Galatians 2:7
Entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγέλιον euangelion · gospel
Original
Translations
On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted to preach the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.
But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;
but on the contrary, having seen that I have been entrusted with the good news of the uncircumcision, as Peter with [that] of the circumcision,
도리어 내가 무할례자에게 복음 전함을 맡기를 베드로가 할례자에게 맡음과 같이 한 것을 보고
오히려 반대로 베드로가 할례자를 위한 복음을 맡은 것 같이 내가 무할례자를 위한 복음을 맡은 것을 그들이 보았나니
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Gal 2:1-10 as a whole
Observe the apostle's faithfulness in giving a full account of the doctrine he had preached among the Gentiles, and was still resolved to preach, that of Christianity, free from all mixture of Judaism. This doctrine would be ungrateful to many, yet he was not afraid to own it. …
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Gal 2:7
But when they saw - By the effects which I laid before them, Gal 2:8; Acts 15:12. That I was intrusted with the gospel of the uncircumcision - That is, with the charge of preaching it to the uncircumcised heathens.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
The leaders in Jerusalem "added nothing" to Paul (Galatians 2:6). Instead they recognized what God had already done: the God who had entrusted Peter with the gospel for the circumcised had entrusted Paul with it for the uncircumcised.
"I had been entrusted" is pepisteumai, a perfect passive of pisteuō, "believe, trust." Faith's own root gives the sense of being trusted with something, and the perfect tense says that the trust still stands. Paul speaks of the gospel as a charge, not a possession: "we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel" (1 Thessalonians 2:4); "the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted" (1 Timothy 1:11).
The genitive with the noun , "of the uncircumcision," names the hearers, not a different content. The Greek does not even repeat the noun for Peter; the LSV prints the gap with a bracket, "as Peter with [that] of the circumcision." One gospel, two fields of work, and the agreement that follows says so: "we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised" (Galatians 2:9). Verse 8 gives the reason the leaders could see it: "the One who was at work in Peter's apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in my apostleship to the Gentiles" (Galatians 2:8). The same God, the same gospel; and the one request the leaders added, that Paul "remember the poor" (Galatians 2:10), bound the two fields together in care.
The KJV keeps the genitives, "the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter," which can sound like two gospels. The BSB guards against that reading: "entrusted to preach the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised." The KJV keeps the trust in view, the BSB the task.
Matthew Henry takes a lesson from it: "Here we learn that the gospel is not ours, but God's; and that men are but the keepers of it" Matthew Henry. Wesley explains the phrase: "That is, with the charge of preaching it to the uncircumcised heathens" Wesley.
The two apostles' fields were divided, but the church remembered their end as one. Clement of Rome, writing to Corinth, speaks of the greatest and most righteous pillars of the church and sets Peter and Paul side by side at their head 1 Clement 5.
The gospel does not change with its hearers; what changes is where its messengers stand. Whatever field a reader stands in, the gospel they hear is the one Peter and Paul were both entrusted with.
Source
- Clement of Rome, First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 5 — c. 96. The church of Rome writes to the church of Corinth; through jealousy and strife Peter and Paul suffered and bore witness to death (ch. 5).