So I have become your enemy in speaking the truth to you?
The Galatians once counted Paul their dearest friend. Now they treated him as an enemy, and nothing had changed except that he kept telling them the same truth.
Why the Attack Fell on the Messenger
False teachers had come into the churches of Galatia. Notice where their attack landed.
Their attack was upon the truth, but the method used was not to face the truth, but to attack the teacher of the truth. They tried to persuade the saints that the Apostle Paul had not been sent by Peter and the other apostles, and therefore had no divine authority for his apostleship. If he came without divine authority, they could no longer accept the gospel he preached as being the truth. So instead of facing the truth that was in question, they fell back on personal abuse of the Apostle.
The word "enemy" may not even have been Paul's own choice of insult. One writer suggests he was quoting back at them a label already circulating.
These false teachers from Jerusalem who had come to Galatia had very probably called Paul an enemy. Paul seems to have heard about it, and so he reproaches them... He asks it as a question, to leave room for doubt and to give the Galatians a chance to answer, "No, Paul, you are not our enemy! You are our best and dearest earthly friend."
Truth Told Twice
Paul had told them the truth twice, and love moved him both times.
A friend's wounds are faithful. But at first their sharpness usually drives people apart, and only one thing overcomes it: a careful comparison of the earlier and the later beliefs that have each in turn ruled the soul. Paul had dealt truly with these people twice. The first time was when, as an ambassador of Christ, he brought the words of eternal life to their thirsting ears. The second is now. He rejoices alone in what had once been their shared joy, and he proves his love by his eagerness to call them back to their former selves. To do this he is even willing to be hated for a time, if only his words will do their work in the end.
The same writer explains why a change of mind is so hard to reverse. New teaching appeals to the flesh and pushes out the old, "while the mind that has strayed is unwilling to admit its error."
How the Warmth Turned Cold
Their warm feelings for Paul did not simply cool on their own. One writer names the cause.
Their affection for Paul had died completely! — that is always what happens when false teachers work on the mind. The hostility grows, and every circumstance tends to swell it... it was really shutting the apostle out from the saints — making a barrier between him and them.
Why do such teachers want a following of their own?
It will always be so that those who seek a following will selfishly preach a system of works as the way of salvation. Such a system attaches importance to the flesh, and so to themselves.
Using This Verse Honestly
People also use this verse to excuse harsh words. But if our bluntness wounds someone, that alone does not prove we spoke the truth in love.
Sometimes we say offensive things on purpose, while pretending to expose some evil and to tell a brother the plain truth for his good. We may be perfectly sure that malice in the heart lies behind those offensive words. How often people excuse the most malicious words by quoting the scripture, "Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend." How few could quote the words just before those. They warn us not to use this scripture lightly, for they ask, "Who can stand before jealousy?"
The safeguard is a life that gives no cause for offence of its own.
As an ambassador of Christ he spoke for God, and in the authority of His great Name. So he would try to behave in a way that gave no one a just reason to set his teaching against his life... He acted in everything by the enabling grace of God. Then if anyone took offence, it would not be at him, but at the truth he preached so fearlessly and constantly.
Summary
- Cause. They could not answer the truth, so they attacked the man who taught it. Personal abuse took the place of argument.
- Cost. Telling the truth wounds first. Paul was willing to be counted an enemy for a time, if his words would do their work in the end.
- Motive. Those who want followers preach works. Works exalt the flesh, and so exalt them. They also build a barrier between people and the man who told them the truth.
- Tone. Paul asked a question instead of making an accusation. That left the Galatians room to answer that he was their dearest friend.
- Caution. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend" is no licence for cutting words. If offence comes, let it come from the truth, not from us.