Galatians 1:18 - Exposition

Then after three years ( ἔπειτα μετὰ τρία ἔτη ) . The apostle's object is to illustrate the independent source of his doctrine as not derived from men. This he does here by indicating how long an interval elapsed after he first was made acquainted with it before he ever got to even know Peter. By this he gives his readers to feel how strongly assured from the very first was his conviction of the sufficiency and certain truth of those views of the "gospel" which had been divinely communicated to him. The obvious inference from this view of the writer's present purpose is that, in his reckoning of time, the terminus a quo in this verse is the era of "God's revealing his Son in him," which in effect was that of his conversion. There are two modes of computing time employed in the New Testament—the inclusive and the non-inclusive. According to the former, just as "after three days" in Matthew 27:63 and Mark 8:31 , means in fact "on the next day after but one;" so in the present instance, "after three years" may denote a not greater interval than "in the next year after but one." Compare the "by the space of three years" ( τριετίαν ) of Acts 20:31 , taken in conjunction with "for the space of two years' of Acts 19:10 . On the other hand, according to the non-inclusive way exemplified in the "after six days" of Matthew 17:1 ; Mark 9:2 (compared with the "about eight days" of Luke 9:28 ), the interval denoted may have been no less than three whole years. Since it is to the interest of the apostle's argument to mark the interval at its greatest, the reader will probably be of opinion that, if St. Paul had had in his mind a space of time which was not in reality less than three years, he would have used a form of expression more clearly marking this, and not one which might be easily taken as meaning less; and therefore that the phrase, "after three years," means in reality no more than "in the year after the next, not before." I went up to Jerusalem ( ἀνῆλθον εἰς ἱεροσόλυμα ) . The apostle writes "went up" with a Jew's instinctive feeling of Jerusalem being the capital and centre of his nation and its religion; a feeling which would be all the stronger through the consciousness that it was as yet the capital and centre also of Christendom itself. To see Peter ( ἱστορῆσαι κησᾶν [Receptus, πέτρον ); to acquaint myself with Cephas. As the Greek verb here used—which is found nowhere else in the New Testament, and not found at all in the Septuagint—has been often misunderstood, it seems desirable to give a somewhat full account of the manner in which it is employed in other writers. The verb ἱστορεῖν , derived, through ἵστωρ or ἴστωρ , knowing, learned, from the conjectural root εἴδω , in the older Greek most commonly means "inquire of some one about some person or thing," and is constructed like ἐπερωτᾷν and other verbs of questioning. Thus, Eurip., 'Phaen ,' 621, ὡς τί μ ἱστορεῖς τόδε ; "Ask me this question;" Soph., ' OE d. Tyr.,' 1156, ον οὗτος ἱστορεῖ , "Whom this man is inquiring about." So in Herod., Mark 2:19 . But sometimes, still in the older Greek, it means simply "knowing" or" personally knowing," with no associated notion of asking questions; as e.g. A E sch., 'Pers.,' 454, κακῶς τὸ μέλλον ἱστορῶν , "Ill apprised of the future;" 'Eum.,' 455, πατέρα δ ̓ ἱστορεῖς καλῶς , "My father thou knowest well." In the later Greek it frequently denotes personally acquainting one's self with some object, whether a person or a thing. Here again, as in its use just exemplified from AE schylus, the notion of asking questions is altogether absent. Thus, Josephus, 'Boll. Jud.,' Mark 6:1 , Mark 6:8 , ἀνήρ ὃν ἐγὼ κατ ἐκεῖνον ἱστόρησα τὸν πόλεμον , "When I got personally to know;" ' Ant.,' Mark 8:2 , Mark 8:5 , ἱστόρησα γάρ τινα ἐλεάζαρον , "I have in person Seen Eleazar, releasing demoniacs," etc.; 'Ant.,' Mark 1:11 , Mark 1:4 , ἱστόρηκα δ αὐτήν , "I have myself been and seen it ( i.e. the pillar of salt);" Plutarch, 'Thes.,' 30, τὴν χώραν ἰστορῆσαι , "See, inspect the country;" 'Pomp.,' 40, ἱστορῆσαι τὴν πόλιν , "See, or inspect the city." The result of this evidence is that, in all probability, the apostle means that he went up to Jerusalem to acquaint himself with Cephas. That in the present instance the verb was not at all meant to suggest the notion of questioning, either directly or by implication, though no doubt in the older form of the language it often means questioning, appears from two considerations: