Galatians 4:12-20
"Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you," Galatians 4:12-20.
Paul started out this epistle to the Galatians very rough, stern, straight forward, and with a broken heart. Paul did not write this letter out of arrogance. He was not looking for a church to drop the hammer on. I do not know of one pastor who would want to write a letter like this to anyone, much less a local church. If you want to write a letter like this, then that means you want someone to mess up so you can write the letter. A loving pastor would never desire for anyone to mess up. Turn to II and III John. "I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father," II John 1:4. "For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth," III John 1:3-4. No one who loves the Lord's church wants to see anyone in sin or straying from the truth.
Paul has been very hard on the Galatians. Multitudes today would even say that Paul was unloving, when in fact, Paul's actions showed how much he really loved the Galatians. Paul told them hard truths. It is very hard to grasp someone's tone in a letter, but we can tell by the words Paul is using that he is writing in a tender tone. Verse 12 starts with the word "brethren", and it means metaphorically, one who is connected with another in any kind of intimacy or fellowship. Jesus Christ is the One who has connected Paul with the Galatians. First the Lord saved Paul, then He used Paul to proclaim the gospel to the Galatians, and then the Lord saved those who were ordained to eternal life. Christ is the One who brought these two parties together. Christ still works this way today. He draws us to Himself, He saves us, we love Him because He first loved us, and one of the results is that we love the brethren, the Lord's church. All kinds of different people meeting together to worship their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We are one in Christ.
Paul goes on in verse 12 to ask, or beg, the Galatians to be as he is. What does Paul mean when he writes to be as he is? He is referring to the freedom he has in Christ. Remember, they are headed where Paul was at before Christ saved his soul. Notice Galatians 5:1 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The goal of the Judaizers was to bring the Galatians under the Mosaic Law. Turn to Colossians 2:20-3:3. They are reminded that they are dead to those things which bring them into bondage and that justification is by God's grace, not the works of the law. Paul gives a description of his life before and after Judaism in Philippians 3:1-11. Christ sets us free from the bondage of the law and of sin to serve Him. Paul tells the Galatians that he is just like them, free from that bondage.
The Galatians did not do Paul wrong when he was with them. In fact, they did Paul and those with Paul right. Look at verses 13-15. "Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me." There is a lot of speculation as to what infirmity Paul is speaking about. It would seem like he is referring to his eyes, but I cannot be dogmatic on that. Whatever the infirmity was, it caused Paul to be with the Galatians. While there he proclaimed the gospel to them. Let us read about this in Acts 13:13-52.
While there, Paul had a temptation in his flesh. "Temptation" in this verse means adversity, affliction, sorrow. "Flesh" in this verse means flesh as used for the body, the corpus, the material nature as distinguished from the spiritual and intangible; of outward afflictions, trials. There was some kind of affliction in Paul's body. Whatever it was, it was obvious, and it affected Paul. The Galatians did not look down on Paul or write him off because of this affliction. They actually had compassion on him. The Judaizers would use this affliction to run Paul down. They would say Paul was afflicted with sickness in his body proved he was not truly sent by God. This way of thinking is popular in our day as well. When something bad happens to someone, it is almost automatic for people to think that person must have done something bad and that is why they are afflicted. Blessings for obedience, and cursing's for disobedience. But this is not always the case. Read the book of Job. His friends were sure that Job was in disobedience, but he wasn't. Read John 9, the apostles were sure that the blind man had sinned in his mother's womb, or that his parents sinned when he was in the womb and that is why he was born blind. But that was not true either. Turn to Acts 28:1-6. Sometimes bad things happen to people just for the glory of God. If you want to say that is not fair, if we all got what was fair to us, we would all be in the torments of hell.
The Galatians loved Paul in-spite of his fleshly infirmities. They loved him so much that if it were possible, they would have plucked out their own eyes and given them to Paul. Our eyes are the most treasured part of our body. The Galatians treated Paul as if he was Jesus Christ. They loved him, and they loved what he taught them, but now their faithfulness is in question. This breaks Paul's heart. Paul is bringing to remembrance how they viewed Paul at the beginning, hoping they will see that false doctrine will cause them to see him differently. Paul pointed them to Christ, false doctrine points them away from Christ. Lord, please give us doctrinally sound preachers, and doctrinally sound churches.
Please send questions and comments to richardsonbaptistchurch@gmail.com. Soli Deo Gloria.
