Paul ends this section with a statement expressing his fear that everything he has done among the Galatians might end up in nothing. This shows how seriously Paul regarded the effects of legalism; once the Galatians start to observe a legalistic system, they have for all intents and purposes repudiated the Good News of God’s free gift of love and reconciliation.
In the Greek this verse is actually one declarative sentence, but Good News Translation restructures it into two sentences. The first expresses Paul’s concern and worry for the Galatians, and the second expresses, in the form of a rhetorical question, his doubt, unbelief, and dismay at what he fears may actually happen, if it has not already become a reality among them.
It is possible to translate the first part of this verse with the worry or fear being connected with the efforts of Paul rather than with the Galatians themselves (Revised Standard Version “I am afraid I have labored over you in vain”; Jerusalem Bible “you make me feel I have wasted my time with you”; New English Bible “you make me fear that all the pains I spent on you may prove to be labour lost”). It is more likely, however, that the meaning of the Greek is more as Good News Translation renders this passage; that is, Paul is showing his concern for the Galatians themselves, and not simply expressing fear that his efforts have been in vain (compare Knox “I am anxious over you”).
I am worried about you is literally “I fear for you,” but special care would have to be exercised in translating “I fear for you.” It could be translated “I am afraid for you,” but too often it has been rendered in such a way as to mean “I am afraid of you.” In some languages one can best say “I’m afraid for what may happen to you.” However, in some languages one cannot speak of “fear” in a context such as this one. What was in Paul’s mind was not fright, but deep concern and worry, as Good News Translation indicates, and therefore one may translate “I am very much worried because of you,” or, as expressed idiomatically in one language, “My mind is killing me because of you.”
In place of the rhetorical question Can it be that all my work for you has been for nothing?, one may have in some languages an emphatic statement, “I sincerely trust that all my work on your behalf has not been for nothing.” In many languages, however, a double negative is quite inappropriate, and may even be grammatically improper. Thus it may be necessary to say “I do trust that my work for you has had results.”
To avoid the implication that Paul’s work has been merely physical effort, it may be important in some languages to translate all my work for you as “all that I have done on your behalf,” or “all that I have done in order to help you.”
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .