Galatians; Christ in you

“My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you”- Galatians ch4 v19

The purpose of Paul’s letter to the Galatians is to convince them of the danger of submitting to circumcision, or any of the other requirements of the Law of Moses.
In the middle of the fourth chapter, he resorts to making a personal appeal.
He complains of his anxiety about their intentions.
He reminds them of the confidence they placed in his teaching, when he first encountered them.
He makes accusations of insincerity against the advocates of the Law.

I don’t intend to consider this appeal in detail, apart from the verse quoted above.

It isn’t easy to understand or visualise the image which Paul is presenting.
Admittedly Paul is rather prone to slightly confusing metaphors.
Already, in this chapter, “freedom from the Law” has been described by two different metaphors at the same time; a child growing to adulthood, and a slave becoming a free member of the family (vv1-7).
Writing to the Corinthians, he calls himself an “abortion”, just to make the point that he was not “born” as an apostle at the same time as the other apostles (1 Corinthians ch15 v8). With the result that none of the standard commentators can see that this is what he is getting at.
In this case, though, I’m beginning to think that the standard translation may be part of the problem, and it may be worth a closer examination.

“My little children”.

Having brought them into faith and “sonship”, he cares for them as a parent.
That’s understandable enough, and the same concern shows up in his letters to the Corinthians and the Thessalonians.

“With whom I am again in travail”.

He goes on to suggest that he is giving birth to them, feeling the equivalent of labour-pains.
The literal Greek says “of whom”, but English usage prefers “with”, and the meaning is the same.
This is not a great difficulty either. He’s using that image because he wants to stress what trouble and anxiety the event is causing him.
He says “again”, because he’s been through it all once already, when he first came to them

No, the real problem for me is that final phrase, “until Christ be formed in you”.

At first glance, Paul’s meaning seems to be that Christ is growing or gestating, within the Galatians.
But this makes a very awkward image when combined with the first part of the sentence.
We were told that Paul was “in travail” with the Galatians, that he was giving birth to them, but now the potential child is Christ himself?
We were told that Paul himself was the one who was in travail, but now the act of giving birth is projected within the Galatians?
We were told that Paul was already in travail, but now the gestation process is not yet complete?

I think a fresh look at the translation would reduce the confusion.
In the Greek, the second half of the verse reads;
…MEKRIS OU MORPHOTHE CHRISTOS EN HUMIN.
A translation following the same word order would be;
“..Until that is-formed Christ in you”.

This word order suggests a possibility which we can’t see in the usual English translation.
It allows us to read “Christ in you” as a distinct phrase, a specific term.
Following on from that, we may understand the complete phrase, “Christ in you” as the subject of the verb “is formed”.
Then the two halves of the sentence join together more easily.
Paul is “in travail with” the attainment of “Christ in you”; that is, the condition that Christ has been formed in the Galatians.
In other words, he is hoping to “give birth to” the spiritually enhanced version of the Galatians.
When they, too, will be able to say “It is no longer I who live, but Christ in me” (as Paul says in ch2 v20).
He is being forced to repeat what he thought he had achieved when he converted them in the first place.

So that is my proposed re-modelling of the translation of this verse;
“I am in travail again until the “Christ in you” has been formed”.

The time occupied in meditating on this verse would be well spent.
Because anyone who begins to see what Paul means by “Christ in you” is already, I believe, half-way towards understanding the core of his message.

a reply to: DISRAELI

The folks in the stories deserve understanding and forgiveness too. It's part of the bigger picture woven into it all.

If you find yourself judging the folks in the books ie) Paul. You miss the mark of understanding grace.

It's not achieving perfection but the striving for it in this case.

It's the hook like in other books, can you feel the character and imagine how they felt. Then comes understanding of the context of even the lamest translations.

Without grace I am nothin for I am a sinner like everyone else. Failure to understand this precept negates the message. Who is beyond forgiveness?

Just an opinion beyond the monumental task of bothering with the semantics of language.

Feeling the message is priceless.

Just a quick opinion. I really appreciate what you do.

a reply to: Treespeaker
Where do you get the idea that I'm "judging" Paul?
I only suggested that his meaning isn't always easy to grasp, and that's not controversial.
It even has scriptural backing in the seemingly affectionate assessment of Peter; "... there are some things in his letters hard to understand" (2 Peter ch3 v15).

And this little exercise in semantics actually has the side-effect of focussing the reader's mind on "Christ in you", which is worth doing.

a reply to: DISRAELI

Beautiful.

a reply to: DISRAELI

this is one of the only places where God has revealed that he inspired Paul to use an Allegory of the free and the slave. this is a great chapter.

a reply to: ChesterJohn
Ah yes, that's coming next week.

a reply to: DISRAELI

I don't.

I'm not judging a situation or you.

i don't have any judgement in me.

The message was clear enough that I felt the need to comment. Your understanding resonates with what I understand...at this moment.

Take it as you see fit.😀

a reply to: Treespeaker
It looks like confusion of language, then.
I got the impression you thought I was judging Paul (from one of the sentences), but it seems I was mistaken.
No worries.
Thank you for your contribution.

This thread is part of a series which began here;
Getting the gospel from Christ