You know how through weakness of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.
All Commentaries on Galatians 4:13 Go To Galatians 4
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Not to have injured one is indeed no great thing, for no man whatever would choose to hurt wantonly and without object to annoy another who had never injured him. But for you, not only have you not injured me, but you have shown me great and inexpressible kindness, and it is impossible that one who has been treated with such attention should speak thus from any malevolent motive. My language then cannot be caused by ill-will; it follows, that it proceeds from affection and solicitude. You did me no wrong; you know that because of an infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gospel unto you. What can be gentler than this holy soul, what sweeter, or more affectionate! And the words he had already used, arose not from an unreasoning anger, nor from a passionate emotion, but from much solicitude. And why do I say, you have not injured me? Rather have you evinced a great and sincere regard for me. For you know, he says, that because of an infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gospel unto you; and that which was a temptation to you in my flesh you despised not, nor rejected. What does he mean? While I preached to you, I was driven about, I was scourged, I suffered a thousand deaths, yet you thought no scorn of me; for this is meant by that which was a temptation to you in my flesh you despised not, nor rejected. Observe his spiritual skill; in the midst of his self-vindication, he again appeals to their feelings by showing what he had suffered for their sakes. This however, says he, did not at all offend you, nor did you reject me on account of my sufferings and persecutions; or, as he now calls them, his infirmity and temptation.
