…the “your fleshly weakness” interpretation is just the tip of an iceburg

Here is an essay I wrote a few months ago. It is already dated, but it shows why I have a sense that the proposed syntax of Gal 4:13-14 is the “tip of an iceburg”

“In the flesh”:

Recovering the lost grammar of Paul in Galatians

By Gregory Hartzler-Miller

Fall, 2020

Thesis: The following series of grammatical possibilities in Galatians is both interconnected and echoed. Within the epistle, the series is interconnected around Paul’s idea of living life “now in the flesh” by participation in the faithfulness of Jesus. The interconnected series is echoed in Hebrews. Hebrews does not echo Paul’s ambiguous grammar, but echoes both the language of Paul, and the meanings produced if (and only if) the grammatical ambiguities are understood in these particular ways. Furthermore, all the echoes are interconnected around the anonymous author’s idea of Jesus “in the days of his flesh.” Understood as a first century reader-response to Galatians from within the Pauline school, the interconnected echo in Hebrews provides evidence (and maybe even “proof”) that these particular grammatical construals are probably the ones Paul and his first readers would have taken for granted.

A Series of Grammatical Possibilities:

All with reference to living “now in the flesh”,

all significantly different from the prevailing interpretations,

and all resulting in echoes in Hebrews

Instead of “faith in”: Galatians 2:20

“I have been co-crucified with Christ, and I no longer who live, but Christ who lives in me. And so the life which I now live IN THE FLESH, in the faithfulness I live–that of God’s Son (νῦν ζῶ ἐν σαρκί, ἐν πίστει ζῶ τῇ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ), who loved me and gave himself for me.”

It is grammatically possible that Paul was saying that “in the flesh” and in the “now”, his “life” was manifesting the “faithfulness of” God’s Son. Such a sense of “in the flesh” union with the life of Jesus is similar in meaning to a claim Paul makes in 2 Corinthians: “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we the living are always being delivered to death on account of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:10-11).

Instead of sarcastically asking “are you now being made perfect in the flesh?”: Galatians 3:1-5

“O unperceptive Galatians! Who has bewitched you (before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as having been crucified)? I wish only to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law or by hearing of faith? In this, you are so unperceptive! 

Having begun in the Spirit, now IN THE FLESH you are being made perfect (ἐναρξάμενοι Πνεύματι νῦν σαρκὶ ἐπιτελεῖσθε). You have suffered so many things in vain, if indeed in vain. Therefore, the One supplying to you the Spirit and working miracles among you, is it out of works of the Law, or out of hearing of faith?”

It is grammatically possible that the phrase “now in the flesh” (νῦν σαρκὶ) carries the same meaning as Paul’s previous usage of the same words: “now… in the flesh” (“νῦν… ἐν σαρκί” Gal. 2:20). If so, the sentence is a word of encouragement, a blessing. In this rereading, when Paul reminded the audience that “now in the flesh” they were “being made perfect,” he was implicitly speaking of their participation in the life of Jesus. He lamented their seeming inability to perceive that this “miracle” was happening not by “works of the law,” but “by hearing of faith.” They had indeed suffered a lot (this sort of “being made perfect” entailed suffering), but Paul wanted to assure them that such suffering was not in vain. Their suffering was toward an end, a telos, it was an integral part of a process of completion, a legitimately difficult process of maturation. This usage is similar to Paul’s word of encouragement in Philippines where he employs the same pair of arche and telos words: “The One having begun (ἐναρξάμενος) a good work in you will carry it on to perfection (ἐπιτελέσει)…” (Phil. 1:6) Paul modeled striving toward such a perfection while being cautious about claiming to have already attained it (Phil. 3:7-17). Notably, also in Philippians, Paul spoke of his life “in the flesh,” as a sphere suited for “fruitful work” (Phil. 1:22).

Instead of “and though my condition was a trial to you”: Galatians 4:12-15

“Become as I, since I also [have become] as you, brothers, I beg you. You have done me no wrong, but you know that it was because of [your] fleshly weakness that I first preached to you, and [you know that it was because of] your temptation IN MY FLESH (καὶ τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου ) that you did not count as nothing or despise [me], but you received me, as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. Where therefore is your blessedness? For I bear witness that if possible you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.”

