{"id":48,"date":"2007-12-20T20:35:28","date_gmt":"2007-12-21T02:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/index.php\/2007\/12\/20\/galatians-419-spiritual-children\/"},"modified":"2007-12-20T20:35:28","modified_gmt":"2007-12-21T02:35:28","slug":"galatians-419-spiritual-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/galatians-419-spiritual-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Galatians 4:19 – Spiritual Children"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ministry<\/p>\n

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Galatians 4:19<\/o:p><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

19<\/span><\/sup>My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,<\/o:p><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Spiritually healthy Christians are constantly maturing to become more like Christ.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLittle children<\/span><\/em>\u201d is from \u201cteknia<\/span><\/em>,\u201d a diminutive form of \u201cteknon<\/span><\/em>,\u201d the word for child<\/em>. Therefore it refers to small or very young children<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cformed<\/span><\/em>\u201d is translated from the Greek word, \u201cmorpho\u014d<\/span><\/em>\u201d from which we get our English equivalent morph, meaning to form into something new. In the current verse the word is in the passive voice meaning that it is action done to the subject (you) and it is in subjunctive mood indicating that it has the possibility of happening but it is not necessarily happening currently.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

As any woman who has given birth will testify, it is hard work! That\u2019s why they call it labor. Similarly, Paul had labored hard in delivering the gospel message to the Galatians even in the midst of physical infirmity as he told us in Galatians 4:11, 13<\/span><\/strong>. And attaining eternal life was referred to by our Lord as being born again:<\/p>\n

John 3:3<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>3<\/span><\/sup><\/strong>Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom<\/st1:placetype> of God<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>.”<\/span><\/em><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

So Paul\u2019s use of the imagery of birthing labor is fitting. But let\u2019s not confuse the imagery with reality. Paul is not saying that the Galatians have to be \u201cborn again\u201d again. That can only happen once. He is simply saying that the labor he is going through is of the same degree as when he first delivered the gospel message to them.<\/p>\n

Because of his great love for the Christians in the Galatian churches, Paul refers to them as his children. Notice, however, that he refers to them as little children. This is an indication that they are still immature in their faith. The writer of Hebrews said a similar thing to the spiritually immature Jewish converts of the early church.<\/p>\n

Hebrews 5:12, 13<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>12<\/span><\/sup><\/strong>For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need <\/span>someone<\/span><\/em> to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. <\/span><\/em>13<\/span><\/sup><\/strong>For everyone who partakes <\/span>only<\/span><\/em> of milk <\/span>is<\/span><\/em> unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a baby<\/strong>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

And, Paul said of those whom God called to be His children;<\/p>\n

Romans 8:29<\/span><\/strong> <\/span>29<\/span><\/sup><\/strong>For whom He foreknew, He also predestined <\/span>to be<\/span><\/em> conformed<\/span><\/em><\/strong> to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Application <\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

God\u2019s purpose for us as Christians is for us to continually mature spiritually. As we do, we become more like His Son. But, if we are not growing or are being led into doctrinal error, we are not maturing and spiritually we are still little children.<\/p>\n

Are you growing as a Christian and becoming more Christ-like in your thoughts and actions?<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2007 <\/span>Will <\/span>Krause. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

<\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone (618) 614-3070 and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to:\"e-mail<\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Galatians 4:19 19My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, Truth to Learn Spiritually healthy Christians are constantly maturing to become more like Christ. Behind the Words \u201cLittle children\u201d is from \u201cteknia,\u201d a diminutive form of \u201cteknon,\u201d the word for child. Therefore it refers to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-galatians-4"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-M","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}