Gal 4:14 καὶ τὸν πειρασμν μου [ὑμῶν] ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου

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Gregory Hartzler-Miller
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Gal 4:14 καὶ τὸν πειρασμν μου [ὑμῶν] ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου

Post by Gregory Hartzler-Miller »

I am experimenting with a perhaps novel argument to explain the textual variant in Gal 4:14 -- καὶ τὸν πειρασμν μου [ὑμῶν] ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου. I would like feedback on the argument.

Thesis: μου is Paul's wording/intention, and ὑμῶν is a later interpretation of his meaning.

Consider the question in light of the Pauline parallel where ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου also appears:

"For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.…" Romans 7:18-19

Although the word πειρασμν does not appear in this context, the situation described is indeed a temptation scenario -- the "temptation" is the struggle with the desire to do wrong. According to Origen of Alexandria's interpretation of this Romans text, Paul is using "I" language, but this is only a theatrical persona, and he really means to refer to the temptation of his audience, "you."

By analogy, when Paul says καὶ τὸν πειρασμν μου ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου, a reader (Origen of Alexandria, or someone with his point of view) could argue that what Paul really means is τὸν πειρασμν ὑμῶν. Thus the variant.
Gregory Hartzler-Miller
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Re: Gal 4:14 καὶ τὸν πειρασμν μου [ὑμῶν] ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου

Post by Gregory Hartzler-Miller »

Further note:

According Jerome, Galatians commentary at 4:14 καὶ τὸν πειρασμν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου (although Jerome was commenting on the Old Latin text, he presumably would have had the Greek in view), Paul put the Galatians to the test by the fleshy way that he delivered his proclamation. Paul preached with a pretense (simulatio) of fleshy weakness. "Become as me, for I have becomes as you" -- weak. His weakness in preaching was an act to become like them in their (not his) "weakness of the flesh" ("become as me, for I have becomes as you" -- weak). (Tr. Andrew Cain, 2000)

I cite this in support of the idea that the variant reading τὸν πειρασμν ὑμῶν comports well with a theory that Paul here, in his preaching, is doing theater, pretending, for the sake of reaching his spiritually immature audience at their level.
Gregory Hartzler-Miller
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Re: Gal 4:14 καὶ τὸν πειρασμν μου [ὑμῶν] ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου

Post by Gregory Hartzler-Miller »

τὸν πειρασμν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου

Setting aside interpretation within a larger context for the moment, with this clause isolated as such, is there a grammatical problem with interpreting it to mean the following?

"Your" subjective "temptation" located/perceptible "in my flesh" subjectively (through my sympathy or empathy).
Stephen Carlson
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Re: Gal 4:14 καὶ τὸν πειρασμν μου [ὑμῶν] ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Gregory Hartzler-Miller wrote:Setting aside interpretation within a larger context for the moment, with this clause isolated as such, is there a grammatical problem with interpreting it to mean the following?
Unfortunately, grammaticality needs context.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Gregory Hartzler-Miller
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Re: Gal 4:14 καὶ τὸν πειρασμν μου [ὑμῶν] ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου

Post by Gregory Hartzler-Miller »

Stephen Carlson wrote:Unfortunately, grammaticality needs context.
For context, how about this?

Adaptive mutual “becoming as” was Paul’s apostolic modus operandi.[1] Thus begins his remembrance of his first proclamation of the gospel in Galatia: “Become as I, for I also became as you.” As we read of Paul’s account of what happened in Galatia when he first announced the gospel in that place, let us seek to think like Paul by keeping this question in mind: In what sense did Paul “become as” them?

Skipping, for the moment, what did not happen – “you did me no wrong” – we come to what did happen, as Paul remembers it: “...because of weakness of the flesh, I announced the gospel to you...” (δι’ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς). We find a close parallel in Paul’s letter to the Romans: “I speak in human terms (ἀνθρώπινον), because of the weakness of your flesh.” (δι’ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς ὑμῶν). Returning to Galatians, let us think like Paul, allowing his model to read into the gaps: “...because of [your] weakness of the flesh, I announced the gospel to you [in human terms]...” This reading of the gaps is proves to be a context congruent enhancement inasmuch as it addresses our question of how Paul “become as” them – He became like the Galatians with respect to their “weakness of the flesh.” Furthermore, this reading anticipates the “human” quality of the next clause: “[Your][2] temptation in my flesh (σαρκί).” Paul became like them “humanly” in the specific sense of empathically bearing their “temptation” in his own “flesh.”

With this Galatian’s “temptation” in mind, let us return to what did not happen: “...you did me no wrong...” Although Paul does is not accuse them of doing him wrong, with his use of the conjunction δέ, a mild adversative, meaning “but, on the other hand,” we see a hint that they came close. In saying, “You did me no wrong; on the other hand, it was because of [your] weakness of the flesh, I announced the gospel...” Paul suggests he delivered his message in an atmosphere ripe with “temptation” to do wrong; thus, foreshadowing how, in his own “flesh,” he empathized with their “temptation.”

