Galatians 5:13 - Exposition

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty ( ὑμεῖς γὰρ ἐπ ἐλευθερίᾳ ἐκλήθητε ἀδελφοί ); for ye , brethren , were called unto (Greek, for ) freedom. The "for" points back to the closing words of the preceding verse, which implied a settled state of well-being from which those troublers were driving his readers; that happy state (the apostle says) was the very glory and essence of their "calling." This, of course, was that condition of free men described at the end of the foregoing chapter, and summarized in the first verse of this chapter. This is again, even more briefly, recapitulated in the first clause of the present verse. As the summary in the first verse supplied a starting-point for the warnings against the Judaizers which have taken up the foregoing twelve verses, so this new summary furnishes the starting-point for exhortations designed to guard the evangelical doctrine against antinomian perversion, by insisting upon the moral behaviour required of those who enjoy the freedom which Christ gives. These exhortations occupy the remainder of this chapter and a part of the next. "Ye," being what ye are, believers baptized into Christ. The verb "were called" expresses a complete idea, meaning of itself without any adjunct, "called by God to be people of his own" (cf. "calleth," Galatians 5:8 , and the passages there cited). The words, "unto," or "for, freedom," supply an adjunct notion; as in Ephesians 4:4 , the clause, "in one hope of your calling," does to the same verb. So again 1 Thessalonians 4:7 ," For God called us, not unto [or, 'for' ] uncleanness, but in sanctification.' 'The preposition ἐπί , both in the passage last cited and in the present verse, denotes the condition or understanding upon which God had called them: they were "called" upon the understanding that they should be in a state of liberty. So Ephesians 2:10 , "Created in Christ Jesus unto ['Greek,' for] good works." God calls us in Christ to be free in these three respects: