§18 An Appeal on the Basis of Friendship (Gal. 4:12–20)
4:12 / Paul now works to convince the Galatians on the grounds of their being brothers. In the ancient world, as today, it was common to appeal to friendship as the basis upon which an action might be requested.
Paul chooses a different tack and commands his readers to become like me. He states that he became like them, by which statement he likely refers to the fact that, upon understanding that salvation came solely through Christ, he had become like a Gentile. Compare 2:14, where Paul describes Peter’s life as like a Gentile, until the men from James arrived. Just as Paul rejected law observance to become as a Gentile, so he directs the Galatians to reject law observance and remain Gentiles. After the previous arguments from Scripture, experience, and reason Paul moves into a more personal vein with his readers, emphasizing his relationship with the Galatians in an attempt to dissuade them from turning to the law. This is not the first time that Paul has spoken personally, but 4:12–20 will be his most extensive appeal to the special bond he has shared with his converts. Paul recalls for his readers the fact that previously they did him no wrong. Paul wishes to cast their current course of action as a betrayal of the good beginning of their friendship.
4:13–14 / Paul begins his retelling of the start of their friendship with you know (oidate), requiring the Galatians to consider their experience of him instead of the troublemakers’ presentation of him. In the Greek Paul uses the word “flesh” (sarx) here and in the following verse (translated “illness,” v. 14), thereby recalling for his readers his bodily presence with them.
Paul reminds them that they heard the gospel because of an illness. His original readers are the only ones who know precisely what illness Paul had, although 4:15 might indicate that it had something to do with Paul’s sight. The Galatians were tempted to reject him and his gospel, but instead when he was present with them they welcomed him. In contrast to their current willingness in his absence to be persuaded away from his gospel, then they understood him to be as an angel of God.
Despite the trying nature of his illness, the Galatians did not treat him with contempt or scorn, as they are now doing. Paul’s use of the strong words “contempt” and “scorn” indicates as much about how he sees the present state of his relationship with the Galatians as it does about the temptation the Galatians resisted on his original visit. Paul’s claim that he was welcomed as if he were Christ Jesus vividly reminds the Galatians of the completeness of their conversion through his preaching. They knew in his gospel the presence of Christ.
4:15 / In a poignant demand Paul asks his readers what has happened to all their joy. The word “joy” (makarismos) may be translated also “praise,” “happiness,” or “blessing.” It is the word found in the Sermon on the Mount for “blessed.” Paul is appealing to the Galatians’ former attitude of goodwill toward him and to the blessing they experienced through their attachment to him. Their complete acceptance and care of Paul, in which they would even have torn out their eyes and given them to him, was the crucible in which they knew blessing.
4:16 / Paul’s next statement rests on the conviction that to oppose him is to oppose the truth and that his opponents are enemies of the truth (cf. 5:7). Paul equates the gospel with truth (2:5, 14) and understands his preaching and teaching, both now and in the past, as truth telling. If he is now regarded as an enemy it is not because his message was wrong. The implication is clear—what is false is the portrait of him created by the rival evangelists.
4:17 / And Paul in turn paints a negative image of his opponents. They court the favor of the Galatians for no good. Unlike he himself, who invited the Galatians into the truth of the gospel, Paul charges that the troublemakers want to alienate the Galatians. The Greek does not make explicit from what the Galatians might be alienated. The NIV translation interprets this verse as Paul saying that his opponents want to alienate his converts “from us,” that is, from Paul and “all the brothers with me” (1:2). As a few verses later Paul expresses anguish over whether or not Christ is being formed in his converts (v. 19), in all likelihood Paul is saying that his rivals are seeking to alienate the Galatians from being “in Christ” (cf. 5:4). A little later Paul expresses anguish over whether or not Christ is being formed in his converts (v. 19). Whatever his precise meaning, Paul is saying that the agitators’ motives are to separate the Galatian churches from what is good and life-giving.
Paul says that the troublemakers are courting the Galatians simply for their own ends—so that you may be zealous for them. From the vantage point of hundreds of years later it is impossible to tell exactly what this means. But the general criticism Paul makes is plain enough. The rival evangelists are cultivating a following among the Galatians for their own advantage.
Paul sees the situation somewhat as would a jilted lover—he and the Galatians had a good and devoted relationship and now a rival is making promises that in the lover’s eyes can only damage his beloved. Paul sees his opponents as malicious troublemakers who will lead the Galatians to damnation.
4:18 / It is not the rival evangelists’ zealousness for the Galatians that Paul thinks is wrong. The problem is that their zealousness is not for a purpose that is good. Paul subtly encourages the Galatians to recognize that through his letter he too is making much of them for a good purpose. Paul encourages the Galatians to turn their attention to cultivating his favor instead of that of the troublemakers.
