MESSAGE #15 || AUGUST 23, 2026 || GALATIANS 4:12-20 || Listen HERE
This morning, we return to our series of messages from the apostle Paul to the churches he planted in the province of Galatia. Today, we begin a new section of the letter, and this section is marked by a noticeable shift in tone from Paul. Up to this point, Paul’s tone has been very urgent because he believes the salvation of these Galatian believers is in peril because they were departing from the gospel of grace he had preached to them. Jewish false teachers claiming to be followers of Jesus had come into these churches since he planted them. They sought to convince these believers that Paul’s gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone was a violation of the Jewish Scriptures.
They agreed that a sinner must have faith in Christ to be saved. But they also added to faith the requirement that believers must keep the Jewish law, especially the law of circumcision. Paul works to persuade these new believers that this message was not only false, it was spiritually lethal. He argues that a right standing with God comes ONLY through faith in Jesus. This one requirement of faith follows the example of Abraham, the man of faith and the covenant that God made with him.
The Mosaic covenant of law, which the false teachers were teaching as a requirement for salvation, with the coming of Jesus, was now obsolete. The law brings the curse of God to anyone trying to be right with God through obedience to it. The Galatians had received the Holy Spirit by faith, not works. Being united with Christ, believers had been released from the demands of the law and were now free to serve God in the liberty of the Holy Spirit. By the Spirit, they have now been made sons of Abraham and sons of God through Christ.
In light of all those truths that Paul had given to these Galatians, he is perplexed that these professed believers would turn their back on his gospel of grace by devoting themselves to the Jewish law which spiritually enslaves people. After Paul reminds these Galatians of these theological and biblical arguments, he says in 4:11, “11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.” Paul’s deep concern over the state of their souls sets the context for the text that Scott read earlier.
In this section, Paul’s tone is not that of a teacher, apostle and theologian, but of a friend. It’s easy for us to forget that when Paul planted a church in a city, he lived with them for several months. He spent many hours a week with some of these people. He broke bread with them. He lived with some of them as their houseguest. As a church planter, Paul was not some scholar who, after his theology lecture, retreated to the serenity of his private study. We know from his letters that he became good friends with many of those to whom he ministered. Up until now in this letter, this relational element has been largely absent. However, in our text for today in verses 12-20, it erupts from Paul’s pen.
Paul abruptly shifts from his theological and biblical arguments to make a much more personal appeal. Every verse here is written with a strongly personal tone. So, this morning, we’re going to focus on this shift in tone because it’s not only important within the context of the letter, it also implies something very important for doing fruitful ministry. And as ALL of us our ministers or servants of Christ performing various ministries, we should be anxious to learn more about how to be more effective in our various ministries in the home, church and world.
The main truth Paul models here for us as it relates to doing ministry is the importance of doing ministry to others in the context of redemptive relationships. By “redemptive relationships” we mean personal relationships/friendships that are characterized by mutual love for Christ where encouragement, accountability and correction are present. Extending what we said last week about the importance of the local church ministry, the most impactful ministry happens within the context of relationships. Very little enduring ministry can happen outside the context of relationships.
Bible conferences featuring big name speakers have their place. But most believers who attend those conferences will admit that listening to multiple big-name speakers who speak for an hour each gives you far more content than you can absorb in weeks. And much of the benefit of those conferences is in processing what you’ve heard through our relationships with other believers.
In this section, I find seven marks of Paul’s ministry to these Galatian believers, each displaying a different aspect of the redemptive relationship existing between himself and these believers in Galatia. The first mark of this redemptive relationship is the intimacy and humility in how Paul related to these believers. We see this in verse 12. Paul says, “12 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong.” Paul’s point here is to appeal to these Galatians to become as he is. He’s referring to the fact that, though he is a Jew, he has, in Christ, been liberated from living under the demands of the law, like any GENTILE!
He pleads with these mostly Gentile believers to become as he is because, in being freed from being under Jewish law, he has become like them. That’s his appeal and you might be surprised to know that this is the first imperative in Galatians that calls the Galatians to action. It’s not an accident that Paul waits to give his first call for action within the section of the letter where he is appealing to them as his friends. You see, he knows these churches have heard bad things about him from the false teachers so he’s careful not to use his apostolic authority up to this point. NO, under the inspiration of the Spirit, he waits until he is speaking in the context of his personal relationship with them to issue his first call to action. There’s a time to issue commands and there is a time to not to do so and the Holy Spirit will direct us in that.
