Galatians 4:15
15 Where [tis] is [en] then [oun] the blessedness [makarismos] ye [humon] spake of? for [gar] I bear [martureo] you [humin] record [martureo], that [hoti], if [ei] it had been
possible [dunatos], ye would have plucked out [exorusso] your [humon] own eyes [ophthalmos], and have given them [an] [didomi] to me [moi]. KJV-Interlinear
15 Where then is that sense of
blessing you had? For I bear you witness, that if possible, you would have
plucked out your eyes and given them to me.
NASB
When Paul first came to the Galatians to teach them
the gospel and Bible doctrine in general, they were like dry sponges absorbing
the water of the word of God with an unquenchable thirst.
And Paul continues reminding them of that previous
visit went he was so ill that his very appearance was repulsive, such that
anyone in their right mind wouldn’t have anything to do with him.
But they had heard the teaching of the word of God
almost as though they had heard it for the first time in a clear and
perspicuous manner, that it made a tremendous impression on them.
So much so that they looked past the repulsiveness
of Paul’s illness, and concentrated on his message of the gospel.
And as Paul states here, he is bearing witness to
what they themselves said at the time of his previous visit, that the impact of
his message was so tremendous and had made such an impact and impression on
their lives that they would have given anything, even their own eyes, to
continue and possess the message and the blessings that they were deriving from
it.
Each one of us is a living soul. The real person
that we are is an immaterial entity. And the substance of what you are, is what
you think.
The material aspect of you, your physical body, is
just your souls link to this physical world. The soul runs through the conduit
of your brain, which is the conduit to the rest of the functions of your body.
Some of us have good conduit connections between
the soul and the brain and so phenomenal abilities and talents exist. Most of us have so-so connections which gives
us average talents and such, within our physical existence.
When God created you, you were an empty person, an
empty sponge, ready to absorb and take in all of life. And from the moment of
your birth, that is exactly what you do, that is exactly what we all do, we
take in everything around us, we learn from everything around us, and our soul
fills up with information and experience and knowledge and understanding.
But there are two kinds of information that are
absorbed into the soul.
There is the real information that is absorbed into
the soul by means of the spiritual mechanism for learning and growing, which
puts everything in proper perspective so that you can discern and understand
and orient to life in the proper way.
Then there is the information presented by this
world, complete with all of its opinions and interpretations and directions
that have a tendency to steer you in the wrong direction. And this sort of
information, which is a false pattern of information, places an emptiness in
the soul.
And so when the soul hears truth, then it typically
takes it in as though it has been starving for truth. And this is where the
Galatians were when Paul came to them in his prior visit.
They had a lot of false information, worldly
information around them, but that was not enough, and then they heard the word
of truth from Paul, and even though Paul’s physical condition was atrocious at
the time, they looked past that because the power and impact of the message
that he brought to them was so overwhelming and so desired that they just could
not get enough of it.
When people are positive towards the word of God,
and they really want to learn, then their hunger and thirst for what is
contained in the scriptures, is almost insatiable. The positive person simply
cannot get enough, and they cannot wait to get more.
But there are those who do not thirst for the
truth, because the views of this world are convenient and compatible with the
way they want to see life, and they are not willing to give up their worldly
status even for the truth.
