Galatians 5:7

Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? [ Etrechete (G5143)] 'Ye were running well' in the Gospel race (1 Corinthians 9:24; 1 Corinthians 9:26; Philippians 3:13). WHO ... - none whom ye ought to have listened to: the Judaizers (cf. Galatians 3:1). HINDER, [ Enekopsen (G1465), 'Aleph (') A B C Delta G: not anekopsen, as received text] - 'hinder by b...

7._Ye did run well_. The censure which the apostle administers for their present departure from the truth is mingled with approbation of their former course, for the express purpose that, by being brought to a sense of shame, they may return more speedily to the right path. The astonishment conveyed in the question, _who hindered you? _was intended to produce a blush. I have chosen to translate the Greek word πείθσθαι, _obey_, rather than _believe_, because, having once embraced the purity of the gospel, they had been led away from a course of obedience....

7-12 The life of a Christian is a race, wherein he must run, and hold on, if he would obtain the prize. It is not enough that we profess Christianity, but we must run well, by living up to that profession. Many who set out fairly in religion, are hindered in their progress, or turn out of the way. It concerns those who begin to turn out of the way, or to tire in it, seriously to inquire what hinders them. The opinion or persuasion, ver. Galatians 5:8, was, no doubt, that of mixing the works of the law with faith in Christ in justification. The apostle leaves them to judge whence it must arise, but sufficiently shows that it could be owing to none but Satan. It is dangerous for Christian churches to encourage those who follow, but especially who spread, destructive errors. And in reproving sin and error, we should always distinguish between the leaders and the led. The Jews were offended...

Verse 7. _YE DID RUN WELL_] Ye once had the faith that worked by love-ye were genuine, active, useful Christians. _WHO DOTH HINDER_] Who prevented you from continuing to obey the truth? Ye could only be turned aside by your own consent. St. Paul here, as in 1 Corinthians 9:24, compares Christianity to a _race_. See the notes on the above text....

YE DID RUN WELL - The Christian life is often represented as a race; see the notes at 1 Corinthians 9:24. Paul means here, that they began the Christian life with ardour and zeal; compare Galatians 4:15. WHO DID HINDER YOU - Margin, “Drive you back.” The word used here (ἀνακόπτω anakoptō) means properly to beat or drive back. Hence, it means to hinder, check, or retard. Dr. Doddridge remarks that this is “an Olympic expression, and properly signifies “coming across the course” while a person is running in it, in such a manner as to jostle, and throw him out of the way.” Paul asks, with emphasis, who it could have been that retarded them in their Christian cours

EXPOSITION GALATIANS 5:1 GALATIANS 5:2 BEHOLD, I PAUL SAY UNTO YOU (ἴδε, ἐγὼ Παῦλος λώγω ὑμῖν); _lo_,_ I Paul say unto you. _The adverbial exclamation ἴδε, found in St. Paul's writings only here (in Romans 2:17 it should be εἰ δὲ), seems to be more abrupt than ἰδού, pointing to the immense importance and yet possibly unexpected character of what follows. The Galatians might be surprised to hear it; but that which they seemed disposed to take in hand was fraught with utter ruin. "I, Paul:" he thus puts forward his personality, as solemnly gaging his whole credit and responsibility upon the truth of that which he is about

YE DID RUN WELL,.... In the Christian race; when they first set out in a profession of religion, they embraced and held fast, and were zealously attached to the truths of the Gospel; they were in the lively exercise of grace on its proper object, and very diligent in the discharge of duty; they made great proficiency in the knowledge of divine things, and ran with cheerfulness and without weariness in the ways of Christ, and in the paths of truth and holiness. The metaphor is taken from runners in a race; see 1 Corinthians 9:24 so far this is said to their commendation, but this should have been persisted in: WHO DID HINDER YOU; not the apostle, or any of his brethren; no, they encouraged them to go on, and gave them all the assistance they could, to help them forward; but it was the false apostles that hindered them, who did all they could to remove them to an

Galatians 5:1. _Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage._ «You are not under the law, but under grace. Do not subject yourselves, therefore, to legal principles. Do not live as if you were working for wages, and were earning your own salvation. Do not submit yourselves to the ritual and commandments of man, which would rob you of your liberty in many ways, but having once become a free man, never again wear the chain of a slave: ‘Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.' Because you are the seed of Isaac, who was born according to the promise, you are not the children of the bondwoman, you are not Ishmaelites; therefore, as you were born free, as Christ has made you free by virtue of your new birth, stand fast in that glorious liberty.»...

III. THE WALK OF THE JUSTIFIED BELIEVER, AS NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE CHAPTER 5 _ 1. Stand fast! Be not entangled! (Galatians 5:1)_ 2. Exhortations and the law of love. (Galatians 5:7) 3. Flesh and Spirit. (Galatians 5:16) 4. The Fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22) The first exhortation is to maintain, by faith, the liberty which is found in Christ, to stand fast in that liberty where with Christ has made the believer free and not to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. The believer has perfect liberty in Christ; he is absolutely dead to the law and the law

Final emphatic statement of the dilemma, Christ or circumcision. Paul, speaking with all authority in spite of false inferences drawn from his circumcising Timothy (Galatians 5:11) and in spite of probable evasions on the part of the Judaizers testifies that those circumcised on religious grounds must keep the whole Law. More important still, in accepting such a rite as necessary to salvation, one renounces Christ; to whom all Christians taught by the Spirit look in faith for the sentence of justification at the great day of judgment. Not that, as an external inherited rite, circumcision is a matter of any consequence. Neither it nor uncircumcision (_cf._ Galatians 6:15; 1 Corinthians 7:19). Faith is all, an