Galatians 5:7

The abruptness of thought and style is a marked feature of these two Chapter s. It is not always possible to trace the connexion with certainty.

Ye did run well -You were running nobly". The metaphor is taken from the stadium a favourite one with St Paul, c. Galatians 2:2; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, &c.

who did hinder you who was it that threw obstacles in your way? There may be a covert allusion here to some particular individual, prominent among the false teachers, to whom reference is again made Galatians 5:10.

that ye should not obey the truth The truthpersonified, and here equivalent to the Gospel which Paul had preached to them. These words have been transferred from this place to ch. Galatians 3:1; see note there.

The verb -obey" has the same root as the noun rendered -persuasion" in the next verse, and they are in juxtaposition in the Greek. We have another instance of the Pauline usage pointed out in the note on Galatians 5:1. It is not easy to preserve the play on the words. It may be indicated by translating, -that from the truth you should withhold obedience. The obediencewhich you are rendering cometh not from him who calleth you".