Galatians 4:19

PLUS
I am in travail (wdinw). I am in birth pangs. Old word for this powerful picture of pain. In N.T. only here, verse 1 John 27 ; Revelation 12:2 . Until Christ be formed in you (mecri ou morpwqh Cristo en umin). Future temporal clause with mecri ou (until which time) and the first aorist passive subjunctive of morpow, late and rare verb, in Plutarch, not in LXX, not in papyri, only here in N.T. This figure is the embryo developing into the child. Paul boldly represents himself as again the mother with birth pangs over them. This is better than to suppose that the Galatians are pregnant mothers (Burton) by a reversal of the picture as in 1 Thessalonians 2:7 .