Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Galatians 5:1

In the original text, which I have adopted in accordance with the best MS. authority, the first clause of this verse is clearly detached from the second στήκετε οὖν, and attached to the preceding ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐλευθέρας without any connecting particle. But this primary connection with the preceding verse was apparently obscured at an early period of Church history, owing probably to the frequent use of the important section Galatians 5:1 ff. as a Church lesson by itself apart from the preceding allegory. It is difficult otherwise to account for the great variety of connecting particles employed in MS. versions and quotations to transform the fragment τῇ ἐλευθ. ἡμᾶς Χριστὸς ἠλευθ. into a complete sentence, e.g., the addition of ᾖ, οὖν, or γάρ, and the omission of οὖν after στήκετε, all evidently corrections made with one object. The division of Chapter s has unfortunately perpetuated this error. But the removal of the full stop after ἐλευθέρας at once restores the full force of the original passage: Wherefore, brethren, we are not children of a handmaid, but Christ set us free with the freedom of the freewoman. The threefold iteration, free, freedom, freewoman, marks with expressive emphasis the importance of this Christian birthright. ἡμᾶς Χριστὸς. The best MSS. place the object ἡμᾶς before the subject Χριστός, inverting the usual order of words. This inversion throws an emphasis on ἡμᾶς, as the previous context demands; for the whole passage forcibly contrasts the freedom granted to us Christians with the bondage which the Jews inherit. μὴ πάλιν … Converts had all alike, whether Jews or Greeks, been under bondage to some law, human or divine: all had been set free by Christ, but might now, by the voluntary adoption of circumcision, forfeit this freedom and rivet the yoke of Law about their own necks.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Galatians 5:1

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