Verse 12 in the original language begins with this command “become as I am” and ends with “brothers, I entreat you.” That means that Paul’s emphasis lies with the call for them to imitate his relationship to the law. But we mustn’t miss that, after the command, he reminds them that he considers them his brothers. He calls them “Brothers.” Paul has used “brothers” as a designation for these believers only twice so far in the letter. But in this section of the letter, which goes from here in verse 12 to 6:10, only two chapters, he calls them “brothers” seven times. This is a much warmer, more personal section of the letter.
By addressing them as brothers, he’s reminding them that they’re part of the same family. This is a mark of intimacy in their relationship that Paul seeks to call to their memory. He states his command humbly with the words, “I entreat you.” This is a far cry from “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” back in chapter three. Now, he is entreating them. The word “entreat” means to ask, seek or even beg. One translation has this verse, “My friends, I beg you to be like me….”[1] Paul is not laying down an in-your-face challenge here. He’s pleading with them, brother to brother, to imitate him as he at one time imitated them as law-free Gentiles.
He concludes this verse with the curious statement, “You did me no wrong.” Its more literally, “You have not wronged me in any way.”[2] This is the introductory comment to these next few verses where Paul begins to reminisce about the kind of relationship he’d very much enjoyed with these Galatians. When Paul says, “You have not wronged me in any way” his point seems to be that, even though Paul came to them with a message of their sinfulness and need of a Savior, they did not in any way oppose Paul—they did not wrong him in any way. From the onset of their interactions, they were cordial, even gracious to him.
He continues in verse 13 where he reveals the second mark of his redemptive relationship with the Galatians. He writes, “13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first,” The second mark or expression of a redemptive relationship between Paul and the Galatians is the compassion and charitable response of the Galatians toward Paul. Again, we see Paul warmly reflecting on his initial encounters with these believers.
He’s drawing their attention to a time, only about a year earlier, when they showed great compassion to him. Paul is using that shared memory to make a transparently emotional appeal to the Galatians. He wants them to see that their recent rejection of his teaching is painful for him NOT only because it indicates they’ve been deceived by the false teachers. Their rejection of him is also a betrayal of their once, dear friendship.
He says that the initial reason he came to them and preached the gospel was “because of a bodily ailment.” Two logical questions in light of that statement are, first, to what bodily ailment is Paul referring. Second, how was his bodily ailment the cause of his preaching the gospel to the Galatians? There’s no certain answer to either question. The Galatians surely knew first-hand of Paul’s bodily ailment and how it occasioned him preaching the gospel to them, but we don’t. And that means it’s not important.
Countless guesses have been made as to the nature of Paul’s bodily ailment. Perhaps the most reasonable of these guesses is that he is referring to a problem of some kind with his eyes because of what he says later in verse 15, but no one can be sure. Most scholars do agree that this affliction is what Paul is talking about in Second Corinthians chapter 12.[3] There he writes, “7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…”
So, we know God’s purpose for this affliction in Paul’s life—to humble him to learn to depend more on God’s grace. But we don’t know what this ailment was or how it was the reason Paul preached to the Galatians. It’s possible that he’d planned to preach somewhere else, but his affliction caused him to make a sudden detour to Galatia, but we don’t know. Paul’s main point here is not the ailment anyway. It was the Galatians’ compassion and charitable response to his ailment. He says in verse 14, “14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.”
No one is sure what Paul means when he says that his condition was a trial (it could also be translated “temptation”) to the Galatians. It could be that Paul’s condition was quite repulsive and they loved him anyway. It could be that they were tempted to doubt Paul’s authority as an apostle since he was sick and needy but didn’t. We just don’t know. What we DO know is that Paul was deeply moved by their compassionate response to him. They were charitable not to take offense or be repulsed by Paul’s condition.
In fact, he says they treated him as if he were an angel of God or even Christ, himself. Throughout this section, you can almost hear the underlying cry of Paul in the face of this rejection of him. “I thought we were friends! You know me! You loved me! I thought our strong personal connection would cause you to trust in the gospel I preached to you.”
In the first half of verse 15, the ESV translation is unusual when compared with other translators and Greek scholars. Paul asks the question of these Galatians, “15 What then has become of your blessedness?” The NASB is probably closer. It says, “Where then is that sense of blessing you had?” His question expresses his astonishment at how things had changed in their relationship with him. He’s basically asking the question, “What happened to that blessing you received from me?”
This is the third mark of their redemptive relationship. That is, the genuine heartache in Paul over their breach in relationship. When any relationship marked by intimacy and warmth, compassion, and charity degrades, there will be heartache and as an apostle, Paul was not immune. Apostles and church leaders are human beings too and hurt just like everyone else when wronged. This has never happened in this church, but in my last church, a few times, people said things to me that were so mean spirited and inappropriate, I wanted to say, “hey, look—real flesh and blood here—I’m not some android devoid of feelings!”
