We are seeing Paul at this point as a bit exasperated. He has just told the Galatians that he might have been wasting his time with them…not exactly a phrase or a tact that you learn in Counseling 101.
So where does Paul go from here? At least for a short period in his letter he will leave the theological (not totally, though) and retreat into the personal. Are there things that Paul can pull out of his personal relationship with the Galatians that can help set them on right path again?
Here is what Paul said in Galatians 4:12-16…”12 Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. 13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. 14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. 15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
He begins with a phrase which essentially means ‘be like me because I am like you’. As Paul has become free from Jewish legalism and rules, so he encourages the Galatians to do the same thing. Become like Paul in his Christian freedom. No doubt the Galatians had witnessed that in Paul’s character and knew exactly what he was talking about. They had no doubt seen that side of Paul where he was not beholding to Jewish traditions…and this is the sense in which Paul had become like them. They knew he was Jewish and even though the Galatians were not, they probably had some understanding of Judaism. Perhaps they were even surprised when Paul did not act like what they thought a typical Jew would be.
Paul had become like the Galatians in the sense of not being a legalistic Jew…now that the Galatians are perhaps headed in a legalistic direction, he encourages them to become like he is.
He now gives them a reminder of the first time they had ever met him. He says that they had previously done nothing wrong to him (is that changing now?) and brings forth a memory to prove it. This was probably during Paul’s 1st missionary journey.
There was some kind of sickness which had landed Paul in Galatia and then kept him there. Malaria perhaps? We don’t really know other than that some sort of illness was the reason he had the opportunity to preach there.
Recovery from such illness took a long time as it was always a natural recovery. And at that time in that culture, illness was often blamed on the individual…that it was somehow their fault that they got sick. Such was often attributed to a character defect or perhaps even that they were being cursed by some local god. In any case, sick people were most often strenuously avoided as whatever caused the sickness (again, god-cursed or something in their character) might be transferred to them. They really didn’t have an understanding of infection, but if you got close to a person that their local god had cursed, you could end up with the same curse.
This makes it all the more surprising that the Galatians welcomed Paul with such open arms as they very easily could have avoided and turned away from him once they found out he was sick. But instead they treated him like an angel or even as Jesus Himself!
Interesting note…the phrase ‘my trial’ can also be translated as ‘your temptation’. It can be seen that Paul’s illness was a temptation for the Galatians in terms of whether to accept him because of his illness or not.
During this time when they were nursing Paul back to health, they enjoyed real and true blessings and fellowship. Did they bring him breakfast in bed during his recovery? They obviously ministered to Paul in a physical way as he ministered to them in a spiritual way. They had a fabulous relationship going on.
He also makes the odd comment about them plucking out their eyes and giving them to Paul…was his illness somehow vision-related? We know that in 2 Corinthians Paul writes to them about a ‘thorn in the flesh’ which he had…was it some type of eye disorder? Tradition indicates that something like this could be true and Paul says this about the Galatians giving him their eyes as a statement about the closeness of their relationship
Paul closes this personal section by essentially asking the Galatians ‘what happened?” Where did all of this mutual love suddenly go? Has their relationship changed for the worse simply because Paul is calling them out on this issue of circumcision? Were they turning against Paul as well as his message?
The message that the Galatians were turning their back on and which was faithfully preached by Paul is that Christ is sufficient and the Galatians do not need circumcision or any other Jewish rituals or observances in order to prove their worth to God
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