Galatians 5:1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty, &c. — The apostle (chap. 3.) having, from Abraham’s justification by faith, proved, 1st, That all who believe in Christ, and in the promises of God through him, are the seed of Abraham, whom God in the covenant promised to justify by faith: 2d, That the law of Moses, which was given long after the Abrahamic covenant, could neither annul nor alter that covenant, by introducing a method of justification different from that which was so solemnly established thereby: 3d, That men are heirs of the heavenly country, of which Canaan was the type, not meritoriously, by obedience to the law, but by the free gift of God: 4th, That the law was given to the Israelites, not to justify them, but to restrain them from transgressions, and by making them sensible of their sins, and of the demerit thereof, to lead them to Christ for justification: further, having (chap. 4.) observed that the method of justification by faith, established at the fall, was not universally published in the first ages, by immediately introducing the gospel, because the state of the world did not admit thereof; and because it was proper that mankind should remain a while under the tuition of the light of nature, and of the law of Moses: also, having declared that the supernatural procreation of Isaac, and his birth in a state of freedom, was intended to typify the supernatural generation of Abraham’s seed by faith, and their freedom from the bondage of the law of Moses, as a term

Galatians 5:1 . Τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ — στήκετε , stand fast—in the liberty ) The short clause, wherewith Christ has made us free , has the force of aetiology, or assigning the reason. Liberty , and slavery ( bondage ), are antithetic. It is without any connecting particle, Galatians 3:13 : τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ , [by virtue of the] liberty , is emphatically put without ἐν , in: liberty itself confers the power of standing. Ἠλευθέρωσε signifies has rendered free , and ᾖ coheres with free [rather than with the rendered ]: stand , erect, without a yoke.— πάλιν , again ) ch. Galatians 4:9 , note.— ζυγῷ δουλείας , with the yoke of bondage ) This expression is applied, not merely to the circumcision which was given to Abraham as the sign of the promise, but to circumcision as connected with the whole law, given long after on Mount Sinai, ch. Galatians 4:24 , Galatians 3:17 . For the Jews had been accustomed to look upon circumcision rather as a part of the law received by Moses, than as the sign of the promise given to Abraham, John 7:22 . Nor was circumcision so much a yoke in itself, as it was made a yoke by the law; and the law itself was much more a yoke. Therefore Paul, by a weighty metonymy, puts the consequent for the antecedent: Be not circumcised, for he who is circumcised, along with this part of it, comes under the whole law, and revolts from Christ, Galatians 5:2-4 . Nor does the apostle oppose Christ so immediately to circumcision as he does to the law.

He speaks according to their perverse custom, while he refutes their Galatism and Judaism; and yet he does not at all deviate from the truth. Peter also, Acts 15:10 , calls it a yoke .— ἐνέχεσθε ) ἐνέχομαι , in the middle voice, I hold fast by, obstinately . That passage in Xiphil . in Epit. Dion. concerning a pole fixed in the ground, and which cannot be pulled out, shows the import of the word: ἐν τῇ γῇ ἐνέσχετο , ὥσπερ ἐμπεφυκώς , “it held a fast hold in the earth, as if it had grown there.”

Galatians 5:1 . In the original text, which I have adopted in accordance with the best MS. authority, the first clause of this verse is clearly detached from the second στήκετε οὖν , and attached to the preceding ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐλευθέρας without any connecting particle. But this primary connection with the preceding verse was apparently obscured at an early period of Church history, owing probably to the frequent use of the important section Galatians 5:1 ff. as a Church lesson by itself apart from the preceding allegory. It is difficult otherwise to account for the great variety of connecting particles employed in MS. versions and quotations to transform the fragment τῇ ἐλευθ . ἡμᾶς Χριστὸς ἠλευθ . into a complete sentence, e.g. , the addition of ᾖ , οὖν , or γάρ , and the omission of οὖν after στήκετε , all evidently corrections made with one object. The division of chapters has unfortunately perpetuated this error. But the removal of the full stop after ἐλευθέρας at once restores the full force of the original passage: Wherefore, brethren, we are not children of a handmaid, but Christ set us free with the freedom of the freewoman . The threefold iteration, free, freedom, freewoman , marks with expressive emphasis the importance of this Christian birthright.— ἡμᾶς Χριστὸς . The best MSS. place the object ἡμᾶς before the subject Χριστός , inverting the usual order of words.

This inversion throws an emphasis on ἡμᾶς , as the previous context demands; for the whole passage forcibly contrasts the freedom granted to us Christians with the bondage which the Jews inherit.— μὴ πάλιν … Converts had all alike, whether Jews or Greeks, been under bondage to some law, human or divine: all had been set free by Christ, but might now, by the voluntary adoption of circumcision, forfeit this freedom and rivet the yoke of Law about their own necks.

In the liberty wherewith. This is according to the reading τῆ ἐλευθερίᾳ ᾗ. Different connections are proposed, as with stand fast, as A.V.: or with the close of chapter 4, as, "we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free with the freedom with which Christ freed us": or, "of her who is free with the freedom with which," etc. But ᾗ wherewith must be omitted. A new clause begins with τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ. Rend. for freedom did Christ set us free. For, not with freedom. It is the dative of advantage; that we might be really free and remain free. Comp. Galatians 5:13 , and John 8:36 . Made (us) free (ἠλευθέρωσεν) With the exception of John 8:32, John 8:36, only in Paul. Stand fast (στήκετε) Used absolutely, as 2 Thessalonians 2:15. Mostly in Paul. See on 1 Thessalonians 3:8. Be not entangled (μὴ ἐνέχεσθε) Or, held ensnared. By Paul only here and 2 Thessalonians 1:4. Lit. to be held within. For an elliptical usage see on Mark 6:19. Yoke (ζυγῷ) Metaphorical, of a burden or bondage. Comp. Matthew 11:29, Matthew 11:30; Acts 15:10; 1 Timothy 6:1. Similarly lxx, Genesis 27:40; Leviticus 26:13; 2 Chronicles 10:4, 2 Chronicles 10:9, 2 Chronicles 10:10, 2 Chronicles 10:11, 2 Chronicles 10:14. So always in N.T. except Revelation 6:5, where it means a pair of scales. See note, and comp. Leviticus 19:35, Leviticus 19:36; Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 16:11; Hosea 12:7.

CHAPTER 5 Ga 5:1-26. Peroration. Exhortation to Stand Fast in the Gospel Liberty, Just Set Forth, and Not to Be Led by Judaizers into Circumcision, or Law Justification: Yet though Free, to Serve One Another by Love: To Walk in the Spirit, Bearing the Fruit Thereof, Not in the Works of the Flesh. 1. The oldest manuscripts read, "in liberty (so Alford, Moberley, Humphry, and Ellicott. But as there is no Greek for 'in,' as there is in translating in 1Co 16:13; Php 1:27; 4:1, I prefer 'It is FOR freedom that') Christ hath made us free (not in, or for, a state of bondage). Stand fast, therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage" (namely, the law, Ga 4:24; Ac 15:10). On "again," see on [2354]Ga 4:9.Galatians 5:1 Paul exhorteth the Galatians to maintain theirChristian liberty,Galatians 5:2-6 and showeth that by being circumcised they wouldforfeit their hopes in Christ,Galatians 5:7-12 he disclaimeth the preaching of circumcision himself,and condemneth it in others.Galatians 5:13-15 He adviseth them not to abuse their liberty, but to serveone another in love, which comprehendeth the whole law.Galatians 5:16-18 The opposition between the flesh and the Spirit,Galatians 5:19-21 the works of the flesh,Galatians 5:22-24 the fruits of the Spirit.Galatians 5:25,26 Advice to walk in the Spirit, and not in vain gloriousemulation.

The liberty here spoken of, is a right which a person hath to action, that he may do or forbear the doing of things at his pleasure, as he apprehends them suitable or not, without the let or hinderance of another. This is either in things of a civil nature, or of a spiritual nature. The former is not understood here, for it is none of the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, for subjects to be free from the lawful commands of princes, or children to be free from the laws of their parents, or servants to be free from the commands of masters. There is hardly any book in the New Testament wherein obedience of this nature, in things that are lawful, is not either exemplified as our duty in Christ and the apostles, or urged by very strong arguments. The liberty here, is that freedom from the law, of which the apostle hath been speaking all along this Epistle: from the curse of the moral law, and from the co-action of it; and principally from the ceremonial law contained in ordinances. This is the liberty which Christ hath purchased for us, and in which the apostle willeth all believers to stand fast; not being again entangled with a yoke, which God had taken off from their necks. The apostles, in their synod, Acts 15:10, had called it a yoke, which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear.