Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Galatians: Chapter 2].
reconnoitre, to make a treacherous investigation. {That they
might bring us into bondage} (\hina h•mas katadoul•sousin\).
Future active indicative of this old compound, to enslave
completely (\kata-\) as in 2Co 11:20. Nowhere else in N.T. This
was their purpose (\hina\ and future active indicative of this
causative verb). It was as serious a conflict as this. Spiritual
liberty or spiritual bondage, which?
2:5 {No, not for an hour} (\oude pros h•ran\). Pointed denial
that he and Barnabas yielded at all "in the way of subjection"
(\t•i hupotag•i\, in the subjection demanded of them). The
compromisers pleaded for the circumcision of Titus "because of
the false brethren" in order to have peace. The old verb \eik•\,
to yield, occurs here alone in the N.T. See 2Co 9:13 for
\hupotag•\. {The truth of the gospel} (\h• al•theia tou
euaggeliou\). It was a grave crisis to call for such language.
The whole problem of Gentile Christianity was involved in the
case of Titus, whether Christianity was to be merely a modified
brand of legalistic Judaism or a spiritual religion, the true
Judaism (the children of Abraham by faith). The case of Timothy
later was utterly different, for he had a Jewish mother and a
Greek father. Titus was pure Greek.
2:6 {Somewhat} (\ti\). Something, not somebody. Paul refers to
the Big Three (Cephas, James, and John). He seems a bit
embarrassed in the reference. He means no disrespect, but he
asserts his independence sharply in a tangled sentence with two
parentheses (dashes in Westcott and Hort). {Whatsoever they were}
(\hopoioi pote •san\). Literally, "What sort they once were."
{Hopoioi} is a qualitative word (1Th 1:9; 1Co 3:13; Jas 1:24).
Lightfoot thinks that these three leaders were the ones who
suggested the compromise about Titus. That is a possible, but not
the natural, interpretation of this involved sentence. The use of
\de\ (but) in verse 6 seems to make a contrast between the
three leaders and the pleaders for compromise in verses 4f.
{They, I say, imparted nothing to me} (\emoi gar ouden
prosanethento\). He starts over again after the two parentheses
and drops the construction \apo t•n dokount•n\ and changes the
construction (anacoluthon) to \hoi dokountes\ (nominative case),
the men of reputation and influences whom he names in verses
8f. See the same verb in 1:16. They added nothing in the
conference to me. The compromisers tried to win them, but they
finally came over to my view. Paul won his point, when he
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