is the first time in the letter that Paul calls the Galatians brothers: "He does not till now give them even this appellation" Wesley.
The KJV's "I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man" keeps the Greek's "after man" and leaves the reader to fill in the sense. The BSB's "not devised by man" fills it in as origin. The LSV keeps both noun and verb: "the good news that was proclaimed by me, that it is not according to man."
ObjectionBut doesn't Paul say elsewhere that he received the gospel?
Writing to Corinth he says, "what I received I passed on to you as of first importance" (1 Corinthians 15:3), and goes on to list Christ's death, burial, resurrection and appearances. Those facts reached him through others, and three years later he went up to Jerusalem to see Cephas (Galatians 1:18). But what made them gospel to him, that the crucified Jesus is the Son of God and that this news goes to the Gentiles without the law, he was not taught by any man; he received it "by revelation from Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:12). Many interpreters read the two passages together in this way.
Matthew Henry marks the same difference: "He was not led to Christianity, as many are, merely by education" Matthew Henry.
A gospel not devised by man cannot be revised when it does not suit us. For the same reason it is not humanity's best guess about God but God's own news about himself, and a hearer can lean on it.