Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 1:14
And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
14. St Paul was always in earnest. In the acquisition of Rabbinic lore he outstripped most of those of his own age, not merely his fellow-disciples at Tarsus, and in the school of Gamaliel at Jerusalem (Act 22:3), but in his own nation generally.
zealous ] Lit. a zealot (Act 21:20). St Paul by birth and by early education was associated with the extreme party of the Pharisees, who were marked by their bigoted adherence to the traditional interpretations of the Old Testament, as distinct from the written text.
traditions of my fathers ] By ‘traditions’ we must understand religious teaching and precept handed down orally from father to son, whether ultimately committed to writing or not. The word occurs twelve times in the N. T. and is always used in the Gospels in a disparaging sense. Compare for example Mat 15:6; Mat 15:9; Mar 7:9; so Col 2:8.
In 1Co 11:2 (where it is rendered ‘ordinances’) and in 2Th 2:15; 2Th 3:6, it refers to oral directions given by St Paul, of which some (as that contained in 1Co 16:1-2) were temporary and special, others subsequently embodied in writing.
Here St Paul is referring to the traditions which were held and transmitted by the ‘most straitest sect’ of the Jewish religion (Act 26:5). Similarly St Peter, addressing the Jews of the dispersion, who had embraced Christianity, reminds them that they had been redeemed from their vain manner of life, handed down by tradition from their fathers (1Pe 1:18).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And profited – Made advances and attainments. Paul made advances not only in the knowledge of the Jewish religion, but he also surpassed others in his zeal in defending its interests. He had had better advantages than most of his countrymen; and by his great zeal and characteristic ardor he had been able to make higher attainments than most others had done.
Above many my equals – Margin, Equal in years. This is the true sense of the original. It means that he surpassed those of the same age with himself. Possibly there may be a reference here to those of the same age who attended with him on the instructions of Gamaliel.
Being more exceedingly zealous – More studious of; more ardently attached to them; more anxious to distinguish himself in attainments in the religion in which he was brought up. All this is fully sustained by all that we know of the character of Paul, as at all times a man of singular and eminent zeal in all that he undertook.
Of the traditions of my fathers – Or the traditions of the Jews; see the note at Mat 15:2. A large part of the doctrines of the Pharisees depended on mere tradition; and Paul doubtless made this a special matter of study, and was particularly tenacious in regard to it. It was to be learned, from the very nature of it, only by oral teaching, since there is no evidence that it was then recorded. Subsequently, these traditions were recorded in the Mishna, and are found in the Jewish writings. But in the time of Paul they were to be learned as they were handed down from one to another; and hence, the utmost diligence was requisite to obtain a knowledge of them. Paul does not here say that he was zealous then for the practice of the new religion, nor for the study of the Bible. His object in going to Jerusalem and studying at the feet of Gamaliel was doubtless to obtain a knowledge of the traditions of the sect of the Pharisees. Had he been studying the Bible all that time, he would have kept from the fiery zeal which he evinced in persecuting the church, and would, if he had studied it right, been saved from much trouble of conscience afterward.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gal 1:14
And profited in the Jews religion above many.
Pauls prospects in the Jewish religion
He might, no doubt, have been the head of the Pharisaic faction in the last expiring struggles of his nation; he might have rallied round him the nobler spirits of his countrymen, and by his courage and prudence have caused Jerusalem to hold out a few months or years more against the army of Titus. Still at best he would have been a Maccabeus or a Gamaliel, and what a difference to the whole subsequent fortunes of the world between a Maccabeus and a Paul, between the Jewish Rabbi and the Apostle to the Gentiles. (Dean Stanley.)
Pauls zeal
His natural faculties were by his conversion not unclothed, but clothed upon; the glory of Divine grace was shown here as always, not by repressing and weakening the human character, but by bringing it out for the first time in its full vigour. He was still a Jew; the zeal of his ancestral tribe (Gen 49:27), which had caused him to ravin as a wolf in the morning of his life, still glowed in his veins when he returned in the evening to divide the spoil of the mightier enemy whom he had defeated and bound; and in the unwearied energy and self.devotion, no less than the peculiar intensity of natural feeling, which mark his whole life and writings, we discern the qualities which the Jewish people alone of all the nations then existing on the earth could have furnished. (Dean Stanley.)
