to ascend · verb — second aorist active indicative, 1st person singular
to
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
Jerusalem
ἹεροσόλυμαHi'erosoluma
G2414
Hierosolyma (i.e. Jerushalaim) · noun — accusative plural neuter, a place
to
πρὸςpros
G4314
a preposition of direction · preposition
were
τοὺςtous
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — accusative plural masculine
apostles
ἀποστόλους,apostolous
G652
a delegate · noun — accusative plural masculine
before
πρὸpro
G4253
"fore" · preposition
me
ἐμοῦemoû
G1700
of me
but
ἀλλ᾽all᾽
G235
properly · conjunction
went
ἀπῆλθονapēlthon
G565
to go off (i.e. depart) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 1st person singular
into
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
Arabia
ἈραβίανArabian
G688
Arabia · noun — accusative singular feminine, a place
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
returned
ὑπέστρεψαhupestrepsa
G5290
to turn under (behind) · verb — aorist active indicative, 1st person singular
again
πάλινpalin
G3825
(adverbially) anew · adverb
unto
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
Damascus
Δαμασκόν.Damaskon
G1154
Damascus · noun — accusative singular feminine, a place
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 9:20-25 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
2 Corinthians 11:32-33 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:
Galatians 1:18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Galatians 1:10–end
What Paul had said more generally, in the preface of this epistle, he now proceeds more particularly to enlarge upon. There he had declared himself to be an apostle of Christ; and here he comes more directly to support his claim to that character and office. There were some in the churches of Galatia who were prevailed with to call this in question; for those who preached up the ceremonial law did all they could to lessen Paul's reputation, who preached the pure gospel of Christ to the Gentiles: and therefore he here sets himself to prove the divinity both of his mission and doctrine, that thereby he might wipe off the aspersions which his enemies had cast upon him, and recover these Christi…
went I up--Some of the oldest manuscripts read, "went away."
to Jerusalem--the seat of the apostles.
into Arabia--This journey (not recorded in Acts) was during the whole period of his stay at Damascus, called by Luke (Act 9:23), "many [Greek, a considerable number of] days." It is curiously confirmatory of the legitimacy of taking "many days" to stand for "three years," that the same phrase exactly occurs in the same sense in Kg1 2:38-39. This was a country of the Gentiles; here doubtless he preached as he did before and after (Act 9:20, Act 9:22) at Damascus: thus he shows the independence of his apostolic commission. He also here had that comparative retirement needed, after the first…
Neither went I up to Jerusalem - The aim of the apostle is to show that he had his call so immediately and pointedly from God himself, that he had no need of the concurrence even of the apostles, being appointed by the same authority, and fitted to the work by the same grace and Spirit, as they were.
But I went into Arabia - That part of Arabia which was contiguous to Damascus, over which Aretas was then king. Of this journey into Arabia we have no other account. As St. Luke was not then with him, it is not inserted in the Acts of the Apostles. See introduction to this epistle. Jerusalem was the stated residence of the apostles; and, when all the other believers were scattered throughout the…
The Church Fathers
He set out from Damascus to Arabia, therefore, to preach where none of the apostles had been and where Judaizing had not been promoted through the intrigues of pseudoapostles. And from there he returned again to Damascus so that he could attend to those who were still immature when he preached to them the gospel of God's grace.
How are we to explain this narrative, if we read later that Paul went immediately to Arabia after the revelation of Christ? … He teaches that the Old Testament, that is, the son of the bondwoman, was established in Arabia. And so, as soon as Paul believed, he turned to the Law, the Prophets and the symbols of the Old Testament that were then lying in obscurity and sought in them the Christ whom he was commanded to preach to the Gentiles.
[PHOTIUS] Paul said this more clearly, showing that he was not taught by the apostles but by Christ himself. He did not, he says, go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles before me and to learn anything from them. For he did go up to Jerusalem from Damascus, as the Acts indicate, (Acts 9:2) but not to be instructed, rather to preach Christ himself and to teach the faith. For just as he says he went into Arabia preaching and then again into Damascus, so likewise to Jerusalem. "but I went into Arabia." When it was recounted concerning the towns to which he had gone, the remarkable deeds that had been done there by him fell silent, because they were of great modesty of spirit.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Arabia — Arid, an extensive region in the south-west of Asia. It is bounded on the west by the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the east by the Persian Gulf and the…
Damascus — Activity, the most ancient of Oriental cities; the capital of Syria (Isa. 7:8; 17:3); situated about 133 miles to the north of Jerusalem. Its modern name is Esh-Sham; i.e., “the East.” The situation…
Elijah — Whose God is Jehovah. (1.) “The Tishbite,” the “Elias” of the New Testament, is suddenly introduced to our notice in 1 Kings 17:1 as delivering a message from the Lord to Ahab. There is mention made…
Paul — =Saul (q.v.) was born about the same time as our Lord. His circumcision-name was Saul, and probably the name Paul was also given to him in infancy “for use in the Gentile world,” as “Saul” would be…
Peter — Originally called Simon (=Simeon, i.e., “hearing”), a very common Jewish name in the New Testament. He was the son of Jona (Matt. 16:17). His mother is nowhere named in Scripture. He had a younger…
Arabia · Paul visits — Paul visits
Arabians · Gospel preached to — Gospel preached to
Damascus · 11:32; — 11:32;
Ishmaelites, The · Probably preached to by Paul — Probably preached to by Paul
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Neither went I up to Jerusalem,.... That is, immediately, as soon as he was converted, not till three years after, as follows; though by the account which Luke gives of him, Acts 9:23 and by that which the apostle gives of himself, Acts 22:17 it looks as if he went to Jerusalem some little time after his conversion, and before the date here given: and therefore some have thought that he did go up to Jerusalem pretty quickly, when, praying in the temple, he fell into a trance, and was ordered to make haste from thence, and go far hence unto the Gentiles and accordingly he made no stay, did not go to any of the apostles, and neither saw nor conversed with any of them, which is what he here say…
Galatians 1:15-24
15. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
15. At postquam placuit Deo, qui me segregaverat ab utero matris meae, et vocavit per gratiam suam,
16. To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
16. Revelare Filium suum mihi, ut praedicarem ipsnm inter Gentes, continuo non contuli cum carne et sanguine;
17. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
17. Neque redii Hierosolymam, ad eos qui ante me fuerunt Apestoli; sed abii in Arabiam, ac denuo reversus sum Damas…
those who were apostles before I was: Paul put his own apostleship in the same category as the original disciples (see 1 Cor 9:1; 15:5-9; cp. Acts 1:22; 10:41). • Paul’s trip to Arabia is not mentioned elsewhere; his understanding of the Good News was apparently formed during that time. Paul knew the Scriptures (see Acts 22:3), the claims of the first Christians (see Acts 8:1), and what others had told him since his conversion.
