SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:1
¶ Pablo, apstol, no de los hombres ni por hombre, sino por Jess, el Cristo, y Dios el Padre, que lo resucit de los muertos,
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Galatians 1:1
Verse 1. Paul, an apostle, not of men] Not commissioned by any assembly or council of the apostles. Neither by man] Nor by any one of the apostles; neither by James, who seems to have been president of the apostolic council at Jerusalem; nor by Peter, to whom, in a particular manner, the keys of the kingdom were intrusted.
But by Jesus Christ] Having his mission immediately from Christ himself, and God the Father who raised him from the dead, see Acts xxii. 14, 15, and commanded him to go both to the Jews and to the Gentiles, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might obtain remission of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified. See Acts ix. 1, &c., and the notes there.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. Paul an apostle, not of men, neither by man , etc..] The writer of this epistle, Paul, puts his name to it, as to all his epistles, excepting that to the Hebrews, if that be his, being neither afraid nor ashamed to own what is herein contained. He asserts himself to be an apostle, which was the highest office in the church, to which he was immediately called by Christ, and confirmed in it by signs and wonders. This he chose to mention, because of the false teachers, who had insinuated he was no apostle, and not to be regarded; whereas he had received grace and apostleship from Christ, and was an apostle, not of men, as were the apostles or messengers of the sanhedrim f1 ; (See Gill on 2 Corinthians 8:23) and as were the false apostles, who were sent out by men, who had no authority to send them forth: the apostle, as he did not take this honour to himself, did not thrust himself into this office, or run before he was sent; so he was not sent by men; he did not act upon human authority, or by an human commission: this is said in opposition to the false apostles, and to an unlawful investiture with the office of apostleship, and an usurpation of it, as well as to distinguish himself from the messengers and ambassadors of princes, who are sent with credentials by them to negotiate civil affairs for them in foreign courts, he being an ambassador of Christ; and from the messengers of churches, who were sometimes sent with assistance or advice to other churches; and he moreover says, nor by man; by a mere man, but by one that was more than a man; nor by a mortal man, but by Christ, as raised from the dead, immortal and glorious at God's right hand: or rather the sense is, he was not chosen into the office of apostleship by the suffrages of men, as Matthias was; or he was not ordained an apostle in the manner the ordinary ministers of the Gospel and pastors are, by the churches of Christ; so that as the former clause is opposed to an unlawful call of men, this is opposed to a lawful one; and shows him to be not an ordinary minister, but an extraordinary one, who was called to this office, not mediately by men, by any of the churches as common ministers are: but by Jesus Christ ; immediately, without the intervention of men, as appears from ( Acts 26:16-18). For what Ananias did upon his conversion was only putting his hands on him to recover his sight, and baptizing him; it was Christ that appeared to him personally, and made him a minister; and his separation with Barnabas, by the church, under the direction of the Holy Ghost, ( Acts 13:2,4) was to some particular work and service to be done by them, and not to apostleship, and which was long after Paul was made an apostle by Christ. Jesus Christ being here opposed to man, does not suggest that he was not a man, really and truly, for he certainly was; he partook of the same flesh and blood with us, and was in all things made like unto us, sin excepted; but that he was not a mere man, he was truly God as well as man; for as the raising him from the dead, in the next clause, shows him to be a man, or he could not have died; so his being opposed to man, and set in equality with God the Father, in this verse, and grace and peace being prayed for from him, as from the Father, ( Galatians 1:4) and the same glory ascribed to him as to the Father, ( Galatians 1:5) prove him to be truly and properly God. The apostle adds, and God the Father ; Christ and his Father being of the same nature and essence, power and authority, as they are jointly concerned and work together in the affairs or nature and Providence, so in those of grace; and particularly in constituting and ordaining apostles, and setting them in the church. This serves the more to confirm the divine authority under which Paul acted as an apostle, being not only made so by Christ, but also by God the Father, who is described as he, who raised him from the dead ; which is observed, not so much to express the divine power of the Father, or the glory of Christ, as raised from the dead, but to strengthen the validity of the apostle's character and commission as such; to whom it might have been objected, that he had not seen Christ in the flesh, nor familiarly conversed with him, as the rest of the apostles did: to which he was able to reply, that he was not called to be an apostle by Christ in his low and mean estate of humiliation, but by him after he was raised from the dead, and was set down at the right hand of God; who personally appeared to him in his glory, and was seen by him, and who made and appointed him his apostle, to bear his name before Gentiles, and kings, and the people of Israel; so that his call to apostleship was rather more grand and illustrious than that of any of the other apostles.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-5 - St. Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ; he was expressly appointed by him, consequently by God the Father, who is one with him in respect of his Divine nature, and who appointed Christ as Mediator. Grace includes God's good-will towards us, and his good work upon us; an peace, all that inward comfort, or outward prosperity, which is reall needful for us. They come from God the Father, as the Fountain, throug Jesus Christ. But observe, first grace, and then peace; there can be n true peace without grace. Christ gave himself for our sins, to make atonement for us: this the justice of God required, and to this he freely submitted. Here is to be observed the infinite greatness of the price bestowed, and then it will appear plainly, that the power of sin is so great, that it could by no means be put away except the Son of God be given for it. He that considers these things well, understand that sin is a thing the most horrible that can be expressed; whic ought to move us, and make us afraid indeed. Especially mark well the words, "for our sins." For here our weak nature starts back, and woul first be made worthy by her own works. It would bring him that is whole, and not him that has need of a physician. Not only to redeem u from the wrath of God, and the curse of the law; but also to recover u from wicked practices and customs, to which we are naturally enslaved But it is in vain for those who are not delivered from this presen evil world by the sanctification of the Spirit, to expect that they ar freed from its condemnation by the blood of Jesus.