4:19 / Paul describes the character and quality of his commitment to the Galatians. He portrays his concern and his role with them, using the powerful image of giving birth. This is the first time that Paul has spoken of the Galatians as his dear children, and it introduces a passage in which he will focus on children (4:25, 27, 28, 31).
Paul thinks the Galatians are so dangerously close to being lost from Christ that he is again in the pains of childbirth. He gave them their new life through preaching the gospel that gives life (cf. 3:21). And now he is once more in the position of giving himself entirely to the good purpose of having Christ be formed in them. Paul’s expression conveys confidence that this purpose will be accomplished.
Although this is the only place Paul uses the phrase “Christ is formed in you,” it encapsulates the basic vision of Paul’s gospel. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 the apostle puts it this way: “being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory.” Romans 8:29 also contains the idea of being conformed to Christ (cf. Phil. 3:10, which speaks of being conformed to Christ’s death).
4:20 / Paul closes this section on a conciliatory note: he wishes he could be with them now so that he could change his tone. Unlike his relationship with some of his other churches (e.g., 2 Cor. 10:10), Paul thinks that his physical presence with the Galatian churches could make a difference in their behavior. At the moment he is uncertain about them, but if he were physically with them he might be able to stop being perplexed.
4:13 / The first that he preached the gospel can mean either “the first time,” indicating there was more than one visit, or “at one time, formerly,” which does not necessarily indicate more than one visit. When the Greek to proteron is translated as a comparative adjective meaning “first” it indicates that Paul has subsequently visited the Galatians. Scholars seeking to determine the destination and date of Galatians on the basis of the Acts narrative ask whether the first visit refers to Paul’s initial contacts with those in south Galatia (Acts 13:14–14:20) or north Galatia (Acts 16:6). See the Introduction for more on this.
4:14 / The term angel of God is found in the story of Hagar (Gen. 21:17), a story to which Paul will subsequently turn. Throughout Galatians, Paul has presented himself as the one who can speak truly on God’s behalf. Such a self-understanding is found throughout his letters (e.g., 2 Cor. 5:20).
4:17 / The proposal of R. Jewett goes a long way toward providing a plausible historical occasion for Paul’s words. Jewett suggests that the increase in Jewish nationalism in Palestine in the period of Paul’s writing Galatians meant that all Jews who had contacts with Gentiles were in danger of persecution from other Jews; the agenda of the troublemakers was in part to protect Jewish members of the church, particularly those in Judea who were known to have connection to Gentiles throughout the Mediterranean world. If the troublemakers could achieve the circumcision of Gentiles who had contact with Jews they would protect Judean Jewish Christians and gain “public recognition for their loyalty to Torah” (“The Agitators and the Galatian Congregation,” NTS 17 [1971], pp. 198–212, esp. p. 206). This proposal may also explain 6:12. For a critique of Jewett see Murphy-O’Connor, Paul: A Critical Life, pp. 140–41.
4:19 / Paul is given to parental images for his relationship with his converts (e.g., 1 Cor. 4:14–15). The image of childbirth is startling for the man Paul, although he does use other maternal images (e.g., 1 Cor. 3:1–4; 1 Thess. 2:7). The imagery of childbirth was used in ancient Jewish literature to describe the birthing of a new age, the radical transition from this aeon to the next. In the prophets the day of the Lord is spoken of using the metaphor of a woman giving birth (Mic. 4:10; Isa. 13:6, 8; Jer. 6:24). We find a similar imagery in 1 Enoch 62:4; 2 Baruch 56:6; 4 Ezra 4:42; and in the non-Pauline NT (e.g., Mark 13:8). As B. Gaventa writes: “We find in these texts an established association between apocalyptic expectation and the anguish of childbirth” (“The Maternity of Paul: An Exegetical Study of Galatians 4:19,” in The Conversation Continues: Studies in Paul and John [Nashville: Abingdon, 1990], pp. 189–201, 193). In Romans Paul uses the metaphor in a similar way (8:22–23). Since Paul has claimed that his gospel concerns “the one who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age” (1:4), his reference to giving birth suggests that he regarded himself as a divinely appointed agent in this transfer of the ages.
Paul had started out in 3:1 by addressing the Galatians as “simpletons.” … So far, chapters 3 and 4 contained heavy argumentative and deeply felt emotional sections. The arguments all went overwhelmingly in favor of the Apostle. According to the psychology of ancient rhetoric, however, people who are to be persuaded should not be left in such a low situation. By confessing his own perplexity in 4:20 Paul removes himself from the haughty position of one who has all the arguments and all the answers. (Galatians, p. 237)
Paul’s wish to be present with his readers is a standard feature of his letters (e.g., Rom. 1:11; 1 Thess. 2:17–18; 3:6, 10; 1 Cor. 16:7). See T. Y. Mullins, “Visit Talk in New Testament Letters,” CBQ 35 (1973), pp. 350–58. Reference to such a desire was the way Paul and other ancient letter writers expressed their care for the addressees.