“My Little Children,” Persevere in Grace!

By S. Lewis Johnson, Jr.

An Exposition of Galatians 4:8–20 [1]

Lewis Johnson regularly ministered the Word at Believers Chapel in Dallas for more than thirty years. During his academic career he held professorships in New Testament and Systematic Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. At the time of his death in January 2004 he was Professor Emeritus of New Testament Studies at Dallas Seminary. Both MP3 files and printed notes of Dr. Johnson’s sermons and theological lectures may be downloaded from the web site of Believers Chapel «www.believers-chapel.org/index.html».

Introduction

The epistle to the Galatians was a favorite of Martin Luther. He called it, “my own Epistle, to which I have plighted my troth. It is my Katie von Bora.” [2] Galatians is Paul’s great epistle of “justification by faith.” By it we learn, just as Luther learned, that our God is not an angry God waiting to hurl thunderbolts of judgment from heaven upon all the children of men. Through the atoning work of Jesus Christ he offers a righteous standing before himself to those who come to him by that same Lord Jesus Christ.

When a person comes to the realization of the truth that Paul preached, namely, “that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus” (cf. Gal. 2:16), then there opens to him “the gate of paradise,” [3] as it did to Luther. Standing in the righteousness of God, purchased for him by the penal sacrifice of Christ, the believer may rejoice in the forgiveness of sins and acceptance with God. The forgiveness and acceptance are, then, not the products of man’s effort, but of God’s grace, of God’s effort.

This is the substance of the message that the apostle Paul has been preaching to the Galatians in his letter to them. And he has been proclaiming it with great energy and urgency. The opening two chapters, which might be labeled “Personal,” constitute a defense of his gift of apostleship, of his right to speak to them authoritatively. The second division of the epistle, chapters three and four, can be labeled “Doctrinal,” for they are a presentation of the doctrine of justification by faith. The final two chapters we shall label “Ethical,” for they carry the reader on to the necessary issues of the divine life, its ethical outworking. The Spirit of God now becomes the guide of the believer’s life, and in this respect he takes the place of the Law of Moses. Of course, as we shall be careful to point out, we are not suggesting that the apostle is antinomian in his teaching, for the Spirit of God leads the believer into a life of which the Law of Moses approves (cf. Gal. 5:22–23).

The section of the epistle to which we have now come is distinguished by its urgent pastoral concern for the Galatians, victims of the heresy and insincerity of the Judaizing false teachers, who have been preying upon them. John Stott has written, “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.” [4] It is Paul the passionate lover of souls that we see here, but we must not forget that the passion proceeds from a strong and deep desire to see his fellow saints established in grace and delivered from the legalism of law. It is love, but not merely sentimental love. It is biblical love, the love of God in the truth. The apostle longs to see his beloved Galatians rejoicing in the freedom of grace, as they were when they first heard the gospel from his lips (v. 15). And he longs to see them take on the form of Christ, being delivered from the error of the Judaizers (v. 19). This is true pastoral concern, not simply concern for their happiness, but for their holiness and wholeness in the truths of grace. To this we now turn, that is, to the apostle’s plea that the Galatians persevere in grace.

The Circumstances of the Plea (4:8–11)

However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves of those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.

The Past Bondage of the Galatians, verse 8

The apostle begins the paragraph by referring to the former slavery of the Galatians to heathen gods and demons. By the words, “at that time” (τότε, tote) Paul is referring to their past bondage and contrasting it with their present status of sonship and heirship, upon which he has commented in verse seven. Quite a transition has taken place—from ignorance and bondage to sonship and heirship through God (cf. v. 7)!

Paul does not explain how the state of ignorance came into being, but from the teaching of the apostle elsewhere we may safely assume that he would relate the ignorance to the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden. The ignorance, then, is the noetic effect of sin (cf. Eph. 4:17–18). [5] The word “God” (θεὸν, theon) is without the article in the original text, and thus the emphasis rests upon the qualitative aspect of the term, that is, “on his attributes as God.” [6] The Galatians did know, of course, of the existence of God, but they did not know him (in their former state of bondage) in the fullness of his being as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, possessed of both communicable and incommunicable attributes of deity.

Thus, they were enslaved to false gods. They “were slaves” (ἐδουλεύσατε, edouleusate) to those characterized as gods, but who were not really such. The phrase “were slaves” is rather important doctrinally, because it indicates that the Galatians, although not under the Law of Moses, were nevertheless in bondage. The verb tense refers to the entire period of their existence before they came to know Christ. [7]

The words, “by nature,” are the rendering of one Greek form (φύσει, phusei), which is emphatic by position in the Greek text. While Paul may not be denying the existence of the heathen gods, he surely is denying their deity (cf. 1 Cor. 8:4; 10:19–20). They may have been called gods by the Galatians, but there were godless gods.

The Present Actions of the Galatians, verses 9–10

The apostle now asks the Galatians how it is possible for them to be turning away from God to “the weak and worthless elemental things,” that is, the ineffectualness and poverty of the elemental principles of the heathen religions. How can they turn from the power and richness of the grace of the gospel to these things? While it is clear that Paul is referring to the legalism of the Judaizers, the use of the adverb πάλιν (palin, “again”), which occurs twice, plainly indicates that he regarded the Galatians’ former heathen religion to be of the same character as the perverted Judaism of the Judaizers. Both were legalistic and, therefore, contrary to grace. As Burton puts it, “Both were at bottom legalistic, without clear perception of ethical principles and destitute of dynamic to make possible the realization of them in life.” [8]

There is an interesting change in the verbs of knowing used by Paul in verses eight and nine. When he said in verse eight that the Galatians “did not know” God in their pre-conversion days, he used a verb (οἶδα, oida) that generally refers to reflective knowledge. That is, the Galatians did not really know who God is, although they knew that he exists. In verse nine, when Paul writes, “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God,” he uses a verb (γινώσκω, ginoµskoµ) that generally refers to knowledge gained by observation and experience. [9] The Galatians have, therefore, now come to know God by experience.

The statement “to be known by God” (γνωσθέντες ὑπὸ θεοῦ, gnoµsthentes hypo theou) is one of important doctrinal content. In the first place, the words cannot refer to God’s purely theoretical, or intellectual, knowledge of the existence of the Galatians. That knowledge has always been his. The word here, as often, has the sense of knowledge in a favorable way (cf. Ps. 1:6; Nah. 1:7; 1 Cor. 8:3; Matt. 7:23, etc.). The word verges on the sense of to know by election, and the knowledge spoken of here is one that may be traced to the eternal counsels (cf. Gen. 18:19; Amos 3:2; Matt. 25:12; John 10:27; Rom. 8:29; 2 Tim. 2:19, etc.). It is, then, knowledge that saves because it proceeds from divine election. Further, the apostle significantly alters the active “you have come to know” (γνόντες, gnontes) to “to be known,” the passive (γνωσθέντες, gnoµsthentes), making it clear to the Galatians that their knowledge of God is not traceable to themselves, but to God. It is he who has delivered them from idolatry to the service of God in grace. [10]

The verb “you turn back” (ἐπιστρέφετε, epistrephete) is in the present tense, the apostle indicating by it that he sees the Galatians as still in the act of turning (cf. 1:6). Incidentally, the “elemental things” (στοιχεῖα, stoicheia) are weak, because they have no power to save (cf. Rom. 8:3), and they are “worthless” (πτωχὰ, ptoµcha, “beggarly,” KJV) because they have no power to impart riches, or an inheritance (cf. 3:29; 4:7).

The apostle’s stress on the divine initiative in our salvation reminds me of the story of the little boy who was asked by a zealous Christian witness, “Little boy, have you found Jesus?” Puzzled, the young fellow replied, “Why, no, I didn’t know he was lost; but I was, and he found me!” That, of course, is the truth. As we sometimes sing,

I was lost, but Jesus found me,
Found the sheep that went astray;
Threw His loving arms around me,
Drew me back into His way. [11]

The apostle proves the foregoing by the statement in verse ten. Already the Galatians had been led by the Judaizers into the observance of “days and months and seasons and years.” Evidently the Judaizers had begun their campaign of bringing the Galatians into bondage to the Law by securing the adoption of the festivals, perhaps also the fast days, of the Jewish calendar. Now they were moving on to circumcision and attaching saving significance to it because of its relationship to the Abrahamic covenant. The “days” probably refer to the sabbath days, as well as feasts observed on a single day, “months” to the new moon’s celebration, “seasons” to the great feasts, Passover, Tabernacles, etc., which were not limited to a single day, and “years” to Jubilee or the sabbatical year.