Greek Textus Receptus
παυλος 3972 αποστολος 652 ουκ 3756 απ 575 ανθρωπων 444 ουδε 3761 δι 1223 ανθρωπου 444 αλλα 235 δια 1223 ιησου 2424 χριστου 5547 και 2532 θεου 2316 πατρος 3962 του 3588 εγειραντος 1453 5660 αυτον 846 εκ 1537 νεκρων 3498
Vincent's NT Word Studies
1. An apostle. This title is prefixed to Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians. Here with special emphasis, because Paul's apostleship had been challenged.
Of men - by man (ap anqrwpwn - di anqrwpou). Better, from men - through man or a man. In contradiction of the assertion that he was not directly commissioned by Jesus Christ, like the twelve, but only by human authority. From men, as authorising the office; through man, as issuing the call to the person. He thus distinguishes himself from false apostles who did not derive their commissions from God, and ranks himself with the twelve. Man does not point to any individual, but is in antithesis to Jesus Christ, or may be taken as = any man.
By Jesus Christ. See Acts xi. 4-6; 1 Cor. xi. 1.
And God the Father. The genitive, governed by the preceding dia by or through. The idea is the same as an apostle by the will of God: 1 Corinthians i. 1; 2 Cor. i. 1; Eph. i. 1. Dia is used of secondary agency, as Matt. i. 22; xi. 2; Luke i. 70; Acts i. 16; Hebrew i. 2. But we find dia qelhmatov qeou by the will of God, Rom. xv. 32; 1 Cor. i. 1; 2 Cor. i. 1, etc., and dia qeou by God, Galatians iv. 7. Also dij ou= (God), 1 Cor. i. 9; Hebrew ii. 10.
Who raised him from the dead (tou egeirantov auton ek nekrwn). It was the risen Christ who made Paul an apostle. For resurrection the N.T. uses ejgeirein to raise up; ejxegeirein to raise out of; egersiv raising or rising; ajnistanai to raise up; ajnastasiv and ejxanastasiv raising up and raising up out of. With nekrov dead are the following combinations: ejgeirein ajpo twn nekrwn (never apo nekrwn) to raise from the dead; ejg. ejk nek. or twn nek. to raise out of the dead; ajnasthsai to raise, ajnasthnai to be raised or to rise ejk. nek. (never apo); ajnast. ejk. nek.; or twn nek. resurrection of the dead; ajnast. ejk. nek.; ejxanastasiv ejk. nek rising or resurrection out of the dead or from among. It is impossible to draw nice distinctions between these phrases. 41
Robertson's NT Word Studies
1:1 {Not from men, neither through men} (ouk ap' anqrwpwn oude di' anqrwpou). The bluntness of Paul's denial is due to the charge made by the Judaizers that Paul was not a genuine apostle because not one of the twelve. this charge had been made in Corinth and called forth the keenest irony of Paul (#2Co 10-12). In #Ga 1; 2 Paul proves his independence of the twelve and his equality with them as recognized by them. Paul denies that his apostleship had a human source (ouk ap' anqrwpwn) and that it had come to him through (di' anqrwpou) a human channel (Burton). {But through Jesus Christ and God the Father} (alla dia iesou cristou kai qeou patros). The call to be an apostle came to Paul through Jesus Christ as he claimed in #1Co 9:1 and as told in #Ac 9:4-6; 22:7ff.; 26:16ff. He is apostle also by the will of God. {Who raised him from the dead} (tou egeirantos auton ek nekrwn). And therefore Paul was qualified to be an apostle since he had seen the Risen Christ (#1Co 9:1; 15:8f.). this verb egeirw is often used in N.T. for raising from the sleep of death, to wake up the dead.
