SEV Biblia, Chapter 5:1
¶ Estad, pues, firmes en la libertad en que Cristo nos hizo libres, y no volvis otra vez a ser presos en el yugo de servidumbre.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Galatians 5:1
Verse 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 Targum, on Lam. ii. 22, says: "Liberty shall be publicly proclaimed to thy people of the house of Israel, ajym dy l[ al yad Mashicha, by the hand of the Messiah, such as was granted to them by Moses and Aaron at the time of the passover." The liberty mentioned by the apostle is freedom from Jewish rites and ceremonies, called properly here the yoke of bondage; and also liberty from the power and guilt of sin, which nothing but the grace of Christ can take away.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. Stand fast therefore in the liberty , etc..] 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 rites and institutions; from the moral law as a covenant of works, and as administered by Moses; and from the curse and condemnation of it, its bondage and rigorous exaction, and from all expectation of life and righteousness by the deeds of it; but not from obedience to it, as held forth by Christ, and as a rule of walk and conversation; and from the judicial law, or those laws which concerned the Jews as Jews: moreover, this liberty lies in the free use of things indifferent, as eating any sort of food without distinction, so that it be done in faith, with thankfulness to God, in moderation, and with temperance, and so as that the peace and edification of fellow Christians are not hurt; also in the free use of Gospel ordinances, which they that are fellow citizens with the saints have a right unto, but not to lay aside or neglect at pleasure; which is not to use, but to abuse their liberty: again, another branch of it is access to God, with freedom and boldness at the throne of grace, through the Mediator, under the influences of the divine Spirit; to which may be added, a deliverance from the fears of death corporeal, who is a king of terrors to Christless sinners, and which kept Old Testament saints, all their lifetime subject to bondage and eternal, or the second death, by which Christ's freemen are assured they shall not be hurt: now, in this liberty, the children of the free woman, believers under the Gospel dispensation, are very pertinently exhorted to stand fast, in consequence and consideration of their character; that is, they should highly prize and esteem it, as men do their civil liberty; and maintain it and defend it, at all hazards; abide by the doctrine of it without wavering, and with intrepidity; not giving up anyone part of it, however, and by whomsoever, it may be opposed, maligned, and reproached; and keep up the practice of it, by obeying from the heart the doctrine of it, by becoming the servants of righteousness, by frequent attendance at the throne of grace, and continual observance of the ordinances of Christ; and then should take heed of everything that tends to break in upon it, as any doctrine or commandment of men; particularly the doctrine of justification by works, and all sorts of superstition and will worship: and the rather, because of the concern Christ has in this liberty, it is that wherewith Christ hath made us free ; we are not free born, but on the contrary homeborn slaves, as Ephraim was; nor could this liberty in any of its branches be obtained by us, by any merit, righteousness, act, or acts of ours, but is wholly of Christ's procuring for us, both by price and power; whereby he has ransomed and delivered us out of the hands of all our spiritual enemies, sin, Satan, the law, and death; and it is of his proclaiming in the Gospel, and of his applying by his Spirit, whom he sends down into our hearts as a free Spirit, to acquaint us with it, and lead us into it, who works faith in us to lay hold upon, and receive this blessing of grace as others: and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage . The metaphor is taken from oxen put under a yoke, and implicated with it, from which they cannot disengage themselves: some of the members of this church had been Jews, who had formerly been under the yoke of the law, and seemed desirous to return to their former state of bondage, from which the apostle dissuades, and therefore uses the word again: or else he may refer to the bondage of corruption and idolatry, which they as Gentiles were in, before their conversion; and intimates, that to give into the observance of; Jewish rites and ceremonies would be involving themselves in a state of bondage again; for by the yoke of bandage he means the law, which the Jews frequently call twxm lw[ the yoke of the commandments f107 ; particularly the ceremonial law, as circumcision; which Peter, ( Acts 15:10) represents as a yoke intolerable; the observation of days, months, times, and