Scripture Reading: Gal. 4:8-20
In this message we shall consider 4:8-20. These verses indicate that the Apostle Paul was in a difficult situation with respect to the believers in Galatia. They had been brought to the Lord through Paul’s preaching of the gospel, and he had a heart to care for them. Paul’s burden was not to carry on a Christian work, but was to minister Christ to the believers, to labor that Christ might be formed in them (v. 19). It is possible to work for the Lord and to help the saints, without having the burden to minister Christ to them. We may earnestly work for Christ without having any burden to see Christ formed in the saints. Hence, it is important for us to see that Paul’s burden as expressed in these verses was altogether different from that of most Christian workers. We may be burdened for the raising up of local churches and for the strengthening of the churches. However, we may not have the burden to minister Christ into the saints. To preach the gospel and raise up churches is one thing; to bear the burden to minister Christ into the saints is another. Paul’s burden was not for a work; it was for ministering Christ into the believers. This is the reason that in 4:8-20 Paul uses certain intimate expressions, expressions which show the closeness of his relationship to the Galatian believers and his affection for them. Let us now consider 4:8-20 verse by verse.
Verse 8 says, “But then indeed, not knowing God, you were slaves to the gods which by nature do not exist.” The gods, or the idols, do not have the divine nature. They were considered gods by their superstitious worshippers, but by nature they do not exist as gods.
In verse 9 Paul says, “But now, knowing God, but rather being known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and poor elements, to which you desire to be again enslaved?” The “elements” here are not substances. They are the elementary principles of the law, its rudimentary teachings. Here Paul points out that by turning again to the weak and poor elements of the law, the Galatian believers would once again become enslaved. Paul’s use of the word enslaved indicates how serious the Judaizers were in working on the Galatian believers. The Judaizers bewitched them, deceived them, to such a degree that they were brought into slavery. To the Judaizers, the law was a matter of life and death. Therefore, they were desperate in their attempt to mislead the Galatians. Paul realized that once the Galatian believers had been deceived, they would be enslaved. To say that the Galatians were enslaved means that they had been deceived to the uttermost.
In verse 10 Paul continues, “You observe days and months and seasons and years.” The observances here were Jewish religious observances. The days mentioned were the Sabbaths and new moons (Isa. 66:23). The months were the sacred months like the first, Abib, the ear-month (Exo. 13:4); the second, Zif, the flower-month (1 Kings 6:1, 37); the seventh, Ethanim, the month of streaming rivers (1 Kings 8:2); and the eighth, Bul, the month of rain (1 Kings 6:38). The seasons were festal seasons such as the Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles (2 Chron. 8:13). The years perhaps denoted sabbatical years (Lev. 25:4).
In verse 11 Paul tells the Galatians, “I fear for you, lest I have labored upon you in vain.” Paul labored upon the Galatians to bring them into Christ under grace. Their turning to the Jewish religious observances might cause Paul’s labor upon them to be in vain. It seems Paul was telling the believers in Galatia, “I labored on you and ministered Christ into you. Why, after receiving what I ministered to you, would you go back to the ordinances of the law?” Paul was puzzled. He simply could not believe that those who had received his preaching could be bewitched to such a degree that they would return to the observances of the law and become enslaved to them.
Verse 12 says, “Become as I am, because I also am as you, brothers, I beseech you. You did not injure me at all.” Paul was free from the bondage of Jewish observances. He besought the Galatians to become as he was, even as he had become as a Gentile for the truth of the gospel. Having done his best to become the same as the Galatians, he now besought them to become as he is. He seemed to be saying, “I love you and became like you. Now I ask you to become as I am. I am not for days, months, seasons, and years. I am for Christ. I beg you, become as I am.”
In verse 12 Paul tells the Galatians that they did not injure him at all. The Galatians had not injured Paul in the past. Paul expects that neither would they injure him now.
Verse 13 continues, “And you know that on account of weakness of the flesh I preached the gospel to you formerly.” In his first journey, Paul was detained in Galatia because of physical weakness. While there, he preached the gospel to the Galatians. His illness afforded him a good opportunity to minister Christ to them.
Verse 14 says, “And that which was a trial to you in my flesh you did not despise nor loathe, but you received me as a messenger of God, as Christ Jesus.” Here Paul appeals to their love by reminding them that they had received him as a messenger of God, an angel, and had not despised his sickness.
