Galatians 4: 8-16

GALATIANS 4:8-16

 

THE APOSTLE’S EARNEST REASONING AND WARNING (PART I)

 

INTRODUCTION:

 

1.  As the Apostle proceeds to reason with the Galatians regarding their embrace of false teachers and their doctrine, he is clearly fearful of their defection. He says, “I am afraid of you, lest I have labored in vain.” (Verse 11)

2.  The method of the Judaizing teachers was calculated so as to first attack Paul’s character and motives, in order to undermine the trust and affections of the people for him. This tack, which seemed evident from his defense of his integrity in the preceding chapters, is in our present passage made clear beyond all doubt.

3.  Human nature is such that intellect and affections mutually influence each other. Our love for an individual tends to prejudice us in favor of what he says, and the opposite is also true. These Galatians had received Paul’s doctrine, i.e. the true doctrine of the Gospel. What’s more, Paul had endeared himself to them, so that they were the more inclined to hold to his doctrine. Thus, the Judaizers needed first to undermine the people’s love for Paul, so that they would be more likely to be removed from his doctrine.

4.  Paul understood the strategy, and in the passage before us he reminds them of how it once was. However, it was not his love for them or their love for him that was the critical issue. The real concern was that they were reverting back to the bondage of slavery from which they had been delivered by the Gospel.

 

I.  THE GALATIANS WERE IN DANGER OF SUBJECTING THEMSELVES TO BONDAGE SIMILAR TO THAT FROM WHICH THEY HAD BEEN DELIVERED. (VERSES 8-11)

 

A.  BELIEVERS ARE NO MORE SLAVES, BUT THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THEY WERE. (VERSE. 8)

 

1.  These Galatians, having been saved out of heathen idolatry were once ignorant of the true and living God. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God…”

2.  In their former state, before they knew God through Christ, they did service to their false gods like slaves. Their conduct was like slaves engaged in toilsome profitless external service. In false religion, in all its forms, nothing is more remarkable than it’s enslaving, degrading influence over the minds of men.

3.  So it was with us before we knew God in Christ. And so it is with all who are yet unsaved. The heart is darkened so that in the pursuit of sin men become enslaved to their own lusts. (Rom. 1:21-25; Eph. 2:2-3)

 

B.  AN IMPORTANT CHANGE HAS OCCURRED IN BELIEVERS THAT RENDERS TURNING BACK TO THE FORMER BONDAGE UNTHINKABLE. (VERSE 9)

 

1.  Believers know God, and are known of God. Through the Gospel these Galatians had come to acknowledge the true God for Who and what He is. They had, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, been acknowledged of God. From what goes before, (Verse 6) God had acknowledged them as His own. This is true of every true believer in Jesus Christ.

2.  Yet, at this very moment these Galatians were guilty of backsliding, so that Paul, in light of the facts, asks, “How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?”

3.  The Apostle is shocked to learn that men so enriched with the Gospel would under the influence of false teachers be turning back to the former enslavements they knew before they knew the Lord.

 

a)  Formerly they had been enslaved to the childish and foolish teachings of pagan priests and ritualists.

b)  They had prescriptions regarding the discovery of the will of the gods by means of omens, self-afflictions, submission to fate, etc. Would anyone be so foolish to go back to such bondage, having once known the liberty of Christ?

 

C.  THAT SOME WHO PROFESSED FAITH HAD BEEN SO FOOLISH AS TO RETURN AGAIN TO BONDAGE IS EVIDENT. (VERSES 10, 11)

 

1.  Some had indeed gone back to the weak and beggarly elements. “Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.”

2.  The observances here referred to are doubtless those of the ceremonial law, and not any particular pagan practices. It was to the rites and rituals of the Jewish law that the Judaizers were trying to bring them.

3.  Because some had been influenced to adopt these observances of special Sabbaths and new moons, etc., Paul was afraid for them. He was fearful that they had not truly believed the Gospel, and thus, his labor was in vain as it pertained to them. (Verse 11; compare Col. 2:16-20)

 

a)  The Apostle knew well that labors in the Gospel are never in vain, absolutely. (I Cor. 15:58; II Cor. 2:14-16)

b)  But, should they persist in their backward turn to the former bondage from which the Gospel sets free, his labor will prove to have come up empty in their case.

 

II.  REGARDING THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THEIR CONVERSION, NOTHING HAD OCCURRED THAT SHOULDHAVE CHANGED THEIR THINKING EITHER TOWARDS HIM OR HIS DOCTRINE. (VERSES 12-16)

 

A.  THE APOSTLE URGES THE GALATIANS TO REGARD HIM WITH THE SAME AFFECTION WHICH ONCE THEY DID, AND WHICH HE STILL CHERISHED TOWARD THEM. (VERSE 12)

 

1.  Due to the subject matter of what follows, this seems to be a reasonable explanation. However, some understand it as not meant in so personal a sense, but rather more doctrinal or practical. These views are certainly worthy of our consideration.

 a)  Some believe the Apostle is exhorting the Galatians to embrace the same belief as himself in reference to full and free justification by faith in Christ, without the works of the law. “Brethren be as I am, for I am as you are,” meaning, they say, “I once considered circumcision and other observances necessary to salvation, but not any longer.”

b)  Others suppose he is referring not so much to sentiment as to conduct. “Be as I am,” i.e. exercise your Christian liberty. “I am as ye are,” i.e. I live as Gentiles do. Though a Jew, I regard not these ceremonial observances.

 

2.  It seems, however, that he is speaking of the good and loving relationship they had enjoyed.

 

a)  “Be as I am,” i.e. bear such affection toward me as I do toward you.

b)  “For I am as ye are,” i.e. I am one with you in the most cordial friendship.

c)  “Ye have not injured me at all.” They had done him no personal injury, quite the contrary as he goes on to say.

 

B.  THE GALATIANS HAD FORMERLY EMBRACED PAUL, IN SPITE OF HIS PHYSICAL INFIRMITY WHICH MIGHT HAVE BEEN A “PUT OFF” TO THEM. (VERSES 13, 14)

 

1.  When Paul first preached the Gospel in Galatia, he labored under severe bodily disease.

2.  That his suffering was nearly unbearable to him is made known by both himself and Luke. (Acts 13:50; 14:5, 6, 19; II Tim. 3:10, 11) However, here he is speaking of how unpleasant his condition was to others around him, making his ministry less acceptable to strangers. (Verse 13)

3.  Yet, in spite of the tendency to be repulsed, they heard him gladly, and loved him for the truth’s sake. (Verse 14)

 

a)  “And my temptation which was in my flesh,” lit. “a temptation to you in my flesh,” that is, the temptation that they were faced with to be repulsed or put off.

b)  “Ye despised not nor rejected.” Though his condition was a trial to them, they treated him not with contempt.

c)  “But received me as an angel of God.” So great had been their respect for Paul, so generous the welcome extended to him as if his voice had been that of an angel.

d)  “Even as Christ Jesus.” Better yet, they received him and honored him as though it were Jesus Christ Himself.

e)  Those who bring the Gospel not only have beautiful feet (Rom. 10:13) but they are beautiful in every way for sake of the glad tidings they bring.

f)  Their reception of Paul was proof of the Holy Spirit’s work in them.

 

C.  HOW COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WERE THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THESE GALATIANS, COMPARED TO WHAT IT HAD BEEN. (VERSES 15, 16)

 

1.  The Apostle asks, “Where is then the (former) blessedness ye spoke of?” That is, “Where is the former blessedness?”

2.  Their former disposition of mind and heart was such that they would have gladly plucked out their eyes and given them to Paul. They thought so highly of Paul, and were so blessed by his presence, that they would have done anything for him, even plucked out their own eyes.

 

a)  This may suggest, as many of us believe, that Paul’s great affliction was a disease of the eyes.

b)  It may be simply a proverbial expression, “plucking out the eyes.”

 

3.  Had Paul now become the despised enemy of those who had so loved and honored him simply because he preached the truth to them?

 

a)  What a number the false teachers had done on these people, to turn their hearts from one who had meant so much to them!

b)  What wickedness it was on the part of these religions frauds to attack the reputation of this great man of God, and in so doing, undermine the Gospel, and overthrow the faith of some!