149 “Those of the Circumcision” (Gal 2:12) Meaning, Reference and Origin RAINER REUTER According to a certain lexicographical consensus the phrase οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς is interpreted either as meaning Jewish Christians or simply Jews. A closer observation of the verses shows that in all cases οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς means “circumcised people,” “Jews”. When New Testament authors refer to Christian Jews it is always indicated by special reference markers in the context. The same is the case in Gal 2:12. While the meaning of οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς is Jews, the reference demanded by the context are James-people as Christian Jews. Moreover, Paul used this particular phrase because of its special semantic extension. In the Pauline corpus constructions with οἱ ἐκ … either mean the social or ethnic origins of a person or a basic theological orientation. The latter meaning fits best in Gal 2:12 because the following context shows a strong contrast between οἱ ἐκ πίστεως and ὅσοι ... ἐξ ἔργων νόμου and its synonym οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς. Therefore οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς in Gal 2:12 means Jews, refers to the James-people and characterises them as zeal- ous observers of Torah. 1. Gal 2,12 and its Current Interpretations When dealing with the so called “Antiochian Incident” (Gal 2,11-21), the biblical scholar faces two main problems. The first one is a textcritical difficulty in Gal 2,12 concerning the variant readings ἦλθεν and ἦλθον.1 The depiction of the Antiochian incident directly depends on this text- critical decision. Following the Nestle-text reading ἦλθον, the episode can be described like this: when Peter came to the Antiochian2 church (Gal 2,11), he shared table-fellowship with the gentile Christians (Gal 2,12a), 1 The singular form is read by “good and ordinarily reliable witnesses” (B.M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Stuttgart / New York 21994) 523 like P46, ), B, D*, F and G. Because this reading seems also to be the lectio difficilior, it might be preferred. The decision of the editors of NESTLE / ALAND and GNT, though, judges the singular form as an imitation of that in v. 11 or as “influenced by careless assonance with the immediately preceding and following verbs that end in –εν” (Metzger, Textual Commentary 524). 2 Most probably Syrian Antioch is meant here (cf. among others H.D. BETZ, Galatians. A Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Churches in Galatia, (Hermeneia, Philadelphia 1979) 105. According to Jos Bell 7,43-45 there was a huge Jewish community and many gentiles in close connection to it. Filología Neotestamentaria - Vol. XXII - 2009, pp. 149-160 Facultad de Filosofía y Letras - Universidad de Córdoba (España)