Galatians 4 · Verse 16

Galatians 4:16

Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

Galatians 4:16, King James Version

Galatians 4:16 in other translations

BSB	Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
WEB	So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?
ASV	So then am I become your enemy, by telling you the truth?
YLT	so that your enemy have I become, being true to you?
DARBY	So I have become your enemy in speaking the truth to you?
BBE	So then am I no longer your friend, because I give you true words?
Webster	Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

What does Galatians 4:16 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

16. Translate, "Am I then become your enemy (an enemy in your eyes) by telling you the truth" (Ga 2:5, 14)? He plainly did not incur their enmity at his first visit, and the words here imply that he had since then, and before his now writing, incurred it: so that the occasion of his telling them the unwelcome truth, must have been at his second visit (Ac 18:23, see my Introduction). The fool and sinner hate a reprover. The righteous love faithful reproof (Psa 141:5; Pr 9:8).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes

Verse 16. Am I therefore become your enemy, etc. Is my telling you the truth in regard to the tendency of the doctrines which you have embraced, and the character of those who have led you astray, and your own error, a proof that I have ceased to be your friend? How apt are we to feel that the man who tells us of our faults is our enemy! How apt are we to treat him coldly, and to "cut his acquaintance, and to regard him with dislike! The reason is, he gives us pain; and we cannot have pain given us, even by the stone against which we stumble, or by any of the brute creation, without momentary indignation, or regarding them for a time as our enemies. Besides, we do not like to have another person acquainted with our faults and our follies; and we naturally avoid the society of those who are thus acquainted with us. Such is human nature; and it requires no little grace for us to overcome this, and to regard the man who tells us of our faults, or the faults of our families, as our friend. We love to be flattered, and to have our friends flattered; and we shrink with pain from any exposure, or any necessity for repentance. Hence we become alienated from him who is faithful in reproving us for our faults, lienee men become offended with their ministers when they reprove them for their sins. Hence they become offended at the truth, hence they resist the influences of the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to bring the truth to the heart, and to reprove men for their sins. There is nothing more difficult than to regard, with steady and unwavering affection, the man who faithfully tells us the truth at all times, when that truth is painful. Yet he is our best friend. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful," Prov 27:6. If I am in danger of falling down a precipice, he shows to me the purest friendship who tells me of it; if I am in danger of breathing the air of the pestilence, and it can be avoided, he shows to me pure kindness who tells me of it. So still more, if I am indulging in a course of conduct that may ruin me, or cherishing error that may endanger my salvation, he shows me the purest friendship who is most faithful in warning me, and apprizing me of what must be the termination of my course.

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 16 Am I therefore become your enemy - How is it that you are so much altered towards me, that you now treat me as an enemy, who formerly loved me with the most fervent affection? Is it because I tell you the truth; that very truth for which you at first so ardently loved me?

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Galatians 4:12-18

The apostle desires that they would be of one mind with him respecting the law of Moses, as well as united with him in love. In reproving others, we should take care to convince them that our reproofs are from sincere regard to the honour of God and religion and their welfare. The apostle reminds the Galatians of the difficulty under which he laboured when he first came among them. But he notices, that he was a…

Read the full comment on Galatians 4:12-18 →

Galatians 4:16 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ὥστεhōsteSoG5620

ἐχθρὸςechthrosenemyG2190

ὑμῶνhumōnof youG4771

γέγοναgegonahave I becomeG1096

ἀληθεύωνalētheuōnspeaking truthG226

ὑμῖν;huminto you?G4771

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Galatians 4:16

Amos 5:10
They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
Proverbs 9:8
Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
John 8:45
And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Galatians 5:7
Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
Psalms 141:5
Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.
Galatians 2:5
To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
John 7:7
The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.
1 Kings 22:8
And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
1 Kings 18:17-18
And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.
1 Kings 21:20
And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord.
Galatians 3:1-4
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
2 Chronicles 24:20-22
And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

become.
3:1-4; 1Ki 18:17,18; 21:20; 22:8,27; 2Ch 24:20-22; 25:16; Ps 141:5
Pr 9:8; Joh 7:7; 8:45
because.
2:5,14; 5:7

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Galatians 4:15
Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.
Galatians 4:16
Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
Galatians 4:17
They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them.

Read all of Galatians 4

Galatians 4:16 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	¿Heme pues hecho vuestro enemigo, diciéndoos la verdad?
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Je suis donc devenu votre ennemi en vous disant la vérité?
German Elberfelder 1871	Bin ich also euer Feind geworden, weil ich euch die Wahrheit sage?
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Ergo inimicus vobis factus sum, verum dicens vobis?