Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

“Where, &c.--Of what value was your congratulation (so the Greek for "blessedness" expresses) of yourselves, on account of your having among you me, the messenger of the Gospel, considering how entirely you have veered about since?”

“Neither the cause of their zealous courting of you, nor the manner, is what it ought to be. they would exclude you--"They wish to shut you out" from the kingdom of God (that is, they wish to persuade you that as uncircumcised Gentiles, you are shut out from i…”

“My reason for saying the "not well" (Ga 4:17; the Greek is the same as that for "good," and "in a good cause," in Ga 4:28), is that their zealous courting of you is not in a good cause.”

“Just as the extra-ordinarily-born Isaac, the gift of grace according to promise, supplanted, beyond all human calculations, the naturally-born Ishmael, so the new theocratic race, the spiritual seed of Abraham by promise, the Gentile, as well as Jewish believe…”

“Abraham was to lay aside all confidence in the flesh (after which Ishmael was born), and to live by faith alone in the promise (according to which Isaac was miraculously born, contrary to all calculations of flesh and blood).”

“At the gloomy scene of the giving of the Law, he learned to appreciate, by contrast, the grace of the Gospel, and so to cast off all his past legal dependencies. which gendereth--that is, bringing forth children unto bondage. Compare the phrase (Ac 3:25), "…”

“Translate, "For this word, Hagar, is (imports) Mount Sinai in Arabia (that is, among the Arabians--in the Arabian tongue)." So CHRYSOSTOM explains. Haraut, the traveller, says that to this day the Arabians call Sinai, "Hadschar," that is, Hagar, meaning a rock…”

“Here "the Messianic theocracy, which before Christ's second appearing is the Church, and after it, Christ's kingdom of glory" [MEYER]. free--as Sarah was; opposed to "she is in bondage" (Ga 4:25). all--omitted in many of the oldest manuscripts, though suppo…”

“Ge 21:10, 12, where Sarah's words are, "shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac." But what was there said literally, is here by inspiration expressed in its allegorical spiritual import, applying to the New Testament believer, who is antitypically "the…”

“"Moreover." I testify . . . to every man--as well as "unto you" (Ga 5:2). that is circumcised--that submits to be circumcised. Such a one became a "proselyte of righteousness." the whole law--impossible for man to keep even in part, much less wholly (Jas …”

“Ro 7:2, "Loosed from the law," where the same Greek occurs as here. whosoever of you are justified--"are being justified," that is, are endeavoring to be justified. by the law--Greek, "IN the law," as the element in which justification is to take place. fa…”

“"We" is emphatical, and contrasted with "whosoever of you would be justified by the law" (Ga 5:4). the hope of righteousness--"We wait for the (realization of the) hope (which is the fruit) of the righteousness (that is, justification which comes) by (litera…”

“Thus in Ga 5:5, 6, we have the three, "faith," "hope," and "love." The Greek expresses, "Which effectually worketh"; which exhibits its energy by love (so 1Th 2:13). Love is not joined with faith in justifying, but is the principle of the works which follow…”

“Translate, "Ye were running well" in the Gospel race (1Co 9:24-26; Php 3:13, 14). who, &c.--none whom you ought to have listened to [BENGEL]: alluding to the Judaizers (compare Ga 3:1). hinder--The Greek means, literally, "hinder by breaking up a road." n…”

“This persuasion--Greek, "The persuasion," namely, to which you are yielding. There is a play on words in the original, the Greek for persuasion being akin to "obey" (Ga 5:7).”

“A little leaven--the false teaching of the Judaizers. A small portion of legalism, if it be mixed with the Gospel, corrupts its purity. To add legal ordinances and works in the least degree to justification by faith, is to undermine "the whole." So "leaven" is…”

“But if justification in any degree depended on legal ordinances, Christ's crucifixion in that degree was unnecessary, and could profit nothing (Ga 5:2, 4). Worldly Wiseman, of the town of Carnal Policy, turns Christian out of the narrow way of the Cross, to t…”

“The "ye" is emphatical, from its position in the Greek, "Ye brethren"; as opposed to those legalists "who trouble you." unto liberty--The Greek expresses, "on a footing of liberty." The state or condition in which ye have been called to salvation, is one of l…”

“Love is "the law of Christ" (Ga 6:2; Ro 13:9, 10). is fulfilled--Not as received text "is being fulfilled," but as the oldest manuscripts read, "has been fulfilled"; and so "receives its full perfection," as rudimentary teachings are fulfilled by the more pe…”

“The spirit and the flesh mutually exclude one another. It is promised, not that we should have no evil lusts, but that we should "not fulfil" them. If the spirit that is in us can be at ease under sin, it is not a spirit that comes from the Holy Spirit.”

“The Greek is, "that ye may not do the things that ye would." "The flesh and Spirit are contrary one to the other," so that you must distinguish what proceeds from the Spirit, and what from the flesh; and you must not fulfil what you desire according to the car…”

“"If ye are led (give yourselves up to be led) by (Greek) the Spirit, ye are not under the law." For ye are not working the works of the flesh (Ga 5:16, 19-21) which bring one "under the law" (Ro 8:2, 14). The "Spirit makes free from the law of sin and death…”

“The identification of "the natural (Greek, 'animal-souled') man," with the "carnal" or fleshly man (1Co 2:14), shows that "the flesh" expresses human nature as estranged from God. TRENCH observes, as a proof of our fallen state, how much richer is every voca…”

“Greek, "Let us not BECOME." While not asserting that the Galatians are "vainglorious" now, he says they are liable to become so. provoking one another--an effect of "vaingloriousness" on the stronger: as "envying" is its effect on the weaker.”

“BENGEL explains the "before" in the Greek compound verb, "If a man be overtaken in a fault before ourselves": If another has really been overtaken in a fault the first; for often he who is first to find fault, is the very one who has first transgressed. a fau…”