12. be as I am--"As I have in my life among you cast off Jewish
habits, so do ye; for I am become as ye are," namely, in the
non-observance of legal ordinances. "The fact of my laying them aside
among Gentiles, shows that I regard them as
not at all contributing to justification or sanctification. Do
you regard them in the same light, and act accordingly." His observing
the law among the Jews was not inconsistent with this, for he did so
only in order to win them, without compromising principle. On the other
hand, the Galatian Gentiles, by adopting legal ordinances, showed that
they regarded them as needful for salvation. This Paul combats.
ye have not injured me at all--namely, at the period when I
first preached the Gospel among you, and when I made myself as you are,
namely, living as a Gentile, not as a Jew. You at that time did me
no wrong; "ye did not despise my temptation in the flesh"
(Ga 4:14):
nay, you "received me as an angel of God." Then in
Ga 4:16,
he asks, "Have I then, since that time, become your enemy by
telling you the truth?"
JFB.
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