How great a loss is it when we allow ourselves to be diverted from the simplicity of faith to trust in ceremonies, rites, and a prescribed routine! Inevitably these bring us into bondage. Let us therefore not pay slavish attention to the outward, but seek to have Christ within, and from within He will become the energy and passion of a new life. Each time we yield to the prompting of His Spirit, there is less of self and more of Him.
In Galatians 4:15 we perhaps have a hint as to the nature of Paul's thorn in the flesh. This reference has led many to suppose that he suffered from acute ophthalmia, or inflammation of the eyes. But nothing diverted him from his soul-travail on behalf of his converts, Galatians 4:19. What a beautiful analogy we may trace between the formation of Christ in the soul and the formation of a chick in the egg! At first the tiny germ of life is hardly discernible amid the viscous matter in which it floats; but, day by day, there is less of this and more of the tiny creature which is being formed. So in regeneration the life of Christ is implanted, which will continue to increase until all of self will be lost in the one infilling Presence. [source]
Chapter Summary: Galatians 4
1We were under the law till Christ came, as the heir is under the guardian till he be of age 5But Christ freed us from the law; 7therefore we are servants no longer to it 14Paul remembers the Galatians' good will to him, and his to them; 22and shows that we are the sons of Abraham by the freewoman
Greek Commentary for Galatians 4:16
Your enemy [εχτρος υμων] Active sense of εχτρος echthros hater with objective genitive. They looked on Paul now as an enemy to them. So the Pharisees and Judaizers generally now regarded him. [source]
Because I tell you the truth [αλητευων υμιν] Present active participle of αλητευω alētheuō old verb from αλητης alēthēs true. In N.T. only here and Ephesians 4:15. “Speaking the truth.” It is always a risky business to speak the truth, the whole truth. It may hit and hurt. [source]
Therefore [ὥστε] Better, so then: seeing that your love for me has waned. [source]
Your enemy [ἐχθρὸς ὑμῶν] Ἐχθρὸς enemyin an active sense, as is shown by the next clause. Not passive, an object of hatred, which would have the pronoun in the dative. [source]
Because I tell you the truth [ἀληθεύων ὑμῖν] Ἀληθεύειν , only here and Ephesians 4:15, means to speak the truth or to deal truly. The present participle refers to the same time as γέγονα Iam become, the time of his second visit. The clause is usually construed as interrogative (A.V.). It is rather a direct statement with a slight interrogative suggestion. “So then, I am become your enemy, am I.” [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Galatians 4:16
Galatians 5:11If I yet preach circumcision [εἰ περιτομὴν ἔτι κηρύσσω] Commonly explained as an allusion to a charge circulated by the Judaisers that Paul preached or sanctioned the circumcision of Gentile converts in churches outside of Galatia, as, for example, in the case of Timothy, Acts 16:3. But it is quite unlikely that any such charge was circulated. The Judaisers would not have founded such a charge on an individual case or two, like Timothy's, especially in the face of the notorious fact that Paul, in Jerusalem and Antioch, had contested the demand for the circumcision of Gentile Christians; and Paul's question, “Why do I suffer persecution?” would have been pertinent only on the assumption that he was charged with habitually. not occasionally, preaching circumcision. Had the Judaisers actually circulated such a charge, Paul would have been compelled to meet it in a far more direct and thorough manner than he does here. He would have been likely to formulate the charge, and to deal incisively with the inconsistency in his preaching which it involved. The course of his thought is as follows: “He that troubleth you by preaching circumcision shall bear his judgment; but I am not a disturber - not your enemy (Galatians 4:16), for I do not preach circumcision; and the proof of this is that I am persecuted. If I preached circumcision, there would be no offense, and therefore no disturbance; for the cross would cease to be an offense, if, in addition to the cross, I preached just what the Judaisers assert, the necessity of circumcision.” [source]
Ephesians 4:15Speaking the truth [ἀληθεύοντες] Only here and Galatians 4:16. In classical Greek it means to be true, to arrive at truth, and to speak truth. Here the idea is rather that of being or walking in truth. Rev., in margin, dealing truly. [source]
What do the individual words in Galatians 4:16 mean?
Greek Commentary for Galatians 4:16
Active sense of εχτρος echthros hater with objective genitive. They looked on Paul now as an enemy to them. So the Pharisees and Judaizers generally now regarded him. [source]
Present active participle of αλητευω alētheuō old verb from αλητης alēthēs true. In N.T. only here and Ephesians 4:15. “Speaking the truth.” It is always a risky business to speak the truth, the whole truth. It may hit and hurt. [source]
Better, so then: seeing that your love for me has waned. [source]
Ἐχθρὸς enemyin an active sense, as is shown by the next clause. Not passive, an object of hatred, which would have the pronoun in the dative. [source]
Ἀληθεύειν , only here and Ephesians 4:15, means to speak the truth or to deal truly. The present participle refers to the same time as γέγονα Iam become, the time of his second visit. The clause is usually construed as interrogative (A.V.). It is rather a direct statement with a slight interrogative suggestion. “So then, I am become your enemy, am I.” [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Galatians 4:16
Commonly explained as an allusion to a charge circulated by the Judaisers that Paul preached or sanctioned the circumcision of Gentile converts in churches outside of Galatia, as, for example, in the case of Timothy, Acts 16:3. But it is quite unlikely that any such charge was circulated. The Judaisers would not have founded such a charge on an individual case or two, like Timothy's, especially in the face of the notorious fact that Paul, in Jerusalem and Antioch, had contested the demand for the circumcision of Gentile Christians; and Paul's question, “Why do I suffer persecution?” would have been pertinent only on the assumption that he was charged with habitually. not occasionally, preaching circumcision. Had the Judaisers actually circulated such a charge, Paul would have been compelled to meet it in a far more direct and thorough manner than he does here. He would have been likely to formulate the charge, and to deal incisively with the inconsistency in his preaching which it involved. The course of his thought is as follows: “He that troubleth you by preaching circumcision shall bear his judgment; but I am not a disturber - not your enemy (Galatians 4:16), for I do not preach circumcision; and the proof of this is that I am persecuted. If I preached circumcision, there would be no offense, and therefore no disturbance; for the cross would cease to be an offense, if, in addition to the cross, I preached just what the Judaisers assert, the necessity of circumcision.” [source]
Only here and Galatians 4:16. In classical Greek it means to be true, to arrive at truth, and to speak truth. Here the idea is rather that of being or walking in truth. Rev., in margin, dealing truly. [source]