SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:1
¶ ¡Oh glatas insensatos! ¿Quin os hechiz, para no obedecer a la Verdad, ante cuyos ojos Jess, el Cristo fue ya descrito como colgado en el madero entre vosotros?
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Galatians 3:1
Verse 1. O foolish Galatians] O infatuated people; you make as little use of reason as those who have none; you have acted in this business as those do who are fascinated-they are led blindly and unresistingly on to their own destruction. That ye should not obey the truth] This clause is wanting in ABD*FG, some others, the Syriac, Erpenian, Coptic, Sahidic, Itala, Vulgate MS., and in the most important of the Greek and Latin fathers. Of the clause Professor White says, Certissime delenda, "It should certainly be expunged." There are several various readings on this verse, from which it appears that the verse in the best ancient MSS. and versions was read thus: O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? Before whose eyes Jesus Christ crucified hath been plainly set forth.
Among you?] en umin is wanting in ABC, several others, the Syriac, Erpenian, Coptic, Sahidic, AEthiopic, Armenian, Vulgate MS., one copy of the Itala, and in several of the fathers. The words appear to disturb the sense, and have obliged commentators to have recourse to a sort of technical meaning; viz. "The doctrine of the Gospel had been so fully preached among these people that it might be said Jesus Christ had been crucified among them; so fully had his sufferings been detailed, and the design of them pointed out."
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. O foolish Galatians , etc..] Referring not to any national character, as some have thought, by which they were distinguished from others for their rudeness in knowledge, their ignorance and folly, as the Cretians for their lying, etc.. nor to their former state in unregeneracy, it being common to all men, to God's elect themselves, before conversion, to be foolish in a moral and spiritual sense; but to their present stupidity about the article of justification, it being an instance of most egregious folly to leave Christ for Moses, the Gospel for the law, and the doctrine of free justification by the righteousness of Christ, which brings so much solid peace and comfort with it, for the doctrine of justification, by the works of the law, which naturally leads to bondage. Now this was said, not rashly, nor in anger, or on purpose to reproach and provoke, and so not at all contrary to ( Matthew 5:22) but in like manner as Christ said to his disciples, O fools, and slow of heart to believe, etc.. ( Luke 24:25). So the apostle here, as pitying the Galatians, grieved for them, and as one surprised and astonished that ever people of such light, that had had the Gospel so clearly preached to them, should ever give into such a notion. Who hath bewitched you ? some false teacher or another had, or it cannot be conceived how their heads should ever have been turned this way; which must be understood, not in a literal and proper sense, as Simon Magus bewitched the people of Samaria with his sorceries, but in a figurative and improper one; that as sorcerers and enchanters cast a mist before people's eyes, or, by some evil arts or juggling tricks, deceive their sight, and make objects seem to appear which do not, or in a different form than they really do, so these deceitful workers, who had transformed themselves into the apostles of Christ, as Satan sometimes transforms himself into an angel of light, had set this doctrine in a false light before them, thereby to corrupt their minds from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Though the apostle reproves the Galatians for their folly and weakness in giving in so easily to such deceptions, yet he imputes the chief fault unto, and lays the greatest blame on the false teachers; whom he represents as sorcerers and enchanters, and their doctrine, particularly that of justification by works, as witchcraft; it being pleasing to men, a gratifying of carnal reason, and operating as a charm upon the pride of human nature.
What Samuel said to Saul, ( 1 Samuel 15:22,23) may be applied to the present case, to obey the truth is better than sacrifice, than all the rituals of the ceremonial law: and to hearken to the Gospel of Christ, than the fat of rams, or any of the legal institutions; for rebellion against, and opposition to any of the doctrines of the Gospel, and especially to this of justification by the righteousness of Christ, is as the sin of witchcraft. The Greek word, baskanw , signifies to envy, and hence, to bewitch; because the mischief, by witchcrafts, generally proceeds from envy; and so the Syriac version, which the Arabic follows, renders it, wkb sj wnm , who hath envied you, which suggests this sense, that the false apostles envying their light and knowledge in the Gospel, their faith, peace, comfort, and happiness, had endeavoured to introduce another doctrine among them, subversive of all this. That ye should not obey the truth . This clause is left out in the Alexandrian copy, and in some others, and in the Syriac version. By the truth is meant, either the whole Gospel, often so called, in opposition to the law, and the types and shadows of it; and because it is contained in the Scriptures of truth, and comes from the God of truth; the substance of it is Christ, who is the truth, and is what the Spirit of truth leads into; or else particularly the doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ, which is the truth the apostle is establishing, and these Galatians seemed to be going off from, through the artful insinuations of the false teachers.
