Missionary Trip to Galatia
Gal 4:13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.
14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.
Some like to teach, from these verses, that Paul had an eye disease. What were the circumstances of this 'physical infirmity'?
Acts 13:
Paul had been ministering in Cyprus and came to Paphos on the western coast of the island.
13 From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.
14 From Perga they went on to Antioch in Pisidia.
Notice that Antioch in Pisidia is in the region of Galatia, coloured green in the map above.
Paul was invited to speak at the synagogue and he spoke of the resurrection of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins. (Acts 13:16-41) Many of the jews and others received this word and invited Paul to speak again.
45 When the Jews saw the crowds they were filled with jealousy.
They incited certain people to expel Paul and Barnabas from their region who then travelled to Iconium.
Iconium
The apostles had great success at Iconium:
Acts 143 Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
Again “the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren”.
5 And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them, 6 they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region.
All four of these cities are in the region called Galatia.
Lystra
At Lystra the people attempted to worship Paul and Barnabas after a man, lame from birth, was healed by the power of God in the name of the resurrected Jesus.
But then came Jews from both Antioch and Iconium and stirred up the people, “they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.”
These Jews had already tried to stone Paul in Iconium, now, here in Lystra, they thought they succeeded in killing him. All the while they were dragging him out of the city, they supposed he was dead. Apparently there was no sign of life in Paul at all, in all that time it took them to drag him beyond the city limits.
Now, when you stone someone you don’t aim at the feet or the lower torso, you are aiming at the head. The face is very vulnerable, as are the eyes. What did Paul look like? Surely, all that remained of his face was a ghastly, bloodied mess, his features were shattered beyond all recognition and his body motionless, his breathing ceased, for them to suppose that he was dead. In all probability he was dead, but the Lord raised him up.
20 However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
Being raised from the dead doesn’t necessarily imply all his injuries were perfectly restored to baby freshness. Paul may well have had some marks on his face, some scars that indicate he had been savagely attacked, maybe even some disfigurement.
Galatians 6:17 for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus
Derbe
Nevertheless, he returned to the city, in order to encourage the believers who saw him killed. The very next day he continued on his mission and came to Derbe. The apostles are still in Galatia, they had not yet left that region.
21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” 23 So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
The apostles established order in the churches. The believers in each city had already formally organised their assemblies into churches, “ having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone”.
The Letter to Galatians
This letter is addressed to these churches that had been established in Antioch in Pisidian, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. Considering the general content and urgency of Paul’s pleas in the letter, it was probably occasioned by Paul’s hearing of a controversy in these churches similar to that in Syrian Antioch (Acts 15)
At some point not long after founding the churches of Galatia, Paul received alarming news that false teachers had unsettled the believers. It is probable that the same kind of agitators who showed up in Antioch (and prompted the Jerusalem Council) also targeted the fresh, vulnerable churches in Galatia — perhaps even at the same time or very soon after.
The emotional temperature of the Letter to the Galatians — flaring with urgency, grief, and passionate defense — reflects a crisis still burning hot in the immediate aftermath of Paul's first mission to South Galatia. It can be dated to within a year or two of Paul’s journey there.
In the letter Paul mounts a logical, well thought out, theological defense of justification by faith. This was a major stumbling block to the self righteous religious authorities who relied on their own piety and strict regime of works.
There is a remark in the letter that today causes a different kind of controversy, that of whether healing for the physical body is included in redemption. Despite Isaiah’s prophecy (Isa 53:4) and Jesus’ confirmation of that prophecy (Matt 8:17) and, later, Peter’s confirmation too (1 Peter 2:24) there are some that claim that healing is not for everyone, just a chosen few.
Gal 4:13,15 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first. 15 … For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me
Gal 6:11 See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand!
Out of these two scriptures some false teachers claim that Paul never did completely recover from the blindness he incurred on the way to Damascus. They then conclude that God doesn’t want to heal everyone, because even the great apostle Paul wasn’t healed. He had to suffer an eye disease which must have been his thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12) and again falsely claim that God said no to healing Paul. He didn’t heal Trophimus either (2 Tim 4:20) so they claim. Then there was Timothy’s weak stomach (1 Tim 5:23). These last examples should be dealt with seperately.
The physical infirmity that is referred to in Gal 4:13 would undoubtedly have been caused by Paul’s being persecuted, stoned and killed by unrighteous people in Galatia. God raised Paul from the dead, but, as previously noted, his face may not have been restored completely when he returned immediately to the city of Lystra to reassure the believers there. The next day he visited Derbe. In none of these cities were the believers disgusted by Paul’s grim appearance,
Gal 4:14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
The ‘physical infirmity’ that Paul writes about was undoubtedly injuries resulting from rocks hitting his head, face and eyes in that murderous attack at Lystra.
There is no record of Paul not being eventually completely healed. That is pure imagination from false teachers.
The ‘large letters’ in Gal 6:11 was for emphasis, and had nothing to do with an eye disease.