Paul shows his heartache throughout this passage but especially here as he shares what a blessing they’d been to him and apparently the blessing they received from their ministry to Paul. But now, after they had nearly rejected Paul’s message, he believed they had rejected him as well.
A fourth mark of this redemptive relationship between Paul and the Galatians is in the second half of verse 15, “15 …For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.” This mark of the redemptive relationship is the sacrificial love shown from the Galatians to Paul. This verse is why some think that Paul’s ailment had to do with his eyes.
This expression, “gouging out your eyes to give them to me” was not common in Paul’s day. It’s not like someone today saying, “You would have given me the shirt off your back.” This was not that common. That’s caused some to believe that this verse is NOT some general colloquial expression but is a literal description of Paul’s physical condition. If Paul had sickness in his eyes, then for Paul to say that the Galatians would have gouged out their eyes for him expresses the sacrificial love they felt for him.
Whatever the case, this tells us that it was clear to him that the Galatians were deeply, sacrificially committed to ministering to him in his sickness, whatever it was. This also tells us that, from the very beginning, this relationship was marked by the Galatians’ great compassion for Paul when he was quite needy. That compassion was destined to build a deeply felt sense of connection between Paul and these Galatians. For them to be turning on him, who had they had loved so well through his affliction, was clearly very painful to him on a personal level.
A fifth mark of this redemptive relationship is revealed in verse 16 where Paul asks, “16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?” This is perhaps the most powerful and most demanding expression of a redemptive relationship. A redemptive relationship is characterized by the fact that telling the truth is prized even above the relationship. Paul had gone from being a friend of these Galatians to a foe simply because he was willing to tell them the truth of the gospel. There are many applications to this.
One is—if you have a longstanding, unbelieving friend or relative you’ve not shared the gospel with because you haven’t been willing to risk the relationship for the sake of the gospel, that relationship or that person’s good opinion of you has become an idol to you because it’s clearly more important than being faithful to God. Your relationship with that longstanding friend or relative may be filled with fallen, human love, but its absent the love of God. We know this because in First Corinthians 13:6, Paul says this about the relationship between love and the truth, “6 it [love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.” Love rejoices; it delights in the truth.
If your longstanding relationships with unbelievers have not included your willingness to speak the truth of the gospel to them, you can’t claim that relationship to be a loving relationship because God’s truth-rejoicing love is absent. If you REALLY loved the person, your first concern would be their eternal well-being and that means that somehow, you would share the gospel with them.
If you refuse to risk the relationship for the sake of the gospel, how much do you think that friend or relative will appreciate your silence when he/she stands before a holy God and discovers to their horror that THEY will have to pay an eternal penalty for their sin? That’s a truth you could have told them had you loved them enough to be willing to risk your relationship with them over the truth of the gospel.
Paul and mature believers have relationships that are redemptive or Christ-like in nature because truth is the basis of their relationships. This is because truth is more important to him than the relationship. And truth is more important to them than the relationship because GOD is more important to them. All three Persons of the Trinity are called “truth” in Scripture. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” [John 14:6] The Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of truth …who will guide you into all truth.” [John 16:13] Of the Father, Paul says, “Let God be true and every man a liar.” [Rom 3:4] As John Piper says, “our concern with truth is only an extension of our concern with God.”[4] You show me a GOD lover, and I will show you a TRUTH lover.
We must never sacrifice the truth of the gospel on the altar of a friendship or relationship. The gospel must always be preeminent because, unlike all our friendships, the gospel is eternal. As he was writing this letter to the Galatians, Paul wondered whether they saw him as an enemy because he told them the truth. As painful as that must have been to him, it would surely have been more painful to him if he’d maintained their friendship at the expense of the truth of the gospel.
Another similar mark of a redemptive relationship is the willingness to warn someone over a serious spiritual threat to them. This is what Paul is doing in verses 17-18 when he tells them the truth about the false teachers. He writes, “17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you,”
Paul warns these Galatians that they “make much of you, but for no good purpose.” Again, the ESV is weak here. A better translation is the NIV which says, “17 Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them.” Paul’s point is that these teachers have a self-centered agenda that underlies their false gospel. Paul knew that the real motivation of these false teachers for preaching their message to the Galatians was purely about THEM. They wanted the Galatians to join their Fan Club, so to speak. They knew that in order for the Galatians to admire and make much of them, they must first alienate them from Paul. So, they persistently work to drive that wedge.
