King James Bible
"I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain."
Paul expresses deep pastoral concern, not physical fear but spiritual anxiety about the Galatians' spiritual state. This emotional declaration reveals his personal investment and the gravity of their potential apostasy from the gospel of grace back to legalistic observances. Paul fears his exhaustive missionary work establishing the Galatian churches might prove fruitless if they abandon the gospel. The phrase echoes Old Testament language about futile labor and underscores that returning to law-keeping would nullify the transformative work of the gospel he preached.