Galatians 1:19

ἕτερον δὲ, i.e. a second (Galatians 1:6 note).

τῶν� (Galatians 1:1 note) οὐκ εἶδον, εἰ μὴ Ἰύκωβον τὸν�. St Peter was to St Paul the object of attraction, not St James, from whom the emissaries of Galatians 2:12 came, and St Paul saw no other of the Apostles—save etc. The phrase suggests that St Paul put St James in a different category from the series of apostles to which St Peter belonged, though it does not exclude his possession of the title “Apostle” in some sense (cf. Luke 4:26 for this use of εἰ μὴ). See Hort, Epistle of St James, p. xix. and for εἰ μή p. xvi.

By “the brother” we are probably to understand half-brother, a son of Joseph by a former wife. This (the “Epiphanian” theory) is defended by Lightfoot in his classical essay contained in his commentary on our epistle. For a learned defence of the theory that “brother” means full-brother, a younger son of Joseph and Mary (the “Helvidian” theory), see J. B. Mayor’s edition of the Epistle of St James, pp. v–xxxvi. See also the discussion in the Expositor VII. 6 and 7. A third theory is that he was a cousin (the “Hieronymian” theory).