갈 4:12-20 갈라디아 교회를 염려하는 바울

12 Brothers,3 tI entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. uYou did me no wrong. 13 You know it was vbecause of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you wat first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me xas an angel of God, yas Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by ztelling you the truth?4 17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and anot only when I am present with you, 19 bmy little children, cfor whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ dis formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), 갈 4:12–20.

12절) 갈라디아의 형제들을 향해서 나와 같이 될 것을 간청하는 바울. 본문은 갈라디아서에 처음으로 나오는 명령형 문장이다. 

바울은 고전 4:14-16, 11:1, 빌 3:17. 살전 1:6에서 자신을 본받을 것을 말한다. 그런데 앞서 다른 본문에서는 ‘내가 그리스도를 본받는 것처럼 나를 본받으라’라고 말하지만 갈 4:12에서는 ‘내가 너희와 같이 되었기에 너희도 나와 같이 되라’라고 말하고 있다. 복음으로 사람들을 인도하기 위해서 그들과 같이 되는 이것이 바로 선교사들이 갖추어야할 상황화의 모형이라고 할 수 있다. 우리가 나를 본받으라고 말하기전에 그들과 같이되고 그들을 본받아야만 한다는 것이다. 나는 내가 사랑하는 대상에 대해 제대로, 바르게 이해하고 있는가? 상대방에게 일방적으로 변화를 강요하고 있지는 않는가?

- In Gal 4:12, however, Paul was saying something rather different—not “become like me, for I have become like Christ” but instead “become like me, for I became like you” (italics added). Perhaps the closest parallel to this verse is the statement Paul made to King Agrippa in Acts 26:28–29. Upon hearing Paul’s testimony, the king asked, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.” In effect Paul was saying to King Agrippa: “Even though you possess the power to judge and condemn, I, a fettered prisoner, am really much better off than you. Why? Because I have met the Lord of glory who has forgiven my sins, opened my eyes, and delivered me from the tyranny of Satan. In this respect, I wish that you could become what I am.” Just so, Paul was saying to the Galatians: “Look at what has happened to me. I was once a zealous devotee of the Mosaic law, stricter than any of you in careful observance of its many requirements. But Christ has delivered me from bondage to the law. I now live by faith in him who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20). Now I long for you to become like me, living in the liberty of those who are truly the children of Abraham and of God through faith in Jesus Christ.”

“For I became like you” (lit., “for I also like you) recalls 1 Cor 9:19–23, where Paul described his missionary strategy in terms of cultural accommodation without compromise of conviction for the sake of a wider gospel witness. Though he himself was a free citizen of Rome, he would forego his political prerogatives and live as a slave in order “to win over as many as possible.” And to those without the law, for example, the Gentile inhabitants of Galatia, he became anomos, like one not having the law so as to win those who were aliens to the commonwealth of Israel.

Paul was a pioneer in what we call today contextualization, the need to communicate the gospel in such a way that it speaks to the total context of the people to whom it is addressed. Insofar as we are able to separate the heart of the gospel from its cultural cocoon, to contextualize the message of Christ without compromising its content, we too should become imitators of Paul. In the words of John Stott: “In seeking to win other people for Christ, our end is to make them like us, but the means to that end is to make ourselves like them. If they are to become one with us in Christian conviction and experience, we must first become one with them in Christian compassion.”215

215 Stott, Only One Way, 113.

 Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 321–322.

13-14절) 바울이 가지고 있던 육체의 약함은? 이것에 대해서 초대교부인 제롬은 성적 욕망이라고 했고, 루터는 핍박으로 인한 육체의 흔적이라고 여겼다. 이후에 말라리아, 간질, 안질등 여러가지 의견이 있지만 분명한 것은 없다. 하지만 이것으로 인해서 업신여김을 받을만한 것이었다는 것을 알 수 있다. 하지만 바울은 도리어 이 연약함을 복음을 전하는 도구로 사용하였고, 갈라디아인들도 이러한 약함에 관계없이 그를 영접했다. 

당시의 상황에서 바울에게 있었던 육체의 가시, 연약함은 사람들의 눈쌀을 찌푸리게 했고 또한 이것이 저주라고 생각했을 것이다. 

- In the early church Jerome interpreted Paul’s affliction to have been the temptation of sexual desire that he identified with the “thorn in the flesh” (Latin: stimulus carnis) of 2 Cor 12:7. During the Reformation Luther dismissed this interpretation entirely regarding the “weakness of the flesh” as a reference to the suffering and affliction Paul bore as the result of the persecutions he endured. “It is impossible for anyone afflicted with these profound trials to be troubled by sexual desire.”217 In recent years, however, most commentators have discarded both of these traditional interpretations in favor of the idea that Paul was referring here to some actual bodily illness that affected his missionary labors. Three major theories have emerged about what the nature of this illness may have been:

Malaria. This theory was advanced by W. Ramsay, who surmised that Paul may have contracted malaria when he first came into the swampy region of Pamphylia in southern Asia Minor. This was the occasion when John Mark became disillusioned with missionary life and returned home to Paul’s great consternation (Acts 13:13). It may have been that Paul’s original plan was to travel westward toward Ephesus and Greece but that he was redirected because of his illness toward the higher terrain around Pisidian Antioch. There, high above sea level, he found a more congenial place to recuperate. On this theory Paul may still have been in the grips of a terrible fever when he first began his preaching mission in Galatia.

4:14 Epilepsy. The verb in v. 14 translated “you did not … scorn” literally means, “you did not spit out” (ekptuō). A common belief was that the evil demon that caused epilepsy could be exorcised or at least contained by spitting at the one thus possessed.218 On this reading, Paul was commending the Galatians for receiving him with courtesy and favor even though they may have witnessed the unpleasant sight of his epileptic seizures.

Ophthalmia. In v. 15 Paul praised the Galatians for their willingness to tear out their own eyes and give them to him. This, together with Paul’s reference in 6:11 concerning writing such “large letters” in his own hand, have led many scholars to believe that Paul’s illness was some kind of serious eye disorder. But as F. F. Bruce has noted, “there can be no certain diagnosis” of Paul’s ailment here, nor of his “thorn in the flesh,” assuming the two are not to be identified.219

Whether Paul’s illness was malaria, epilepsy, ophthalmia, or something quite different, it is important to see in this reference indirect evidence of the overriding providence of God in the mission of his church.220 Paul did not say exactly how his illness became the occasion for his Galatian mission, but we can be sure that from his perspective this was no mere accidental happening. Just as the Son had come forth from the Father “when the time had fully come” (4:4), just so Paul, the apostle of Christ, had been sent to the Galatians in accordance with God’s foreordained wisdom and plan. Paul’s thorn in the flesh, though inflicted through the instrumentality of “a messenger of Satan,” was intended to yield a redemptive purpose—Paul’s realization of the sufficiency of grace (2 Cor 12:7–10). Time and again God has used the adversities of life—sickness, persecution, poverty, even natural disasters and inexplicable tragedies—as occasions to display his mercy and grace and as a means to advance the gospel.221

Whatever the nature of Paul’s physical affliction, it must have resulted in some kind of bodily disfigurement or obviously unpleasant symptoms so that his condition was a “trial” to the Galatians. In the culture of the times, such infirmity and weakness was commonly seen as a sign of divine displeasure and rejection. Paul would have stood in stark contrast to the strong, good-looking “superapostles” who boasted in their physical prowess, rhetorical eloquence, and academic achievements. The Galatians would have been tempted to reject scornfully one of whom it was said, quite apart from his physical malady, that “his actual presence is feeble and his speaking beneath contempt” (2 Cor 10:10, Phillips). But to their credit the Galatians had not yielded to this temptation. On the contrary, they had received Paul “as an angel of God, as … Christ Jesus.” Some have seen in this expression a reference to the incident of Acts 14:8–18 when Paul and Barnabas were mistaken by the people of Lystra for the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes. On that occasion the two missionaries tore their garments and cried, “Men, why are you doing this?” However, here in Gal 4:14, Paul did not criticize the Galatians for their exaggerated devotion to a human preacher; rather, he commended them for their ability to recognize and receive him as a true apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

217 LW 26.420.

218 See H. Schlier, “ὲκπτυω” TDNT 2.448–49. While the act of spitting had demonological associations in the Hellenistic era, by the time of Paul it was more commonly viewed merely as a gesture of disrespect, hence the derived meaning “despise.” Galatians 4:13–14 is frequently cited as evidence by those who identified Paul’s physical ailment with epilepsy (C. J. Klausner’s, From Jesus to Paul [London: SCM, 1944], 325–30).

219 Bruce, Galatians, 209.

220 Cf. the comment of F. Mussner, Galaterbrief, 307: “For a man like Paul everything became a kairos [“favorable time”] when the gospel was to be proclaimed.”

221 The expression εὐηγγελισαμην ὺμῖν τὸ πρότερον has been taken by some scholars to mean “when I preached the gospel to you on the former occasion” rather than when “I first preached the gospel to you,” as the NIV has it. However, as Bruce has noted, “In Hellenistic Greek πρότερος has surrendered the meaning ‘the first of two’ to πρότος and now means ‘earlier’ ” (Galatians, 209). Even if we insist on a literal translation, this does not rule out an early dating of the epistle, realizing that Paul and Barnabas first traveled eastward through the cities of South Galatia and then retraced their steps over the same terrain. See the discussion on the date of Galatians in the Introduction.

 Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 322–324.

주님은 세번에 걸쳐서 자신을 대표하는 이들을 영접하는 것은 나(주님)를 영접하는 것이라고 하셨다.(마 10:40; 눅 10:16; 요 13:20)

15-16절) 본문이 말하는 복은 ‘마카리스모스’로 산상수훈에서 주님께서 말씀하신 복과 같은 의미이다. 이는 하나님과의 올바른 관계로 인한 온전한 상태를 의미한다. 지금 이들은 자신의 눈을 빼서 바울에게 줄 정도로 바울을 사랑했다고 바울이 증언한다. 

