Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 5:8
This persuasion [cometh] not of him that calleth you.
8. This persuasion ] nearly equivalent to ‘submission, obedience’. Others take it in an active sense ‘this suasion on the part of the false teachers, to which you are yielding’. The objection to this view is that ‘persuasion’ is a weak term to apply to those who had hindered them by throwing obstacles in their way. The word translated hindered is a military term, and denotes the obstructions thrown in the way of an advancing army, by opening trenches, erecting barricades, &c. a very cogent kind of persuasion.
him that calleth you ] i.e. God the Father. The present participle is used here, instead of the past (c. Gal 1:6), because the reference is not to the particular case of those addressed, but to that never-failing grace of God to which all ‘effectual calling’ is owing, Rom 9:11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This persuasion – This belief that it is necessary to obey the laws of Moses, and to intermingle the observance of Jewish rites with the belief of the Christian doctrines in order to be saved.
Not of him that calleth you – That is, of God, who had called them into his kingdom. That it refers to God and not to Paul is plain. They knew well enough that Paul had not persuaded them to it, and it was important now to show them that it could not be traced to God, though they who taught it pretended to be commissioned by him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Gal 5:8
This persuasion cometh not of Him that calleth you.
This persuasion
We learn–
I. That the cause of religious declension is unbelief in Gods Word, and surrender to plausible persuasions. Thus–
1. Eve, by the persuasion of the devil.
2. Papists, by persuasion that the Church cannot err.
3. Common people, by persuasion that God is all mercy.
4. Tradesmen, that they have a family to keep.
5. Moralists, that honesty and temperance are sufficient for salvation.
II. That our duty and safety lie in following absolutely the calling of God.
1. Thus Abraham.
2. Thus Paul.
III. That doctrines are to be tested by their conformity or nonconformity to the calling of God.
1. God calls us to liberty; hence the yoke of ordinances is wrong.
2. God calls us to justification by the merits of Christ; hence justification by works is wrong.
3. God calls us to self-denial and service; hence self-indulgence even in religious privileges is wrong.
4. God calls us absolutely to and for Himself; hence the sin of conformity to the world.
IV. That God calls even backsliders; which shows–
1. Gods patience.
2. The possibility of restoration.
V. That our life and conversation must be suitable to the high calling of God. (W. Perkins.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. This persuasion] Of the necessity of your being circumcised and obeying the law of Moses, is not of him that calleth you. I never preached such a doctrine to you; I called you out of bondage to liberty, from a galling yoke to a cheerful service. Some translate , obedience or subjection. This subjection of yours to the Mosaic law is opposed to the will of God, and never was preached by me.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This persuasion; this new opinion into which seducers have misled you, which, by embracing it, you have made yours.
Cometh not of him that calleth you; is not from God, who hath called you out of darkness into marvellous light, unto fellowship with himself, into a state of grace and favour with him, and to the hopes of eternal life; and who yet calleth you by his gospel: it must therefore be from the devil and his instruments, who go about to seduce and pervert you.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. This persuasionGreek,“The persuasion,” namely, to which you are yielding.There is a play on words in the original, the Greek forpersuasion being akin to “obey” (Ga5:7). This persuasion which ye have obeyed.
cometh not ofthat is”from.” Does not emanate from Him, but from an enemy.