years; the multitude of sacrifices, and which could not take away sin; but proclaimed their guilt and obligation to punishment, and were an handwriting of ordinances against them, and thereby they were held and kept in bondage, and such a yoke is the moral law as delivered by Moses, requiring perfect obedience, but giving no strength to perform, nor pointing where any is to be had; showing a man his sin and misery, and so working wrath in his conscience, but giving not the least intimation of a Saviour, or of life and righteousness by another; accusing, pronouncing guilty, cursing, and condemning; hence such as seek for righteousness by it are in a miserable subjection to it, and are sadly implicated and entangled with the yoke of it: every doctrine and ordinance of men is a yoke of bondage which should not be submitted to; nay, any action whatever, performed in a religious way and in order for a man's acceptance with God, and to obtain his favour, and according to his observance of which he judges of his state, and speaks peace and comfort to himself, or the reverse, is a yoke of bondage: as, for instance prayer at such and so many times a day, reading such a number of chapters in the Bible every day, fasting so many times in the week, and the like; so that what are branches of Christian liberty, such as frequent prayer to God, reading the sacred writings for instruction and comfort, and the free use of the creatures, are turned into a yoke of bondage, which should be guarded against.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-6 - Christ will not be the Saviour of any who will not own and rely upo him as their only Saviour. Let us take heed to the warnings an persuasions of the apostle to stedfastness in the doctrine and libert of the gospel. All true Christians, being taught by the Holy Spirit wait for eternal life, the reward of righteousness, and the object of their hope, as the gift of God by faith in Christ; and not for the sak of their own works. The Jewish convert might observe the ceremonies of assert his liberty, the Gentile might disregard them or might attend to them, provided he did not depend upon them. No outward privileges of profession will avail to acceptance with God, without sincere faith in our Lord Jesus. True faith is a working grace; it works by love to God and to our brethren. May we be of the number of those who, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. The danger of ol was not in things of no consequence in themselves, as many forms an observances now are. But without faith working by love, all else is worthless, and compared with it other things are of small value.
Greek Textus Receptus
τη 3588 ελευθερια 1657 ουν 3767 η 3739 χριστος 5547 ημας 2248 ηλευθερωσεν 1659 5656 στηκετε 4739 5720 και 2532 μη 3361 παλιν 3825 ζυγω 2218 δουλειας 1397 ενεχεσθε 1758 5744
Vincent's NT Word Studies
1. In the liberty wherewith. This is according to the reading th ejleuqeria h=. Different connections are proposed, as with stand fast, as A.V.: or with the close of chapter 4, as, "we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free with the freedom with which Christ freed us": or, "of her who is free with the freedom with which," etc. But h= wherewith must be omitted. A new clause begins with th ejleuqeria. Rend. for freedom did Christ set us free. For, not with freedom. It is the dative of advantage; that we might be really free and remain free. Comp. verse 13, and John viii. 36.
Made (us) free (hleuqerwsen). With the exception of John viii. 32, 36, only in Paul.
Stand fast (sthkete). Used absolutely, as 2 Thess. ii. 15. Mostly in Paul. See on 1 Thess. iii. 8. 80 Be not entangled (mh enecesqe). Or, held ensnared. By Paul only here and 2 Thess. i. 4. Lit. to be held within. For an elliptical usage see on Mark vi. 19.
Yoke (zugw). Metaphorical, of a burden or bondage. Comp. Matthew xi. 29, 30; Acts xv. 10; 1 Tim. vi. 1. Similarly LXX, Gen. xxvii. 40; Lev. xxvi. 13; 2 Chron. x. 4, 9, 10, 11, 14. So always in N.T. except Apoc. vi. 5, where it means a pair of scales. See note, and comp. Lev. xix. 35, 36; Prov. xi. 1; xvi. 11; Hos. xii. 7.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
5:1 {With freedom} (tei eleuqeriai). Rather dative case instead of instrumental, "for freedom,"for the (article) freedom that belongs to us children of the freewoman" (#4:31). {Did Christ set us free} (hemas cristos eleuqerwsen). Effective aorist active indicative of eleuqerow (from ercomai, to go, go free). {Stand fast therefore} (stekete oun). See on #Mr 3:31; 1Co 16:13 for this late word from perfect stem of histemi, "keep on standing therefore,"stay free since Christ set you free." {Be not entangled again} (me palin enecesqe). "Stop being held in by a yoke of bondage." Common word for ensnare by trap. The Judaizers were trying to lasso the Galatians for the old yoke of Judaism.
