This personal section starts appropriately with I beg you, my brothers. Two things should be noted: (1) in the Greek, this stands at the end of the sentence, thus giving it added emphasis; (2) the verb used occurs only five other times in Paul’s letters, and in four cases it connotes intense longing on Paul’s part. In a number of languages the rendering of I beg you in this type of context may be translated as “I strongly ask you,” “I urge you with pleading,” or, expressed idiomatically in some languages, “I speak to you with my heart exposed.”

The appeal be like me. After all, I am like you is capable of various interpretations (Phillips “I do beg you to follow me here … I am a man like yourselves”; Knox “stand by me: I have taken stand with you”; New English Bible “put yourselves in my place, my brothers, I beg you, for I have put myself in yours”). The whole appeal is connected with Paul’s attitude toward the Law. Most likely he is exhorting the Galatians to imitate him in abandoning the Law as a means of being reconciled to God. In other words, although Paul was a Jew, he has become like the Galatians, that is, as a Gentile, free from the clutches of the Law. That he regarded himself as outside the Law is clear from 1 Corinthians 9.20-21.

It is extremely difficult in some languages to express an obscure meaning such as be like me. One must usually employ a more specific meaning, for example, “behave like I do,” “look like I do,” or “believe as I do.” In other words, imitation is often restricted to specific kinds of activity. If, as seems quite clear, the emphasis here is upon Paul’s specific relation to the Law, it may be necessary in some languages to say “make a break with the Law, even as I have,” “do not be subservient to the Law, even as I am not,” or, perhaps, “as far as the Law is concerned, be like me.”

You have not done me any wrong is capable of various interpretations. Among them are (1) you have not done me any wrong in the past, but now you do; (2) you have not done me any wrong in the past, so don’t start now; (3) it is true, as you have said, that you did me no wrong when I was with you; it is not true, however, that you are not doing me any wrong now; (4) you have not wronged me, it is Christ whom you have wronged; (5) you have not wronged me, it is yourselves whom you have wronged; (6) I have no ground for complaining about your conduct (compare Phillips “I have nothing against you personally”). Of these possible meanings the first and the third seem to fit the context best. Since we do not know the specific circumstances of which Paul speaks, it is impossible to tell precisely what he means by the statement You have not done me any wrong. Again, it is not possible to be obscure in some languages with regard to such a meaning, and it may be necessary to choose one of the possible interpretations. For example, one may say “In the past you did nothing bad to me,” “… you did nothing to cause me harm,” or “… to cause me trouble.”

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 .