Galatians 1:23
The persecutor preaching the faith
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγελίζομαι euangelizomai · to speak good news
Original
Translations
They only heard the account: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”
But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
and they were only hearing that “he who is persecuting us then, now proclaims good news—the faith that he was then destroying”;
다만 우리를 핍박하던 자가 전에 잔해하던 그 믿음을 지금 전한다 함을 듣고
다만 과거에 우리를 핍박하던 자가 한때 자기가 멸하던 그 믿음을 지금 선포한다는 것을 듣고
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Gal 1:15-24 as a whole
St. Paul was wonderfully brought to the knowledge and faith of Christ. All who are savingly converted, are called by the grace of God; their conversion is wrought by his power and grace working in them. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley
Nothing on this verse itself.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
Three years later Paul spent fifteen days in Jerusalem with Cephas, then went on to Syria and Cilicia (verses 18–21). The churches of Judea never saw his face. They had one piece of news about him, and Paul quotes it as it reached them: "The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."
In Greek the report sounds almost like a slogan: ho diōkōn hēmas pote, "our persecutor of old," a present participle used nearly as a name. That man now gospels: the verb is in the present indicative, euangelizetai, and its object is tēn pistin, "the faith." Here is not the act of believing but what is believed, the gospel itself, as when Acts says that a great number of priests "became obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:7).
"Tried to destroy" renders eporthei, an imperfect of a verb used for sacking a city. Paul used the same verb of himself in verse 13, and in Damascus those who heard his first sermons asked, "Isn't this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name?" (Acts 9:21).
The KJV says he "now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed," as if the destroying had been finished. The BSB takes the imperfect as an attempt, "tried to destroy," and the LSV as a continuing act, "the faith that he was then destroying." The BSB's reading says what the story bears out: the faith was not destroyed, and its destroyer became its herald.
Years later Paul still told his story in the same terms: "I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy" (1 Timothy 1:13). The report in Judea and the confession to Timothy are one story told from two sides. What the churches heard as news about Paul, Paul knew as mercy shown to him.
Paul adds one line to the report: "And they glorified God because of me" (Galatians 1:24). Wesley's whole note on it is "That is, on my account" Wesley. They praised God, not Paul. Matthew Henry hears the joy of the churches in it: "what matter of thanksgiving and joy is it to the churches of Christ, when they hear of such instances to the praise of the glory of his grace, whether they have ever seen them or not" Matthew Henry.
For the churches of Judea the strongest evidence for the gospel was not an argument but one line of news about a man they had never seen: the enemy had become its herald.