Paul the Apostle, using his magnificent Holy Spirit induced logic, asks the Galatian Christians: “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” Galatians 4:16

Paul had earlier told them that they were being “deceived” by a group of wrong headed Preachers from a city far away! (For example … “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth?” Galatians 3:1)

Apparently, some of the Galatians bristled at Paul’s implication!

Hence, today’s Text and its simple question. “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?”

This Line reminds me of Proverbs 27:6, and may have been Paul’s basis for the query. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”

Wow!

Psalm 141:5 is astounding as well, in this particular context! “Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.”

Or what about Revelation 3:19 Jesus Himself talking? “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

Sounds like, in Bible parlance: IF YOU LOVE PEOPLE, YOU WILL AT LEAST TELL THEM THE TRUTH!

And not to tell the truth, to “lie” instead? “He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.” Proverbs 10:18

Come to think of it, if you preach Jesus to anyone … you are automatically telling him or her the truth! Because our Lord taught, declared: “I am the Truth!” John 14:6

And Paul had certainly preached Jesus to the Galatian people! 

But these “weak” Christians in that primitive Roman (heathen) Province had come to the place they were about to spurn the Truth … and accept a bunch of lies! 

Thus becoming “slaves” to “error!”

So Paul warned them, directly so!

Oh, the Lord Jesus again: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32, indeed! Yes, the Truth delivers from such erroneous slavery!

If you have a Preacher who does that each week, tells you the truth, do not be offended! Thank God for him! And treat him as a friend, certainly not as an enemy!

“Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” Galatians 4:16, a short verse today, but well worth pondering!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Oh yes, there’s a balance here. We are also to be “speaking the truth in love“ (Ephesians 4:15) … but still “speaking the truth” nonetheless!

 

Paul is reminiscing!

His mind has gone back to the “good old days” at Galatia!

When the people there (folks who had recently been saved by the Grace of God) loved him dearly!

Back when he was called “blessed” by this band of new Believers!

“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.” Galatians 4:15

In essence, Paul is wondering “What has happened?”

Then, still in “memory mode,” Paul thinks of the Galatian response to one of his physical weaknesses. Two verses ago he mentioned some “infirmity of the flesh.” One verse ago he called it a “trial,” literally a “temptation.” 

And we strongly suspect this … one of Paul’s maladies concerned his “eyesight.” 

Yes, God’s servants often battle physical ailments, handicaps, sicknesses!

Job’s breath stank! (See both Job 17:1 and again in Job 19:17.)

Jacob had a limp! (See Genesis 32:31.)

And Paul … what a list! (But here in our verse today “eyesight” seems to be the issue at hand.)

Maybe since that “Bright Light” … the Day Paul was saved by God’s Grace! (He was totally bind for three days, if you recall. Did he ever get over that, completely?)

Maybe since contracting some debilitating disease (that settled in his eyes) when traveling ancient germ-infested areas, preaching God’s Word!

Maybe simply from reading, studying so hard! (Poor lighting back in those tents, no doubt.)

(We think Paul seldom wrote with his own hand … after this eye disease reached its peak! His huge Epistle to the Romans, by ancient letter standards, was written by another hand, though Paul dictated the words! “I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.” Romans 16:22, in the Epistle’s very last paragraph! This Tertius must have been a “hired” scribe.)

(And even here in Galatians, when Paul “signs” this Letter at its end … he is forced to write in very large letters! Again evidence of failing sight! “Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.” Galatians 6:12, the “letters of the alphabet being discussed, not the length of the Galatian “Letter,” which is relatively short by Paul’s standards.)

Wow!

Anyway … the Galatian Christians loved Paul so (considered him so “favored” of God, and so “blessed” by the brethren everywhere he went) that some of them would have gladly given him their eyes, had it been possible!

This Paul believes sincerely … and so testifies to the his people … “for I bear you record” of this love, he dictates!

“… that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.” Again our Text, Galatians 4:15.

“Plucked out” translates the Greek verb “exorusso,” meaning “to dig” out, clearly meaning their very eyeballs! (“Exorusso” is only used twice in the whole New Testament, and is translated “broken up” in Mark 2:4.) A dramatic verb!

Paul’s “point” is to emphasize the love and sacrifice the Galatians were once (and a few of them might still so love the Apostle) willing to expend on his behalf!

But lately, false teaches have arrived in the Province … and were trying to turn the hearts of the Churches away from Paul and his “Gospel of Grace” … toward the Law of Moses and its stringency!

Oh, how things can change!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

If you love someone in the Lord .. be faithful to that friendship!

In Jesus … “There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24)

Hallelujah!

 

Paul, who is being “belittled” by some of his own converts in the Roman District known as Galatia, passionately reminds his flock …

“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.” Galatians 4:14

In other words, Paul is saying: “There have been other days when you did not discount me!” He’s referring to the very beginning of his ministry in Galatia. That would have been at least a year earlier, and some experts believe as many as three years.

Wow!

“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.”

The noun “temptation” merely means “a piercing trial.” (In Greek the noun is spelled “peirasmos.”) Paul’s “flesh” refers to his physical body. “Sarx” actually means (literally) something which is not lasting, which will be “swept away,” and maybe soon!

The verb “despised” means “to make as nothing.” But it’s implying the opposite here (since the adverb “not” is used) … thus meaning something like “holding a person in high regard!” Considering him “valuable,” maybe even “priceless!”

And “rejected,” nearly a synonym, means “spitted out!” Actually I think it’s “spat out!” They did not disdain Paul’s Sermons, his glorious Message about the Gospel of Grace, instead … they highly esteemed this Truth, and swallowed it whole!

Then the antonym “received” translates the Greek verb “dechomai,” meaning “to EAGERLY accept” a person or a gift! To take something in approvingly, with great delight!

Yes, back in (circa) 48 AD (on Paul’s first Missionary journey, way back when Barnabas was his traveling companion) these Gentile Galatians loved Paul dearly! 

To this degree, according to our Text this morning … “but (you all) received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.”

Wow!

I recently heard a preacher criticizing Paul for even writing these lines! He though Paul vain and proud to even remotely compare himself to an “angel,” much less to “Jesus Christ!”

I disagree.

Paul here is merely reporting (historically) what really happened in Galatia. (Once in Lystra the people though Paul to be a god! After he had miraculously healed a lame man! “And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.” Wow, 2 heathen gods, and this is pure Bible history, quoted from Acts 14:12!)

They at least in that sense received Paul gladly!

But Paul may have meant even more, by his bold statement: “ye received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.”

The Greek noun “angel,” spelled “aggelos,” indeed means just this, “messenger!” Which Paul indeed was … to these Galatians!

So Paul is quite accurate thus far … in what he has claimed! Paul the Preacher!

But (also) as “Christ Jesus?”

Maybe THAT is going “too far?”

No!

Because Jesus Himself once taught … “He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.” Mark 10:40 (Repeated in Luke 9:48 and John 13:20!)

Wow, this is one of the relatively rare instances where John (nearly) directly quotes both Matthew and Luke!

So if the Galatians received Paul’s God-sent Message of salvation from Paul … it was indeed the equivalent of receiving that Message from Jesus Himself! 

So in the end … Paul is right.

Just reporting events as they actually occurred.

And Paul is NOT vain or proud.

Still, the verse is astounding!

Loving a man one year … hating him the next! When that man risked his life … to tell you about Jesus, about eternal life!

Human nature, how fickle, especially without Jesus!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Why don’t you tell someone about Jesus today?

 

Read with me Galatians 4:13 again. Yes, we broached this Verse yesterday in our last Lesson. Paul writes his converts: “Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.” 

Paul might have never even preached in Galatia, the Roman Province containing cities like Lystra, Derbe and Iconium, had it not been for a certain “infirmity” in his body, in his flesh!

Was that “weakness” (for so the Greek word “astheneia” is defined) something like malaria, which contagion often raged in much of the territory Paul and his team would have traversed on that now famed Second Missionary Journey? A malady the human body never fully gets over, never completely recuperates!

