Galatians 4:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

For that Kingdom the Son of God shed His blood. By often encountering what is familiar, we learn to tolerate it. As tolerance grows, we begin to take part in it.

That is, whether these words refer to Jews or to Gentiles.

This refers to one of the superstitions of that time.

There was also the period from the fourteenth to the twenty-first of the same month. Then they ate unleavened bread, not of sincerity and truth, but in the leaven of ancient malice and Pharisaic iniquity. He also observes the seven weeks who counts them according to the Jewish rite of unleavened bread and honors the day of Pentecost. So also he observes the trumpet blasts on the first day of the seventh month. Likewise, on the tenth day of the same month, those who keep Jewish days observe purification, fasting, and booths. They observe the first and seventh months, not understanding the mystery of truth. So too they honor days who appear in Jerusalem three times each year, ter per annos singulos. They imagine that they fulfill the commandment of the Lord, Who says, "Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to Me: the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of first harvest, and the feast of the end at the departure of the year" (Ex 23:14-16). And elsewhere: "Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the face of the Lord your God" (Ex 23:17). His words "and years," in my judgment, refer to the seventh year, the release of slaves, and to the fiftieth year, which they call jubilee. The Apostle explains this passage more fully in the Epistle to the Colossians, saying, "Therefore let no one judge you in food or drink, or with regard to part of a feast, or a new moon, or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come" (Col 2:16-17). He used "part of a feast" here to distinguish it from unceasing festivity. Thus we should not spend only some little part of the whole body in festal joy, but the whole course of our life in continual celebration in Christ. To connect what precedes with what follows, I will add what he joins immediately afterward in the same epistle. There he states what he thinks about the Law of Moses and excessive care in choosing foods, saying, "If then you died with Christ to the principles of this world, why, as though still living in the world, do you submit to decrees: Do not touch this or that, do not taste, do not handle? These things perish in their very use, and are according only to the commandments and teachings of men." But someone will say, "If it is unlawful to observe days, months, seasons, and years, then we also commit something unlawful. We fast on Wednesday, quartam sabbati, and Friday. We celebrate the Lord's Day, fast during the forty days, keep Pascha solemnly, rejoice on Pentecost, and honor various times established in different countries for the martyrs." Whoever answers this simply will say, "The days of Jewish observance are not the same as ours. We celebrate not the Pascha of unleavened bread, but the Pascha of the death on the Cross and the Resurrection. In Pentecost we do not, according to Hebrew custom, see only the end of seven weeks, but honor the descent of the Holy Spirit. Certain days have been established so that the unusual gathering of the people may not diminish faith in Christ. For this reason we all assemble together alike. This is not because the day on which we gather is more glorious, but because greater joy arises from beholding one another on the day appointed for assembly." But whoever seeks to answer the objection more subtly should stand firmly on this, that all days are equal. It is not because Christ was crucified on Friday, nor because He rose from the dead on the Lord's Day. Rather, every day, semper, is a day of resurrection, and every day let a man partake of the Lord's flesh. Fasts and assemblies were established by wise men for those who are more free for the service of the world than of God. They cannot, or at least will not, gather in church at every time of life and offer God the sacrifice of their prayers before human affairs begin. Indeed, how great is the number of those who always observe at least these few times appointed for fasting or prayer? Thus, while it is permitted us always to fast and pray, and in joy continually to celebrate the Lord's Day by communion of the Lord's Body, the Jews are not permitted to slaughter the lamb at every time. Nor may they keep Pentecost, set up booths, and fast every day. Possessing the dignity of an Apostle, Paul in fact moderated his words cautiously and with the meekness of a holy man, saying, "I am afraid for you, lest perhaps I have labored among you in vain." If he had wished to pronounce a decisive judgment. He would certainly have said, "I am afraid for you, for I have labored among you in vain." But now, seeing that they have zeal for God, though not according to knowledge, he does not cast doubt on the salvation of those carried away by a pious deception. Yet neither does he leave them without rebuke, lest he give them occasion for stubbornness in their error, and others occasion for the same kind of error. He uses the expression "I am afraid of you" instead of saying, "I am afraid for you." A teacher labors in vain, sine causa, when he calls his disciples to higher things, but through a fall they are cast backward to lesser and lower things.

