Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
Read Chapter 4
Ambrosiaster
AD 400
He says this as to imply: “It is not possible that I should become an enemy to those from whom I received such services. But because no one wants to be exposed when he errs, I seem to be your enemy when I justly reprimand you.”
Wherefore the apostle himself also in every case uses stringent language to the Churches, after the Lord's example; and conscious of his own boldness, and of the weakness of his hearers, he says to the Galatians: "Am I your enemy, because I tell you the truth? "
And if, for the present, certain of our brethren seem to be made sorry by us, let us nevertheless remain in our wholesome persuasion, knowing that an apostle also has said, "Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? "
He has finished his sentence elegantly, asking: “Have I become an enemy for preaching the truth to you?” He says this to show that his initial bodily ailment in preaching was not so much truth as a shadow and image of truth…. He has tempered this sentence and made it personal because he has addressed it to the Galatians in person…. Today also, so long as we … explain the Scripture according to the letter, we are praised and respected and held in admiration. But when we make a small attempt to provoke people personally to pass on to greater things, they stop acclaiming us and become resistant. –.