Or was it “injury” resulting from his being stoned (to death) in Lystra, in south Galatia itself. Recorded by Luke in Acts 14:19? “And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.”

Wow!

Some also wonder if it was a recurrence (or the very onset perhaps) of Paul’s “thorn in the flesh?” So poignantly described in 2 Corinthians 12?

Or was it (based on Galatians 4:15, only two verses removed from our Text today) some sort of eye disease that rendered Paul obnoxious in his physical appearance? (Other New Testament Texts do hint that Paul had some sort of eye trouble. Galatians 6:11 being one of them.)

Truthfully, wo do not know for sure the essence of Paul’s “infirmity” in the flesh. 

We only know that it apparently slowed down the evangelistic party’s pace for a while, making it necessary to preach in the area of Galatia! (Either that, or do nothing while Paul mended, regained strength. And as you well know, inactivity was NEVER a part of Paul’s nature!)

“Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.” 

I wish we knew more!

Sickness … but not retirement!

Weakness in the flesh, but obviously not in the spirit!

Not in Paul’s mind or will or emotions!

Sick … but still preaching!

Oh … to be more like Paul in that stark resolution!

Almost a holy stubbornness!

An “I will not quit” attitude!

The prepositional phrase (at the end of our verse today) “at the first” means either when Paul originally arrived in Galatia. Or on the first of (perhaps) two visits to those cities, those newly founded Churches.

I’m telling you … that sickness made his Galatian Ministry possible!

In fact, Paul seldom seems to have been a totally strong, healthy man.

This great Preacher/Apostle needed a physician to accompany him most places, what dedication to Christ! That would be Dr. Luke, of course!

But to better understand, just look at the short list (written mid-ministry in Paul career) of the trials this man of God weathered: “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” What an awesome resume, found in 2nd Corinthians 11:24-28.

And we are surprised Paul had “infirmities of the flesh?”

He also later reminds us: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” These “marks” no doubt being “scars” from the many beatings, hairbreadth escapes, and dangerous adventures … preaching the Gospel!

And the Galatian Christians can thank God that one of those “weakness” indirectly played a part in their very salvation!

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Maybe someone reading here today is “sick” or “aged” or just “tired” … ready to “back off” from your calling in Christ Jesus. “Lighten up” in your Christian life!

Be like Paul.

Keep on serving Jesus … even through those infirmities!

As long as humanly possible.

 

Recently in our Galatians study we have been spending one whole lesson in a single verse. Sometimes in half a verse, or less!

But today we need to take an overview of three complete verses! In order to get their continuity, to see their proper context. And the Apostle Paul is still being “personal” to his converts in Galatia, sharing memories.

“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. “ Galatians 4:13-15

We’ve all heard of Paul’s “infirmity” (or at least some of his “infirmities”) previously. In 2 Corinthians 12 he called one of them a “thorn in the flesh.” And in 2 Corinthians 11:30 he references “the things which concern my infirmities!” (Yes, this noun is plural!)

And this particular “sickness” (if it indeed was sickness) of Paul’s … attacked him at the very first of his Galatian ministry, apparently. (The noun used here for “infirmity” is “astheneia” in Greek, literally meaning “with no strength.”)

And back then these newborn Christians (of Galatia) accepted Paul, loved him and had (much) compassion on him during these trials! (They certainly did not mock him!)

And, based on the last verse of today’s Text, at least one of these physical (maybe spiritual as well) problems dealt with Paul’s “eyes,” his very sight.

Now, the Lord willing, I am going to continue these thoughts tomorrow … because there is much to say about this (previously unheard of) situation Paul faced in those hostile Gentile lands! (Luke in his Book of Acts does not even mention such an “infirmity” during Paul’s time in Galatia!)

Wow!

Like I say, more tomorrow, the Lord willing.

Paul is one of the most interesting characters in the whole Bible, no doubt about that. (Yet two weeks ago I bought an audio Book, written by a Christian Professor, entitled “Paul Behaving Badly.” I have nearly heard that whole Piece now, and the author actually ends up defending Paul more than criticizing him!) But to me anyway, in my estimation, Paul is one of the greatest Christians who ever lived!

Interesting!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell