Bible Strands
Galatians 4:14
And although my illness was a trial to you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus Himself.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Galatian believers, recalling his first visit to them when he preached the gospel while physically ill. He contrasts their initial reception of him with their current spiritual drift.
The words — The Greek word πειρασμὸν (peirasmon) literally means trial or test, and σαρκὶ (sarki) literally means flesh or physical body. The text states that his bodily condition served as a trial that tested their hospitality rather than a reason for rejection.
The thread — The text links this hospitality to Matthew 10:40, where receiving a messenger equals receiving Christ and God, and Hebrews 13:2, which notes that entertaining strangers may unknowingly entertain angels. The passage shows a consistent biblical pattern where welcoming a bearer of the message is treated as welcoming the message’s source.
Why it lands — The text records that the Galatians originally welcomed Paul despite his physical weakness, treating him as an angel or Christ himself. Readers must determine whether their current acceptance of teachers depends on the teacher’s condition or on the truth they proclaim.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
Cross-references
- Matthew 10:40 He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the One who sent Me.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:13 And we continually thank God because, when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is also now at work in you who believe.
- Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
- 2 Samuel 14:17 And now your servant says, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is able to discern good and evil, just like the angel of God. May the LORD your God be with you.’”
- 2 Samuel 19:27 and he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. Yet my lord the king is like the angel of God, so do what is good in your eyes.
- Isaiah 53:2 He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him.
- Zechariah 12:8 On that day the LORD will defend the people of Jerusalem, so that the weakest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD going before them.
- Malachi 2:7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.
- Luke 10:16 Whoever listens to you listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.