What did the Judaizers want? According to Galatians 6:12, they wanted to make a “good show” in the flesh. The verb for “making a good show” ( euprosopeo ) is a hapax in the NT and very rare elsewhere, but we might make a go at translating and interpreting through etymology. The word is clearly linked with prosopon , “face,” and the idea is perhaps that the Judaizers want to have “good face” through insisting that Gentiles observe circumcision and other Jewish customs. They are “saving face,” and from there you can plug into Paul’s comment all we’ve learned about honor in the ancient world from Jerome Neyrey and others.
Beyond that, the LXX uses euprosopos in Genesis 12:11 in Abram’s compliment to Sarai’s beauty. Might Paul have known that? Might the Judaizers seek “good face” by trying to claim Sarai as mother?
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