3 and I testify again to every man circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law;
for as many as are of works of law are under a curse, for it hath been written, `Cursed `is' every one who is not remaining in all things that have been written in the Book of the Law -- to do them,'
For circumcision, indeed, doth profit, if law thou mayest practise, but if a transgressor of law thou mayest be, thy circumcision hath become uncircumcision.
for whoever the whole law shall keep, and shall stumble in one `point', he hath become guilty of all; for He who is saying, `Thou mayest not commit adultery,' said also, `Thou mayest do no murder;' and if thou shalt not commit adultery, and shalt commit murder, thou hast become a transgressor of law;
`And it hath been -- if thou really forget Jehovah thy God, and hast gone after other gods, and served them, and bowed thyself to them, I have testified against you to-day that ye do utterly perish;
`And it hath been, when many evils and distresses do meet it, that this song hath testified to its face for a witness; for it is not forgotten out of the mouth of its seed, for I have known its imagining which it is doing to-day, before I bring them in unto the land of which I have sworn.'
and dost testify against them, to bring them back unto Thy law; and they -- they have acted proudly, and have not hearkened to Thy commands, and against Thy judgments have sinned, -- which man doth and hath lived in them -- and they give a refractory shoulder, and their neck have hardened, and have not hearkened. `And Thou drawest over them many years, and testifiest against them by Thy Spirit, by the hand of Thy prophets, and they have not given ear, and Thou dost give them into the hand of peoples of the lands,
for I have five brothers, so that he may thoroughly testify to them, that they also may not come to this place of torment.
`Wo to you, blind guides, who are saying, Whoever may swear by the sanctuary, it is nothing, but whoever may swear by the gold of the sanctuary -- is debtor!
Also with many more other words he was testifying and exhorting, saying, `Be saved from this perverse generation;'
testifying fully both to Jews and Greeks, toward God reformation, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
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:-