John T wrote: ↑Fri May 27, 2022 6:19 am
James the Just is not the source of the infliction, therefore James the Just can not be a thorn in Paul's side.
There is no one named "James the Just" in the New Testament, of course.
My project is to read Galatians as a coherent letter. I don't think Gal 4:12-14 is interpreted correctly by those who say Paul was ill or injured when he proclaimed the gospel to the Galatians. As you know, I have an alternative to the traditional translations:
Become as I, since I also became as you. Brothers, I beg of you.
You have not wronged me, but
you know that it was because of
[your] fleshly weakness and that I proclaimed the Gospel to you originally,
and
[you know that it was because of] your temptation in my flesh that you did not count as nothing or reject me, but as an angel of God you welcomed me--even as Christ Jesus.
As I read the syntax, Paul became as the Gentile Galatians, "weak with the weak" with respect to their Gentile "fleshly weakness." One key is "your fleshly weakness" (as pointed out by Troy W. Martin, Whose Flesh, JSNT)
Compare Rom 6:19,
I am speaking in human terms, because of
your fleshly weakness (διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς
ὑμῶν). For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.