Compassion and tenderness defined Paul’s heart, though his writings could be terse. It seemed to him, though, that the pains of child-birth were taking place all over again. In preaching the gospel to them the first time, he expended much effort to convince them of its truth. For example, the chronicle of his time with them records this instance, “But the Jews who disbelieved stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against the brethren. Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord…” (Acts 14:2-3). It was hard work evangelizing the Galatians; there was opposition.

Yet now Paul was forced to argue with the Galatians again the same message of grace. He likened it to a mother going into labor all over again. The goal of the Christian walk is the same as the goal of salvation, namely, the formation of Christlikeness. The law does not bring that about, it cannot—only grace can. This is not just a trivial doctrinal issue that has no bearing on the real world. The consequences are huge—the very transformation of a person’s life.

Paul was perplexed, it made no sense what the Galatians (at least some of them) were doing. The issue was so simple, yet they were failing so greatly. The law cannot bring about life change. Grace can! God’s grace working through simple belief is the key to sanctification, and that is the goal of Christ coming into the world—to not only save sinners, but to restore us to God’s original purpose for us, who were created in His image, to reflect His glory. Grace is the key to saving us, and to perfecting us—God wants to work that directly into our lives. Our role is simply to cooperate with Him in faith.

Paul’s passion for them was so great, his desire compelled him to visit them again. If we are correct in assuming this letter was written shortly after his first missionary journey where the Galatian believers were saved, then Paul did return to Galatia during his second missionary trip (Acts 15:41-16:2). (On a side note, it was on that second visit that Paul discovered Timothy and thus began the well-known association of the mature apostle with his young protégé).

Bottom line, if a person desires to still live under the law, they should take a good hard look at the Law of Moses—it should become obvious that there is no hope there, but only condemnation – for all have sinned (Ps 14:1-3, 53:1-3).