that calleth you(Gal 5:13; Gal 1:6;Phi 3:14; 1Th 5:24).The calling is the rule of the whole race [BENGEL].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. That is, the opinion they were persuaded to believe; and which the Syriac version renders, , “your persuasion”; this is not of God, who had called them into the grace of Christ; nor of Christ, who had called them to the knowledge of himself, and communion with him; nor of the Spirit of Christ, who had called them with an holy calling, and who still continued to call them to repentance; nor of any faithful minister of the Gospel, who had been concerned as an instrument in their effectual calling; meaning the notion they were persuaded to give into, that circumcision and the works of the law were necessary to salvation, and that these were to be joined with the righteousness of Christ for justification; such a conceit as this could never be of God, nor any evangelical minister, but must be of Satan or his emissaries, the false apostles.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This persuasion ( ). “The art of persuasion,” the effort of the Judaizers to persuade you. Only here and in ecclesiastical writers.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
This persuasion [ ] . Or, the persuasion. N. T. o. o LXX, o Class. It occurs in Ignatius, Rom. iii. and Just. Mart. Ap. 1 53. The sense is not passive, your being persuaded, but active, the persuasion which the Judaising teacher s exert over you. Comp. 1Co 1:4, piqoiv logoiv persuasive words. There may be a slight word play on peiqesqai and peismonh. Obedience to the truth is the result of the persuasive power of the truth.
Him that calleth [ ] . Very often applied to God by Paul. See Rom 8:30; Rom 9:11; 1Co 1:9; 1Co 7:15; Gal 1:15; 1Th 2:12 1Th 4:7; 1Th 5:24; 2Th 2:14. The persuasion to subject yourselves to the Jewish law does not proceed from him who called you to freedom in Christ.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “This persuasion cometh,” (he peismone) “This (kind of) persuasion,” that would turn you back to the bondage of the law, to which you have recently been yielding, as Gal 1:6; Gal 4:15-16. This new persuasion was not the true gospel, Gal 1:7-9.
2) “Not of him that calleth you,” (ouk ek tou kalountes humas) “Is not out of the one calling you,” is not from God who called Abraham, Moses, Samuel and the prophets to salvation by faith, Gal 3:8; Rom 4:1-5; Act 10:43; Act 13:38-39; Rom 1:14-16; Rom 10:1-4; Romans 8-13.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
8. This persuasion cometh not. Having formerly combated them by arguments, he at length pronounces, with a voice of authority, that their persuasion came not from God. Such an admonition would not be entitled to much regard, were it not supported by the authority of the speaker. But Paul, to whom the Galatians had been indebted for the announcement of their Divine calling, was well entitled to address them in this confident language. This is the reason why he does not directly say, from God, but expresses it by a circumlocution, him that hath called you (85) As if he had said, “God is never inconsistent with himself, and he it is who by my preaching called you to salvation. This new persuasion then has come from some other quarter; and if you wish to have it thought that your calling is from God, beware of lending an ear to those who thrust upon you their new inventions.” Though the Greek participle καλοῦντος, I acknowledge, is in the present tense, I have preferred translating, who hath called you, in order to remove the ambiguity.
(85) “The apostle’s statement seems to be, ‘This persuasion to which you have yielded is not from Christ. It comes from a very different quarter. The men who have employed it are not moved by his spirit. They have no divine authority; and you ought not to yield to them, no, not for an hour.’“ — Brown.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) This persuasion . . .He who calls the Galatians is here, as elsewhere, God; and certainly, the Apostle says, it can have been by no intimation or guidance from Him that they were led to accept such perverted teaching.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. This persuasion The Greek for persuasion is another form of the word faith, and is here used as an antithesis to the true faith named above. It may, like the English persuasion, be taken in an active or passive meaning; that is, it may mean this proselyting you by Judaists, or this credulity in believing Judaism. Very clearly it here means the former of the two, as referring to the who, and the did hinder of the last verse. The who is the same as the he that troubleth in Gal 5:10. The did hinder is the present persuasion to become circumcised, coming from the who. And this who is the little leaven of the next verse.
Him calleth you God, or Christ. Note, Gal 1:6. The present term implies that God is in permanent act of calling the Christian. The whole passage implies, that such calling neither secures the necessary first obedience of the called nor his perseverance. In that sense, no calling of God is an “effectual calling.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘This persuasion is not of him who calls you.’
Whoever it is who is speaking to persuade them, who is hindering them, is not doing it at God’s command. For the One Who is calling them longs for them to be truly free in Christ.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gal 5:8. Of him that calleth you. He used this expression before, ch. Gal 1:6 and in both places means himself; and here declares that this , whether taken for persuasion, or for subjection (as it may well be in St. Paul’s style, considering the word , at the end of the foregoing verse) came not from him; for he called them to liberty from the law, and not subjection to it. See Gal 5:13. His argument runs thus: “You were going on well in the liberty of the gospel; who stopped you?I, you may be sure, had no concern in it; for you know that I called you to liberty, and not to subjection to the law; and therefore you can, by no means, suppose that I should preach up circumcision.” From the two followingverses, it looks as if all the disorders here complained of arose from one man.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
Ver. 8. This persuasion ] Sectarians and seducers have a strange art in persuading, , Col 2:4 . And although we think ourselves able enough to answer and withstand their arguments, yet it is dangerous dealing with them. The Valentinian heretics had a trick to persuade before they taught. (Tertullian.) Arius could cog a a dice, and deceive the simple and heedless hearer.
a (Dicing.) To practise certain tricks in throwing dice. From contextual evidence it would seem that ‘cogging’ generally designated some sleight of hand, made use of to control the falling of a die; occasionally it may mean the substitution of a false die for the true one. D
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8 .] The persuasion (to which you are yielding active; not your persuasion , passive. may mean either. Ellic. says: “As the similar form means both satietas (the state) and also expletio (the act), Col 2:23 ; Plato, Sympos. 186 c. . , so may mean the state of being persuaded, i.e. conviction, or the act of persuading, ‘persuadendi sollertia’ (Schtt.): cf. Chrys. on 1Th 1:3 , .” But here, . being connected with , and answering to the act of in the last verse, is better taken actively) is not from (does not come from, is not originated by) Him who calleth you (i.e. God: see ch. Gal 1:6 and note).
9 ] may allude either to men (Jer., Aug., Grot., Est., Beng., De W., al.), or to doctrine. In the parallel place in 1Co 5:6 , it is moral influence; so also where our Lord uses the same figure, Mat 16:12 , where = . Nor can there be any objection to taking it as abstract, and concrete: a little false doctrine corrupts the whole mass (of Christians). So Chrys. ( , , ), Thl., Luth., Calv., all.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Gal 5:8 . It was God who called Abraham, Moses, Samuel and the prophets of old and was now calling the Galatians through the Gospel of which Paul was minister, but this new persuasion was no true gospel, and did not come forth from Him.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
This = The.
persuasion = obedience. Greek. peisomone. Only here.
not. Greek. ou. App-105.
of. Gk. ek. App-104,
Him. God. See Gal 1:6, Gal 1:15.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
8.] The persuasion (to which you are yielding-active; not your persuasion, passive. may mean either. Ellic. says: As the similar form means both satietas (the state) and also expletio (the act), Col 2:23; Plato, Sympos. 186 c. . ,-so may mean the state of being persuaded, i.e. conviction, or the act of persuading, persuadendi sollertia (Schtt.): cf. Chrys. on 1Th 1:3, . But here, . being connected with , and answering to the act of in the last verse, is better taken actively) is not from (does not come from, is not originated by) Him who calleth you (i.e. God: see ch. Gal 1:6 and note).
9] may allude either to men (Jer., Aug., Grot., Est., Beng., De W., al.), or to doctrine. In the parallel place in 1Co 5:6, it is moral influence; so also where our Lord uses the same figure, Mat 16:12, where = . Nor can there be any objection to taking it as abstract, and concrete:-a little false doctrine corrupts the whole mass (of Christians). So Chrys. ( , , ), Thl., Luth., Calv., all.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Gal 5:8. ) Most commentators interpret it persuasion, also with the addition of this, that, or your [hc, ista, vestra], according to the testimony of Lubinus on this passage. Comp. Chrysost. This word very rarely occurs, and Eustathius alone, as I can find, has it at Odyss. ., where he shows that and are said respecting those that start difficulties and set themselves in the way [ -stubborn, obstinate persons], and are figuratively taken from the cables [], that is, the hawsers used in ships. But a pertinacious and obstinate man is given to starting difficulties [is ]; and therefore that man has , self-confidence, who, having left off running, , holds fast to [the law] obstinately, and who persuades and trusts to himself alone, and does not obey [] another, Gal 5:1; Gal 5:7; and in this way , and , and , form an Antanaclasis,[46] a figure, which is frequently used both by Paul, as many constantly observe, and by the other sacred writers, as Glassius well demonstrates. Whether it be a metaphor or not, at least this verbal noun, like other nouns in-, is intransitive[47] [not a persuading of others, but a persuasion in ones self].-, not) supply is; is not of (God), who called you, but from a power truly hostile; and there is subjoined a metonymy of the abstract for the concrete, as appears from the previous word, who, not what.-) who called you; comp. Gal 5:13, you have been called. So 1Th 5:24; comp. Php 3:14. The calling is the rule of the whole race.
[46] See App. When a word is put twice in the same passage in a double sense.
[47] Wahl notices the paronomasia in the words and . He gives the latter word a transitive meaning, Studium persuadendi aliis ea qu nobis placent et probantur-The desire to persuade others of what pleases ourselves and meets our approval. Ueberredungskunst.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Gal 5:8
Gal 5:8
This persuasion came not of him that calleth you.-This refers to Paul as the one through whom God called them. (Gal 1:6-11). He modestly reminds them that he, for whom they would have plucked out their eyes, had it been possible did not persuade them to turn from the begun pathway. Paul has vindicated his apostleship, reminds them of what he had done for them; how deep their gratitude had been to him, and now he reminds them that it was others who were endeavoring to get them to turn aside from the gospel to Judaism.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
him: Gal 1:6
Reciprocal: Gal 3:1 – who
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gal 5:8. -The persuasion is not from Him who calleth you. The change of into by Vmel is needless, though Tyndale’s version is not unlike-even that counsel that is not of Him, etc.-an answer to the previous question, who was a let unto you, that ye should not obey the truth? The verse is also regarded by Erasmus and Beza as the answer to the previous question, Who hindered you?-the persuasion not of Him that calleth you. But, as De Wette remarks, the article would in that case be repeated after . The word , suggested by the paronomasia, presents a difficulty; it occurs very rarely, being found neither in classic Greek nor in the Septuagint. It is found in the commentary of Eustathius on Homer several times, and in Justin Martyr, Apol. 1.53, Chrysostom on 1Th 1:4, and Epiphanius, Haeres. 30.21. The citation from Ignatius is more than doubtful, as the Codex Colb., instead of , reads , and the reading is adopted by Dressel. The question is, whether the word should be taken in an active or a passive sense-whether it signify Ueberredung or Folgsamkeit, assentiendi facilitas aut persuadendi sollertia, persuading or persuadedness. The signification of credulitas given by Estius, of obstinacy by Bengel, of Eigensinn by De Wette, may not be admitted. The noun, as far as its form is concerned, may have either meaning. 1. The Greek fathers give it the passive sense. Theophylact explains it by , and OEcumenius by . This interpretation is adopted by many-as Winer, Rckert, Matthies, Olshausen, Reiche, and Prof. Lightfoot. The meaning then would be-this conviction or state of mind you are in, cometh not of Him that calls you. But this would be a truism, and the active sense of is in that way overlooked. 