Day 3
Lisa Scheffler, author
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I’ve seen people become so devoted to a program — whether it be for diet, exercise or learning a new skill — that sticking to the program’s guidelines became more important than the reason they started the program in the first place. Any results that were gained became secondary to the rules that produced them.
One of Paul’s points in Galatians chapter 3 all the way to 4:11 is something similar. Believers are in Christ and filled with his Spirit. They become God’s children and heirs. But the Galatian Christians were making the works of the law more important than what the law pointed to — a relationship with God.
No wonder Paul takes a break from his theological arguments to plead with the Galatians. In the verses we’ll look at today, we see Paul pause his more theological arguments and emphasize his personal relationship with the Galatians.
Read
Galatians 4:12-16
12 I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong. 13 As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, 14 and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 15 Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
What emotions do you sense behind Paul’s words?
Reflect
Paul is taking the Galatians back to the time when Paul first met them. He’s reminding them of his relationship with him and how they first received him and his message.
In asking them to become like him as he became like them, Paul is likely referring to his own disposition to the law. Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He knew the scripture inside and out and considered himself a righteous keeper of the law. But, when he met Jesus, he abandoned the law, accepted that he was a sinner, and turned to Jesus Christ.[1] That’s precisely what Paul wants to Galatians to do: become like him, one who didn’t keep the law, because he became like them, a Gentile who trusted in Christ without following the law.
Scholars aren’t sure what illness Paul was referring to in verse 13. Regardless, the Galatians welcomed him and his message. In fact, they were enthusiastic about what he was sharing. So much so that they received him as if he were “an angel of God” or “Christ Jesus himself” (verse 14).
Paul wants them to remember what they experienced when he had proclaimed the unbelievably good news of what Jesus had done for them. The Galatians believed Paul and trusted him. He reminds them of the time he spent with them, and the relationship that they had built. They held him in the highest esteem and would have done anything for him. Why were they letting themselves become convinced he had been lying? Why were they now angry that he was telling him the truth? The Galatians had turned their backs on Paul in favor of his opponents.
Although we should revere the Bible as God’s Word, we shouldn’t forget that its authors were real people with real struggles. This passage gives us a glimpse into Paul’s heart for the people he ministered to. He loved them, and because he loved them, wasn’t afraid to call them out when necessary. Yet he also experienced all the same emotions we do when close relationships are strained and when it feels like the people you love are rejecting you.
[1] Scot McKnight, Galatians, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), 218.
Respond
We can imagine that Paul might have felt hurt, rejected or even betrayed by the Galatians. Have you ever been hurt by someone you were trying to help? How can we allow the Spirit into those situations? What do you think our perspective should be? How can having a firm identity in Christ help us endure difficult relationships?
