Galatians 1:15

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, SEPARATED, [ aforisas (G873)] - 'set me apart' in His electing love (cf. Acts 9:15; Acts 22:14), in order to show in me His 'pleasure,' which is the farthest point that any can reach in inquiring the causes of his salvation. The actual 'separating' to the work marked out for him is mentioned Acts 13:2; Romans 1:1. There is an allusion, perhaps by contrast, to the derivation of Pharisee from the Hebrew [ paarash ...

15._But after that it pleased God. _This is the second part of the narrative, and relates to his miraculous conversion. He tells us, first, that he had been called by the grace of God to preach Christ among the Gentiles; and, next, that as soon as he had been called, without consulting the apostles, he unhesitatingly proceeded to the performance of the work, which, he felt assured, had been enjoined upon him by the appointment of God. In the construction of the words, Erasmus differs from the Vulgate. He connects them in the following manner: “When it pleased God that I should preach Christ among the Gentiles, who called me for this purpose that he might reveal him _by me_. ” But I prefer the old translation; for Christ had been revealed to Paul before he received a command to preach. Admitting that Erasmus were right in translating ἐν ἐμοὶ, _by me_, still the clause, _that I might preac...

15-24 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. It will but little avail us to have Christ revealed to us, if he is not also revealed in us. He instantly prepared to obey, without hesitating as to his worldly interest, credit, ease, or life itself. And 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! They glorify God for his power and mercy in saving such persons, and for all the service to his people and cause that is done, and may be further expected from them....

Verse 15. _WHO SEPARATED ME FROM MY MOTHER'S WOMB_] Him whom I acknowledge as the GOD of _nature_ and the GOD of _grace_; who _preserved_ me by his _providence_ when I was a _helpless infant_, and _saved_ me by his _grace_ when I was an _adult persecutor_. For some useful remarks on these passages see the _introduction_, sec. ii....

BUT WHEN IT PLEASED GOD - Paul traced all his hopes of eternal life, and all the good influences which had ever borne upon his mind, to God. WHO SEPARATED ME ... - That is, who destined me; or who purposed from my very birth that I should be a preacher and an apostle. The meaning is, that God had in his secret purposes set him apart to be an apostle. It does not mean that he had actually called him in his infancy to the work, for this was not so, but that he designed him to be an important instrument in his hands in spreading the true religion. Jeremiah Jeremiah 1:5 was thus set apart, and John the Baptist was thus early designated for the work which they afterward performed. It follows from this: (1) That God often, if not always, has purposes in regard to people from their very birt

EXPOSITION GALATIANS 1:1 _The_ _introductory greeting. _The style of this greeting, compared with those found in St. Paul's other Epistles, gives indications of his having addressed himself to the composition of the letter under strong perturbation of feeling. This transpires in the abruptness with which, at the very outset, he at once sweeps aside, as it were, out of his path, a slur east upon his apostolic commission, in protesting that he was "apostle, not from man nor through a man." It appears again in that impetuous negligence of exact precision of language, with which the mention of "God the Father" is conjoined with that of "Jesus Christ" under the one preposition "through," as the _medium _through which his apostleship had been conferred upon him. We cannot help receiving the impression that the apostle had only just bef

BUT WHEN IT PLEASED GOD,.... Here begins his account of his conversion, and call to the ministry; all which he ascribes entirely to the sovereign good pleasure, and free grace of God: WHO SEPARATED ME FROM MY MOTHER'S WOMB. By his "mother" is meant, not in an improper and figurative sense, the Jewish church, or the old synagogue, the mother of all its members; the Jerusalem which then was, and was in bondage with her children; from which bondage, blindness, ignorance, superstition and bigotry, he was delivered, when called by grace: nor the church at Antioch, which is never called a mother church; and though he was by that church, with Barnabas, separated for the work of the ministry, yet not from it: but by his "mother", without a figure is meant, his real natural mother, whose name is said to be Theocrita; and this separation from her womb is to be understood either of that distinctio...

Galatians 1:1. _Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)_ Paul begins this Epistle by stating his commission as an apostle. In Galatia, he had been subjected to the great sorrow of having his apostle-ship called in question. Does he, therefore, give up his claim to the office, and retire from the work? No, not for a moment; but he begins his letter to the Galatians by declaring himself to be «an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ.» His enemies had said, «Paul was never one of the Saviour's twelve apostles; he is not like those who were trained and educated by Christ himself. No doubt he has borrowed his doctrine from them, and he is only a retailer of other men's goods». No, no,» says Paul, «I am an apostle as truly as any other of the twelve; ‘not of men, neither by man, but by Je

GALATIANS 1:15 euvdo,khsen @o` qeo,j# {C} On the basis of preponderance of external testimony a majority of the Committee preferred the reading with o` qeo,j, yet, in view of the importance of the witnesses that lack the words, it was thought advisable to enclose them within square brackets. [The reading with o` qeo,j has every appearance of being a scribal gloss making explicit the implied subject of euvdo,khsen, nor is there any good reason why the words should have been deleted if they had been original (the supposition that they were accidentally omitted is improbable in view of the diversified testimony supporting the shorter text). B.M.M. and A.W.]...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE TESTIMONY OF PAUL CONCERNING HIS APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY AND THE GOSPEL CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The Introduction. (Galatians 1:1)_ 2. The Rebuke. (Galatians 1:6) 3. Paul's Gospel Given by Revelation. (Galatians 1:11) 4. How Paul became an Apostle Independent of Jerusalem. (Galatians 1:13) The introductory words of this Epistle are brief and of deep significance. He speaks of himself as an apostle not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father. His apostleship had been called in question and the gospel he preached branded as lacki