18. The Failure of Legalism: From Contrast of Motives - 4:12-20

The Failure of Legalism: From Contrast of Motives - 4:12-20 “Be as I am, for I also am as ye, brethren, I beseech you: ye have not at all wronged me.” (4:12)

Here we have another proof against legalism and this has to do with, we could say, the contrast of motives. Paul’s motive was to help the believer, but when we consider what these false teachers were doing, we understand they were really only promoting their own interests, as we will see in verses 17 and 18. What does “Be as I am”mean? It is an appeal. Paul is free. He says to the Galatians, “Be as I am, enjoy this liberty just as I do.”There is a difference, though. Paul once had been under the law as an observant Jew, but now he was free from it, and they were once in bondage to paganism and had been set free, but they wanted to go back to bondage to legalism. Paul said, “No, be as I am,”but then he continued, “for I also am as ye”(namely, set free through Christ). Then he said, “ye have not at all wronged me.”Perhaps this was to reassure the Galatians that, as he said later on, he was not their enemy. The Galatians might have said, “You know, we have done wrong before, because we have said that we want to go back to the law, we want to be under the law, and Paul might have said that that was not good to do, so maybe some thought that they had attacked Paul and that he would have been angry at them. No, he said, “ye have not at all wronged me.”What can we learn from this? Where there was a doctrinal disagreement he did not take things personally. This is also a lesson for us.

“But ye know that in weakness of the flesh I announced the glad tidings to you at the first …” (4:13)

Paul here underlined the relationship they once had with him, how in physical weakness he presented the glad tidings to them and that must have been on the first and second missionary journeys, perhaps also a part of the third missionary journey (see introduction).

“…and my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye did not slight nor reject with contempt; but ye received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.” (4:14) From chapter 6 where we see that Paul ended the epistle with some words of his own, it may suggest that Paul had a problem with his eyesight, but we have no further indication as to this from Scripture. There are also indications that he may have had a speech impediment and that people would have had a natural tendency to have contempt for him because of this, but we cannot be sure about this either. However, he must have had a physical problem and there was a danger that his audience would have been critical of him because of this, and that he might react; but they would have been wrong to think that Paul would react in this way. When Paul came to Galatia they did not reproach him nor reject or despise him, they received him “as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.”Paul was there really as Christ’s representative.

“What then was your blessedness? for I bear you witness that, if possible, plucking out your own eyes ye would have given them to me.” (4:15) That had been a happy situation, “blessedness.”This is the same word that Paul used in Romans 4:8 when he spoke of the blessedness of the believer, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”This blessedness that he described was the blessedness that the Galatians had when they believed the gospel.

“So I have become your enemy in speaking the truth to you?” (4:16) Their love for Paul had been very great and his saying words against them might have led them to think he was their enemy, but of course he was not their enemy; he was merely trying setting things straight. He loved them but there were those who were zealously trying to corrupt them, from wrong motives.

“They are not rightly zealous after you, but desire to shut you out from us, that ye may be zealous after them.” (4:17)

Paul was acting with right motives; the false teachers had the wrong ones. They were zealous after the believers there and desired to “shut you out from us,”they wanted to separate these believers from Paul so that they would then become zealous after themselves (the false teachers). So it was really a party spirit that energized them, they were forming a party.

“But it is right to be zealous at all times in what is right, and not only when I am present with you-” (4:18) In other words, Paul said, “If you want to be zealous, be zealous at all times in what is right, and not only when I am present.”This can be a lesson for us, too. The Lord wants us to be zealous in the things that are right during the time of His absence.

“my children, of whom I again travail in birth until Christ shall have been formed in you …” (4:19) This phrase “My little children,”is only found once in Paul’s writings. It is found seven times in 1John, and once in John 14:1-31. It is a very affectionate term. Of course, they were sons, we have seen this earlier. This was the position they had, but at the same time they were Paul’s little children, referring to the fact that they had accepted the Lord through Paul’s ministry. In this sense they were his little children. Why then, if they had accepted the Lord through his ministry, he goes on to say, “of whom I again travail”? It is as if he had to give birth to them a second time. This was how he compared the situation. He had given birth to them when they were born again, but now he was, as it were, in travail to give birth to them a second time. This second birth was in view of formation, “that Christ be formed in you.”The exercise Paul had was like a mother giving birth to a child; he was very affectionate, he loved them a lot, just as a mother loves her child, and he wanted now also, with the same zeal, with the same love, Christ to be formed in them. It was now not to receive Christ as their Saviour, it was now being formed after Christ, a further development. This is the desire that the Lord has for each one of us and that Paul had for all the Christians, that Christ would be formed in them. I will give you one example; if we turn to Colossians we see how Paul had a deep exercise for the believers, writing to them, “God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we preach [or ‘announce’], warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus”(Colossians 1:27-28). Here we find the concept of what a mature man in Christ is: that is, Christ formed in the believer. This was Paul’s exercise, to lead the believers to maturity. This matter of spiritual growth was a spiritual battle, as we see in this conflict. Paul’s exercise for the Galatians was to help them, and that is why in the last part of Galatians 4:1-31 he goes back to Abraham a second time. Now, as I said earlier, those false teachers probably liked to go back to Abraham, the father of all believers, but it was to make their wrong conclusions, but when Paul went back to Abraham it was to set the record straight.

“…and I should wish to be present with you now, and change my voice, for I am perplexed as to you.” (4:20)

Paul would like to be present with them, to change his voice, to speak very solemnly to them, as he was in anguish of soul about them.