Galatians 4:12-15 – Remember Where You Came From
Paul is reminding the Galatian Christians of happier times. He’s not looking back three years or five years or ten years, but just to the year before. That’s when he had first preached to the Galatians, as far as we can tell. That in itself is a reminder that while often spiritual decline is a slow process, it can also happen very quickly. It doesn’t take long for someone to go from being at church every week, to stopping altogether.
We don’t know for sure what this bodily ailment was that Paul speaks of in verse 13. It’s probably the same thing as his thorn in the flesh, which he talks about in 2nd Corinthians 12. Some people think it was an eye problem, based on the fact that he says in v15 that the Galatians would have gouged out their eyes and given them to him. But whatever the bodily ailment was, in v14 it was a trial to them. It was something that they could see, and it was something that they could have scorned or despised. Humanly speaking it’s the sort of thing that could have put them off listening to him. But it didn’t. Why? Because of his message.
In v14 they received him as an angel of God. The word angel is the same word as messenger. He brought them a message from God. In fact he goes on – you received me as Christ Jesus himself! It sound almost blasphemous. And yet Paul’s simply taking what Jesus said in Matthew 10 seriously. ‘Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me’. Ministers are ambassadors of Jesus Christ. They don’t speak their own words – or at least they shouldn’t. They speak the words he gives them to speak. So how you respond to a Biblically faithful sermon is exactly how you would respond to Jesus. Paul is reminding them of this as if to say: ‘No human explanation can account for how you reacted to my message at the start. It’s only because you could tell that there was something different about it – you knew it was a message from God’.
You may be finding it hard to be a Christian. Nobody’s saying that it isn’t. But the fact that it’s hard doesn’t change the truth of the message. So don’t give up. You’re not in this by yourself. Jesus is with you by his Spirit. You have brothers and sisters in Christ urging you on. You have the example of those who have fought the good fight and finished the race. Remember where you’ve come from. And don’t give up.
Questions
- What might Paul’s bodily ailment have been?
- How was Paul like an angel?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks for the faithful preaching of God’s Word.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.