Galatians 1:23 They only heard the account: "The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."
But they were only hearing that "the one formerly persecuting us now is preaching the faith which once he was destroying."
They had only heard that the one who had been cruel to them was now preaching the message that he had once tried to destroy.
They knew only what others were saying: "The man who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith that he once tried to destroy!"
They were only hearing, "The one who once persecuted us is now proclaiming the good news of the faith he once tried to destroy."
The only thing they had heard was this: "The man who persecuted us is now spreading the faith that he once tried to destroy."
but they had only heard, That he who persecuted us in time past now preaches the faith which he once destroyed.
But they had heard only, That he who persecuted us in times past now preaches the faith which once he destroyed.
But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preaches the faith which once he destroyed.
All who heard him were astounded and asked, "Isn't this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?"
Now there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits. They would say, "I bind you by Jesus, whom Paul proclaims."
Strong's Greek 4199: To lay waste, destroy, ravage, harass. Prolongation from pertho; to ravage.
(23) Had heard.--Rather, were hearing.
Verse 23. - But they had heard only (μόνον δὲ ἀκούοντες η΅σαν); and they only from time to time heard say. They did not see him in person, but only heard about him. The dilated imperfect, ἀκούοντες η΅σαν, applying to the whole space of time here referred to, suggests the insertion in the translation of the words, "from time to time." The ὅτι is inserted after the Greek idiom in introducing the very words spoken in oratio directa, as in Matthew 7:23; Mark 2:1; John 1:40; John 4:1, etc. That he which persecuted us in times past (ὅτι ὅ διώκων ἡμᾶς ποτε); he that once was persecuting us. The διώκων is in the procter-imperfect participle, of which we have examples in Τυφλὸς ὤν ἄρτι βλέπω, John 9:25; Οἵ ποτε ὄντες Ephesians 2:13; Τὸ πρότερον ὅντα βλάσφημον, 1 Timothy 1:13. Now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed (νῦν εὐαγγελίζεται τὴν πίστιν ἥν ποτε ἐπόρθει); now preacheth the faith which once he was making havoc of. The use of the term "faith" is the same as in Acts 6:7, "Were obedient to the faith," which is equivalent to the "obeying the gospel" mentioned Romans 10:16. The object to the verb εὐαγγελίζομαι is always something which is announced, never a thing which is required (cf. e.g. Luke 2:10; Acts 5:42; Acts 10:36; Ephesians 2:17; Ephesians 3:8); so that "faith" here cannot mean the faith which men are to render to Jesus, but the doctrine which they are to believe, to wit, that Jesus is Christ the Saviour. We have here the early beginnings of that objective sense in which afterwards the word got to be so commonly used in the Church to denote the Christian doctrine (see Bishop Lightfoot's essay 'Galatians,' pp. 154-158). In the second clause, "which he was sometime making havoc of," the "faith" is identified with the Church which held it (comp. ver. 13). We may heartily accept Estius's comment, cited by Meyer, "Quia Christi fidelibus fidem extorquere nitebatur," while we still think it intolerably harsh to understand "faith," as Meyer does, in a subjective sense.