Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Galatians 4:11

"I am afraid of you, lest by any means I have bestowed labor upon you in vain." — Galatians 4:11 (ASV)

Can his readers have missed that point? If so, it comes to them once again as the same Paul who speaks elsewhere of the fact that nothing can ever separate Christians from the redeeming love of God (Romans 8:35–39) and who expresses confidence that the work begun in the Christian by God will be continued till the day of Christ now expresses the fear that his labor in bringing the Gospel to the people of Galatia might be wasted. This is not, to be sure, the same thing as saying that a Christian can lose salvation. Indeed, even the Galatians have not gone that far; they have only begun to observe the feasts and have not yet been circumcised (5:2). Nevertheless, they are wavering, and their wavering is inexplicable and inexcusable. It can only be that they are “nearsighted and blind” and have “forgotten” that they were cleansed from old sins (see 2 Peter 1:9).

If the reader is inclined to think Paul has been impersonal in dealing with the problems at Galatia, the present passage should remove any suspicion. It is true that Paul has dealt with the issues facing the Galatians as doctrinal ones and has even been somewhat distant in addressing his converts, at best calling them “brothers” (cf. 1:11; 3:15). Now, however, all this changes, and his deep pastoral concern for the Galatians surfaces as he intensifies his appeal to them by again calling them “brothers” and then “dear children.” Moreover, he bases his appeal on their past and present relationship to one another; first, their past relationship to him (vv.12–16), and second, his past and present relationship to them (vv.17– 20). He contrasts the former with their present actions; the latter he contrasts with the actions of the Judaizers.