He himself is full of that blessedness, desiring and asking that they also be filled with the same spirit of mutual trust and affection which they had before. St. John Chrysostom says, "Do you see the Apostle's sincere concern? They are storm-tossed, and he fears and trembles for them. Therefore his words, 'I have labored among you,' contain much that is heart-rending. It is as though he said, 'Do not make my labors vain.' By the words 'I am afraid' and 'lest perhaps,' he awakens anxiety in them, and at the same time breathes good hopes into them." "As though stretching out a helping hand to those in danger of shipwreck. He sets himself before them as an example, saying, 'Become as I am.'" "By his own example he persuades them to abandon the ancient customs. I too once burned with mighty zeal for the Law, but afterward I was not afraid to leave it." "To assure them that everything said to them was not spoken from hatred or hostility, he reminds them of his love for them. Then, in his own defense, he adds praise for them, saying, 'I beseech you; you have wronged me in nothing.'" "What soul could be more kindly and more full of love than this soul?" Blessed Theodoret writes, "This is a paternal voice, fitting for one who remembers his labors and does not see their fruit." "The Apostle's heartfelt grief for the Galatians causes him often to change his manner of speech. At one time he rebukes, at another he entreats. Sometimes he accuses, and sometimes he laments. So here also he says to them, 'I suffered no wrong from you at all. On the contrary, I was deemed worthy of the greatest services you could render. Though I bore great dishonor in my body, being insulted, tortured, and enduring countless troubles, you did not look upon the dishonor. You honored me as an angel of God. And why do I say, as an angel? As Christ Jesus, so that when you served me, you thought you were serving Christ.'" Blessed Jerome says, "There is a tradition that the Apostle often suffered from headache. This was the angel of Satan given to him to afflict him, lest he be exalted. Yet it is also not out of place to say that when the Apostle first came to the Galatians, he suffered reproaches, persecutions, and wounds from those who opposed the Gospel." Explaining the former blessedness of the Galatians, His Grace Theophan says that they felt blessed because the Lord was in them. He made them blessed for the sincerity of their attachment to Him and the purity of their faith. Now their faith had been darkened by an inclination toward Judaism. Knowing this, the Apostle says, "Compare what is now in your heart with what was there then, and you will see that you have taken a false step. Remember whence you have fallen. By speaking truth before you, I thereby proved my true love for you. For this you repaid me with your love and honor. But now you have a different attitude toward me, because the teachers of falsehood have explained things to you differently. And with what is this consistent? Come to yourselves. Look at the matter as it is. Consider who these new teachers are."

Should anything like this happen, my labor will be lost. Indeed, the Apostle seems to express himself even more strongly: has my labor already been lost?

Have you become such that you cannot even be called Christians, but must be converted again? I fear whether matters have gone so far.

He does not say this decisively because he did not know exactly what was happening among them and with them. He did not know what to think of them (verse 20).

The Apostle does not grieve over the labor, but over them, that they may again be cast into the same darkness from which it cost him so much labor to draw them out.

Knowing that he is debtor to all, both far and near, he also grieves that the work of God is being hindered by this. He would have directed his labor to others, but here he must sweat again over the same people, who seemed already to have been set on their feet.

The reminder of his labor among the Galatians, which Saint Paul bore in converting them and establishing their churches, could produce great contrition and compunction. They had experienced the holy Apostle’s love for them and had previously shown devotion to him.

He “speaks as though saying: remember how much sweat has been poured out over you, and do not allow my labor to become vain” (Blessed Theophylact).

A vain loss is grievous. Therefore earlier he reminded them of their own loss when he said: “Did you suffer in vain?” (cf. 3:3-4). Now he speaks of the loss of his own labor.

Further on (verse 19), he writes that he is again undergoing labor, and painful labor. Practical people understand well how moving all such reminders are.

Saint Chrysostom says: “Do you see the Apostle’s sincere concern? They are storm-tossed, and he fears and trembles for them. Therefore his words, ‘I have labored among you,’ contain much that is crushing.

It is as though he said: do not make such great labors of mine vain. By the words ‘I fear’ and ‘lest perhaps,’ he awakens anxiety in them and at the same time breathes good hopes into them.

For he did not say, ‘I have labored in vain,’ but, ‘lest perhaps I have labored in vain.’ That is, this is not yet shipwreck, but I see in it a dangerous storm. Therefore I fear, but do not despair. You can still correct everything and return to your former calm.”

Blessed Jerome says the same with a particular application: “If he had wished to rebuke them decisively, he would have said, ‘I have labored in vain.’

But now, with this manner of expression, ‘lest perhaps,’ seeing that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, he does not wholly despair of the salvation of those drawn into error because of immature faith, pro errore.

Yet he does not leave them without rebuke, lest he give them occasion to remain undisturbed in error, and others to fall without fear into error like theirs.

A teacher labors in vain when he strives to lead them up to what is better and higher, while they through negligence fall down into what is worse and lower.”