Galatians 1:6-10

Jonathan Robie
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Galatians 1:6-10

Post by Jonathan Robie »

6 Θαυμάζω ὅτι οὕτως ταχέως μετατίθεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς ἐν
χάριτι Χριστοῦ εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, 7 ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο· εἰ μή τινές εἰσιν
οἱ ταράσσοντες ὑμᾶς καὶ θέλοντες μεταστρέψαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ.
8 ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐὰν ἡμεῖς ἢ ἄγγελος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ⸀εὐαγγελίζηται ⸀ὑμῖν παρʼ ὃ
εὐηγγελισάμεθα ὑμῖν, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω. 9 ὡς προειρήκαμεν, καὶ ἄρτι πάλιν
λέγω, εἴ τις ὑμᾶς εὐαγγελίζεται παρʼ ὃ παρελάβετε, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω.
10 Ἄρτι γὰρ ἀνθρώπους πείθω ἢ τὸν θεόν; ἢ ζητῶ ἀνθρώποις ἀρέσκειν; ⸀εἰ
ἔτι ἀνθρώποις ἤρεσκον, Χριστοῦ δοῦλος οὐκ ἂν ἤμην.
Textual variants:

ΠΡΟΣ ΓΑΛΑΤΑΣ 1:8 εὐαγγελίζηται Treg NIV RP ] εὐαγγελίσηται WH • ὑμῖν WH Treg RP NA ]
– NIV
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
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cwconrad
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Gal 1:7 ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο

Post by cwconrad »

Gal 1:6
Θαυμάζω ὅτι οὕτως ταχέως μετατίθεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς ἐν χάριτι [Χριστοῦ] εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, 7 ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο, εἰ μή τινές εἰσιν οἱ ταράσσοντες ὑμᾶς καὶ θέλοντες μεταστρέψαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ.
I’ve always been intrigued by the phrasing of ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο. I really don’t think there’s any question regarding its meaning, but I think its syntax is less than self-evident. I take it that the antecedent of the relative pronoun ὃ us simply εὐαγγέλιον, not ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον. But how is ἄλλο linked to the pronoun, and what account can we give for the positioning of ἄλλο? I can see two ways of construing these elements:
(1) We should understand ὃ as representing the noun εὐαγγέλιον and we should understand ἄλλο as an attributive adjective (English: “There is no other gospel.”
(2) We may understand ὃ as a relative pronoun with εὐαγγέλιον as its antecedent and we might understand ἄλλο as an adjective functioning adverbially (English: “which doesn’t exist alternatively.”

Thoughts? (I confess I haven’t looked at commentaries).
Is there any parallel to this construction to which anyone can point?
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Stirling Bartholomew
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Re: Gal 1:7 ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

cwconrad wrote:Gal 1:6
Θαυμάζω ὅτι οὕτως ταχέως μετατίθεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς ἐν χάριτι [Χριστοῦ] εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, 7 ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο, εἰ μή τινές εἰσιν οἱ ταράσσοντες ὑμᾶς καὶ θέλοντες μεταστρέψαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ.
I’ve always been intrigued by the phrasing of ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο. I really don’t think there’s any question regarding its meaning, but I think its syntax is less than self-evident. I take it that the antecedent of the relative pronoun ὃ us simply εὐαγγέλιον, not ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον. But how is ἄλλο linked to the pronoun, and what account can we give for the positioning of ἄλλο?
RE: position of ἄλλο in ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο, one way of looking at it: ἄλλο is the focus constituent placed at the end. Another way of saying this, [οὐκ] ἄλλο is the new information in the ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο clause.
C. Stirling Bartholomew
Jonathan Robie
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Re: Galatians 1:6-10

Post by Jonathan Robie »

If Galatians 1:1-5 is a standard opening greeting (with a little variation), then this is the first sentence after the opening greeting:
Θαυμάζω ὅτι οὕτως ταχέως μετατίθεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς ἐν χάριτι [Χριστοῦ] εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον
Ouch. Imagine you open a letter and that is the first sentence!
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
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Eeli Kaikkonen
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Re: Gal 1:7 ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο

Post by Eeli Kaikkonen »

cwconrad wrote: I take it that the antecedent of the relative pronoun ὃ us simply εὐαγγέλιον, not ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον.
Why? If it's ἕτερον ε., not simply ε., it means something like "which really isn't gospel at all". Quite simple and natural to me.

