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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Galatians 5:1-12

In the former part of this chapter the apostle cautions the Galatians to take heed of the judaizing teachers, who endeavoured to bring them back under the bondage of the law. He had been arguing against them before, and had largely shown how contrary the principles and spirit of those teachers were to the spirit of the gospel; and now this is as it were the general inference or application of all that discourse. Since it appeared by what had been said that we can be justified only by faith in... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Galatians 5:1-12

5:1-12 Look now it is I, Paul, who am speaking to you I tell you that if you get yourself circumcised Christ is no good to you. Again I give my word to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. You who seek to get yourselves right with God by means of legalism have got yourself into a position in which you have rendered ineffective all that Christ did for you. You have fallen from grace. For it is by the Spirit and by faith that we eagerly... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Galatians 5:1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty ,.... There is the liberty of grace, and the liberty of glory; the former of these is here meant, and lies in a freedom from sin; not from the indwelling of it, but from the dominion, guilt, and damning power of it; from the captivity and tyranny of Satan, though not from his temptations and insults; from the law, the ceremonial law, as an handwriting of ordinances, a rigid severe schoolmaster, and a middle wall of partition, and from all its burdensome... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Galatians 5:1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty - This is intimately connected with the preceding chapter: the apostle having said, just before, So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the free, immediately adds, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Hold fast your Christian profession; it brings spiritual liberty: on the contrary, Judaism brings spiritual bondage. Among the Jews, the Messiah's reign was to be a reign of liberty, and hence the... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Galatians 5:1

Verse 1 1.Stand fast therefore. After having told them that they are the children of the free woman, he now reminds them that they ought not lightly to despise a freedom so precious. And certainly it is an invaluable blessing, in defense of which it is our duty to fight, even to death; since not only the highest temporal considerations, but our eternal interests also, animate us to the contest. (81) Many persons, having never viewed the subject in this light, charge us with excessive zeal, when... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Galatians 5:1

The importance of standing by Christian liberty. "Stand firm, therefore, in the liberty for which Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The apostle hopefully assumes that the Galatians had not yet surrendered their liberty. I. JUDIASM WAS A YOKE OF BONDAGE . It might well be described in such terms by the Apostle Peter at an earlier period ( Acts 15:10 ). The bondage consisted in the number, complexity, and variety of its rites... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Galatians 5:1

Christian freedom. St. Paul concludes the arguments and expostulations of the two previous chapters with a vigorous exhortation. This has, of course, its special application to the condition of the Galatian Churches, and the liberty to which it directly applies is deliverance from the bondage of Law. But it admits of wider application to the circumstances of our own day. We have here brought before us a privilege, a danger, and a duty. I. A PRIVILEGE . Christ confers freedom (see ... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Galatians 5:1

Stand fast, therefore - Be firm and unwavering. This verse properly belongs to the previous chapter, and should not have been separated from it. The sense is, that they were to be firm and unyielding in maintaining the great principles of Christian liberty. They had been freed from the bondage of rites and ceremonies; and they should by no means, and in no form, yield to them again.In the liberty ... - Compare John 8:32, John 8:36; Romans 6:18; Notes, Galatians 4:3-5.And be not entangled again... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Galatians 5:1

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... read more

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