The traditions of the fathers
There are two large divisions of Rabbinic lore which may be classed under the heads of Hagadoth, or unrecorded legends; and Halachoth, or rules and precedents in explanation of dubious or undefined points of legal observance. It is natural that there should be but few traces of the latter in the writings of one whose express object was to deliver the Gentiles from the intolerable burden of legal Judaism. But though there is little trace of them he tells us that he had once been enthusiastic in their observance. And there are abundant signs that with the Hagadoth he was extremely familiar–e.g., Jannes and Jambres (2Ti 3:8), the last trumpet (1Co 15:52), the giving of the law by angels (Gal 3:19), Satan as god of this world and prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2), celestial and infernal hierarchies (Eph 1:21; Eph 3:10; Eph 6:12), are all recurrent in Talmudic writings. 1Co 11:10 refers to the Rabbinic interpretation of Gen 6:2, which avers that angels fell because of their guilty love of women. The following rock of 1Co 10:4 is also a tradition. (F. W. Farrar.)
False zeal
A false zeal in religion is always, in some respect or other, a misdirected zeal, or a zeal not according to knowledge; a zeal seeking some false end, or, while proposing to itself a good end, seeking its promotion in some unauthorized way. Jehu had a good zeal, which he called zeal for the Lord of Hosts. His fault was not that he was too zealous, but that his zeal was really directed to his own advancement. The Jews, in the days of Christ, had a zeal for God; but it was so misdirected as to fire them with a frenzy to destroy the Son of God, and extinguish the Light of the world. There are countless forms of false zeal now at work; but, in all cases, they sin not by excess, but by misdirection. Some are flaming with a zeal to spread some of the corruption of Christianity, and to carry men away from its great and cardinal truths. Some are equally zealous to build up a sect or a party on other foundations than those which God has laid in Zion; and that which taints their zeal is the purpose to which they employ it, and not any excessive fervour of their zeal itself. (Dr. Bonar.)
Ministerial zeal
The most remarkable examples of zeal are found in the records of the early itinerant ministers. Richard Nolley, one of these, came upon the fresh trail of an emigrant in the wilderness, and followed it till he overtook the family. When the emigrant saw him, he said, What, a methodist preacher! I quit Virginia to be out of the way of them; but in my settlement in Georgia I thought I should be beyond their reach. There they were; and they got my wife and daughter to join them. Then I come here to Chocktaw Corner, find a piece of land, feel sure that I shall have some peace from the preachers; and here is one before I have unloaded my waggon! The preacher exhorted him to make his peace with God, that he might not be troubled by the everywhere-present methodist preachers.
Remarkable zeal
During the battle of Gettysburg, Chaplain Eastman was so badly injured by a fall of his horse as to be compelled to lie down on the field for the night. As he lay in the darkness, he heard a voice say, Oh my God! and thought, How can I get at him? Unable to walk, he started to roll to the sufferer, and rolled through blood, among the dead bodies, till he came to the dying man, to whom he preached Christ. This service done, he was sent for to attend a dying officer, to whom he had to be carried by two soldiers. Thus he passed the long night; the soldiers carrying him from one dying man to another, to whom he preached Christ, and with whom he prayed, while compelled to lie on his back beside them.
Suspicious zeal
The purity of that zeal for religion by which we gain worldly wealth is open to suspicion. Well fare their hearts who will not only wear out their shoes, but also their feet, in Gods service, even if they should not gain a shoe-latchet thereby.
True zeal
True zeal is a sweet, heavenly, and gentle flame, which makes us active for God, but always within the sphere of love. It never calls for fire from heaven, to censure those who differ a little from us in their apprehensions. It is like that kind of lightning which melts the sword within, but singes not the scabbard; it strives to save the soul without hurting the body: (R. Cudworth.)
Good objects not to be unduly esteemed
Human nature is prone to extremes, sometimes in that which is good. St. Paul did not deem it necessary to underrate Judaism in order to justify his adherence to Christianity, But it is not to undervalue an institution to place it in its true light, and to regard it according to its intrinsic worth. It is not to undervalue a stream, to say of it that it is not the fountain, nor the blossom that it is not fruit, nor a shadow that it is not the substance, nor a taper that it is not the sun. St. Paul knew well that the Jewish ceremonies were valuable not for their own sake merely, but as so many moral conductors to Christ; and that that end being accomplished, their virtue ceased. And he was not the man to tolerate for a moment the egregious absurdity of those who, for sinister purposes, would depose Christ from his high supremacy, and substitute the ancient ritual of Moses for the atonement of the cross, and go back to the dim twilight of the law, while living under the meridian brightness of the gospel day. But it is only when viewed in contrast with the inherent efficacy of the better sacrifice, the better covenant, and the better promises, introduced by the Son of God Himself, that he ever speaks with anything like disparagement of the abrogated institutions of Judaism; which, like the waning orbs of night when the sun is nigh, have no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth. Ye have heard of my conversation in times past in the Jews religion; being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. The general instruction to be derived from this reference to his own past history, and to the errors of the Galatian people, is, that great care is requisite lest objects, good in themselves, be perverted to lead the mind away from Christ. (The Evangelist.)
Pauls Jewish life
I. The religion of Paul before his conversion was distinguished by hatred and cruelty. He persecuted the Church of God and wasted it.
II. The religion of Paul before his conversion was distinguished by great proficiency in Jewish rites and ceremonies. He profited in the Jews religion above many his equals in his own nation.
III. Pauls religion before his conversion was distinguished by zeal for the traditions of the fathers. Being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. Lessons:
1. Paul exhibited a character in which the desire to excel was ever prominent. His persecution was above measure, his proficiency and zeal in the Jewish religion, were superior to his contemporaries. The same feature of character was observed in Christian work.
2. Pauls history teaches that sincerity is no proof of righteousness. He thought that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. (R. Nicholls.)
Sectarian zeal
I. Is founded on the human in religion;
II. Is bitter and persecuting in its spirit; III Indicates not true religion but the want of it. (J. Lyth.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. And profited in the Jews’ religion] The apostle does not mean that he became more exemplary in the love and practice of the pure law of God than any of his countrymen, but that he was more profoundly skilled in the traditions of the fathers than most of his fellow students were, or, as the word may mean his contemporaries.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The word here used, and translated profited, may be interpreted either of his own personal proficiency, and going on in the Jewish religion, or of his propagating of it, and making that to go on, which seemeth to be the sense of the same word, 2Ti 2:16. And it is observed, that active verbs in the Greek in imitation of the Heb. con. Pihil., sometimes signify to do an action oneself, sometimes to make others do it; and Pauls wasting the Christian church had a rational tendency to uphold and propagate Judaism, the propagation of which was the end designed by it; this he saith he did above others of his countrymen, that were his equals in years. By this also he lets them know, that his persecuting the Christian church was not a passionate act, or for a gain to himself, but from an erroneous judgment, he verily thought that he ought to do what he against Jesus of Nazareth, and his disciples. He that he was
more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of the fathers; by which he understands not only the rites of the ceremonial law, but the whole body of their constitutions, which the rulers of that church had made, under the notion of sepimenta legis, hedges or fences to the laws of God, to keep men at a distance from the violation of them; and other constitutions also, of which they had innumerable. Paul was a Pharisee, (the son of a Pharisee, Act 23:6), bred up at the feet of Gamaliel (one of the doctors of their law); this was the strictest sect (for ceremonies) of their religion: and this his zeal for traditions, is that which he calleth a progress, or profiting in the Jewish religion, and was a cause of the propagation of that religion.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. profitedGreek, “Iwas becoming a proficient”; “I made progress.”
abovebeyond.
my equalsGreek,“Of mine own age, among my countrymen.”
traditions of myfathersnamely, those of the Pharisees, Paul being “aPharisee, and son of a Pharisee” (Act 23:6;Act 26:5). “MY fathers,”shows that it is not to be understood generally of the traditions ofthe nation.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And profited in the Jews’ religion,…. Or “in Judaism”; and the more he did so, or was versed in, and wedded to their principles, the more violent a persecutor he was. He was under a very considerable master, Gamaliel, a Rabbi of great note among the Jews; and he himself a youth of uncommon natural abilities, so that his proficiency in Jewish learning was very great; even, as he says,
above many my equals in mine own nation: not proselytes in other nations, but such as were natives of his own country: or were “in his own kindred”, his near relations, who were his contemporaries, of the same age with him; and very modestly he says “many”, not “all”:
being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers: he had a zeal, but, not according to knowledge; and a greater degree of it than the rest of his countrymen; and that not so much for the written law delivered to his fathers, as for the oral law, the traditions and customs of his ancestors; which had been handed down, as they pretended, from one to another, and were now swelled to an almost infinite bulk; and mean the traditions of the elders, condemned by Christ, as making void the commandments of God: now his close attachment to, and eager zeal for these traditions, put him upon using more violent measures in persecuting the saints, and further off from the Gospel of Christ: and now from this account of himself it is a clear point, that during this period of his life he could never have received the Gospel from men, which is his view in giving it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
I advanced (). Imperfect active again of , old verb, to cut forward (as in a forest), to blaze a way, to go ahead. In N.T. only here, Rom 13:12; 2Tim 2:16; 2Tim 3:9; 2Tim 3:13. Paul was a brilliant pupil under Gamaliel. See Php 3:4-6. He was in the lead of the persecution also.
Beyond many of mine own age ( ). Later compound form for the Attic which occurs in Dion Hal. and inscriptions (from , with, and , age). Paul modestly claims that he went “beyond” () his fellow-students in his progress in Judaism.
More exceedingly zealous ( ). Literally, “more exceedingly a zealot.” See on Acts 1:13; Acts 21:20; 1Cor 14:12. Like Simon Zelotes.
For the traditions of my fathers ( ). Objective genitive after . only here in N.T., though old word from (father), paternal, descending from one’s father. For see Acts 22:3; Acts 22:14. Tradition () played a large part in the teaching and life of the Pharisees (Mr 7:1-23). Paul now taught the Christian tradition (2Th 2:15).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Profited [] . Better, advanced. See on is far spent, Rom 13:12. Paul means that he outstripped his Jewish contemporaries in distinctively Jewish culture, zeal, and activity. Comp. Phi 3:4 – 6.
Equals [] . N. T. o. The A. V. is indefinite. The meaning is equals in age. So Rev., of mine own age.
Nation [] . Race. Not sect of the Pharisees. Comp. Phi 3:5; 2Co 11:26; Rom 9:3.
Zealous [] . Lit. a zealot. The extreme party of the Pharisees called themselves “zealots of the law “;” zealots of God. ” See on Simon the Canaanite, Mr 3:18. Paul describes himself under this name in his speech on the stairs, Act 22:3. Comp. Phi 3:5, 6.
Traditions [] . The Pharisaic traditions which had been engrafted on the law. See Mt 14:2, 6; Mr 7:3, 13, and on 2Th 2:15.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And profited in the Jews’ religion,” (kai proekopton en to loudaismo) “and progressed (advanced) in Judaism,” of the order of the Pharisees in a polluted state of traditions of men and ceremonialism that led men to reject Jesus Christ, Mar 7:5-9; Act 26:3; Php_3:5-6.
2) “Above many my equals,” (huper pollus sunelikiotas) “beyond many contemporaries,” so that he was a leader, a trusted “liquidation squad member,” of the enemies of Christ, entrusted with license to persecute and slaughter, Act 9:1-2; Act 19:9; Act 19:23.
3) “In mine own nation,” (en to genei mou) “in my (own) race,” the Jewish race.
4) “Being more exceedingly zealous,” (perissoteros zelotes huparchon) “being abundantly a zealot,” a leader of zealots, out front, as when he held or guarded the clothes of those who stoned Stephen, He was the overseer of the slaughter, the murder, you see Act 7:58.
5) “Of the traditions of my fathers,” (ton patrikon mou paradoseon) “of my ancestral traditions,” setting at naught, ignoring the commandments of God for the traditions, pleasures of men, resisting truth and the Spirit of God Isa 29:13; Mat 15:8-9; Act 7:51-54; Act 7:58.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(14) Profited.Made progress. The kind of progress would correspond to the width of the term Judaism, with which it is connected, and would imply, not merely proficiency in theological knowledge, but also increase in zeal and strictness of ritualistic observance.
My equals.Strictly, my equals in age. St. Paul is thinking of his contemporaries among the young men who came up, ardent like himself, to study the Law at the feet of Gamaliel or some other eminent Rabbi. He looks back upon them much as some English political or religious leader might look back upon his contemporaries at the university, and might point to his zealous advocacy of a cause that he has long since given over.
Traditions.The traditions of the elders mentioned in Mat. 15:2, Mar. 7:3, by which the commandment of God was made of none effect (Mat. 15:6); the oral or unwritten law, which had gradually grown up by the side of the Pentateuch, and was afterwards embodied in the Mishnah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Profited Became proficient and eminent, even after his persecuting course had commenced, as the order of the narrative indicates.
Zealous The inspiring motive; zeal for the ancestral traditions; not merely the sacred books, but hereditary customs and rabbinical maxims, as afterwards embodied in the Talmud.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gal 1:14. And profitedmy equals in, &c. And made proficiencymy cotemporaries of, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gal 1:14 . Still dependent on .
] the had then been combined in Paul with his hostile action against Christianity, had kept pace with it .
, not Jewish theology (Grotius, Rckert), but just as in Gal 1:13 . Judaism was the sphere in which he advanced further and improved more than those of his age by growth in Jewish culture, in Jewish zeal for the law, in Jewish energy of works, etc. On as intransitive (Luk 2:52 ; 2Ti 2:16 ; 2Ti 3:9 ; 2Ti 3:13 ), very frequent in Polyb., Lucian, etc., comp. Jacobs, ad Anthol . X. p. 35; on . ., comp. Lucian, Herm . 63, , Paras . 13, .
