7 Ye were running well; who hindered you that ye should not obey the truth?
Know ye not that they that run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even so run; that ye may attain.
O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified?
But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered;
Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, `shall be' wrath and indignation,
For I will not dare to speak of any things save those which Christ wrought through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed,
but now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all the nations unto obedience of faith:
rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus:
and having been made perfect, he became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Galatians 5
Commentary on Galatians 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
In this chapter the apostle comes to make application of his foregoing discourse. He begins it with a general caution, or exhortation (v. 1), which he afterwards enforces by several considerations (v. 2-12). He then presses them to serious practical godliness, which would be the best antidote against the snares of their false teachers; particularly,
Gal 5:1-12
In the former part of this chapter the apostle cautions the Galatians to take heed of the judaizing teachers, who endeavoured to bring them back under the bondage of the law. He had been arguing against them before, and had largely shown how contrary the principles and spirit of those teachers were to the spirit of the gospel; and now this is as it were the general inference or application of all that discourse. Since it appeared by what had been said that we can be justified only by faith in Jesus Christ, and not by the righteousness of the law, and that the law of Moses was no longer in force, nor Christians under any obligation to submit to it, therefore he would have them to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and not to be again entangled with the yoke of bondage. Here observe,
Gal 5:13-26
In the latter part of this chapter the apostle comes to exhort these Christians to serious practical godliness, as the best antidote against the snares of the false teachers. Two things especially he presses upon them:-