In verse 15 Paul goes on to say, “Where then is your blessedness? For I testify to you that if possible you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.” The Greek words rendered “your blessedness” also mean your felicitation, your happiness. The Galatians formerly considered Paul’s being retained in their place and preaching the gospel to them a blessing. They were happy about it and boasted of it. That became their felicitation. However, now that they had departed from Paul’s preaching of the gospel, the apostle questions them, “Where then is your blessedness, your happiness, your felicitation?”
When Paul was among them, the Galatians celebrated their happiness with one another and congratulated one another for the opportunity to have such a minister of Christ with them. When Paul was in Galatia preaching the gospel, ministering Christ to the people, they were happy and regarded Paul’s presence as a great blessing. This happiness, blessedness, felicitation, is what is implied by the Greek term used here.
The Galatians appreciated Paul’s preaching and loved him to such an extent that, as he says, if possible, they would have torn out their eyes and given them to him. This may indicate that Paul’s physical weakness (v. 13) was in his eyes. This may be confirmed by the large letters he used in writing to them (6:11). It may also be the thorn in his flesh, some physical weakness, which he prayed might be removed from him (2 Cor. 12:7-9).
In verse 16 Paul asks, “So have I become your enemy in speaking the truth to you?” This word indicates that certain of the deceived ones had come to regard Paul as an enemy. Suppose some brothers visit the saints in a certain region, and the saints there receive them gladly. However, later the saints are distracted by some teaching or practice and turn against the very brothers whom they once gladly received and appreciated highly. In such a case, these brothers may be tempted to give up on the saints in that region. But this definitely was not Paul’s attitude. On the contrary, he was burdened to write them and to appeal to them in a loving manner. We should learn of Paul to take up the burden for those believers who have turned away from us. Perhaps we should write them and say, “Do you not remember how you served us in love? Where is your love today? It seems that now you consider us your enemies. To be sure, this is not reasonable. Are we enemies simply because we speak the truth to you?”
In writing Galatians 3, Paul spoke like an attorney. But in composing chapter four, he wrote like a loving father. Chapter four was written according to Paul’s personal and intimate love for the Galatians. Instead of arguing in a legal way like a lawyer, Paul appealed to the believers’ affection. If we would be those who minister Christ to others, we must learn to speak to them in such a way. We should not simply speak according to doctrinal truth, but should appeal to others in a personal, loving manner.
Verse 17 says, “They are zealous of you, not rightly, but they desire to shut you out, that you may be zealous of them.” The Greek word rendered zealous in this verse means to be jealously courting someone. The Judaizers were jealously courting the Galatians so that the Galatians might jealously court them in return. To court a person is to pursue that person in love with the aim of gaining his love. The Judaizers pursued the Galatian believers in this way, actually courting them. This indicates how serious, how zealous, the Judaizers were. However, as Paul says, the Judaizers jealously courted them, not rightly, but with the desire to shut them out. They did not pursue them in an honorable, commendable way. Their aim was to exclude them from the proper preaching of the gospel of grace. They wanted to exclude them from God’s New Testament economy, from the enjoyment of Christ, and from the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. The principle is the same with dissenting ones today. Their goal is to shut out the church people from the enjoyment of Christ and to cause the ones they have deceived to zealously follow them.
In verse 18 Paul continues, “But it is good always to be zealous in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you.” It is good to jealously court someone in a good thing, in the proper preaching of the gospel. This should be the case not only when Paul is present. By this word Paul indicates that he is not narrow, keeping other preachers of the gospel away from the Galatians. Rather, he rejoices in the preaching of others (Phil. 1:18). Paul was in favor of the proper preaching of others, but he was not in favor of that kind of jealous courting of the believers.
Verse 19 says, “My children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you.” Here Paul considers himself the begetting father, and the Galatian believers his children begotten of him in Christ (see 1 Cor. 4:15; Philem. 1:10). This also was an appeal to their affection.
Paul told the Galatian believers that he was again travailing on their behalf. Travail refers to painful labor in childbirth. In this metaphor Paul likens himself to a mother who gives birth to a child. He labored in this way for the regeneration of the Galatians when he first preached the gospel to them. Because they had deviated from the gospel he preached to them, he labors again in travail until Christ is formed in them. In this verse Paul likens himself both to a begetting father and a travailing mother. Was he, then, a father or a mother? He was both, depending on the situation. On one occasion he was a begetting father; on another, a travailing mother.
