Charles Ellicott Commentary Galatians 5:7

"Ye were running well; who hindered you that ye should not obey the truth?" — Galatians 5:7 (ASV)

You did run well.—Again, as in Galatians 2:2, a metaphor from foot racing. The Galatians had made a good start, but suddenly changed their course.

Who did hinder you?—The metaphor here is not quite the same, but is somewhat akin to that just used. The original meaning of the word translated “hinder” is “to break up a road,” as an army before the advance of hostile forces.

The truth—that is, the doctrine taught by St. Paul in opposition to the Judaizing tenets which had been introduced into the Galatian Church.

On verses 7-12:

All was going well at first. What sudden intruder has stopped your path and led you astray? Certainly it is not God, to whom you owe your calling, who has persuaded you to such a course. You tell me that not many have fallen away. But those few are enough to infect the whole.

Not that I wish to implicate all in the sin of some. Most of you I can trust to be true to me. The author of your troubles, whoever he is, shall not escape. God shall judge him.

Do you turn on me and say that I, too, have preached circumcision? The persecutions that I have to undergo from the Jews are proof that I preach it no longer.

If I do preach circumcision, then the other stumbling-blocks in the way of my teaching are removed. I have no need to lay stress upon a crucified Messiah. The advocates of circumcision may carry their self-mutilation a step further if they please.

This section is very abrupt in style. The thought bounds from subject to subject, not stopping to insert links of connection. At the end of the passage, there is a vein of severe irony.