Galatians 1 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

The salutation — apostleship not from men 1:1–5

Paul, an apostle —independent — the sender — a verbless superscription, two words before the fight begins

not from men nor through a man,phrase modifier — the denial — neither source (ἀπό) nor channel (διά) human

but through Jesus Christ and God the Father,phrase modifier — the ἀλλά correction — one διά spans Christ and the Father

who raised him from the dead —participial — attributive — the Father identified by the resurrection

and all the brothers who are with me,independent — co-senders — Paul does not stand alone

to the churches of Galatia:phrase modifier — dative of address — the recipients, with no commendation

grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,independent — the greeting — grace and peace from one double source

who gave himself for our sins,participial — attributive — the self-giving expands the bare name

so that he might rescue us out of the present evil age,purpose — ὅπως — the cross as rescue: apocalyptic in the greeting

according to the will of our God and Father,phrase modifier — the norm — the giving willed by the Father

to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.relative — doxology — verbless, sealed with ἀμήν

No other gospel — the astonished rebuke 1:6–10

vv. 6–7 — astonishment where the thanksgiving should be

I am astonishedindependent — one word where every other letter gives thanks

that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christcontent — the charge — present tense, desertion in progress; ὁ καλέσας is God

for a different gospel —phrase modifier — the destination — ἕτερον, a gospel of another kind

which is not another —relative — the correction — there is no second gospel to turn to

except that there are some who are troubling youconditional — εἰ μή exceptive — not a gospel, only agitators

and wanting to pervert the gospel of Christ.participial — the second participle — the aim: to twist Christ's gospel

vv. 8–9 — the double anathema

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we preached to you,conditional — protasis — leans on the verdict below; even Paul, even an angel

let him be accursed.independent — apodosis — the two-word verdict

As we have said before, so now I say again:independent — the repetition formalized — ὡς προειρήκαμεν folded in

if anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you received,conditional — protasis — leans on the verdict below; now εἰ + indicative, the case is real

let him be accursed.independent — apodosis — the verdict repeated verbatim

v. 10 — whose approval? the man-pleaser charge answered

For am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God?independent — ἄρτι picks up v. 9 — does a man just anathematized angels court men?

Or am I trying to please men?independent — the question doubled

If I were still pleasing men,conditional — protasis — leans on the apodosis below; contrary to fact

I would not be a slave of Christ.independent — apodosis — man-pleasing and Christ's slavery exclude each other

The autobiographical thesis — a gospel by revelation, not from man 1:11–24

vv. 11–12 — the thesis stated

For I make known to you, brothers, the gospel preached by me:independent — the disclosure formula — τὸ εὐαγγέλιον fronted as proleptic object

that it is not according to man.content — the thesis — the gospel not of human proportion

For neither did I receive it from a man,cause — the ground — no human transmission (παρέλαβον, tradition language)

nor was I taught it,cause — the ground doubled — no human instruction either

but (it came) through a revelation of Jesus Christ.cause — the ἀλλά — elliptical: revelation, not tradition

vv. 13–14 — the former life: persecutor and zealot

For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism,independent — proof from biography — they already know the story

how I was persecuting the church of God beyond measurecontent — epexegetic ὅτι on ἀναστροφήν — imperfect: a sustained campaign

and trying to destroy it,content — conative imperfect — bent on its destruction

and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my nation,content — still inside the ὅτι — the rising star of Judaism

being far more zealous for the traditions of my fathers.participial — causal — the engine of the advance: zeal for the παραδόσεις

vv. 15–17 — the call, and no conference with flesh and blood

But when it pleased God —conditional — temporal frame (Ὅτε) — leans on εὐθέως οὐ προσανεθέμην (v. 16) below

who set me apart from my mother's wombparticipial — attributive — prophetic call language (Jer 1:5; Isa 49:1)

and called me through his grace —participial — attributive — set apart from birth, called by grace

to reveal his Son in me,content — complement infinitive of εὐδόκησεν — ἐν ἐμοί kept as 'in me'

so that I might preach him among the nations,purpose — the revelation's goal — a Gentile commission from the start

immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood,independent — the main clause at last — εὐθέως: no consultation, from the first

nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me,independent — coordinate — Jerusalem pointedly not visited

but I went away into Arabia,independent — the ἀλλά — away from the apostles, not toward them

and returned again to Damascus.independent — back to Damascus — three years with no Jerusalem contact

vv. 18–20 — the first visit, fifteen days, under oath

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalemindependent — Ἔπειτα — the itinerary's first marker: three years later

to get acquainted with Cephas,purpose — purpose infinitive — ἱστορῆσαι: a visit, not an ordination

and I stayed with him fifteen days;independent — fifteen days — too short to make him a delegate

but I saw none of the other apostles,independent — the denial — no wider apostolic audience

except James the Lord's brother.conditional — εἰ μή exceptive — elliptical: one exception, named

Now as to what I am writing to you —independent — suspended — casus pendens: the record just given

behold, before God:independent — the oath formula — verbless, God as witness

I am not lying.content — the sworn content — the itinerary is testimony

vv. 21–24 — Syria and Cilicia: unknown by face, known by report

Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.independent — second ἔπειτα — away again, north, not to Judea

And I was still unknown by face to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.independent — periphrastic imperfect — a standing state of being unknown

they only kept hearing:independent — periphrastic — the churches knew him by report alone

'The one who once persecuted us is now preaching the faithcontent — the report quoted — ἡμᾶς: the churches' own words

which he once tried to destroy,'relative — on τὴν πίστιν — ἐπόρθει echoes v. 13

and they glorified God because of me.independent — the close — God glorified in the persecutor-turned-preacher

Analysis. Galatians opens fighting, and the colors show it. The salutation (vv. 1–5) is a verbless superscription with a polemic already inside it: two gray modifier lines beneath ἀπόστολος — the denial (οὐκ ἀπ' ἀνθρώπων) and its ἀλλά correction — before the greeting even reaches the recipients; then v. 3's grace-wish grows a christological tail, the teal τοῦ δόντος participle with its amber ὅπως rescue-purpose, closing in a coral doxology. Verses 6–10 are the letter's shock: where every other Pauline opening has a thanksgiving, here a bare purple Θαυμάζω carries a blue ὅτι of desertion, corrected by the coral ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο and its olive exceptive εἰ μή; then the double anathema — twice an olive protasis (even we or an angel from heaven; anyone at all) leans forward on the same two-word verdict ἀνάθεμα ἔστω — and v. 10's protasis leans on the apodosis that renounces man-pleasing. From v. 11 the autobiography runs on flush-left aorists (Γνωρίζω, Ἠκούσατε, οὐ προσανεθέμην, ἀνῆλθον, ἦλθον), each with a short dependent tail — the itinerary's very shape arguing independence from Jerusalem. Interpretive choices the layout takes a side on: τὸ εὐαγγέλιον in v. 11 is read as proleptic object, with the ὅτι clause as the real content of Γνωρίζω; the εἰ μή of v. 7 is exceptive on ὃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο ('not another — only trouble-makers'); τοῦ καλέσαντος (v. 6) is God, not Paul, with ἐν χάριτι the sphere of the call; the Ὅτε frame of vv. 15–16a is a forward-leaning temporal (olive, anchorless) over εὐθέως οὐ προσανεθέμην, with ἀποκαλύψαι complementing εὐδόκησεν; and ἐν ἐμοί (v. 16) is kept as 'in me' — the revelation interior as well as directed.