사랑안에서 참된것을 말하는(엡 4:15) 것이야 말로 거짓 가르침으로부터 이들을 지키고 그리스도의 몸된 교회를 바로 세우는 방법이 된다. 

사역자에게 중요한 것은 인기를 구하는 것이 아니라 하나님앞에 신실해지는 것이다. 

- When pastors become estranged from their people for whatever reason, it is always appropriate for them to try to win back the former affection and goodwill of their flock, just as Paul was doing here with the Galatians. But we must remember that the pastor is not called to be popular but to be faithful. He has been commissioned by the Lord of heaven to preach the Word of God in season and out of season; he must not fail in this divine assignment whether he be applauded warmly or shunned as a leper. For the man of God there is an arena of approval infinitely superior to the opinion of his congregation, or the applause of his peers, or the approval of some denominational bureaucracy. As the Scottish preacher John Brown put it, “The hosannahs of the crowd are dearly purchased at the expense of one pang of conscience, one frown of the Savior.”225

225 Brown, Galatians, 217–18.

 Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 326.

17-18절) 그들(거짓 선생들)이 갈라디아 교인들을 위해서 열심을 내는 것은 형제들을 이간시켜서 거짓 진리에 열심을 내게 하려는 것이다. 

19-20절) 사도는 매우 친근한 어저로 이들을 부른다. ‘나의 자녀들아’ 그리고 이들과의 관계에 대한 애정을 표현하는 은유로 해산하는 수고를 하는 어머니의 모습을 그린다. 살전 2:7에서 유모의 비유가 있기는 하다. 그리고 대부분 바울은 아버지로 비유하는 것과 대조적이다.(고전 4:15; 딤후 1:2; 몬 10)

- Throughout the letter Paul had admonished the Galatians to move beyond such infantile behavior and to claim the full inheritance that was theirs as the children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. In the present context he showed how deeply invested he himself was in their spiritual struggles. This he did by comparing himself to a mother who must go again through the pangs of childbirth for the sake of her children. This is a striking metaphor without parallel in any other Pauline writing. A similar motif occurs in 1 Thess 2:7, where Paul likened himself to a nurse (trophos) caring for her little children. More common still is the image of Paul as a father begetting sons and daughters in Christ through the preaching of the gospel (cf. 1 Cor 4:15; 2 Tim 1:2; Phlm 10). Only here in Galatians does he appear in the role of a mother, a mother who willingly undergoes the ordeal of pregnancy and delivery all over again in order to secure the well-being of her children. This image bears witness to the deep personal anguish Paul was experiencing over the defection of his spiritual offspring in Galatia. Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 329.

지금 바울이 느끼는 고통은 육체적인 핍박과 같은 외적인 고통이 아니라 갈라디아 교인들이 그리스도의 복음의 진리에서 떠나 거짓 진리를 좇으려고 하는 것때문이다. 바울의 고통은 롬 8:18-28에서 언급된 대로 종말론적인 신음, 열망에서 나오는 고통이다. 

- The verb “to suffer the pains of childbirth” (ōdinein) occurs only two other times in the New Testament, once again in this same chapter (4:27) and a final time in Rev 12:2. In an insightful exegetical study of this concept, B. Gaventa has observed that “Odinein … never refers to the mere fact of a birth, but always to the accompanying anguish.” With reference to Gal 4:19, she argues that “Paul’s anguish, his travail, is not simply a personal matter or a literary convention … but reflects the anguish of the whole created order as it awaits the fulfillment of God’s action in Jesus Christ.”228 If this interpretation is correct, then Paul’s distress over the Galatians was part of the eschatological groaning referred to in Rom 8:18–28, the groaning of a broken creation awaiting the consummation of all things that will take place at the return of Christ in glory. Paul’s groanings, though unique to his own apostolic vocation, have been echoed again and again throughout the history of the church in the faithful witness of martyrs and missionaries, reformers and evangelists, pastors and prophets who have risked their lives for the sake of the gospel. Writing to the believers at Colosse, Paul described the divine commission of such Christians in terms of a theology of the cross: “I myself have been made a minister of the same gospel, and though it is true at this moment that I am suffering on behalf of you who have heard the gospel, yet I am far from sorry about it. Indeed, I am glad, because it gives me a chance to complete in my own sufferings something of the untold pains which Christ suffers on behalf of his body, the church” (Col 1:23–24, Phillips).

228 B. R. Gaventa, “The Maternity of Paul: An Exegetical Study of Galatians 4:19,” in The Conversation Continues: Studies in Paul and John in Honor of J. Louis Martyn, ed. R. T. Fortna and B. Gaventa (Nashville: Abingdon, 1990), 192–94. Also see the discussion in Matera, Galatians, 161–62.

 Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 329–330.

본문은 목회 윤리와 목회자와 성도들간의 올바른 관계가 무엇인지를 밝힌다.