This verse is very closely connected with verse 18. Some translators retain the dependent construction, but most modern translators make verse 19 into a complete sentence in order to capture more effectively the emotional tone of what Paul is saying.
Previous to this verse, Paul has been rather formal. Here, however, he addresses his readers as my dear children!, an address of endearment and tender affection. The Greek form is diminutive (literally “my little children”), though some manuscripts have the nondiminutive form. It is a common form of address in 1 John, but it is used by Paul only here (although in some other cases he does use the nondiminutive form “my children”). The diminutive could be interpreted as a term of both affection and slight rebuke, expressing tenderness on the part of the apostle and feebleness on the part of his readers. Such an expression fits well the imagery of childbirth. In a number of languages, however, one cannot use an expression such as “my dear children” without its referring specifically to Paul’s own offspring. A more satisfactory equivalent may be “my dear friends,” “my dear people,” or even “you whom I sincerely love.”
What follows is metaphorical language. In another letter, Paul pictures himself as a nursing mother (1 Thes 2.7); here he speaks of himself as a mother in childbirth, suffering birth pangs for the Galatians, who, by implication, are thought of as again in the womb, needing spiritual rebirth. Birth pangs are the most painful and at the same time the most rewarding experience of an expectant mother, and therefore they are an appropriate figure for the pain and suffering that Paul was undergoing because of the problems in the Galatian church. Just like a mother in childbirth may be rendered in some languages as “I am just like a mother who is about to give birth to a child,” or “I can compare myself to a woman who is about to have a child.”
The second part of the metaphor presents some problems. One can (1) take it as a metaphor in reverse, that is, that the Galatians who were thought of as being formed in the womb are now spoken of as expectant mothers who must now wait for Christ to be developed in them; or (2) one can maintain the same metaphor in the first part and think of Christ being formed in the Galatians while they are still in the womb, so that at birth they would really be in Christ. Most translations, by keeping the form of the original, imply either of these interpretations; New English Bible, however, clearly takes the second of these. A third option is to drop the figure altogether and to understand until Christ’s nature is formed in you as referring to the whole process by which the Galatians come to be in Christ and Christ in them.
I feel the same kind of pain for you may be rendered in some languages as “I feel pain for you, the same kind of pain that a mother feels at childbirth,” or “… it is like the kind of pain a mother feels when she is going to have a baby.” It may, however, be important to indicate clearly that the pain is to be interpreted figuratively; therefore one may translate “I feel, as it were, the same kind of pain.” In general, the phrase for you may be rendered as benefactive, that is, “for your benefit” or “for your sake.” However, in some languages this is more often rendered as a causative, “because of you.”
It may be quite difficult to translate until Christ’s nature is formed in you. One equivalent may be “until you become like Christ”; another, “until you have the characteristics of Christ himself.” In some instances, however, the most satisfactory equivalent may simply be “until you become true followers of Christ.”
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 .