‘I am afraid of you lest by any means I have bestowed labour on you in vain.'

Having up to this moment shown them that he still sees them as true children of God he now expresses a doubt. Their behaviour makes him wonder whether they really can have known God, for if they had really known God it seems impossible that they could be so foolish and lacking in understanding. It makes him feel that all his efforts for them may have been in vain. It is a doubt intended to make them pause and think. It should make us all pause and think. Are there any of us who once enjoyed freedom in Christ but have now become bogged down in ‘do this, do that', and are requiring others to do the same?

‘Lest somehow.' He cannot believe that it is possible, for he knew that the Spirit had been at work, but their folly is giving him real doubts.

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