2:6 But from those who were influential 1 (whatever they were makes no difference to me; God shows no favoritism between people 2 ) – those influential leaders 3 added 4 nothing to my message. 5 2:7 On the contrary, when they saw 6 that I was entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised 7 just as Peter was to the circumcised 8 2:8 (for he who empowered 9 Peter for his apostleship 10 to the circumcised 11 also empowered me for my apostleship to the Gentiles) 12
1 tn Or “influential leaders.” BDAG 255 s.v. δοκέω 2.a.β has “the influential men Gal 2:2, 6b. A fuller expr. w. the same mng., w. inf. added…vss. 6a, 9.” This refers to the leadership of the Jerusalem church.
2 tn Grk “God does not receive the face of man,” an idiom for showing favoritism or partiality (BDAG 887-88 s.v. πρόσωπον 1.b.α; L&N 88.238).
3 tn Or “influential people”; here “leaders” was used rather than “people” for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy with the word “people” in the previous parenthetical remark. See also the note on the word “influential” at the beginning of this verse.
4 tn Or “contributed.” This is the same word translated “go to ask advice from” in 1:16, but it has a different meaning here; see L&N 59.72.
5 tn Or “added nothing to my authority.” Grk “added nothing to me,” with what was added (“message,” etc.) implied.
6 tn The participle ἰδόντες (idontes) has been taken temporally to retain the structure of the passage. Many modern translations, because of the length of the sentence here, translate this participle as a finite verb and break the Greek sentences into several English sentences (NIV, for example, begins new sentences at the beginning of both vv. 8 and 9).
7 tn Grk “to the uncircumcision,” that is, to the Gentiles.
8 tn Grk “to the circumcision,” a collective reference to the Jewish people.
9 tn Or “worked through”; the same word is also used in relation to Paul later in this verse.
10 tn Or “his ministry as an apostle.”
11 tn Grk “to the circumcision,” i.e., the Jewish people.
12 tn Grk “also empowered me to the Gentiles.”