The Jewish Annotated New Testament (273 page)

29
:
Abraham’s offspring
(or “seed”), united with Christ, believers receive Christ’s status as Abraham’s offspring (see 3.16n.). In rabbinic Judaism, by accepting the Torah converts are deemed to be the offspring of Abraham, and consequently permitted to join native Jews in praying to “Our God and God of our fathers” (
y. Bik
. 1.4.64a).

4.1
–7: Sons and heirs. 1
:
Heirs … minors … slaves … owners
, all these nouns are singular in the original (see 3.23–29).

2
:
Guardians
(“epitropoi,” sing. “epitropos”), a Gk word meaning “guardian” or “trustee,” appearing frequently in rabbinic literature for a guardian of a child.

3
:
Elemental spirits
(or “the rudiments”), polytheistic piety previously observed by the Gentile Galatians (4.8–9) and possibly also Torah observance. Paul’s implicit equation of the two is striking. See also Col 2.8,20.

4
:
Fullness of time
, cf. Mk 1.15; Eph 1.10. Many rabbis believed that the messiah would arrive at a time predetermined by God (
b. Ketub
. 111a;
b. Sanh
. 97b).
Born of a woman
, not necessarily implying divine paternity, cf. Job 14.1; Mt 11.11.
Under the law
, lit., “under law,” i.e., as a Jew.

5
:
Those who were under the law
, cf. 4.21n. This phrase would seem to refer to Jews, but Paul goes on to say
we
, indicating “we humans,” cf. 3.26; 4.3.
Adoption
, Paul changes his metaphor, from becoming adults (4.1–2) to being adopted (cf. Rom 8.14–17). An alternative translation is “sonship” (as in Rom 9.4) denoting the relationship between God and his special people.

6
:
Spirit of his son
, Paul distinguishes between Christ and God (1.1n.; 1 Cor 8.6), but not between the Spirit and Christ (Rom 8.9–10). In the fourth century the Nicene Creed distinguished God the Father, God the Son (Christ), and the God the Spirit. This Trinitarian conception is unknown to Paul and is barely attested in the NT (Mt 28.19).
Abba! Father
, cf. Mk 14.36; Rom 8.15. Rabbinic theology, following biblical precedent (Deut 14.1 and Jer 31.20), often conceived of God as father and Israel as son or sons. Still, although rabbinic prayers were sometimes directed to “our father in heaven” (e.g.,
m. Sot
. 9.15) or “our father our king” (e.g.,
b. Ta’an
. 25b), no rabbinic prayers invoke God as
Abba
, which affects a level of intimacy with the divine that made the rabbis uncomfortable (see
m. Ta’an
. 3.8).

4.8
–11: Avoiding the pagan past. 8–9
:
Beings
…
elemental spirits
, see 4.3n. Paul accuses the Galatians of wanting to return to pagan worship and juxtaposes this accusation to an attack on Torah observance, suggesting that these are the same.

10
:
Days … years
, usually understood as referring to Jewish calendrical observance. Cf. Rom 14.5–6; Col 2.16.

4.12
–20: Paul as exemplar. 13
:
Physical infirmity
, v. 15 may suggest eye trouble.
Gospel
, see 1.6n.
First
, or “on the prior” occasion, suggesting Paul visited Galatia twice (see Acts 16.6; 18.23).

14
:
Though my condition put you to the test, you did not scorn or despise me
, lit., “and that which was a temptation to you in my flesh, you did not reject or despise.” Because of Paul’s ailment the Galatians might have rejected him, cf. Ps 22.25.
As an angel of God, as Christ Jesus
, the Galatians showed Paul the same respect they would have shown to a heavenly representative.

17
–18
:
They
, Paul’s opponents, who teach Torah observance and exclude the non law-observant, cf. 2.12.
Make much
, or “seek out.”

19
:
Pain of childbirth
, Paul, like Moses (Num 11.12; cf. 1 Thess 2.7) imagines himself a mother in labor. In 1 Cor 4.15 and 1 Thess 2.11 he calls himself a father. Paul regularly refers to his followers as “children” (1 Cor 4.14; 2 Cor 6.13; 1 Thess 2.11).
Until Christ is formed in you
, the Galatians too are “pregnant”!

4.21
–5.1: Allegory of Hagar and Sarah. 21
: The Greek distinguishes
subject to the law
, lit., “subject to law,” without the definite article, from
listen to the law
, with the definite article (see Rom 3.21). Without the definite article,
law
(“nomos”) usually means something general like “legal observances” as in the phrase “subject to law” or “under law” (3.23; 4.4–5; 5.18; Rom 6.14–15). With the article
the law
usually refers to the Bible, specifically Torah (3.10,19; 5.3). Similarly in rabbinic idiom “the Torah” (“ha-Torah”) usually refers to the Written Torah, while “Torah” refers to something much broader, Oral Torah. Cf.
m. Avot
1.1 “Moses received Torah (not “the Torah”) at Sinai.”
Listen to the law
, listen to what scripture says.

22
:
It is written
, Gen 16; 21.

24
: In an
allegory
, literal meaning is not the real meaning. Allegories typically represent moral qualities or philosophical concepts as concrete entities such as persons, or places. Allegories are present in the Hebrew Bible (see e.g., Isa 5). Philo, the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher, Paul’s older contemporary, understands many biblical stories as allegories. For example, Abram’s journey from Chaldea to Canaan (Gen 12) represents the soul’s ascent from the world of matter to that of the spirit. For Philo, allegorical meanings complement or supplement literal meanings; Paul’s language suggests that the allegorical meaning negates the literal meaning. Numerous rabbinic texts (e.g.,
Gen. Rab
. 65.21) understand the conflict between Esau and Jacob (Gen 25–33) as representing the conflict between Israel (Jacob) and Rome (Edom, Esau). Hagar, a slave who bears children into slavery, represents the Sinaitic covenant.

25
–26
:
Jerusalem … with her children
, on Zion as mother, see Isa 49.14–23; 66.8. Textual variants show that ancient readers were not sure how to understand Paul’s identification of Hagar with Sinai.

25
–26
:
Jerusalem
, when speaking of Jerusalem as a symbol, Paul uses the Hebrew (“Ierousalēm”); speaking of the actual place (1.17–18; 2.1), he uses the Gk (“Hierosolyma”).
Present Jerusalem … Jerusalem above
, various biblical verses depict God as building the Jerusalem Temple (Ex 15.17; Ps 78.69) or Jerusalem itself (Ps 147.2; perhaps Ps 87). This Pauline passage seems to be the earliest attestation of the idea that a heavenly Jerusalem corresponds to the earthly one, the former built by God, the latter built by humans. After the Temple’s destruction in 70 CE, this idea takes on a consolatory function: earthly Jerusalem is destroyed but heavenly Jerusalem endures (
4 Ezra
[2 Esd] 7.26; Rev 3.12; 21.1–3;
b. Ta’an
. 5a). Paul understands the relationship between earthly and heavenly Jerusalem to be not complementary but adversarial. Contrast Heb 12.22.

27
: Isa 54.1.

29
: That Ishmael
persecuted
Isaac is based on a midrashic reading of Gen 21.9.

30
: Gen 21.10.

5.1
:
Yoke of slavery
, Torah observance and pagan worship. Cf. Acts 15.10. Rabbinic literature, too, occasionally refers to Torah piety as the “yoke of the commandments” (
m. Ber
. 2.2;
Sifra
on Lev 11.43) or “the yoke of the kingdom of heaven” (
m. Ber
. 2.2;
b. Ber
. 14b), but for the rabbis this rhetoric serves to justify not the rejection of the commandments, as in Paul, but their affirmation.

5.2
–12: Resisting circumcision.
Paul asserts, but does not explain, that seeking righteousness through the law, by means of circumcision, takes away the benefit of salvation through Christ.

2
:
I, Paul
, emphatic (2 Cor 10.1; 1 Thess 2.18).

3
:
Obliged to obey the entire law
, 6.13n.

4
:
Have cut yourselves
, this bad pun is absent from the Greek; lit., “you have become estranged,” or “you have been released from an association.”

6
:
Circumcision nor uncircumcision
(lit., “foreskinhood,” cf. 2.7n.), this does not contradict 5.2. To those who are not circumcised, Paul preaches that they should not accept circumcision; to those who are already circumcised, Paul preaches that they should not remove the marks of circumcision (1 Cor 7.19). See 6.15.
Faith working through love
, faith is a main topic of this epistle, but love is not, although it is significant in some of Paul’s other writings (most notably, 1 Cor 13). Love (“agapē”
)
here anticipates 5.13–14,22 and echoes 2.20. The phrase appears to mean “faith/trust/confidence in God/Christ, made effective by love of God/Christ.”

7
:
Running
, see 2.2.

8
:
One who calls
, God, cf. 1.6n.

9
: 1 Cor 5.6 records the same proverb. Agents of change can be effective even if small. Since leaven can be a symbol of corruption (Mt 16.5–12; 1 Cor 5.7;
b. Ber
. 17a), the proverb might have a negative valence. However, by itself the proverb is neutral. Rabbinic sages also observed that a little bit of leaven goes a long way (
b. Ber
. 34a).

11
:
Still being persecuted
by fellow Jews (cf. 6.12n.).
If I am still preaching circumcision
, apparently Paul’s opponents alleged that he did not really oppose circumcision, and that therefore the Galatian Christians should become circumcised.
Offense
(“skandalon,” lit., “stumbling block”), Jesus’ crucifixion is an offense to Jews because of the freedom from the law that believers claimed as its effect; were the Galatians to submit to circumcision/the law, then the offense to Jews would end. Cf. 1 Cor 1.23.

12
:
Would castrate themselves
, lit., “cut off,” “mutilate.” Cf. Phil 3.2. The Romans sometimes regarded circumcision as a kind of castration; one cause of the Bar Kochba rebellion (132–135 CE) was a Roman ban against Jewish circumcision, an extension of a ban against castration (
Historia Augusta
, “Vita Hadriani” 14.2).