Galatians 4:15

13 You know that ^abecause of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.

14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me ^aas an angel of God, ^beven as Christ Jesus.

15 ¹What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.

16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

17 They ^azealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.

18 But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.

19 ^aMy little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,

20 I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.

Two Covenants

21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?

22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: ^athe one by a bondwoman, ^bthe other by a freewoman.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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Galatians 4:15

Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? - Ye spake of should be in italics, there being no corresponding word in the Greek text. Perhaps there is not a sentence in the New Testament more variously translated than this. I shall give the original: ̔ ̔· What was then your blessedness! Or, How great was your happiness at that time! Or, What blessings did ye then pour on me! It is worthy of remark, that, instead of , what, ABCFG, several others, the older Syriac, the later Syriac in the margin, the Armenian, Vulgate, one copy of the Itala, and some of the fathers, have , where; and , was, is omitted by ACD, several others, also the Vulgate, Itala, and the Latin fathers. According to these authorities the text should be read thus: Where then is your blessedness? Having renounced the Gospel, you have lost your happiness. What have your false teachers given you to compensate the loss of communion with God, or that Spirit of adoption, that Spirit of Christ, by which you cried Abba, Father! If, however, we understand the words as implying the benedictions they then heaped on the apostle, the sense will be sufficiently natural, and agree well with the concluding part of the verse; for I bear you record, that, if possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. You had then the strongest affection for me; you loved God, and you loved me for God' s sake, and were ready to give me the most unequivocal proof of your love.

Dearer than one' s eyes, or to profess to give one' s eyes for the sake of a person, appears to have been a proverbial expression, intimating the highest tokens of the strongest affection. We find a similar form of speech in Terence, Adelphi, act iv., scene 5, ver. 67.

- Di me pater Omnes oderint, ni magis te

quam oculos nunc ego amo meos .

"O father, may all the gods hate me,

if I do not love you now more than my own eyes."

Other Adam Clarke entries containing Galatians 4:15:

Galatians 1:6
Philemon 1:8

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Galatians 4:16 >>

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