ガラテヤの信徒への手紙4:19-20
わたしの子供たち、キリストがあなたがたの内に形づくられるまで、わたしは、もう一度あなたがたを産もうと苦しんでいます。
（ガラテヤ4:19）
「わたしの子供たち」というのは、もちろんガラテヤの諸教会の信徒たちのことです。パウロは自分を親に、ガラテヤの諸教会の信徒たちを子どもにたとえ、愛情を込めて「わたしの子供たち」と呼びかけています。興味深いのは、パウロが自分を産みの苦しみをする母親にたとえていることです。言うまでもなくパウロは男性ですし、しかも独身でした。そのパウロが自分を産みの苦しみをする母親にたとえているということは、そのたとえでなければ言い表せない何かがあったということでしょう。すなわち、ガラテヤの諸教会の信徒たちに対して、クリスチャンとしての人格を育てようとすることは、まさしく母親の産みの苦しみのように苦しいことであり、パウロはその苦しみを通して新しい命が生まれるように希望していたということでしょう。
さらに興味深いのは、「キリストがあなたがたの内に形づくられるまで」という言い方にも、母親の胎内で胎児が形づくられることがイメージされているのではないか、と考えられることです。旧約聖書の創世記1章26節と27節に記されていますように、私たち人間は「神のかたち」に造られました。つまり、神様と人格的な対話をして、神様の意思に従って生きることのできる存在として造られました。しかし、人類の先祖の罪のために、私たち人間の「神のかたち」は正常な状態でなくなり、神様と正常な交わりをすることができなくなりました。そのような人間を神様と正常な交わりをすることができる状態へと回復させるために、神様は「神のかたち」である独り子イエス・キリストを人類に与えてくださいました。それは、キリストを信じることによって、キリストと同じような「神のかたち」が私たちの内側に形づくられるためでした。
ガラテヤの諸教会の信徒たちは、パウロの伝道によってキリストを信じるようになりました。もし信徒たちがパウロの教えから離れずに、「人はキリストを信じる信仰によって救われる」と確信していたならば、信徒たちの内側にキリストと同じような「神のかたち」が形づくられていったことでしょう。ところが、パウロの後から来た伝道者たちに惑わされたため、キリストと同じような「神のかたち」が形づくられることがストップしてしまったのです。これはたいへんなことでした。もしそのままにしておいたならば、信徒たちも信徒たちの内側で回復されつつあった「神のかたち」も滅んでしまいます。そこで、パウロは「キリストがあなたがたの内に形づくられ」新しい命が生まれるように、自分もあなたがたと共に産みの苦しみを経験しているのだ、と述べているのでしょう。 （2月11日の説教より）
It goes without saying that education is important for both the individual and society. In particular, character education, which nurtures a person’s character, is very important. However, “character education” is a difficult word to understand. What is “character” in the first place?
In a recent article, Christian education expert and President of Yamanashi Eiwa University, Dr. PARK Heon-Wook, writes: “We call the centripetal and profound core of a person, with its diverse surrounding “roles and characteristics,” “character, personality.” (PARK Heon-Wook, “The Nature and Mission of Christian Character Education,” Bulletin of Yamanashi Eiwa University, 2023, vol. 21, p. 32, trans. by MIYOSHI Akira). A person lives with different “roles and characteristics.” “Roles” include roles at home, roles in the community, roles at work, roles in hobby groups and many others. For example, a man can have the role of husband and father at home, the role of disaster prevention officer in the community, the role of accountant in the workplace, the role of president of a painting hobby group, and so on. A person can also have many different “characteristics.” There are characteristics of the body as a whole, facial features and limbs, physical characteristics such as being healthy or sick, personality characteristics such as having a short or long temper, characteristics of how one interacts with others, what one is good at and what one is not good at, and so on. For example, a woman may have a large body, a small face, long legs, a healthy but imprudent personality, talk to people a lot, and be good at playing tennis. The core of a person’s being, which brings all these different “roles and characteristics” together, can then be called “character.” In other words, it could be said that what integrates a person as a human being is “character.”
