Challenging (4292) (prokaleo [in the middle voice = prokaleomai] from pro = before, forward + kaleo = call) literally means to call forth or call before (middle voice = call before oneself), and thus to invite or challenge to combat, to contest, to provoke or to irritate. This is the only NT use of prokaleo.
Vincent comments that proskaleo means...
calling forth, challenging, and so stirring up strife. Very common in Classical Greek writings.
Bruce writes that prokaleomai...
used of mutual challenges to combat or athletic contest; it can be extended to other areas of life, as in Philo’s story of Demosthenes who, when challenged to a slanging match, declined because, as he said, the winner would come off worse than the loser (De Agricultura [Philo] 110). The spirit which Paul here deprecates has a refined manifestation in challenge to theological debate; perhaps it was in this way that the Galatians were challenging one another. (Ibid)
Hansen surmises that...
In their concentration on keeping the law, the Galatian believers had become very competitive in their spiritual life, attempting to outdo each other. To provoke means to challenge to a contest. Some were so sure of their spiritual superiority that they wanted to prove it in a contest. (Hansen, G. W. Galatians. The IVP New Testament Commentary Series. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press)
Matthew Poole writes...
Provoking one another is an effect of the former, disposing us, out of hope of victory, to challenge others to a contest with us. Or it may be understood of provoking others by injuries and wrongs done them; which is contrary to the duty of love. (Matthew Poole. Matthew Poole's Commentary on the New Testament)
One another (240) (allelon) means each other and speaks of a mutuality or sharing of sentiments between two persons or groups of persons, in this case evil or malignant sentiments! As each one challenges and envies the other, the effect is not edifying but but is like Paul described in Galatians 5:14 as "biting and devouring one another", a picture of saints who are not walking by the Spirit, but being empowered by the flesh, the end of which is they consume one another.
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Greek Word Studies ( - )
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