Galatians 4:19
19 My [mou] little children [teknion], of whom [hos] I travail in
birth [odino] again [palin] until [achri] [hou] Christ [Christos] be formed
[morphoo] in [en] you [humin], KJV-Interlinear
19 My children, with whom I am
again in labor until Christ is formed in you — NASB
There are two key phrases in this verse. The first
phrase is, ‘birth again.’ And second phrase is, ‘Christ formed in you.’
Travail refers to effort or a struggle, or
hard-working that has to be done.
And what Paul is describing here is that at one
point in time he had taught the gospel and the fundamentals of Bible doctrine
to the Galatians, and they learned, and they knew it, and they understood it
thoroughly.
In the phrase, birth again, is simply an idiom for,
starting over.
The Galatians had come such a long way from the
point of salvation and into their spiritual lives, such that they were
advancing the way they should have been.
But after Paul’s departure, other false teachers
came along and the Galatians simply threw away their gains, their spiritual
gains, and Paul describes this in a way so that we can understand, that when
you fall away from your daily study, when you become indifferent or lax within
your spiritual life, Then you are susceptible to false ideas, and then you lose
ground, you fall behind, you lose the gains that you had, and you have to start
all over again.
They did not lose their salvation. Once you are
saved you are always saved. But what you can lose, is your spiritual
advancement.
The objective of your spiritual life is to grow up
and advance to maturity. And when you stop that growth process, then you lose
that maturing process, and in effect, you revert right back to the stage of
immaturity and you have to start all over again.
The phrase, Christ formed in you, refers to that
learning and growing process within your spiritual life.
Christ is God. Christ is the second person of the
Trinity. As God he is truth, and truth is what we learn through the written
word. When we read and study the written word, we are assimilating within
ourselves the written form of Christ. As we learn and grow, then in effect,
Christ forms within us.
And the work of Paul as the instructor or teacher,
is that work of teaching or communicating the word of God, so that all of us
can learn. And until the students, or those who are hearing the word of God
being taught, learn the doctrines, understand the doctrines, and grow up to a
point where they will stick with it and maintain and sustain their growth, then
instruction is imperative.
The error of most people, is their indifference
towards Bible instruction. They feel that they don’t need it, or that they have
advanced enough such that they can continue on their own, or they just simply
have a disregard for instructors, and they do not need someone teaching them.
And the typical result of this kind of attitude, is
manifested in their lack of pursuit or lack of consistency within their daily
studies. Daily studies generally do not exist, and even if they do, the quality
of that study is substandard.
And that is why Paul calls them little children.
They are immature, spiritually speaking. They are spiritual babes. A baby
cannot tell you the time of day, or anything else about life. And no matter how
old you are, whether you are two or a hundred and two, when you lack Bible
doctrine within your soul, then you lack truth. And when you lack truth, then
you lack proper orientation to life and you lack discernment about life.
Proper discernment about life refers to the reality
of all of life, not just the street smarts of the temporal world.
There is only one way to shape up for life. There
is only one way to achieve completeness within your life. And that is through a
dedicated and genuine daily Bible study, while in fellowship, under the guide
of a qualified instructor.
This eliminates self-teaching methods. This
eliminates fad or fashioned methods. This eliminates commercial gimmicks, or
gimmicks of enticement.
There is only one way to learn and grow up within
your spiritual life, and that is by pursuing a daily nuts and bolts study, word
by word, verse by verse, of Bible doctrine, and doing that day after day, every
day of your life.
