the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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THE MESSAGE
Galatians 4:12
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- BakerEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
Brothers and sisters, I became like you. So please become like me. You were very good to me before.
Brethren, I beseech you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong;
Brethern I besech you be ye as I am: for I am as ye are. Ye have not hurte me at all.
I beg you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong,
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;
Brothers and sisters, I became like you, so I beg you to become like me. You were very good to me before.
I urge you, brothers, become as I [am], for I also [have become] as you [are]. You did me no wrong:
Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I [am] as ye [are]: ye have not injured me at all.
Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong.
I beg you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong,
Ye know how though infirmity of the flesh, I preached the gospel to you at first.
Brethren, become as I am, I beseech you; for I have also become like you. In no respect did you behave badly to me.
Be ye as Y, for Y am as ye. Britheren, Y biseche you, ye han hurt me no thing.
I beseech you, brethren, be as I am, for I am as ye are. Ye did me no wrong:
I beg you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong.
My friends, I beg you to be like me, just as I once tried to be like you. Did you mistreat me
Believers, I beg of you, become as I am [free from the bondage of Jewish ritualism and ordinances], for I have become as you are [a Gentile]. You did me no wrong [when I first came to you; do not do it now].
I beseech you, brethren, become as I am, for I also am become as ye are. Ye did me no wrong:
My desire for you, brothers, is that you may be as I am, because I am as you are. You have done me no wrong;
Brothers, I beg of you: put yourselves in my place — after all, I put myself in your place. It isn't that you have done me any wrong —
Be as *I* [am], for *I* also [am] as *ye*, brethren, I beseech you: ye have not at all wronged me.
I beg you, brothers, to become like me, since I became like you. You did not do anything wrong to me.2 Corinthians 2:5;">[xr]
Be you as I am, for I am as you are, my brethren, I beseech you. In nothing have you injured me.
Be ye like me; because I have been like you. My brethren, I beseech you. Ye have not injured me at all.
Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are, ye haue not iniured me at all.
Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles—free from those laws. You did not mistreat me when I first preached to you.
I ask you, Christian brothers, stay free from the Law as I am. Even if I am a Jew, I became free from the Law, just as you who are not Jews. You did no wrong to me.
Friends, I beg you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong.
Be ye as I (for I am euen as you) brethren, I beseech you: ye haue not hurt me at all.
My brethren, I beseech you, put yourself in my place; just as once I put myself in your place: You have not offended me at all.
Become ye as, I, because, I also, was as, ye, - brethren, I entreat you. Not at all, have ye wronged me.
Be ye as I, because I also am as you brethren, I beseech you. You have not injured me at all.
Brethren, I besech you be as I [am] for I am as ye are. Ye haue not iniured me at all.
I beg you, my friends, be like me. After all, I am like you. You have not done me any wrong.
I beg you, brothers and sisters: Become like me, for I also became like you. You have not wronged me;
Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.
I ask you, brothers, become like me, because I also have become like you. You have done me no wrong!
Brothers, I beg of you, be as I am , because I am as you are . You wronged me in nothing.
Become as I [am] -- because I also [am] as ye brethren, I beseech you; to me ye did no hurt,
Brethre I beseke you, be ye as I am, for I am as ye are. Ye haue not hurte me at all.
I beseech you, brethren, be as I am, for I was as you are.
I beg you, brothers and sisters, become like me, because I have become like you. You have done me no wrong!
Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.
Listen close! I want y'all to ride with the same kind of freedom I do. I don't want you to be slaves of the Law. In that respect, I am like the outsiders. I am free of the prison of the Law.Y'all were real good to me the first time we met.
I beg of you, brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong;
I beg of you, brothers, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
be: Galatians 2:14, Galatians 6:14, Genesis 34:15, 1 Kings 22:4, Acts 21:21, 1 Corinthians 9:20-23, Philippians 3:7, Philippians 3:8
ye: 2 Corinthians 2:5
Reciprocal: 2 Kings 10:15 - Is thine heart right 1 Corinthians 1:10 - I beseech 2 Corinthians 6:1 - beseech Ephesians 4:1 - beseech
Cross-References
Time passed. Cain brought an offering to God from the produce of his farm. Abel also brought an offering, but from the firstborn animals of his herd, choice cuts of meat. God liked Abel and his offering, but Cain and his offering didn't get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk.
