ACC ~ Galatians 4 v19a

PARENTING THE FAITH OF THE REGENERATE. MARIUS VICTORINUS: Sons are spoken of in many senses, sometimes as by love, sometimes as by nature, sometimes as by blood, sometimes even as by religion. This is what Paul means now by “my sons,” either because when the new birth occurs through faithful baptism, he who guides the baptized toward maturity or receives them when fully ready is called their father, or because when he calls them back into Christ he makes them his own sons. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.4.19.

THE ANALOGY OF THE APOSTLE AS MOTHER. JEROME: He who in another place had spoken like a father now speaks not like a father but like a mother in Christ, so that they may recognize the dutiful anxiety of both parents. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 2.4.19.

THE MISCARRIAGES AND ABORTIONS STILL MY CHILDREN. CHRYSOSTOM: Do you see his parental compassion? Do you see the anguish that is fitting for an apostle? Do you see how he has lamented more bitterly than women giving birth? “You have ruined the image of God,” he is saying. “You have lost the kinship, you have exchanged the likeness. You need a rebirth and a reformation. Yet nonetheless I still call the miscarriages and the abortions my children.” HOMILY ON GALATIANS 4.19.

LIKE A MOTHER HE IS IN TRAVAIL. AUGUSTINE: Humans are conceived in their mother’s womb in order to be formed, yet only when fully formed do they go into labor. One might be surprised by his statement: “You with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.” We are to understand this travail to stand for the agonies of concern that they might be born in Christ. Then he labors for them once again because of the dangers of their seduction, by which he sees them being disturbed. EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS 38 [1B.4.19].

Gal