Paul wants these Galatians to know that these false teachers were not simply misinformed about the gospel of grace. They have an evil agenda that has nothing to do with the truth of Scripture. They were far more concerned about building a following for themselves then they were about the souls of these Galatians. They didn’t care whether the Galatians ended up in hell as long as they were their loyal supporters. The New Testament is uniform in its testimony that false teachers are not simply mistaken; they are evil. There are always multiple moral evils that accompany and motivate false teachers.
Paul says this to Timothy about false teachers in Ephesus, “3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain” [1 Tim 6:3-5].
The designation “false teachers” in the New Testament always implies a moral deficiency. False teachers are not teachers with whom we disagree on their end-times theology, or the sovereignty of God. These people are deceivers who ultimately preach a false gospel. In Titus chapter one, Paul says this about teachers like the ones causing trouble in Galatia, “10 For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.”
False teachers are evil and, from their self-centered motives like greed, their desire for sexual pleasure and gaining personal adoration, they teach what is false. Peter says this about false teachers in Second Peter chapter two, “2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” These false teachers are evil and are under the judgment of God just like those false teachers today who obscure the purity of the gospel to gain incredible wealth for themselves.
A final mark of a redemptive relationship is found in verses 19-20. Paul says, “19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.” The personal love and warmth Paul has for these Galatians radiates from this text. He calls them his “little children” a term of great personal endearment. He feels like a pregnant mother to them, in the anguish of labor with them because they’ve caused him to wonder whether they’ve yet been born into the kingdom. Paul is in anguish over these people who he thought were his spiritual children.
He changes this birthing metaphor midstream, going from him being their expectant mother to them being the mother in whom Christ is being formed. This may sound confusing to us, but he’s communicating that he has some very scary questions about where they are spiritually. He is “perplexed” about them and that gives him deep emotional pain. As a faithful undershepherd with the heart of Jesus, Paul cares so deeply about the spiritual health of his sheep that, when they are showing signs of serious ill health, he is deeply shaken over his concern for them.
The gospel ministry for Paul and anyone called to it by Jesus is both a source of great joy and deep sorrow depending on the spiritual health of his charges. This is deeply convicting to any undershepherd—a pastor or elder. It compels us to ask ourselves, “Is this the kind of soul-embracing, anguish-inducing love I have for the flock of God?” But it’s also a challenge for any believer because we should all be deeply concerned about the spiritual health of everyone else in the church.
Applying the truths to our lives from this section is fairly intuitive. That is, do we seek out these kinds of redemptive relationships marked by encouragement, accountability and correction? In so many evangelical churches, there is little emphasis on developing these kinds of relationships where spiritual growth occurs. That allows the vast majority of believers in those churches to live in their own private bubbles. In those bubbles no one knows their deepest struggles, their greatest fears and the most humbling failures in their walk with God. Everything is superficial— “I’m ok, you’re ok—we’re ALL ok.” Everyone thinks everyone is ok because there are few if any redemptive relationships.
And the reason is simple. First, if a believer’s relationship with their church is limited to attending Sunday morning worship and maybe Sunday School, redemptive relationships are not typically made there. They are much more easily made in a Community Group where time is set aside for building relationships through sharing our hurts, our sins and our prayer requests. Redemptive relationships are formed during Women’s and Men’s Retreats where we spend long periods of time together and where there’s opportunity for confession of our sins and prayer. Redemptive relationships are formed in mentoring relationships and other discipleship-driven Bible studies and relationships. They’re formed when a believer who is struggling feels the freedom to pick up the phone and call another believer they respect and say, “Can we meet for coffee? I need to talk to someone.”
How many of those kinds of relationships do you have? This is a big part of how we “speak the truth in love to one another” as we talked about last week. Please consider signing up for a Community Group in the HUB if you haven’t. Men’s Retreat is the end of next month. A sign-up will be posted this week. The Women’s Retreat you can sign up for right now. In our culture, those are great ways to form redemptive relationships.
Second, remember that your relationships with others should flow from your ultimate redemptive relationship with Jesus. When Paul related to these Galatians as he did, he was only reflecting the relationship Jesus had with him. When we relate to others redemptively, we’re only relaying to them what we receive from Jesus. Are you relating to Christ in intimacy and humility? Do you experience his love and compassion for you? If not, do you know him? If you are here today and have never savingly trusted Christ, do that today. Place your faith in him—trust in him to pay the penalty for sin that you deserve. He died on Calvary’s cross to do that for people like you.
May God give us, like Paul, the grace to form many of these redemptive relationships for his glory and our joy.
[1] CEV Contemporary English Version—only one of many that translate the verb “beg.”
[2] Schreiner, Galatians ECNT.
[3] This assertion is made by Doug Moo in his commentary on Galatians.
[4] From a paper I received at a denominational conference c. 1993.
