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Gal_4:11. Φοβοῦμαι ὑμᾶς , μήπως κ . τ . λ .] not attraction (Winer, Usteri, Olshausen, Hilgenfeld, Wieseler, Buttmann), because, if this had been the case, ὑμεῖς must have been the subject of μήπως κ . τ . λ . (Plat. Legg. x. p. 886 A: φοβοῦμαί γε τοὺς μοχθηροὺς … μή πως ὑμῶν καταφρονήσωσιν . Phaedr. p. 232 C, φοβούμενοι τοὺς μὲν οὐσίαν κεκτημένους , μὴ χρήμασιν αὐτοὺς ὑπερβάλωνται . Diod. Sic. iv. 40; Thuc. iv. 1. 1; Xen. Anab. iii. 5. 18, vii. 1. 2; Soph. Trach. 547): see the passages in Winer, p. 581 ff. [E. T. 781 f.]; Krüger, gramm. Unters. III. p. 162 ff.; Kühner, II. p. 611. On the contrary, φοβοῦμαι ὑμᾶς is to be taken by itself, and μήπως κ . τ . λ . as a more precise definition of it: “I am afraid about you, lest perhaps I,” etc. Comp. Plat. Phaedr. p. 239 D: τοιοῦτον σῶμα οἱ φίλοι … φοβοῦνται (are apprehensive about it). Soph. O. R. 767: δέδοικʼ ἐμαυτὸν …, μὴ πολλʼ ἄγαν εἰρημένʼ ᾖ μοι . It is not without cause that Paul has added ὑμᾶς , but in the consciousness that his apprehension had reference not to his own interests (his possibly fruitless labour, taken by itself), but to his readers; they themselves were the object of his anxiety, their deliverance, their salvation. The mode of expression is analogous also in a hostile sense, e.g. Xen. Hell. ii. 3. 18: ἐφοβοῦντο τὸν Θηραμένην , μὴ συῤῥυείησαν πρὸς αὐτὸν οἱ πολῖται . Thuc. iv. 8. Galatians 5 : τὴν δὲ νῆσον ταύτην φοβούμενοι , μὴ ἐξ αὐτῆς τὸν πόλεμον σφίσι ποιῶνται .
εἰκῆ ] without saving result (Gal_4:11; 1Co_15:2), because ye are in the course of falling away from the life of Christian faith, which through my labours was instituted among you.
κεκοπίακα ] Perfect indicative; for the thought was before the apostle’s mind, that this case had actually occurred. Hermann, ad Eur. Med. 310, Elmsl.; Winer, p. 469 [E. T. 631]; Stallbaum, ad Plat. Phaed. p. 84 E.
εἰς ὑμᾶς ] for you; εἰς denotes the reference of the toilsome labour which he had undergone to the Galatians. Comp. Rom_16:6
Luther (1524), moreover, aptly remarks on Gal_4:11 : “Lacrymas Pauli haec verba spirant.”