It is grammatically possible that when Paul said “I [have become] as you” he was speaking of the ongoing consequences of a pivotal event that took place prior to his arrival in Galatia: He, a “Jew by birth” (that is “according to the flesh”) had been given an experience of the same kind of “fleshly weakness” and “temptation” typically experienced by “Gentile sinners” (Gal. 2:15f). The Galatians received him with a striking intensity which Paul describes in symbolic language. Paul says that they received him “as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.” In this rereading, their response was on account of what they saw and heard through their encounter with the apostle “in the flesh”–through the faith of Christ, who had “loved” and “given himself” for him, the apostle had been empowered to live in faithfulness in the midst of “weakness” and “temptation” just like theirs. Paul calls the temptation “your temptation”, meaning the type of temptation the Galatian “brothers” had experienced as Gentile sinners. 

Paul goes on to describe their response symbolically: “if possible you would have gouged out their eyes and given them to me.” The idea of gouging out one’s own eyes and offering them points to a spirit of willingness to crucify “the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24). The eyes are symbolic of “fleshly desire” (Gal. 5:16, Cf. 1 John 2:16, also Matt. 18:9). Such an intense response to the gospel conforms to Paul’s exhortation in Romans: “…present your bodies a living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1).

Instead of “called to freedom”: Galatians 5:13

“I wish those upsetting you also will cut themselves off! For you were called brothers on condition of freedom: only this freedom is not for an opportunity IN THE FLESH (ἐπ’ ἐλευθερίᾳ ἐκλήθητε ἀδελφοί· μόνον μὴ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν εἰς ἀφορμὴν τῇ σαρκί, ἀλλὰ); but, through love, be slaves to one another.  For the entire Law is fulfilled in this one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, take heed, lest you might be consumed by one another.”

It is grammatically possible that Paul was reminding his Galatian audience that it was only “on condition of” their “freedom” in the faith of Christ that he was able to “call” them “brothers.” Paul thought his opponents wanted to turn the “freedom” of the “brothers” into “an opportunity in the flesh”–meaning they wanted to compel the “brothers” to be circumcised (“Circumcision of the flesh of your foreskin” Gen. 17:11) to make a good impression, to boast “in the flesh” of “the brothers” (ἐν τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ σαρκὶ), and to avoid persecution “for the cross of Christ” (Gal. 6:12-13). Earlier in the epistle, Paul made it clear how he responded to such “false brothers”– of “the circumcision”–who had spied out their “freedom” in order to “enslave” them–he refused to “give in to them for a moment” (Gal. 2:4-13). 

For Paul, brotherly love happens “in the flesh.” Thus, Paul could write to Philemon that he should take back his slave Onesimus “no longer as a slave, but above a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. (Phil. 1:16). 

Clarified with reference to Philemon 1:16, and Galatians 6:13, the sense of Galatians 5:13 may be paraphrased as follows: “For it was on condition of freedom that you were called brothers [in the flesh and in the Lord]; only this freedom is not for an opportunity in the flesh [ie “They want you to be circumcised, so that they may boast in your flesh”]; instead, through love be slaves to one another [imitating the faithfulness of God’s son, who loved and gave himself].” 

An Interconnected Series of Echos In Hebrews

(All related to the life of Jesus “in the days of his flesh”)

…I bear the marks of Jesus 

in my body. (Galatians 6:17)

But we do gaze on the one 

who for a time was made lower than the angels, 

Jesus… (Hebrews. 2:9)

“Faithfulness” of Jesus echoed:

When it is understood that “In the flesh” the apostle Paul was manifesting the “faithfulness” of Jesus, and doing so as a model worthy of imitation, the image of Jesus in Galatians 2:20,  is echoed in Hebrews where Jesus is explicitly called “faithful”–“…faithful to the one who sent him” (Heb. 2:2, Cf 12:2). In Hebrews, the faith(fulness) of Jesus is participatory: ”Now we strongly desire that each of you show the same eagerness for the fullness of hope until the end, so that you may not become lazy, but imitators of those who through faith(fulness) and patience inherit the promises” (6:11-12). “Remember your leaders, who spoke to you the word of God; in reflecting on the outcome of their conduct imitate their faith(fulness).” (Heb. 13:7). 

“Being made perfect” as a legit process echoed:

When the language of beginning and perfecting, arche and telos, is read as a word of encouragement, and living “now in the flesh” is perceived as participation in the suffering of Jesus, Galatians 3:3 is echoed in Hebrews: “For it is fitting that he [God]… in leading many sons to glory, should perfect (τελειῶσαι) the originator (τὸν ἀρχηγὸν) of their salvation through sufferings (παθημάτων).” (Heb. 2:10).  “…let us trace the course which lies before and do it with patience, keeping or eyes on the initiator (ἀρχηγὸν) and perfecter (τελειωτὴν) of our faith, Jesus… (Heb. 12:2) “Who, in the days of his flesh, having offered with a loud cry and tears prayers and petitions to the one able to save him from death, and having been heard because of his reverence even though son, learned from the things he suffered obedience, and once brought to perfection became for all those who obeyed him cause of eternal salvation…” (Heb. 5:7-9). “…leaving behind the word of the beginning (τῆς ἀρχῆς) about the Christ, let us move on to what is most perfect (τὴν τελειότητα), not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith in God…” (Heb. 6:1).

“Becoming as” in respect to “your weakness” and “your temptation” in the sphere of the “flesh” echoed:

When we see Jesus manifested “in the flesh” of the apostle Paul, who, although he had been raised Jewish, “became like” a Gentile sinner in “fleshly weakness” and “temptation” just like theirs, Galatians 4:12-15 is echoed in Hebrews. This idea of an apostle “becoming as” his audience in terms of “temptation” just like theirs in the sphere of “the flesh” is echoed in the portrait of Jesus: “Since, therefore, the children share blood and flesh, he [Jesus] likewise partook in the same… he had to be like his ‘brothers’ in every way… For in what he suffered in his temptation he is able to help those being tempted… Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, carefully consider Jesus, the apostle…” (2:14, 17, 18, and 3:1, Cf. 4:15).

Being “called brothers” echoed:

When interpreted grammatically as a description of being “called brothers” (ἐκλήθητε, ἀδελφοί) on condition of participation in the “freedom” of the faithfulness of Jesus, Galatians 5:13 is echoed in Hebrews: “…both the one sanctifying and those being sanctified are all from one; for which reason he [Jesus] is not ashamed to call (καλεῖν) them brothers (ἀδελφοὺς), saying ‘I shall announce your name to my brothers, in the midst of the assembly I shall sing your praise.” (Heb. 2:11).

Instead of leaning away from the echoes:

I myself have felt a strong impulse is to lean away from such an echos as these. I had to unlearn that! My approach in this re-construal is to lean into the echo. The echos in Hebrews provide first-century reader-response evidence (perhaps even “proof”) that the grammar of Galatians, thus re-consrued, would have been taken for granted by Paul and his first readers.

Scholarly sources for this study

Translation

The translation of the texts from Hebrews is based mainly on that of James Swetnam, SJ, from his book, Hebrews: An Interpretation (2016). His background in the study of Paul’s writings (His dissertation, Jesus and Isaac: A Study of the Epistle to the Hebrews in the Light of the Aqedah, was written under the supervision of Morna Hooker.), and his many previously published close readings of exegetical cruxes in Hebrews makes his little commentary on the structure of Hebrews a very illuminating culmination of his life work. 

“Faith of Christ”

There is nothing original in my reading of the grammar of Galatians 2:20 or in my seeing an echo in Hebrews. The modern pioneer of this reading is Richard Hays and this text was one of a number of texts in the faith of Christ debate. As a result of the debate the scholarly consensus has shifted toward reading Galatians 2:20 as a reference to the faithfulness of God’s son. On reading Hebrews as a reception of Galatians, Ben Witherington provided the model with his article, “The influence of Galatians on Hebrews.” In it, he offered a series of parallels, large and small, which provided convincing evidence that the anonymous author of the book of Hebrews had read Galatians and was profoundly influenced by it. Witherington went on to argue that the image of Jesus as faith’s pioneer and perfecter was a kind of first century commentary on Paul’s grammatically ambiguous faith of Christ statements, thus providing evidence in favor of Hays’ reading of the grammar. What is original is to extend this model of grammatical criticism and intertextual influence to other related texts in Galatians with echoes in Hebrews. 