Formerly these people had not only heard this truth, but embraced it: they received the love of it, were strongly affected to it, and firmly believed but now they began to hesitate and doubt about it; they were not so fully persuaded of it as heretofore; they seemed ready to let it go, at least did not hold it fast, and the profession of it, without wavering as before; they were fallen from some degree of the steadfastness of their faith in, and of the obedience of it to this truth, which is what was the design of the false apostles, and is here charged upon the Galatians. The aggravations of which follow in this, and in some subsequent verses, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth ; meaning in the ministry of the Gospel, in the clear preaching of it by the apostle; Jesus Christ was the sum and substance of his ministry, in which he was set forth and described, and, as it were, painted to the life by him; the glories and excellencies of his divine person, the nature of his office, as Mediator, the suitableness of him as a Saviour, the fulness of his grace, the efficacy of his blood, sacrifice, and righteousness, were so fully, and in such a lively manner expressed, that it was as if Christ was personally and visibly present with them; yea, he was so described in his sufferings and death, as hanging, bleeding, dying on the accursed tree, that he seemed to be as it were, as the apostle adds, crucified among you : for this cannot be understood literally, for he was crucified without the gates of Jerusalem; nor does it respect the sin of the Galatians in departing from the Gospel, as if that was a crucifying of him again, and a putting him to open shame; nor their sufferings for the sake of Christ, as if he, in that sense, was crucified in them, and with them: but it intends the clear Gospel revelation of a crucified Christ, in the preaching of him by the apostle, which was such that no picture, no image, no crucifix would come up to, and which, where such preaching is, are altogether vain and needless; and the clear view these saints had, by faith, in the glass of the Gospel of Christ, and him crucified, which so realized the object, as if it was present and before the natural eye. Now this was an aggravation of their weakness and folly, that after such clear preaching, and clear sight, they had of the Gospel, and of Christ in it, that they should in the least degree depart from it.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-5 - Several things made the folly of the Galatian Christians worse. The had the doctrine of the cross preached, and the Lord's suppe administered among them, in both which Christ crucified, and the natur of his sufferings, had been fully and clearly set forth. Had they bee made partakers of the Holy Spirit, by the ministration of the law, or on account of any works done by them in obedience thereto? Was it no by their hearing and embracing the doctrine of faith in Christ alon for justification? Which of these had God owned with tokens of his favour and acceptance? It was not by the first, but the last. And thos must be very unwise, who suffer themselves to be turned away from the ministry and doctrine which have been blessed to their spiritual advantage. Alas, that men should turn from the all-important doctrin of Christ crucified, to listen to useless distinctions, mere mora preaching, or wild fancies! The god of this world, by various men an means, has blinded men's eyes, lest they should learn to trust in crucified Saviour. We may boldly demand where the fruits of the Holy Spirit are most evidently brought forth? whether among those who preac justification by the works of the law, or those who preach the doctrin of faith? Assuredly among the latter.