There is an interesting inference that one should notice here. The apostle makes reference to “days” and “years.” Often Christians are asked to observe the sabbath in the present age. The sabbath, of course, is the seventh day of the week, that is, our Saturday. It is this day that the Seventh Day Adventists observe. If one is to observe the sabbath, Saturday is the day to observe. Occasionally, however, we are told by well-meaning believers that the sabbath has been changed to the first day of the week, Sunday, and that we should observe that day as the Jews observed it. I cannot follow this. If we are to observe the weekly sabbath, why should we not also observe the yearly sabbath of the Law of Moses? We cannot pick and choose in the Law. If we observe one part of it (as Law), such as the seventh-day sabbath, then it seems to me that we must also observe the seventh-year sabbath. Perhaps we should also work six days, too, instead of our customary five! The Galatians at least were consistent; they were observing “years” also. The word “observe” (παρατηρέω, parateµreoµ) is an intensive one and indicates a close, careful observance. The fact that circumcision is not mentioned shows that the Judaizers had not completely won the day.

The Pauline Concern, verse 11

The deadly nature of legalism is seen clearly in verse eleven. The apostle feels that, if the Galatians adopt the Judaizers’ views, his preaching among them would come to nothing. It is a touching statement of Paul’s great concern for his dear Galatians, as well as a solemn warning of the fatal character of legalism.

The Content of the Plea, verses 12–15

I beg of you, brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong; but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time; and that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.

The Abandonment of the Law, verse 12

“Dropping argument, the resumption of which in verses 21–31 is probably an afterthought,” Burton says, “the apostle turns to appeal, begging the Galatians to take his attitude towards the law, referring to the circumstances under which he had preached the gospel to them, and the enthusiasm and personal affection with which, despite an illness which made him unattractive to them, they had received him and his message.” [12]

The twelfth verse is incorrectly rendered in the King James Version. The second clause, “be as I am,” is literally, “become as I am” (NASB). The verb the apostle uses, γίνομαι (ginomai), means to become. In fact, the entire verse should be translated, “I beg of you, brethren, become as I [have become], for I also have become as you are [that is, as a Gentile not under the Law]. You have done me no wrong.” The point the apostle is making is clear. He is urging the Galatians to drop the legal system, just as he had done, because in doing that he had become as they—Gentiles without the advantages of the Law (cf. 1 Cor. 9:20–22).

Their Past Acceptance of Paul’s Preaching, verses 13–14

The apostle now turns to the past and reminds the Galatians of their reception of him when he preached the gospel to them. The occasion of his ministry among them was bodily weakness. The words “because of a bodily illness” are literally “on account of (an) infirmity of the flesh” (δι᾿ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκός, di\ astheneian teµs sarkos). The interpretation of the words is not easy, and several suggestions have been offered. The apostle may have had a sickness which necessitated his presence in higher altitudes. [13] Perhaps, it is said, he caught malaria in the mosquito-infested swamps of the coast of Pamphylia, possibly at the time when he and Mark had their falling out and Mark returned home (cf. Acts 13:13; 15:36–41). [14] If this were so, then he might well have wished to head north to the more invigorating air of the higher altitudes. When he arrived, he was in the grip of this fever.

Others have suggested epilepsy, [15] because the disease has unpleasant manifestations.16 In the next verse the apostle says, “and that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe.” [17] Yet another suggestion is that the apostle suffered from “severe neuralgia or hysteria accompanied by depression.” [18] Still others believe there can be no certain diagnosis. [19]

The most likely view is that the apostle had chronic ophthalmia, that is, inflammation of the eyes. [20] While the precise nature of his suffering probably cannot be determined with certainty, there are a number of features that support this view of the matter. In the first place, if his disease was chronic, then that would account for the fact that he was still able to preach the gospel while suffering from the disease. In the second place, the reference in verse fifteen to the willingness of the Galatians to pluck out their own eyes and give them to the apostle supports this interpretation quite well.

