Galatians 4:12-20

Please read the passage first.

Paul is making a series of emotional appeals. From the standpoint of rhetoric or the art of persuasion, Paul is trying to get them to identify with him. He pleads, he uses their former behavior toward him to shame them for their behavior now, vilifies his opponents, and he expresses affection. Betz thinks Paul is now arguing from perspective of his friendship with them.

In verse 13, the illness may have prolonged Paul's stay in Galatia.  He took the opportunity to preach the Gospel. Of course, they would know precisely what Paul meant here, and we do not have that advantage.

In verse 16, in telling them the truth Paul is their friend. The truth he is not telling them, says F. F. Bruce, is the same as what he told them when first he came among them, and on that occasion it won their friendship for him. For this truth is nothing other than the good news of divine grace. If it is true, then the other gospel brought by the trouble-makers is self-evidently false.

In verse 19, Pannenberg goes so far as to say that Christ is to achieve form in the life of every Christian as in that of Jesus born to Mary. Paul is not envisioning two stages in Christian experience, being justified by faith and having Christ formed within on. Rather, one implies the other.

In verse 20, Paul is going through inward questioning about them. F. F. Bruce says that Paul may have the concern here that they will concentrate on the uncompromising severity of his language and overlook the underlying concern and affection. He would like to be present so they could hear the tone.