] one of the same age , occurring only here in the N.T., a word belonging to the later Greek (Diod. Sic. i. 53? Alciphr . i. 12). See Wetstein. The ancient authors use (Plat. Apol . p. 33 C, and frequently).
] a more precise definition of .; is therefore, in conformity with the context (comp. .), to be understood in a national sense, [27] and not of the sect of the Pharisees (Paulus). Comp. Phi 3:5 ; 2Co 11:26 ; Rom 9:3 ; Act 7:19 .
. . .] a more detailed statement, specifying in what way the found active expression; “so that I” etc.
] than those . They, too, were zealous for the traditions of their fathers (whether like Paul they were Pharisees, or not); but Paul was so in a more superabundant measure for his.
] endeavouring with zealous interest to obey, uphold, and assert them. On the genitive of the object , comp. Mal 4:2Mal 4:2 ; Act 21:20 ; Act 22:3 ; 1Co 14:12 ; Tit 2:14 ; Plat. Prot . p. 343 A. The , that is, the religious definitions handed down to me from my fathers (in respect to doctrine, ritual, asceticism, interpretation of Scripture, conduct of life, and the like), are the Pharisaic traditions (comp. Mat 5:21 ; Mat 15:2 ; Mar 7:3 ); for Paul was (Phi 3:5 ; Act 26:5 ), (Act 23:6 ). So also Erasmus ( Annot .), Beza, Calovius, de Wette, Hofmann, and others. If Paul had intended to refer to the Mosaic law , either alone (Erasmus, Paraphr ., Luther, Calvin, and others) or together with the Pharisaic traditions (Estius, Grotius, Calixtus, Morus, Koppe, Flatt, Winer, Usteri, Rckert, Schott, Olshausen, Hilgenfeld, Wieseler, “the law according to the strict rule of Pharisaism,” comp. Mller), he would have named the law either by itself or along with the traditions (Act 21:20 ; Act 22:3 ; 2MMal 4:2 ); but by he limits the to the special elements resulting from his descent, which did not apply to those who were in different circumstances as to descent; whereas the law applied to all Jews. Comp., as parallel, Act 26:5 . That Paul had been zealous for the law in general, followed as a matter of course from . . ; but here he is stating the specific way in which his own peculiar had displayed itself his Pharisaic zealotry. It would have been surprising if in this connection he had omitted to mention the latter.
, not found elsewhere in the N.T., means paternal . Comp. LXX. Gen 50:8 ; Lev 22:13 ; Sir 42:10 ; 3 Esd. 1:5, 29; 4Ma 18:7 ; Plat. Lach . p. 180 E, Soph . p. 242 A; Isocr. Evag . p. 218, 35; Diod. Sic. i. 88; Polyb. i. 78. 1; Athen. xv. p. 667 F. In this case the context alone decides whether the idea a patribus acceptus ( , 1Pe 1:18 ) is conveyed by it, as in this passage by , or not (as, for instance, Polyb. xxi. 5, 7). The former is very frequently the case. As to the much discussed varying distinction between , , and , comp. on Act 22:3 .
[27] For with Hellenist associates, of whom likewise in Jerusalem there could be no lack, he does not desire to compare himself.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
14 And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
Ver. 14. Above many mine equals ] Porphyry said it was great pity such a man as Paul was ever cast away upon the Christian religion. The monarch of Morocco told the English ambassador in King John’s time, that he had lately read Paul’s Epistles, which he liked so well, that were he now to choose his religion, he would, before any other, embrace Christianity; but every one, saith he, ought to die in his own religion; and the leaving of the faith wherein he was born was the only thing that he disliked in that apostle.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
14 . ] “The compound form (compare , Eph 3:6 ; Eph 5:7 ; , 1Co 9:23 al,) is condemned by the Atticists: Attic writers using only the simple form.” Ellicott.
. , in my nation , see reff.
. ] viz. than they.
