Galatians 1:24 - Exposition

And they glorified God in me ( καὶ ἐδόξαζον ἐν ἐμοὶ τὸν θεόν ); and they were glorifying God in me ; that is, for what they recognized as God s work in me and through me; in my own conversion, and in my effective ministering of the gospel to others. The ἐν denotes the sphere in which they found occasion for praising God. Instances of a somewhat similar use of the preposition are 1 Corinthians 4:2 , ζητεῖται ἐν τοῖς οἰκονόμοις : 1 Corinthians 4:6 , ἵνα ἐν ἡμῖν μάθητε : 1 Corinthians 9:15 , ἵνα οὕτω γένηται ἐν ἐμοί . The sentence is not essential to the line of thought in 1 Corinthians 9:21-23 . The apostle was probably prompted to add it by the complacency which he felt in the interest and sympathy which in those days the Jewish Churches showed towards him—sentiments which afterwards faded too much away into those of suspicion and alienation (comp. Acts 21:21 ). He rejoices to remember, and he will have the Galatian Churchmen know, that once the believers of the circumcision were proud of him, and were satisfied that he was preaching the true gospel of Christ. And his preaching was the same now as it had been then.