“Being made perfect”

The argument for Galatians 3:3 is my own. As far as I know, there is no published precedent for it, modern or ancient. This strikes me as odd, because the possibility was so easy to see in light of a participationist reading of 2:20 (the life I now live in the flesh, in the faith I live…”) and in light of Paul’s call to imitate in 4:12 (“Become as I” Cf. Cor. 11:1 “Become imitators of me, as I also Christ”). 

In the context of the overall tone letter, it was helpful to realize Paul’s anger was not directed toward the “brothers.” His strategy was to win them back through encouraging words, all the while focusing his harsh language on the influencers. A rereading of the grammar of Galatians 1:6-7 provided by Troy Martin was useful in this discernment:

“If there are not some who are troubling you and desiring to pervert the gospel of Christ, I am surprised [at you] because you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is not another.” (Gal. 1:6-7)

The logic of this conditional sentence implies that there are indeed some who are troubling the Galatians and, therefore, Paul is not surprised at the desertion of the “brothers”, but understands it and shifts the blame from the Galatians to these agitators.

“Your temptation”

I doubt that I would ever have come to this reading of the grammar without having first read an article on Galatians 4:13-14 by Troy Martin. Martin argues with great precision and depth that Paul was saying that he had “preached the Gospel” not because of his own “fleshly weakness” (presumed to be a bodily illness or injury), but because of his audience’s “weakness of the flesh.” When the missing pronoun is understood as “your” the whole prepositional phrase is paralleled in Romans where Paul wrote unambiguously about his audience’s condition as the occasioning cause for his words spoken to them: “I speak in human terms because of your fleshly weakness.” Martin also did a service by citing a precedent for this reading in Jerome’s Commentary of Galatians. As a result, I got into Jerome as never before. Jerome and Troy Martin have this in common: even when their exegesis is wrong, it is worth pondering. As for the rest of Galatians 4:12-15, I was impressed by the way Martin took it apart, but not at all convinced by his way of putting it back together. I spent a long time considering all possible construals of the phrase “your temptation in my flesh.” In the process, I have consulted a number of scholars with a specialty in Greek New Testament, and they have found my rereadings at least “coherent” and at best “good” (none have expressed any interest in endorsing my rereadings publicly).

“Called Brothers”

It was again Troy Martin who introduced the idea that in Galatians 5:13 αδελφοί is probably a nominative of description rather than the vocative of direct address. Having been immersed in parallels between Galatians and Hebrews, the language of being “called brothers” immediately clicked.

“We see Jesus”

As a student of the life of St. Francis, I had long been intrigued by Paul’s statement, “I bear the stigmata of Jesus in my body.” I had also found the statement in Hebrews striking: “But we do gaze on the one who for a time was made lower than the angels, Jesus...” However, I had never considered them together before this project. When I was pondering the phrase, “your temptation in my flesh” (Gal. 4:14) I was encouraged by the Galatian receptivity. If they could receive the apostle “as Christ Jesus” maybe I could also somehow “see Jesus” manifested Paul’s “flesh” statement. My study of Jerome and his predecessor, Victorinus led me to doubt the conventional interpretations. If Paul had wanted to say what he is usually presumed to have said–that his own “flesh” had put the Galatians “to the test”–would he have used those words in that extremely odd grammatical construal? Rather than settle for the conventional construal, I did a kind of lectio divina in the Greek. I meditated on the phrase τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου as devotion to Christ, and as scholarly inquiry. I did it long enough that I quit caring about the conventional readings, and letting go of forced coherence, kept pressing on toward genuine grammatical coherence.

The resultant echo in Hebrews was problematic. Did the author of Hebrews really get his idea of Jesus being tempted in all ways like us in connection with his reading of Paul’s enigmatic claims in Galatians 4:12-14? After much reflection, I see how it indeed could have been so. The key was to take the leap of contemplatively “seeing” the “flesh” of Jesus manifested in breaking down the dividing wall between so called “Gentile flesh” and “Jewish flesh” (Eph. 2:3, 11 and 15) through “power in weakness”. Very early on, Paul’s writings were read as scripture, albeit difficult to understand (2 Peter 3:16). When I read Galatians as scripture with the proposed grammar, and with a focus on the image of Jesus, I have become convinced I am in the company of another ancient reader, the author of Hebrews, who paid close attention to Paul as one of “those who heard” the Lord (Heb. 3:2).