Received as an Angel of God Galatians 4:14 - Equipped for Battle

When a pastor or teacher cares about his students and parishioners, he desires that they excel and do their best in whatever he is sharing with them. Paul the apostle was no different. The church members in Galatia were people he taught, instructed, and guided in the ways of God. His appeal to them in this book thus far is to call them to reason between the idea of leaving the gospel of grace which he taught them versus the addition of the adherence to the law of God that the Judaizers were promoting. Paul shares the mutual devotion the church members had toward him in chapter four and verse fourteen where he wrote:

And my temptation which was in my flesh you despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, [even] as Christ Jesus.

Paul begins with, “And my temptation which was in my flesh, you despised not, nor rejected;” The idea is “trial” or the trial which was in my flesh. Paul suffered from some physical infirmity. Because of all the beatings and physical thrashings Paul endured as he shared the gospel, it is quite possible that he was referring to his pain because of these. Our next verse indicates that it was possibly his eyes that was Paul's trial, “you would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.” Whatever it was physically, it was not a deterrent to the church members of Galatia receiving Paul and his message. No, rather than despise and reject Paul, they received him gladly.

Paul continues, “but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.” Now what an reception that must have been! When Paul first shared the gospel with the Galatians, he was received as though he was an angel or a direct messenger from God. Paul says that the reception was so abundant that it was if Jesus Christ Himself was dwelling among them. If we listen deeply to Paul's words we can almost sense that he wonders why his initial reception was so abundant, and why it seems that there is rejection and disregard for him now. Once again when the truth is attacked, so is the messenger of the truth. When comparing this idea with the way Jesus Christ shared truth with people and then was rejected, Paul should have felt in good company.

What about our own status among others? Are we “despised not, nor rejected” as we share the gospel with some folks and then later turned away when they receive some other doctrine? Can we for a few moments imagine ourselves in the place of Paul to be thought of as an angel one minute and then rejected the next? As we place ourselves in this situation, perhaps we have felt the same as Paul did when he shared with the Galatians, and if we haven't felt this way or been known in such a manner as Paul was, we might want to ask, “why not?” Then we should ask the Lord Jesus for Paul's passion for people. May the Lord Jesus bless us all with the passion of Paul whether we are despised, rejected or not.

Next time we will see the initial devotion that the Galatians had for Paul, so read ahead, and let us join together then.

Until tomorrow...there is more...

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