Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageMy dear children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth — and will keep laboring until Christ is fully formed in you —
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GMy children — for whom I am in labour pains again until Messiah is formed in you —
KJV
King James VersionMy little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
BSB
Berean Standard BibleMy children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,
Footnotes
ὠδίνω (ōdinō) — "I am in birth pangs/labor" — is striking maternal imagery from Paul, who elsewhere uses paternal metaphors (1 Corinthians 4:15). Here he casts himself as a mother in agonising childbirth, echoing Isaiah 42:14 where YHWH Himself compares His saving action to a woman in travail. μορφωθῇ (morphōthē) — "be formed" — comes from μορφή, the same root as Philippians 2:6 ("in the very form of God") and 2:7 ("taking the form of a servant"). The formation of Christ's morphē in believers is not mere behavioural conformity but a deep ontological shaping — Christ's own character and nature being pressed into the believer's inner being.