Paul’s Concern for the Galatians

Spend time reading and rereading and taking note of keywords in Gal 4:8-20
8Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
12I plead with you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong. 13As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. 14Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 15What has happened to all your joy? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
17Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. 18It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you. 19My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!

Questions:
What is the problem that Paul is addressing in v. 8-11?

How does Paul make his appeal to the Galatians in v. 12-20? Is it through logic? Reason? Emotion? Which of these do you think would have been most effective and why?

Things to reflect on:
Paul’s concern in this passage is that the Galatian believers not fall back into the old habits that had enslaved them prior to coming to Christ, namely, going back to Judaism. In coming to know Christ, they’d been set free from those things. What “weak and miserable principles” might we be turning back to that Christ has set us free from?

After telling the believers of the problem, Paul makes his plea to them. While he could have been logical or eloquent, Paul chose to use the emotion of the moment to get across to them his great concern for them. Paul was correcting the believers because he wanted all his churches to be perfect so his reputation as a pastor could be respected. His actions stemmed from a genuine love for his congregations. In the same way, when we see those around us that might be walking down the wrong path, we don’t bring them back because we want our youth group to look perfect, but because of the genuine love that we have for each other.
Finally, Paul has one clear exhortation for us and for the Galatian believers. V. 12, “Become like me.” Paul here wants us to follow his example. (Take a look at 1 Cor. 2:1-5, 11:1; 1 Thess. 1:2-10 for more on Paul’s example) But why the emotional plea to turn from their old ways and follow Paul’s example? V. 19, so that “Christ is formed in you.” That’s our goal, to see Jesus formed in us.
Spend some time in prayer

Thursday: Pray for the church (small c)
Pray for your brothers and sisters that are taking their finals (16-18). That they will study hard and get good rest.