Tag Archives: Galatians 4:11

Labor in Doubt: Literary and Theological Context of Galatians 4:11

Galatians 4:11 — φοβοῦμαι ὑμᾶς μήπως εἰκῆ κεκοπίακα εἰς ὑμᾶς. (“I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored in vain for you.”)

This terse yet potent verse reveals the emotional undercurrent of Paul’s rebuke to the Galatians. Following his astonishment at their regression to “weak and beggarly elements” (Gal. 4:9), Paul now expresses fear—not for his own reputation, but for the possibility that his labor among them has been rendered fruitless. The Greek syntax captures Paul’s pastoral anxiety through verbal aspect, particles of uncertainty, and final prepositional phrasing. Galatians 4:11 thus embodies not only theological concern, but rhetorical urgency encoded in grammar.… Learn Koine Greek