. . . . ] a zealous assertor (or defender) of my ancestral traditions (i.e. those handed down in the sect of the Pharisees, Paul being , , Act 23:6 , not, the law of Moses. This meaning is given by the : without it the of the whole Jewish nation handed down from , might be meant: cf. Act 26:5 ).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Gal 1:14 . . Saul had been educated at Jerusalem, and this word points to his contemporaries in the schools of the Pharisees. . This term sometimes denotes family , but here race and nation , as in Act 18:2 ; Act 18:24 . So also in Rom 9:3 ; Rom 16:7 ; Rom 16:21 . . This is not here the proper name of a sect, being coupled with a genitive, as in Act 21:20 . Saul had no sympathy with the anarchical sect of Zealots who preached the sacred duty of revolt from Rome, though he had the persecuting zeal of an orthodox Pharisee. . This differs in sense from . The latter denotes the national law and customs of Israel (Act 22:3 ; Act 28:17 ), the former the hereditary traditions of the family, as the addition of further signifies. In Act 23:6 Paul describes himself as a son of Pharisees.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
profited. Greek. prokopto. See Rom 13:12.
above. Greek. huper. App-104.
equals = of my own age. Greek. sunelikiotes. Only here.
nation. Literally race.
being. Greek. huparcho. See Luk 9:48.
zealous. Greek. zelotes. See Act 21:10.
of my fathers. Greek. patrikos. Only here.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
14. ] The compound form (compare , Eph 3:6; Eph 5:7; , 1Co 9:23 al,) is condemned by the Atticists: Attic writers using only the simple form. Ellicott.
., in my nation, see reff.
.] viz. than they.
. . . .] a zealous assertor (or defender) of my ancestral traditions (i.e. those handed down in the sect of the Pharisees, Paul being , , Act 23:6,-not, the law of Moses. This meaning is given by the : without it the of the whole Jewish nation handed down from , might be meant: cf. Act 26:5).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Gal 1:14. , I was becoming a proficient [I profited]) in my very acts.-, my equals in years) who were at that time in their full vigour.- , of my fathers [of my hereditary and national traditions]) which were very dear to me, as if they depended on me as their sole patron. A mimesis.[4]
[4] See App. Here he imitates the language which himself formerly, and which the Jewish legalists used in speaking of the traditions.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Gal 1:14
Gal 1:14
and I advanced in the Jews religion beyond many of mine own age among my countrymen,-He was diligent and faithful in the service, and was promoted in its positions of honor more readily than his equals in ability and family relations. He is said to have been a member of the Sanhedrin when yet young. If so he was advanced for ability and zeal to the work that pertained to those of advanced years.
being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.-He was entrusted with important labors because he was diligent, faithful, and zealous in the traditions of his fathers.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
religion
In Gal 1:13-14 the Greek word for “the Jews’ religion” is Ioudaismos (Judaism). In Act 26:5; Jam 1:26; Jam 1:27 threskeia–religious service–is translated “religion,” and in Col 2:18, “worshipping.” Excepting Jam 1:27, “religion” has always a bad sense, and nowhere is it synonymous with salvation or spirituality.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
profited: Isa 29:13, Isa 57:12
equals: Gr. equals in years
being: Act 22:3, Act 26:5, Act 26:9, Phi 3:4-6
traditions: Jer 15:2, Mat 15:2, Mat 15:3, Mat 15:6, Mar 7:3-13, Col 2:8, 1Pe 1:8
Reciprocal: Lev 13:16 – General Jer 9:14 – which Luk 11:39 – Now Luk 18:12 – fast Joh 16:2 – the time Act 21:20 – and they Rom 10:2 – that they Phi 3:6 – zeal 2Ti 1:3 – whom
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gal 1:14. -and was making progress in Judaism beyond many my equals in my own nation. The tropical sense of the verb is, to push forward, and intransitively to make advancement, followed by , and sometimes with a different reference by or a simple dative, as in Luk 2:52. His progress in Judaism was
-beyond many contemporaries. Such compound terms as ., which the apostle uses only here, belong to the later age; the simple noun sufficing at an earlier and fresher stage. Diodor. Sic. 1.53, in which place, however, several codices have the simple term. So, too, Dionysius Halicar. 10:49. The persons referred to are those of similar age and standing,-fellow-pupils, it may be, at the feet of Gamaliel. And they were his countrymen-
. Compare Act 18:2, 2Co 11:26, Php 3:5. Numerous contemporaries of pure Jewish blood, and not simply Jews from Tarsus, were excelled by him. His zeal pervaded every sphere of his life and labour. He could not be lukewarm, either in persecution or in study. His whole soul was ever given to the matter in hand; for he thus assigns the reason of his forwardness and success in the following clause:
