but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time;
Parallel translations
- WEB but you know that because of weakness of the flesh I preached the Good News to you the first time.
- KJV Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.
- BSB You know that it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you.
- NKJV You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.
- NLT Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul first preached the gospel to them because of a bodily weakness or illness. God used even his frailty as the occasion for their hearing the Good News.
Overview
Paul recalls that some physical ailment led to his initial ministry among the Galatians. The exact nature of this weakness is unknown and debated, and Paul leaves it unspecified. The point is that despite his unimpressive condition, they welcomed both him and his message, a contrast he uses to shame their present coldness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Cor 2:3I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
- 2 Cor 12:7–10By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively.
- 2 Cor 11:30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness.
- 2 Cor 10:10For, “His letters”, they say, “are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is despised.”
- 2 Cor 11:6But though I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not unskilled in knowledge. No, in every way we have been revealed to you in all things.
- 2 Cor 13:4For he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we will live with him through the power of God toward you.
- Gal 1:6I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different “good news”;
- Acts 16:6When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
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Christ at the center
Christ became a curse for us to redeem us from the law's curse, that we might receive the Spirit and be sons — justified by faith in him, not by works.
How Galatians 4:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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