Galatians 4:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Paul skillfully completed his thought by saying, “Have I therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth?” By this he shows that the beginnings of preaching were not so much the truth as a shadow and image of the truth. The Apostle moderated his thought and gave it a special meaning, addressing precisely those whom he had earlier called foolish and regarded as infants, that is, the Galatians personally alone. At the same time, it is necessary to notice this also. So long as we explain Scripture to people literally, we meet with praise, honor, and admiration for it. But when little by little we begin to call them to pass on to higher things, they turn from our praisers into enemies.

“Where then is your blessedness? For I bear you witness that, if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. Have I therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth?” Blessed is he who walks on the path of virtues, but only if he has reached the virtues. The abandonment of vice is of no use if you do not attain the higher good deeds, because in good works the beginning is not so praiseworthy as the end.

For in a vineyard there are different stages before the wine is pressed from the cluster in the winepress. First the vine must put forth buds on the branches. Then it must awaken hope of fruit by flowering. After the blossom falls, the outward shape of the clusters must form. Little by little the swelling shoot must produce grapes, which can be pressed in the winepress and yield sweet juice.

So also in teaching there are distinct stages of approach to blessedness, or of growth in blessedness. People must hear the word of God and receive it. It must reach maturity in the womb, utero, of their soul and come to birth. When they have borne it, they must nourish it with milk and bring it to the perfect man through infancy, childhood, adolescence, and youth.

Therefore, as we have said, each stage separately has a certain share of blessedness according to its elevation. Yet if there is no proper end, and, so to speak, no final stroke of the hand in the work, the whole labor will be vain. Then it will be said, “Where is your blessedness?”

He says, “Although at the time when you received the Gospel according to the flesh you were called blessed by me, because you approached the beginnings with ardor, now I do not yet see the completion of the building finished. I scarcely see even the foundation of the building laid. Therefore I am compelled to say, ‘Where then is your blessedness, for which I formerly praised you and counted you blessed?’”

“For in truth I myself confess that in the beginning you loved me so much when I preached humble things, humilia, to you, or when I was undergoing persecutions, that. If it had been possible,” this must be understood as hyperbole, “you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me, so that I might see better with all your eyes. Indeed, by your ineffable love toward me you would have wished to be blind. In order that the light of the Gospel might arise, orietur, in my heart, you wished to increase my gain by your loss. And this was at the very time when I announced to you small and simple things, as to infants and those fed with milk because of the infirmity of your flesh, or when, because of the sufferings of my flesh, I was in your eyes unworthy of trust.”

“But now, when I have begun to call you from beginnings, syllables, and childish reading, and have begun to call you to higher studies, so that you might hold books in your hands and study words full of learning and deep meaning, you kick back, recalcitratis, and grow angry. The improvement of teaching seems very burdensome to you. You have so changed in your affections, in alios mutati estis affectus, that the one whom you received as if he were a messenger of God, angelum, as Christ, and to whom you wished to entrust your eyes, has now become to you as though an enemy, because I proclaim to you the full truth.”

But he skillfully completed his thought by saying, “Have I therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth?” He did this to show that the beginnings of preaching were not so much the truth as a shadow and image of the truth. The well-known thought of the poet famous among the Romans is similar: “Compliance begets friends; truth awakens hatred.”

But notice how much better the Apostle’s first thought is than the latter. For the Apostle moderated his thought and gave it a special meaning, addressing precisely those whom he had earlier called foolish and regarded as infants, that is, the Galatians personally alone. But the named poet was greatly mistaken when he declared his judgment universally applicable, as though valid for all people.

Indeed, the compliance which, in his opinion, makes friends, when it lacks truth, is not compliance but rather flattery and indulgence. Obviously this should be called hidden enmity rather than friendship.