(1) We should understand ὃ as representing the noun εὐαγγέλιον and we should understand ἄλλο as an attributive adjective (English: “There is no other gospel.”
Do you mean that "gospel" is a generic class and ὃ could be understood as "in which group there is no other than the one"? Sounds possible to me.
(2) We may understand ὃ as a relative pronoun with εὐαγγέλιον as its antecedent and we might understand ἄλλο as an adjective functioning adverbially (English: “which doesn’t exist alternatively.”
This sounds more far-fetched. Do you have any parallels for this possibility, maybe with different words?
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Re: Galatians 1:6-10

Post by cwconrad »

Jonathan Robie wrote:If Galatians 1:1-5 is a standard opening greeting (with a little variation), then this is the first sentence after the opening greeting:
Θαυμάζω ὅτι οὕτως ταχέως μετατίθεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς ἐν χάριτι [Χριστοῦ] εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον
Ouch. Imagine you open a letter and that is the first sentence!
Actually, of course, it's not the irst sentence of the letter, but the phrasing of the identity of the sender in the opening formula of this letter already signals a sharp confrontational stance.

I don't know whether there's been any study of the rhetoric of Paul's emotional expression toward his addressees and opponents, but I continue to think (although my suggestion of this a few years ago was met with disdain), that Paul's "thanksgiving" in the opening of 1 Cor is deliberately ironic if not in fact sarcastic -- in view of the types of Corinthian congregational misbehavior that he proceeds to lambaste in the chapters that follow:

1 Cor 1:4
Εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ μου πάντοτε περὶ ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τῇ χάριτι τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ δοθείσῃ ὑμῖν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, 5 ὅτι ἐν παντὶ ἐπλουτίσθητε ἐν αὐτῷ, ἐν παντὶ λόγῳ καὶ πάσῃ γνώσει, 6 καθὼς τὸ μαρτύριον τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐβεβαιώθη ἐν ὑμῖν, 7 ὥστε ὑμᾶς μὴ ὑστερεῖσθαι ἐν μηδενὶ χαρίσματι ἀπεκδεχομένους τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ·
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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Re: Gal 1:7 ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο

Post by cwconrad »

Eeli Kaikkonen wrote:
cwconrad wrote: I take it that the antecedent of the relative pronoun ὃ us simply εὐαγγέλιον, not ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον.
Why? If it's ἕτερον ε., not simply ε., it means something like "which really isn't gospel at all". Quite simple and natural to me..
I would rather have thought that would mean, "which is not another gospel." Does that make sense? "An alternative gospel is not a different gospel."
Eeli Kaikkonen wrote:
cwconrad wrote: (1) We should understand ὃ as representing the noun εὐαγγέλιον and we should understand ἄλλο as an attributive adjective (English: “There is no other gospel.”
Do you mean that "gospel" is a generic class and ὃ could be understood as "in which group there is no other than the one"? Sounds possible to me.
Yes, that's what I had in mind.
Eeli Kaikkonen wrote:
cwconrad wrote:
(2) We may understand ὃ as a relative pronoun with εὐαγγέλιον as its antecedent and we might understand ἄλλο as an adjective functioning adverbially (English: “which doesn’t exist alternatively.”
This sounds more far-fetched. Do you have any parallels for this possibility, maybe with different words?
I think it's far-fetched myself! That's why I asked for parallels myself.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Eeli Kaikkonen
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Re: Gal 1:7 ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο

Post by Eeli Kaikkonen »

cwconrad wrote:
Eeli Kaikkonen wrote: Why? If it's ἕτερον ε., not simply ε., it means something like "which really isn't gospel at all". Quite simple and natural to me..
I would rather have thought that would mean, "which is not another gospel." Does that make sense? "An alternative gospel is not a different gospel."
I'm not sure if I follow you, but let me clarify. "Which isn't another [gospel]" because there's only one gospel. Therefore it's not a gospel at all or at least it can't be called "gospel". Maybe my interpretative paraphrase above was too vague. Does "another gospel, which really isn't another gospel at all" make better sense? Do ἕτερον and ἄλλο have difference here?
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Re: Galatians 1:6-10

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

6 Θαυμάζω ὅτι οὕτως ταχέως μετατίθεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ καλέσαντος ὑμᾶς ἐν
χάριτι Χριστοῦ εἰς ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, 7 ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο· εἰ μή τινές εἰσιν
οἱ ταράσσοντες ὑμᾶς καὶ θέλοντες μεταστρέψαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ.
8 ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐὰν ἡμεῖς ἢ ἄγγελος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ⸀εὐαγγελίζηται ⸀ὑμῖν παρʼ ὃ
εὐηγγελισάμεθα ὑμῖν, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω. 9 ὡς προειρήκαμεν, καὶ ἄρτι πάλιν
λέγω, εἴ τις ὑμᾶς εὐαγγελίζεται παρʼ ὃ παρελάβετε, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω.
10 Ἄρτι γὰρ ἀνθρώπους πείθω ἢ τὸν θεόν; ἢ ζητῶ ἀνθρώποις ἀρέσκειν; ⸀εἰ
ἔτι ἀνθρώποις ἤρεσκον, Χριστοῦ δοῦλος οὐκ ἂν ἤμην.
11 Γνωρίζω γὰρ ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοί, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον
τὸ εὐαγγελισθὲν ὑπ᾿ ἐμοῦ ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν κατὰ ἄνθρωπον·
Curious to know how the γὰρ v10 functions here relative to the information structure. Not sure what to make of it. The γὰρ in verse 11 may contribute.
C. Stirling Bartholomew
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Re: Gal 1:7 ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο

Post by cwconrad »

Eeli Kaikkonen wrote:
cwconrad wrote:
Eeli Kaikkonen wrote: Why? If it's ἕτερον ε., not simply ε., it means something like "which really isn't gospel at all". Quite simple and natural to me..
I would rather have thought that would mean, "which is not another gospel." Does that make sense? "An alternative gospel is not a different gospel."
I'm not sure if I follow you, but let me clarify. "Which isn't another [gospel]" because there's only one gospel. Therefore it's not a gospel at all or at least it can't be called "gospel". Maybe my interpretative paraphrase above was too vague. Does "another gospel, which really isn't another gospel at all" make better sense? Do ἕτερον and ἄλλο have difference here?
Granted that Paul doesn't believe that there's "another gospel," I still am not satisfied that "because there's only one gospel" is the implicit logical ground for the assertion, ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο. Nor am I sure that we're understanding each other here. I said that I thought that only εὐαγγέλιον, not ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, was the antecedent of ὃ; I thought you were holding that the whole phrase (ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον) was the antecedent of ὃ. I don't think that ἕτερος is quite equivalent to ἄλλος; ἕτερος means "alternative" -- one of two distinct XX -- while ἅλλος is "other" -- any one of several distinct XX. So again I raise the question: can ἅλλος function adjectivally with the pronoun ὅ? Are we to understand ὃ ἄλλο as the subject of οὐκ ἔστιν? If so, I'm still puzzled by the positioning of ἄλλο following ἔστιν.

I'm toying with another thought: the relative pronoun sometimes involves an implicit included antecedent; that's particularly common in if-clauses of ὅστις ... or ὅς ... conditional constructions. Is it conceivable that ὃ in Gal 1:7 is to be understood that way? If so, then the whole clause would be τὸ ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο (εὐαγγέλιον): : "that other one which doesn't exist". This would be a little like Aristotle's phrase that's equivalent for ἤ οὐσία: τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι -- "being what it was/is".

Let me reiterate here that I'm asking questions rather than offering answers in which I have any confidence. I continue to find the phrasing of this clause awkward.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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