Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Galatians · About this commentary
Become as I Am
Galatians 4:12-14
12 I beg you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong, · WEB
The argument stops for three verses of memory, and what Paul recalls is a welcome he had no right to expect.
I beg you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. The plea is mutual and the middle term is unstated — most naturally, a Jew who has taken the standing of a gentile before God asking gentiles not to take the standing of Jews.
Then the tone changes entirely: you did me no wrong. After two chapters of argument, Paul clears the ground of any personal grievance before recalling anything.
Verse 13 gives the circumstance of his first visit, and it is not flattering to him: because of weakness in the flesh I preached the Good News to you the first time. The illness is not described, and the letter offers no diagnosis — only that it was visible enough to be a problem and that it is why he was there at all. Something that looked like misfortune is named as the occasion of their hearing the gospel.
Verse 14 is the heart of it. The word for what his condition presented is strong — it was a temptation to you in my flesh, something that gave them every excuse. And the two verbs for what they did not do are physical. They did not despise him. They did not reject him, the second word meaning to spit something out.
What they did instead is put as high as it could be put: you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. A sick and unimpressive stranger was welcomed as a messenger from heaven.
Paul is not scolding here. He is reminding them what they were like when they had nothing to gain by it.
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