Five-minute study · Day 48 · Galatians 1
Galatians 1:6
A word worth stopping on: removed μετατίθημι metatithemi
Every other letter Paul writes opens with thanksgiving. 'I thank God for you.' 'Grace and peace.' 'I always pray for you.' Galatians has none of that. He skips every courtesy and goes straight to the accusation: 'I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you.' The word for 'deserting' is a military and political term. The word means they have defected.
Word study: removed
- Greek
- μετατίθημι
- Pronounced
- metatithemi
- Strong's
- G3346
- Definition
- To transfer, to desert, to change sides. Used for military desertion, political defection, and philosophical apostasy.
Metatithemi means to move from one place to another, to transfer allegiance. In military contexts, it described a soldier abandoning his post or switching to the enemy's side. In political usage, it referred to defecting from one party to another. Josephus (Antiquities 7.262) uses it for political turncoats. Polybius uses it for those who change philosophical schools.
Paul's use is present middle: metatithesthe, 'you are transferring yourselves.' The middle voice makes it active and voluntary. They are not being dragged away. They are walking. And the present tense means the defection is underway, still in progress, not yet complete. Paul writes while the desertion is happening.
Longenecker, in his Galatians commentary, notes that Paul also adds 'so quickly' (houtos tacheos). The speed of the defection stuns him. He had been with the Galatians recently. The false teachers had moved in after he left, and the congregations were already shifting their allegiance. The tone of the entire letter flows from this opening salvo: no thanksgiving, no warmth, just the shock of a commander discovering his troops have gone over to the other side.
Historical context · Late 40s or early 50s AD
The Letter With No Thank You
Ancient letters followed conventions. A typical Greek letter opened with the sender's name, the recipient's name, a greeting, and a prayer or thanksgiving. Paul's letters generally follow this pattern. Romans opens with a theological essay of thanksgiving. Philippians opens with 'I thank my God every time I remember you.' First Corinthians, written to a church with severe problems, still opens with thanksgiving.
Galatians breaks the pattern. After the briefest identification and greeting (1:1-5), Paul moves directly to 'I am astonished.' No thanksgiving. No commendation. No prayer. The absence is loud. Hans Dieter Betz, in his Hermeneia commentary on Galatians, identifies the letter's structure as following the conventions of a forensic speech: an apologia, a legal defense. Paul is mounting a courtroom argument.
The crisis was specific. Teachers had come to the Galatian churches after Paul left and told the gentile converts they needed circumcision and Torah observance to be fully saved. The gospel Paul had preached, justification by faith in Christ, was being supplemented with requirements Paul considered a betrayal of the entire message. Metatithemi captures his assessment: this is desertion from the gospel itself.
For reflection
Paul was astonished by the speed of the defection. Think about a conviction you once held firmly that eroded faster than you expected. What was the 'different gospel' that pulled you, and when did you notice the shift?
Metatithemi is present tense. The desertion was still happening. Paul caught it in progress. Some drifts can still be reversed.
Sources: BDAG Lexicon; Longenecker, 'Galatians' (WBC); Betz, 'Galatians' (Hermeneia)