It is very difficult to develop the core of a person’s being, the thing that integrates him/her as a human being. The reason why it is so difficult is that it takes a long period of time and a consistent attitude to educate a person in order to nurture that which integrates him/her as a human being. However, it is not easy to find a person who is able to educate one person with a consistent attitude over a long period of time. Ideally, fathers and mothers should be able to take on this educational role. However, fathers and mothers are human beings with doubts and worries, so it is not surprising that their attitude towards their children may change or their words may waver depending on the situation. Not only that, as child abuse has become a major social problem, there are not a few families where education itself has not been established due to repeated abuse. When we consider school teachers, even if they are good teachers, they may only be able to work with one student for a limited period of time. In the case of superiors at work, it is very rare to find a boss who can truly nurture a person.
In this light, we are forced to think of God as the one who nurtures human character. The religious reformer Calvin wrote in the first part of his book of Institutes of the Christian Religion: “Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” And Calvin says that “these are connected together by many ties” (Book 1, Chapter 1:1). This means that man can know himself by knowing God. In other words, by establishing faith in God, he can establish his own character. Therefore, in order to educate people to “nurture character” in the true sense of the word, we must educate them about who God is. To educate people about who God is, we must educate them about Jesus Christ, who has shown the love of God the Father to the world.
The Apostle Paul was both an evangelist and an educator. In his letter to the Galatians, both the evangelist and educator sides of Paul are well represented. Paul began his first missionary journey in 47 AD, when he and Barnabas preached the gospel of Christ throughout the Mediterranean island of Cyprus and what is now Turkey. This is described in the Acts of the Apostles 13:4 to the end of chapter 14. In particular, the evangelisation of various parts of Turkey is described in detail, with the birth of believers in Christ in Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium and Lystra. However, after Paul and Barnabas left, other evangelists entered these churches. These evangelists taught the believers differently from Paul. They taught that Christians must not only believe in Christ, but also keep the Old Testament law. The evangelists particularly emphasised the need to undergo the ritual of circumcision, which is commanded in the Old Testament law. In other words, they taught that “not only must one believe in Christ, but one must also undergo the ritual of circumcision as prescribed by the Old Testament law to attain full salvation.”
This teaching was very confusing to Gentile believers, i.e., non-Jewish believers who had come to the Christian faith. Gentile believers then came to believe that they too had to undergo the ritual of circumcision. Not only that, but they even began to think that they had to observe the Sabbath, the various festivals and years of rest as prescribed in the Old Testament law, or they would not be able to attain full salvation. Therefore, Paul says in 4:10-11: “You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.” If the believers in the Galatian churches believe that they must keep the Old Testament law in order to attain full salvation, then Paul’s efforts to have taken pains to teach them that “human beings are saved by faith in Christ,” seem to have been in vain.
And in verses 16 and 17 of chapter 4, Paul writes with passion as follows.
Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may have zeal for them” (NIV 2011).
By “truth” he means the truth that “human beings are saved by faith in Christ.” And “become your enemy” means that the Galatians were misled by the evangelists who came after Paul, and began to think contrary to what Paul had taught. By “those people” he refers to the evangelists who came after Paul and taught that “not only must one believe in Christ, but one must also undergo the ritual of circumcision as prescribed by the Old Testament law to attain full salvation.” And “Those people” worked zealously on the believers of the Galatian churches so that Galatian believers may have zeal for them. And it was also an attempt to alienate the Galatian believers from Paul, as it says, “what they want is to alienate you from us.” In other words, the evangelists who came after Paul were not evangelising for good purpose, but to alienate the Galatian believers from Paul and to make them faithful to the evangelists themselves.
In contrast to the evangelists, who were zealous for such self-centred motives, Paul was zealous for the Galatian believers for good purpose. In verse 18 before today’s passage, Paul says: “It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you” (NIV 2011). By “to be zealous” Paul means that he was zealous for the Galatian believers. In other words, Paul’s attempt to lead the Galatians to salvation by preaching the truth that “human beings are saved by faith in Christ” was for good purpose. It was for such good purpose that Paul was zealous for the Galatian believers.
