Forming Christ

 Greetings.

We continue looking at Galatians today, looking at verses 19 and 20. It seems like an abrupt switch to a different topic.  He has been talking about the misplaced zeal of the Jewish agitators that have infiltrated the ranks of the Galatian churches, and now, suddenly he is talking about how badly he wants to see Christ formed in them.  Here is my translation: 

19 My children, I am again suffering pains like childbirth, until Christ is formed in you.  20 How I wish I could be there with you and change my tone, because I am seriously perplexed about you. 

He compared his desire to see Christ formed in them with a woman in labor pain.  This establishes an intensity of feeling for his Galatian brothers and sisters that they would be like Jesus.  This statement comes directly after Paul states that the zeal of the agitators is not for good.  Then he compares himself to a mother.  What kind of zeal could be better than that?  Paul’s zeal for them is like a mother’s concern for her children.  

Notice that Paul uses the word ‘again.’  He is again suffering pains for them like childbirth.  This is not the first time that he has suffered for them.  One would assume that he is referring to the initial conversion of the people in Galatia.  

Galatians 4:19 is where we get the term 'Spiritual Formation': to have Christ formed in us.  It reminds me of Colossians 1:27, “ God wants the riches of the glory of this mystery made known among the nations: that Christ is in us, the hope of glory.”  In Colossians, Paul talks about a mystery that had been kept hidden for generations that was now being revealed.  That mystery - Jesus living in us.  

Having Christ formed in us is one of the greatest things we could possibly hope for.  We have done nothing to deserve such glory, but still we can have it.  Paul is praying diligently that Christ will fill the brothers and sisters in Galatia. 

The fact that Paul is praying so diligently for Christ to be formed in them, would imply that Christ is not currently being formed in them through their obedience to the old law.  I think Paul has spent a lot of time establishing this.  They are moving in the wrong direction, and Christ will not be formed in them if their focus is obedience to the Law.  

Paul's point: we don’t become like Jesus through our own obedience, we become like him through our faith.  This often runs counter to the way we think. We tend to think that it is about our own effort.  The whole idea of spiritual formation, however, is about how the Holy Spirit forms Christ in us.  No amount of obedience, no matter how strict, can form Christ in us.  Grace and faith save us, and obedience to the Law does not. Paul has presented this argument from numerous different angles in his letter. That is not to say that obedience is bad.  No, obedience is good.  But, we have to understand that our obedience is prompted by faith, and we are not saved by it. 

In verse 20, Paul expressed his concern for them, still taking the tone of a mother.  Paul states that he wished that he could be there in person and therefore change his tone.  In person, he could express a more parental tone instead of just sounding alarms about how badly they are going astray.  

Ἀποροῦμαι (aporoumai) He uses this word to express his concern.  It is often translated as ‘perplexed.’  Paul is very perplexed by their thinking, and has expressed his puzzlement repeatedly in this letter.  Why is he so perplexed?  Paul's sincere desire is to see Christ formed in them, but the path that they are currently on, does not lead there.  He is trying to get them back on track, holding to righteousness based on faith and God's grace, a righteousness that would see Christ being formed in them.