Galatians 4:15 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.
16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
17 They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.
18 But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.
19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
20 I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.
The apostle Paul has been reminding the Galatian saints of the blessings they had known in Christ. Yet, they were slipping back into the way of works as a means of securing salvation. It is very important to understand that works has nothing to do with salvation. We are saved by grace through faith. That grace is not a license to sin. It is God reaching out to man even though man does not deserve anything. God loves man and sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to suffer and die on the cross of Calvary for our sins. Those who are saved through His shed blood are forgiven and given life. The Galatian saints had testified to the blessing of true salvation. Paul wanted to know what happened to that blessedness they had spoken of.
He reminded them of the love they had expressed toward him. They had been willing to pluck out their own eyes and give them to him. As we mentioned before he had some kind of eye trouble. We do not know what it was, but it affected his ability to see. It did not affect his ministry because that was under God’s control. God works in the midst of our frailties. He does not always remove our problems. He helps us to draw closer to Him through those times. The Charismatic movement lies to people in stating that if we would just have enough faith, we should not be sick. Some even go so far as to teach that partaking of the Lord’s Supper is a way to find healing for the body. That is heresy. The Lord’s Supper is a reminder of Jesus’ death until He comes. It is a reminder for those who are truly saved to examine themselves and make sure they are walking humbly and obediently with the Lord.
In verse 16 Paul wanted to know if he had become their enemy because he was telling them the truth. Lost people often take offence to the truth. They can become rather hostile toward those who are seeking to help them. Saved people need to appreciate when someone is willing to speak the truth to them. As we see in this book, the saints were putting themselves in bondage, when in reality, they had been set free from bondage through faith in Christ. God was directing Paul to address this problem with them. It was to their benefit to listen to him, and repent and get back to true faith in Christ.
In verse 17 we see that the false teachers can be quite zealous. They talk with conviction and they talk as though they have the answer. However, their talk is not good. They corrupt the Word of God. The Judaizers were trying to separate these saints from the rest of true Christianity. True Christians have One God and One Saviour. There will be a unity among true Christians when they submit to the truth.
Rather than the false unity that is among the ecumenical religions, true faith produces a real unity that respects and rejoices in Truth. In our text, the Judaizers were seeking to gain converts to their heresies. They were all about numbers. The larger the crowd, the more they pretended to be blessed of God.
In recent times, we are seeing much more interest in a type of religion that is not of God. It claims to talk of Jesus, but it is a false Jesus. It is big on feelings but void of Truth. Many are being deceived into thinking that all the hype is the real thing. However, it is leaving those duped into that system empty and searching for more.
In verse 18 Paul reminded the saints that it is good to be zealously affected in a good thing. The Galatians needed to be grounded in truth so that they could stand even when Paul was not with them. Paul was not a babysitter. He was an evangelist who was called to go from city to city and establish churches and see to it that they had a local pastor that could continue to build the work. He would go back and visit works that God had guided him to establish. However, they needed stability that would keep them right even when he was not with them. That stability comes only when our faith is the faith of Christ.
In verse 19 Paul addressed the saints as his little children. That was not an insult. That was a term of endearment. He had nurtured them along. He had worked hard in their midst, teaching them the truth until they would accept the truth in their hearts. Christ needed to be formed in them. He needed to be their foundation and head.
In verse 20, Paul continued to express his care for them. He wanted to be present with them and he desired to be able to have a more gentler tone toward them. However, at present he was wondering where they were at with Christ. Was the faith they talked of really true faith in Christ or was it faith in themselves. Paul cared about the people. He wanted them to be growing in Christ. That growth can only take place when we feed on His Word. We will not grow when we entertain false teaching. The truth is what makes a person free. The lies that are so common, bring a person into bondage.
Be sure you have the faith of Christ and not of some watered out humanistic religion. The Galatians did not seem to realize they were in bondage. They were allowing themselves to be deceived, even though they had been taught the Truth. They needed to embrace the Truth and reject the heresies that were so common around them.
That is the same need today. Don’t settle for the deception of the Catholics or the Protestants. Settle for the Truth. The Truth is not found through cherry picking certain verses and ignoring the context. The Truth is found through submitting to the whole counsel of God. As we see in this epistle that is where true liberty is found.
Pastor Bartel