Reading on, skipping for the moment what did not happen next – “you did not scorn or despise me” – we come to what did happen according to Paul’s recollection: “... you received me, as an angel of God, as Jesus Christ.” The Galatians were in awe! Paul describes their “blessedness” using a metaphor, perhaps a colloquialism, which is, for us, obscure: “... had it been possible you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.” Perhaps this refers to devotion: “If possible, you would have plucked out your hearts and given them to me!” In this case, the focus on seeing is reminiscent of his earlier appeal to the Galatians “...before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed as having been crucified!” Their eyes were presumably “wide open” and “glued on” him with rapt attention.

For Paul, being in Christ means “having crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Central to crucifixion, is the agonizing, humiliating, public shaming process, which transpires in the time between hanging and dying. Paul who preached in weakness also wrote, “...the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26). Did his prayerful presence involve not only intelligible words but also “groaning” in the Spirit? In his writing, he tries to give the Galatians a sense such agonized presence: “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you... I wish to be present with you now and to change my tone... I am in want of you.” How would Paul’s audible tone have sounded when, in the flesh, he spoke in the persona of a mother in the hopeful agony of birthing? We can only imagine what it would have been like to see Paul in the flesh and hear his spoken words in such a one-man passion play.The Galatians not only “heard with faith” but also saw with faith.

With this sort of dramatic enactment in mind, let us re-read what did not happen in Galatia during that first announcement of the gospel: “...you did not scorn (ἐξουθενήσατε) or despise...” This language of derision is paralleled in the letter to the Corinthians where Paul portrays his opponents saying, “[Paul’s] letters are weighty and strong, but the presence of his body (σώματος) is weak (ἀσθενὴς) and his speech contemptible (ἐξουθενημένος)." Paul’s opponents, in his view, were taking direct aim at his apostolic modus operandi -- his presence in voluntary adaptive weakness. Apparently, sometime after Paul’s departure, such opponents influenced the Galatians to doubt the validity of the spiritual experience Paul facilitated. Paul asks: “Who bewitched you?” “What became of your blessedness?” “Have I become your enemy?” The reference to “scorning and despising” likely alludes to the criticisms of such opponents whose influence began after Paul’s departure.

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[1] Paul elaborates his model of apostolic adaptability as follows: “...whereas I was free as to all, I made myself the servant of all, that I might gain the more. And I became to the Jews, as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews: To them that are under the law, as if I were under the law, (whereas myself was not under the law,) that I might gain them that were under the law. To them that were without the law, as if I were without the law, (whereas I was not without the law of God, but was in the law of Christ,) that I might gain them that were without the law. To the weak, I became weak, that I might gain the weak. I became all things to all people, that I might save all.” (1 Cor. 9:19-23) See also: “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into wrongdoing, and I do not burn?” (2 Cor. 11:9) This implies that when Paul said, to those lacking the self-control needed for singleness, "It is better to marry than to burn," Paul was speaking empathically -- when you stumble and "burn", I "burn" too, in my flesh.

[2] The textual variant, “my temptation in my flesh” (τὸν πειρασμόν μου τὸν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου) better suits the grammatical and syntactical context, it also sounds more like Paul, paralleled, for example, in this first person “speech in character”, where Paul speaks in the voice to a person lamenting self-control, thus showing empathy for audience members struggling with such angst: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh (ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου); for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not” (Romans 7:18). I regard this reading --“τὸν πειρασμόν μου”-- as “original” to the form of the letter which was sent; I think it also represents the kind of “speech in character” Paul used in his first proclamation in Galatia. On the other hand, I regard the better attested and more difficult form (τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν) as being very ancient, perhaps a change made by Paul, and preserved the form of the letter retained in his personal collection of his letters; this variant being beneficial for of students who wanted to think like Paul the empath about what had happened.
Gregory Hartzler-Miller
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Re: Gal 4:14 καὶ τὸν πειρασμν μου [ὑμῶν] ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου

Post by Gregory Hartzler-Miller »

Gregory Hartzler-Miller wrote:I am experimenting with a perhaps novel argument to explain the textual variant in Gal 4:14 -- καὶ τὸν πειρασμν μου [ὑμῶν] ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου. I would like feedback on the argument.

Thesis: μου is Paul's wording/intention, and ὑμῶν is a later interpretation of his meaning.
To Stephen Carlson and all,

I have studied Carlson's wonderful dissertation on the text of Galatians. I stand corrected. The combination of high quality manuscripts (as assessed using by state of the art stemmatics analysis) and the principle of the more difficult reading weigh overwhelmingly in favor of καὶ τὸν πειρασμν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου

Best,

Gregory
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