Galatians 4:19–20: “My children, I am again undergoing birth pains until Christ is formed in you. I wish I could be with you now and change my tone of voice because I am perplexed about you.”

At this point in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he has been discussing the issue of faith in Christ and alternative versions of “faith in Christ”—not really faith in Christ, because they are not complete, total dependence on Christ. Rather, Christ plus some sprinkling of the law, Christ plus some sprinkling of this.

And one of the things we don’t really notice about ourselves is that, even though we may not be going back to the law and circumcision like this, there may be some things we are going back to that are persuasive, that we are depending on, that are convincing, that seem reasonable—so that Christ is now not enough for us. Something else has been formed in us. We are running on something else. We are depending on something else for validation, to derive our sense of acceptance before God. We are running on something else.

And Paul is saying he is “undergoing birth pains until Christ is formed” in them. Basically, he is saying, “I’m in a state of distress.” The next verse: “I wish I could be with you now and change my tone of voice, because I am perplexed about you”—in a way communicating intense emotional turmoil.

He has already said to them: “You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4). If you seek to be justified by works, then you have fallen from grace.

Justification is a term that talks about what makes us accepted by God. And what are you doing that still makes you think, “If I do this, if I do that, then I’m going to be accepted by God”? Paul is saying those religious observances that other people are doing, thinking they’re going to be the basis of their being accepted by God, are not it.

He is calling on them to hold on to Christ and Christ alone. “Until Christ is formed in you.” That means he saw them as having lost something—not just something, but something major, something valuable—because they had been persuaded to put their trust somewhere else, in some other things, in their own works.

The context here is: “If I am circumcised, maybe I’m hedging my bets.” Maybe that’s what they were thinking—“I’m not so sure that trust in Christ is enough, so if I am circumcised, it doesn’t really matter so much, because if it’s Christ alone I’m still okay; but what if it’s not, and I’m supposed to add this other thing? Then I’m hedging my bets; I’m still going to be okay. I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket. I’m not only trusting in Christ; I’m still trusting in Moses.”

Paul is trying to disabuse them of that idea: once you’re not putting Christ in the premium place in your heart and you’re trying to put something else there, then Christ is not of value to you (Galatians 5:2–3). So he is really using harsh words.

Those people were trying to hedge their bets.

In what ways, too, are we not so sure of Christ—not so confident that Christ is enough? Not at rest in what Christ represents, what Christ has provided, what Christ has brought. Not at rest in Christ, but seeking some other things to add to Christ.

These people were being sold the need to be circumcised. What do we know about circumcision here? Circumcision is something very painful. So they say, “It seems logical—if I’m going to get this great grace, this great salvation, shouldn’t I at least ‘do something’ like this painful circumcision?” That shows I’m trusting in myself. And somehow they had been persuaded that this is okay.

Paul is saying, “No, no, no—that is not okay. You are neglecting Christ, and that is not okay. You need to embrace Christ fully. Christ is the One who bore the pain. Christ is the One who made the sacrifice. Put your trust in Him.”

God bless you. See you later.