-being more exceedingly a zealot for the traditions of my fathers. This participial clause may be modal, as Meyer and Ellicott take it (, as being), but it may be causal: He excelled his contemporaries, inasmuch as he was more exceedingly zealous than they were. In the comparison is not surely, as Usteri explains, mehr als gewohnlich, but more than those contemporaries to whom he has just referred. Strange and unfounded is the notion of Gwynne, that the comparison in is not between Paul and his contemporaries, but between the precepts and ordinances of the law of Moses of which his appreciation was not so high, nor his zeal for them so fervid as for his ancestral traditions. Such a comparison comes not into view at all. The noun signifies one filled with zeal for what is contained in the following genitive- , Act 22:3; , Act 21:20; , 1Co 14:12; , Tit 2:14 : the genitive of person being sometimes preceded by ; 2Co 7:7, Col 4:13. The noun is not here used in the fanatical sense attaching to the modern term zealot, though it came also to denote a fanatical party in the last days of the Jewish commonwealth. The object of his intense attachment was-
-for the traditions of my fathers, the genitive being that of object, as in the places already quoted. The noun , traditio, giving over, is literally employed as with (Thucydides, 3:53; Josephus, De Bello Jud 1:8; Jud 1:6; Sept. Jer 32:4; Ezr 7:26); then it signifies handing over or down an inheritance (Thucydides, 1.9), and by a natural trope it is used of narration. Josephus, contra Apion. 1.6. So it came to denote instructions delivered orally, as Hesychius defines it by . It is used of apostolical mandate, 1Co 11:2, 2Th 2:15; 2Th 3:6; and especially of the Jewish tradition, Mat 15:2-3; Mat 15:6, , , in opposition to the written divine law. Mar 7:3; Mar 7:9; Mar 7:13; Col 2:8. So in Josephus, Antiq. 13.10, 6, and 16, 2. Thus the term seems to denote not the Mosaic law itself, but the accretions which in course of ages had grown around it, and of which the Mishna is an example. Luther and Calvin think that the term denotes the Mosaic law-ipsam Dei legem, as the latter says; and many suppose that the law is included, as Estius, Winer, Usteri, Schott, Hilgenfeld, Olshausen, and Brown. The law may be included, in the sense that a commentary includes the text, or that a legal exposition implies a statute. But the terms, from their nature, cannot primarily refer to it or formally comprehend it, for the law written with such care, and the sacred parchment kept with such scrupulosity, could not well be called traditions. In Act 22:3 the phrase is -the law of my fathers-and refers to traditionary pharisaic interpretation; but the traditions are here called . The adjectives , , , generically the same in meaning, are supposed to have been used with specific difference, though what the precise difference was has been disputed. Ellendt, Lex. Soph. sub voce; Khner, Xen. Anab. 3.2, 17; also Schoemann, Isaeus, p. 201; and Hermann, Opuscula, vol. 3.195. The apostle, however, uses in these two places the two adjectives and with much the same reference. We cannot agree with Meyer, followed by Alford, Ellicott, and others, in saying that the adjective and pronoun limit these traditions to the sect of the Pharisees, Paul being , , a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. We rather think, with Wieseler, that the reference must be as wide as in the phrase ; that the traditions described as handed down from his fathers are viewed as national and not as sectarian; and that though in effect they were pharisaic, still, as the Pharisees were the mass of the nation, they are regarded as having characterized the people to whom Paul belonged. It cannot therefore be supposed that the apostle would be learning Christianity during the period when his progress in Judaism was so marked, when his zeal for patristic traditions so far outran that of his contemporaries,-a zeal in utter and burning antagonism to the new religion. He had kept from all contact with it, save the contact of ferocity with the victim which it immolates. Luther touchingly applies this verse to his own previous history.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Gal 1:14. Profited does not have the sense of personal gain as the word usually does. The original is defined in the lexicon, “to go forward, advance, proceed, make progress.” Equals is from SUNELIKIOTES, which Thayer defines, “one of the same age, an equal in age.” It is much like a case in the public schools where it may be said of a boy that “he stood at the head of his class.” The point Paul is making is that in leaving Judaism and coming to the Gospel, he was not seeking some balm for disappointment over failure, for he was highly successful before.
