Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Galatians 4:14

Eastern Fathers

Theophylact of Ohrid

And you, however, did not turn away from me; these trials of mine, that is, persecutions, wounds, and the like, did not lead you into temptation and did not cause you to despise and abhor me. And at the same time, in a subtle way, he also shames them, showing how much he endured for their sake from his opponents. You so honored me, he says, as if I were more than a man. …

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Oecumenius

"Rather you received me as an angel of God." How then is it not unreasonable, he says, that one who is being persecuted and driven away should be received by you as an angel, and even as the Lord himself? Yet he is spat upon while he counsels and exhorts those things that lead to salvation.

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Western Saints

Jerome

And you did not despise or reject your temptation, which was in my flesh, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. It is a perplexing passage and requires careful attention. Indeed, I have preached to you like little ones and infants through the weakness of your flesh, starting from the least and speaking almost stammeringly. …

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Thomas Aquinas

The second thing that strengthens love among men is mutual love and affection toward one another, according to Proverbs (8:17): "I love them that love me." As to this he says: "but you received me as an angel of God," i.e., with the honor accorded to a messenger announcing God's words: "When you received of us the word of the hearing of God, you received it not as the word of men but (as it is indeed) the word of God" (1 Thes 2:13). …

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