"Galatians" (Part 1: The Teacher's Character)

Jesus Christ, The Teacher

Often times as we progress in the faith we still act like sucklings and at worst we tend to be "cry-babies" so bad that what we need isn't a pat in the back but a good hard-hitting spanking.

This is what Galatians is all about.
But the Christians of Galatia were not just bickering at each other- they were on the verge of apostasy.

St. Paul's exasperation was unmistakable: 

"O senseless Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been set forth, crucified among you?" (Gal. 3:1)  

St. John Chrysostom had this to say in his commentaries: 

"The exordium¹ is full of a vehement and lofty spirit, and not the exordium only, but also, so to speak, the whole Epistle. For always to address one's disciples with mildness, even when they need severity is not the part of a teacher but it would be the part of a corrupter and enemy."

In one breath, St. John Chrysostom tells us that sometimes in faith being "soft" doesn't work. That we aren't a teacher but rather an enemy and corrupter if we don't know how to be severe at someone (in the fold) who is erring and who obviously doesn't want to be corrected.

I think this true also of the teaching profession.
Though I'm not yet what anyone would call a "seasoned teacher" (as opposed to "aged teacher-- but that's another story), I've seen teachers who tolerated the wrong-doings of students or worse, turn a blind eye on them. I'm not saying I'm not like that; I'm guilty as charged too. But I need to voice this one out: that we would be indeed "corrupters" if we don't at least add severity to a teacher's list of virtues. This isn't to condone the physical brutalities of some sadistic teachers, but sometimes we have to apply some strictures of law to keep our students from falling into damnation.

NOTE: commentaries are from: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf113.iii.iii.i.html
(I don't own any of the commentaries)