Charles Spurgeon Commentary Galatians 3:1

"O foolish Galatians, who did bewitch you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified?" — Galatians 3:1 (ASV)

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you,

Paul writes as if they had come under some kind of witchcraft and been deluded by it. This seemed to astonish the apostle, so he cries out to them, Who hath bewitched you,.

That ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?

They had heard the plainest possible preaching from Paul and his companions. Jesus Christ had been so clearly set forth before them that they might as it were, see him as he hung upon the cross of Calvary. Yet, under some unhallowed spell, they turned aside from the faith of Christ.

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?

Paul does not compliment them on being a very "thoughtful," "educated," "cultured" people; he does not care an atom about that matter, but because they had forsaken the simple truth of the gospel, he says, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?

Those are hard words, Paul! Why did he not say, "Who has led you forward into more advanced views?" He did not. He calls it witchery—the work of the devil—and it is nothing better. And the wisdom of it is no better than the trickery of some old witch.

If you take your eyes off Christ, it must be witchcraft that makes you do it. There is such glory, such beauty, such perfection, such wisdom, such divinity in Christ crucified that if you turn from that sight to anything else, no matter how scientific and learned it may be, you are foolish, indeed, and somebody has "bewitched you."