Paul has dictated this letter to the Galatians through one of his personal scribes. It could have been Luke or Tertius or Silvanus, it could have been anyone obviously, we don’t know. But it was a common practice and now as we enter into the final ending of the letter Paul takes the pen off the scribe.
“See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!” Galatians 6 v 11
There are as you can imagine many thoughts on why he is writing large letters. Some say he had bad eyesight. They speculate as I do now.
- “My handwriting is different to that of my scribe! I want my response to what the false teachers are doing to you be as personal as it can be.”
- “This is me! This is not simply a teaching but I am pouring my life into this it is so important. This is my last attempt to protect you from the dangers of their teaching.”
- “You’ve seen the flamboyancy of these false teachers with their large displays of impressive deception, well, look at the large letters I am writing to you with.” (Paul being ironic).
All 3 of these suggestions show that those who preach and teach, those who Pastor and lead, they throw their own lives into the work. How many people who criticise them start by saying, ‘Now don’t take this personally’? But what they don’t realise is that it is impossible not to do so because their preacher and Pastor has poured everything into the work.
In a world of healthy work/life balance I realise this will raise some critics perhaps. However, it is true we need a healthy balance but those who are privileged to be in the position to shepherd and lead need to know that Giant Font Size is what is needed. It is personal, it is the pouring of our life into the work of God and it is combatting false teaching that deceives even God’s people by applying our whole life into that instruction. It is everything. It demands our all. For some their eternity is at stake. Anything less is also not healthy.
Missions Paul 