Galatians 4:12-20
It is often confusing to know what Paul means in his epistles, since he is writing letters to people and congregations and we don’t always know what occurred beforehand to which he is responding. For example, in the first two verses of today’s reading we have “Become as I am…”; “You did me no wrong”; then Paul’s mention of a “bodily ailment”; and finally and most confusing “that I preached the gospel to you at first”. So when Paul says “Become as I am…”, what does he mean? He is a Jew, but he does not want his Galatian converts to become like Jews. Why does Paul talk about the Galatians doing him wrong? And what is the bodily ailment? Is this the same “thorn in the flesh” that Paul talks about in II Corinthians 12:7? Or is this some speech impediment, as Paul seems to imply in some of his letters? (II Corinthians 11:6) And to that last item, what does Paul mean when he says “at first”? We know that Paul visited his Galatian coverts at least twice. So does “at first” refer to his first missionary journey? And if so, he must have written this letter after his second missionary journey and this letter would have been misplaced in our chronological study; otherwise he would have simply said “that I preached the gospel to you…”, with no time-determinant ending. I have no answers for any of those questions! Sorry…!
Slava Bohu!