Galatians 4:12-20
For here Paul appeals to the Galatians with deep feeling and immense tenderness. First, he calls them his ‘brethren’ in verse 12; then at the end of the paragraph, in verse 19, his ‘little children’—a designation of which the apostle John was very fond. He even goes on to liken himself to their mother, who is ‘in labour’ over them until Christ is formed in them. In Galatians 1–3 we have been listening to Paul the apostle, Paul the theologian, Paul the defender of the faith; but now we are hearing Paul the man, Paul the pastor, Paul the passionate lover of souls.
This succinct appeal introduces the rest of the paragraph in which Paul writes both of their attitude to him (verses 13–16) and of his attitude to them (verses 17–20). It is a most enlightening passage, not only because in it we catch a glimpse of Paul the evangelist and pastor, but because we learn the proper relations which should exist today between minister and congregation, between the people and their pastor. In each section Paul draws a contrast. First (verses 13–16), he contrasts their attitude to him in the past, when he visited them, with their attitude to him now, as he is writing to them. Secondly (verses 17–20), he contrasts his attitude to them with the attitude adopted towards them by the false teachers.
Paul longed for them to become like him in his Christian faith and life, to be delivered from the evil influence of the false teachers, and to share his convictions about the truth as it is in Jesus, about the liberty with which Christ has made us free. He wanted them to become like himself in his Christian freedom.
All Christians should be able to say something like this, especially to unbelievers, namely that we are so satisfied with Jesus Christ, with His freedom, joy and salvation, that we want other people to become like us.
Argument Seven: Don’t undo what you did in the past. While you are remembering, thinking of the difference that Christ made, remember too those days when you first heard me preach the gospel. That is Paul’s next plea. Become free from all that Judaistic legalism, as I did. After all, I became like you (I live like a gentile and not like a Jew).
When Paul came to them in Galatia, he did not keep his distance or stand on his dignity, but became like them. He put himself in their place and identified himself with them. Although he was a Jew, he became like the Gentiles they were.
in seeking to win other people for Christ, our end is to make them like us, while the means to that end is to make ourselves like them. If they are to become one with us in Christian conviction and experience, we must first become one with them in Christian compassion. We must be able to say with the apostle Paul: ‘I became like you; now you become like me.’
How strange it is that I a Jew have become like a gentile while you, who are in the main gentiles, want to become like Jews! It is strange, but it is common, to find people—even Christian people—going after something that intrigues them because they have never been a part of it or experienced it.
The strongest terms of affection that he has so far allowed himself in the whole letter is adelphoi; but ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ is a very general term within the Christian community.
But that was some time ago. Now the situation has changed. Verse 15: What has become of the satisfaction you felt? They had been so pleased, so proud, to have Paul among them in those days. Verse 16: Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? A complete volteface had taken place. The one they had received as God’s angel, as God’s Son, they now regarded as their enemy! Why? Simply because he had been telling them some painful home truths, rebuking them, scolding them, expostulating with them for deserting the gospel of grace and turning back again to bondage.
Take the false teachers’ attitude first. Verse 17: They make much of you. It is not quite certain what Paul means, because this verb is variously translated in the different versions. But he seems to be accusing the false teachers of flattering the Galatians insincerely. In order to win them to their perverted gospel, the false teachers fawned on them and fussed over them. So Paul adds (verse 18): For a good purpose it is always good to be made much of. But the false teachers were not sincere in their devotion to the Galatians. Their real motive was that they want to shut you out (verse 17), that is, to exclude you from Christ and from the freedom that is in Christ; and they want to do it, in order that you may make much of them. When Christianity is seen as freedom in Christ (which it is), Christians are not in subservience to their human teachers, because their ambition is to become mature in Christ. But when Christianity is turned into a bondage to rules and regulations, its victims are inevitably in subjection, tied to the apron-strings of their teachers, as in the Middle Ages.
He is not satisfied that Christ dwells in them; he longs to see Christ formed in them, to see them transformed into the image of Christ, ‘until you take the shape of Christ’ (NEB). Indeed, in ardent desire and prayer he agonizes over them to this end. He likens his pain to the pangs of childbirth. He had been in labour over them previously at the time of their conversion, when they were brought to birth; now their backsliding has caused him another confinement. He is in labour again.
The picture is a bit confused, but, as Dr. Alan Cole rightly says, Paul ‘is not giving us a lecture on embryology’. Rather is he expressing his deep and sacrificial love for the Galatians, his longing to see them conformed to the image of Christ. He is ‘perplexed’ about them (verse 20), at his wits’ end (see NEB). He wishes he could visit them now and change his tone, ‘from severity to gentleness’.2
The difference between Paul and the false teachers should now be clear. The false teachers were seeking themselves to dominate the Galatians; Paul longed that Christ be formed in them. They had a selfish eye to their own prestige and position; Paul was prepared to sacrifice himself for them, to be in travail until Christ was formed in them.