Paul, who was zealous for the Galatian believers for good purpose, speaks with enthusiasm in verse 19 of today’s passage, “My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!” By “my little children” he of course means the believers of the churches of Galatia. Paul lovingly calls them “my little children,” comparing himself to parents and the Galatian believers to children. It is interesting to note that Paul compares himself to a mother in the anguish of childbirth. Needless to say, Paul was not a woman but a man, and he was also single. The fact that Paul compares himself to a mother in the anguish of childbirth must mean that there was something that could only be expressed by that metaphor. In other words, trying to nurture Christian character in the Galatian believers was just as painful as a mother’s labour, and Paul was hoping that through that anguish new life would be born.
It is also interesting to note that the phrase “until Christ is formed in you” may also be an image of the forming of the foetus in the mother’s womb. As recorded in the Old Testament in Genesis 1:26 and 27, we humans were created “in the image of God.” In other words, we were created as beings capable of having a personal dialogue with God and living according to his will. However, due to the sins of our human ancestors, our human “image of God” is no longer normal and we are unable to have normal fellowship with God. In order to restore such human beings to a state of normal fellowship with God, God gave his only Son, Jesus Christ, who is the “form of God” to mankind. This was so that, by believing in Christ, “form of God” like Christ might be formed within us. The believers in the churches of Galatia came to believe in Christ through Paul’s preaching. If the believers had not departed from Paul’s teaching and had been convinced that “human beings are saved by faith in Christ,” “form of God” like Christ would have been formed within them. However, because they were misled by the evangelists who came after Paul, the formation of Christ-like “form of God” came to a halt. This was a terrible thing. If left unchecked, both the believers and the “form of God” that was being restored within them would perish. So Paul is probably saying that he is going through birth pains with you, so that “Christ is formed in you” and new life is born.
The words “Christ is formed in you” may mean that Christ-like characters are formed in the believers, and also that the church, the community of believers, is being formed into Christ-like character. Just as education in general society takes place within a community, Christian character education also takes place within the community of the Christian church. It is not possible to nurture Christian character unless the community itself is formed in the same character as Christ. If the church becomes like a secular organisation of the world, or like a so-called cultic organisation, the believers in that church will not be able to receive Christian character-nurturing education. The development of an individual’s character cannot be separated from the development of the character of the community to which that individual belongs. There is a connection between correct church formation and the formation of the characters of the believers.
In verse 20, Paul says: “I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.” In verse 18 Paul had said, “It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you.” These words indicate that Paul regretted that he was at a distance from the Galatian believers. So, in verse 20, he states that “I wish I could be present with you.” He then says that he wants to change his tone. How does he want to change his tone? Perhaps he wants to change his tone so that the Galatian believers will know that Paul is zealous for them for good purpose. Letters have the goodness of letters. You can read them repeatedly and savour the feelings of the person who wrote the letter. However, some things are better conveyed by talking face to face rather than in a letter. The fact that Paul was really zealous for them for good purpose, can be conveyed by meeting face to face, by facial expressions, tone of speech and body movements. Paul, who unfortunately cannot do that now, writes of his honesty: “I am perplexed about you.”
Today we learned what Galatians 4:19-20 teaches about Christian character education in terms of “education to nurture character.” This means that Christian character education is aimed at “Christ being formed in you.” This is another way of saying that, as Paul says in chapter 2:20 of this letter, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Are you walking towards such a state? It is unfortunate, but there are cases where a person may be a baptised Christian in form, but in reality they are living a life of self-promotion rather than witnessing to Christ. In other words, there are cases where Christ is not living in the person, but the person’s old ego is merely asserting itself. Be very careful that this does not happen. Let us move forward step by step towards the state where we die and “Christ lives in me” and “Christ lives in us, Shiki Kita Presbyterian Church.”