Here he speaks like military commanders. Seeing soldiers standing irresolute or turning aside elsewhere, they cry to them, “Follow me!” Nothing inspires so much as example. Nothing is easier than to walk in the visible steps of another.
The words “for I also am as you are” are not altogether clear. For the Galatians, by inclining toward the Law, were no longer as he was, and therefore neither was he as they were. Hypotheses became unavoidable, and the interpreters diverged.
Some think that Saint Paul, in saying this, had chiefly the Jews in view, as if to say, “I too was as you are.” “Formerly I too had this zeal and loved the Law. But see how I changed. Therefore you also should emulate me in this change” (Blessed Theodoret).
Others think that Saint Paul had chiefly the Gentiles in view, as they had formerly been, wholly detached from the Law. It would be as if he said, “I am a Jew, but I became like you, Gentiles, strangers to the Law. I left behind everything legal and appeared everywhere as one without the Law” (cf. 1 Cor 9:21). “You see what a sacrifice I made for the truth of God. Return to this truth and do not bind yourselves to the Law. This is easier for you, since no sacrifice is required from you. By origin you were not bound to the Law, and by faith you owe it nothing.”
But it seems that Saint Paul had in view neither Gentiles nor Jews, but the Galatian Christians who had inclined toward Judaism. He is persuading all the Christians there to abandon attachment to the Law, not only Jews or Gentiles. Having received faith in Christ, they were all free from the Law. The Jews had left it, and the Gentiles had not known it. Then they inclined toward it, carried away by false teachers.
This is the condition he has in view, and he persuades them, “Cast off the Law, as I cast it off. For I too was attached to the Law as you are now, but I cast it off.” In this epistle Saint Paul has many places where the speech is broken off and seems left unfinished. So it is here. The most natural supplement to the words, “for I also am as you are,” will be this: “I was as you are now, a zealot of the Law, but I broke away from it.”
Blessed Jerome writes: “I too was as you are now, when I strictly held these Jewish customs, and when, as a persecutor, I laid waste the Church of Christ because it did not do the same.”
Chrysostom is chiefly concerned to draw from these words the full sum of thoughts persuasive for the Galatians. He says, “The Apostle says this to believers from the Jews,” or we may say, to those who had inclined toward Judaism, “and by his own example persuades them to abandon the ancient customs. If you had no other example, he says, it would be enough for you only to look at me, in order to resolve fearlessly on such a change. Look at me. I too was formerly of one mind with you and burned with strong zeal for the Law. But afterward I did not fear to leave the Law and to change my life according to the Law. You know very well both how zealously I formerly held to Judaism, and how afterward I left it with still greater readiness. The Apostle very fittingly offered this example after everything else. Many people are more quickly moved by the single example of one of their brethren than by innumerable proofs, however just. When they see another doing something, they themselves are more quickly inclined to do the same.”
“Brethren, I beseech you.” Some connect these words with what precedes, “Be as I am.” Others connect them with what follows, “You have wronged me in nothing.” Lovers of the letter spend much labor determining where it is better to connect them. Chrysostom turns all his attention to showing how much these two words mean for the Apostle’s aim in this section. We shall confine ourselves to him.
“See how he again calls them by an honorable name, and at the same time reminds them of grace,” that is, “of the grace of baptism, by virtue of which we are all brethren, as born of one Father” (Blessed Theophylact). “Since up to now he had attacked them from every side, with strong rebukes, strict examination of their deeds, and proof that they were transgressors of the Law, he now softens his speech again and comforts them, speaking in a gentler and more kindly language. For as constant caresses make one weak, so rebukes without relief harden. Therefore proportion and the middle way are good everywhere. See how he justifies the reproof he made, showing that everything he said to them was said not from hatred, but from love for them. Having made a deep wound in this way, he immediately pours upon it the oil of consolation. To assure them that everything said to them was not said from hatred or hostility toward them, he first recalls his love for them in the word ‘brethren.’ Then, in his own defense, he adds praise for them, saying, ‘I beseech you, you have wronged me in nothing.’”
“You have wronged me in nothing.” He turns aside the thought that might arise among the Galatians, that the Apostle speaks so sternly because of some personal offense, as Chrysostom observes. He turns it aside by assuring them that he has seen no offense from them, and therefore any resentment toward them would be out of place.
“Even an ordinary man would scarcely wish to harm a man who had done him no wrong, or to offend him in vain and without cause. But you not only did not wrong me. You even showed me great and extraordinary affection. Therefore it cannot be that one who received such consolation from you should speak to you from malice. Thus I say this not from vexation, but from excessive love for you and care for you. ‘I beseech you, you have wronged me in nothing.’ What soul is more kindly, more compassionate, and more full of love than this holy soul!” (Chrysostom).
By assuring them that there was no occasion for resentment against them, the Apostle at the same time hints that there will be such an occasion, and a very strong one, if they become Judaizers. “Until now you have wronged me in nothing. But now your matter has gone so far that you may wound me bitterly. You were always attentive to my exhortations. You always did whatever I commanded you, and all went so peacefully between us. Do not disturb this peace. Do not begin discord. Do not raise the dividing wall of Judaism among us.”
Given the Apostle’s love, which the Galatians had experienced, and their love for him, proved by deeds, this reminder is a very sharp goad. It pierces and wounds powerfully. How well this served the Apostle’s aim! Blessed Jerome seems to have had this thought when he added, “The disciple wrongs the teacher if through negligence he forgets his lessons, and by this makes his labor vain.”
Someone will say, “They had not wronged him, but they would wrong him.” Was the Apostle standing up for himself? Not for himself, but for the Lord and His work. Yet he had so closely joined the Lord’s work to himself that it was the work of his life. What harmed that work struck the apple of his eye. Saint Paul was not indifferent to preaching or to the progress of his disciples. What was favorable to them rejoiced him. What was unfavorable grieved him.
But again, the fear of grieving a beloved person, by arousing which the Apostle wants to act upon the Galatians, is an earthly, human feeling. Is it fitting in the work of God? This feeling is a good feeling and was placed in our nature by God, together with other feelings, as a regulator of our relations. Therefore, as something from God, it could also be directed toward the work of God. Such methods in the holy Apostle come down to one rule, which he always kept: “I became all things to all men, that by all means I might save some” (1 Cor 9:22).
THEOSIS