Galatians 4:12 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong.

NIV: I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong.

NASB: 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;

CSB: I beg you, brothers and sisters: Become like me, for I also became like you. You have not wronged me;

NLT: 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.

KJV: Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all.

NKJV: Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.

Paul has been encouraging Christians to accept that they have already been fully made right before God—"justified"—by faith in Christ's death for their sins. To begin to follow the law of Moses, in hopes of being justified, simply makes no sense. Worse, it would make them slaves to their sin again. To depend on rituals and sacraments for salvation means asking God to judge them based on their works instead of Christ's work on the cross.

Now, Paul calls them these Galatians "brothers." This demonstrates that he believes what he has written earlier. In Christ, they are all one. He is not superior to them because he is Jewish, or Roman, or male, or free and not a slave (Galatians 3:28). In fact, he begs them to become as he is because he has become as they are.

In other words, Paul is asking the Galatian Christian to fully accept their status as free men and women in Christ as he, Paul, has fully abandoned his own status as a man "under the law" to live free in Christ himself.

In the following verses, Paul continues a new thought, insisting that the Galatians did no wrong to him when he was with them.

Galatians 4:8–20 reveals that the Galatian Christians have already begun legalistically following the law of Moses, by observing special days. Why would they want to go back to slavery by following the law to be justified by God, Paul asks? Why have they gone from blessing him and trusting in Christ to rejecting him for telling the truth? The false teachers are only using them to bring glory to themselves, Paul insists. Paul is in anguish for them as a mother in childbirth. He longs to see Christ formed in them.

In this chapter, Paul uses three new methods to teach his Galatian readers an important lesson. It is futile to follow the law of Moses in order to be made right before God, since justification comes only by faith in Christ. First, Paul shows that the arrival of Christ made it possible for all people to become God's children through faith in Him. Next, Paul makes a more personal appeal, asking what has changed to cause the Galatians to turn on Paul's teaching of the gospel. Finally, Paul builds an allegory from Scripture, illustrating the difference between being born into slavery and being born into the promise by faith in Christ.

Galatians 3 ends with Paul stating, once more, that those who are in Christ are Abraham's offspring, just as He is, making us heirs along with Him. Galatians 4 continues that idea, showing how Christ's arrival signaled the moment all people could receive the inheritance with Him and be adopted as God's children. Paul makes his appeal personal, asking why the Galatians moved from blessing him to rejecting the message of Christ. The chapter ends with Paul's allegory about the difference between being born into slavery under the law and being born into freedom by the power of the Spirit through faith in Christ. Chapter 5 will continue by expanding on the freedom we have in Christ.

Galatians is sometimes called “a short Romans” for its similar themes of justification and sanctification through faith. A group of Christians known as “Judaizers” were preaching a gospel of legalism, rather than grace. Paul’s main purpose in writing the letter to the Galatians was to reiterate the true nature of the gospel: we are justified (made righteous) and sanctified (made more Christlike) through our faith in Jesus Christ alone. This letter was probably written shortly before the church elders in Jerusalem issued their official refutation of the Judaizers, commonly called the Jerusalem Council.