Charles Ellicott Commentary Galatians 5:1

"For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage." — Galatians 5:1 (ASV)

Stand fast therefore.—The external evidence is very strong in favour of a different reading: With (or, perhaps, For) liberty did Christ make us free. Stand fast, then, and be not entangled, and so on. There seems to be no sufficient reason why this should not be adopted.

In the liberty.—The best grammarians seem to agree to take this rather in the sense, for liberty; otherwise it would be tempting to explain it as an instance of the Hebraising construction which we find in John 3:29: Rejoice with joy (Authorised version: rejoice greatly). It would then mean: “with a system, or state, of freedom Christ freed us;” in other words: “placed us in a state of freedom, so that we are free.”

The yoke of bondage—i.e., the Judaising restraints and restrictions.