Greek Textus Receptus
ω 5599 ανοητοι 453 γαλαται 1052 τις 5101 υμας 5209 εβασκανεν 940 5656 τη 3588 αληθεια 225 μη 3361 πειθεσθαι 3982 5745 οις 3739 κατ 2596 οφθαλμους 3788 ιησους 2424 χριστος 5547 προεγραφη 4270 5648 εν 1722 υμιν 5213 εσταυρωμενος 4717 5772
Vincent's NT Word Studies
1. Foolish (anohtoi). See on Luke xxiv. 25. In N.T. and LXX always in an active sense. See Luke xxiv. 25; Rom. i. 14; 1 Tim. vi. 9; Tit. iii. 3. Nouv is used by Paul mainly with an ethical reference, as the faculty of moral judgment. See on Rom. vii. 23.'Anohtov therefore indicates a folly which is the outgrowth of a moral defect. Paul is not alluding to a national characteristic of the Galatians. 56 Hath bewitched (ebaskanen). N.T.o . In Class. with accusative, to slander, malign; with dative, to envy, grudge, use ill words to another, bewitch by spells. 57 Gor the verb in LXX, see Deut. xxviii. 54, 56; Sir. xiv. 6, 8. The noun baskania (not in N.T.) in LXX, Wisd. iv. 12 (the bewitching); 4 Macc. i. 26 (the evil eye); 4 Macc. ii. 15 (slander). See also Plato, Phaedo, 95 B (evil eye). The adjective baskanov (not in N.T.) appears in LXX, Prov. xxiii. 6; xxviii. 22 (having an evil eye); Sir. xiv. 3; xviii. 18; xxxvii. 11 (envious). See also Aristoph. Knights, 103; Plut. 571 (slanderous, a calumniator). Ignatius (Romans 3) uses it of grudging the triumph of martyrdom. The two ideas of envy or malice and the evil eye combine in the Lat. invidere, to look maliciously. The ojfqalmov evil eye is found Mark vii. 22. Paul's metaphor here is: who hath cast an evil spell upon you? Chrysostom, followed by Lightfoot, thinks that the passage indicates, not only the baleful influence on the Galatians, but also the envious spirit of the false teachers who envy them their liberty in Christ. This is doubtful.
Before whose eyes (oiv kat ofqalmouv). The Greek is stronger: unto whom, over against your very eyes. The phrase kat' ojfqalmouv N.T. o , but quite frequent in LXX. Comp. kata proswpon to the face, Galatians ii. 11.
Hath been evidently set forth (proegrafh). The different explanations turn on the meaning assigned to pro: either formerly, or openly, publicly. Thus openly portrayed. The use of prografein in this sense is more than doubtful. Previously written. In favor of this is the plain meaning in two of the three other N.T.. passages where it occurs: Rom. xv. 4; Ephesians iii. 3. Was posted up, placarded. It is the usual word to describe public notices or proclamations. 58 The more probable sense combines the first and third interpretations. Rend. openly set forth. This suits before whose eyes, and illustrates the suggestion of the evil eye in bewitched. Who could have succeeded in bringing you under the spell of an evil eye, when directly before your own eyes stood revealed the crucified Christ?
Crucified among you (en umin estaurwmenov). En uJmin among you is omitted in the best texts. Crucified emphatically closes the sentence. Christ was openly set forth as crucified.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
3:1 {Who did bewitch you?} (tis humas ebaskanen?). Somebody "fascinated" you. Some aggressive Judaizer (#5:7), some one man (or woman). First aorist active indicative of baskainw, old word kin to faskw (baskw), to speak, qen to bring evil on one by feigned praise or the evil eye (hoodoo), to lead astray by evil arts. Only here in the N.T. this popular belief in the evil eye is old (#De 28:54) and persistent. The papyri give several examples of the adjective abaskanta, the adverb abaskantws (unharmed by the evil eye), the substantive baskania (witchcraft). {Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified} (hois kat' ofqalmous iesous cristos proegrafe estaurwmenos). Literally, "to whom before your very eyes Jesus Christ was portrayed as crucified." Second aorist passive indicative of prografw, old verb to write beforehand, to set forth by public proclamation, to placard, to post up. this last idea is found in several papyri (Moulton and Milligan's _Vocabulary_) as in the case of a father who posted a proclamation that he would no longer be responsible for his son's debts. grafw was sometimes used in the sense of painting, but no example of prografw with this meaning has been found unless this is one. With that idea it would be to portray, to picture forth, a rendering not very different from placarding. The foolish Galatians were without excuse when they fell under the spell of the Judaizer. estaurwmenos is perfect passive participle of staurow, the common verb to crucify (from stauros, stake, cross), to put on the cross (#Mt 20:19), same form as in #1Co 2:2.