Paul was in travail that Christ might be formed in the Galatians. Christ, a living Person, is the focus of Paul’s gospel. His preaching is to bring forth Christ, the Son of the living God, in the believers. This differs greatly from the teaching of the law in letters. Hence, the book of Galatians is emphatically Christ-centered. Christ was crucified (3:1) to redeem us out of the curse of the law (3:13) and rescue us out of the evil religious course of the world (1:4); and He was resurrected from among the dead (1:1) that He might live in us (2:20). We were baptized into Him, identified with Him, and have put on Him, have clothed ourselves with Him (3:27). Thus, we are in Him (3:28) and have become His (3:29; 5:24). On the other hand, He has been revealed in us (1:16), He is now living in us (2:20), and He will be formed in us (4:19). It is to Him the law has conducted us (3:24), and in Him we are all sons of God (3:26). It is in Him that we inherit God’s promised blessing and enjoy the all-inclusive Spirit (3:14). It is also in Him that we are all one (3:28). We should not be deprived of all profit from Him and so be severed from Him (5:4). We need Him to supply us with His grace in our spirit (6:18) that we may live Him.
Christ was born into the Galatian believers, but not formed in them, when they were regenerated through Paul’s preaching the gospel to them the first time. Now the apostle travails again that Christ might be formed in them. To have Christ formed in us is to have Christ grown in us in full. First Christ was born into us at our conversion, then He lives in us in our Christian life (2:20), and He will be formed in us at our maturity. This is needed that we may be sons of full age, heirs to inherit God’s promised blessing, and mature in the divine sonship.
As we have indicated, verse 19 points out that Paul’s burden was not to carry on a Christian work, but was to have Christ formed in the believers. Through Paul’s preaching, Christ had entered into the Galatians. But because they had been deceived, Christ had not yet grown in them and had not been formed in them. Therefore, Paul labored again, like a mother laboring in giving birth, that Christ would be formed in the believers. Paul wrote out of the burden to minister Christ into the saints. He was burdened that Christ would be established, built up, in them. Galatians tells us that Christ is revealed in us and that He lives in us. Now we see that Christ must also be formed in us.
Ministering Christ to others is not accomplished easily. It often requires suffering and struggle. Ministering Christ is much more difficult than carrying on an ordinary Christian work. If you would bear the burden, with a sincere heart, to minister Christ to others, you will discover what labor and suffering it requires. You will need to labor like a mother giving birth to a child.
The goal of our service in the church or in the ministry must be to minister Christ into others. It is not adequate simply to say that we preach the gospel, for it is possible to preach the gospel without ministering Christ to others. Our burden must be the ministering of Christ. Once again I say that this requires labor and suffering. It demands prayer, patience, and love. According to our experience, such a ministry is a battle, a wrestling. The subtle one, the enemy of God, is active to bring in frustration or distraction. We do not know from what direction he will attack next. Hence, we must learn from Paul to be burdened to minister Christ and also to appeal to the saints’ affection that their hearts may be touched.
In verse 20 Paul says, “And I wished to be present with you now and to change my tone, because I am perplexed about you.” The apostle wanted to change his tone from severity to affection, as a mother speaking lovingly to her children. Paul was puzzled in dealing with the Galatians. He was searching for the best way to recover them from their deviation from Christ.
Verse 20 indicates that Paul felt that what he had written to the Galatian believers was not adequate. He wanted to visit them and stay with them because he knew that his presence would accomplish more than his writing. Paul was perplexed about the Galatians; he did not know how to deal with them, how to handle their case. On the one hand, he addressed them as “foolish Galatians”; on the other hand, he appealed to them as “beloved brothers.” This indicates that Paul was perplexed.
In writing chapter four Paul was very affectionate and appealed to the affection of the Galatian believers. It is very difficult to appeal to others’ personal affection in a proper way. To do this requires that our motive be pure. If we are not pure in our motive, we should be careful of our affection for the saints. There is a great need of affectionate contact with the saints; there is also the need to appeal to the affection of others. However, we must recognize that such an appeal is difficult, for it is easy for the natural love, the “honey,” to be present. It is not easy to be pure as Paul was in Galatians 4. Paul was a person who had been “salted.” This was the reason that he could appeal to the Galatians’ personal affection in such a pure way. He could even rebuke them and condemn the Judaizers with a pure intent. If we try to practice this, we shall discover how difficult it is. In rebuking others we need a pure motive. In appealing to others’ personal affection, we need to be even more pure in our motive. In many situations we shall not be able to minister Christ to others, to travail to have Christ formed in them, if we are not able to appeal to their affection.
As we consider all these points, we see that chapter four is as important as chapter three. I thank the Lord that Paul wrote this chapter. Otherwise, we might have the impression that in writing to the Galatians he was legal, but not personal or affectionate. In chapter four Paul could be affectionate and appeal to the love of the saints for the purpose of ministering Christ to them.
