Since Paul is here mentioning several items which indicate his very brief contact with the apostles in Jerusalem, it may be useful to begin verse 19 with a conjunction such as “furthermore” or “moreover” (“Furthermore, I did not see…”).

Not only did Paul stay in Jerusalem for only a brief time; but also he did not see anyone except Peter and James. As Good News Translation indicates, the phrase except James presents a problem of interpretation. Does Paul mean to include James with the apostles? If that is the case, he is saying that he saw no other apostle except James. Or does Paul exclude James from the apostolic group? In that case he is saying “I did not see any of the other apostles; I only saw James” (as in the TEV footnote and in Jerusalem Bible). Either interpretation of the Greek is possible.

James is probably the same person mentioned in Mark 6.3 as Jesus’ brother and is referred to simply as James in Galatians 2.9,12; 1 Corinthians 15.7; Acts 15.13; 21.18. He was known in later tradition as the first bishop of the church in Jerusalem. He should be distinguished from James the Son of Zebedee and James the son of Alphaeus, who were two of the Twelve (Matt 10.2-3).

Depending upon the interpretation which is adopted, the exception of James may be introduced as “I saw only James,” or “the only other apostle was James.” One may then introduce the apposition as a separate sentence: “He is the brother of our Lord.” In this rendering the Lord is often expressed as “our Lord,” since in many languages the relation of people to the Lord must be indicated.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .