Galatians 4:¹⁶ So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?” Paul said this to the Galatian Christians after scolding them. He began his letter to them in 1:⁶ “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, ⁷ which is not just another account; but there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” There are none of the commendations for them as found in Colossians or several of his other letters. He is amazed at how quickly they followed the Judaizer false teachers who were saying that Gentile converts had to be circumcised. He says that they had been “bewitched” in 3:1 “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” The Greek is baskaínō (from baskanos, “to cast an evil spell, wishing injury upon someone; to bewitch”) – properly, to exercise evil power over someone, like putting them under a spell.” He challenges them: “did you receive the miraculous indwelling of the Spirit by the hearing of faith (Paul would have been the one who taught, baptized them and laid his hands on them to give them the Spirit and miraculous gifts) or by the works of the Law (as was being promoted by the Judaizers). Who gave you the miraculous, me or the Judaizers”?

He fears that all his work with converting and maturing them has been in vain. 4: ⁸ “However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are not gods. ⁹ But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles, to which you want to be enslaved all over again? ¹⁰ You meticulously observe days and months and seasons and years. ¹¹ I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.” In other words, “I fear that I have wasted precious time working with you Galatians. I helped free you from the slavery of your pagan god laws and yet now you are allowing the Judaizers to make you a slave to rituals from the Law of Moses that you aren’t required to keep.” That’s pretty bold and harsh.

He reminds them of how they received him so fondly when he first converted them. Maybe his thorn was bad eyesight and they could have looked at Paul with contempt, but instead they would have torn out their own eyes and given them to Paul. Their relationship with him was such a blessing, and yet now they are turning on Paul. But it is not Paul, but Christ, that they are turning on. 4:¹² I beg of you, brothers and sisters, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong; ¹³ but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time; ¹⁴ and you did not despise that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition, nor express contempt, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. ¹⁵ Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I testify about you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.” Paul is saying, “what made you listen to the Judaizers and turn on me?”

He gets pretty strong with them. 4:¹⁹ My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you— ²⁰ but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone of voice, for I am at a loss about you!” The Greek for “at a loss” is the term ἀπορέω. It is used in the New Testament to describe a state of perplexity or confusion, often in the context of not knowing what to do or how to proceed. In other words, “I don’t know what to do with you”. It sound like something you would say to your wild, disobedient teenage child after many incidents getting in trouble!

He tells them this it is fine if they want to be circumcised, but if they do it as a test of fellowship as promoted by the Judaizers then they will fall from grace. 5:² Look! I, Paul, tell you that if you have yourselves circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. ³ And I testify again to every man who has himself circumcised, that he is obligated to keep the whole Law. ⁴ You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by the Law; you have fallen from grace.” Circumcision was not a heaven/hell issue, but if someone makes it a heaven/hell issue and withdraws from those who aren’t circumcised, then that becomes a major issue. It means that the one making it a test of fellowship is no longer trusting the grace of God and is trusting the keeping of Laws instead of trusting God’s grace that allows freedom in non essential issues. Wow! The church I was raised in did that all the time. They made issues like instrumental music or kitchens in the church building (and many other issues) to be heaven/hell issues and withdrew from other Christians and denominations who disagreed with them. I even remember hearing our preachers condemn the denominations for using instrumental music (and other things), accusing them of “perverting the gospel of Christ”. They quote 1:6-9 saying the denominations were preaching a “different gospel”. But those whom Paul condemned for preaching a different gospel were the Judaizers who were making circumcision (a non heaven/hell issue) a test of fellowship with other Christians. So it was our preachers who, by making instrumental music a test of fellowship, were the ones preaching a different gospel!!!!!!! It took me a long time to figure that out!

He wants to know who has hindered them from full obedience to the gospel. 5:⁷ You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? ⁸ This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.” It certainly wasn’t the Christ Jesus who called them by the gospel of grace, not the legalism of the Law. Apparently the Judaizers had caused a lot of internal strife among the Galatian Christians. 5:¹⁵ But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” I have seen many churches be divided and split over non heaven/hell issues like having kitchens in the building or using money from the treasury to support orphan homes. We are talking knock down, drag out. battles between members. Ugly, ugly church splits. Is that what was happening in their churches?

So back to Galatians 4:¹⁶ So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?” He has been pretty blunt and harsh with them. He isn’t sure how they will respond to his sharp criticism. Will they side with the Judaizers and turn even further away from Paul? Will they listen to the Judaizers as they challenge the apostleship of Paul (which he defends vigorously in chapters 1 and 2)?

I just talked to a wonderful Christian lady from Trinidad, West Indies whom we baptized and matured during our 3 years of mission work there. She made me feel so good bragging on how we planted the churches in Trinidad that are still doing well 50 years later. I can’t imagine if the conversation had been such as Paul had with his Galatian converts. What if she had told me that some preachers from the U.S. had been to Trinidad and had convinced her that we were false teachers 50 years ago? What if I could tell that she no longer respected the work we did with them 50 years ago? Can you imagine how crushed that conversation would have been to me?????

Can you imagine how Paul felt about the negative attitude he was hearing about from his Galatian converts? We don’t even know how he found out about what was going on in the Galatian churches. Sadly, we don’t know how they responded to his letter. We are not even sure when he wrote the letter. Where was he when he wrote it? If Galatians 2 is about Paul going to Jerusalem for the conference in Acts 15 to settle the issue of Gentile converts being circumcised, then the letter had to be written after 50 AD (the date of the conference). That would mean the letter was written between 50 and 60 AD. Paul likely wrote his Epistle to the Galatians while traveling through Macedonia during his third missionary journey in about A.D. 55–57. If so, then he would not have been able to visit the Galatians to confront them in person since his 3rd journey ended as a prisoner in Jerusalem before going to Rome as a prisoner. That would make sense that he would write a letter to them. He probably never got to go visit them again even after he got out of Roman imprisonment during his last journey to Crete, Ephesus, and Miletus before he was arrested and faced his final imprisonment in Rome before being beheaded.

So, sometimes you need to tell people the truth even if it hurts their feelings or if it could strain your relationship with them. “You need to start using deodorant!” A true friend will tell his friend that. “You need to quit hanging around with those people.” “You need to quit having sex with your boyfriend.” “You need to get out of that legalistic church that you are in.” “You need to quit lying to your parents.” “You need to quit having that affair on your mate.” Need I go on? Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” Someone said that “unsolicited advice” is like “butting into someone’s personal business”. I guess it is. But if you really care about them, you will butt in and tell them what they need to hear! Paul kinda addresses that in Galatians 6:1 “Brothers and sisters, even if a person is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual are to restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you are not tempted as well.” He is telling those who are “spiritual” to back him up with his criticism of some of their less spiritual brethren and sisters.

Yes, you should tell them in love the blunt things that they need to hear. Do it in private if possible. Let them know you care. Let them know that you also have sins and weaknesses. Use “I” statements to express your feelings and observations without blaming or accusing your friend. For example, instead of saying “You’ve been so down lately,” you could say “I’ve noticed you seem down, and I’m worried about you.” But the bottom line is to tell them what they need to hear even if it hurts their feelings or embarrasses them or makes them mad at you or makes them defensive. If you love them you will tell them!