Galatians:4:8-20
Seeker Overlay ON
*
But at one time ,
you Gentiles ,
having no knowledge of God ,
were slaves to gods which in reality do not exist .
*
Now ,
however ,
having come to know God –
or rather to be known by Him –
how is it you are again turning back to weak and worthless rudimentary notions to which you are once more willing to be enslaved ?
*
You scrupulously observe days and months ,
special seasons ,
and years .
*
I am alarmed about you ,
and am afraid that I have perhaps bestowed labour upon you to no purpose .
*
Brethren ,
become as I am ,
I beseech you ;
for I have also become like you .
In no respect did you behave badly to me .
*
And you know that in those early days it was on account of bodily infirmity that I proclaimed the Good News to you ,
*
and yet the bodily infirmity which was such a trial to you ,
you did not regard with contempt or loathing ,
but you received me as if I had been an angel of God or Christ Jesus Himself !
*
I ask you ,
then ,
what has become of your self-congratulations ?
For I bear you witness that had it been possible you would have torn out your own eyes and have given them to me .
*
Can it be that I have become your enemy through speaking the truth to you ?
*
These men pay court to you ,
but not with honourable motives .
They want to exclude you ,
so that you may pay court to them .
*
It is always an honourable thing to be courted in an honourable cause ;
always ,
and not only when I am with you ,
my children –
*
you for whom I am again ,
as it were ,
undergoing the pains of childbirth ,
until Christ is fully formed within you .
*
Would that I were with you and could change my tone ,
for I am perplexed about you .