Galatians 4:19

I desire to be present with you now,.... His meaning is, either that be wished he was personally present among them; that he had but an opportunity of seeing them face to face, and telling them all…

My little children - The language of tender affection, such as a parent would use toward his own offspring; see the note at 1Co 4:15; compare Mat 18:3; Joh 13:33; 1Jo 2:1, 1Jo 2:12-13; 1Jo 4:4; 1Jo…

My little children - Τεκνια μου· My beloved children. As their conversion to God had been the fruit of much labor, prayers, and tears, so he felt them as his children, and peculiarly dear to him,…

That the apostle might the better dispose these Christians to bear with him in the reproofs which he was obliged to give them, he here expresses his great affection to them, and the very tender…

In the preceding verse the metaphor seems to be taken from the affection of husband and wife (see 1Co 11:2-3). Now it is changed to that from a mother in travail.

My little children A form of address…