In the third place, there is other evidence in the New Testament to support this view. Later in this letter Paul writes, “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand” (cf. 6:11). He may hve had to write in large letters as a result of an eye disease. And in Acts 23:1–5 the apostle, having been struck on the mouth by Ananias, the high priest, spoke some sharp words to him, but then in the ensuing discussion admits that he did not know he was before the high priest. It appears possible that the reason for this was poor eyesight.

Whatever the infirmity was, it was an infirmity of the flesh, and it is probably the same thing that Paul calls elsewhere, “a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!” (2 Cor. 12:7).

The disease was of a kind to repel the Galatians, according to verse fourteen. And yet they did not despise it. The verb translated “loathe” (ἐκπτύω, ekptuoµ, KJV has “rejected”) comes from a root that means to spit. With the preposition (ἐκ, ek) attached, it means literally to spit out, or to spit out at, that is, to spit at something in disgust, to abominate or to loathe. The literal sense (“to spit out”) rather than the metaphorical (i.e. “to loathe”) is probably intended here. It was a common ancient gesture to spit out at someone to ward off the demonic, misfortune, or sickness. This would suggest that the apostle’s disease was, indeed, a “temptation,” or trial, to all who saw him. In spite of this, however, the Galatians “resisted the temptation to see in Paul someone demonically possessed because of his sickness, but received him as an angelic manifestation, indeed, as Christ Jesus Himself” (v. 14). [21] They gave him the credence one would give an angel, an ambassador of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:20; Matt. 10:40).

The statement of the apostle here suggests the experience of Barnabas and him when they preached in Lystra and Paul healed the impotent man (cf. Acts 14:11–13).

The Blessedness of Grace, verse 15

The “where then” (ποῦ οὖν, pou oun) of verse fifteen has the sense of “since these things are so,” introducing an inference from verse fourteen. [22] “What has happened to the felicitation, the sense of blessing and satisfaction, that you felt?” is the thought. The Galatians had declared themselves blessed when the apostle had been in their midst preaching the gospel to them. But now all has changed. From offering him their eyes, they have turned to regarding him as an enemy! “A complete volte-face [‘about-face’] had taken place,” Stott remarks. [23]

We have a very important practical point here that we must not overlook. To put it simply: As long as the Galatians were feeding upon and resting in the doctrines of grace, rejoicing in the forgiveness of sins through faith alone, they counted themselves happy and blessed. Now that has gone, and what is the cause? The legalism of the Judaizers. So it is always. Legalism not only is contrary to the Word of God and leads to pride and arrogance as men trust in human merit, it also destroys the joy of the Lord. It is one of the great sources of depression among the saints who, duped by legalistic teaching, make the mistake of grounding their spiritual health and joy in subtle appeals to human works. Let us avoid like the plague all schemes by which spirituality is to be gained through human works, even such commendable activities as prayer, witnessing to our faith, and Bible study. These activities are the outcomes of spiritual life, not the causes.

The Cause of the Plea, verses 16–20

So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner, and not only when I am present with you. My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you—but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

Paul’s Truthfulness, verse 16

“So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?” Paul asks. [24] The Galatians were taking the view that Paul, by being critical of them, was hostile to them (the active sense of the noun “enemy”). “There is an important lesson here,” Stott writes:

When the Galatians recognized Paul’s apostolic authority, they treated him as an angel, as Christ Jesus. But when they did not like his message, he became their enemy. How fickle they were, and foolish! An apostle’s authority does not cease when he begins to teach unpopular truths. We cannot be selective in our reading of the apostolic doctrine of the New Testament. [25]

The word rendered “telling the truth” (ἀληθεύων, aleµtheuoµn) means more than simply speaking the truth. It has the sense of to deal truly, or truthfully, referring to actions as well as words. [26] Paul’s preaching of the gospel was marked by reliability, or trustworthiness. [27] When did the apostle tell them the truth? Commentators have not agreed upon an answer. Some have thought that the apostle made a second visit to the Galatians or wrote them another letter. [28] Paul certainly does not refer to the first visit, as verses fourteen and fifteen make clear. [29] Perhaps his words are an anticipation, born of long experience, of what their reaction to this letter will be. [30] He knows the response of legalists to reproof by teachers of grace: Pride is offended.

The Judaizers’ Insincerity, verses 17–18

The contrast between the attitude of Paul toward the Galatians and the attitude of the Judaizers now comes to the fore. The concern of Paul is traced to his longing that they grow into conformity to Jesus Christ, but the motivation of the Judaizers is quite different.

“They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them.” One should notice the change in person. It is not “they,” that is, the Judaizers who come to Paul’s mind. The word rendered “eagerly seek” and “seek” (ζηλόω, zeµlooµ) in this verse is better rendered, “to pay court,” [31] for “eagerly seek” is not so clear to us today. The Judaizers were courting the favor of the Galatians, not for their spiritual profit, but from an insincere motive. They wished to exclude the Galatians from the company of those who rejoiced in full acceptance before God by grace through faith alone.

And it was hoped that this would cause them to turn to the Judaizers for spiritual guidance and counsel. The apostle, it is to be noted, puts three of the verbs of the verse (ζηλοῦσθαι, θέλουσιν, ζηλοῦτε, zeµlousthai, thelousin, zeµloute, “they eagerly seek,” “they wish,” “seek”) in the present tense, indicating by this that the action of the Judaizers is in progress at the time of writing.

In the eighteenth verse the apostle makes the point—no doubt having in mind his own courting of the Galatians for the sake of the gospel—that it is a good thing to be eagerly sought after in a good matter, and not only while he is personally present with them. In fact, that is what Paul is doing by writing this letter of rebuke to them. He has a deep attachment to his dear Galatians, as verse nineteen will so vividly indicate.

Paul the Pastoral-Mother of the Galatians, verses 19–20

The lack of connection between verses eighteen and nineteen, a common feature of the Greek language, is an evidence of strong feeling on Paul’s part. This is a matter of deep concern for the apostle. He is greatly perturbed over the condition of his beloved converts.

The figure the apostle uses to express this deep emotion is that of a mother suffering again the birth pains by which her child was born. “My little children” (KJV), [32] he writes, “with whom I am again in labor [or, am in birth pains], until Christ be formed in you.” “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),” Stott writes. [33] It is as if the first occasion now has turned out to be a miscarriage, and this time he hopes to see Christ truly formed in them. His agony is to see the embryo Christ develop into a fully developed Christ (cf. Eph. 4:13–15). This is not to imply that the Galatians had not received a full Christ. They had. Here, however, the apostle is speaking of Christ in the Galatians’ lives.

The apostle’s use of the Greek term μορφωθῇ, morphoµtheµ, “is formed”) is so startling that it deserves further exposition. First, we should begin with a discussion of the precise thought the apostle intends by the figure. It has been said that Paul is thinking of his birth pangs as continuing until the child takes on the form of the father who begets, the father now thought of as being Christ rather than Paul. [34]

It seems preferable to me to understand the apostle to have in mind a reversal of the figure implied in the words, “my little children.” Those referred to as babes are now pictured as pregnant with Christ, awaiting the full development of him within them. And yet it is Paul who has the birth pains. It is he, the pastor-mother, who labors to bring Christ within the Galatians to fullest development. [35]

The root of the Greek verb μορφή (morpheµ) speaks of the form which expresses the essence, the inner reality of a thing. Lightfoot’s rendering is very expressive. The apostle would have the Galatians “take on the form of Christ,” a rendering made possible by the meaning of the verb. [36] For Christ to be formed in them results in a union that touches the very essence of their being, so that they take on his form. It is a startling but thrilling elucidation of the apostle’s conception of the doctrine of union with Christ. [37]

Second, it is important to note that the voice of the verb μορφωθῇ (morphoµtheµ) is passive, indicating that the Galatians are the objects of the working, or activity of another—in this case. surely, the Holy Spirit.

Third, the aorist tense suggests that the apostle anticipates a moment to come when the union will have its culminating manifestation, a union in position and practice that results virtually in a reincarnation of the Lord Jesus in the believer’s body. [38] The Creator comes to live in the believer and be his life. Nothing less than this is Christian living in grace. Law ordinances put us, and him in us, under bondage. What an affront! We are above, not under, such do’s and don’t’s. Our aim is to please a Person in a life conformed to his controlling presence. The truth of Galatians 2:20, “Christ lives in me,” has now advanced to “for to me, to live is Christ” (cf. Phil. 1:21–23). It is a staggering picture of the Christian life.

The apostle concludes by expressing a desire (thought impossible) to be with them and to change the tone of the strong language (cf. v. 16), for he does not wish to be regarded as their enemy (cf. 2 Cor. 7:8). He is perplexed over their doctrinal wavering.

Conclusion

We have said that we see here the pastoral concern of the apostle Paul. It is true. Here we have Paul, the pastor-mother, the indomitable lover of souls for Christ.

We often today hear the unfortunate expression on the lips of Christian servants when speaking of discipleship, “It is important that we build ourselves into (or pour ourselves into) the lives of those we are seeking to disciple for Christ.” That is very bad theology. That is precisely what the Judaizers were trying to do. They were seeking to build themselves (or pour themselves) into the Galatians (cf. v. 17; 6:12–13). Paul longed for Christ to be built in, or formed in, the Galatians. [39] Calvin said it, too: “If ministers wish to [do any good], let them labor to form Christ, not themselves, [in their hearers].” [40]

Finally, it should be noted that this great apostle and servant of the Lord was completely dominated by the demands of truth, whatever the personal cost. “In the church today,” John Stott has written, “there is far too little deference to the apostolic word. Frequently what interests a contemporary congregation most is the preacher’s technique, mannerisms, or voice, how long he preaches, or whether they can hear him, understand him and agree with him. And often when the sermon is over, they love to criticize it and pull it to pieces.”41 The attitude of a congregation to its ministry should be determined first, foremost, and always by its loyalty to the apostolic message. That is the touchstone of the church’s life. When that attitude prevails, the church will flourish. May the Lord Jesus Christ hold us always to that standard!