2. But secondly, the and are in contrast: it comes from a source opposed to the divine call. It is not the state of being persuaded, but the art or process of persuading, which comes into direct conflict with divine call. The Judaistic arts and arguments were not in harmony with the effectual calling of God. The one is -persuasion- -art and arguments-on merely human and specious principles; the other is , the summons of God to life and truth in Christ. The apostle goes back in idea to ; the Judaizers are present to his mind from this question on through several verses and to the end of the twelfth verse. It is their work which he thus pictures; their was the preaching of another gospel, the bewitching of the Galatians. Were the apostle repeating the idea in , he would probably have expressed it in its negative form, and with the addition of a pronoun, as indeed is supplied by Jerome who gives both views, and by Augustine and Ambrosiaster. The active meaning is abundantly warranted. Justin Martyr, Apolog. 1.53; Epiphanius, Haeres. 30.21. This is the meaning given by Beza, Piscator, Borger, a Lapide, Usteri, Schott, Hilgenfeld, Meyer, Wieseler, and Trana. Reiche, adopting the passive sense, proposes to read the verse interrogatively, and wonders that nobody has thought of it: Is not persuasion-obedience-from God who calls you? This is not very different from omitting altogether: Persuasion is of Him that calleth you; and so is omitted in D1 and some Latin codices referred to by Jerome who, however, after saying that in some Latin codices the reading ex Deo was a corruption from ex eo, assigns a theological reason for the omission of the negative : verum simpliciores quique putantes se deferre Deo ut persuasio quoque nostra in ejus sit potestate, abstulerunt partem orationis non. In the phrase , the present participle, as Meyer suggests, may be taken substantively (Madvig, 180), or it may bear its usual meaning-who is calling you still. Winer, 45, 7. The reference is to God, as in Gal 1:6; Gal 1:15, not to the apostle (Locke, Paulus, Doddridge, and Macknight), nor to Christ (Theophylact). Because of the use of the uncommon word , and the various readings of this and the previous verse, Schott says that he conjectures, haud temere, the whole verse to be a gloss; it is wanting, he adds also in proof, in the AEthiopic version.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Gal 5:8. The present attitude of the Galatians did not come from Christ, who had called them by the Gospel. Neither does Paul believe they had of themselves formed such a conclusion as was bringing about so much confusion. He is certain that some busy person is responsible for the trouble, by injecting himself among Gentile brethren.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Gal 5:8. Of him that calleth you, God; comp. note on Gal 1:6; and Php 3:13, the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The Father draws to the Son by the Spirit through the gospel.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
As if the apostle had said, “this judaizing opinion and practice of yours, this persuasion of the necessity of your being circumcised, and obeying the law of Moses; this new doctrine, so contrary to the spirit of the gospel, and the design of Christianity; was never taught you either by God or myself, or any other faithful minister of Jesus Christ, who first converted you to the faith; but it is a mere delusion of Satan, and his emissaries the false apostles: and do not think this a small matter: let not circumcision seem a little thing to you; and let not these judaizing teachers be disregarded by you as inconsiderable, because they are few in number, for they are like to leaven; and ye know very well that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump; intimating, that a few false teachers, and a little of error and false doctrine, crept into the congregation and church of Christ, may do unspeakable mischief by speedily infecting the whole church, as a little leaven (to error is compared) leaveneth the whole lump.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
This persuasion came not of him that calleth you. [The apostle again borrows a metaphor from the foot-race of the Grecian game. In their faith and love and works the Christians were running in a course obedient to the truth, but some one had broken up the race-course, and had persuaded them to desist from running. Who had done this? Paul does not answer, but states the important fact in the matter that whoever these persuaders were they were not the agents of the God who had called them to enter the race. The term “hindered” is military and indicates the embarrassment of an army’s progress by tearing down bridges, etc.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 8
This persuasion; this idea that you must come under obligation to the Mosaic law.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
This persuasion [cometh] not of him that calleth you.
No, matter where it came from Paul guarantees that it did not come from Christ. This would be to combat anyone suggesting that accepting Christ might bring them to understand the need of the law. Christ frees, He does not bind.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
5:8 {7} This persuasion [cometh] not of {f} him that calleth you.
(7) He plays the part of an apostle with them, and uses his authority, denying that any doctrine can come from God which is contrary to his.
(f) Of God.