As Calvin says, ‘this is a remarkable passage for illustrating the efficacy of the Christian ministry.’ The part that Paul describes himself as playing is not a small part. It is as if his pain, his exertion and contractions of spirit, will bring the baby into its new life. We know that elsewhere he was prepared to say of his own work in preaching the gospel, ‘Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?’ (1 Corinthians 3:5), for when ‘contrasted with God, he is nothing’ (Calvin), and yet he dare not shirk his part and fail in his responsibility. From his point of view, he must teach for all he is worth: he must agonize like a mother giving birth. But strangely, it was as if he was now required to go through this pain a second time with all the accompanying agitation concerning the outcome.
Does he or does he not see them as believers? They had indeed gone through an experience of birth and gave all the signs of new life, but he is not prepared to say on the basis of those signs that, given the present behaviour and disloyalty to the truth, there is nothing to worry about. It is only those who endure to the end who are saved and Paul sees himself as fighting for their salvation all over again. Although he believed in the security of the elect, he could not know with absolute certainty which of them were elect, and yet he pleaded with them in the hope that they would find eternal life.