At the same time, it is necessary to notice that the same thing happens now. While, among infants and those fed with milk, and among those in whose hearts Christ has not yet grown or advanced in age, wisdom, and grace before God and men, we explain Scripture literally, we meet with praise, honor, and admiration for it. But when little by little we begin to call them to pass on to higher things, they turn from our praisers into enemies. They prefer to follow the Jews rather than the Apostles, although they departed from the teaching and traditions of the Pharisees and came to Christ and to the perfection of the Law.

They are not deemed worthy to receive the word of God, which commands the teachers of the Church to ascend to higher doctrines, dogmata, and with all their strength to lift up their voice. It commands them not to fear the cries of children running about, saying, “O Zion, who brings good tidings, go up upon a high mountain. O Jerusalem, who preaches, lift up your voice with strength. Lift it up, fear not” (Isa 40:9).

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."

And how you then honored me, magnified me, and called me blessed! You were ready to do everything for me, to give me everything, and to sacrifice everything for me." The proverbial expression "to pluck out one's eyes and give them to someone" means to be ready for every sacrifice for someone. The holy Apostle says this to make them consider whence the change in them came, when he remains the same, both in himself and in his relations with them. The words of Blessed Theophylact may be translated thus: "Into what has that former blessed praise of yours been changed? I do not see it now, since you now behave toward me in a completely opposite manner." St. Chrysostom says, "Here the Apostle is at a loss, marveling at their change, and tries to learn its cause from them. Who deceived you, he says, and changed your disposition toward me? Did you not serve me, tend my wounds, and count me dearer than your own eyes? What then has happened? Whence such hostility? Whence suspicion? Is it because I spoke the truth to you? But for this you ought to have honored and loved me all the more." For St. Paul's purpose in this section, this thought serves to awaken shame before themselves, or self-reproach for inconstancy. It makes them consider whether they are doing well by turning from the lessons of a teacher of faith whom they had received with such exaltation, though before his preaching they had not known him at all. From this there is a natural transition to suspicion of the new teachers. Are they really telling us the truth? Are they our benefactors, or is the first instructor in truth? Is there not something evil in them? Therefore, after these words the Apostle speaks directly to them about the evil designs of the false teachers against them. The interpretation, "How blessed you were then," does not fit the flow of the speech. Yet it is not unfavorable to St. Paul's purpose in this section, which is to trouble the feelings of the Galatians. For this reason some accept it. A way of thought does not remain without influence on the heart, especially faith. This is still more true of faith accompanied by works. In true faith the Lord is joined to the heart and makes it blessed. The depth of this union depends on the strength of faith, its purity, and the resolve for corresponding works joined with it. When the purity of faith, or the life corresponding to it, diminishes, closeness to the Lord diminishes. In the same measure, the blessedness of the heart diminishes. The Galatians, who had received the faith with such fervor, were evidently in indescribable exaltation. This exaltation did not come from frivolous enthusiasm, but from their truly feeling themselves blessed. They felt themselves blessed because the Lord was in them, blessing them for the sincerity of their attachment to Him and the purity of their faith. Now their faith had been darkened by inclination toward Judaism. Judaism began to estrange them from the Lord and the Lord from them (verse 19). The measure of this estrangement was necessarily accompanied by a corresponding measure of diminishment in inward blessedness in the Lord. Knowing that this is so, St. Paul says to the Galatians, "Compare what is in your heart now with what was there then, and you will see that you have taken a false step. Remember what blessedness you then felt. Where is it now?" Blessed Theodoret, St. John of Damascus, and others read που μακαρισμος, "Where is the blessedness?" Modern readers have also accepted this reading, but not for the better. By this he said to them, as it were, "Remember whence you have fallen." There is no need to say how impressive and instructive such a suggestion could be. Even so, in the present place this must be considered only secondary and inferred, not the meaning required by the course of the speech. It is possible to unite these two understandings into one. The Galatians blessed St. Paul because they felt themselves blessed by that blessedness which was given them through the faith preached among them by St. Paul. The third understanding, "How others blessed you," fits neither the flow of the speech nor the purpose of this section. It is, however, found among some, even among the ancients.