The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 271

Ver. 16.-Afriend miBlalcenfor an enemy. On his first visit to Galatia, St. Paul was received, so he tells us," as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus." He paid, it appears, a second visit to the province, and then the fickle people treated him with coldness and suspicion because he found it necessary to point out their faults and the danger of them, as though he had become their enemy solely because he told them the trnth. This narro\f and unfair conduct of the Galatians is only too common to human nature. The causes of it a.re worth examining, and the evil of it being detected as a warning against a repetition of the same egregious blunder. I. IT IS SOMETIMES THE DUTY OF THE PREACHER TO TELL UNPLEASANT TRUTHS, It is a mistake to suppose that because he has a gospel to declare he must let only honied phrases fall from his lips. Jeremiah set up the prophesying of smooth things as the one sure test of a false prophet (Jer. xxviii. 8, 9). John the Baptist prepared for the gospel by denouncing the sins of bis fellow-countrymen. Christ uttered some of the most terrible words ever spoken (e.g. Matt. xxiii. 33). The Church has been too much pampered with comforting words. We need more preaching to the conscience. 1. There are unpleasant truths. Nature is not all roses and lilies; nettles and vipers exist. The page of history is blotted with tears and blood. 'l'here are many ugly facts in our own past experience. 2. The great ground on which the preacher is required to utter unpleasant truths is that we are all sinners. 'l'he doctor who describes the cases in a hospital must say much about terrible diseases. 3. The purpose for which it is necessary to utter painful truths is to lead to repentance. It is not done merely to give pain nor to drive to despair. The lightning flash reveals the precipice that the unwary traveller may start back from destruction. Until we know ourselves to be in the wrong way we shall not turn to a better. II. THE PREACHER OF UNPLEASANT TRUTHS MUST EXPECT TO BE TREATED AS AN E~:IIY BY THE VERY MEN HE IS TRYING TO HELP. This has been the case all the world over with the·:prophets of Israel, John the Baptist, the apostles, reformers in every age, and, above all, Christ himself, who was crucified simply because he told truths that stung the Jews to madness. The noblest heroes of the "noble army of martyrs'' suffered on this account. It is well to understand and be ready for such treatment even in the milder form which it generally assumes in om own day. It can be explained, though of course it cannot be justified. It may be traced to the following causes :-1. The influences of association. 'fhe messenger of ill tidings is hated for his message. Milton calls the bird that foretells "a hapless doom" "a rude bin! of bate." 2. Misinterpreta- tion. It is assumed that the preacher wishes trouble because he predicts it, that be has pleasure in humiliating us by revealing onr faults. 3. A corrupt conscience. Men often refuse to admit unpleasant truths about themselves, treat them as libels and the preachers of them as libellers of the race. Ill. IT IS A GREAT BLUNDER TO TREAT THE PREACHER OF UNPLEASANT TRUTHS AS AN ENEMY, 1. It is foolish. Truth is not the less true because we are blind to it. The revelation of its existence is not the creation of it. 2. It is unjust. The faithful servant of Christ, like his Master, will wish nothing but good to those whose guilt he denounces. He is the enemy of the sin just because he is the Friend of the sinner. 3. It is ungenerous. It is always a. thankless task to tell unpleasant truths. For a man of kindly disposition it is a most painful task. He undertakes it for the good of his friends. It would have been much more pleasant for St. Paul to have retained his popularity at the expense of the Church's welfaro. He is an ungrateful patient who treats as an enemy the surgeon who hurts only that he may heal.-W. F. A. Vers. 21-31.-The allegory of Hagar. W riling to men who were unduly subservient to the Jewish Law, St. Paul clenches his argument with an appeal to what he regards as the typical meaning of the history contained in that very Law. This was an argu- mentum ad homines. It is important, when possible, to convince men on their own ground. Among believers in Scripture, arguments aro naturally drawn from Scripture. Only it is necessary to bear in mind that there are different "views" of Scripture ; so that we must not be impatient if the dogmatic assertion of our own interpretation as Scripture itself is not acquiesced in. To many the allegory of Hagar seems to be ::n illustration rather than an argument. A reference to it is chiefly useful to move um ~ympathies. It needs to be preceded by solid reasoning founded uu direct st.itements of  238 THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. [on. v. 1-20.