17 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. 18 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you. 19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!
Paul is contrasting his own attitude to the Galatians with that of the false teachers, the Judaisers, to them. The RSV rendering of 17, 'They make much of you' ('they pay court to you' - Calvin) illuminates the sense better than the AV. The meaning would then be that the false teachers were flattering the Galatians, making much of them, in order to win their allegiance to themselves. The point at issue is not, however, that Paul wants them to give their allegiance to him, rather than to them; what Paul is concerned to do is to win their allegiance to Christ. Cole adds an interesting suggestion: 'It is quite consonant with Paul's position to say that the true psychological reason for the onslaught of the Judaisers on the Galatians is that they secretly envy the Galatians both their freedom in Christ and the spontaneity of their relations with Paul. They want to 'cut them out' from both of these and to reduce them to the pitiable state of envying the Judaisers themselves'. Jealousy of Paul, and of his authority and influence over the Galatians - is this what lay at the root of the whole Galatian trouble? If this be so, how courageous of the Apostle to challenge them so forthrightly on the issue!