What would Paul have written to Christians today, if he was so terse with the Galatians? Would he not, as William MacDonald suggests, “condemn the traditions brought into Christianity from Judaism—a humanly ordained priesthood, distinctive vestments for the priest, Sabbath-keeping, holy places, candles, holy water, and so forth?”

Yet, Paul turns personal in his burden for the Galatians. His was not a fondness for sterile, academic truth, but for the Galatians (and us) to live truly in God’s way and in His truth. His penchant for defending right doctrine emanates from a genuine concern for their souls. His labor was for people, truth was the means, the good news that rescues people from the hopelessness of religious efforts. Paul worked hard and sacrificed greatly to bring the message and persuade people of the truth of Jesus Christ. However, he had no control over whether they would believe. Precisely at this point, he was anxious.

Earlier in this letter he had expressed similar reservations, that his efforts at maintaining the unity of the gospel might have been in vain (2:2). He realized he simply could not control other people’s reaction to his ministry. This anxiety or worry prompted him to write to the believers in Galatia. But it also prompted him to pray, for he later wrote to another group of believers that the best antidote to anxiety is prayer (Eph 4:6-7).

Paul, when he first preached the gospel to the Corinthians, feared his message would be rejected, ^“I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” (1 Cor 2:3). While this could refer to fear of the physical beatings, his greater fear was that people might reject the message–he understood the enormity of such a response. In a similar vein, he wrote to the Thessalonians, “For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor would be in vain” (1 Thess 3:5).

He appeals to them to “become as I am,” that is, to live free from the law as sons of God. He himself was a Jew who became like them, he lived like a Gentile apart from the law. They as Gentiles should not, therefore, become like Jews and live under the law, but become like Jews who are now free to live like Gentiles, apart from the law! The Gospel makes a difference in how we live our daily lives. We should let know one rob us of our freedom under the guise of “obedience.”