In class yesterday we spent some time thinking about
Paul’s letter to the Galatians as a model for us of pastoral ministry. Of course the whole letter is an exercise in pastoral ministry, but we focussed on 4:12-20
and read through Calvin’s commentary on that section which draws out many
helpful implications for pastors (you can find that text here).
In particular there is the arresting image of Paul
as a mother in the pains of childbirth (4:19). Paul uses the parent metaphor in
several places to describe his relationship to those converted under his
ministry (e.g. Paul and his companions as mother and father in 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12,
Paul as father in 1 Corinthians 4:14-15, Philemon 1:10), but
it’s an image that many people have rightly applied to ministry more generally.
In Galatians, the power of
the metaphor is that it is able to express Paul’s anguish as well as his
affection for his people, a point wonderfully explored by the lesser-known
Reformer Rudolf Gwalther (son-in-law of Ulrich Zwingli):
This passage reminds us of
the many things needed for our understanding. First of all, we have to realize
that the ministry of the Word is something full of hard work and trouble. Just
as a mother carries a fetus in her womb with great effort, losing her appetite
for food and appealing to others for help, and just as she gives birth in great
pain and then feeds and educates her child with enormous effort, so the trials
laid on the backs of ministers of the Word are infinite, and those who risk
their reputations in order to win others for Christ have to suffer great
trouble (as we are taught by the example of Elijah). The innate depravity of
our mind and nature does not accept that we are children of God. The world is
against them, because it does not let people escape from its clutches. What
grieves ministers the most is that those for whose salvation they sacrifice
everything are often not only ungrateful to them for their efforts but even
hostile to them. But just as a mother’s love conquers everything and turns
sorrow and trouble into joy, sustaining her through the birth process and the
education of her children, so ministers should burn with unquenched love for
Christ and the church, so that however hard the going may be, nothing will
overpower the joy and delight that they get from fulfilling their ministry. (Quoted
in Gerald L.
Bray, ed., Galatians, Ephesians, Reformed Commentary on Scripture 10
(Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2011), 154.
Lots there to ponder, and
in the midst of the passage an interesting thought: that one of the key roles for
pastors in this parental role is to assure believers that they are God’s
children.