December 23
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BRINGING TRUTH TO THE LOST AND BEWITCHED
12 I beg of you, brothers and sisters, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong; 13 but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time; 14 and you did not despise that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition, nor express contempt, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. 15 Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I testify about you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They eagerly seek you, not in a commendable way, but they want to shut you out so that you will seek them. 18 But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable way, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you— 20 but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone of voice, for I am at a loss about you! – GALATIANS 4:12-20
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In this letter of Paul to the Galatians, he strongly confronts them about the issue of being bewitched by false teachers. According to Wikipedia, the epistle to the Galatians, often shortened to Galatians, is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number of Early Christian communities in Galatia. Paul is principally concerned with the controversy surrounding gentile Christians and the Mosaic Law during the Apostolic Age. Paul argues that the gentile Galatians do not need to adhere to the tenets of the Mosaic Law, by contextualizing the role of the law in light of the revelation of Christ. The Epistle to the Galatians has exerted enormous influence on the history of Christianity, the development of Christian theology, and the study of the Apostle Paul. In these verses, we hear Paul confronting those who have been converted to believe in Jesus that they are no longer slaves of the Mosaic Law because they have now heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who had already come to free them from the slavery of the law. He reminded them the time that he came to them when he was ill and how they blessed and welcomed him and the gospel he preached to them then. He felt lost that they are being bewitched by the truth that he has already testified to them when he first came to preach the gospel to them and why they would continue to be bewitched. He is confronting them not to go back to listening to the wrong gospel.
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REFLECTION
• Why is it important to pursue purity in adhering to the true gospel only?