Am I Your Enemy? Galatians 4:16 - Equipped for Battle

Paul the apostle has shown his care for the church members of Galatia over and over again, and now he wonders if they have forgotten how much they cared for him at one time. He has shown them examples of how they accepted him as an angel and even Jesus Christ Himself, and now it seems they have turned against him. He asks them an important question in chapter four and verse sixteen where he wrote:

Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

Paul desires to know first, “Am I therefore become your enemy...” Can we hear the amazement and wonder in Paul as he begins this question. Paul the apostle who brought them the gospel in the first place is now doubted to the point of being an enemy? Paul the apostle who cared enough for the Gentiles that he risked life and limb to share the truth with them? Paul the apostle who showed love and compassion as he suffered for their sakes just so they would hear the truth? Would he now be their enemy?

Paul adds, “because I tell you the truth?” The old adage “No good deed goes unpunished” seems to apply here. Paul simply told the church members in Galatia the truth, and now he wonders if he has become their enemy because of that? Isn't it amazing how a person who has cared as deeply as Paul can be doubted to the level of an “enemy” after paying such a price to share the gospel with them? We can almost hear the level of emotional pain that Paul is suffering just to think this is true.

Jesus said in the gospel of Matthew in chapter five and verses eleven and twelve:

“Blessed are you, when [men] shall revile you, and persecute [you], and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great [is] your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

As we consider Jesus' words, is it any wonder that Paul the apostle was persecuted? The interesting part of Paul's verse today is that it was the very church in Galatia that was speaking against him. Can we relate to him? Are there people in our lives to whom we have shared the gospel and now it seems they have turned against us? Do those who were once close to us now consider us their enemy? Perhaps as we ponder these things we will examine our own lives and determine whether we have shared the gospel in a measure that would be contradicted by false teachers. If we have, perhaps we shall become as enemies, but if we have not, maybe it's time we did.

Next time we will see effect of the Judaizers upon the Galatians, so read ahead, and let us join together then.

Until tomorrow...there is more...

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