Galatians 4:13–15

We do not know what this weakness was. But it clearly hindered the Apostle in his journey and kept him in the place where he "happened" to be. This was one of those interruptions to our plans that annoy us so much. But let us remember: God orders these interruptions. Paul, no doubt, was pressing on to some field of work for the Lord ahead. Instead, he falls sick.

So far from coming in anything that suggested confidence in the flesh, or authority, he came as a suffering man. He only touches on it here; 2 Corinthians 12 says much more. We are not told what it was. It might have been some peculiarity in his speech, or his appearance. We know it was something to do with his body: it was "in his flesh." But one thing is clear, and moving. The more God led the apostle on and blessed him, the deeper the marks of suffering, weakness and shame he wore in his person. The thorn in the flesh followed his being caught up into the third heaven.

The stoning of Paul, even to the point of death, took place near the end of his first journey, as recorded in Acts 14:19. It is more than likely that there is a connection between the two events, and that this "temptation … in my flesh" resulted from the ill-treatment that he received, and is the same as the "thorn in the flesh," of which he writes in 2 Corinthians 12:7.

The force seems to be the moral source of the character of what is produced. So in Galatians 4:13, "in weakness." Weakness of the flesh was the moral source of the character of his preaching. In Philippians 1:15, envy was the moral source of the character of the preaching for some, and goodwill was for others.

How had he appeared among them when he first came as an ambassador of Christ? Was there anything in his teaching, or in his presence and condition, to suggest — much less enforce — differences between one person's flesh and another's? He preached God's gospel to them. But in his own presence and manner he was to them, as he was also to the Corinthians, a spectacle of personal weakness — more likely to stir contempt than admiration. But they had thought only of his words, which fell like the dew of God upon their souls.

What was the apostle Paul's subject of glory? Not what he was, nor what he had done, but his weaknesses. In fellowship with God he had learned that his strength was in God. If, in weakness of the flesh (Gal. 4:13), he had been the means of many conversions, it was because the power of God was with him. So for Christ's sake he took pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities.

"God did tempt Abraham" when He told him to offer up Isaac. Gen. 22:1. God tried him, putting his faith to the test. Paul speaks of his thorn in the flesh as his 'temptation': it was a trial or test. Gal. 4:14.

Far from arriving with any air of self-confidence and authority, he came as a suffering man... We are not told what it was. We know it was something connected with his bodily state: it was "in his flesh." But this is clear, and moving: the more God led him on and blessed him, the deeper the marks of suffering, weakness and shame he wore in his person. The thorn in the flesh came after God took him up into the third heaven. This messenger of Satan struck him, and God turned it to excellent account: it kept the apostle low in his own eyes, and even in the eyes of others.

It seems Paul had not intended to preach the good news to the Galatians. But sickness of some kind kept him among them... We do not know what this weakness was. But it clearly hindered the apostle in his journey, and kept him in the place where he "happened" to be. It was one of those interruptions to our plans which often make us so cross. But let us remember that God orders these interruptions... It was a trial to them — "your trial in my flesh," he calls it — but that made no difference to their love and their welcome.

His thorn in the flesh was a real trouble to the devoted apostle, and made some people look down on him as a speaker. But when the Spirit is at work, souls are occupied with the message, not with the messenger. So it had been in Galatia. Had he been an angel straight from heaven, or even Christ Himself, they could not have welcomed him more warmly or with more thanks.

No show of personal strength or ability had attracted them. Yet they received him as an angel of God, and more, "as Christ Jesus" (v.14). He came to them in grace, as Christ had come to the world. They received him, not because of power, but because of love and grace. The energy and warmth of the love of God only shone the more brightly in the weakness of the vessel.

Paul ended the letter with some words in his own hand, which may suggest a problem with his eyesight, but Scripture gives us no further word on this. There are also signs that he may have had a speech difficulty, and that people would naturally tend to despise him for it, but we cannot be sure about this either. When Paul came to Galatia, they did not reproach him. They did not reject or despise him. They received him "as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus." Paul was truly there as Christ's representative.

The apostle starts by expressing his amazement at the inconsistency of the Galatians. There was a time when they had received him "as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus" (Gal. 4:14). Now their attitude had changed completely. They were questioning his authority. But something even more serious was happening. In rejecting him they were also rejecting the gospel he preached — the only true gospel.

That had been a happy situation, "blessedness." This is the same word Paul used in Romans 4:8, where he spoke of the blessedness of the believer: "blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin." That is the blessedness the Galatians had when they believed the gospel.

What then was this blessedness of which their hearts and lips were once so full?… With grateful and joyful gladness these Galatians gave voice to the peace and happiness that filled their hearts. It was the effect of the righteousness that Paul had preached.

"What then has become of your blessedness?" Paul asked his Galatian converts. Ah, where has it gone? They had bartered the blessedness of grace for the blight of legal observances. They traded liberty for bondage, joy for sorrow, and Christianity for Judaism — a sad exchange indeed. How easily the power of life is frittered away, and the Spirit of God slighted.

He then reminds them of their love to him when he first came among them preaching the gospel. In those days they received him as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. They did so even though he was among them in weakness, without "lofty speech or wisdom" to appeal to the natural man (1 Corinthians 2:4)… Their love for him was so great that, if possible, they would have given him their own eyes to meet his bodily weakness.

The apostle's strong, unusual words fit the very expressive and excitable character of the Gaulish people. There may or may not be a reference to eye disease in them, as a feature of the "weakness of the flesh" he had mentioned. People speak like this in ordinary life when they feel deep gratitude and personal attachment. Outbursts of real feeling are seldom limited to literal truth, and the more eager the speaker's nature, the more extravagant the words.

The cause was all too clear. They had exchanged God for man in turning back from grace to law, and the natural consequences followed. Love is of God, and it lasts only while we know and enjoy Him. In other words, only faith can produce it or keep it alive. And the law is not of faith… They spoke of blessedness no longer, because the dew of God's blessing was no longer on their souls.

He makes us know that as we cannot do without His love, so neither can He do without ours. It is truly wonderful; yet so it is. He will keep the soul up to the old terms. Listen to those touching appeals of the Spirit of Christ to His people in earlier days. "You have abandoned the love you had at first." "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first" (Revelation 2). "Recall the former days" (Hebrews 10:32). "What then has become of your blessedness?" (Galatians 4:15).

We do not know the power of the thought that God's favour is toward us — the greatest lever that can be put under the soul. The Galatians knew it at the time the apostle looked back to.