In today's passage we learn that Paul's first trip to Galatia was made due to an illness. This indicates that his plan had not been to visit Galatia, at least not at that time, but that he was compelled to go there for health reasons. We are going to look at some of the popular theories regarding what this illness was. I think also we need to keep in mind that although it may not have been Paul's plan to visit Galatia at that particular point in his ministry, it was God's plan for him to bring the gospel to them at that time.
When we concluded yesterday Paul worriedly stated that he feared he had wasted his efforts in teaching the Galatians that now that they have been freed from the rituals of pagan worship they must not become entangled again in the trappings of religion while neglecting a personal relationship with the Lord. So he begins today, "I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong." (Galatians 4:12)
He's saying something like, "Observe the liberty I have in Christ and use my example. When I lived among you, I lived as a Gentile. I lodged with you and I ate whatever you put on the table. I preached the gospel of Christ to you and you believed it, which makes us equal in the eyes of God no matter what our backgrounds may be. I never told you that you had to be circumcised and follow the Mosaic law in order to be acceptable to God. Christ has made you acceptable to God. If I, who am a Jew, have the freedom in Christ to live among Gentiles and eat at the same table as Gentiles, certainly you who are Gentiles by birth have the freedom to be yourselves! You didn't wrong me in any way by causing me to live as a Gentile while I stayed in your region. That didn't take anything away from my salvation, so you can see that living like a Jew isn't going to add anything to your salvation. Christ has done everything that needs to be done for both Jews and Gentiles. I don't become "less Christian" when I live among Gentiles and eat in Gentile houses. You don't become "more Christian" by living among Jews and following the law of Moses."
"As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus Himself." (Galatians 4:13-14) Whatever his malady was, he apparently needed to retreat to the mountain city of Galatia to recover his strength. He must have been quite weak, since he says "my illness was a trial to you". No matter how inconvenient it may have been for them to care for him, Paul says the Galatians treated him with as much love as they would have treated Christ. One clue to his illness is that before he journeyed to Galatia he was ministering in Perga. Perga was a low-lying marshy area, and this has led many scholars to believe Paul contracted malaria there. If this is the case, it makes sense that he would travel into the highlands of Galatia where the air was clear and dry. There is a type of recurrent malaria and this might explain why Luke the doctor began traveling with Paul as his scribe, fellow-laborer in the gospel, and personal physician.
Other scholars speculate that Paul may have had epilepsy. Adult-onset epilepsy is not that common unless the person has a brain tumor or has sustained a head injury. You will recall from our study of Acts that Paul was dragged outside the city gates of Lystra, pelted with stones, and left for dead. This occurred some years before he went to Galatia on his second missionary journey, and it's possible that the injuries he received at Lystra may have caused him to develop a seizure disorder. Such a thing would explain why he praises the Galatians for not treating him "with contempt or scorn". Epilepsy in those days was not widely understood to be a physical illness and it was often considered a sign of demonic possession or punishment from God for having lived a sinful life.
Some Bible scholars think Paul may have suffered from depression or anxiety attacks. If anyone ever had a right to be depressed or anxious, it was Paul. In 2 Corinthians 8 he provides a long list of the troubles he has endured for the gospel. In addition to all the attacks that came against him from outside, he says that he is daily burdened down with concern for all the churches. If it's true that mental struggles are what led Paul to Galatia, it may have been that he collapsed from all the strain he was under. Depression and anxiety can cause a great deal of physical symptoms. Some of these symptoms are not life-threatening, such as tension headaches, indigestion, dizziness, and so on. But others can be serious, such as significant weight loss, high blood pressure, strokes, or heart attacks. Seeing that he was under so much strain, it could be that Paul's friends whisked him away from the crowds and took him to Galatia where he could experience a season of retreat and recovery.
The last theory we are going to discuss today is that Paul was having trouble with his eyesight. The next statement he makes lends credence to this theory. "Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me." (Galatians 4:15) He says the Galatians loved him so much for bringing them the gospel that they would gladly have given him their eyes. This is an odd statement to make unless the giving of their eyes could have benefited him in some way. Later in the book of Galatians Paul will remark that he is writing this letter by his own hand and that he is having to write very large in order to do so. In the book of Acts we learned that he once picked up a snake thinking it was a piece of kindling for the fire. He apparently did suffer from some sort of vision problem, but whether or not that has anything to do with his journey to Galatia, and whether or not that is what his "thorn in the flesh" was, we can't say for certain. I am not sure how a vision problem would have made him feel burdensome to the Galatians unless for a time he was nearly blind and had to be waited on hand and foot. Could his Damascus road experience have led to lifelong vision problems? Or could he have suffered from some type of genetic nearsightedness? Or could he have struggled with recurrent issues of inflammation of his optic nerves?
We are not going to know Paul's specific illness until we see him in person in heaven and can ask him ourselves. I think he doesn't describe his illness in his letters because all of his readers already knew what it was; therefore there was no need for him to make an explanation. And I think he doesn't describe his illness because it is better for us that we don't know what it was. We all have to deal with thorns in the flesh, and not knowing Paul's specific problem allows us to fill in the blank with our own issues. When Paul urgently prayed on three separate and no doubt long and tearful occasions to be set free of his illness, the Lord said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you." (2 Corinthians 12:9) Many times the Lord heals us of physical and mental problems, but sometimes He leaves these problems in our lives for a purpose. In those cases He says the same thing to us that He said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you." This is why it's better for us that we don't know the nature of Paul's illness. If we knew for sure what it was, we could say, "Yes, the Lord's grace was sufficient for Paul's particular problem. But what about my problem?" I believe the Lord led Paul to leave the information out of his letters so that we could say, "The Lord's grace was sufficient for Paul's problem. His grace is sufficient for my problem too."
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