Note: Here are some
notes from last Sunday’s sermon “An Enemy Because of the Truth” (Galatians
4:12-20) expositing the passage’s closing verses:
“[19] My little children, of
whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, [20] I desire to
be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you”
(Galatians 4:19-20).
Paul concludes in vv. 19-20 with a deeply personal and
affectionate admonishment to the Galatians.
Galatians is sometimes called the harshest of Paul’s epistles because of
its serious and polemical tone, but these verses make the argument that it is actually
among the most affectionate of Paul’s letters.
He begins by calling the Galatians “My little children (techna mou).” This is without parallel anywhere in the
NT. Paul then draws a vivid
analogy. His relationship to the
Galatians is like a mother who is laboring to give birth to a child. Terry Johnson notes the irony of this image:
He is their mother. He calls them his ‘children.’ But because of
their flirtations with apostasy he finds himself ‘again in labor until Christ
is formed in you—‘ They had been through
this before. He had already been in
labor with them. ‘Labor’ indicates a
painful process. They had been
converted. They had died to self and
been united to Christ. But then they had
reverted, making new birth necessary (Galatians,
p. 118).
Paul is still there with them in the travails of labor “until
Christ be formed (morpho-o) in
you.” Usually birth is an image of
salvation (as in John 3), but here it is of sanctification. If you are a Christian, Christ is being
formed in you. The Spirit of Christ
indwells you. You are being shaped into
Christ-likeness. In Ephesians 4:15 Paul
can speak of growing up “into him in all things, which is the head, even
Christ.”
The intimate, personal nature of Paul’s ministry continues in
v. 20: “I desire to be present with you,
and to change my voice.” Paul knew there
were some things that paper and pen could not communicate. Today he’d add that email, text messages,
Facebook, blogs, and tweets cannot replace face to face, person to person
contact. For one thing he wants them to
hear the tone of his voice. Perhaps he
did not want them to hear it as scolding but as broken, hoarse, and tender.
The final word in v. 20 is perhaps Paul’s most solemn and
subtle warning: “for I stand in doubt of
you.” This is like what he said in v. 11
about his labor among them possibly having been in vain. What did Paul mean by this? I think, again, he considered the Galatians
to be his “brethren” (see v. 12), but he wanted them to know the seriousness of
his concern. How can one abandon the
pure gospel and still be considered a Christian? It is a warning meant to call the Galatians
toward serious self-examination, repentance, and restoration.
If one were
objectively to examine our Christian lives, would he have reason to
pronounce: “I stand in doubt of you”?
Grace and peace, Pastor
Jeff Riddle
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