Traditions is from PARADOSIS, which Thayer defines, “a giving over, giving up; i. e., the act of giving up, the surrender. A giving over which is done by word of mouth or in writing.” The reader should make himself familiar with this word, which is used frequently in the New Testament, but not always in a bad sense. Any doctrine or rule of conduct becomes a tradition when it has once been given over from one person to another. Whether it is good or bad, and whether it is of any authority or not depends upon the persons handing over the doctrine. Hence the traditions Paul was condemning were those that had been given over by the Jewish fathers, and they were not of authority.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Gal 1:14. And made progress (or, advanced) in Judaism beyond many of mine own an in my race (or, nation), being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. Paul far surpassed in zeal for the Jewish religion his contemporary kinsmen or fellow-religionists. He belonged to the extreme party of the Pharisees who called themselves zealots of the law, zealots of God; comp. Act 22:3, I was zealous towards God; Act 23:6, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee (Php 3:5-6).Traditions of my fathers are the law of Moses with all the explanations and additions of the Pharisees (afterwards embodied in the Mishna), which concealed rather than unveiled the Word of God and either hindered or destroyed its direct effect (comp. Mat 15:2; Mar 7:3; Mar 7:13). Perhaps the written law is not included here. Tradition (paradosis) embraces everything which is handed down orally or in writing from generation to generation. It occurs twelve times in the New Testament, twice in a good sense of the Christian doctrine itself (1Co 11:2, rendered ordinances in the English version; 2Th 2:15; 2Th 3:6); in the other passages in an unfavorable sense of the human additions to, and perversions of, the written word of God; hence defined as traditions of the elders (Mat 15:2-3; Mat 15:6; Mar 7:3; Mar 5:8-9; Mar 5:13), or tradition of men (Col 2:8). Our Saviour never appeals to tire Jewish traditions except to oppose them; and this is of great moment in the controversy with Romanism, which relies more on ecclesiastical traditions than on the Bible.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
and I advanced in the Jews’ religion beyond many of mine own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. [Paul’s first proposition is that though it might be possible that he was taught the gospel by men, or that he might have attempted to originate it, it was certainly highly improbable; for his whole early life showed a strong antipathy and aversion to such teaching, and an intense love for that very form of teaching which was now being used to pervert the gospel. Of these very facts the Galatians themselves were in a manner witnesses; for they had doubtless heard the common report concerning them, and had also learned them from Paul himself at a time when they had no bearing on the question now discussed. Paul made no secret of his past life (1Co 15:9; 1Ti 1:13; Act 22:4-5; Act 26:10-11). Thus the story of his miraculous call, with which they were perfectly familiar, was evidently true. By “my fathers” Paul means his spiritual fathers, the Pharisees. He was zealous for the whole Jewish religion, as expounded by the Pharisees, with all its forms, rites, laws, etc., both divine and human.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 14
And profited in the Jews’ religion; went forward ardently and zealously in it.–The traditions of my fathers. There was a large body of doctrines and precepts held as of divine authority by the Jews, which had come down from the fathers by tradition,–not being recorded in the word of God. Our Savior often alluded to these traditions in his conversations with the Pharisees.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
He doesn’t leave the former life alone – he continues to lay out what kind of a Jew he was – a good one – one that was “exceedingly zealous” of the teachings of the Jewish fathers. He followed the traditions of his sect most zealously and profited in the religion – he prospered in what he was doing, even over and above his equals in the sect.
He was a Pharisee according to Act 23:6 “But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men [and] brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.” and in 26:5 “Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.”
Again we see this strong statement of “the Jews’ religion” as if he is driving home a point a second time.
I would be remiss if I did not point out the obvious point here that some make profit in religion. We know that some of the media hucksters do quite well with their efforts, some more than their equals on the air. we also know that many in the liberal isms of Christianity do the same, but we might take a moment to seek application closer to home.
Some preachers today make a killing at the work of the pastorate. I don’t say these words lightly. They are taking more home than many big executives. I saw an article on the pay packages of preachers in the evangelical camp and while there were many being abused by their churches in the lack of the support given, there were many that were abusing the Lord’s treasury by what they were giving to tickle their itching ears.
Pay package to many seeking a church is the prime information they seek when considering a church. They want to be sure the pay package is sufficient to their desires before going into what the needs of the church might be or the desires of the leadership.
True, finances must be a part of the equation, but when someone finds a friend has gotten a better pay package than he and becomes down in the pockets about it I think there is something askew and it isn’t the price of eggs in China.
Yes, I am biased, yes, I have had a unique situation in my life, but I don’t think I have ever decided on a ministry because of the finances. I don’t even recall considering finances except for one situation where we were going on missionary support – we knew we would have a certain pledged support and if it all came every month we thought we would be able to make ends meet with the Lord’s help – based on that assurance of mind we considered all other details having set finances out of our minds.
We have never relied on the giving of the people we ministered to for support, we have always relied on God to supply the needs via work, and the giving of the saints. Usually my full time work was adequate to the need though God certainly supplied extra along the way from His people which made our life much easier.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
1:14 And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the {k} traditions of my fathers.
(k) He calls them the traditions of his fathers, because he was not only a Pharisee himself, but also had a Pharisee for his father.