Cain slept with his wife. She conceived and had Enoch. He then built a city and named it after his son, Enoch. Enoch had Irad, Irad had Mehujael, Mehujael had Methushael, Methushael had Lamech.
Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, listen to me; you wives of Lamech, hear me out: I killed a man for wounding me, a young man who attacked me. If Cain is avenged seven times, for Lamech it's seventy-seven!
"As for those among you still alive, I'll give them over to fearful timidity—even the rustle of a leaf will throw them into a panic. They'll run here and there, back and forth, as if running for their lives even though no one is after them, tripping and falling over one another in total confusion. You won't stand a chance against an enemy. You'll perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will eat you up. Any who are left will slowly rot away in the enemy lands. Rot. And all because of their sins, their sins compounded by their ancestors' sins.
My God has washed his hands of them. They wouldn't listen. They're doomed to be wanderers, vagabonds among the godless nations.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am,.... Though they had gone so far backwards, yet still hoping well of them that they would he reclaimed, he styles them "brethren": not in a carnal but spiritual relation, as being born of God, and belonging to his family; and out of his sincere and hearty love for them as his brethren in Christ, he exhorts them to be as he was; which some understand of affection, as desiring them to show the same love to him as to themselves, that he might be to them as another I, as a part of themselves; so true friendship makes, and true friends look upon each other to be, as Jonathan and David, and the first Christians were, of one heart and soul. But this phrase rather seems to have regard to likeness and imitation; and the sense is, that he would have them to be as he was, and do as he did; to be as free from the law, and the servitude and bondage of it, as he was; to reckon themselves dead unto it, as he did; and to relinquish the observance of days, and months, and times, and years, and any and every part of the ceremonial law, and to account all these things, as he had done, loss and dung for Christ; and this he presses, not in an authoritative way, laying his commands as an apostle upon them, but in a kind and gentle manner entreating them: and which he backs with the following reason or argument,
for I am as ye are; as your very selves; I have the same love for you, you have for yourselves; I love you as I do myself; this way go such interpreters that understand the exhortation to regard love and affection: but rather the meaning is, be as I am, and do as I do, "because I was as you are"; so the Syriac and Arabic versions read the words. Some think that the apostle particularly addresses the Jews in these churches; and that his sense is, that he was born a Jew, as they were, was brought up in the Jewish religion, and in the observance of these things, as they had been, and yet he had relinquished them, therefore would have them do so likewise: or rather his intention is, that he had been as zealous for the observation of the ceremonial law, and all the rituals of it, as they now were; and though he was a Jew by birth, and had had a Jewish education, and so had been prejudiced in favour of these things, yet he had renounced them all; and therefore they who were Gentiles, and were never under obligation to them, should never think of coming into bondage by them; and since he had accommodated himself to them, and had become all things to all, that he might gain some, whether Jews or Gentiles, so he hoped they would condescend to him, and follow his example: or this may have respect, not to his former but present state, according to our version; and the sense be, I am as you are, and you are as I am with respect to things spiritual; we are both alike in Christ, chosen in him, and redeemed by him; are equally regenerated by his Spirit, and are all the children of God by faith in him, and no more servants; are all equally Christ's free men, and have a right to the same privileges and immunities; and therefore be as I am, as free from observing the ceremonies of the law, and so from the bondage of it, since we are upon an equal foot, and upon the same foundation in Christ.
Ye have not injured me at all; what injury they had done was to God, whose will it was that these things should be abolished; and to Christ, who had broken down the middle wall of partition; and to the Gospel, which proclaimed liberty to the captives; and to their own souls, by entangling themselves with the yoke of bondage; but no personal private injury was done to the apostle by their compliance with the law. This he says, lest they should think that he spoke out of anger and resentment, and on account of any personal affront offered to him; which leads him to take notice of their former kindness and respect to him, and which he designs as a reason why they should pay the same deference to him now as then.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am ... - There is great brevity in this passage, and no little obscurity, and a great many different interpretations have been given of it by commentators. The various views expressed may be seen in Bloomfield’s Crit. Dig. Locke renders it, “Let you and I be as if we were all one, Think yourselves to be very me; as I in my own mind put no difference at all between you and myself.” Koppe explains it thus: Imitate my example; for I, though a Jew by birth, care no more for Jewish rites than you.” Rosenmuller explains it, “Imitate my manner of life in rejecting the Jewish rites; as I, having renounced the Jewish rites, was much like you when I preached the gospel to you.” Other interpretations may be seen in Chandler, Doddridge, Calvin, etc. In our version there seems to be an impropriety of expression; for if he was as they were it would seem to be a matter of course that they would be like him, or would resemble him. The sense of the passage, however, it seems to me cannot be difficult. The reference is doubtless to the Jewish rites and customs, and to the question whether they were binding on Christians. Paul’s object is to persuade them to abandon them. He appeals to them, therefore, by his own example. And it means evidently, “Imitate me in this thing. Follow my example, and yield no conformity to those rites and customs.” The ground on which he asks them to imitate him may be either:
- That he had abandoned them or,
- Because he asks them to yield a point to him.
He had done so in many instances for their welfare, and had made many sacrifices for their salvation, and he now asks them to yield this one point, and to become as he was, and to cease these Jewish observances, as he had done.
For I am as ye are - Greek “For I as ye.” This means, I suppose, “For I have conformed to your customs in many things. I have abandoned my own peculiarities; given up my customs as far as possible; conformed to you as Gentiles as far as I could do, in order to benefit and save you. I have laid aside the uniqueness of the Jew on the principle of becoming all things to all men (Notes, 1 Corinthians 9:20-22), in order that I might save you. I ask in return only the slight sacrifice that you will now become like me in the matter under consideration.”
Ye have not injured me at all - “It is not a personal matter. I have no cause of complaint. You have done me no personal wrong. There is no variance between us; no unkind feeling; no injury done as individuals. I may, therefore, with the more freedom, ask you to yield this point, when I assure you that I do not feel personally injured. I have no wrong to complain of, and I ask it on higher grounds than would be an individual request: it is for your good, and the good of the great cause.” When Christians turn away from the truth, and disregard the instructions and exhortations of pastors, and become conformed to the world, it is not a personal matter, or a matter of personal offence to them, painful as it may be to them. They have no special reason to say that they are personally injured. It is a higher matter. The cause suffers. The interests of religion are injured. The church at large is offended, and the Saviour is “wounded in the house of his friends.” Conformity to the world, or a lapse into some sin, is a public offence, and should be regarded as an injury done to the cause of the Redeemer. It shows the magnanimity of Paul, that though they had abandoned his doctrines, and forgotten his love and his toils in their welfare, he did not regard it as a personal offence, and did not consider himself personally injured. An ambitious man or an impostor would have made that the main, if not the only thing.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 12. Be as I am] Thoroughly addicted to the Christian faith and worship, from the deepest conviction of its truth.
For I am as ye are] I was formerly a Jew, and as zealously addicted to the rites and ceremonies of Judaism as ye are, but I am saved from that mean and unprofitable dependence: "Be therefore as I am now; who was once as you now are." Others think the sense to be this: "Be as affectionate to me as I am to you; for ye were once as loving to me as I am now to you."
Ye have not injured me at all. — I do not thus earnestly entreat you to return to your Christian profession because your perversion has been any loss to me, nor because your conversion can be to me any gain: ye have not injured me at all, ye only injure yourselves; and I entreat you, through the intense love I bear to you, as my once beloved brethren in Christ Jesus, to return to him from whom ye have revolted.
