But of these who seemed to be somebody, (whatsoever they were, it makes no matter to me: God accepts no man's person:) for they who seemed to be somebody in conference added nothing to me:
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
If people were reputed to be anything, that was a human reputation, for they themselves are not anything to boast of. For even if they are good ministers of God, it is Christ in them, not they through themselves, who are something. For if they were something through themselves they would always be something. “What they were” at one time means that it is nothing to him that they themselves were sinners. God accepts no one because of the office one holds. He calls all to salvation, not imputing their transgressions to them…. No one should suppose that Paul said [this] to disparage his predecessors, for they too, as spiritual people, wished to stand against the carnal people who thought themselves to “be something” on their own rather than out of Christ in them. They were extremely glad when persuaded that they themselves, Paul’s predecessors, like Paul had been justified by the Lord from a state of sin. But carnal people, if anything is said about their previous life, grow angry and take...
But by those who seemed to be somewhat (supply nothing) was adding to my teaching. The Apostle, as is his wont, breaks off and interpolates a clause (whatsoever they were it maketh nothing to me), and then returns to his subject with a change of case. Peter, James , and John , the chief Apostles, added nothing to me (Anselm).
They who seemed to be somewhat.(1.) These leading Apostles who seemed to be somewhat were illiterate and uncultivated fishermen, whilst I, a Roman citizen, excelled them in zeal and knowledge of the law (Ambrose and Anselm). Since Paul was pressed by the authority of the other Apostles, who were claimed as Judaisers, he exalts his own authority and his own teaching, though with all modesty. This is why he adds, God accepteth no man"s person, as appears from this choice of fishermen to be Apostles. (2.) Augustine turns the όποι̃οι (quales) as implying sinners. No one need trouble to cast in my teeth the sins of my persecuting days, or remind Peter that he d...
[He means] those who have sprung from those same pseudoapostles but nonetheless “are something,” that is, have undergone change and now follow the gospel. Even if they have sprung from these phonies they are now whole, for that is what it is truly to be something. “It is nothing to me,” he says, “what kind of people they were before, at some past time.” And he adds the reason: God shows no partiality but looks at one’s mental attitude and faith. Whether one be Greek or Jew, whether one was anything, is not what God accepts, but what one is and whether one has received faith and the gospel. .
Here he not only offers no defense of the apostles but is hard on the saints so that he may assist the weaker among them. What he is saying is something like this: “If these men enjoin circumcision, they will give an account to God. For God will not accept their persons because they are great and in authority.” Yet he has not said this openly, but sparingly…. And he does not say “what they are” but what they were, indicating that they also later gave up the preaching of circumcision, once the gospel was manifest everywhere…. It is as though he were saying, “I do not condemn or disparage those saints; for they knew what they were doing, and they will give an account to God.”
For those who were reputed to be somewhat, imparted nothing to me:
That is to say, when told of my proceedings, they added nothing, they corrected nothing, and though aware that the object of my journey was to communicate with them, that I had come by revelation of the Spirit, and that I had Titus with me who was uncircumcised, they neither circumcised him, nor imparted to me any additional knowledge.
But from those who were reputed to be somewhat (whatsoever they were, it makes no matter to me, God accepts no man's person.)
Here he not only does not defend the Apostles, but even presses hard upon those holy men, for the benefit of the weak. His meaning is this: although they permit circumcision, they shall render an account to God, for God will not accept their persons, because they are great and in station. But he does not speak so plainly, but with caution. He says not, if they vitiate their doctrine, and swerve from the appointed rule of their preaching, they shall be judged with the utmost rigor, and suffer punishment; but he alludes to them more reverently, in the words, of those who were reputed to be somewhat, whatsoever they were. He says not, whatsoever they 'are,' but were, showing that they too had thenceforth ceased so to preach, the doctrine having extended itself universally. The phrase, whatsoever they were, implies, that if they so preached they should render acc...
He says ‘those who thought of themselves to be’ instead of ‘those who were.’ As he said about himself, I think that I too have the Spirit of God. The sense is this: I do not know, he says, nor do I contest about, the reason, which made those around Peter condescend to circumcision; they know, for they shall have to give an account to God. As for me I know one thing, that when I came, they no longer said anything about the preaching. He was right in saying, “whatever they might be,” for they were not anything, so that he might offer the condescension to the beginning of his preaching and to them.
