12 I plead with you, brothers and sisters, become like me, for I became like you. You did me no wrong. 13 As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, 14 and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 15 Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
Paul's appeal in 12 seems to be that they should become like him in his abandonment of Jewish legalism, as if he should say, 'Imitate me in this thing. Follow my example and yield no conformity to those rites and customs. I have become as a Gentile among the Gentiles, Jew though I am'. The reference to injury here is somewhat obscure. The NEB translates it, 'It is not that you did me any wrong', and J.B. Phillips puts it, 'I have nothing against you personally'. The idea would seem to be that Paul is emphasising that this is not a matter of personal injury - something higher is at stake, the truth of the gospel. This underlines the importance and significance of 16, 'Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?' It is a solemn fact that enmity can arise between a man of God and those to whom he ministers, not because of any personal issues - although these are generally fastened upon as a pretext - but because the truth he has proclaimed to them has challenged and hurt them and become an offence to them. Peter tells us in his epistle that there are those who stumble at the word, being disobedient (1 Peter 2:8). When truth comes to men, it comes almost in the nature of an invasion, and it is often resisted with all the vehemence and stubbornness shown in a long and bitter siege. The sinful self is deeply entrenched, and it resents any inroads and encroachments made upon its territory! Many a man of God has found, like Paul, that because of his faithfulness he has become the butt of men's implacable enmity and hatred. His failure, his idiosyncrasies, or his inconsistencies, are blamed, of course, but the real truth is that the truth he has told them has convicted their hearts. And nothing maddens and embitters a man so much as conviction resisted.