Notes

1. This is article eleven in a sixteen-part series, “Expositional Studies in the Epistle to the Galatians.”
2. Katie von Bora was the name of Luther’s wife. Cf. “Editor’s Preface,” in Martin Luther, A Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, Middleton Translation [1575], revised and edited by Philip S. Watson (London: James Clarke, 1953), 5.
3. Martin Luther, “Preface to the Complete Edition of Luther’s Latin Writings” [1545], trans. Lewis W. Spitz, Sr., in Luther’s Works, eds. Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 34: Career of the Reformer, Part 4 (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1960), 336–37.
4. John R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians, BST (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1968), 111.
5. The word noetic comes from the Greek word νοῦς (nous) which speaks of the faculty of intellectual perception, i.e., the mind or intellect. The noetic effect of sin refers to sin’s impact on the sinner’s intellect and his ability to know and comprehend spiritual things.
6. Ernest De Witt Burton, The Epistle to the Galatians, ICC (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1921), 228.
7. The verb ἐδουλεύσατε (“were slaves”) is a constative aorist which views the entire period of their pre-conversion state as a unit. Cf. R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, and to the Philippians (1937; reprint ed., Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1961), 210. On the constative aorist, see Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 557–58.
8. Burton, The Epistle to the Galatians, 231.
9. Donald W. Burdick, “Οἶδα and Γινώσκω in the Pauline Epistles,” in Richard N. Longenecker and Merrill C. Tenney, eds., New Dimensions in New Testament Study (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974), 344–56 (esp. 351–52).
10. Burton, The Epistle to the Galatians, 229. Bruce writes, “For Paul, there is no real distinction between being known by God and being chosen by him (Rom. 8:29).” See F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 202.
11. Francis H. Rowley, “I Will Sing the Wondrous Story,” Stanza 2, in Hymns of Truth and Praise (Ft. Dodge, IA: Gospel Perpetuating Publishers, 1971), 281.
12. Burton, The Epistle to the Galatians, 235.
13. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, and to the Philippians, 219.
14. Ramsay argued that Paul’s malady was malarial fever combined with severe headaches (William M. Ramsay, St. Paul: The Traveller and the Roman Citizen, 3d ed. [London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1897; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Baker, 1962], 96–97).
15. J. B. Lightfoot, The Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians (1865; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1957), 186–91 (esp. 191); Joseph Klausner, From Jesus to Paul, trans. William F. Stinespring (New York: Macmillan, 1943), 325–30 (esp. 326).
16. The NASB mg. offers “spit out at” as an alternative reading to “loathe” (v. 14). “In ancient times people would spit upon an epileptic in order to protect themselves from being seized by this disease, which they attributed to an unclean spirit—or in order to drive out the ‘evil spirit’ in the epileptic” (Klausner, From Jesus to Paul, 326; cf. Richard N. Longenecker, Galatians, WBC [Dallas: Word, 1990], 191.).
17. The NASB reads “a trial to you,” i.e., “your trial” rather than “my trial” as in the KJV. The difference is due to the superior manuscript evidence in favor of τὸν πειρασμὸν ὑμῶν (Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament [London: United Bible Societies, 1971], 596). The genitive is objective (“a trial to you”). The KJV follows the inferior reading of the majority text (τὸν πειρασμόν μου). Cf. Zane C. Hodges and Arthur L. Farstad, The Greek Testament According to the Majority Text (Nashville: Nelson, 1982), 576.
18. Albrecht Oepke, “ἰάομαι,” TDNT, 3:204.
19. Alan Cole, The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, TNTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 121–22; Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, 209; Ronald Y. K. Fung, The Epistle to the Galatians, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 197; Longenecker, Galatians, 191.
20. Donald Guthrie, Galatians, NCB (London: Oliphants, 1974), 120; James D. G. Dunn, The Epistle to the Galatians, BNTC (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1993), 236.
21. Heinrich Schlier, “ἐκπτύω,” TDNT, 2:448.
22. Cf. Burton, The Epistle to the Galatians, 243.
23. Stott, The Message of Galatians, 115.
24. Cf. Burton, The Epistle to the Galatians, 244.
25. Stott, The Message of Galatians, 115.
26. Cf. ERV, mg.
27. Cf. Rudolf Bultmann, “ἀλήθεια, ἀληθης, ἀληθεύω,” TDNT, 1:242, 251and passim.
28. “The natural inference, therefore, is that the reference is to things said at a second visit or in a letter previous to this one” (Burton, The Epistle to the Galatians, 245; cf. Lightfoot, The Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians, 176).
29. “That it cannot have been on the occasion referred to in verses 14, 15 is plain from the force of [the perfect] γέγονα, which, denoting a present state the result of a past act of becoming, describes a change from a former condition, as well as by the manifest contrariety between enmity expressed in ἐχθρός and the friendly relations described in verses 12–15 (Burton, The Epistle to the Galatians, 245).
30. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, 211; Longenecker, Galatians, 193.
31. Lightfoot, The Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians, 176.
32. The manuscript evidence favors the reading τέκνα μου (“my children”), while the majority text supports the reading τεκνία μου (“my little children”). The internal evidence favors τέκνα μου, for elsewhere Paul refers to his converts as τέκνα (Gal. 4:28; also 1 Cor. 4:14, 17; 2 Cor. 6:13; 12:14; 1 Thess. 2:7, 11; Philemon 10), but never τεκνία. Longenecker offers four arguments, however, that τεκνία is probably the correct reading: (1) The affectionate tone of the verses suggests that at the beginning of verse 19 we have a vocative, not a nominative, as τέκνα could be read. (2) The affectionate tone also suggests that the more appropriate nominative in context is τέκνια. (3) Τέκνια is the harder reading, since it occurs nowhere else in Paul, and an early scribe might have wanted to conform it to Paul’s usual practice. (4) The image of Paul as a pregnant mother is not to be found elsewhere in Paul either, and with this unusual imagery the unusual expression τέκνια conforms nicely (Longenecker, Galatians, 195).
33. Stott, The Message of Galatians, 116.
34. H. A. W. Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Epistle to the Galatians, trans. G. H. Venables and Henry E. Jacobs, 6th ed. (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1884), 195–96.
35. Burton, The Epistle to the Galatians, 248–49; Longenecker, Galatians, 195.
36. Lightfoot, The Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians, 178.
37. Cf. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, 213.
38. “In order that this Christ-life may come into being in believers, Christ must take form in them. He must in some sense be incarnate afresh in each individual” (Behm, “μορφόω,” TDNT, 4:753).
39. “Christ, not Paul, was to be formed in the Christians” (John Albert Bengel, New Testament Word Studies, trans. Charlton T. Lewis and Marvin R. Vincent [Philadelphia: Perkinpine and Higgins, 1864; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1971], 2:366.
40. John Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, trans. T. H. L. Parker (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 83.
41. Stott, The Message of Galatians, 118.